Evaluation of the reactivity of titanium with mould materials during casting

A methodology for evaluating the reactivity of titanium with mould materials during casting has been developed. Microhardness profiles and analysis of oxygen contamination have provided an index for evaluation of the reactivity of titanium. Microhardness profile delineates two distinct regions, one of which is characterised by a low value of hardness which is invariant with distance. The reaction products are uniformly distributed in the metal in this region. The second is characterised by a sharp decrease in microhardness with distance from the metal-mould interface. It represents a diffusion zone for solutes that dissolve into titanium from the mould. The qualitative profiles for contaminants determined by scanning electron probe microanalyser and secondary ion mass spectroscopy in the as-cast titanium were found to be similar to that of microhardness, implying that microhardness can be considered as an index of the contamination resulting from metal-mould reaction.     

Deformation structure in a Ti-24Al-11Nb alloy

A Ti-24Al-11Nb alloy has been heat-treated so as to obtain a microstructure of coarse α₂ particles (D0₁₉ structure based on Ti₃Al) in a matrix of the ordered β_o phase (B2 structure based on Ti₂AlNb). Dislocation structures generated by tensile strains of ∼2 pct at room temperature have been analyzed by transmission electron microscopy The β_o phase is shown to deform inhomogeneously on {110}, {112}, and {123} planes by α/〈211〉 slip. The slipband structure is complex, consisting of segments of heavily pinned edge dislocations with periodic cross slip of screw components on to secondary slip planes. Incompatibility stresses at α₂/β_o interfaces can generate fine α[100] slip as well. The α₂ phase deforms independently by α dislocation slip. Slipbands in the β_o phase can shear the α₂ phase by activatingc +a/2 slip on and slip planes, as well asa slip on higher order pyramidal planes, where the parallelism of the specific slip system is permitted by the Burgers relationship between the two phases.     

Efficient multiple-precision integer division algorithm

Design and implementation of division algorithm is one of the most complicated problems in multi-precision arithmetic. Huang et al. [1] proposed an efficient multi-precision integer division algorithm, and experimentally showed that it is about three times faster than the most popular algorithms proposed by Knuth [2] and Smith [3]. This paper reports a bug in the algorithm of Huang et al. [1], and suggests the necessary corrections. The theoretical correctness proof of the proposed algorithm is also given. The resulting algorithm remains as fast as that of [1].     

Text extraction and enhancement of binary images using cellular automata

Text characters embedded in images represent a rich source of information for content-based indexing and retrieval applications. However, these text characters are difficult to be detected and recognized due to their various sizes, grayscale values, and complex backgrounds. Existing methods cannot handle well those texts with different contrast or embedded in a complex image background. In this paper, a set of sequential algorithms for text extraction and enhancement of image using cellular automata are proposed. The image enhancement includes gray level, contrast manipulation, edge detection, and filtering. First, it applies edge detection and uses a threshold to filter out for low-contrast text and simplify complex background of high-contrast text from binary image. The proposed algorithm is simple and easy to use and requires only a sample texture binary image as an input. It generates textures with perceived quality, better than those proposed by earlier published techniques. The performance of our method is demonstrated by presenting experimental results for a set of text based binary images. The quality of thresholding is assessed using the precision and recall analysis of the resultant text in the binary image.     

Algorithms for computing diffuse reflection paths in polygons

Let s be a point source of light inside a polygon P of n vertices. A polygonal path from s to some point t inside P is called a diffuse reflection path if the turning points of the path lie on edges of?P. A?diffuse reflection path is said to be optimal if it has the minimum number of reflections on the path. The problem of computing a diffuse reflection path from s to t inside P has not been considered explicitly in the past. We present three different algorithms for this problem which produce suboptimal paths. For constructing such a path, the first algorithm uses a greedy method, the second algorithm uses a transformation of a minimum link path, and the third algorithm uses the edge–edge visibility graph of?P. The first two algorithms are for polygons without holes, and they run in O(n+klogn) time, where k denotes the number of reflections in the constructed path. The third algorithm is for polygons with or without holes, and it runs in O(n ²) time. The number of reflections in the path produced by this third algorithm can be at most three times that of an optimal diffuse reflection path. Though the combinatorial approach used in the third algorithm gives a better bound on the number of reflections on the path, the first and the second algorithms stand on the merit of their elegant geometric approaches based on local geometric information.     

Efficient algorithms for single- and two-layer linear placement of parallel graphs

This paper outlines an algorithm for optimum linear ordering (OLO) of a weighted parallel graph with O(n log k) worst-case time complexity, and O(n + k log(n/k) log k) expected-case time complexity, where n is the total number of nodes and k is the number of chains in the parallel graph. Next, the two-layer OLO problem is considered, where the goal is to place the nodes linearly in two routing layers minimizing the total wire length. The two-layer problem is shown to subsume the maxcut problem and a befitting heuristic algorithm is proposed. Experimental results on randomly generated samples show that the heuristic algorithm runs very fast and outputs optimum solutions in more than 90% instances.     

Non-uniform illumination in concentrating solar cells

After a gap of more than two decades, Concentrator Photovoltaics (CPV) technology is once again under spotlight for making use of the best available solar cell technologies and improving the overall performance. CPV finds its use in a number of applications ranging from building integration to huge power generation units. Although the principles of solar concentration are well understood, many practical design, operation, control issues require further understanding and research. A particular issue for CPV technology is the non-uniformity of the incident flux which tends to cause hot spots, current mismatch and reduce the overall efficiency of the system. Understanding of this effect requires further research, and shall help to employ the most successful means of using solar concentrators. This study reviews the causes and effects of the non-uniformity in the CPV systems. It highlights the importance of this issue in solar cell design and reviews the methods for the solar cell characterization under non-uniform flux conditions. Finally, it puts forward a few methods of improving the CPV performance by reducing the non-uniformity effect on the concentrator solar cells.     

A monolithic finite-element formulation for magnetohydrodynamics

This work develops a new monolithic strategy for magnetohydrodynamics based on a continuous velocity–pressure formulation. The magnetic field is interpolated in the same way as the velocity field, and the entire formulation is within a nodal finite-element framework. The velocity and pressure interpolations are chosen so that they satisfy the Babuska–Brezzi (BB) conditions. In most of the existing formulations, a stabilized formulation is used that requires a stabilization term, and some associated mesh-dependent parameters that need to be adjusted. In contrast, no such parameters need to be adjusted in the current formulation, making it more user-friendly and robust. Both transient and steady-state formulations are developed for two- and three-dimensional geometries. An exact linearization of the monolithic strategy ensures that rapid (quadratic) convergence is achieved within each time (or load) step, while the stable nature of the interpolations used ensures that no instabilities arise in the solution. An existing analytical solution is corrected. The coarse mesh accuracy is shown to be better compared with other existing strategies in several benchmark problems, showing that the developed formulation is both robust and efficient.     

Tensile behaviour of boron modified Timetal 834 titanium alloy in the intermediate temperature range 400-500 °C

The tensile behaviour of boron modified Timetal 834 titanium alloy was studied in the intermediate temperature range 400-500 °C and compared with that of the base alloy. The yield and ultimate tensile strengths of the B modified alloy were found to be higher than those of the base alloy at all the temperatures investigated. The B modified alloy also exhibited only a marginally lower elongation to failure as compared to the base alloy at all the temperatures investigated. The B modified alloy exhibited dynamic strain aging in the temperature range 400-475 °C which is similar to the observed behaviour in the base alloy.