Optimization of chemistry and process parameters for control of intermetallic formation in Mg sludges

Intermetallic formation in sludge during magnesium(Mg)melting,holding and high pressure die casting practices is a very important issue.But,very often it is overlooked by academia,original equipment manufacturers(OEM),metal ingot producers and even die casters.The aim of this study was to minimize the intermetallic formation in Mg sludge via the optimization of the chemistry and process parameters.The Al8Mn5 intermetallic particles were identified by the microstructure analysis based on the Al and Mn ratio.The design of experiment(DOE)technique,Taguchi method,was employed to minimize the intermetallic formation in the sludge of Mg alloys with various chemical compositions of Al,Mn,Fe,and different process parameters,holding temperature and holding time.The sludge yield(SY)and intermetallic size(IS)was selected as two responses.The optimum combination of the levels in terms of minimizing the intermetallic formation were 9 wt.%Al,0.15 wt.%Mn,0.001 wt.%(10 ppm)Fe,690℃ for the holding temperature and holding at 30 mins for the holding time,respectively.The best combination for smallest intermetallic size were 9 wt.%Al,0.15 wt.%Mn,0.001 wt.%(10 ppm)Fe,630℃ for the holding temperature and holding at 60 mins for the holding time,respectively.Three groups of sludge factors,Chemical Sludge(CSF),Physical Sludge(PSF)and Comprehensive Sludge Factors(and CPSF)were established for prediction of sludge yields and intermetallic sizes in Al-containing Mg alloys.The CPSF with five independent variables including both chemical elements and process parameters gave high accuracy in prediction,as the prediction of the PSF with only the two processing parameters of the melt holding temperature and time showed a relatively large deviation from the experimental data.The Chemical Sludge Factor was primarily designed for small ingot producers and die casters with a limited melting and holding capacity,of which process parameters could be fixed easily.The Physical Sludge Factor could be used for mass production with a single type of Mg alloy,in which the chemistry fluctuation might be negligible.In large Mg casting suppliers with multiple melting and holding furnaces and a number of Mg alloys in production,the Comprehensive Sludge Factor should be implemented to diminish the sludge formation.

Formation,characteristics and control of sludge in Al-containing magnesium alloys:An overview

Sludge consisting of heavy element phases and oxides is often generated during the casting operation of aluminum(Al)and magnesium(Mg)alloys.With the help of the well-established Sludge Factor(SF)formula,it is relatively easy to control the sludge generation in aluminum alloys.But formation mechanisms and characteristics of sludge in die casting magnesium alloys are still unclear.To ensure the production of high quality die cast components at a low cost,a full understanding of sludge in die casting Mg alloys and its proper control measures need to be developed,since excessive sludge formation affects deleteriously material and operation cost,and casting performance.In the present report,the formation,characteristics and control of Mg die-casting sludge,based on the established knowledge of sludge formation and sludge factor in Al die casting alloys,are reviewed.Previous work on characterization and assessment of sludge in die cast Mg alloys are reviewed.Metallurgical principles for control of sludge in ingot production in association with die casting of Mg alloys are discussed.Rapid assessment of Mg oxide and intermetallics relevant to sludge formation in Mg alloys are highlighted.

Determining the IgG concentrations in bovine colostrum and calf sera with a novel enzymatic assay

Background: Immune protection in newborn calves relies on a combination of the timing,volume and quality of colostrum consumed by the calf after birth.Poor quality colostrum with inadequate immunoglobulin concentration contributes to failed transfer of passive immunity in calves,leading to higher calf morbidity and mortality.Therefore,estimating colostrum quality and ensuring the transfer of passive immunity on farm is of critical importance.Currently,there are no on-farm tools that directly measure immunoglobulin content in colostrum or serum.The aim of this study was to apply a novel molecular assay,split trehalase immunoglobulin G assay(STIGA),to directly estimate immunoglobulin content in dairy and beef colostrum and calf sera,and to examine its potential to be developed as on-farm test.The STIGA is based on a split version of trehalase TreA,an enzyme that converts trehalose into glucose,enabling the use of a common glucometer for signal detection.In a first study,60 dairy and64 beef colostrum and 83 dairy and 84 beef calf sera samples were tested with STIGA,and the resulting glucose production was measured and compared with radial immunodiffusion,the standard method for measuring immunoglobulin concentrations.Results: Pearson correlation coefficients between the methods were determined and the sensitivity,specificity,and accuracy of the test were calculated for different colostrum quality and failed transfer of passive immunity cut-off points.The correlations of the STIGA measured by colorimetric enzymatic reaction compared to radial immunodiffusion for dairy and beef colostrum were 0.72 and 0.73,respectively,whereas the correlations for dairy and beef sera were 0.9 and 0.85,respectively.Next,STIGA was tested in a blinded study with fresh colostrum and serum samples where the correlation coefficient was 0.93 and 0.94,respectively.Furthermore,the performance of STIGA followed by glucometer readings resulted in correlations with radial immunodiffusion of 0.7 and 0.85 for dairy and beef colostrum and 0.94 and 0.83 for dairy and beef calf serum.Conclusions: A split TreA assay was validated for measurement of the immunoglobulin content of colostrum and calf sera using both a lab-based format and in a more user-friendly format compatible with on-farm testing.

PHOTODEGRADATION OF p-NITROCHLORBENZENE(p-NCB)USING NANOMETER-SIZED ZnO PARTICLES PREPARED BY REACTIVE EVAPORATION METHOD

Photocatalytic degradations of p-nitrochlorbenzene (p-NCB) with distilled water wereinvestigated with ZnO crystals (catalyst) of 70nm in diameter under UV irradiation.The suitable experimental conditions are determined as: ZnO 0.25g, pH 7, p-NCBconcentration 30mg/L. These variables in terms of the degradation rate have beendiscussed, which was defined as the rate of the initial degradation to the final degrada-tion of p-NCB. When all of the experimental degradation rate values are plotted as afunction of irradiation time, all of the points appeared on a single line for wide range ofp-NCB degradations. On the basis of these results, it has been concluded that at lowerZnO catalyst amount, much of the light is transmitted through the slurry in the con-tainer beaker, while at higher catalyst amount, all the incident photons are observedby the slurry. Degradation rates of p-NCB were found to decrease with increasingsolution pH. It has been concluded that the maximum degradation rate values of p-NCB under principally the same experimental conditions mentioned above are 97.4%,98.8% and 95.5% at 100min respectively. The results suggest that the photocatalyticdegradation is initiated by an oxidation of the p-NCB through ZnO surface-adsorbedhydroxyl radicals. Absorption spectra are recorded using spectrophotometer before andafter UV-irradiation in the wavelength range 200-400nm at room temperature. Itis found that the variation of irradiation time over the range 20-100min resulted inchange in the form of the spectrum linear absorption and a higher maximum valuewill be obtained at longer irradiation time.

STUDY ON NANOMETER ZINC PARTICLES FABRICATED BY GAS EVAPORATION METHOD

Nanometer Zn particles with mean diameters 12-100nm made by evaporating its powders in argon gas were studied mainly by X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy. They are collected at various distances and those factors influencing the mean particle size were studied. The optimal synthetic conditions were obtained, i.e., evaporation temperature is 1200℃; argon flow rate is 0.4m3/h; amount of powder charged is 3g; distance from evaporation source is 10cm. It was found that the size of particles was governed by argon flow rate, evaporation temperature, amount of metal charged and distance from the source. The size increases remarkably with distance in the space where no metal vapor exists. This implies that the crystallites grow by coalescence. Electron micrographs and diffraction patterns are reproduced to show the size, shape and state of oxidations. Nanoparticles with definite crystal habits were sometimes observed among those with irregular ones.

应用Matlab对异步电机传动系统数字控制的稳定性研究

文章讨论了异步电机传动控制系统的完全数字实现所固有的稳定性问题。考虑到电流调节器的采样过程,建立了一种电流控制环的离散模型,可以通过分析其特征根来研究电流控制的离散性能。在Matlab环境下开发了一种基于所建议方法的程序。该程序已用于对小功率异步电机的电流控制环进行离散稳定性研究,理论分析结果已通过数字仿真和试验的验证。

SYNTHESIS OF NANO-ZnO PARTICLES FOR ALUMINUM METALLURGY AS INERT ANODE MATERIAL

Nano-ZnO particle was produced by evaporating zinc powders in air at air flow-rate from 0.2 to 0.6m3/h. Nano-ZnO particles was formed by the oxidation of the evaporated zinc vapor. X-ray diffraction shows the powders to be ZnO with lattice parameters of a=0.3249nm and c=0.5205nm. The particle size is dependent upon the transit time from the source to the collection area. The size of particles was ranged between 81 to 103nm. The average density resulted was 4.865g/cm3. Normal ZnO and nano-ZnO were investigated to use them in aluminum metallurgy as an inert anode material. A certain amount of both oxides were molded subsequently inserted to the molten cryolite-aluminum oxide to investigate the corrosive behavior of both oxides. When the sintering temperature increased up to 1300℃, the weight loss ratio rose to 5.01%-7.33% and up to 7.67%-10.18% for nano-ZnO and normal ZnO, respectively. However, when the samples in the molten cryolite aluminum oxide were put for long time, the corrosive rate was found to be higher. It was found that the corrosive loss weight ratio of nano-ZnO anode was much lower than the normal one made from ordinary-ZnO providing that the nano-ZnO is more possible to be use inert anode material.

Future Physics Programme of BESⅢ

There has recently been a dramatic renewal of interest in hadron spectroscopy and charm physics. This renaissance has been driven in part by the discovery of a plethora of charmonium-like XYZ states at BESⅢ and B factories, and the observation of an intriguing proton-antiproton threshold enhancement and the possibly related X(1835) meson state at BESⅢ, as well as the threshold measurements of charm mesons and charm baryons. We present a detailed survey of the important topics in tau-charm physics and hadron physics that can be further explored at BESⅢ during the remaining operation period of BEPCⅡ. This survey will help in the optimization of the data-taking plan over the coming years, and provides physics motivation for the possible upgrade of BEPCⅡ to higher luminosity.

Observation of e^+e^-→D_s^+■^((*)0)K^- and study of the P-wave D_s mesons

Studies of e^+e~→D_s^+■^((*)0)K^-and the P-wave charmed-strange mesons are performed based on an e^+e^-collision data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 567 pb^(-1) collected with the BESIII detector at s^(1/2)=4.600 GeV. The processes of e^+e^-→D_s^+■^(*0)K^- and D_s^+■~0K^- are observed for the first time and are found to be dominated by the modes D_s^+D_(s1)(2536)^-and D_s^+D_(s2)~*(2573)^-, respectively. The Born cross sections are measured to be σ~B(e^+e^-→D_s^+■^(*0)K^-) =(10.1±2.3±0.8) pb and σ~B(e^+e^-→D_s^+■~0K^-) =(19.4±2.3± 1.6) pb, and the products of Born cross section and the decay branching fraction are measured to be σ~B(e^+e^-→D_s^+D_(s1)(2536)^-+c.c.)·B(D_(s1)(2536)^-→■^(*0)K^-)=(7.5±1.8±0.7) pb and σ~B(e^+e^-→D_s^+D_(s2)~*(2573)^-+ c.c.)·B(D_(s2)~*(2573)^-→■~0 K^-)=(19.7 ± 2.9 ±2.0) pb. For the D_(s1)(2536)^-and D_(s2)~*(2573)^-mesons, the masses and widths are measured to be M(D_(s1)(2536)^-)=(2537.7±0.5 ±3.1) MeV/c2, Γ(D_(s1)(2536)^-) =(1.7 ±1.2 ±0.6)MeV, and M(D_(s2)~*(2573)^-)=(2570.7±2.0 ±1.7) MeV/c^2, Γ(D_(s2)~*(2573)^-)=(17.2 ±3.6 ±1.1) MeV. The spin-parity of the D_(s2)~*(2573)^-meson is determined to be J^p= 2^+. In addition, the processes e^+e^-→D_s^+■^((*)0)K^-are searched for using the data samples taken at four(two) center-of-mass energies between 4.416(4.527) and 4.575 GeV, and upper limits at the 90% confidence level on the cross sections are determined.

Evidence for the decays of ∧_c^+→∑^+η and ∑^+η’

We study the hadronic decays of ∧c+ to the final states ∑+η and ∑+η’,using an e+e-annihilation data sample of 567 pb-1 taken at a center-of-mass energy of 4.6 GeV with the BESIII detector at the BEPCⅡ collider.We find evidence for the decays ∧c+→∑+η and ∑+η’ with statistical significance of 2.5σ and 3.2σ,respectively.Normalizing to the reference decays ∧c+→∑+π0 and ∑+ω,we obtain the ratios of the branching fractions■and ■to be 0.35±0.16±0.02 and 0.86±0.34±0.04,respectively.The upper limits at the 90% confidence level are set to be■and■.Using BESIII measurements of the branching fractions of the reference decays,we determine B（∧c+→∑+η）=（0.41±0.19±0.05）%（<0.68%）and B（∧c+→∑+η’）=（1.34±0.53 ±0.19）%（<1.9%）.Here,the first uncertainties are statistical and the second systematic.The obtained branching fraction of ∧c+→∑+η is consistent with the previous measurement,and the branching fraction of ∧c+→∑+η’ is measured for the first time.

Mechanical properties of SWNT X-Junctions through molecular dynamics simulation

The mechanical behavior of seven different carbon nanotube(CNT)X-junctions with a varying number of bonds was investigated through molecular dynamics simulations.The X-junctions are composed of two(6,0)single-walled carbon nanotubes(SWNTs)created via vibration-assisted heat welding.The junctions,containing anywhere between one and seven bonds,are subject to uniaxial tensile,shear and torsional strain,and then the stiffness values are determined for each case.When subjected to tensile and shear strain,both the arrangement and orientation of bonds are found to affect the stiffness of junctions more substantially than the number of bonds,bond length or bond order.Surprisingly,anisotropic shear behavior is observed in the X-junctions,which can be attributed to the junction’s bond orientation.Also,the stiffness of X-junctions tested under an applied torque(torsion)differs from the stiffness under tensile and shear strain,however,in that it is more substantially affected by the number of bonds present in the junction than by any other property.