Effect of microstructure on the low temperature toughness of high strength pipeline steels

Microstructure observations and drop-weight tear test were performed to study the microstructures and mechanical properties of two kinds of industrial X70 and two kinds of industrial X80 grade pipeline steels. The effective grain size and the fraction of high angle grain boundaries in the pipeline steels were investigated by electron backscatter diffraction analysis. It is found that the low temperature toughness of the pipeline steels depends not only on the effective grain size, but also on other microstructural factors such as martensite-austenite （MA） constituents and precipitates. The morphology and size of MA constituents significantly affect the mechanical properties of the pipeline steels. Nubby MA constituents with large size have significant negative effects on the toughness, while smaller granular MA constituents have less harmful effects. Similarly, larger Ti-rich nitrides with sharp corners have a strongly negative effect on the toughness, while fine, spherical Nb-rich carbides have a less deleterious effect. The low temperature toughness of the steels is independent of the fraction of high angle grain boundaries.

Effect of indium addition on the microstructural formation and soldered interfaces of Sn-2.5Bi-1Zn-0.3Ag lead-free solder

The microstructural formation and properties of Sn-2.5Bi-xln-lZn-0.3Ag （in wt%） alloys and the evolution of soldered interfaces on a Cu substrate were investigated. Apart from the relatively low melting point （about 195C）, which is close to that of conventional eutectic Sn-Pb solder, the investigated solder presents superior wettability, solderability, and ductility. The refined equiaxial grains enhance the me- chanical properties, and the embedded bulk intermetallic compounds （IMCs） （Cu6Sn5 and CusZns） and granular Bi particles improve the joint reliability. The addition of In reduces the solubility of Zn in the 13-Sn matrix and strongly influences the separation and growth behaviors of the IMCs. The soldered interface of Sn-2.5Bi-xln-lZn-0.3Ag/Cu consists of Cu-Zn and Cu-Sn IMC layers.

Microstructure and texture evolution in commercial-purity Zr 702 during cold rolling and annealing

Microstructure and texture evolution in commercial-purity Zr 702 during cold rolling and annealing was investigated by optical microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray diffraction. The results showed that crystallographic slip was the predominant deformation mechanism in the early stage of deformation. Deformation twins started to form when the rolling reduction was larger than 38.9%; both the dislocation density and the number of twins increased with increasing rolling reduction. The initial texture of the Zr 702 plate consisted of the basal fiber component. During cold rolling the strength of the basal fiber first decreased and then increased with increasing rolling reduction. The cold-rolled sheets were fully recrystallized after being annealed at 550℃. The recrystallization temperature and the size of recrystallized grains decreased with increasing rolling reduction. A larger rolling reduction resulted in a higher grain growth rate when the annealing temperature increased from 550℃ to 700℃. The recrystallization texture was characterized by a major basal fiber and a minor {0113}〈2110〉 component. The strength of the recrystallization texture increased with increasing rolling reduction.

Hot deformation behavior of uniform fine-grained GH4720Li alloy based on its processing map

The hot deformation behavior of uniform fine-grained GH4720Li alloy was studied in the temperature range from 1040 to 1130℃ and the strain-rate range from 0.005 to 0.5 s-1 using hot compression testing. Processing maps were constructed on the basis of compression data and a dynamic materials model. Considerable flow softening associated with superplasticity was observed at strain rates of 0.01 s 1 or lower. According to the processing map and observations of the microstructure, the uniform fine-grained microstructure remains intact at 1100℃ or lower because of easily activated dynamic recrystallization （DRX）, whereas obvious grain growth is observed at 1130℃. Metal- lurgical instabilities in the form of non-uniform microstrucmres under higher and lower Zener-Hollomon parameters are induced by local plastic flow and primary γ＇ local faster dissolution, respectively. The optimum processing conditions at all of the investigated strains are pro- posed as 1090-1130℃ with 0.084）.5 s-1 and 0.0054）.008 s-1 and 1040-1085℃ with 0.0054）.06 s-1.

Facile Synthesis of Nanocrystalline Cr_2O_3 Thin Film

A novel and facile synthesis route for the manufacture of transparent and uniform self-assembled nanocrystalline Cr2O3 （nc-Cr2O3） thin films with different morphology was reported, utilizing chromium nitrate as the inorganic source and triblock copolymer F127 as the morphology-directing agent by the evaporation-induced assembly （EIA） method. X-ray powder diffraction （XRD）, thermogravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry （TG-DSC）, N2-sorption, scanning electron microscopy （SEM） and transmission electron microscopy （TEM） were used to characterize the as-prepared nc-Cr2O3 thin films. The Cr2O3 thin film with different morphology was obtained by changing the relative humidity. The possible formation mechanism of the nc-Cr2O3 thin films with different morphologies was discussed.

Dynamic assets allocation based on market microstructure model with variable-intensity jumps

In order to characterizc large fluctuations of the financial markets and optimize financial portfolio, a new dynamic asset control strategy was proposed in this work. Firstly, a random process item with variable jump intensity was introduced to the existing discrete microstructure model to denote large price fluctuations. The nonparametric method of LEE was used for detecting jumps. Further, the extended Kalman filter and the maximum likelihood method were applied to discrete microstructure modeling and the estimation of two market potential variables： market excess demand and liquidity. At last, based on the estimated variables, an assets allocation strategy using evolutionary algorithm was designed to control the weight of each asset dynamically. Case studies on IBM Stock show that jumps with variable intensity are detected successfully, and the assets allocation strategy may effectively keep the total assets growth or prevent assets loss at the stochastic financial market.

Experimental study of surface integrity and fatigue life in the face milling of Inconel 718

The Inconel 718 alloy is widely used in the aerospace and power industries. The machining-induced surface integrity and fatigue life of this material are important factors for consideration due to high reliability and safety requirements. In this work, the milling of Inconel 718 was conducted at different cutting speeds and feed rates. Surface integrity and fatigue life were measured directly. The effects of cutting speed and feed rate on surface integrity and their further influences on fatigue life were analyzed. Within the chosen parameter range, the cutting speed barely affected the surface roughness, whereas the feed rate increased the surface roughness through the ideal residual height. The surface hardness increased as the cutting speed and feed rate increased. Tensile residual stress was observed on the machined surface, which showed improvement with the increasing feed rate. The cutting speed was not an influencing factor on fatigue life, but the feed rate affected fatigue life through the surface roughness. The high surface roughness resulting from the high feed rate could result in a high stress concentration factor and lead to a low fatigue life.

Enhancement of the Sensitivity of Gas Sensor Based on Microstructure Optical Fiber

This paper proposes the design and characterization of microstructure optical fiber for gas sensing applications. The aim is to detect toxic and colorless gases over a wide transmission band covering 0.80 gm to 2.00gm wavelength. Numerical investigation is carried out by using the finite element method （FEM）. The numerical study shows that sensitivity of the proposed sensor is moderately increased by introducing four non-circular holes around the defected core of photonic crystal fiber and the confinement loss is also reduced. Furthermore, we confirm that increasing the diameter of central air core and size of the non-circular holes can improve the relative sensitivity and the confinement loss is reduced by increasing the diameter of air holes in the cladding. The enhancement of the relative sensitivity is more than 27.58% （0.1323 to 0.1688） at the wavelength 2=1.33gm that is the absorption line of methane （CH4） and hydrogen fluoride （HF） gases. The confinement loss of the fiber is 1.765x 10-8dB/m.