Surface Treatments of Automotive Parts – Research and Applications

Surface treatments used in daily manufacturing of parts for the automotive industry are selected to serve functional and decorative requirements achieved of mass production. Increased loads (mechanical, thermal etc.), longer life time, weight reduction, friction reduction, and corrosion resistance are demanded for modern automotive systems. Within the last decade, improved and new deposition techniques were developed in PVD, PECVD, thermochemical heat treatment and thermal spraying. These new treatments are becoming more and more common in powertrain and engine applications. Generating optimized surfaces for different types of substrate materials (e.g. Al‐ alloys, case hardened steels etc.) and geometries (e.g. bores) also impacts the running costs. Due to the new developments within these competing surface treatments, it becomes more and more common to substitute traditional treatment‐substrate‐systems with advanced treatments. Both the application potential and selected examples of different surface treatments will be shown. Aspects of the internal coating of bores inside the engine by plasma spraying, features of the corrosion protection of parts for the powertrain by the IONITOX process and piston ring treatments are discussed in more detail.     

Effect of spontaneous polarization on the energy levels in quantum wells formed at the contact between cubic and noncubic silicon carbide polytypes

We have studied the effect of spontaneous polarization, which is inherent in noncubic silicon carbide (SiC) polytypes, on the characteristics of quantum wells (QWs) formed in the cubic region at the heterojunction. The analysis is performed for various QW models, including triangular, parabolic, and exponential. Conditions for the appearance of a two-dimensional electron gas at the interface are briefly discussed.     

Microhardness of silicon layers grown by liquid phase epitaxy

The microhardness of silicon epilayers grown from Sn fluxes is found to be lower than that of the silicon substrates and to significantly depend on the crystallographic orientation of the substrates. The microhardness values follow a Gaussian distribution in all of the epilayers. Unintentional impurities are shown to have a significant effect on the microhardness of the epilayers. The addition of ytterbium to the high-temperature solution reduces the microhardness of the epilayers.     

Direct transformation of nonlinear systems into state affine MISO form for observer design

This paper gives necessary and sufficient conditions to solve in a constructive way the transformation of a general multiple-input-single-output nonlinear system into a state affine system. This result is direct i.e., without solving the state elimination problem when computing the input-output differential equation. A Kalman-like observer can be designed for the obtained state affine system.     

The fractal structure of a carbon deposit formed during graphite spraying in an electric arc

Experimental data obtained by atomic force microscopy showing that a carbon deposit formed during graphite spraying in an electric arc possesses a fractal structure. The deposit is composed of clusters with dimensions on the order of 1–5 nm. The surface and profile of the deposit exhibit a self-affine fractal structure. The fractal dimensions of the deposit surface and profile, as well as the Hurst index characterizing the self-affine fractal, are determined.     

Thermodesorption of samarium from oxidized tungsten surface

Thermodesorption of samarium (Sm) atoms and samarium oxide (SmO) molecules from samarium films deposited in vacuum onto tungsten substrates covered with thin (<1 nm thick) layers of tungsten oxides has been studied. It is established that samarium reduces tungsten from its oxides. The parameters of Sm and SmO desorption from an oxidized tungsten surface are determined.     

Information System for Antitumor Agents: Computer database biologic module

The structure of the biological module of the computer database in the ISIS/Base format of the Information System for Antitumor Agents of the GU Blokhin Cancer Research Center (CRC), RAMS, is given and the organizational and technological aspects of its loading, editing, retrieval, and use are described.