Recrystallisation in the semi-solid state in 7075 aluminium alloy

There is a strong drive to near net shape process 7000 series aluminium alloys, which are currently machined from the wrought state with much waste. Semi-solid processing is one potential near net shaping route. It relies on the thixotropic behaviour of alloys with non-dendritic, spheroidal microstructures in the semi-solid state. If such alloys are sheared they thin and flow to fill the die. One route to spheroidal semi-solid microstructure is by reheating worked material into the semi-solid state. During the reheating, recrystallisation occurs and as liquid forms it penetrates the recrystallised boundaries to form spheroids. Here we examine the formation of spheroids in as-supplied 7075 aluminium alloy. It is generally known that 7075 is very resistant to recrystallisation in the solid state due to the presence of dispersoid particles pinning grain boundaries. In this work, we have reheated 7075 in the extruded and T6 condition into the semi-solid state. As the temperature rises into the semi-solid regime there is a sudden increase in the appearance of spheroidal grains. The occurrence of recrystallised grains is closely associated with the location of the first liquid to form above the solidus. Fully spheroidal microstructures are obtained on reheating as-supplied material to temperatures in the region of 580 °C, although the fractions of liquid at that temperature are still low at around 5%. Conventionally there is extra cost involved in obtaining spheroidal microstructure feedstock for semi-solid processing because additional steps are introduced into the process route. The advantage here is that as-supplied material can be directly thixoformed once appropriate liquid fractions are attained.     

Marketing quality differentiated power

A panel discussion sponsored by the Marketing Task Force of the Demand Side Subcommittee is summarized. The panel discussed customers' growing needs for electrical services with different levels of quality and utilities' response to this change in the market. Panel members included a consumer, technical experts, and marketing experts. The discussion is particularly important to utility personnel and marketing professionals interested in marketing solutions to power quality problems     

Growth of high-quality carbon nanotubes on free-standing diamond substrates

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were grown on diamond-coated Si substrates and free-standing diamond wafers to develop efficient thermal interface materials for thermal management applications. High-quality, translucent, free-standing diamond substrates were processed in a 5 kW microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition (CVD) system using CH₄ as precursor. Ni and Ni-9%W-1.5%Fe catalyst islands were deposited to nucleate CNTs directly onto the diamond substrates. Randomly-oriented multi-walled CNTs forming a mat of ∼5 μm thickness and consisting of ∼20 nm diameter tubes were observed to grow in a thermal CVD system using C₂H₂ as precursor. Transmission electron microscopy and Raman analyses confirmed the presence of high-quality CNTs on diamond showing a D/G peak ratio of 0.2-0.3 in Raman spectra.     

Supplementing fresh pasture with maize,lotus, sulla and pasture silages for dairy cows in summer

A trial was conducted to compare benefits obtained from feeding four types of silage. There were two silages that contained condensed tannins (CT)—lotus (Lotus corniculatus) and sulla (Hedysarum coronarium)—maize silage or traditional ryegrass pasture silage, all fed at 5 kg dry matter (DM) cow^?1 day^?1 with restricted pasture (RP). Cows on the RP (control) treatment and those fed the silage treatments were offered an allowance of 25 kg pasture DM cow^?1 day^?1, while the full pasture (FP) cows were offered 50 kg pasture DM cow^?1 day^?1. Silage supplementation increased both DM intake and milk yield compared with cows given RP only. Cows on the lotus silage supplement and the FP treatment had significantly higher milk production than the other silage supplemented cows (P < 0.001). For cows given lotus silage, the high milk yield was probably due to a combination of the higher nutritive value of the silage and possibly to the protein‐sparing effects of the lotus condensed tannins because the total DM intake of cows fed the lotus silage was the same as that of cows given the pasture and maize silages (P > 0.25). The high milk yield of the FP treatment was mainly a result of the cows having a higher intake of pasture than cows on all the other treatments. This study demonstrated the potential benefit of silage supplementation, particularly with lotus silage, for increased milksolids yield in summer when low pasture growth rates and quality may otherwise limit production. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

Assessing the validity of landscape evaluations

This paper was first presented at LRG's OASES conference, (Observing Australia) at Exeter in 1987. It examines the history of the tree lined avenue in Australia, especially New South Wales and discovers that its stylistic origins are varied and complex, from India and the United States as well as from Europe.     

Surface Treatment of Polypropylene Films Using Homogeneous DBD Plasma at Atmospheric Pressure in Air

The homogeneous dielectric barrier discharge （DBD） in atmospheric air is most favorable for polymer sur- face modification due to the low cost of operation and the ability of ambient on-line continuous...     

Digital processing of EEG signals

The digitization of electroencephalogram (EEG) signal data is the essential first step in using computers to analyse and manipulate EEG data. EEG signals are inherently complicated due to their nonGaussian, nonstationary, and often nonlinear nature as shown by most of the articles of this special issue. On top of that, the small amplitude of these signals reinforce their sensitivity to various artifacts and noise sources. The aim of this special issue is to shed light onto the recent digital techniques for processing EEG signals ranging from storage and artifact removal to event detection/classification and prediction issues