Influence of interfacial reactions on the fiber-matrix interfacial shear strength in sapphire fiber-reinforced Nial(Yb) composites

The influence of microstructure of the fiber-matrix interface on the interfacial shear strength, measured using a fiber-pushout technique, has been examined in a sapphire-fiber-reinforced NiAl(Yb) matrix composite under the following conditions: (1) as-fabricated powder metallurgy (PM) composites, (2) PM composites after solid-state heat treatment (HT), and (3) PM com-posites after directional solidification (DS). The fiber-pushout stress-displacement behavior con-sisted of an initial “pseudoelastic” region, wherein the stress increased linearly with displacement, followed by an “inelastic” region, where the slope of the stress-displacement plot decreased until a maximum stress was reached, and the subsequent gradual stress decreased to a “fric-tional” stress. Energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray analyses showed that the inter-facial region in the PM NiAl(Yb) composites was comprised of Yb₂O₃,O-rich NiAl and some spinel oxide (Yb₃Al₅O₁₂), whereas the interfacial region in the HT and DS composites was comprised mainly of Yb₃Al₅O₁₂. A reaction mechanism has been proposed to explain the pres-ence of interfacial species observed in the sapphire-NiAl(Yb) composite. The extent of inter-facial chemical reactions and severity of fiber surface degradation increased progressively in this order: PM < HT < DS. Chemical interactions between the fiber and the NiAl(Yb) matrix resulted in chemical bonding and higher interfacial shear strength compared to sapphire-NiAl composites without Yb. Unlike the sapphire-NiAl system, the frictional shear stress in the sap-phire-NiAl(Yb) composites was strongly dependent on the processing conditions. Formerly Research Associate, Department of Chemical Engineering, Cleveland State University     

Thermomechanical processing of aluminium-based particulate composites

Thermomechanical processing of aluminium-based particulate composites containing dispersions of various soft and hard particles such as graphite, zircon, glass, alumina and mica in aluminium alloy matrices, with a view to improving strength and ductility for structural applications, has been discussed. The existing literature on the subject has been critically reviewed and analysed, and broad guidelines for optimum thermomechanical processing have been presented. Considerable improvements in strength and ductility of these composite materials have been reported after rolling, forging and extrusion due to fragmentation/fibrization of particles together with the refinement of matrix microstructure, annihilation of defects such as porosity, and texture hardening, etc. The influence of process variables, and of volume fraction, size and morphology of the particles on the strengthening mechanisms, fracture toughness and work-hardening behaviour of worked composites has been discussed.     

An integrated adaptive bandwidth-management framework for QoS-sensitive multimedia cellular networks

Bandwidth is an extremely valuable and scarce resource in a wireless network. Therefore, efficient bandwidth management is necessary in order to provide high-quality service to users in a multimedia wireless/mobile network. In this paper, we propose new online bandwidth-management algorithms for bandwidth reservation, call admission, bandwidth migration, and call-preemption strategies. These techniques are combined in an integrated framework that is able to balance the traffic load among cells accommodating heterogeneous multimedia services while ensuring efficient bandwidth utilization. In addition, our online framework to adaptively control bandwidth is a cell-oriented approach that has low complexity, which makes it practical for real cellular networks. Simulation results indicate the superior performance of our bandwidth-management framework to strike the appropriate performance balance between contradictory quality-of-service requirements.     

A simple and accurate model analysis of strip-loaded opticalwaveguides with various index profiles

A simple first-order perturbation approach has been developed to study the propagation characteristics of strip-loaded diffused waveguides with various refractive index profiles. Propagation constants of the guided modes of rib waveguides and strip-loaded waveguides with exponential and Gaussian refractive index profiles are obtained. The results are in good agreement with those reported in the literature that were obtained by variational and numerical techniques. The presented technique provides analytical expressions for the modal field profile that should be useful in the design of various integrated optical devices     

An empirical correlation between contact angles and surface tension in some ceramic-metal systems

Chemical Engineering Department, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH     

Reliability modeling and performance evaluation of variablelink-capacity networks

This paper presents a composite performance index for communication networks with variable link-capacities. This index is based on link reliabilities and multiple-capacity link-states. Source-to-terminal success is the ability to provide connectivity with a certain traffic-carrying capacity. This index is useful for determining the performance of networks with links operating with residual traffic-carrying capacity and gives a good idea of the available resources for a particular s-t connection. An algorithm is given to evaluate the composite performance index     

Multisensor data fusion

Multisensor data fusion refers to the acquisition, processing and synergistic combination of information gathered by various knowledge sources and sensors to provide a better understanding of a phenomenon. It is a fascinating and rapidly evolving field that has generated a lot of excitement in the research and development community. These concepts are being applied to a wide variety of fields such as military command and control, robotics, image processing, air traffic control, medical diagnostics, pattern recognition and environmental monitoring. This paper presents a brief overview of the field and illustrates its potential by means of two examples     

Influence of Cr and W alloying on the fiber-matrix interfacial shear strength in cast and directionally solidified sapphire nial composites

Sapphire-reinforced NiAl matrix composites with chromium or tungsten as alloying additions were synthesized using casting and zone directional solidification (DS) techniques and characterized by a fiber pushout test as well as by microhardness measurements. The sapphire-NiAl(Cr) specimens exhibited an interlayer of Cr rich eutectic at the fiber-matrix interface and a higher interfacial shear strength compared to unalloyed sapphire-NiAl specimens processed under identical conditions. In contrast, the sapphire-NiAl(W) specimens did not show interfacial excess of tungsten rich phases, although the interfacial shear strength was high and comparable to that of sapphire-NiAl(Cr). The postdebond sliding stress was higher in sapphire-NiAl(Cr) than in sapphire-NiAl(W) due to interface enrichment with chromium particles. The matrix microhardness progressively decreased with increasing distance from the interface in both DS NiAl and NiAl(Cr) specimens. The study highlights the potential of casting and DS techniques to improve the toughness and strength of NiAl by designing dual-phase microstructures in NiAl alloys reinforced with sapphire fibers. R. TIWARI, formerly Research Associate, Department of Chemical Engineering, Cleveland State University     

Characterization of copper nanoparticles synthesized by a novel microbiological method

The exploitation of various biomaterials for the biosynthesis of nanoparticles is considered as green technology as it does not involve any harmful chemicals. The present study reports the synthesis of copper nanoparticles which involves non-pathogenic bacterial strain Pseudomonas stutzeri, isolated from soil. These copper nanoparticles are further characterized for size and shape distributions by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, and high resolution transmission electron microscopy techniques. The results showed that the particles are spherical and quite stable in nature and shows surface plasmon resonance clearly featured in the optical spectra in visible region.     

Effect of Curing and Functionalization on the Interface Thermal Conductance in Carbon Nanotube–Epoxy Composites

This study investigates the interface thermal conductance in a functionalized carbon nanotube (CNT)–epoxy composite system and how it is modified when the surrounding matrix is cured. We have used nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations to study the interface thermal conductance in both cured and uncured matrices, based on diglycidyl ether of bisphenol F (EPON-862) and diethylenetoluenediamine. The functionalization is modeled using a dynamic crosslinking algorithm and represents a realistic model of the matrix-filler interface. The thermal interface conductance increases linearly with the degree of functionalization up to the studied 2.5% due to stronger thermal coupling between functionalized CNT and the matrix. In addition, it was observed that curing of the matrix increases the interface conductance by 20% relative to the uncured matrix. This increase is attributed to an increase in thermal conductivity of cured epoxy resulting from relative enhancement in nonbonded interactions (originating from volume reduction) and structural rigidity during curing. Our results suggest that the interface conductance can be strongly influenced by the thermal properties of the bulk matrix as well as the interface chemistry of the additives such as CNTs.