Iranian Journal of Materials science and Engineering
Volume:13 Issue: 4, Dec 2016

Porous hollow glass microspheres have many uses, including encapsulation of active materials. In this paper a fast and facile method for fabricating porous hollow glass-microspheres was demonstrated by etching them using dilute hydrofluoric acid. Then, a highly reactive amine was infiltrated into the etched glass microspheres. Scanning electron microscopy was conducted for the hollow glass microspheres prior and post etching process. With regards to the porous hollow glass spherical sample, the spherical nature, morphology, pore diameter and the porosity were studied using scanning electron microscopy. Formation of the intact hollow glass microspheres with an open through wall porosities following phase separation and etching of the boron oxide rich phase was demonstrated using reciprocating shaker as the most suitable agitation method. The BET results indicated that the surface of the porous microspheres contained nano-pores. It is believed that the simplicity of the reported fabrication technique of micro/nano porous structure has the potential to scaling up for large scale production.

Over the last few decades, there have been many mechanisms proposed to describe the formation of the non-dendritic microstructures during Semisolid Metal (SSM) processing; including dendrite fragmentation, spherical growth, cellular growth and recalescence. Dendrite fragmentation is the most popular mechanism of all these hypotheses. It is the purpose of the present article to examine the morphological evolution of the non-dendritic microstructures, based on models proposed by Flemings, Vogel, Cantor, and Doherty during SSM processing of the Al-Si (A356) alloy. Based on new microstructural evidences, including (1) - plastic deformation at the side arms by slip lines formation as a result of the thermal fatigue mechanism, (2) - crack formation at the root of the side arms and (3) – the interaction of a rapidly sheared hot viscous medium with these regions, i.e. erosion; it propose and hereby discuss a new mechanism called "fatigue –erosion", for dendrites fragmentation of the experimental alloy. Optical and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with EBSD and EDS, TEM, and AFM was used for the microstructural characterizations.

In this study, the adsorption of hexavalent chromium and zinc ions from the solution is investigated by raw red mud and mechanical-chemical activated red mud along with the possibility of selective reclamation of these ions from the solution. The mechanical-chemical activation of red mud was done by employing high-energy milling and subsequent acid treatment with HNO3. Raw red mud (RRM) and mechanical-chemical activated red mud (MCARM) adsorbents were characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) methods. In order to determine the suitable adsorption conditions, effects of pH of the solution, amount of adsorption, temperature, and time of adsorption were investigated. It was found that the optimum pH for the adsorption of hexavalent chromium and zinc ions by MCARM adsorbent was 2 and 6, respectively. According to these pH values, MCARM had the ability to separately adsorb more than 95 and 79% of hexavalent chromium and zinc ions from the solution, respectively. Experimental results were in good agreement with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. By considering the kinetic models of adsorption, the kinetics of the adsorption of both ions followed the pseudo-second-order reaction model. It was also determined that almost 25.8 and 61.8% of the hexavalent chromium and zinc ions adsorbed in MCARM could be recovered

In this study the effect of nano meter size ZrO2 particles on the microstructure, densification and hydration resistance of magnesite –dolomite refractories was investigated. 0, 2, 4, 6 and 8 wt. % ZrO2 particles that were added to magnesite –dolomite refractories containing 35 wt. % CaO. The Hydration resistance was measured by change in the weight of specimens after 72 h at 25℃ and 95% relative humidity. The results showed with addition of nano meter size ZrO2 particles, the lattice constant of CaO increased, and the bulk density and hydration resistance of the specimens increased while apparent porosity decreased. With the addition of small amount ZrO2 the formation of CaZrO3 phase facilitated the sintering and the densification process. The mechanism of the nano meter size ZrO2 particles promoting densification and hydration resistance is decreasing the amount of free CaO in the specimens.

Functionally graded aluminium/zirconia metal matrix composite was fabricated using stir casting technique followed by horizontal centrifugal casting process and a hollow cylindrical functionally graded composite (150 x 150 x 16 mm) was obtained with centrifuging speed of 1200 rpm. The microstructural evaluation and hardness test was carried out on the outer and inner surface of the functionally graded composite at a distance of 1 and 13 mm from the outer periphery. In Response Surface Methodology, Central Composite Design was applied for designing the experiments and sliding wear test was conducted as per the design using a pin-on-disc tribometer for varying ranges of load, velocity and sliding distance. The model was constructed and its adequacy was checked with confirmation experiments and Analysis of Variance. The microstructural examination and hardness test revealed that the outer surface of FGM had higher hardness due to the presence of particle rich region and the inner surface had lesser hardness since it was a particle depleted region. The wear results showed that wear rate increased upon increase of load and decreased with increase in both velocity and sliding distance. Scanning Electron Microscopy analysis was done on the worn specimens to observe the wear mechanism. It was noted that wear transitioned from mild to severe on increase of load and the outer surface of FGM was found to have greater wear resistance at all conditions.

Friction welding is widely used in various industries. In friction welding, heat is generated by conversion of mechanical energy into thermal energy at the interface the work pieces during pin rotation under pressure. A three-dimensional thermo mechanical simulation of friction stir welding (FSW) processes is carried out for Aluminium Alloys of 6061and 7050 where the simulation results are compared directly with the measured temperature histories during FSW after process. The objective of the present work is to study and predict the heat transient generated in alloy aluminium plate welded by FSW method. A three dimensional model was developed by LS-Dyna software and heat cycles have been proposed during the welding of aluminium alloys 6061 and 7050. In this research, the simulations were carried out with linear velocity in the range of 140 to 225 mm/min and pin rotational speeds of 390 and 500 rpm. Increase in pin rotational speed, from 390 to 500 rpm, resulted in greater temperatures which translated to rise of recorded temperature of top and bottom of the specimens. This is in turn to a wider HAZ. In addition, it was observed that raising the linear velocity had an opposite effect. Finally, results of experimental and numerical data were correlated and validated.

This article addresses the interplay between heat of hydration and physico-mechanical properties of calcium sulfate hemi-hydrate in the presence of retarding additives such as citric and malic acids and sodium citrate. The heat of hydration was measured using a semi-isothermal calorimeter. Results proved that citric and malic acids had superior impact on hydration and mechanical properties. While the concentration of additives was increasing, the maximum heat of hydration was decreasing from 56.15 cal/g.min for blank sample to 33 cal/g.min for high concentrations of citric and malic acids. Consequently, the measured time to this maximum heat of hydration and thus the induction period were increased significantly from 5 to 105 min. Mechanical results indicated that the increase in the amounts of additive led to the reduction of the compressive strength from 16.25 MPa in the blank sample up to 74% for the highest concentration of malic acid.

Up to now, lots of materials such as active carbon, iron, manganese, zirconium, and metal oxides have been widely used for removal of dyes from contaminated water. Among these, ferrite nanoparticle is an interesting magnetic material due to its moderate saturation magnetization, excellent chemical stability and mechanical hardness. Graphene, a new class of 2D carbonaceous material with atom thick layer features, has attracted much attention recently due to its high specific surface area. Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) has also been of great interest because of its unique properties, which are similar to those of graphene, such as specific surface area, making it an ideal candidate for dye removal. Thus far, few works have been carried out on the preparation of CoFe2O4-rGO composite and its applications in removal of contaminants from water. In this paper, CoFe2O4 reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite was fabricated using hydrothermal process. During the hydrothermal process, the reduction of graphene oxide and growth of CoFe2O4 simultaneously occurred on the carbon basal planes under the conditions generated in the hydrothermal system. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy contaminant and UV-Vis spectroscopy as the analytical method. The experimental results suggest that this material has great potential for treating Congo red contaminated water.