Role of tensile forces in hot tearing formation of cast Al-Si alloy

The instrumented applied rod casting apparatus （ARCA） was developed to investigate the effects of tensile forces in the hot tearing formation of cast AI-Si alloys. The obtained data of tensile forces/temperature was used to identify hot tearing initiation and propagation and the fracture surface of samples was also investigated. The result shows that the applied tensile forces have a complex effect on load onset for the hot tearing initiation and propagation. During the casting solidification, the tensile forces are gradually increased with the increase of solid fraction. Under the action of tensile forces, there will appear hot tearing and crack propagation on the surface of the sample. When the tensile forces exceed the inherent strength of alloys, there will be fractures on the sample. As for the A356 alloy, the critical fracture stress is about 0.1 MPa. The hot tearing surface morphology shows that the remaining intergranular bridge and liquid films are thick enough to allow the formation of dendrite-tip bumps on the fracture surface.

A Sensitivity Mapping Technique for Tensile Force and Case Depth Characterization Based on Magnetic Minor Hysteresis Loops

In the nondestructive testing and evaluation area,magnetic major hysteresis loop measurement technology are widely applied for ferromagnetic material evaluation.However the characterization ability of major hysteresis loop measurement technology greatly varies as the evaluated target properties.To solve this limitation,magnetic minor hysteresis loops,which reflect the responses of ferromagnetic material magnetization in a systematic way,is recommend.Inspired by plenty of information carried by the minor loops,the sensitivity mapping technique was developed to achieve the highest sensitivity of minor-loop parameters to the nondestructively evaluated targets.In this study,for the first time,the sensitivity mapping technique is used to measure the tensile force in a steel strand and evaluate the effective case depth in induction-hardened steel rods.The method and procedures for the sensitivity mapping technique are given before experimental detection.The obtained experimental results indicate that the linear correlation between the induced voltage(or the magnetic induction intensity)and the tensile force(or effective case depth)exists at most of the locations in the cluster of minor loops.The obtained sensitivity maps can be used to optimize the applied magnetic field(or excitation current)and the analyzed locations at the minor loops for achieving the highest sensitivity.For the purpose of tensile force measurement,it is suggested that the strand should be firstly magnetized to the near-saturation state and then restored to the remanent state.In this way,the highest sensitivity is obtained as about 15.26 mV/kN.As for the induction-hardened steel rods,the highest sensitivity of magnetic induction intensity to the effective case depth occurs under low magnetic field conditions and the absolute value of the highest sensitivity is about 0.1110 T/mm.This indicates that if the highest sensitivity is required in the case depth evaluation,the induction-hardened steel rods are only required to be weakly magnetized.The proposed sensitivity mapping technique shows the good performance in the high-sensitivity evaluation of tensile force and case depth in ferromagnetic materials and its application scope can be extended to other nondestructive detection fields.

VIBRATIONS OF STEPPED ONE-WAY THIN RECTANGULAR PLATES SUBJECTED TO IN-PLANE TENSILE/ COMPRESSIVE FORCE IN Y-DIRECTION ON WINKLER'S FOUNDATION

Differential equations of free/forced vibrations of n_step one_way thin rectangular plates subjected to in_plane tensile/compressive force in y_direction on Winkler's foundation are established by using singular functions, their general solutions solved for, expression of vibration mode function and frequency equation on usual supports derived with W operator. Influence functions for various cases deduced here may also be used to solve problems of static buckling or stability for beams and plates in relevant circumstances.

A Study of Tensile Strength Tests of Arborous Species Root System in Forest Engineering Technique of Shallow Landslide

One experiment was conducted, through tensile tests of Albazzia and Eucalypt roots culled from the fields. The other experiment was conducted, by testing anti-drawing strength of these root systems in the Albazzia and Eucalypt lands. These two experiments had an aim to give insights into the maximum tensile strength and anti-drawing strength of the root systems. Results indicated that the maximum tensile strength of root system is in an exponential relation with the diameter of root system while the maximum tensile strength is positively correlative with the diameter of root system. Anti-drawing force of root system together with root diameter, length, and soil bulk density are folded into a regression equation in an attempt to figure out the static friction coefficient between root system and its ambient soil.

Mechanotransduction-The relationship between gravity,cells and tensile loading in extracellular matrix

Gravity plays a central role in vertebrate development and evolution.Mechanotransduction involves the tensile tethering of veins and arteries,connections between the epidermis and dermis in skin,tensile stress concentrations that occur at tissue interfaces,cell-cell interactions,cell-collagen fiber stress transfer in extracellular matrix and fluid shear flow.While attention in the past has been directed at understanding the myriad of biochemical players associated with mechanotransduction pathways,less attention has been focused on determining the tensile mechanical behavior of tissues in vivo.Fibroblasts sit on the surface of collagen fibers in living skin and exert a retractile force on the fibers.This retractile force pulls against the tension in collagen fibers in skin.After fibroblast-collagen fiber interactions are altered either by changes in fibroblast adhesion or after formation of cancer associated fibroblasts,and changes in cell junctions,alterations in the retractive force leads to changes in mechanotransduction.The purpose of this paper is to present a model of tensile forces that occur at the fibroblast-collagen fiber interface and how these forces are important in extracellular matrix physiology in health and disease.

Simulation of Crack Pattern Formation Due to Shrinkage in a Drying Material

Crack patterns observed in nature have attracted the interest of researchers in various fields, and the mechanism of the pattern formation has been investigated. However, the phenomenon is very complicated, and many factors affect the process. Therefore, we are motivated to construct a general simulation code with a simple algorithm. In this study, crack pattern formation due to shrinkage caused by the drying of a wet material was simulated. The process was simplified as follows: tensile force is generated in the model, and a crack is generated when the tension exceeds a critical value. The tensile forces in the x and y directions are independently evaluated. A crack propagates perpendicular to the tension until it reaches another crack or a boundary. Based on this modeling, simulations with a two-dimensional square domain were performed. Consequently, a cross-divided pattern was generated. Assuming zigzag crack propagation, more realistic patterns were obtained. The effects of the boundary and domain size were also considered, and various characteristic patterns were obtained. Furthermore, the orientation dependency was simulated, and 45&#730 declined patterns and rectangularly divided patterns were generated. The model presented in this study is very simplified and is expected to be applicable to various objects.

The Impact of Fabric Weave and Anisotropy on the Poisson’s Ratio in Technical Fabrics

Poisson’s ratio changes during the tensile stress of technical fabric samples due to the anisotropy of technical fabrics.This paper examines the effects of the type of weave and the anisotropic characteristics of the technical fabric on maximum tensile force,corresponding elongation,work-to-maximum force,elasticity modulus,and Poisson’s ratio when axial tensile forces are applied to samples cut at various angles in the direction of the weft yarns of the technical fabric.In the lab,3 cotton fabric samples of constant warp and weft density with different structural weave types(plain weave,twill weave,atlas weave)were subjected to the tensile force until they broke at the following angles:0°,15°,30°,45°,60°,75°,90°.Based on the different measured values of technical fabric stretching in the longitudinal direction and lateral narrowing,Poisson’s ratio is calculated.The Poisson’s ratio was calculated up to a relative elongation of the fabric of 8%,as the buckling of the fabric occurs according to this elongation value.According to the results presented in this paper,the type of weave of the fabric,the direction of tensile force,and the relative narrowing of the technical fabrics all play important roles in the Poisson’s ratio value.The Poisson’s ratio curve of a technical fabric under tensile stress(i.e.elongation)is primarily determined by its behaviour in the opposite direction of the elongation.The change in the value of the Poisson’s ratio is represented by a graph that first increases nonlinearly and then decreases after reaching its maximum value.

The finite element modeling of spiral ropes

Accurate understanding the behavior of spiral rope is complicated due to their complex geometry and complex contact conditions between the wires.This study proposed the finite element models of spiral ropes subjected to tensile loads.The parametric equations developed in this paper were implemented for geometric modeling of ropes.The 3D geometric models with different twisting manner,equal diameters of wires were generated in details by using Pro/ENGINEER software.The results of the present finite element analysis were on an acceptable level of accuracy as compared with those of theoretical and experimental data.Further development is ongoing to analysis the equivalent stresses induced by twisting manner of cables.The twisting manner of wires was important to spiral ropes in the three wire layers and the outer twisting manner of wires should be contrary to that of the second layer,no matter what is the first twisting manner of wires.

Design Methods for Geotextile Tubes Application in Dike Construction

The technique of geotextile tubes used to construct dikes for land reclamation has been widely used. The tubes are usually filled with slun＇y of soil, such as sand, silt or clay. The tensile stress developed in the geotextile during filling the tube is the dominant factor for construction of a safe dike. The existing design methods are good for designing sausage shaped tubes and can not be directly applied for designing fiat tubes, which are commonly used in dike construction. This paper presents a procedure that can detenmine the relatiorrship among the tube size, the pumping pressure, the unit weight of the slurry, and the tensile stress developed in the geotextile during the tube filing. When the tubes are piling up to form the dike, the tubes in the bottom will sustain the load from the weight of the upper ones. A procedure is also developed to calculate the changes of the mechanical and geometrical behavior of the tubes under the load with a similar method. All these approaches have been programmed, which can help dike designers to select the suitable geotextile and determine the profile of the dike.

Interaction analysis of back-to-back mechanically stabilized earth walls

Back-to-back mechanically stabilized earth walls （BBMSEWs） are encountered in bridge approaches, ramp ways, rockfall protection systems, earth dams, levees and noise barriers. However, available design guidelines for BBMSEWs are limited and not applicable to numerical modeling when back-to-back walls interact with each other. The objective of this paper is to investigate, using PLAXIS code, the effects of the reduction in the distance between BBMSEW, the reinforcement length, the quality of backfill material and the connection of reinforcements in the middle, when the back-to-back walls are close. The results indicate that each of the BBMSEWs behaves independently if the width of the embankment between mechanically stabilized earth walls is greater than that of the active zone. This is in good agreement with the result of FHWA design guideline. However, the results show that the FHWA design guideline underestimates the lateral earth pressure when back-to-back walls interact with each other. Moreover, for closer BBMSEWs, FHWA design guideline strongly overestimates the maximum tensile force in the reinforcement. The investigation of the quality of backfill material shows that the minor increase in embankment cohesion can lead to significant reductions in both the lateral earth pressure and the maximum tensile force in geosynthetic. When the distance between the two earth walls is close to zero, the connection of reinforcement between back-to-back walls significantly improves the factor of safety.

A Method Based on Multi-Body Dynamic Analysis for A Floating Two-Stage Buffer Collision-Prevention System Under Ship Collision Loads

The collision of ships poses a great threat to the piers in navigable waters.The kinetic energy of the moving ship can be consumed not only with the structural deformation,but also with tensile force from the proposed Floating Two-stage Buffer Collision-Prevention System(FTBCPS).The actual anti-collision effect of the current designed FTBCPS can be evaluated by the dynamic simulation.The construction method of 3D model is introduced,and the system initial state is defined.The transformation matrix and the basic kinematics vector are given,and the system basic dynamics equation is then created.The mechanical analysis on each component is carried out,and the detailed process of numerical simulation is also given.The simulation results indicate that collision direction and collision position have a great influence on the system kinematic response.Bridge pier faces the greatest threat when a ship hits the floater on the front beam in a nearly vertical direction,or on the side beam in a larger course angle.The study shows that the current designed FTBCPS can make full use of the fracture tensile property of polyester ropes and keep the tensile force acted on pier within its bearable range at the same time.The collision direction has a significant effect on the dynamic response of the colliding bodies,but no failure appeared in the simulations,which indicates that the current designed FTBCPS can protect bridge piers of all cases for the 5000-t ship with a velocity smaller than 5 m/s in navigable waters.

Effect of welding current on strength and microstructure in resistance spot welding of AZ31 Mg alloy

In this paper, resistance spot welding were performed on lmm-thickness magnesium AZ31B plates. The effect of welding current on the microstructure and tensile shear force was investigated. It was found that the welding current governed the nugget growth, and the nugget could not form if current levels were insufficient. The nugget revealed a homogeneous, equiaxed, fine-grained structure, which consisted of non-equilibrium microstructure of α-phase dendrites surrounded by eutectic mixtures of α and β（ Mg17All2 ） in the grain boundaries. With increasing welding current, the size of grains in nugget would be more smaller and uniform, and the width of plastic rings would be larger. Tensile shear tests showed that tensile shear force of the joints increased with increasing welding current when the welding current was smaller than 17 000 A. The maximum tensile shear force was up to 1980 N.

Lap joining of titanium alloy using laser welding and resistance seam welding combined process

Titanium alloy lap joints were performed by combined laser welding and resistance seam welding process. The welding characteristics of this combined process were investigated compared with that of laser welding. The experimental results indicate that the combined process welded joint has larger weld width at the lap surface. The joint tensile shear force of combined process is 2. 5 times that of laser welding. There are some pores around the lap surface in laser welded joint, and most pores can be eliminated by resistance seam welding process. Metallographic examinations of combined process welded joint reveal that the microstructure in heat-affected zone （HAZ） and weld zone has the acicular martensite morphology, which causes that the microhardness in HAZ and weld zone increases compared with the base metal, and the microhardness in weld zone is highest.

Parallel fabrication of silica optical microfibers and nanofibers

Optical micro/nanofibers(MNFs)taper-drawn from silica fibers possess intriguing optical and mechanical properties.Recently,MNF array or MNFs with identical geometries have been attracting more and more attention,however,current fabrication technique can draw only one MNF at a time,with a low drawing speed(typically 0.1 mm/s)and a complicated process for high-precision control,making it inefficient in fabricating multiple MNFs.Here,we propose a parallel-fabrication approach to simultaneously drawing multiple(up to 20)MNFs with almost identical geometries.For fiber diameter larger than 500 nm,measured optical transmittances of all as-drawn MNFs exceed 96.7%at 1550-nm wavelength,with a diameter deviation within 5%.Our results pave a way towards high-yield fabrication of MNFs that may find applications from MNF-based optical sensors,optical manipulation to fiber-to-chip interconnection.

Galectin 3-binding protein(LGALS3BP)depletion attenuates hepatic fibrosis by reducing transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1)availability and inhibits hepatocarcinogenesis

Background:Increased Galectin 3-binding protein(LGALS3BP)serum levels have been used to assess hepatic fibrosis stages and the severity of hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).Considering the crucial role of transforming growth factor-β1(TGF-β1)in the emergence of these diseases,the present study tested the hypothesis that LGALS3BP regulates the TGF-β1 signaling pathway.Methods:The expression levels of LGALS3BP and TGFB1 were analyzed in patients with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis(MASH)and HCC.Multiple omics techniques,such as RNA-sequencing,transposaseaccessible chromatin-sequencing assay,and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry proteomics,were used to identify the regulatory mechanisms for the LGALS3BP-TGF-β1 axis.The effects of altered TGF-β1 signaling by LGALS3BP were investigated in conditional LGALS3BP-knockin and LGALS3BP-knockout mice.Results:In patients with MASH and HCC,the levels of LGALS3BP and TGFB1 exhibited positive correlations.Stimulation of LGALS3BP by the inflammatory cytokine interferonαin HCC cells or ectopic overexpression of LGALS3BP in hepatocytes promoted the expression levels of TGFB1.Aggravated fibrosis was observed in the livers of hepatocyte-specific LGALS3BP-knockin mice,with increased TGFB1 levels.LGALS3BP directly bound to and assembled integrinαV,an integral mediator required for releasing active TGF-β1 from extracellular latent complex with the rearranged F-actin cytoskeleton.The released TGF-β1 activated JunB transcription factor,which in turn promoted the TGF-β1 positive feedback loop.LGALS3BP deletion in the hepatocytes downregulated TGF-β1 signaling and CCl4 induced fibrosis.Moreover,LGALS3BP depletion hindered hepatocarcinogenesis by limiting the availability of fibrogenic TGF-β1.Conclusion:LGALS3BP plays a crucial role in hepatic fibrosis and carcinogenesis by controlling the TGF-β1 signaling pathway,making it a promising therapeutic target in TGF-β1-related diseases.

Mechanical force-induced assembly of one-dimensional nanomaterials

There have been intensive and continuous research efforts in large-scale controlled assembly of one-dimensional(1D)nanomaterials,since this is the most effective and promising route toward advanced functional systems including integrated nano-circuits and flexible electronic devices.To date,numerous assembly approaches have been reported,showing considerable progresses in developing a variety of 1D nanomaterial assemblies and integrated systems with outstanding performance.However,obstacles and challenges remain ahead.Here,in this review,we summarize most widely studied assembly approaches such as Langmuir-Blodgett technique,substrate release/stretching,substrate rubbing and blown bubble films,depending on three types of external forces:compressive,tensile and shear forces.We highlight the important roles of these mechanical forces in aligning 1D nanomaterials such as semiconducting nanowires and carbon nanotubes,and discuss each approach on their effectiveness in achieving high-degree alignment,distinct characteristics and major limitations.Finally,we point out possible research directions in this field including rational control on the orientation,density and registration,toward scale-up and cost-effective manufacturing,as well as novel assembled systems based on 1D heterojunctions and hybrid structures.