The paper presents the results of research on the modification of the face geometry of the refill friction stir spot welding tool sleeve for welding thin aluminum sheets with an Alclad and an oxide anode coating. The analysis of the impact of such modification on the process perform (tool motion parameters, temperature) and microstructure as well as mechanical strength of the lap joints were analyzed. The tests were carried out using aluminum alloy 2024-T3 sheets with thickness 1.27 mm. For comparative purposes, joints were also made using plates without an Alclad and without anodized coating with using unmodified tool and modified tools with developed 3 variants of face geometry. The samples with the joint were subjected to metallographic and strength tests. It has been shown that the use of modified geometry has a decisive influence on the performance of the process and the effect of softening and mixing of materials in the zone of point connection.

The aim of the work was to obtain thin bismuth oxide films containing, at room temperature, the Bi1,5Er0,5O3 phase. This phase corresponds to the structure of the high-temperature δ-Bi2O3 phase, in pure bismuth oxide, characterized by the highest ionic conductivity of all known solid state ionic conductors. The high-temperature δ-Bi2O3 phase with the face centered cubic structure, in pure bismuth oxide, occurs only at temperature above 730°C.

Stabilization of the δ-Bi2O3 phase at room temperature was achieved by an addition of the erbium together with the employment of the Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) technique. The influence of an amount of Er alloying and the film thickness on surface morphology, microstructure, phase composition of thin films were investigated. The velocity of deposition of thin layers of bismuth stabilized with erbium in the PLD process using the Nd: YAG laser was about 0.5 nm/s.

The investigation results of erbium doped bismuth oxide thin films deposited onto (0001) oriented Al2O3 monocrystalline substrate are presented.

Thin films of uniform thickness, without cracks, and porosity were obtained. All deposited thin films (regardless of the film thickness or erbia (Er2O3) content) exhibited a columnar structure. In films stabilized with erbium, up to approx. 250 nm thickness, the columns have a diameter at the base from 25 to 75 nm. The columns densely and tightly fill the entire volume of the films. With increasing of the film thickness increases, porosity also significantly increases. In thin layers containing from 20 to 30 mole % Er2O3 the main identified phase at room temperature is Bi1.5Er0.5O3. It is similar to the defective fluorite-type structure, and belongs to the Fm-3m space group. This phase corresponds to the structure of the high-temperature δ-Bi2O3 phase in pure bismuth oxide.

Trace elements Co, Cr were added to investigate their influence on the microstructure and physical properties of Al-Si extruded alloy. The Co, Cr elements were randomly distributed in the matrix, forms intermetallic phase and their existence were confirmed by XRD, EDS and SEM analysis. With addition of trace elements, the microstructure was modified, Si particle size was reduced and the growth rate of β-(Al5FeSi) phase limited. Compared to parent alloy, hardness and tensile strength were enhanced while the linear coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) was significantly reduced by 42.4% and 16.05% with Co and Cr addition respectively. It is considered that the low CTE occurs with addition of Co was due to the formation of intermetallic compound having low coefficient of thermal expansion. The results suggested that Co acts as an effective element in improving the mechanical properties of Al-Si alloy.

In this study, agar-based nanocomposite films containing ultra-porous silica aerogel particles were fabricated by gel casting using an aqueous agar/silica aerogel slurry. The silica aerogel particles did not show significant agglomeration and were homogeneously distributed in the agar matrix. Transmission electron microscopy observations demonstrated that the silica aerogel particles had a mesoporous microstructure and their pores were not incorporated into the agar polymer molecules. The thermal conductivities of the agar and agar/5 wt.% silica aerogel nanocomposite films were 0.36 and 0.20 W·m–1·K–1, respectively. The transmittance of the agar films did not decrease upon the addition of silica aerogel particles into them. This can be attributed to the anti-reflection effect of silica aerogel particles.

The grain boundary wetting phase transition in an industrial EZ33A cast alloy is studied. 12% of the grain boundaries are completely wetted at the temperature slightly higher than the eutectic transformation temperature (530°C). The fraction of wetted grain boundaries increases with temperature, reaches a maximum of 85% at 570°C, and does not change further until the alloy melts. In the as-cast state, the alloy has low ductile properties at the ambient temperature. The microstructure in the as-cast state corresponds to the wetting state at about 560°C, which indicates that the cooling rate in casting is almost equal to that in quenching. The volume and the surface fraction of the second phase and the hardness measured at the least wetted state of samples point to its good machinability. The wetting data are used to suggest a sequence of heat treatment and machining for processing EZ33A alloy parts.

The effects of carbon content on the austenite stability and strain-induced transformation of nanocrystalline Fe-11% Ni alloys were investigated using X-ray analysis and mechanical tests. The nanocrystalline FeNiC alloy samples were rapidly fabricated using spark plasma sintering because of the extremely short densification time, which not only helped attain the theoretical density value but also prevented grain growth. The increased austenite stability resulted from nanosized crystallites in the sintered alloys. Increasing compressive deformation increased the volume fraction of strain-induced martensite from austenite decomposition. The kinetics of the strain-induced martensite formation were evaluated using an empirical equation considering the austenite stability factor. As the carbon content increased, the austenite stability was enhanced, contributing to not only a higher volume fraction of austenite after sintering, but also to the suppression of its strain-induced martensite transformation.

In this study, BaFe12-2xCoxTixO19 (X : 0 to 2.0, 0.2) powders were synthesized by sol-gel process. TG-DTA, XRD, SEM, VSM, and Network analyzer were measured in order to influence easy magnetization axis change on the wave absorption frequency range change. The easy magnetization axis change of the annealed powder at 900°C and 1200°C was confirmed by the coercive force decreased 4,800 and 3,870 Oe to 260 and 269 Oe, respectively, at the substitution ratio of 0.8 and 1.0. And it was confirmed that the change of the easy magnetization axis affected the change of the wave absorption frequency. The wave absorption frequency of substituted Barium Ferrite was less than 10 GHz range after the easy magnetization axis of Barium ferrite changed to a-b plan direction. It was confirmed the BaFe12-2xCoxTixO19(x = 0.8 to 1.6) was synthesized by the sol-gel process and it was annealed at 900°C and 1200°C, which could be used as a wave absorber in the X-band region of 10 GHz less.

A liquid crystal display (LCD) recycling process is needed to increase its efficiency by recovering the resources in addition to metals and plastics. This study investigates the pre-treatment process for recycling LCD glass. Recycling pre-treatment includes dismantling the LCD from the waste product, crushing the glass, and separating the glass particles from the impurities. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed that the oscillation milling process is more effective in maintaining uniform powder shape and size as compared to the cut milling process. The glass particles crushed by the oscillating mill, optimized at 1500 rpm, had a uniformly distributed particle size of less than 10 µm. These small particles were separated from the organic impurities, achieving a 98% pure powder that can be used as recycled raw materials. The proposed pre-treatment process for recycling LCD glass will enhance the ability to use waste glass as a valuable resource in the manufacturing of future displays.

Considering the advantages of hollow fiber supported liquid membrane (HFSLM), it has been applied for extraction of Co(II) with a motivation to extract cobalt from various waste resources. Extraction efficiency and transport behavior of Co(II) through HFSLM containing Cyanex 272 diluted in kerosene were investigated. Experiments were performed as a function of aqueous feed solution velocity (1000 mL/min) for both feed and strip, pH of feed solution in the range of 4.00-6.75, the carrier concentration of 25-1000 mol/m3, and acid concentration in strip solution of 1-500 mol/m3on. The mass transfer rate or flux JCo(II), which is a function of metal concentration, volume of solution, and membrane area were analyzed. The optimum condition for extraction of Co(II) was pH of 6.00, Cyanex 272 concentration of 500 mol/m3 and H2SO4 concentration of 100 mol/m3.

Poppet valves made from high-frequency heat-treated SUH3 steel have insufficient durability, and scratches appear on the valve face in prolonged use. It is necessary to develop surface treatment technology with excellent durability to prevent the deterioration of engine performance. Therefore, a surface treatment technology with higher abrasion resistance than existing processes was developed by direct metal deposition to the face where the cylinder and valve are closed. In this study, heat pretreatment and deposition tests were performed on three materials to find suitable powders. In the performance evaluation, the hardness, friction coefficient, and wear rate were measured. Direct metal deposition using Inconel 738 and Stellite 6 powders without heat pretreatment were experimentally verified to have excellent durability.

In this study, molten salt electrorefining was used to recover indium metal from In-Sn crude metal sourced from indium tin oxide (ITO) scrap. The electrolyte used was a mixture of eutectic LiF-KF salt and InF3 initiator, melted and operated at 700°C. Voltammetric analysis was performed to optimize InF3 content in the electrolyte, and cyclic voltammetry (CV) was used to determine the redox potentials of In metal and the electrolyte. The optimum initiator concentration was 7 wt% of InF3, at which the diffusion coefficients were saturated. The reduction potential was controlled by applying constant current densities of 5, 10, and 15 mA/cm2 using chronopotentiometry (CP) techniques. In metal from the In-Sn crude melt was deposited on the cathode surface and was collected in an alumina crucible.

Cu-Ni composite nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by electrical explosion of wire (EEW) method. Cu-Ni alloy and twisted wires with various Ni contents were used as the feeding material for a 3 kV charging voltage EEW machine in an ethanol ambient chamber. The phase structure and magnetic properties of the as-fabricated samples were studied. It was established that the prepared powders after drying have a spherical form with the particle size is under 100 nm. XRD analysis indicated that the nanopowders consisted of binary Cu-Ni phases. Only pure phases of the intermetallic compound Cu-Ni (Cu0.81Ni0.19 and Cu3.8Ni) were observed in the XRD patterns of the samples. The synthesized intermetallic Cu-Ni alloy nanopowders reveal magnetic behaviors, however, the lower Ni content samples exhibited paramagnetic behaviors, meanwhile, the higher Ni content samples exposed ferromagnetic properties.

For the reliable applications of silver nanowires, AgNW, which is used as a conductive transparent film in electronic devices, the isothermal degradation behaviors of AgNW films with and without overcoating were investigated. Accelerated isothermal degradation was performed as a function of temperature, time, and atmosphere. Electrical resistance and optical transmittance were measured and correlated with the microstructural damages, such as formation of oxide particles and fragmentations of AgNW, which were quantitatively determined from the scanning electron micrographs. The overcoating retarded the formation of oxide particles and subsequent fragmentations as well as resulting degradation in electrical resistance without affecting the optical transmittance.

Effects of various friction stir processing (FSP) variables on the microstructural evolution and microhardness of the AZ31 magnesium alloy were investigated. The processing variables include rotational and travelling speed of the tool, kind of second phase (i.e., diamond, Al2O3, and ZrO2) and groove depth (i.e., volume fraction of second phase). Grain size, distribution of second phase particle, grain texture, and microhardness were analyzed as a function of the FSP process variables. The FSPed AZ31 composites fabricated with a high heat input condition showed the better dispersion of particle without macro defect. For all composite specimens, the grain size decreased and the microhardness increased regardless of the grooved depth compared with that of the FSPed AZ31 without strengthening particle, respectively. For the AZ31/diamond composite having a grain size of about 1 μm, microhardness (i.e., about 108 Hv) was about two times higher than that of the matrix alloy (i.e., about 52 Hv). The effect of second phase particle on retardation of grain growth and resulting hardness increase was discussed.

The present study, aims to investigate the effect of minor Zr and Nb alloying on soft magnetic and electrical properties of Fe86(ZrxNb1-x)7B6Cu1 (x = 1, 0.75, 0.5, 0.25) alloys. The investigated alloys were prepared through the melt spinning process. Within the examined compositional range (Nb up to 5.25at%, respectively), the soft magnetic properties and electrical resistivity of the alloys continuously increase with increasing Nb content. However increasing the Nb content further decreases such properties. We could confirm the influence of ratio of Zr and Nb on grain growth and crystallization fraction during crystallization by using the soft magnetic properties and electrical properties.

Microstructures and mechanical properties of as-cast Al-6.5Mg-1.5Zn-0.5Fe alloys newly alloy-designed for the parts of automobile were investigated in detail. The aluminum (Al) sheets of 4 mm thickness, 30 mm width and 100 mm length were reduced to a thickness of 1mm by multi-pass rolling at ambient temperature and subsequently annealed for 1h at 200~500°C. The as-cast Al sheet was deformed without a formation of so large cracks even at huge rolling reduction of 75%. The recrystallization begun to occur at 250°C, it finished at 350°C. The as-rolled material showed tensile strength of 430 MPa and tensile elongation of 4.7%, however the specimen after annealing at 500°C showed the strength of 305 MPa and the elongation of 32%. The fraction of high angle grain boundaries above 15 degree increased greatly after annealing at high temperatures. These characteristics of the specimens after annealing were discussed in detail.

In this study, we investigated the bonding mechanism of surface-treated steel with an Al-Si alloy in order to produce steel-aluminum (STL-Al) hybrid composite materials by cast-bonding. The results showed that there are differences in the phase and properties of the hybrid composite materials bonded specimens depending on the surface treatment of the steel sheet used, and that the bonding conditions can be controlled further by detailed conditions of the surface treatment. Based on the interfacial bonding strengths measured here, the galvanized surface treatment induced metallurgical bonding to form a reaction layer on the bonding surface and was determined to be the most effective surface treatment.

439L stainless steel composites blended with fifteen micron SiC particles were prepared by uniaxial pressing of raw powders at 100 MPa and conventional sintering at 1350oC for 2 h. Based on the results of X-ray diffraction analysis, dissolution of SiC particles were apparent. The 5 vol% SiC specimen demonstrated maximal densification (91.5%) among prepared specimens ­(0-10 vol% SiC); the relative density was higher than the specimens in the literature (80-84%) prepared by a similar process but at a higher forming pressure (700 MPa). The stress-strain curve and yield strength were also maximal at the 5 vol% of SiC, indicating that densification is the most important parameter determining the mechanical property. The added SiC particles in this study did not serve as the reinforcement phase for the 439L steel matrix but as a liquid-phase-sintering agent for facilitating densification, which eventually improved the mechanical property of the sintered product.

The computational intelligence tool has major contribution to analyse the properties of materials without much experimentation. The B4C particles are used to improve the quality of the strength of materials. With respect to the percentage of these particles used in the micro and nano, composites may fix the mechanical properties. The different combinations of input parameters determine the characteristics of raw materials. The load, content of B4C particles with 0%, 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10% will determine the wear behaviour like CoF, wear rate etc. The properties of materials like stress, strain, % of elongation and impact energy are studied. The temperature based CoF and wear rate is analysed. The temperature may vary between 30°C, 100°C and 200°C. In addition, the CoF and wear rate of materials are predicted with respect to load, weight % of B4C and nano hexagonal boron nitride %. The intelligent tools like Neural Networks (BPNN, RBNN, FL and Decision tree) are applied to analyse these characteristics of micro / nano composites with the inclusion of B4C particles and nano hBN % without physically conducting the experiments in the Lab. The material properties will be classified with respect to the range of input parameters using the computational model.

The article presents the results of investigation of ultra-strength nanostructured bainitic steel Fe-0.6%C-1.9%Mn-1.8%Si-1.3%Cr-0.7%Mo (in wt. %) subjected to shear and uniaxial compression under high strain rate loading. Steel of microstructure consisted of carbide-free bainite and carbon enriched retained austenite presents a perfect balance of mechanical properties especially strength to toughness ratio. Two retained austenite morphologies exist which controlled ductility of the steel: film between bainite laths and separated blocks. It is well established that the strain induced transformation of carbon enriched retained austenite to martensite takes place during deformation. Shear localisation has been found to be an important and often dominant deformation and fracture mode in high-strength steels at high strain rate. Deformation tests were carried out using Gleeble simulator and Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar. Shear and compression strength were determined and toughness and crack resistance were assessed. Susceptibility of nanostructured bainitic steel to the formation of adiabatic shear bands (ASBs) and conditions of the bands formation were analysed. The results suggest that the main mechanism of hardening and failure at the dynamic shearing is local retained austenite transformation to high-carbon martensite which preceded ASBs formation. In the area of strain localization retained austenite transformed to fresh martensite and then steel capability to deformation and strengthening decreases.

The objective of this study was to investigate the dependence of the room temperature tensile properties on the volume fraction of discontinuous precipitates (DPs) in a cast AZ91 magnesium alloy. In order to obtain various volume fractions of DPs, the solution-treated alloy was aged at 428 K for up to 48 h. The volume fraction of DPs increased from 0% to 72% with an increase in the aging time up to 24 h; for aging times longer than 24 h, discontinuous precipitation was substantially inhibited owing to the occurrence of significant continuous precipitation within the α-(Mg) grains. YS and UTS of the alloy increased with the volume fraction of DPs, whereas the elongation showed a reverse trend. A relatively rapid change in the tensile properties with increasing volume fraction of DPs up to ~40% was noted, which would be due to the reduction of the effective α grain size in response to the formation of DPs along the grain boundaries.

In this study, we present a new method for obtaining the parameters of the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami-Kolmogorov equation for dynamic recrystallization grain size. The method consists of finite-element analysis and optimization techniques. An optimization tool iteratively minimizes the error between experimental values and corresponding finite-element solutions. Isothermal backward extrusion of the AA6060 aluminum alloy was used to acquire the main parameters of the equation for predicting DRX grain size. We compared grain sizes predicted using optimized and reference parameters with experimental values from the literature and found better agreement when the optimized parameters were applied.

In the paper an analysis of the influence of two parameters on the die wear, i.e. the shape of the die and the backpull with the specified force values has been presented. The conical and curve-profile tools have been selected to determine an influence of the die geometry on its wear, and the backpull force has been tested with the use of conical dies. The research was conducted for the drawing of copper wire by sintered carbide die with a mesh diameter of 3 mm. A fixed draw value of 30% relative gap loss was assumed. The axisymmetric numerical model of the drawing process was built and modeled in the MARC/Mentat commercial program for nonlinear and contact issues. As a result of the tests, wear of the dies according to their shape was determined. In addition, for the conical die the drawing force and the force of the metal pressure on the die using different values of the force of the contraction were calculated, as well as wear of the conical die according to the value of the applied backpull force. It has been shown that in the case of the arc die, the distribution of pressure and stress is more uniform over the entire length of the contact zone compared to the conical die. The highest stress gradients occurred in the area of the transition of the crushing part into the drawing part of the die, which caused that the use of the conical die in this area was more than twice as large as the arc die. In addition, on the example of a conical die, it was shown to what extent the depth of its wear decreases with an increase of the test pull force in the range (0-400) of Newtons.

The article presents tests results of metalforming of magnesium alloy AZ61. Materials for tests were ingots sized  40×90 mm from magnesium alloy marked with symbol AZ61. Before the shaping process the ingots underwent heat treatment. As a result of conduction of the deformation processes there were rods achieved with diameter of 8 mm. There were axisymmetrical compression tests conducted on the samples taken from rods in temperature range from RT to 350ºC in order to determine the plasticity and formability of the alloy AZ61. Static tensile test was conducted in room temperature (RT), in 300ºC and in 350ºC. With the use of light and electron microscopy techniques the changes which occurred in the microstructure of AZ61alloy in initial condition and after plastic deformation (classic extrusion, KoBo method extrusion) were described. The deformation of alloy AZ61 using the KoBo method contributes to an increase in strength and plastic properties. The effect of superplastic flow was found at a temperature of 350ºC, where a 300% increase in plastic properties – elongation value was obtained. The analysis of the microstructure showed a significant grain size reduction in the microstructure of alloy AZ61 after deformation by the KoBo method and after an axisymmetric compression test, where grains of an average diameter of d = 13 µm were obtained.