Dieless drawing steel wires using a dielectric heating method and modeling the process dynamics

Modern industries require the production of multi-functional, inorganic, micron-sized metal wires. This study suggests a novel method that could potentially offer a highly efficient dieless drawing technology for manufacturing thin stainless steel fibers. The method is based on a hot-working principle, using microwaves as the heat source and SiC as the susceptor. Experimental trials with a laboratory rig showed that the new system worked effectively for drawing the stainless steel wires and should be able to realize the diameter attenuation with a diameter reduction of up to 21%. The theoretical model describing the deformation behavior of the stainless steel wires in the working zone along with the constitutive equation of Bingham model modified with a power law and Zener–Hollomon parameter turned out to match very good with the actual results of the experiment. The coefficient of variation of the drawn wire diameter increased, as the draw ratio increased, which could be attributed to the occurrence of the narrow necking zone.     

Icosahedral medium-range orders and backbone formation in an amorphous alloy

Analyses of metallic amorphous solids constructed using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have demonstrated that individual short-range orders (SROs) are linked with neighboring SROs and form various medium-range orders (MROs). These MROs have been observed to have different structural stability depending on their linking patterns. On the basis of the assessment of the structural stability of various MROs, we propose new types of structural organization, namely, icosahedral medium-range orders (I-MROs) and their extended-range order that forms the backbone of amorphous solids. We also discuss why the atomic-scale structure of an amorphous alloy can be more appropriately described in terms of I-MROs, rather than by the degree of short-range ordering as characterized by the fractions of SROs.     

Fabrication of Al matrix composite reinforced with submicrometer-sized Al<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> particles formed by combustion reaction between HEMM Al and V<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>5</Subscript> composite particles during sintering

To fabricate an Al-V matrix composite reinforced with submicron-sized Al₂O₃ and Al_xV_y (Al₃V, Al₁₀V) phases, high energy mechanical milling (HEMM) and sintering were employed. By increasing the milling time, the size of mechanically milled powder was significantly reduced. In this study, the average powder size of 59 μm for Al, and 178 μm for V₂O₅ decreased with the formation of a new product, Al-Al₂O₃-Al_xV_y, with a size range from 1.3 μm to 2.6 μm formed by the in-situ combustion reaction during sintering of HEM milled Al and V₂O₅ composite powders. The in-situ reaction between Al and V₂O₅ during the HEMM and sintering transformed the Al₂O₃ and Al_xV_y (Al₃V, Al₁₀V) phases. Most of the reduced V reacted with excess the Al to form Al_xV_y (Al₃V, Al₁₀V) with very little V dissolved into Al matrix. By increasing the milling time and weight percentage of V₂O₅, the hardness of the Al-Al₂O₃-Al_xV_y composite sintered at 1173 K increased. The composite fabricated with the HEMM Al-20wt.%V₂O₅ composite powder and sintering at 1173 K for 2 h had the highest hardness.     

Image Resolution Enhancement Using Spatially Invariant Point Spread Function

<正>This paper presents an image resolution enhancement algorithm using spatially invariant point spread function.Point spread function is used to constrain the solution space.This parameter is computed at each iteration step using partially restored image at each iteration,and High pass filter is used to impose the degree of edge smoothness on the solution.The resulting iterative algorithm exhibits the increased PSNR better than Bicubic interpolation approach.     

Analysis of water hammer in pipelines by partial fraction expansion of transfer function in frequency domain

Understanding water hammer is very important to the prevention of excessive pressure build-up in pipelines. Many researchers have studied this phenomenon, drawing effective solutions through the time- and frequency-domain approaches. For the purposes of enhancing the advantages of the frequency-domain approach and, thereby, rendering investigations of the dynamic characteristics of pipelines more effective, we propose partial fraction expansion of the transfer function between the unsteady flow source and a given section. We simulate the proposed approach using a vibration element inserted into a simple pipeline, deducing much useful physical information pertaining to pipeline design. We conclude that locating the resonance of the vibration element between the first and second resonances of the pipeline can mitigate the excessive pressure build-up attendant on the occurrence of water hammer. Our method of partial fraction expansion is expected to be useful and effective in analyses of unsteady flows in pipelines.     

Ultimate flexural strength of aluminum sections

A significant proportion of extruded aluminum sections have capacities beyond yield strength. In this study, the ultimate inelastic capacity is investigated for laterally supported aluminum flexural members symmetrical about bending axis. The topics studied include ultimate compressive stresses for component plate elements of flexural members, ultimate shape factors, and improvements to the existing weighted average strength approach. A parametric study using finite element analysis as well as physical tests was conducted to validate the approaches developed in this study. The study shows that the proposed approaches predict the ultimate inelastic flexural strength of aluminum members accurately.     

Enhanced transformation of triclosan by laccase in the presence of redox mediators

Triclosan (TCS), an antimicrobial agent, is an emerging and persistent environmental pollutant that is often found as a contaminant in surface waters and sediments; hence, knowledge of its degradability is important. In this study we investigated laccase-mediated TCS transformation and detoxification, using laccase (from the fungus Ganoderma lucidum) in the presence and absence of redox mediators. Transformation products were identified using HPLC, ESI-MS and GC-MS, and transformation mechanisms were proposed. In the absence of redox mediator, 56.5% TCS removal was observed within 24 h, concomitant with formation of new products with molecular weights greater than that of TCS. These products were dimers and trimers of TCS, as confirmed by ESI-MS analysis. Among the various mediators tested, 1-hydroxybenzotriazole (HBT) and syringaldehyde (SYD) significantly enhanced TCS transformation (∼90%). The presence of these mediators resulted in products with lower molecular weights than TCS, including 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP; confirmed by GC-MS) and dechlorinated forms of 2,4-DCP. When SYD was used as the mediator, dechlorination resulted in 2-chlorohydroquinone (2-CHQ). Bacterial growth inhibition studies revealed that laccase-mediated transformation of TCS effectively decreased its toxicity, with ultimate conversion to less toxic or nontoxic products. Our results confirmed the involvement of two mechanisms of laccase-catalyzed TCS removal: (i) oligomerization in the absence of redox mediators, and (ii) ether bond cleavage followed by dechlorination in the presence of redox mediators. These results suggest that laccase in combination with natural redox mediator systems may be a useful strategy for the detoxification and elimination of TCS from aqueous systems.     

Optimal power system operation using parallel processing system and PSO algorithm

In recent studies, PSO algorithm is applied to solve OPF problem. However, population based optimization method requires higher computing time to find optimal point. This shortcoming is overcome by a straightforward parallelization of PSO algorithm. The developed parallel PSO algorithm is implemented on a PC-cluster system with 8 Intel Pentium IV 2 GHz processors. The proposed approach has been tested on the test systems. The results showed that computing time of parallelized PSO algorithm can be reduced by parallel processing without losing the quality of solution.     

Simple K-band MMIC VCO utilizing a miniaturized hairpin resonator and a three-terminal p-HEMT varactor with low phase noise and high output power properties

Presents a fully monolithic K-band MMIC voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) implemented by using a 0.25 /spl mu/m AlGaAs/InGaAs pseudomorphic HEMT (p-HEMT) technology. The use of a half-wavelength miniaturized hairpin-shaped resonator and a three-terminal p-HEMT varactor was effective in reducing the chip size and simplifying fabrication processes of the microwave MMIC VCO without impairing the performance of the circuit. The VCO provides a typical output power of 11.5 dBm at 20.8 GHz and a free-running phase noise of -82 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset and -95 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset. It also shows a tuning range of 70 MHz with little reduction in output power and high yield properties. The chip size of the MMIC VCO is 1.5 /spl times/ 2.0 mm/sup 2/.