Strontium modification of aluminium alloy castings in the expendable pattern casting process

The influence of strontium modification on microstructure, pore characteristics and tensile properties of Al-Si-Cu castings produced by the expendable pattern casting (EPC) process has been investigated. Test castings have been produced at strontium concentrations varying from 0.0004%–0.03%. The castings have been analysed by microscopic and image analysis techniques. The results indicate that optimum strontium concentrations are between 0.01% and 0.015%. A coarsening of silicon particles is observed at strontium concentrations greater than 0.015%–0.02%. The addition of strontium to the melt also refines the iron- and copper-bearing phases in the casting. The amount of bulk porosity, average pore size and tensile properties of modified EPC castings are comparable to green sand castings. EPC castings are prone to surface porosity. Strontium modification has a significant effect on the pore distributions in EPC castings. The overall porosity and the maximum pore size increase with strontium modification.     

Thermal degradation of foamed polystyrene

The thermal degradation of foamed polystyrene patterns in the expendable pattern casting (EPC) process has been studied. Various physical transitions that may occur during the degradation of the polymer have been determined with scanning electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis. The effects of polymer density and bead structure on the degradation characteristics have been investigated. The results indicate that, when exposed to elevated temperatures, the polymer beads collapse at about 110–120 °C. The collapsed beads melt at 160 °C, and start to vaporize at temperatures greater than about 275 °C. Complete volatilization occurs in the temperature range 460–500 °C. The heat of degradation of expanded polystyrene has been estimated to be at the order of 912 Jg^–1.     

Melting,Processing, and Properties of Disordered Fe-Al and Fe-Al-C Based Alloys

This article presents a part of the research work conducted in our laboratory to develop lightweight steels based on Fe-Al alloys containing 7 wt.% and 9 wt.% aluminum for construction of advanced lightweight ground transportation systems, such as automotive vehicles and heavy-haul truck, and for civil engineering construction, such as bridges, tunnels, and buildings. The melting and casting of sound, porosity-free ingots of Fe-Al-based alloys was accomplished by a newly developed cost-effective technique. The technique consists of using a special flux cover and proprietary charging schedule during air induction melting. These alloys were also produced using a vacuum induction melting (VIM) process for comparison purposes. The effect of aluminum (7 wt.% and 9 wt.%) on melting, processing, and properties of disordered solid solution Fe-Al alloys has been studied in detail. Fe-7 wt.% Al alloy could be produced using air induction melting with a flux cover with the properties comparable to the alloy produced through the VIM route. This material could be further processed through hot and cold working to produce sheets and thin foils. The cold-rolled and annealed sheet exhibited excellent room-temperature ductility. The role of carbon in Fe-7 wt.% Al alloys has also been examined. The results indicate that Fe-Al and Fe-Al-C alloys containing about 7 wt.% Al are potential lightweight steels.     

Electrospinning of PVA-Calcium Phosphate Sol Precursors for the Production of Fibrous Hydroxyapatite

A precursor solution containing poly(vinyl alcohol) and a calcium phosphate sol is used to produce fibers of hydroxyapatite. The mixture is electrospun at a voltage of 20 kV and the resultant structure is calcined at 600°C for 6 h. Experiments were conducted for polymer molecular weight ( M _W) between 9500 and 155 000 g/mol and sol volume fractions ( V _S) between 0% and 83%. The results indicate that the electrospun fiber diameter can be correlated to the solution viscosity. The polymer molecular weight and sol volume fraction have a significant effect on the ceramic structure. Highly interconnected solid or porous hydroxyapatite fibers with diameters between 200 and 500 nm and crystal sizes between 30 and 50 nm can be produced by controlling M _W and V _S.     

Bead‐to‐fiber transition in electrospun polystyrene

The morphological transition, namely bead‐to‐fiber transition, of electrospun polymer was examined for polystyrene, with its molecular weight ranging from 19,300 to 1,877,000 g/mol. Tetrahydrofuran and N,N‐dimethylformamide were used as solvents to examine the effects of solvent properties on the morphological variations. Polymer molecular weight and solvent properties had a significant effect on the morphology of beads as well as fibers. Observation of fiber diameter and its distribution suggested that the effect of molecular weight and solvent may be independent. The critical concentrations at which incipient and complete fibers were observed were found to decrease significantly with molecular weight, as can be expected. The effect of solvents on these critical concentrations was minimal for moderate to high‐molecular‐weight (>100,000 g/mol) solutions. For low‐molecular‐weight solutions, the transition occurred at concentrations much lower than those predicted by a model, based exclusively on chain entanglements. Rapid solidification of jet which is expected to occur with concentrated solutions may play a vital role in establishing stable fibers during electrospinning. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2007     

Influence of coating thickness and sand fineness on mold filling in the lost foam casting process

The effects of coating thickness and sand fineness on the mold filling characteristics of aluminum alloy 319 have been investigated. Experiments have been conducted with strip patterns and transparent molds have been used to visually record the flow behavior. The results indicate that a higher fill time is observed in thicker coatings and finer sands. Typical flow velocities are on the order of 80 mm/s and 90 mm/s for sands with AFS numbers of 80 and 20 respectively. By comparison, when a completely impermeable mold is used, the flow velocity is reduced to about 20 mm/s. Under normal casting conditions, the gases formed at the metal front are eliminated rapidly into the sand, so that there is no substantial gas layer ahead of the flowing melt. A gas layer may build up at the metal front if the permeability of the mold medium is not adequate and eventually the gas bubbles may escape by penetration through the liquid metal. Factors affecting polymer degradation may have strong effect on mold filling while parameters associated with the elimination of degradation products may control defect formation.     

Stratification of patients according to prior cardiopulmonary disease and probability assessment based on the number of mismatched segmental equivalent perfusion defects. Approaches to strengthen the diagnostic value of ventilation/perfusion lung scans in acute pulmonary embolism

A categorical diagnosis of "high probability" or "intermediate probability" encompasses a spectrum of diagnostic probabilities of pulmonary embolism (PE) that is not communicated to the referring physician. The diagnostic value of ventilation/perfusion lung scans, in the present investigation, was strengthened by use of a table to determine the likelihood of PE in individual patients on the basis of the observed number of mismatched segmental equivalent perfusion defects. In addition, we tested the hypothesis that stratification of patients according to the presence or absence of prior cardiopulmonary disease may enhance the ventilation/perfusion scan assessment of the probability of PE among both of these clinical categories of patients. Data were derived from the collaborative study of the Prospective Investigation of Pulmonary Embolism Diagnosis (PIOPED). Ventilation/perfusion lung scans were evaluated in 378 patients with acute PE and 672 patients in whom suspected PE was excluded. Among patients with no prior cardiopulmonary disease, > or = 1.0 mismatched segmental equivalents was indicative of PE in 102 of 118 (86 percent) vs 113 of 155 (73 percent) among patients with prior cardiopulmonary disease (p < 0.02). Among patients with prior cardiopulmonary disease, > or = 2 mismatched segmental equivalents were required to indicate > or = 80 percent probability of PE. Stratification on the basis of the presence or absence of prior cardiopulmonary disease, therefore, enhanced the ability of ventilation/perfusion scan readers to assign an accurate positive predictive value and specificity to individual patients based on the observed number of mismatched segmental equivalent defects. Among patients with no prior cardiopulmonary disease, fewer mismatched segmental equivalent defects were required to indicate a high probability of PE than were required by PIOPED criteria. The findings from some of these patients, by PIOPED criteria, would have indicated intermediate probability. Some indeterminate probability readings, therefore, will be eliminated among patients stratified with no prior cardiopulmonary disease.     

Free-space-optical mobile ad hoc networks: Auto-configurable building blocks

Existence of line of sight (LOS) and alignment between the communicating antennas is one of the key requirements for free-space-optical (FSO) communication. To ensure uninterrupted data flow, auto-aligning transmitter and receiver modules are necessary. We propose a new FSO node design that uses spherical surfaces covered with transmitter and receiver modules for maintaining optical links even when nodes are in relative motion. The spherical FSO node provides angular diversity in 3-dimensions, and hence provides an LOS at any orientation as long as there are no obstacles in between the communicating nodes. For proof-of-concept, we designed and tested an auto-configurable circuit, integrated with light sources and detectors placed on spherical surfaces. We demonstrated communication between a stationary and a mobile node using these initial prototypes of such FSO structures. We also performed the necessary theoretical analysis to demonstrate scalability of our FSO node designs to longer distances as well as feasibility of denser packaging of transceivers on such nodes.

An implementation framework for trajectory-based routing in ad hoc networks

Routing in ad hoc networks is a complicated task because of many reasons. The nodes are low-memory, low-powered, and they cannot maintain routing tables large enough for well-known routing protocols. Because of that, greedy forwarding at intermediate nodes is desirable in ad hoc networks. Also, for traffic engineering, multi-path capabilities are important. So, it is desirable to define routes at the source like in source based routing (SBR) while performing greedy forwarding at intermediate nodes.We investigate trajectory-based routing (TBR) which was proposed as a middle-ground between SBR and greedy forwarding techniques. In TBR, source encodes trajectory to be traversed and embeds it into each packet. Upon the arrival of each packet, intermediate nodes decode the trajectory and employ greedy forwarding techniques such that the packet follows its trajectory as much as possible.In this paper, we address various issues regarding implementation of TBR. We also provide techniques to efficiently forward packets along a trajectory defined as a parametric curve. We use the well-known Bezier parametric curve for encoding trajectories into packets at source. Based on this trajectory encoding, we develop and evaluate various greedy forwarding algorithms