Effect of Ti(C,N) addition on sintering behaviour and properties of binder-modified WC-10Co cemented carbide

In the present investigation the microstructure and mechanical properties of WC-10Co, WC-8.3Ti(C,N)-12Co, WC-8.3Ti(C,N)-6Co-6Ni and WC-7Ti(C,N)-2Mo₂C-6Co-6Ni cemented carbides were studied. Introduction of Ti(C,N) in WC-10Co cemented carbide imposed sintering difficulties and hot isostatic pressing was required to obtain fully dense material. The modification of the binder cobalt with nickel and molybdenum did not noticeably affect the sintered microstructure. In general the mechanical properties of Ti(C,N)-containing cemented carbides were inferior to those of WC-10Co cemented carbide.     

Investigation on the bulk growth of $${\upalpha }$$-$$\hbox {LiIO}_{3}$$LiIO3 single crystals and the influence of pH on its structural,morphological and optical characteristics

\(\upalpha \)-\(\hbox {LiIO}_{3}\) is an excellent optical material exhibiting strong nonlinear optical, piezoelectric and elasto-optic properties. However, its practical applications are limited by the insufficient reproducibility of the mentioned properties caused by the strong influence of the growth conditions, and, in particular, pH of the solution from which \(\upalpha \)-\(\hbox {LiIO}_{3}\) crystal is grown. Herein, we investigate to grow bulk size good quality crystals of \(\upalpha \)-\(\hbox {LiIO}_{3}\) based on the observed problems during its crystallization process. A systematic investigation was carried out to find the effect of pH on solubility, crystal growth, structural, surface and laser damage properties of \(\upalpha \)-\(\hbox {LiIO}_{3}\) single crystals. The structure and phase of \(\hbox {LiIO}_{3}\) were confirmed by powder X-ray diffractometer analysis. The functional groups of the compound were identified using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Surface defects of the grown crystals were studied by etch patterns. The crystal grown at pH 10 showed 10% optical transmission enhancement in comparison to the crystals grown at pH 2. The indirect optical bandgap of the crystal was reinvestigated using ultraviolet–Visible–near-infrared transmittance spectrum. The laser damage threshold studies of the crystals grown at pH 10 reveal the higher optical radiation stability against 532 nm laser. The second-order nonlinear optical behaviour of \(\upalpha \)-\(\hbox {LiIO}_{3}\) crystals grown at different pH conditions have been investigated by using Kurtz and Perry powder technique with Nd:YAG laser pulses at the wavelength of 1064 nm.     

Mutator phenotype induced by aberrant replication

We have identified thermosensitive mutants of five Schizosaccharomyces pombe replication proteins that have a mutator phenotype at their semipermissive temperatures. Allele-specific mutants of DNA polymerase delta (poldelta) and mutants of Polalpha, two Poldelta subunits, and ligase exhibited increased rates of deletion of sequences flanked by short direct repeats. Deletion of rad2(+), which encodes a nuclease involved in processing Okazaki fragments, caused an increased rate of duplication of sequences flanked by short direct repeats. The deletion mutation rates of all the thermosensitive replication mutators decreased in a rad2Delta background, suggesting that deletion formation requires Rad2 function. The duplication mutation rate of rad2Delta was also reduced in a thermosensitive polymerase background, but not in a ligase mutator background, which suggests that formation of duplication mutations requires normal DNA polymerization. Thus, although the deletion and duplication mutator phenotypes are distinct, their mutational mechanisms are interdependent. The deletion and duplication replication mutators all exhibited decreased viability in combination with deletion of a checkpoint Rad protein, Rad26. Interestingly, deletion of Cds1, a protein kinase functioning in a checkpoint Rad-mediated reversible S-phase arrest pathway, decreased the viability and exacerbated the mutation rate only in the thermosensitive deletion replication mutators but had no effect on rad2Delta. These findings suggest that aberrant replication caused by allele-specific mutations of these replication proteins can accumulate potentially mutagenic DNA structures. The checkpoint Rad-mediated pathways monitor and signal the aberrant replication in both the deletion and duplication mutators, while Cds1 mediates recovery from aberrant replication and prevents formation of deletion mutations specifically in the thermosensitive deletion replication mutators.     

Cut-growth behaviour of EPDM-bromobutyl rubber blends under repeated stressing

Cut-growth behaviour of ethylene-propylene -diene rubber (EPDM), bromobutyl rubber (BIIR) and their blends under dynamic loading has been studied over a range of temperatures. The crack-growth resistance increases with the increase of BIIR content in the gum and filled blends. The 30: 70 EPDM : BIIR blend, however, gives the best fatigue resistance because of morphology and strain energy density factors. Failure surfaces have been examined both by photography and electron microscopic techniques. The crack always propagates from the precut. The rate of crack propagation is faster for EPDM gum samples. The blends show fracture features intermediate between those of fractured BIIR and EPDM rubbers. Straight flow lines, cracks and fatigue striations (10 to 15m distance between two consecutive striations) are observed for gum samples. The flow lines are increased and the cracks are reduced for filled samples. The fractography of the crack front at the precut and that away from it are similar. At a higher temperature (100° C), there is a reduction of fatigue life for the blends and pure rubbers. Many cracks are observed on the fracture surface of gum and filled samples.     

FPGA based area efficient RS(23, 17) codec

Generally in digital communication systems and storage mediums, Reed–Solomon (RS) codes are employed to detect and correct errors. RS code is a promising code for Ultra Wide Band (UWB) which is ideally suitable for wireless application. Design of compact, high-speed and low-power RS(23, 17) code is challenging for today’s wireless communication systems. Here, an optimization algorithm is introduced which is very simple and it is employed to reduce the number of XOR gates required to design constant Galois Field (GF) multipliers. In this paper, a compact RS(23, 17) encoder and decoder circuit is designed and implemented for Ultra Wide Band(UWB) application. The number of two input XOR gates is reduced by 29.27 (20.00) and 56.10 (66.15) % respectively for local and global optimization compared to unoptimized RS encoder (syndrome block) without increasing its delay. The proposed algorithm is also employed to design the RS(204, 188) and RS(255, 223) encoder. All designs are simulated and synthesized for Vertex4 FPGA platform. Proposed algorithm is also used for the design of Chien Search and Forney blocks. Implemented RS(23, 17) codec requires lesser number of slices and LUTs over the unoptimized RS codec. The synthesis results reflect that the proposed design is suitable for resource constraint applications.

     

Promising fluorescent dye for solar energy conversion based on a perylene perinone

We describe the synthesis of a dye based on a perylene perinone and evaluate its potential as the functional material for use in the luminescent solar concentrator (LSC). The dye extends the absorption wavelength of LSCs using the perylene-based dye Lumogen Red 305 by more than ~50 nm, translating into the collection of potentially 25% more photons at a reasonable fluorescent quantum yield and photostability. When the new perinone is used in a two-waveguide LSC in conjunction with Red 305, the integrated edge emission of the total LSC system may be increased more than 24% when compared to the Red 305 dye alone.     

High-power Ar-N2transfer laser at 3577 Å

A peak laser power of 0.5 MW with an estimated efficiency of 0.2 percent has been obtained at 3577 Å from a mixture of 92 psia Ar and 8 psia N2which was excited by anE-beam of 400 A/cm²at 1.3 MeV in a 20-ns pulse. A saturation intensity of ∼100 kW/cm²was deduced and a beam divergence of 10 mrad was measured from the laser having a 10-cm gain length.     

Baeyer-Villiger rearrangement catalysed by titanium silicate molecular sieve (TS-1)/H2O2 system

Titanium silicate molecular sieve TS-1 has been found to be an efficient catalyst for Baeyer-Villiger (BV) oxidation of cyclic and aromatic ketones under triphase conditions (solid catalyst along with two immiscible liquid reactants in the absence of any cosolvent), using dilute H₂O₂. Reactions studied are the oxidation of cyclohexanone and acetophenone. Whereas in the case of cyclohexane,-caprolactone, a BV product along with hydroxy and diketones is formed, in the case of acetophenone, phenyl acetate, a BV product along witho- andp-hydroxyacetophenone is formed. The acidic nature of titanium peroxo species, stabilised by water, is proposed to be responsible for such reactions under triphasic reaction conditions.On leave from: Catalysis Division, Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun 248 005, India.     

Fibers spun from blends of different molecular weights of polypropylene

Fibers spun from blends of small percentage of plastic grade polypropylene (HMPP) with fiber grade polypropylene (PP) are studied for drawing behavior. A factorial design of experiment is used for a two-stage drawing process with variables, such as percent of HMPP component, first stage draw ratio and temperature, and second stage temperature. Optimization is carried out for breaking stress and modulus of drawn filaments. Breaking stress of up to 0.74 GPa and initial modulus of 7.34 GPa is possible by such an optimization process. These properties are observed for 6% HMPP blend composition. Heat setting of drawn filaments show little changes up to 140°C heat-setting temperature. Large scale structural changes with rapid drop in mechanical properties is observed for 150-160°C heat-set samples.     

A secure reversible color image watermarking scheme based on LBP,lagrange interpolation polynomial and weighted matrix

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Secure reversible watermarking schemes are essential for image authentication and tamper detection in medical, military and government applications. In this...