Metallographic structure,mechanical properties,and process parameter optimization of 5A06 joints formed by ultrasonic-assisted refill friction stir spot welding

Novel hybrid refill friction stir spot welding （RFSSW） assisted with ultrasonic oscillation was introduced to 5A06 aluminum alloy joints. The metallographic structure and mechanical properties of 5A06 aluminum alloy RFSSW joints formed without ultrasonic assistance and with lateral and longitudinal ultrasonic assistance were compared, and the ultrasonic-assisted RFSSW process parameters were opti- mized. The results show that compared with lateral ultrasonic oscillation, longitudinal ultrasonic oscillation strengthens the horizontal bond- ing ligament in the joint and has a stronger effect on the joint＇s shear strength. By contrast, lateral ultrasonic oscillation strengthens the ver- tical bonding ligament and is more effective in increasing the joint＇s tensile strength. The maximum shear strength of ultrasonic-assisted RFSSW 5A06 aluminum alloy joints is as high as 8761 N, and the maximum tensile strength is 3679 N when the joints are formed at a tool rotating speed of 2000 r/rain, a welding time of 3.5 s, a penetration depth of 0.2 mm, and an axial pressure of 11 kN.

Kinetics of leaching refractory gold ores by ultrasonic-assisted electro-chlorination

The resources of refractory gold ores are abundant, and their effective treatment can bring good economic benefits. This paper investigated the kinetics of leaching gold from refractory gold ores by ultrasonic-assisted electro-chlorination. The effects of ultrasound time ratio, initial hydrochloric acid concentration and leaching temperature on the kinetic parameters were discussed. It is found that the leaching ratio goes up with all the factors increasing. The reaction kinetics is controlled by diffusion. When ultrasound improves the diffusion by reducing the diffusion resistance, the activation energy increases to 37.1 kJ/mol.

Production and characterization of ZnO nanoparticles and porous particles by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis using a zinc nitrate precursor

ZnO nanoparticles and porous particles were produced by an ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method using a zinc nitrate precursor at various temperatures under air atmosphere. The effects of reaction temperature on the size and morphology of ZnO particles were investi- gated. The samples were characterized by energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. ZnO particles were obtained in a hexagonal crystal structure and the crystallite shapes changed from spherical to hex- agonal by elevating the reaction temperature. The crystallite size grew by increasing the temperature, in spite of reducing the residence time in the heated zone. ZnO nanoparticles were obtained at the lowest reaction temperature and ZnO porous particles, formed by aggregation of ZnO nanoparticles due to effective sintering, were prepared at higher temperatures. The results showed that the properties of ZnO particles can be controlled by changing the reaction temperature in the ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method.

Design of a 6 DOF Input Device in Telerobotics and Virtual Reality

The pincipl of a 6 DOF (degress of freedom) input device using ultrasonic distance measurement is presented in this paper. The system employs the method of measuring the time of flight. In addition, some techniques, including automatic gain control, self-adaptive variable threshold and temperature compensation, are also used to improve precision. Then, the positions and orientation of the input device can be calculated by the method of spatial analytic geometry. Meanwhile, commands from the 3-D input device are detected and carried out. The validity and precision of the input device are verified by the experiment in a robot system. The proposed device not only can be used for end effector position and orientation measurement in telerobotics, but also can be an interactive device in virtual reality systems, such as helmet tracking, viewpoint navigation and object manipulation.

Application of subband adaptive filtering techniques to ultrasonic detection in multilayers

The ultrasonic testing for the defects of complete disbond in multi-layered structure with lower acoustic impedance beneath a high acoustic impedance overburden is one of the difficult problems in ultrasonic nondestructive testing field. A model of a multi-layered steel-rubber composite plate is depicted. Because the acoustic impedance of the steel differs far from that of the couplant water and the rubber, the energy of the signal reflected from the debonded rubber layers is very weak. More over, the flaw echoes are masked by the strong echoes reverberated in the steel plate. It's nearly impossible to identify the debonding echoes directly. The subband adaptive filtering method is discussed in the paper, where the subband decomposition is performed by mutual wavelet packets decomposition on the criterion of maximizing the cross-correlation between the signals. The simulations on both synthetic and real signals are presented. The echoes from the delaminated flaw at the depth of 5 mm in the rubber from the calculated signal, and echoes from the flaw at the depth of 3 mm from the real signal are extracted successfully.

The application of laser reflective tomography in near-field measurements of ultrasonic transducers

With Laser Reflective Tomography（LRT）,the near fields of ultrasonic transducers were measured and analyzed.The principle of LRT measurement of ultrasonic field distribution was introduced and an experimental system was set up.Acoustic pressure of a multiple element piston transducer was measured by using of a laser vibrometer.Its distribution in amplitude and phase was obtained.The acoustic pressure in the same region was measured with a needle hydrophone to validate the LRT method.Furthermore,through reconstruction of acoustic fields,it indicated that LRT method is suitable for predicting the distribution on transducers＇surface and conditions of active elements.

Application of the digital matched-filter technique to ultrasonic non-destructive testing

Acoustic-pulse compression is obtained in systems with different timebandwidth products by applying the digital matched-filter technique to ultrasonic non-destructive testing. The signal is linearly frequency -modulated (LFM) pulse and the digitized electrical-excitation signal itself is used as a digital matched filter. Experimental results are in good agreement with theory. Suppressions of side lobes achieve -41.9 dB and -41.5 dB for the Hamming and Gaussian weighted signals respectively. It shows that the application of the digital matched-filter technique improves the performances of a ultrasonic testing system explicitly.

A novel optical multilayer hydrophone with a triangular pyramid substrate

A novel concept for an optical multilayer ultrasonic hydrophone with the sensing film deposited on a triangular pyramid glass substrate is proposed. Using the calculation model for the spectral coefficients＇ derivatives of a dielectric multilayer optical coating, the acousto-optic sensitivity characteristic of the hy- drophone is analyzed with different measurement laser polarizations and incident angles. We present a reasonable method and adjusting strategy for the optimum working point selection of the ultrasound mea- surement. Analytic results show that the novel hydrophone possesses all the other merits of a plate glass substrate optical multilayer hydrophone but with improved detection sensitivity. A longer measurement time without distortion decreases the difficulty of high frequency signal circuits. Spatial split of the ultra- sound signal caused by the substrate＇s triangular pyramid roof simplifies the spatial spot area correction, which contributes to the accurate calibration of the hydrophone＇s wideband frequency response.