Iranian Journal of Materials science and Engineering
Volume:9 Issue: 1, Mar 2012

This study presents the research results of effect that refining process has on porosity and mechanical properties of high pressure die castings made of AlSi12S alloy. The operation of refining was carried out in a melting furnace with the use of an FDU Mini Degasser. Mechanical properties (UTS, YS, Elongation, Brinell Hardness) were assessed on samples taken from high pressure die castings. The effect of molten metal transfer operation and the time elapsing from completion of the refining process on the alloy mechanical properties was determined.

During solidification and casting in metallic molds, the heat flow is controlled by the thermal resistance at the casting-mold interface. Thus heat transfer coefficient at the metal- mold interface has a predominant effect on the rate of heat transfer. In some processes such as low pressure and die-casting, the effect of pressure on molten metal will affect the rate of heat transfer at least at initial steps of solidification. In this study interfacial heat transfer coefficient at the interface between A356 alloy casting and metallic mold during the solidification of casting under pressure were obtained using the IHCP (Inverse Heat Conduction Problem) method. Temperature measurements are then conducted with the thermocouples aligned in the casting and the metallic mold. The temperature files were used in a finite-difference heat flow program to estimate the transient heat transfer coefficients. The peak values of heat transfer coefficient obtained for no pressure application of A356 alloy is 2923 and for pressure application is 3345. Empirical equation, relating the interfacial heat transfer coefficient the applied pressure were also derived and presented.

Electrochemical coating processes are significantly affected by applied magnetic fields due to the generation of electromagnetic forces. The present research work has been undertaken to study the effect of coating parameters such as current density and alumina concentration on the characteristics of Ni-Al2O3 composite coating under static magnetic field. Ni-Al2O3 composite coating was applied on a mild steel substrate using conventional Watts solution containing Al2O3 particles with and without magnetic field. The coating microstructure and Al2O3 particle density in the coating layer were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It was found that the applied magnetic field made the coating structure finer and leads to the increases of the particle content in the coating. However, the results confirmed that the magnetic forces inversely affected the particle density in the coating at higher current density than that of normal coating process.

The boundary value problems involving contact are of the great importance in industries related to mechanical and materials engineering. These mixed problems are challenging since a priori unknown deformed surface of the material contacting a rigid indenter is to be determined as a part of the solution. Anisotropic solids represent an important class of engineering materials including crystals, woods, bones, thin solid films, polymer composites, etc. Contact analysis of an anisotropic media, however, is more difficult and is developed less completely in the literature. In this work, both analytical and computational studies of the contact treatment of a semi-infinite orthotropic material indented by a rigid spherical indenter have been considered in two different sections. This approach can be applied to determine the interfacial contact area and pressure distribution for three-dimensional orthotropic materials, and can then be used to calculate the resulting stress and strain fields of the media. Results presented herein can serve as benchmarks with which to compare solutions obtained by ANSYS commercial package.

Cold working performed before an aging treatment has a significant effect on size and amount of precipitate produced. This could be caused by the increase in defect density, such as vacancies and dislocations. In this research, the Al-Cu-Si alloy was solution-treated, wear-tested and then artificially aged for a period of 1–5 h. Changes in the amount of precipitate, in the lattice parameter of the matrix, and in the precipitates are measured by X-ray diffraction and then calculated.It was observed that performing a wear test before the aging treatment was done significantly increased the amount of precipitate, while wear rate decreased.

A thermodynamic model was used to find out the optimum temperature for the growth of ZnS single crystals in closed ampoules by chemical vapor transport technique. Based on this model 1002 °C was found to be optimum temperature for 2 mg/cm3 concentration of transporting agent (iodine). ZnS Crystals were grown in optimum (1002 °C) and non-optimum (902 °C and 1102 °C) temperatures. The composition structure and microstructure of the grown crystals were studied by Atomic absorption spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and Scanning electron microscopy measurements. Properties of the grown crystals were correlated to the growth conditions especially a stability in mass transport along the closed tube length.

Ultraviolet–Visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy was used, in the current investigation, to explore the dispersion and stability of titania nanoparticles in an aqueous media with different types of dispersants. Hydrochloric and nitric acids as well as ammonia were used to determine the stability of the suspension in the acidic region (pH=2.5) and basic area (pH=9.5), respectively. In addition, for measuring sustainability of suspension and creating steric, and electrosteric repulsive forces, ethylene glycol and ethylene glycol plus ammonia were employed, respectively. UV–V isspectrometry was applied to realize the effect of nano titania concentrations and different types of dispersants of samples containing different amounts of nano titania and different types of dispersants on stability of TiO2-containing suspensions. In addition, the stability of dispersion could be evaluated in colloidal mixtures containing ethylene glycol plus ammonia. It was demonstrated that the mixtures containing ethylene glycol plus ammonia were stable over a period of 4 days. To support the UV–Vis results, other techniques such as atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were employed to study the degree of agglomeration of titania nanoparticles in terms ofmorphology and size.