An investigation on microstructure and mechanical properties of 316 stainless steel: a comparison between ultrasonic treatment and thermal annealing

ABSTRACTAligned multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) sheets were thermally annealed at high temperatures of 1800°C, 2200°C, and 2600°C. Pristine and thermally annealed MWCNT/epoxy composites were fabricated using hot-melt prepreg processing. Effects of thermal annealing on properties of aligned MWCNT sheets and their composites were examined. Transmission electron microscope images and Raman spectra measurements of the aligned MWCNT sheets showed an improvement of the MWCNT nanostructure after high-temperature thermal annealing. High-temperature thermal annealing did not cause the change in microstructural morphologies of the MWCNT sheets. Although the strength of the MWCNT sheets after high-temperature thermal annealing did not improve, their stiffness enhanced significantly. Particularly, high-temperature thermal annealing increased markedly both the tensile strength and elastic modulus of the aligned MWCNT/epoxy composites. The enhancement in the tensile strength and elastic modulus of the composites is mainly attributed to significant improvement of the MWCNT nanostructure by high-temperature thermal annealing. Generally, high-temperature thermal annealing improved the stiffness of the aligned MWCNT sheets and their composites considerably.

Porosity changes in bituminous and anthracite coal with ultrasonic treatment

In this study, the effect of ultrasonic treatment (UST) parameters such as amplitude, sonication time, and melt temperature on microstructure and microhardness of Al 6061 alloy is evaluated. The effect of UST on the dispersion of tungsten disulfide (WS2) and carbon nanotubes (CNT) as reinforcement particles in Al 6061 during casting is also studied. The cast Al 6061 with UST demonstrated 32% grain size reduction and 8% increase in the microhardness for optimum processing conditions. The cavitation process induced by UST is responsible for the refinement in microstructure and increase of hardness by enhancing the degassing and nucleation process. UST treated 6061 Al alloy demonstrated Hall-Petch relationship for all processing conditions. The UST process also aids in excellent dispersion of WS2 and CNT as reinforcement particles. UST treated WS2 and CNT reinforced Al 6061 composites displayed improved wear resistance as compared to samples without cavitation.

Internal stress relief and microstructural evolution by ultrasonic treatment of austeno-ferritic 2205 duplex stainless steel

This study presents an application of ultrasonic technology in the high voltage liquid insulation domain towards the reduction of pour point of vegetable oil samples for the utilization of vegetable oils as liquid insulation in cold climate areas on power transformers. Pour point reduction has been achieved by processing the vegetable oil samples by using ultrasonic treatment process with 100 W and 30 kHz ultrasonic waves for various exposure times of 15, 30, 45 and 60 min. Edible vegetable oils such as sunflower oil, palm oil, sesame oil and non edible vegetable oils such as honge oil, neem oil and punna oil are considered as two categories of vegetable oils for this experimental investigation. Ultrasonic treatment process results in the reduction of pour point of vegetable oils to meet out the standard value of pour point for liquid insulation as per IEEE Standard C57.147, 2018. A significant reduction in pour point temperature of vegetable oil samples have been obtained with an increased exposure time. The obtained variations in pour point after exposure with ultrasonic waves may be due to the possible changes in crystallization kinetics of fatty acids components of vegetable oil samples due to energy input of ultrasonic waves. The experimental results have given a way towards the positive encouragement and development with ultrasonic treatment for achieving low pour point vegetable oils as liquid insulation in power transformers for applications on cold climatic areas.

In order to accelerate hydrolysis known to be the rate-limiting step of the overall digestion process for swine wastewater, an ultrasonic treatment process was tested for the solubilization of the swine wastewater. The effectiveness of ultrasonic solubilization of the swine wastewater under various operational conditions was compared by means of an increment of soluble organics in the treated swine wastewater and the hydrolysis rate constant. Ultrasonic treatment resulted in the high degree of solubilization of particulate organics in the swine wastewater and the degree of solubilization increased with increasing supplied energy. The highest extent of an increment of SCOD concentration and SCOD/TCOD ratio at the end of the operation time of 60 min was 109.7 and 117.5%, respectively, under 120 W power output and 20(o)C operating temperature conditions. The observed highest hydrolysis rate constant described by pseudo-first order rate constant was 2.94 h(-1) under the same conditions. Based on the estimated activation energy from modeling using the Arrhenius equation, ultrasonic solubilization of the swine wastewater under higher supplied energy conditions was more dependent on the operating temperature, which was consistent with the experimentally obtained results. Based on the investigation into the effect of gas type and gas delivery methods for ultrasonic solubilization of the swine wastewater, oxygen gas bubbling through the liquid showed the highest degree of an increment of soluble organics possibly attributed to the influent of oxygen in an increase of radicals during the sonolysis.

The ultrasonic impact treatment process is widely used to improve the fatigue life of the weldments by inducing compressive residual stresses at the sub-surface. The purpose of the article is to conduct the dynamic elastic–plastic finite element analysis of multiple impacts on 5A06 aluminum alloy with different controlled parameters. The numerical model was validated by pin drop test. The changes in penetration depth, maximum compressive residual stress, and surface residual stress were obtained by analyzing the residual stress field and equivalent plastic strain. The effect of impact times, impact velocities, pin shapes, and impact angles on the residual stress was investigated so that the ultrasonic impact treatment parameters could be controlled to obtain expected residual stress distributions.

Ultrasonic treatment affects emulsifying properties and molecular flexibility of soybean protein isolate-glucose conjugates

Effects of thermal annealing on the charge localization characteristics of HfO2/Au/HfO2 stack

Study of phase separation in Ga25Se75−xTex chalcogenide thin films

Strengthening of nanocrystalline Al using grain boundary solute additions: Effects of thermal annealing and ion irradiation

Improved electroluminescence performance of ZnS:Cu,Cl phosphors by ultrasonic treatment

Fatigue properties of welded Strenx 700 MC HSLA steel after ultrasonic impact treatment application

Amorphous carbon (a-C) nanoclusters were synthesized by the implantation of carbon ions (C-) into thermally grown silicon dioxide film (-500 nm thick) on a Si (100) wafer and processed by high temperature thermal annealing. The carbon ions were implanted with an energy of 70 keV at a fluence of 5 x 10(17) atoms/cm2. The implanted samples were annealed at 1100 degrees C for different time periods in a gas mixture of 96% Ar+4% H2. Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HRTEM) were used to study the structural properties of both the as-implanted and annealed samples. HRTEM reveals the formation of nanostructures in the annealed samples. The Raman spectroscopy also confirms the formation of carbon nano-clusters in the samples annealed for 10 min, 30 min, 60 min and 90 min. No Raman features originating from the carbon-clusters are observed for the sample annealed further to 120 min, indicating a complete loss of implanted carbon from the SiO2 layer. The loss of the implanted carbon in the 120 min annealed sample from the SiO2 layer was also observed in the XPS depth profile measurements. Room temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy revealed visible emissions from the samples pointing to carbon ion induced defects as the origin of a broad 2.0-2.4 eV band, and the intrinsic defects in SiO2 as the possible origin of the -2.9 eV bands. In low temperature photoluminescence spectra, two sharp and intense photoluminescence lines at -3.31 eV and -3.34 eV appear for the samples annealed for 90 min and 120 min, whereas no such bands are observed in the samples annealed for 10 min, 30 min, and 60 min. The Si nano-clusters forming at the Si-SiO2 interface could be the origin of these intense peaks.

The nonuniform distributions of the residual stress were simulated by a 3D finite element model to analyze the elastic-plastic dynamic ultrasonic impact treatment (UIT) process of multiple impacts on the 2024 aluminum alloy. The evolution of the stress during the impact process was discussed. The successive impacts during the UIT process improve the uniformity of the plastic deformation and decrease the maximum compressive residual stress beneath the former impact indentations. The influences of different controlled parameters, including the initial impact velocity, pin diameter, pin tip, device moving, and offset distances, on the residual stress distributions were analyzed. The influences of the controlled parameters on the residual stress distributions are apparent in the offset direction due to the different surface coverage in different directions. The influences can be used to understand the UIT process and to obtain the desired residual stress by optimizing the controlled parameters.