Effect of reclaimed sand additions on mechanical properties and fracture behavior of furan no-bake resin sand

In this work, the effects of reclaimed sand additions on the microstructure characteristics, mechanical properties and fracture behavior of furan no-bake resin sand have been investigated systematically within the temperature range from 25 to 600 oC. The addition of 20%-100% reclaimed sand showed dramatic strength deterioration effect at the same temperature, which is associated with the formation of bonding bridges. Both the ultimate tensile strength(UTS) and compressive strength(CS) of the moulding sand initially increase with the increase of temperature, and then sharply decrease with the further increase of temperature, which is attributed to the thermal decomposition of furan resin. The addition amount of reclaimed sand has a remarkable effect on the room temperature fracture mode, i.e., with the addition of 0-20% reclaimed sand, the fracture mode was mainly cohesive fracture; the fracture mode converts to be mixture fracture mode as the addition of reclaimed sand increases to 35%-70%; further increasing the addition to 100% results in the fracture mode of typical adhesive fracture. The fracture surface of the bonding bridge changes from a semblance of cotton or holes to smooth with the increase of test temperature.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of Ni3Al intermetallics prepared by directional solidification electromagnetic cold crucible technique

The present work focused on the Ni_3Al-based alloy with a high melting point. The aim of the research is to study the effect of withdrawal rate on the microstructures and mechanical properties of directionally solidified Ni-25 Al alloy. Ni_3 Al intermetallics were prepared at different withdrawal rates by directional solidification(DS) in an electromagnetic cold crucible directional solidification furnace. The DS samples contain Ni_3 Al and Ni Al phases. The primary dendritic spacing(λ) decreases with the increasing of withdrawal rate(V), and the volume fraction of Ni Al phase increases as the withdrawal rate increases. Results of tensile tests show that ductility of DS samples is enhanced with a decrease in the withdrawal rate.

Semisolid die forging process,microstructures and properties of AZ31 magnesium alloy mobile telephone shells

A semisolid slurry of AZ31 magnesium alloy was prepared by vibrating wavelike sloping plate process,and the semisolid die forging process,microstructures,and properties of the magnesium alloy mobile telephone shell were investigated.The semisolid forging process was performed on a YA32-315 four-column universal hydraulic press.The microstructures were observed by optical microscopy,the hardness was analyzed with a model 450SVD Vickers hardometer,the mechanical properties was measured with a CMT5105 tensile test machine,and the fractograph of elongated specimens was observed by scanning electron microscopy （SEM）.The results reveal that with the increase of die forging force,the microstructures of the product become fine and dense.A lower preheating temperature and a longer dwell time are favorable to the formation of fine and dense microstructures.The optimum process conditions of preparing mobile telephone shells with excellent surface quality and microstructures are a die forging force of 2000 kN,a die preheating temperature of 250℃,and a dwell time of 240 s.After solution treatment at 430℃ and aging at 220℃ for 8 h,the Vickers hardness is 61.7 and the ultimate tensile strength of the product is 193MPa.Tensile fractographs show the mixing mechanisms of quasi-cleavage fracture and ductile fracture.

Wettability of SnCuNi-xEu solders and mechanical properties of solder joints

Wettability balance method was used to investigate the wetting performance of Sn Cu Ni-x Eu on Cu substrate, and the mechanical properties and the fracture morphology were studied.The results indicated that the addition of Eu could enhance the properties of solder and solder joints, with the increase of Eu content, tendency of first increase and then decrease could be found in the wetting time, wetting force and the mechanical properties of Sn Cu Ni-x Eu, and the optimal content was 0.039%.For Sn Cu Ni-0.039 Eu solder joints, the optimum mechanical properties could be found, and the amplitude increased was 20%, with the observation of the fracture morphology, it was found that small dimples could be seen, the toughness fracture for Sn Cu Ni and mixture fracture for Sn Cu Ni-0.039 Eu could be demonstrated.And thermal fatigue behavior of Sn Cu Ni solder joints could be enhanced obviously with the 0.039%Eu addition.

Low Temperature Reduction of Graphene Oxide Using Hot-plate for Nanocomposites Applications

A green, easy to reproduce method to obtain thermally reduced graphene oxide （GO） is described, The only requirement is a heating source, like a hot plate, that can reach -225 ℃ without any special setup requirements. Upon addition of graphene oxide, effective reduction could be achieved within 10 s. Starting flake size affects the yield of graphene, final structure and composition. A detailed characterization of the produced graphene using thermal analysis, spectroscopic methods, electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy is presented. Application of the produced graphene as a filler to epoxy resin for mechanical reinforcement is also reported. Smaller flakes （Ds0 = 5.7 μm） showed improved ultimate tensile strength, fracture strain and plane strain fracture toughness compared to larger flakes （Ds0 = 47.9 μm） that showed negative effect. Both flake sizes showed a negligible effect on Young＇s modulus.