Microstructural analysis of the stir zone of Al alloy produced by friction stir spot welding

The present study applied friction spot joining (FSJ), which was recently developed as a lap joining technique of Al alloys, to two sheets of Al alloy 6061, 1 mm in thickness, and then examined the microstructural feature in the weld. The weld had the nugget-shaped stir zone around the exit hole of the probe, and the stir zone exhibited the equiaxed grain structure having finer grain size than that of the base material. The crystallographic texture analysis using electron backscattered diffraction method suggested that the material movement occurred along the rotating direction of the welding tool in the wide region including the stir zone. In the periphery of the nugget-shaped stir zone, which was characterized as the region having the finer grain size than that of the stir zone interior, any inclusions and precipitates were not found in the SEM scale. The weld was softened around the weld centre. The softening could be explained by dissolution and/or growth of the strengthening precipitates due to thermal cycle of FSJ.     

Proposal for a benchmark model of a laminated iron core and a large‐scale and highly accurate magnetic analysis

This paper describes a benchmark model proposed for the clarification of the characteristic of various methods for modeling the laminated iron core. In order to obtain a reference solution of the benchmark model, a large‐scale nonlinear magnetostatic field analysis with a mesh fine enough to represent the microscopic structure of the laminated iron core is carried out by using the hybrid finite element–boundary element (FE‐BE) method combined with the fast multipole method (FMM) based on diagonal forms for translation operators. The computational costs and accuracy of two kinds of homogenization methods are discussed, comparing them with the reference solution. As a consequence, it is verified that the homogenization methods can analyze magnetic fields in laminated iron core within acceptable computational costs. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 170(1): 26–35, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20809     

The Effect of Air Foam Inclusion on the Permeability and Absorption Properties of Light Weight Soil

Cement-treated clay with air foam, which is called Super Geo-Material (SGM), was developed to utilize dredged clay in an effective way. As SGM is mainly used at levels below the ground water table, water permeability and absorption properties of SGM will affect the durability of the material. In this research, the changes in SGM permeability and absorption as functions of the air foam fraction were investigated. First, permeability tests with triaxial apparatus and constant rate of consolidation tests were conducted on samples containing less than 10% of air foam by volume. From the results, air foam was found to be an impermeable medium in SGM. Secondly, a series of permeability tests and absorption tests were conducted for the SGM with different fractions of air foam while observing the specimen with a micro focus X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) scanner. The results showed that the permeability of SGM increased dramatically due to the appearance of interior water channels when the air foam fraction exceeded 30% by volume. The density distribution change and water absorbed zones of the specimens during absorption tests were estimated using the X-ray CT data. From these results, the air in the SGM was found to be progressively substituted with water from the surface to the inside of the specimen and the substituted zone expanded as it made its way to the specimen interior. The expansion velocity of the substituted zone was not affected by the coefficient of permeability but by the fraction of the air in the specimen.     

Applying heat integration total site based pinch technology to a large industrial area in Japan to further improve performance of highly efficient process plants

“Area-wide pinch technology” which consists of R-curve analysis and Site Source Sink Profile (SSSP) analysis, was applied to Kashima industrial area, one of the biggest heavy chemical complexes in Japan. This case study demonstrates that despite the very high efficiency of the individual sites in the complex, there is a huge amount of energy saving potential through energy sharing among the various sites. In addition it was found that appropriate use of the available pinch technology tools and techniques allows an industrial area of enormous scale and complexity to be analysed conveniently. This has resulted in practical area-wide energy saving projects being proposed and implemented.     

Preliminary spectrum shifter design for intermediate energy nuclear data benchmark experiments with DT neutrons

Integral benchmark experiments with DT neutrons are not always sufficient for nuclear data benchmarking in the MeV region, below 10 MeV. A neutron spectrum shifter, which will be placed between a sample and a DT neutron source, is effective to moderate DT neutrons incident to the sample. In order to estimate effects of the spectrum shifter, the ratio of the contribution of 14 MeV neutrons in the leakage neutron and gamma-ray spectra was calculated with MCNP-4C for an experimental configuration at FNS of JAEA, Japan. The calculations were carried out for a Li₂TiO₃ sample with a Be, D₂O, or ⁷LiD spectrum shifter. It was found out that the Be shifter was superior to others and the Be shifter was effective to decrease the contribution of 14 MeV neutrons especially for secondary gamma-ray spectrum measurements.     

Proposal of Design Criteria for Gas Entrainment from Vortex Dimples Based on a Computational Fluid Dynamics Method

Design criteria for gas entrainments (GE) from the liquid surface in a fast breeder reactor system were proposed in this paper for the two types of GE phenomena from a vortex dimple based on a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method. The first gas entrainment phenomenon is a gas core extension directly to the outlet piping level, which induces large amount of GE to the flow system. The second is continuous bubble detachments from the tip of the vortex dimple. Based on CFD calculations for elemental experiments of the surface vortex, local CFD non-dimensional numbers were defined as the design criteria to prevent GE. In conclusion, it was found that the CFD non-dimensional numbers are useful for the design parameters of GE prevention.     

Decision methodology of end-milling conditions using data-mining

The purpose of the present study is to apply data-mining methods to support the decision of reasonable cutting conditions. Although an enormous amount of information is listed in a catalog, it is not possible to know all of it. Seen from the viewpoint of the user, this enormous amount of information becomes a hindrance. For example, even if an expert worker does not look at a catalog, in end-mill processing, he can decide the appropriate processing condition efficiently from experience; however, this type of situation creates difficult problems for an unskilled worker or a skilled worker with little experience. The recommended cutting condition for every type of material is listed in a catalog together with the appropriate tool, but it takes much time and labor to search and examine the catalog to find the right tool, and this process is inefficient. The main subject of our research was to support the processing condition of the end-mill for each precision tool efficiently based on end-mill clusters. Our research applied the techniques of data mining, in particular, non-hierarchy clustering and hierarchy clustering, to catalog data. With these techniques, we applied multiple regression analysis and reached the following main conclusions. As a first step, we paid attention to the shape element of catalog data. In addition to using conventional mining processes, we grouped end-mills from the viewpoint of tool shape, which meant the ratio of dimensions, visually by applying the K-means method. We applied variable cluster analysis next to each cluster and extracted an predictor variable to represent each cluster, and we performed multiple regression analysis and derived a cutting condition decision formula. The cutting condition decision formula provided high accuracy. The accuracy was higher than the results achieved through mining of all data. A more highly precise processing condition decision formula was derived by doing mining again, excluding the peculiar data clusters such as small diameter end-mill. We understood what was effective for cutting condition decision to be factors related to blade length and the ratio of the full length, factors which have not been singled out through background knowledge or expert knowledge, but were noticed as an effect of catalog mining.     

Surface modification of an organosilane self-assembled monolayer on silicon substrates using atomic force microscopy: scanning probe electrochemistry toward nanolithography

Organosilane self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) have been applied to resist materials for nanolithography based on scanning probe microscopy. An organosilane SAM was prepared on Si substrates from a precursor, that is octadecyltrimethoxysilane. Using an atomic force microscope with a conductive probe, current was injected from the probe into the SAM-covered Si substrate so that the SAM was locally degraded at the probe-contacting point. Nanoscale patterns drawn on the SAM was clearly imaged by lateral force microscopy. The patterning could be conducted in air while, in vacuum at the order of 10(-6) Torr, no detectable patterns were fabricated. The presence of adsorbed water at the probe/sample junction was confirmed to be crucial for the patterning of the SAM/Si. Its mechanism was, thus, ascribed to electrochemical reactions of both the SAM and Si with adsorbed water.     

Characterization of the microbial community in an anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing biofilm cultured on a nonwoven biomass carrier

The enrichment and characterization of anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing biofilm cultures are ongoing in our laboratories. Biomass, with a predominately red color, demonstrating simultaneous removal of ammonium and nitrite under autotrophic and anoxic conditions, which is characteristic of anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing planctomycetes, was enriched and maintained for an extended period on a polyester nonwoven carrier. To investigate the bacterial composition of the mature biofilm community, 16S rDNA sequences were amplified by PCR and comparative analyses using DNA databases were conducted. Only one sequence had a notable similarity (92.2%) to that of the first discovered anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing planctomycete and lesser, yet significant, similarities to the 16S rDNA sequences of other recently reported anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing strains. The newly discovered strain (designated KSU-1) reported here was dominant among detectable members of the biofilm community. By fluorescence imaging, KSU-1 was shown to form spherical clusters wrapped in a thin layer of Zoogloea sp. Possible interactions and interdependencies of these two species are discussed with regard to the putative unculturability of the anaerobic ammonium-oxidizing planctomycetes.     

Self-organization in the basal ganglia with modulation of reinforcement signals

Self-organization is one of fundamental brain computations for forming efficient representations of information. Experimental support for this idea has been largely limited to the developmental and reorganizational formation of neural circuits in the sensory cortices. We now propose that self-organization may also play an important role in short-term synaptic changes in reward-driven voluntary behaviors. It has recently been shown that many neurons in the basal ganglia change their sensory responses flexibly in relation to rewards. Our computational model proposes that the rapid changes in striatal projection neurons depend on the subtle balance between the Hebb-type mechanisms of excitation and inhibition, which are modulated by reinforcement signals. Simulations based on the model are shown to produce various types of neural activity similar to those found in experiments.