Advances in nickel-based cast superalloys

Nickel-based superalloys have served as the most competitive high temperature structural materials under highly stressed and aggressive operating conditions in a variety of applications for more than 60 years. The most demanding among all the applications has been the gas turbine aerofoil castings of modern aero-engines. These turbine parts operate in extremely aggressive environment of high velocity hot combustion gas-air mixture carrying highly corrosive ingredients at high pressure. Gas turbine aerofoil materials should therefore possess adequate resistance to creep, fatigue and aggressive environment. Materials design for such application therefore has been extremely challenging, particularly since the engine designers always aim at higher turbine entry temperature (TET) in order to achieve greater engine thrust and better fuel efficiency. In spite of enormous efforts made in the recent past towards developing ceramics and their composites, Ni-based superalloys continue to be most reliable blade and vane materials offering always the highest TET. This has been possible through better alloy design, improved blade cooling schemes, protective coatings and directional solidification (DS) of either columnar grains or single crystals (SC) along the most favorable 〈001〉 texture. During the last six decades, TET has gone up by about 500K. This article covers recent advances in cast Ni-based superalloys, including our own efforts in this direction. Extensive research at DMRL has led to the development of new generation Ni-based superalloys, designated as DMD-4 and DMS-4 for DS and SC processing, respectively. Simultaneously, expertise has been developed to cast DS and SC components for aero-engines. Technology has also been established for pilot scale production of these components.     

Vacuum-induced Bubble Formation in Liquid-tempered Chocolate

ABSTRACT: Bubble inclusion is one of the fastest growing operations practiced in the food industry. A variety of aerated foods is currently available in supermarkets, and newer products are emerging all the time. This paper aims to combine knowledge on chocolate aeration with studies performed on bubble formation and dispersion characteristics. More specifically, we have investigated bubble formation induced by applying vacuum. Experimental methods to determine gas hold-up (volume fraction of air), bubble section distributions along specific planes, and chocolate rheological properties are presented. This study concludes that decreasing pressures elevate gas hold-up values due to an increase in the number of bubble nuclei being formed and release of a greater volume of dissolved gases. Furthermore, bubbles are observed to be larger at lower pressures for a set amount of gas because the internal pressure needs to be in equilibrium with the surrounding pressures. Temperature-induced changes to the properties of the chocolate have less of an effect on bubble formation. On the other hand, when different fats and emulsifiers are added to a standard chocolate recipe, milk fat was found to increase, significantly, the gas hold-up values and the mean bubble-section diameters. It is hypothesized that this behavior is related to the way milk fats, which contain different fatty acids to cocoa butter, crystallize and influence the setting properties of the final product. It is highlighted that apparent viscosity values at low shear rate, as well as setting behavior, play an important role in terms of bubble formation and entrainment.     

Mesua ferrea L. seed oil based highly branched polyester/epoxy blends and their nanocomposites

Mesua ferrea L. seed oil based highly branched polyester and epoxy resins blends were prepared by mechanical mixing at different weight ratios. The best performing blend was used as the matrix for the preparation of nanocomposites with different dose levels of organophilic montmorillonite (OMMT) nanoclay. The prepared nanocomposites were characterized by X‐ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Data resulting from the mechanical and thermal studies of the blends and nanocomposites indicated improvements in the tensile strength and thermal stability to appreciable extents for the nanocomposites with OMMT loading. The nanocomposites were characterized as well‐dispersed, partially exfoliated structures with good interfacial interactions. From the X‐ray diffraction analysis, the absence of d₀₀₁ reflections of the OMMT clay in the cured nanocomposites indicated the development of an exfoliated clay structure, which was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy. The homogeneous morphologies of the pure polyester/epoxy blend and clay hybrid systems were ascertained with scanning electron microscopy. The tensile strength of the 5 wt % clay‐filled blend nanocomposite system was increased by 2.4 times compared to that of the pure blend resin system. The results suggest that the prepared nanocomposites have the potential to be used as active thin films for different applications. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Adaptive divided difference filtering for simultaneous state and parameter estimation

A novel adaptive version of the divided difference filter (DDF) applicable to non-linear systems with a linear output equation is presented in this work. In order to make the filter robust to modeling errors, upper bounds on the state covariance matrix are derived. The parameters of this upper bound are then estimated using a combination of offline tuning and online optimization with a linear matrix inequality (LMI) constraint, which ensures that the predicted output error covariance is larger than the observed output error covariance. The resulting sub-optimal, high-gain filter is applied to the problem of joint state and parameter estimation. Simulation results demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed filter as compared to the standard DDF.     

Catalytic activity of cobalt deposited on nanostructured poly(p-xylylene) films

Nanostructured and planar films of poly(p-xylylene) (PPX) are fabricated by an oblique angle polymerization method and coated with cobalt using electroless deposition. The catalytic activity of cobalt coated on the nanostructured and planar PPX films is studied by measuring the rate of hydrogen evolution by the hydrolysis of alkaline-stabilized sodium borohydride (NaBH₄) solution. The hydrogen release rate data show an asymptotic increase for the structured PPX film as a function of the electroless bath time, but the planar PPX films show a lower catalytic activity due to the inefficiency of cobalt deposition. The hydrogen release rate of the cobalt-coated nanostructured PPX film shows a rate between 2000 and 4250 mL(g min)⁻¹ (i.e., rate of hydrogen gas per cobalt mass at room temperature and pressure), which is comparable to the values obtained on platinum, and ruthenium systems.     

An immunoelectrochemical sensor for salivary cortisol measurement

An immunoelectrochemical sensor based on alkaline phosphatase (AP) enzyme for determination of salivary cortisol concentration is reported. Microfabricated Au electrodes encased in a microfluidic chamber were functionalized to immobilize the cortisol capture antibodies. The reaction product p-nitrophenol (pNP) generated by reacting the AP enzyme attached to the cortisol antigen via detector antibodies with the p-nitrophenyl phosphate (pNPP) solution. pNP was detected as an oxidative peak between 0.9 and 1.1 V (vs. Ag pseudo-reference electrode) using cyclic voltammetry (CV) at room temperature. The magnitude of the peak varies linearly with the cortisol concentration, and was used to quantify the concentration of cortisol in real saliva samples. This immunoelectrochemical detection method accurately measured cortisol in the collected saliva samples achieved to a concentration of 0.76 nmol/L with an incubation time of 10 min. We demonstrate successfully the approach for establishing diurnal cortisol concentration behavior for clinical purposes with numerous advantages: a much higher throughput capability, significantly lower amounts of the sample, sub-pmol/L range sensitivity, higher resolution at low mass ranges, and easy to use.     

Sequential Bayesian decoding with a population of neurons

Population coding is a simplified model of distributed information processing in the brain. This study investigates the performance and implementation of a sequential Bayesian decoding (SBD) paradigm in the framework of population coding. In the first step of decoding, when no prior knowledge is available, maximum likelihood inference is used; the result forms the prior knowledge of stimulus for the second step of decoding. Estimates are propagated sequentially to apply maximum a posteriori (MAP) decoding in which prior knowledge for any step is taken from estimates from the previous step. Not only do we analyze the performance of SBD, obtaining the optimal form of prior knowledge that achieves the best estimation result, but we also investigate its possible biological realization, in the sense that all operations are performed by the dynamics of a recurrent network. In order to achieve MAP, a crucial point is to identify a mechanism that propagates prior knowledge. We find that this could be achieved by short-term adaptation of network weights according to the Hebbian learning rule. Simulation results on both constant and time-varying stimulus support the analysis.     

Open-circuit to short-circuit switching: method for lifetime measurement in solar cells

A new method is suggested for measurement of lifetime of photoinjected carriers in the base layer of a p-n junction solar cell. The cell is switched from the open-circuit to the shortcircuit mode of operation by using a negative voltage pulse. C.R.O. trace of the output voltage pulse provides a direct means for lifetime measurement.     

Airway mechanics, gas exchange, and blood flow in a nonlinear model of the normal human lung

A model integrating airway/lung mechanics, pulmonary blood flow, and gas exchange for a normal human subject executing the forced vital capacity (FVC) maneuver is presented. It requires as input the intrapleural pressure measured during the maneuver. Selected model-generated output variables are compared against measured data (flow at the mouth, change in lung volume, and expired O2 and CO2 concentrations at the mouth). A nonlinear parameter-estimation algorithm is employed to vary selected sensitive model parameters to obtain reasonable least squares fits to the data. This study indicates that 1) all three components of the respiratory model are necessary to characterize the FVC maneuver; 2) changes in pulmonary blood flow rate are associated with changes in alveolar and intrapleural pressures and affect gas exchange and the time course of expired gas concentrations; and 3) a collapsible midairway segment must be included to match airflow during a forced expiration. Model simulations suggest that the resistances to airflow offered by the collapsible segment and the small airways are significant throughout forced expiration; their combined effect is needed to adequately match the inspiratory and expiratory flow-volume loops. Despite the limitations of this lumped single-compartment model, a remarkable agreement with airflow and expired gas concentration measurements is obtained for normal subjects. Furthermore, the model provides insight into the important dynamic interactions between ventilation and perfusion during the FVC maneuver.     

Study of dynamic viscoelastic behavior of polystyrene films on addition of oleic acid

We have investigated the dynamic mechanical behavior of films prepared from polystyrene solutions in chloroform containing oleic acid as an additive. The response of the films has been measured by means of a dynamic mechanical analyzer operated in tension mode over a temperature range of 30-150 °C, using sinusoidal motion with a maximum strain of 0.04% and a frequency of 2 Hz. The long term creep behavior has also been evaluated. Our results show that the oleic acid softens and disentangles the polystyrene chains backbone, resulting in a decrease in the dynamic mechanical properties of the polystyrene films.