Particle Heating Research Articles

The Origin of the Slow-to-Alfvén Wave Cascade Power Ratio and Its Implications for Particle Heating in Accretion Flows

The partition of turbulent heating between ions and electrons in radiatively inefficient accretion flows plays a crucial role in determining the observational appearance of accreting black holes. Modeling this partition is, however, a challenging problem because of the large scale-separation between the macroscopic scales at which energy is injected by turbulence and the microscopic ones at which it is dissipated into heat. Recent studies of particle heating from collisionless damping of turbulent energy have shown that the partition of energy between ions and electrons is dictated by the ratio of the energy injected into the slow and Alfvén wave cascades as well as the plasma β parameter. In this paper, we study the mechanism of the injection of turbulent energy into slow- and Alfvén-wave cascades in magnetized shear flows. We show that this ratio depends on the particular (r ϕ) components of the Maxwell and Reynolds stress tensors that cause the transport of angular momentum, the shearing rate, and the orientation of the mean magnetic field with respect to the shear. We then use numerical magnetohydrodynamic shearing-box simulations with background conditions relevant to black hole accretion disks to compute the magnitudes of the stress tensors for turbulence driven by the magneto-rotational instability and derive the injection power ratio between slow and Alfvén wave cascades. We use these results to formulate a local subgrid model for the ion-to-electron heating ratio that depends on the macroscopic characteristics of the accretion flow.

Comparative Study of the Kinetic Properties of Proton and Alpha Beams in the Alfvénic Wind Observed by SWA-PAS On Board Solar Orbiter

The problems of heating and acceleration of solar wind particles are of significant and enduring interest in astrophysics. The interactions between waves and particles are crucial in determining the distributions of proton and alpha particles, resulting in non-Maxwellian characteristics, including temperature anisotropies and particle beams. These processes can be better understood as long as the beam can be separated from the core for the two major components of the solar wind. We utilized an alternative numerical approach that leverages the clustering technique employed in machine learning to differentiate the primary populations within the velocity distribution rather than employing the conventional bi-Maxwellian fitting method. Separation of the core and beam revealed new features for protons and alphas. We estimated that the total temperature of the two beams was slightly higher than that of their respective cores, and the temperature anisotropy for the cores and beams was larger than 1. We concluded that the temperature ratio between alphas and protons largely over 4 is due to the presence of a massive alpha beam, which is approximately 50% of the alpha core. We provided evidence that the alpha core and beam populations are sensitive to Alfvénic fluctuations and the surfing effect found in the literature can be recovered only when considering the core and beam as a single population. Several similarities between proton and alpha beams would suggest a common and local generation mechanism not shared with the alpha core, which may not have necessarily been accelerated and heated locally.

TO HIGHLY PRODUCTIVE SYNTHESIS OF ALUMINUM NANOPARTICLES IN PLASMA FLOW AT ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE

Purpose. To study the highly productive evaporation of aluminum micron powder in an atmospheric pressure plasma jet for the synthesis of nanoaluminum. Using special plasma technology, nanoparticles can be produced by rapid melting and evaporation of the initial micrometer particles and their subsequent re-nucleation. Research methods. Methods of mathematical and computer modeling of subsonic plasma turbulent jets at atmospheric pressure and experimental studies of two-phase processes during thermal plasma treatment using an arc plasma torch. Results. Based on computer modeling, a special reactor system was designed and developed, which includes a plasma-jet reactor with an electric arc plasma torch for the synthesis of aluminum nanoparticles. Numerical modeling makes it possible to determine the position of the melting point, evaporation and crushing of a molten particle, the evolution of the fractional composition of the dispersed phase, and find the speed and temperature of the particle in the area from its melting point to the crushing point. An experimental test of the operation of the reactor system was carried out using arc plasma torches with a power of 30 and 150 kW. It has been shown that intensifying the fragmentation of dispersed raw materials in a plasma jet can be useful in technologies for producing nanomaterials. The consequence of the fragmentation process is the redistribution of the fractional composition of the powder along the plasma jet and the accompanying changes in the dynamics of movement, heating and evaporation of particles. It has been determined that when the temperature of the largest aluminum particles reaches 2500 C, the total amount of evaporated mass is theoretically equal to 100%. The main parameters influencing the behavior of particles in a plasma jet are particle diameter, powder injection rate, flow rate, temperature and composition of the plasma gas. Taking these parameters into account will allow the process to operate at increased productivity. Scientific novelty. A mathematical description of the process of fragmentation a polydisperse powder, based on a continuum approach, has been obtained, which makes it possible to determine the position of the crushing point of a molten particle, the fractional composition of the dispersed phase, and find the speed and temperature of the particle in the area from its melting point to the point of crushing and evaporation. It was shown for the first time that it is possible to carry out a process in which complete evaporation of a molten drop is achieved due to the high enthalpy of the plasma before the end of mixing with steam. Practical value. A special reactor system has been designed and developed, which includes a plasma-jet reactor with an electric arc plasmatron for the synthesis of aluminum nanoparticles. The operating parameters of the reactor system have been determined, which will allow the synthesis of aluminum nanoparticles to be carried out with high productivity.

Multi-layered ventilation duct system for heat exchange with air purification

In a typical house with a mechanical ventilation system, a ventilation duct with a certain installation length is placed along the exterior walls or in the ceiling shed space. To effectively use this ventilation duct, we aimed to develop a novel ventilation duct system with sensible heat exchange and passive air purification mechanisms. The proposed ventilation duct comprises multiple layers of a counterflow heat recovery ventilator (HRV). Baffles were installed in the middle of the flow channel to collect particles in the outdoor air by forming a circulating flow associated with the separation flow and gravitational settling in a local domain in the flow channel. To optimize the design of this new ventilation duct concept in terms of particle removal and heat exchange efficiencies, we conducted a computational fluid and particle dynamics analysis as a function of design parameters such as airflow rate, particle size, and air temperature. Through a series of numerical analyses, differences in the heat exchange efficiency and effectiveness of particle removal corresponding to different baffle designs were quantitatively evaluated, and finally, the optimal design for the air channel as an HRV was determined.

Quaternionic generalization of telegraph equations

Using non-commutative spacetime quaternion algebra, we represent the generalization of one-dimensional and three-dimensional telegraph equations, which are widely applied to consider the propagation of an electromagnetic signal in communication lines, as well as to describe particle diffusion and heat transfer. It is shown that the system of telegraph equations can be represented in compact form as a single quaternion equation taking into account the spacetime properties of physical quantities. The distinctive features of the one-dimensional and three-dimensional telegraph equations are discussed.

Decoupling pyrolysis and combustion of organic powders to determine the laminar flame speed

AbstractDetermining the laminar flame speed of dusts is far from straightforward. A strong dependency on the experimental setup and the data treatment's high complexity makes it a true challenge. This work compares three complementary experimental setups to measure the laminar flame speed of organic dust (here, cellulose): a modified Hartmann tube, a 20 L sphere, and a micro‐fluidized bed (MFB) burner. The first two consider the flame propagation phenomenon in its globality, which means that numerous steps are involved simultaneously (particle heating, pyrolysis, oxidation, radiative transfer, flame stretching), while the third one decouples pyrolysis and combustion, to focus mainly on the oxidation rate. An MFB was conceived to generate pyrolysis products and burn them in a laminar flame. Unstretched flame velocities determined with the first two setups were consistent and equal to 22.0 and 26.6 cm ∙ s−1, respectively. Using Silvestrini's equation, values ranging between 14.0 and 33.4 cm ∙ s−1 were obtained according to the dust concentration. With the MFB burner, the flame speed was much higher (135–155 cm ∙ s−1), due to the higher temperature of the fresh mixture and the fact that only the oxidation of the pyrolysis gases is considered. A numerical simulation (Chemkin) confirmed these results since the range 135 to 231 cm ∙ s−1 was obtained for equivalence ratios of 0.6 and 1.2, respectively. The discrepancy between the laminar flame speed determined in the sphere or in the tube and that obtained in the MFB highlights the significant influence of particle heating and pyrolysis during a dust explosion.

Solar absorptance of fly ashes cycled in oxidizing and non-oxidizing high temperature conditions

Storage of energy as sensible heat in solid particles is an increasingly viable strategy for the next generation of commercial concentrating solar power installments. However, additional strategies are needed to preserve particle stability and solar absorptance capacity of particles under high temperature cyclic conditions. Furthermore, identification of a low-cost substrate is necessary for lowering both the cost and the environmental impact of the production of new TES particulates. While several parameters, including heat capacity, density, and particle size must be considered for TES media, this study addresses critical knowledge gaps related to the identification of TES particulates and the impact of thermal atmosphere on particulate solar absorptance, which is a necessary, though not sufficient parameter that must be optimized for TES media. This work demonstrates that the thermal stability and solar absorptance of revalorized coal fly ash TES particles can be enhanced at high temperatures by exposure to an argon environment. Thermal cycling of ashes in argon at temperature of 800 °C and 1000 °C results in the preservation of ash microstructure as observed using SEM, and an increase in solar absorptance of between 3 % and 12 %, and between 6 % and 21 % over atmospheric environments, respectively. These results provide evidence that considerable enhancements in certain properties salient for TES may be achieved under inert atmospheres, and that fly ash in particular may be optimizable for TES purposes. Study results also suggest that next generation CSP plants should consider operational designs which support inert atmospheres for TES and/or heat transfer media.

Generation and annihilation of three dimensional magnetic nulls in extrapolated solar coronal magnetic field: data-based Implicit Large Eddy simulation

Three-dimensional (3D) magnetic nulls are the points where magnetic field vanishes and are preferential sites for magnetic reconnection: a fundamental process which converts magnetic energy into kinetic energy, heat, and energy of non-thermal particles along with a rearrangement of magnetic field lines. Reconnection is ubiquitous in nature and plays a major role in various magnetically confined laboratory and space/astrophysical plasmas. In the solar corona, the reconnection manifests as coronal transients including solar flares, coronal mass ejections and coronal jets—often associated with 3D nulls. The nulls are generally found to be collocated with complex active regions on the solar photosphere and merits further attention, particularly in terms of their generation. A recent idealized magnetohydrodynamics simulation initiated with an analytically constructed preexisting proper radial null has identified magnetic reconnection to be responsible for spontaneous generation of these 3D nulls. It is then imperative to further explore the plausibility of spontaneous generation of nulls in naturally occurring plasmas, identify the mechanism and verify the outcome vis-à-vis observations. An apt test bed for such an initiative is the solar atmosphere, as abundant space and ground-based observations are available. In the above backdrop, the paper attempts to investigate 3D null generation by carrying out a data-based simulation of a C6.6 class flare associated with the photospheric active region NOAA 11 977. The simulation confirms spontaneous pairwise generation of 3D nulls with magnetic reconnections as the underlying cause. Importantly, magnetic field lines associated with the spontaneously generated nulls are found to trace observed chromospheric bright points—highlighting their observational relevance. Overall, such spontaneous generation and annihilation of nulls through magnetic reconnections opens up a new avenue for solar coronal and chromospheric heating.

Cascade-Dissipation Balance in Astrophysical Plasmas: Insights from the Terrestrial Magnetosheath.

The differential heating of electrons and ions by turbulence in weakly collisional magnetized plasmas and the scales at which such energy dissipation is most effective are still debated. Using a large data sample measured in Earth's magnetosheath by the magnetospheric multiscale mission and the coarse-grained energy equations derived from the Vlasov-Maxwell system, we find evidence of a balance over two decades in scales between the energy cascade and dissipation rates. The decline of the cascade rate at kinetic scales (in contrast with a constant one in the inertial range), is balanced by an increasing ion and electron heating rates, estimated via the pressure strain. Ion scales are found to contribute most effectively to ion heating, while electron heating originates from both ion and electron scales. These results can potentially impact the current understanding of particle heating in turbulent magnetized plasmas as well as their theoretical and numerical modeling.

A neural based modeling approach for predicting effective thermal conductivity of brewer’s spent grain

PurposeBrewer's spent grain (BSG) is the main by-product of the brewing industry, holding significant potential for biomass applications. The purpose of this paper was to determine the effective thermal conductivity (keff) of BSG and to develop an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) to predict keff, since this property is fundamental in the design and optimization of the thermochemical conversion processes toward the feasibility of bioenergy production.Design/methodology/approachThe experimental determination of keff as a function of BSG particle diameter and heating rate was performed using the line heat source method. The resulting values were used as a database for training the ANN and testing five multiple linear regression models to predict keff under different conditions.FindingsExperimental values of keff were in the range of 0.090–0.127 W m−1 K−1, typical for biomasses. The results showed that the reduction of the BSG particle diameter increases keff, and that the increase in the heating rate does not statistically affect this property. The developed neural model presented superior performance to the multiple linear regression models, accurately predicting the experimental values and new patterns not addressed in the training procedure.Originality/valueThe empirical correlations and the developed ANN can be utilized in future work. This research conducted a discussion on the practical implications of the results for biomass valorization. This subject is very scarce in the literature, and no studies related to keff of BSG were found.

Pyrolysis of shenmu coal to prepare blue-coke used as reductant

Blue-coke is a form of granular char prepared by medium-low temperature pyrolysis of low-rank coal. As a reductant, it has been widely used in calcium carbide production, ferroalloy, copper pyro refining, and ferrosilicon production in China due to the abundant reserves of raw coal and its excellent performance. However, there is little research on the pyrolysis process of granular coal to produce blue-coke and its characteristics as a reductant. Thus, the effects of pyrolysis temperature, heating rate, particle size and holding time at the final temperature on blue-coke preparation were investigated in a rotary kiln reactor. The quality index of blue-coke as a reductant and its properties, including the element composition, surface function groups, carbon forms, reactivity and lower heating value under different pyrolysis temperatures, were analyzed in detail. It is demonstrated that the pyrolysis temperature had a more significant impact on the quality of blue-coke compared to other pyrolysis conditions. With the rise of pyrolysis temperature, the blue-coke’s C/O and C/H increased. With the particle size and heating rate increased, the temperature gradients developed within the granular coal during the pyrolysis process led to the volatile release shifting to higher temperature zone and more secondary reaction occurrence. Nevertheless, the secondary reaction was restrained in the rotary kiln with good heat and mass transfer. The indexes of blue-cokes as reductants were met by the chars produced at temperatures from 550 oC to 750 oC with a holding time 60 min at this temperature and a heating rate of 10 oC/min. As the key index of blue-coke, the electrical resistivity decreased with the increase of pyrolysis temperature. It was found to be closely related to the removal of H and O heteroatom at the pyrolysis temperature below 700 °C. While at the higher temperature, the development of graphitized carbon structure took a major role on it. Nonetheless, the crystallite sizes of the blue-coke obtained under this low temperature pyrolysis were small and the carbon forms were turbostratic. These resulted in the blue-coke's high combustion reactivity, which would gradually decline with the rise of pyrolysis temperature.

Electromagnetic–thermal–mass transport triple hybrid model for energy-efficient hydrogen release from metal particles by induction heating

Hydrogen storage in metals is anticipated to be a highly promising technical approach for managing hydrogen in diverse energy applications, emphasizing the need to establish efficient operating conditions. In this study, we developed a numerical model that can simultaneously calculate hydrogen and heat transport combined with electromagnetic induction heating of metal particles. Using the developed numerical simulator, we investigated the behavior of the hydrogen release process from the hydrogen-absorbing metal and proposed important indicators for the operation. The fractions of the electromagnetic energy absorbed by the metal particle used for the hydrogen release, sensible heat, interfacial heat conduction, and thermal radiation were systematically evaluated. Considering the trade-off between temperature rise and the hydrogen concentration gradient, an optimal diameter of metal particles existed for the maximum hydrogen release rate. Similarly, the trade-off between temperature rise and energy consumption revealed an optimal electromagnetic power density for the heat utilization fraction for hydrogen release. Our electromagnetic–thermal–mass transport triple hybrid model constitutes a useful numerical simulator for the design of energy-efficient hydrogen storage systems.

Two-Fluid and Discrete Element Modeling of a Parallel Plate Fluidized Bed Heat Exchanger for Concentrating Solar Power

Abstract A novel high-temperature particle solar receiver is developed using a light trapping planar cavity configuration. As particles fall through the cavity, the concentrated solar radiation warms the boundaries of the receiver and in turn heats the particles. Particles flow through the system, forming a fluidized bed at the lower section, leaving the system from the bottom at a constant flowrate. Air is introduced to the system as the fluidizing medium to improve particle heat transfer and mixing. A laboratory scale cavity receiver is built by collaborators at the Colorado School of Mines and their data are used for model validation. In this experimental setup, near IR quartz lamp is used to provide flux to the vertical wall of the heat exchanger. The system is modeled using the discrete element method and a continuum two-fluid method. The computational model matches the experimental system size and the particle size distribution is assumed monodisperse. A new continuum conduction model that accounts for the effects of solid concentration is implemented, and the heat flux boundary condition matches the experimental setup. Radiative heat transfer is estimated using a widely used correlation during the post-processing step to determine an overall heat transfer coefficient. The model is validated against testing data and achieves less than 30% discrepancy and a heat transfer coefficient greater than 1000 W/m2 K.

Demonstration of a multi-channel fluidized bed particle–supercritical carbon dioxide heat exchanger for concentrating solar applications

High-temperature thermal energy storage in oxide particles at temperatures above 600°C can couple concentrated solar energy with high-efficiency thermal power cycles to provide dispatchable solar-driven electricity. Challenges remain in developing cost-effective primary heat exchangers, which require expensive alloys, to extract the high-temperature thermal energy from the particles to power cycle fluids, such as supercritical CO2 (sCO2) in recuperated Brayton cycles. To explore one pathway for cost-effective, high-temperature particle heat exchangers, the current study demonstrates a shell-and-plate, particle–sCO2 heat exchanger with narrow-channel fluidized beds coupled with micro-channel sCO2 flows in the heat exchanger walls. This study evaluates the feasibility of multiple parallel, narrow-channel fluidized beds in shell-and-plate particle–sCO2 HXs, to achieve high bed-wall heat fluxes at elevated temperatures. A reduced-order model simulates the narrow-channel, fluidized-bed particle–sCO2 heat exchanger to design the fluidized bed geometry, in terms of depth, height, and number of channels,for a nominal 40-kWth heat exchanger at particle and sCO2 inlet temperatures up to 600°C and 400°C respectively. The resulting shell-and-plate heat exchanger design operates with bubbling fluidization of the downward-flowing oxide particles to enhance bed-wall heat transfer. The heat exchanger core is fabricated with etched sCO2 micro-channels in thin wall plates that are diffusion bonded to spacer frames to form the shell-and-plate structure with 12 parallel, fluidized bed channels, 10.4 mm deep. The heat exchanger is tested at the National Solar Thermal Test Facility at Sandia National Laboratories with CARBOBEAD HSP particles at design particle flow rates of 0.20 kg s−1 and inlet temperatures up to 525°C. Results show that fluidization across multiple parallel channel beds can maintain uniform particle inventory with a common freeboard zone above the heat exchanger core. Bubbling fluidization improves particle–wall heat transfer coefficients but also increases axial dispersion of particle thermal energy, which lowers the log-mean temperature difference such that total heat transfer remains relatively constant to within ±10% over a broad range of fluidization gas velocities. The axial dispersion required particle and sCO2 flow rates to be increased by 25% over model-designed conditions to achieve the targeted 40 kWth, which indicates the importance of incorporating axial dispersion into heat exchanger design models and of deploying bed structures to suppress it. This study demonstrates the feasibility and preferred fluidizing gas conditions for particle heat exchangers for releasing high-temperature thermal energy storage systems.

Numerical study of particle behaviours and heat transfer in a complex rotary kiln

Rotary kiln is widely used for thermal disposal of solid waste due to its effectiveness and high efficiency in recent years. To further improve the processing efficiency, a newly designed rotary kiln with three-section structure is proposed, and the behaviours of particle motion and heat transfer are investigated. Firstly, a lab-scale rotary kiln is manufactured, and experiments are carried out. Verified by experimental data, a CFD-DEM numerical model is developed to analyze the particle motion and heat transfer characteristics with the effects of inlet flue gas temperature, feeding rate and rotating speed. The results show that the outlet temperature increases linearly with the flue gas temperature, while it is negatively correlated with the feeding rate and rotating speed. In addition, the volumetric heat transfer coefficient in this complex rotary kiln is analyzed, the overall heat transfer coefficient is between 200 and 700 W/(m3 K).

Study on Explosion Characteristics and Mechanism of Electrostatic Spray Powder.

In order to fully understand the explosion risk of electrostatic spraying powder, corresponding preventive measures are put forward. The explosion characteristics, ignition sensitivity, and flame propagation of three typical electrostatic spraying powders were tested using a 20 L spherical explosion test device, a G-G furnace test device, and a Hartmann tube test device, and the explosion process and mechanism of electrostatic spraying powders were discussed. The results show that the maximum explosion pressure and the maximum explosion pressure rise rate increase first and then decrease with the increase in mass concentration. The maximum explosion pressure and the maximum explosion pressure rise rate of acrylic powder coating are the largest, which are 0.75 and 85.4 MPa/s, respectively. The shortest burning time is 97.5 ms, and the highest explosion danger level is 23.46 MPa·m/s. The flame propagation of electrostatic spraying powder develops slowly; the flame front spreads linearly and the average flame velocity increases first and then decreases. The explosive development process of powder coating particles is concentrated in the three-phase system of solid particles, molten particles, and pyrolytic gasification combustible gas, which goes through the kinetic process of particle heating melting, cross-linking curing, pyrolytic gasification, combustion, and extinction.

Single particle conversion of woody biomass using fully-resolved and Euler–Lagrange coarse-graining approaches

The conversion of woody biomass is studied by means of a layer-based model for thermally-thick biomass particles (Thunman et al. 2002, Ström et al. 2013). The model implementation is successfully validated against experiments that study particle conversion in a drop tube reactor. After this validation step, this work focuses on the well-known problem of grid dependence of two-phase numerical simulations using the standard Euler–Lagrange (EL) framework. This issue is addressed and quantified by comparing EL data that models the particle boundary layers to corresponding simulations which fully resolve these boundary layers (fully-resolved, FR, simulations). A comparison methodology for the conceptually different FR and EL approaches by extracting the heat transfer coefficient from the detailed FR simulations is proposed and confirms that the EL results are strongly grid-dependent. This issue is overcome by applying a set of coarse-graining methods for the EL framework. Two coarse-graining methods are evaluated, a previously suggested diffusion-based method (DBM) and a new approach based on moving averages referred to as MAM. It is shown that both DBM and MAM can successfully recover the detailed FR data for pure particle heating for a case where the grid size is half the particle diameter, i.e. when the standard EL method fails. Both coarse-graining methods also give improved results for an EL simulation that considers the more complex combined physics of particle heating, drying and devolatilisation, given that the CG model parameters that scale the corresponding CG interaction volumes are sufficiently large. Based on the available FR data, recommended model parameter ranges for DBM and MAM are provided as a function of normalised boundary layer thickness. The novel MAM approach is shown to be significantly more efficient than the DBM and therefore suitable for future EL simulations with multiple particles.

Enhanced Energy Conversion by Turbulence in Collisionless Magnetic Reconnection

Abstract Magnetic reconnection and turbulence are two of the most significant mechanisms for energy dissipation in collisionless plasma. The role of turbulence in magnetic reconnection poses an outstanding problem in astrophysics and plasma physics. It is still unclear whether turbulence can modify the reconnection process by enhancing the reconnection rate or energy conversion rate. In this study, utilizing unprecedented high-resolution data obtained from the Magnetospheric Multiscale spacecraft, we provide direct evidence that turbulence plays a vital role in promoting energy conversion during reconnection. We reached this conclusion by comparing magnetotail reconnection events with similar inflow Alfvén speed and plasma β but varying amplitudes of turbulence. The disparity in energy conversion was attributed to the strength of turbulence. Stronger turbulence generates more coherent structures with smaller spatial scales, which are pivotal contributors to energy conversion during reconnection. However, we find that turbulence has negligible impact on particle heating, but it does affect the ion bulk kinetic energy in these two events. These findings significantly advance our understanding of the relationship between turbulence and reconnection in astrophysical plasmas.

RF antenna helicity dependent particle heating in a helicon source

Experiments have demonstrated that ion phenomena, such as the lower hybrid resonance, play an important role in helicon source operation. Damping of the slow branch of the bounded whistler wave at the edge of a helicon source (i.e. the Trivelpiece-Gould mode) has been correlated with the creation of energetic electrons, heating of ions at the plasma edge, and anisotropic ion heating. Here we present ion velocity distribution function measurements, electron density and temperature measurements, and magnetic fluctuation measurements on both sides of an m=|1| helical antenna in a helicon source as a function of the driving frequency, magnetic field strength, and magnetic field orientation relative to the antenna helicity. Significant electron and ion heating (up to two times larger) occurs on the side of the antenna consistent with the launch of the m=+1 mode. The electron and ion heating occurs within one electron skin depth of the plasma edge, where slow wave damping is expected. The source parameters for enhanced particle heating are also consistent with lower hybrid resonance effects, which can only occur for Trivelpiece-Gould wave excitation.

Combined Effect of Particle Reinforcement and T6 Heat Treatment on the Compressive Deformation Behavior of an A357 Aluminum Alloy at Room Temperature and at 350 °C

Solid state sintering of cast aluminum powders by resistance heating sintering (RHS), also known as spark plasma sintering or field-assisted sintering technique, creates a very fine microstructure in the bulk material. This leads to high performance material properties with an improved strength and ductility compared to conventional production routes of the same alloys. In this study, the mechanical behavior of an RHS-sintered age-hardenable A357 (AlSi7Mg0.6) cast alloy and a SiCp/A357 aluminum matrix composite (AMC) was investigated. Aiming for high strength and good wear behavior in tribological applications, the AMC was reinforced with a high particle content (35 vol.%) of a coarse particle fraction (d50 = 21 µm). Afterwards, separated and combined effects of particle reinforcement and heat treatment were studied under compressive load both at room temperature and at 350 °C. At room temperature compression, the strengthening effect of precipitation hardening was about twice as high as that for the particle reinforcement, despite the high particle content. At elevated temperatures, the compressive deformation behavior was characterized by simultaneously occurring temperature-activated recovery, recrystallisation and precipitation processes. The occurrence and interaction of these processes was significantly affected by the initial material condition. Moreover, a rearrangement of the SiC reinforcement particles was detected after hot deformation. This rearrangement lead to a homogenized dispersion of the reinforcement phase without considerable particle fragmentation, which offers the potential for secondary thermo-mechanical processing of highly reinforced AMCs.