Effect of Holding Time on Thixotropic Fluidity of Semi-solid AZ91D Magnesium Alloy

To investigate the thixotropic fluidities, microstructures and mechanical properties of semi-solid AZ91D magnesium alloy during reheating, a self-made die set with channels of different sizes were used. The results show that critical forming forces and maximal forming forces could be obtained and related to the holding times in the semi-solid forming process. In the holding time of 0-2700 s, with increasing the holding time, maximal forming force decreased sharply and critical forming force decreased slowly. In the whole thixotropic flowing process, the filling-in was steady and the surface fineness was good. The forming force increased when the slurry changed the flowing direction or flowed from the big-diameter chamber to the small-diameter one. The tensile strength and elongation to failure of the sample after holding time for 2700 s, compared to as-cast sample, are increased by approximately 42.7% and 180%, respectively, and the fractured surfaces presented dimple-like pattern.

Structural evolution of spray-formed Al-70wt.%Si alloys during iso-thermal holding in the semi-solid state

The grain growth behavior of spray-formed Al-70wt.%Si alloys was studied in the semi-solid state. The specimens were isothermally heat-treated at various temperatures between the solidus and liquidus of Al-Si alloys and then quenched in water. The microstructure of reheated specimens was characterized using optical and scanning electron microscopies. The isothermal holding experiment was carried out to investigate grain growth behavior as a function of holding time and temperature in the semi-solid state. The coarsening mechanism and the effect of porosity on microstructure were also studied.

Nail Holding Performance of Self-Tapping Screws on Masson Pine and Chinese Fir Dimension Lumbers

Screw connection is a type most commonly applied to timber structures.As important commercial tree species in China,Masson pine and Chinese fir have the potential to prepare wood structures.In this study,the effects of the diameter of the self-tapping screw and the guiding bores on the nail holding performance on different sections of Masson pine and Chinese fir dimension lumbers were mainly explored.The results showed that:(1)The nail holding strength of the tangential section was the maximum,followed by that of the radial section,and that of the cross section was the minimum.(2)The nail holding strength of Masson pine was higher than that of Chinese fir.(3)The nail holding strength grew with the increase in the diameter of self-tapping screws,but a large diameter would lead to plastic cracking of the timber,thus further affecting the nail holding strength.Masson pine and Chinese fir reached the maximum nail holding strength when the diameter of self-tapping screws was 3.5 mm.(4)Under a large diameter of screws,prefabricated guiding bores could mitigate timber cracking and improve its nail holding strength.(5)Prefabricated guiding bores were more necessary for the screw connection of Masson pine.The results obtained could provide a scientific basis for the screw connection design of Masson pine and Chinese fir timber structures.

To improve robustness of mechanical properties of semi-solid cast A356 alloy using taguchi design method

Mechanical properties of semi-solid casting are dependent on multiple processing parameters,and improper processing parameters will not only reduce mean data but also increase variations.The present study investigated the impact of parameters in slurry preparation and heat treatment on the yield strength and ductility of T6 heat-treated A356 Al-Si alloy using rapid slurry forming(RSF)semi-solid casting.The focus was primarily on the robustness of mechanical properties based on Taguchi design method.By analyzing signal-to-noise ratio and minimum value calculated from-3S,the optimum slurry preparation parameters and heat treatment parameters were determined to be no quench,enthalpy exchange material(EEM)temperature of 140℃,EEM-to-melt ratio of 6mass%,stirring time of 18 s,solution heat treated at 520℃ for 2 h,and ageing heat treated at 190℃ for 6 h.In a small batch validation,the-3S yield strength and-3S elongation reach 256.1 MPa and 5.03% respectively,showing a satisfactory robustness.The hardness and microstructure of heat-treated samples with the best and worst properties were characterized to gain insight into the underlying mechanisms affecting the mean value and variations of mechanical properties.

Microstructure evolution of Ti_(48)Zr_(27)Cu_(6)Nb_(5)Be_(14)amorphous alloy after semi-solid isothermal treatment

The as-cast amorphous Ti_(48)Zr_(27)Cu_(6)Nb_(5)Be_(14)composites,comprising in situ formedβ-Ti ductile crystalline precipitates,were prepared by water cooled copper mold suction casting.Then,the semi-solid composites were obtained after the as-cast composites were treated by semi-solid isothermal treatment.The microstructure evolution and kinetics of the composites were examined.Results show that the microstructures of both the as-cast and semi-solid composites comprise ofβ-Ti crystal phases and amorphous matrix phases.Before and after treatment,the crystals evolve from fine granular or fine dendritic crystals to coarse crystals.As the treatment temperature increasing or the time prolonging,the average crystal size gradually increases and the surface morphology of the crystals gradually becomes regular.By studying the microstructural evolution and dynamics during the isothermal treatment process,it is found that the final morphology ofβ-Ti crystals is influenced by the isothermal treatment temperature and time(t),and theβ-Ti evolution rate increases with an increase in treatment temperature.In addition,a linear relationship was observed between the size of cubicβ-Ti crystals(D^(3))and t;the growth kinetics factor K is 3.8μm^(3)·s^(-1).As the K value closes to 4μm^(3)·s^(-1),it is inferred the morphology evolution ofβ-Ti crystals is a coarsening behavior controlled by the diffusion of solute elements.

Optimization of Holding Temperature and Holding Thickness for Controlled Rolling on Plate Mill

Holding temperature and holding thickness are main parameters for two-phase controlled rolling on plate mill. The optimization of holding temperature and holding thickness for pass schedule calculation of two-phase controlled rolling on plate mill was presented and its feature is as follows： （1） Determination of holding thickness can be automatically obtained based on the influence of mill safety limits, tracking zone length and holding time on holding thickness; （2） Determination of holding temperature can be automatically obtained and the holding time can be reduced as much as possible; （3） Algorithm can modify the holding temperature and thickness depending on slab size and product size.

Effects of Calcining Temperature and Holding Time on the Synthesis of Aluminum Titanate

We aim in this research at synthesizing high-purity aluminium titanate with sludge from the aluminium profile factory by shock cooling method, and mainly discuss the effect of calcining reaction temperature and holding time on crystalline, microstructure and content of aluminum titanate materials to determine the preferred calcining temperature and holding time. XRD and SEM methods were utilized to characterize the crystalline and microstructure of each specimen, Rietveld Quantification software was used for the determination of different crystalline contents of specimens, and Philips plus software was applied to determine the cell parameters of aluminium titanate in different specimens. According to the experimental results, preferred calcining temperature is determined as 1400℃ and preferred holding time is 2 h, at which the grains of aluminum titanate grow completely and the purity of aluminum titanate is 97.2wt%.

Effect of holding pressure on density and cooling rate of cast Al-Si alloy during additive pressure casting

The cast Al-Si alloy was fabricated using the Additive Pressure Casting(APC)method.The effects of holding pressure from 50 to 400 k Pa on the density,cooling rate,and mechanical properties of the alloy,and the corresponding mechanism were discussed.The results indicate that the application of high holding pressure(300 k Pa)enhances the feeding ability of the alloy,leading to an increase of the density.Meanwhile,the cooling rate of the alloy is increased by 100%.In addition,the tensile testing results show that the increase of holding pressure from 50 to 300 k Pa improves the tensile strength and elongation of the alloy by 6.2%and 81.3%,respectively.However,excessive holding pressure(400 k Pa)might lower the density and cooling rate of the alloy due to the feeding channels being blocked.

Effect of Holding Time on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Dual-Phase Steel during Intercritical Annealing

Continuous annealing simulation tests were conducted by using a continuous annealing thermomechanical simulator. Holding times of 5, 60, 180, and 480 seconds for an intercritical annealing temperature of 820℃ were adopted to investigate the evolution of the mierostructure and mechanical properties of ferrite-bainite dual-phase steel. The ferrite-bainite dual-phase steel was characterized by high strength and low yield ratio due to the presence of the constituents （polygonal ferrite, bainite, martensite and retained austenite） of the steel microstructure. Specimen 3 exhibits the highest value of A50 （7.67%） and a product of Rm × A50 （10453MPa%） after a 180s holding. This is likely attributed to the presence of a C-enriched retained anstenite in the microstructure. And the effect of martensite islands and carbide precipitate is thought to be able to contribute in strengthening the present steel. It is expected that equilibrium of anstenite fraction would be reached for reasonable intercritical holding period, regardless of the heating temperature. The results suggest that long increasing holding times may not be needed because the major phase of the microstructure does not change very significantly. It is favorable for industrial production of DP steels to shorten holding times. Key words： ferrite-bainite dual-phase steel; holding time; martensite islands; mechanical properties

An improved GGNMOS triggered SCR for high holding voltage ESD protection applications

Developing an electrostatic discharge（ESD） protection device with a better latch-up immunity has been a challenging issue for the nanometer complementary metal-oxide semiconductor（CMOS） technology. In this work, an improved grounded-gate N-channel metal-oxide semiconductor（GGNMOS） transistor triggered silicon-controlled rectifier（SCR）structure, named GGSCR, is proposed for high holding voltage ESD protection applications. The GGSCR demonstrates a double snapback behavior as a result of progressive trigger-on of the GGNMOS and SCR. The double snapback makes the holding voltage increase from 3.43 V to 6.25 V as compared with the conventional low-voltage SCR. The TCAD simulations are carried out to verify the modes of operation of the device.

Water Holding Characteristics of Coarse Woody Debris of Abies fabri Forest on the East Slope of Tibet Sygera Mountain

Coarse woody debris( CWD) has an important role in hydrological function and water and soil conservation function of forest ecosystem especially mountain forest ecosystem. To understand water holding capacity of CWD in subalpine forest of southeast Tibet,CWD reserve of primitive A. fabri forest in Sygera Mountain was investigated by sample plot method,and water absorption and storage capacity of CWD was studied by using soaking method. The results showed that decay grade was positively related to water storage potential,that is to say,the higher the decay grade,the larger the water storage potential. Saturated water holding capacity,saturated water holding rate,effective water holding capacity and effective water holding rate of A. fabri CWD all rose with decay grade increased,and the order was Ⅴ>Ⅳ>Ⅲ>Ⅱ>Ⅰ. CWD reserve was 51.555 t/hm^2,and the maximum water storage capacity was 71.601 t/hm^2,while effective water storage capacity was 60.861 t/hm2,which was equivalent to 6.086 mm of rainfall.

An Inventory Model for Deteriorating Items with Generalised Exponential Decreasing Demand, Constant Holding Cost and Time-Varying Deterioration Rate

In this present paper, an inventory model with a generalised exponential decreasing demand is considered. A numerical example is used to illustrate the application of the model. Sensitivity analysis of the optimal solution with respect to various parameters is carried out to see the effect of parameter changes on the solution.

Cash holdings,corporate governance,and acquirer returns

Background:The wealth effect of limiting shareholder rights via anti-takeover provisions(ATPs)is a contentious issue.By taking the differential effect hypothesis perspective,our study aims to provide additional evidence about the relation between ATPs and acquisition performance.Methods:We examine the interaction of antitakeover provisions(ATPs)with firm characteristics and governance environment in explaining the cross-section of bidder announcement returns.Using a sample of 3,340 completed acquisitions by 1,217 firms during 1996–2006,we test the association between ATPs,firm characteristics,and governance environments with bidder returns.Results:We find that ATPs hurt acquisition performance only when acquirers hold a high level of excess cash.Similarly,ATPs are associated with lower bidder returns only when industry competition is weak and public pension fund ownership is low as well.By contrast,when industry competition is intense and/or public pension fund ownership is high,ATPs do not hurt bidder returns.Conclusions:The complementarity among ATPs,excess cash,industry competition,and public pension fund ownership suggests that ATPs per se do not necessarily result in value-destroying acquisitions for all firms.We address the endogeneity issue of unknown variables by using a proxy for firm prestige and draw the same conclusions.

An Inventory Model for Deteriorating Items with Exponential Declining Demand and Time-Varying Holding Cost

In the present paper, a total optimal cost of an inventory model with exponential declining demand and constant deterioration is considered. The time-varying holding cost is a linear function of time. Shortages are not allowed. The items (like food grains, fashion apparels and electronic equipments) have fixed shelf-life which decreases with time during the end of the season. A numerical example is presented to demonstrate the model and the sensitivity analysis of various parameters is carried out.

Design of a novel high holding voltage LVTSCR with embedded clamping diode

In order to reduce the latch-up risk of the traditional low-voltage-triggered silicon controlled rectifier(LVTSCR), a novel LVTSCR with embedded clamping diode(DC-LVTSCR) is proposed and verified in a 0.18-μm CMOS process. By embedding a p+implant region into the drain of NMOS in the traditional LVTSCR, a reversed Zener diode is formed by the p+implant region and the n+bridge, which helps to improve the holding voltage and decrease the snapback region.The physical mechanisms of the LVTSCR and DC-LVTSCR are investigated in detail by transmission line pulse(TLP)tests and TCAD simulations. The TLP test results show that, compared with the traditional LVTSCR, the DC-LVTSCR exhibits a higher holding voltage of 6.2 V due to the embedded clamping diode. By further optimizing a key parameter of the DC-LVTSCR, the holding voltage can be effectively increased to 8.7 V. Therefore, the DC-LVTSCR is a promising ESD protection device for circuits with the operation voltage of 5.5–7 V.

Effects of Meat and Phosphate Level on Water-Holding Capacity and Texture of Emulsion-Type Sausage During Storage

This paper was designed to verify the influence of phosphate on water-holding capacity （WHC） and texture of emulsiontype sausage prepared with pre-rigor meat, ageing meat or frozen meat. Pre-rigor pork, ageing pork and frozen pork were pre-blended with five levels of phosphate and made into emulsion-type sausage. The yield, hardness and total expressible fluid （TEF） were measured with texture profile analysis machine and pressiometer when emulsion-type sausage was produced. Meanwhile, hardness and purge loss （PL） were measured during 30 d storage. As emusion-type sausage made by pre-rigor meat, higher yield and relatively stable hardness could be found. It indicated that increasing of phosphate level caused an alleviatable effects in increasing of hardness when emulsion-type sausage made by pre-rigor meat, but opposite effects made by ageing meat or frozen meat. The distribution of PL of emulsion-type sausage was found to be affected by phosphate addition. Significant decrease of PL could not be obtained by increasing of phosphate level during storage. Pre-rigor meat improved WHC and texture of emulsion-type sausage. Problem of WHC and texture of emulsiontype sausage during storage could not be resolved by single use of phosphate at relatively higher level （3%） of NaCl.

Grain refinement of AZ91D alloy by intensive melt shearing and its persistence after remelting and isothermal holding

Intensive melt shearing has a significant grain refining effect on some light alloys.However,the persistence of the grain refining effect during isothermal holding and remelting is still unclear,although it is very important for the practical application.In this study,intensive melt shearing was achieved in a twin-screw mechanism to investigate its grain refining effect on AZ91D magnesium alloy.The refinement mechanism was discussed and the persistence of grain refinement after remelting and isothermal holding was also studied.A Zeiss imaging system with polarized light was used for quantitative measurement of grain size.The results show that the intensive melt shearing has a significant grain refining effect on AZ91D magnesium alloy.With the application of intensive melt shearing,the grain size of AZ91D magnesium alloy can be reduced from 530 μm(for a typical as-cast microstructure) to 170 μm,which is about 70% size reduction.The grain refinement achieved by the intensive melt shearing can be partially kept after isothermal holding and remelting.It is believed that the refinement effect was mainly due to the finer and well dispersed oxide particles formed by high intensive shearing.The smaller size of oxide particles and their slow motion velocity in the sheared melt could make important contributions to the remained grain refinement.

High holding voltage SCR for robust electrostatic discharge protection

A novel silicon controlled rectifier（SCR） with high holding voltage（Vh） for electrostatic discharge（ESD） protection is proposed and investigated in this paper. The proposed SCR obtains high Vhby adding a long N＋ layer（LN＋） and a long P＋ layer（LP＋）, which divide the conventional low voltage trigger silicon controlled rectifier（LVTSCR） into two SCRs（SCR1： P＋/Nwell/Pwell/N＋ and SCR2： P＋/LN＋/LP＋/N＋） with a shared emitter. Under the low ESD current（IESD）, the two SCRs are turned on at the same time to induce the first snapback with high V_h（V_（h1））. As the IESDincreases, the SCR2 will be turned off because of its low current gain. Therefore, the IESDwill flow through the longer SCR1 path, bypassing SCR2, which induces the second snapback with high V_h（V_（h2））. The anti-latch-up ability of the proposed SCR for ESD protection is proved by a dynamic TLP-like（Transmission Line Pulse-like） simulation. An optimized V_（h2） of 7.4 V with a maximum failure current（I_（t2）） of 14.7 m A/μm is obtained by the simulation.

An Improved Method of Predicting Drag Anchor Trajectory Based on the Finite Element Analyses of Holding Capacity

Drag anchor is one of the most commonly used anchorage foundation types. The prediction of embedded trajectory in the process of drag anchor installation is of great importance to the safety design of mooring system. In this paper, the ultimate anchor holding capacity in the seabed soil is calculated through the established finite element model, and then the embedded motion trajectory is predicted applying the incremental calculation method. Firstly, the drag anchor initial embedded depth and inclination angle are assumed, which are regarded as the start embedded point. Secondly, in each incremental step, the incremental displacement of drag anchor is added along the parallel direction of anchor plate, so the displacement increment of drag anchor in the horizontal and vertical directions can be calculated. Thirdly, the finite element model of anchor is established considering the seabed soil and anchor interaction, and the ultimate drag anchor holding capacity at new position can be obtained. Fourthly, the angle between inverse catenary mooring line and horizontal plane at the attachment point at this increment step can be calculated through the inverse catenary equation. Finally, the incremental step is ended until the angle of drag anchor and seabed soil is zero as the ultimate embedded state condition, thus, the whole embedded trajectory of drag anchor is obtained. Meanwhile, the influences of initial parameter changes on the embedded trajectory are considered. Based on the proposed method, the prediction of drag anchor trajectory and the holding capacity of mooring position system can be provided.

Impact of Equity Pledge Behavior on Cash Holdings

Since the promulgation of the Guarantee Law of the People's Republic of China,the pledge of equity in China's capital market is becoming more and more frequent. This paper attempts to study the relationship between equity pledge,the individual behavior of shareholders and cash holding level of enterprises. Based on the data of Shanghai-Shenzhen A-share listed companies in 2009-2016,multiple regression model was established to study the impact of equity pledge behavior on corporate cash holdings. It is found that equity pledge and pledge ratio are significantly negatively correlated with cash holding level. This can effectively alleviate the financial constraints of listed companies in China.