XOZ Plane Research Articles

Microstructure, compressive performance and wear resistance of pure molybdenum additively manufactured via laser powder bed fusion

Pure molybdenum (Mo) additively manufactured via laser powder bed fusion is challenging due to its high laser reflectivity and sensitivity to cracking. To achieve crack-free pure Mo alloy and enhance production efficiency, this study employs a high-power (350 W) printing process with a layer thickness of 30 μm, resulting in the successful fabrication of pure Mo with a relative density of 99.2%. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) revealed that the pure Mo specimens prepared by LPBF process exhibited different preferential grain orientations and lattice distortions in various building directions, with higher texture strength on the XOZ plane and greater lattice distortion on the XOY plane. The hardness of the pure Mo specimens reached 208 HV, with uniaxial compressive strength and elongation at 535 MPa and 20.9%, respectively, surpassing existing literature values by 37.2% and 8.0%. Furthermore, the dry friction behavior and mechanism of LPBF-manufactured pure molybdenum were investigated for the first time and compared to traditional powder metallurgy. Consequently, this research offers valuable insights for manufacturing crack-free LPBF pure molybdenum components with 30 μm layer thickness, boasting superior mechanical and wear resistance.

Embedded piezoelectric actuation method for enhanced solar wings vibration control

The solar wing is a vital energy component of spacecraft. It often faces challenges from vibrations and deformations during orbit, impacting spacecraft pointing accuracy and operational performance. To address these issues, a novel actuation method based on embedded piezoelectric actuator (EPA) is proposed in this study, which overcomes the technical difficulties of large additional mass and volume, and low control effectiveness. Firstly, a sandwich stacked EPA is meticulously designed and embedded into the connecting rod based on comprehensive analysis. Secondly, a novel modeling using the transfer matrix method improves the computational accuracy and the evaluation efficiency. Finally, a prototype of the EPA is fabricated, and the measurement system is constructed. The correctness of the modeling and the feasibility of the design are verified by case studies. The applications of the EPA for active vibration control are verified by additional case studies of the connecting rod and the scaled solar wing prototype, respectively. The results reveal the amplitude reduction rates at the natural frequency are 97.36% and 97.48% in the XOZ plane and YOZ plane, respectively, with residual disturbances limited to only 0.03 mm. The exemplary outcomes solidify the exceptional performance of the proposed embedded piezoelectric actuation method for the active vibration control of solar wings. This novel method holds great promise for enhancing spacecraft stability and performance.

A low-side-lobe folded transmitarray antenna based on metasurface with independent amplitude/phase control

In this paper, a low-side-lobe folded transmitarray antenna (LSLFTA) based on metasurface (MS) that can independently control amplitude and phase is proposed. An MS, composed of two vertically placed polarization gates, can realize the efficient reflection of y-polarized waves, efficient transmission of x-polarized waves, and independently control of phase and amplitude is designed for the top surface. A polarization conversion surface (PCS) using an open resonant ring that can efficiently achieve cross polarization conversion is presented. The feed antenna is placed on the center of the top surface to obtain an accurate electromagnetic amplitude distribution. To the best of our knowledge, our work is thus the first one to achieve low-side-lobe FTA. The LSLFTA operating at 14.5 GHz is fabricated and measured to verify the design. After adding amplitude modulation (Taylor distribution), the side lobe level (SLL) is 5.2 dB and 7.5 lower than that of only phase modulation in the yoz plane and xoz plane, respectively. The 3 dB gain bandwidth of the antenna is 19.4% (13.5∼16.4 GHz), and the maximum aperture efficiency is 25.8%. Our work is a promising candidate in the design of high-gain, low SLL, and low-profile antenna.

Design and kinematical performance analysis of a novel reconfigurable parallel mechanism with three remote center-of-motion modes

In view of the demands for variability and safety in surgical procedures, this paper presents a novel reconfigurable parallel mechanism (RPM) capable of performing three remote center-of-motion (RCM) modes: 1R1T, 2R1T, and 3R1T. One of the RCM modes can transform into two distinct configurations from the switch configuration, in which one configuration offers a rotational degree-of-freedom (DOF) and a translational DOF in the YOZ plane, and the other configuration provides identical DOFs in the XOZ plane. A novel device is introduced for switching between the active and passive modes of the revolute joint, which serves as the basis for the RPM reconfiguration process. Utilizing screw theory, the mobility and actuation scheme of the RPM in each configuration are analyzed. Inverse kinematic analysis and Jacobian matrices are then carried out. Subsequently, kinematical performances, such as singularity, workspace, and dexterity, are studied. All results indicate that the proposed RPM has the ability to switch motion modes without requiring reassembly and can effectively meet the diverse demands of surgical procedures based on specific minimally invasive surgery (MIS) requirements.

A Three-dimensional Compact Propeller-shaped Circularly Polarized Ceiling Antenna

A three-dimensional compact propeller-shaped circularly polarized ceiling-mounted antenna loaded by inverted L-shaped slot is proposed in this paper. This three-dimensional structure has a small size, single feed and half-plane radiation mode. The antenna is composed of four alternately welded radiating elements and a disc reflector. Each radiating element is formed by etching a rectangular microstrip radiating patch and a trapezoidal microstrip radiating patch on the surface of the substrate. The four radiating elements are welded vertically on the disc reflector. The back of the disc reflector has the ground plane. The antenna is fed coaxially through the via in the center of the disc reflector. The result demonstrates that the 10-dB impedance fractional bandwidth achieves 66.3% (4.4-8.94 GHz). The 3-dB axial ratio fractional bandwidth is 2.2% (6.44-6.58 GHz). The radiation characteristic is close to half-space radiation on the xoz plane and the yoz plane. The peak gain of the antenna is 3.22 dBi. The simulation and measurement results are in good agreement. With its compact structure, effective coverage, miniaturization, etc., the antenna is very suitable for applications such as biomedical monitoring equipment and short-rangeradio communications.

Anisotropic response in mechanical and corrosion performances of UNS S31803 duplex stainless steel fabricated by laser powder bed fusion

Mechanical and corrosion behaviors perpendicular to build direction (XOY) and along build direction (XOZ) of UNS S31803 duplex stainless steel (DSS) fabricated by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) were investigated. With the post-annealing, the steel exhibited a ferrite-austenite microstructure. For XOY plane, austenite displayed a primarily <101> texture while ferrite kept <001> preferred orientation, and mainly held a Nishiyama-Wassermann orientation relationship. However, for XOZ plane, austenite showed a mixed texture. The average size of ferrite grains was larger for XOZ plane than XOY. The austenite in XOY plane was mostly island morphology grains, while in XOZ plane, there were a large number of coarse columnar grains. A higher geometrically necessary dislocation density and proportion of low-angle grain boundaries on XOY plane were observed. The yield strength and ultimate tensile strength values perpendicular to build direction were higher than those along build direction. While the total elongation perpendicular to build direction was lower. Moreover, the XOY plane shows slightly better corrosion resistance than the XOZ.

Hybrid dual-mode tunable polarization conversion metasurface based on graphene and vanadium dioxide.

We present and numerically verify a functionally hybrid dual-mode tunable polarization conversion metasurface based on graphene and vanadium dioxide (VO2). The tunable polarization converter consists of two patterned graphene layers separated by grating which is composed of gold and VO2. Due to the existence of phase change material VO2, the polarization conversion mode can be switched flexibly between the transmission and reflection modes. Theoretical calculations show the proposed polarization conversion metasurface can obtain giant asymmetric transmission (AT) at 0.42 and 0.77 THz when VO2 is in the insulating state. Conversely, when VO2 is in the metallic state, the converter switches to the reflection mode, demonstrating broadband polarization conversion for both forward and backward incidences. Furthermore, the conductivity of graphene can be modulated by changing the gate voltage, which allows dynamic control polarization conversion bandwidth of the reflection mode as well as the AT of the transmission mode. The robustness of the metasurface has also been verified, the high polarization conversion efficiency and AT can be maintained over wide incidence angles up to 65° for both the xoz plane and yoz plane. These advantages make the proposed hybrid tunable polarization conversion metasurface a promising candidate for THz radiation switching and modulation.

A Dual-Band Beam-Steering Array Antenna With Integration of Reflectarray and Phased Array

This letter presents a dual-frequency beam steering array antenna (DBSA), which integrated a height adjustable reconfigurable reflectarray of C-band and a phased array of X-band. Each antenna element can achieve an arbitrary phase shift value in the range of 0° to 360° by controlling the height-adjustable device and digital phase shifter at 5.8 GHz and 10 GHz, respectively. Accordingly, the DBSA can be fed by two sets of feed networks independently, which can simultaneously achieve beam steering of arbitrary angle at dual frequencies. A prototype of 8 × 8 DBSA was designed and fabricated to realized beam scanning in the angle range from -40° to 40° in the XOZ plane at 5.8/10 GHz respectively. The measured maximum gain of DBSA is 14.4/21 dBi with aperture efficiency of 32.9% / 50.6% at 5.8/10 GHz respectively. The proposed DBSA can be applied in satellite communication to realize air-to-ground and inter-satellite communications at the same time.

Effect of Ply Orientation on the Mechanical Performance of Carbon Fibre Honeycomb Cores.

Carbon fibres used as a honeycomb core material (subject to a proper in-depth analysis of their reinforcement patterns) allows solving the thermo-dimensional stability problem of the units for space systems. Based on the results of numerical simulations with the support of finite element analysis, the paper provides an evaluation of the accuracy of analytical dependencies for the determination of the moduli of elasticity of a carbon fibre honeycomb core in tension/compression and shear. It is shown that a carbon fibre honeycomb reinforcement pattern has a significant impact on the mechanical performance of the carbon fibre honeycomb core. For example, for honeycombs measuring 10 mm in height, the maximum shear modulus values corresponding to the reinforcement pattern of ±45° exceed the minimum values for a reinforcement pattern of 0° and 90° by more than 5 times in the XOZ plane and 4 times for the shear modulus in the YOZ plane. The maximum modulus of the elasticity of the honeycomb core in the transverse tension, corresponding to a reinforcement pattern of ±75°, exceeds the minimum modulus for the reinforcement pattern of ±15° more than 3 times. We observe a decrease in the values of the mechanical performance of the carbon fibre honeycomb core depending on its height. With a honeycomb reinforcement pattern of ±45°, the decrease in the shear modulus is 10% in the XOZ plane and 15% in the YOZ plane. The reduction in the modulus of elasticity in the transverse tension for the reinforcement pattern does not exceed 5%. It is shown that in order to ensure high-level moduli of elasticity with respect to tension/compression and shear at the same time, it is necessary to focus on a reinforcement pattern of ±64°. The paper covers the development of the experimental prototype technology that produces carbon fibre honeycomb cores and structures for aerospace applications. It is shown by experiments that the use of a larger number of thin layers of unidirectional carbon fibres provides more than a 2-time reduction in honeycomb density while maintaining high values of strength and stiffness. Our findings can permit a significant expansion of the area of application relative to this class of honeycomb cores in aerospace engineering.

Structural study and temperature dependent relaxation and conduction mechanism of orthorhombic tungsten bronze Ba4La28/3(Zr0.05Ti0.95)18O54 ceramic

In this study, the Ba4La28/3(Zr0.05Ti0.95)18O54 ceramic was prepared using the solid-state technique. The X-ray diffraction technique was used in this study to investigate the Ba/La order in the solid solution Ba4La28/3(Zr0.05Ti0.95)18O54. We have developed a structural model, to represent the order within the structure. The formula of model [Ba4−a□a]A2[La8+2b3□2−2b3]A1,A1′(Zr0.05Ti0.95)18O54 is described as perovskite layers with a thickness of 3 octahedral parallel to the xOz plane. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that Ba4La28/3(Zr0.05Ti0.95)18O54 ceramic exhibits a typical columnar grain with a heterogeneous distribution over the entire surface. Complex impedance spectroscopy was used to analyze the dielectric and electrical properties of Ba4La28/3(Zr0.05Ti0.95)18O54 materials over a frequency range of 10 Hz to 1 MHz and a temperature range of 350°C to 400°C. An appropriate equivalent electrical circuit was also used to investigate the contributions of grains and grain boundaries. The AC-conductivity data was analyzed using Jonscher's universal power law. The thermal behavior of the exponent parameter "s" indicates that the dominant conduction mechanism in our compound is the non-overlapping small polaron tunneling (NSPT) model. The activation energies calculated from the conduction and relaxation mechanisms are nearly identical for the Ba4La28/3(Zr0.05Ti0.95)18O54 ceramic.

Anisotropic microstructure, properties and molecular dynamics simulation of CoCrNi medium entropy alloy fabricated by laser directed energy deposition

CoCrNi medium entropy alloy additive part was fabricated by laser directed energy deposition process. Based on an optimized additive manufacturing process parameters, the microstructure, tensile properties and corrosion performance in the XOY and XOZ planes were compared to learn the anisotropic properties of the additive part. The majority of the additive parts consisted of equiaxed grains, a small proportion consisted of elongated needle-like grains. The equiaxed and elongated needle-like grains in the XOY plane were finer compared to that in the XOZ plane. The corrosion electrochemical activity is uniform in the XOY plane, but varies at different heights in the XOZ plane base on scanning vibrating electrode technique results. Electron backscatter diffraction results near the fracture indicated a larger and relatively more homogeneous residual stress peak in the XOY plane. The tensile and yield strengths in the XOZ plane were lower than those in the XOY plane by approximately 98.5 MPa and 19.1 MPa. While the elongation in the XOZ plane was more than twice as high as that in the XOY plane. The reason for the anisotropic tensile behavior was the strong texture in the XOY plane and the relatively random grain orientation in the XOZ plane. Single crystal and polycrystalline molecular dynamics were used to simulate the anisotropic tensile properties in the XOZ and XOY planes. Single crystal simulation results showed that the maximum stress was 19.0 GPa and elongation was 13.0% when the stretching was along the [110] crystal orientation. The minimum stress was 17.1 GPa and elongation is 11.1% elongation when the stretching was along the [11 1‾] crystal orientation. Anisotropy existed for CrCoNi alloys in terms of tensile properties along different orientations. Polycrystalline simulation in the XOY plane results showed that the main cause of anisotropy between them was the tangling of the 1/6<112> dislocations and the 1/6<521> dislocations, which caused obstacles to dislocation motion and thus improved the strength of CoCrNi additive parts. High tensile strength in the XOY plane, not the XOZ plane, was attributed to 1/6<112> and 1/6<521> dislocation tangles at the (1 1‾ 0)/(115) planes.

Passivation Behavior of Different Building Planes of Selective Laser Melting 316L Stainless Steel in 3.5% NaCl Solution

The passivation behavior of selective laser melting 316L stainless steel (SLM 316L SS) on different building planes is studied in 3.5% NaCl solution. The results show that the XOZ and YOZ planes have a semicircular molten pool structure, and the XOY plane shows a columnar molten pool structure. Meanwhile, the XOZ planes have relatively smaller grain sizes and higher low‐angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) proportionate than that of YOZ and XOY planes. The electrochemical testing results illustrate that the XOZ plane has a lower corrosion tendency than that of YOZ and XOY planes, as the thicker passive film with higher content of Cr2O3 is detected on the XOZ plane. The XOZ plane, which has a higher Crox + hy /(Feox + hy + Crox + hy ) ratio, has excellent passivation performance and better electrochemical properties than the other two planes.

Broadband Flexible Microstrip Antenna Array with Conformal Load-Bearing Structure.

To enhance the load-bearing mechanical properties and broadband electromagnetic characteristics of the conformal antenna, a broadband microstrip antenna array with a conformal load-bearing structure is proposed in this paper, which consists of three flexible substrate layers and two honeycomb core layers stacked on each other. By combining the antenna and honeycomb core layer in a structural perspective, the antenna array is implemented in the composition function of surface conformability and load-bearing. Additionally, the sidelobe level of the antenna is suppressed based on the reflection surface loaded. Meanwhile, an equivalent model of a honeycomb core layer has been established and applied in the design of a conformal antenna with a load-bearing structure. The presented model increases the accuracy of simulated results and reduces the memory consumption and time of the simulation. The overall size of the proposed antenna array is 32.84 × 36.65 × 4.9 mm (1.36 λ0 × 1.52 λ0 × 0.2 λ0, λ0 is the wavelength at 12.5 GHz). The proposed antenna element and array have been fabricated and measured in the flat state and under other various bending states. Experiment results show the operating relative bandwidth of the antenna array is 20.68% (11.67-13.76 GHz and 14.33-14,83 GHz) in the flat state. Under different bending conditions, the proposed antenna array covers 24.16% (11.08-14.1 GHz), 23.82% (10.63-13.5 GHz), and 23.12% with 30°, 60°, and 90° in the xoz plane (11.55-14.33 GHz). In terms of mechanical load bearing, the structure has better performance than the traditional single-layer honeycomb core load-bearing structure antenna.

An Experimental Study of Stem Transported-Posture Adjustment Mechanism in Potato Harvesting

Potato stem removal is one of the critical technical problems of potato mechanized harvesting; it directly affects the quality of potato harvesting and potato storage. There have been several studies on potato stem removal mechanisms. In practice, however, it was found that the potato stem removal rate was greatly influenced by the posture of the stem before it entered the removal mechanism. In this study, we designed a potato stem posture adjustment mechanism consisting of elastic curtains. A test rig was built to investigate the effect of curtain height, curtain width, and curtain suspension height on potato passage rate and potato stem removal rate. The Box–Behnken design (BBD), combined with the response surface method, was used to conduct the test. The optimal construction and installation parameters for each elastic curtain were determined as 278.93 mm for the curtain height, 20 mm for the curtain width, and 260 mm for the curtain suspension height. The predicted values of potato passage rate and potato stem removal rate under the optimal parameters were 92.36% and 82.83%, which were consistent with the validation test results. Based on the optimization results, a rigid-flexible coupled simulation model for a potato stem transported-posture adjustment process based on Abaqus and Adams was constructed. The maximum impact of the elastic curtain of the stem posture adjustment mechanism on the potato stem was 15.91 N and caused the stem to spring back. The projection angle β′ of the stem posture angle in the xoz plane before posture adjustment was 19.07°, and the β′ of the stem after posture adjustment was 87.18°. At this time, the stem was basically parallel to the rod of the separating sieve and had a high probability of falling from the gap of the bar to complete the removal of the stem. Overall, the stem transport position adjustment mechanism effectively adjusted the stem transported posture and improved the stem removal rate in potato mechanical harvesting.

Ultra-wideband Vivaldi Antenna Loaded with Multi-layer Radar Absorbing Material

In this paper, the radiation and scattering characteristics of a broadband miniaturized Vivaldi antenna are simulated. The proposed antenna operates at 3.6GHz-15.6GHz. Through calculation, the multi-layer absorbing material with the best broadband absorption loss is obtained, and the RCS reduction is effectively realized by loading RAM on the antenna metal floor. The simulated results between the reference antenna and the antenna loaded with RAM show that the RCS reduction of more than 10 dB under the incident angle of nearly ±70° in the xoz plane is realized, while the radiation performance of the antenna with RAM is well preserved, which proves the significance of absorbing material loading for antenna RCS reduction.

Two-Dimensional Beam Steering Based on Compact Programmable Coding Metasurface

A programmable coding metasurface provides unprecedented flexibility to manipulate electromagnetic waves dynamically. By controlling the peculiarity of subwavelength artificial atoms, devices with metasurfaces perform various functionalities. In this paper, a compact programmable coding metasurface with PIN diodes is proposed to realize the beam steering in the Ka band. The phase distribution on the metasurface can be actively controlled by switching the states of each meta-atom. By tuning the phase gradient along the metasurface plane, the reflective beam can scan all directions in the upper half-plane. In addition, the compact metasurface is easier to integrate, which could expand the fields of applications. The full-wave simulation results show that the radiation direction of the main lobe is consistent with the theoretical calculation results, and the maximum steering angle of simulation is 60°. As experimental verification, a prototype was processed and the functionality of beam steering in the xoz plane and in the yoz plane was tested. Experimental results show that the designed metasurface can achieve beam steering in both planes, and the maximum scan angle is 45° in the xoz plane. The proposed metasurface opens a new way of beam steering in half space, which may have potential applications in sensing and wireless communications in millimeter waves.

Communication A Novel Systematic Design of High-Aperture-Efficiency 2D Beam-Scanning Liquid-Crystal Embedded Reflectarray Antenna for 6G FR3 and Radar Applications

This communication presents a novel systematic design of a high-aperture-efficiency and 2-D beam-scanning nematic liquid-crystal (LC)-based reflectarray (LCRA) that operates in the sixth-generation (6G) midband (7–24 GHz). Despite a 260° phase range, the maximum aperture efficiency is 35.8% at an aperture dimension (F/D) ratio of 0.58, the highest aperture efficiency at the lowest F/D ratio among LCRAs designed to operate on the mmWave band. The proposed LC-based reflectarray unit cell (LC-RUC) has significantly low reflection loss compared to other LC-RUCs. Also, the bias topology of the proposed LC-RUC makes the LCRA capable of 2-D beam scanning. The beam-scanning range of the proposed LCRA is ±50° on the xoz plane and 0°–65° in the yoz plane at 9.55 GHz. A <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2 \times 2 $ </tex-math></inline-formula> patch array antenna is designed as the feed antenna to achieve a small F/D ratio system and ease of optimization. When designing the feed antenna, the number of elements or the element spacing is considered to achieve high feed efficiency. In addition, the fabricated planar feed antenna can be easily integrated with a 3-D printed jig in which the focal length can be adjusted for optimization. The lowest side lobe level (SLL) of the proposed LCRA is −15.5 dB.

Three-dimensional measurement of yarn evenness using mirrored images

A three-dimensional measurement method for yarn evenness is proposed in this paper. A sample is placed in the image acquisition system and the virtual images and real image are collected in one image by a camera. The geometric relationship of the xoy and the xoz plane of the system is obtained. The multi-view image of sample is calibrated according to the geometric relationship. The intersection method and the tangent method are proposed to determine the key-points of yarn cross-section reconstruction in the xoy plane. 3D model of yarn core is obtained by combining all the yarn cross-sections in the xoz plane. The correlation coefficient between mean area of yarn cross-sections in the proposed method and diameter measured by the Uster TESTER 5 is up to 0.759. The correlation coefficient of CV values between the proposed method and the Uster TESTER 5 is up to 0.944.

Degradation behaviour of selective laser melted CoCrMo alloys in H2O2-containing chloride solutions

H2O2 usually develops after implanting an implant of biomedical material in human body. Our study showed that H2O2 has dual effects on degradation behaviour of biomedical material depending on its concentration. As for a SLMed CoCrMo alloy, a critical concentration of H2O2 exists, below which the corrosion potential shifts positively as the concentration increases, facilitating the passive film formation; and above which, the film becomes less protective due to the change in composition of the film. The corrosion resistance of XOZ plane of the alloy is better than that of XOY plane due to less grain boundaries and secondary precipitates.

Effect of Zr content on crack formation and mechanical properties of IN738LC processed by selective laser melting

Two batches of commercial IN738LC alloy powders with different Zr contents were printed under the same parameters. The influences of Zr content (0.024 wt.% and 0.12 wt.%, respectively) in powders on crack density, distribution, formation mechanism and mechanical properties of selective laser melting (SLM)-treated parts were systematically studied. It was found that the crack density (area ratio) increases from 0.15% to 0.87% in the XOY plane and from 0.21% to 1.81% in the XOZ plane along with the Zr content increase from 0.024 wt.% to 0.12 wt.% in the original powders. Solidification cracks are formed along the epitaxially grown 〈001〉-oriented columnar grain boundaries in molten pool center. The ultimate tensile strength of Sample 1 (0.024 wt.% Zr) is 1113 MPa, and there are dimples in tensile fracture. With an increase in the Zr content to 0.12 wt.% (Sample 2), the ultimate tensile strength of Sample 2 decreases to 610 MPa, and there are numerous original cracks and exposed columnar grain boundaries in tensile fracture. The optimization of printing parameters of Sample 2 considerably increases the ultimate tensile strength by 55.2% to 947 MPa, and the plasticity is greatly improved.