Effect of Lubricant on Wear Debris Color Diagnosis

Color feature of debris is quite often used for source diagnosis in machine component while performing wear debris analysis (WDA). This feature is commonly observed and analyzed with different offline debris imaging setups. In these setups, its attributes remain consistent in their values as just a colorless medium i.e. air is in between the imaging setup and the observed debris. But in the case of an online debris analysis, the measurements of these attributes can be affected as the imaging has to perform in the presence of a machine lubricant. The lubricant color can affect the measurement of debris original color attributes and further can cause a wrong source diagnosis. In this paper, the effects of lubricant color on debris color measurements are discussed. A debris imaging setup is used for experimentation. Micro size steel debris are analyzed with three different lubricants. The debris color measurements are initially performed in an offline mode when the debris are placed on a glass slide. Later the mentioned measurements are taken in the presence of lubricants when the debris are flowing with the lubricant medium via a flow cell. Finally a comparison is made which concludes that the darker the lubricant the lesser will be chances to deduce the material (color and attributes). Whereas brighter lubricants do not hinder the analysis and identification of material and hence are considered suitable for qualitative wear debris analysis

Photonic low-cost sensors for in-line fluid monitoring. Design methodology

779 p.The paradigm of process monitoring has evolved in the last years, driven by a clear need for improving efficiency, quality and safety of processes and products. Sectors as manufacturing, energy, food and beverages, etc. are fostering the adoption of innovative methods for controlling their processes and products, in a non-destructive, in-place, reliable, fast, accurate and cost-efficient manner. Furthermore, the parameters requested by the industry for the quality assessment are evolving from basic magnitudes as pressures, temperatures, humidity, etc. to complete chemical and physical fingerprints of these products and processes. In this situation, techniques based on the UV/VIS/NIR light-matter interaction appear to be optimum candidates to face the request of the industry. Moreover, at this moment, when we are witnessing a technological revolution in the field of optoelectronic components, which are required for setting up these light-based analyzers.However, being able to integrate these optoelectronic components with the rest of subsystems (electronics, optics, mechanics, hydraulics, data processing, etc.) is not straightforward. The development of these multi-domain and heterogeneous sensor products meeting not just technological but also market objectives poses a considerable technical and organizational challenge for any company.In this context, a methodological hybrid and agile integration of photonic components within the rest of subsystems towards a sensor product development is presented as the main outcome of the thesis. The methodology has been validated in several industrial scenarios, being three of them included in this thesis, which covers from hydraulic fluid quality control to real-time monitoring of alcoholic beverage fermentation process

NASA Tech Briefs Index, 1977, volume 2, numbers 1-4

Announcements of new technology derived from the research and development activities of NASA are presented. Abstracts, and indexes for subject, personal author, originating center, and Tech Brief number are presented for 1977

Data Recovery at 41MI96 in Mills County, Texas

Prehistoric site 41MI96 in Mills County, Texas was subjected to archeological data recovery excavations by staff archeologists from the Archeological Studies Program of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) in May 1999. This work followed an initial environmental review by TxDOT personnel that concluded that a proposed bridge replacement and associated realignment of a county road (CSJ: 0923- 23-011) had a high probability to impact previously unrecorded archeological sites. Subsequently, an archeological impact evaluation was conducted by TxDOT staff archeologists, under the direction of Dr. G. Lain Ellis. TxDOT investigations were conducted under Texas Antiquities Committee Permit No. 2193 to perform data recovery efforts at 41MI96 prior to development impacts. In 2012, TRC Environmental Corporation (TRC) of Austin was contracted by the Environmental Affairs Division of TxDOT through Work Authorization 57-109SA003 to conduct analysis on the recovered remains and complete a technical report of TxDOT’s field investigations and TRC’s laboratory findings in fulfillment of TxDOTs’ Antiquities permit. Data recovery excavations consisted of the excavation of four mechanical trenches across two creek terraces (T1 and T2) and hand-excavations in two small blocks (Blocks 1 and 2) within the TxDOT right-of-way on the northwestern side of the project area. Hand-excavations in both blocks were initiated to target newly discovered burned rock concentrations encountered in the bottom of backhoe scrapings. A total 5.5 m3 of manualexcavation was completed, which was comprised of 16 total 1-by-1 m units, 11 in Block 1, and 5 in Block 2. Cultural materials were dominated by ca. 602 burned rocks and 2,846 pieces of lithic debitage, 89 informal and formal tools, but lacked diagnostic artifacts and faunal material. Six small, intact burned rock features were identified in Block 1 and were the focus of laboratory analyses. The scattered burned rocks and debitage from Block 2 were only tabulated and discussed in a general way, as TxDOT personnel believed they were in mixed context. The six small burned rock features ranged in size from 33 to 100 cm in diameter and represented four intact heating elements (two with basins and two without), plus two small burned rock discard piles. Radiocarbon dating of organic residues in nine burned rocks from five intact features indicates multiple occupations over a span of roughly 700 years from 820 to 1450 B.P. (cal A.D. 560 to 1270). The lack of recorded depth measurements for cultural materials, combined with limited sediment deposition between the successive occupations, prevented isolation of individual occupational episodes. The lack of discernible vertical separation in the prehistoric occupations reflects slow soil aggregation during this period, likely lengthy surface exposure and possible erosion between events, and soil conditions which may also account for a near absence of charcoal and other organic materials such as vertebrate remains. Four technical analyses (radiocarbon dating, starch grain, lipid residue, and high-powered usewear) focused on a limited suite of chipped stone tools, associated lithic debitage, and burned rocks collected from five of the six intact features in Block 1 in the T2 terrace. Starch grain analysis on fragments of 20 burned rocks from five features and 20 chipped stone tools from around the features in Block 1 yielded positive results from 47.5 percent of the specimens. Of considerable interest is the documentation, in addition to multiple grass species, of grains of the tropical cultigen maize (Zea mays) on two burned rocks each, from Features 2 and 3, plus on two edge-modified tools in the vicinity of those two features. One specific burned rock with a gelatinized maize starch grain on it was directly AMS dated to 980 ± 30 B.P. or cal A.D. 1020 to 1150. Some identified maize starch grains had been damaged through grinding, heating, and/or boiling, evidence of processing as a food resource. This indicates use of maize as a food resource in central Texas a number of centuries earlier than previously suspected. Lipid residue analysis on portions of the same 20 burned rocks from those five features yielded residues in 100 percent of the samples. The results indicate that both plant and animal products were present on all the rocks, with large herbivore lipids (likely bison or deer) present on at least one rock, and oily seed lipids present on at least three rocks. Residues from conifer wood products, here likely juniper trees, were present on 60 percent of the rocks, and indicate at least one specific wood species used to heat the rocks. High-powered microscopic use-wear analyses on 15 chert tools (11 edge-modified flakes, 2 biface fragments, and 2 complete choppers) revealed their use in processing wood, plants, bone, and hide as well as unspecified soft and hard materials. The sparse frequency of formal chipped stone tools likely reflects the limited area investigated and also the possibility that these occupations reflect low-intensity and short-term camps that focused on preparing and cooking a few food resources in heating facilities and the manipulation of other perishable resources. The lipid and starch analyses of the burned rocks provides important information concerning the resources cooked by the rocks in these small burned rock features, most significantly the presence of maize and wild native grasses. These resources would have gone unidentified without these specialized analyses. Continued use of these two analytical techniques on suites of burned rocks from other features/sites in and around central Texas will provide an empirical basis for identifying changes in subsistence patterns over time and across geographical space. It is also notable that direct radiocarbon dating of organic residues contained within the porous sandstone burned rocks here has succeeded in providing satisfactory chronological control for the features and site, strongly indicating that this technique can be beneficially employed in the future in cases where other organics such as wood charcoal, charred seeds/nuts, and/or bone are unavailable for absolute dating. In 1999 the Texas Historical Commission accepted TxDOT’s field investigations as sufficient and concurred with TxDOT’s recommendation that no further work was necessary under Texas Antiquities Committee Permit No. 2193. Parts of site 41MI96 outside the current TxDOT right-of-way have not been fully evaluated. Based on the present findings and the excavated intact features in Block 1, it appears that potentially eligible deposits may be present beyond the current right-of-way. If TxDOT further expands this county road, it is recommended that those areas at 41MI96 be evaluated prior to surface modifications related to that project

Comminution in the Minerals Industry

Size reduction processes represent a significant part of the capital as well as the operating cost in ore processing. Advancing the understanding of and improving such processes is worthwhile since any measurable enhancement may lead to benefits, which may materialize as reductions in energy consumption or wear or improved performance in downstream processes. This book contains contributions dealing with various aspects of comminution, including those intended to improve our current level of understanding and quantification of particle breakage and ore characterization techniques that are relevant to size reduction, as well as studies involving modeling and simulation techniques. The affiliations of the authors of the articles published in this book span 14 countries around the globe, which attests to the highly international nature of research in this field. The themes of the manuscripts also vary widely, from several that are more focused on experimental studies to those that deal, in greater detail, with the development and application of modeling and simulation techniques in comminution. Size reduction technologies more directly addressed in the manuscripts include jaw crushing, vertical shaft impact crushing, SAG milling, stirred milling, planetary milling, and vertical roller milling. Ores involved directly in the investigations include those of copper, lead–zinc, gold, and iron as well as coal, talc, and quartz

ANALYSIS OF PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES AND TERRESTRIAL DYNAMICS OF MECHANICALLY FORMED MICRO-NANO SCALED PARTICLES FROM AGRICULTURAL PLASTIC MULCHES

Release of microplastics (MPs) and nanoplastics (NPs) into agricultural fields is of great concern due to their reported ecotoxicity to organisms that provide beneficial service to the soil such as earthworms, and the potential ability of MPs and NPs to enter the food chain. Most fundamental studies of the fate and transport of plastic particulates in terrestrial environments employ idealized MP materials as models, such as monodisperse polystyrene spheres. In contrast, plastics that reside in agricultural soils consist of polydisperse fragments resulting from degraded films employed in agriculture. There exists a need for more representative materials in fundamental studies of the fate, transport, and ecotoxicity of MPs and NPs in soil ecosystems. The objective of this study was therefore to develop a procedure to produce MPs and NPs from agricultural plastics (a mulch film prepared biodegradable polymer polybutyrate adipate-co-terephthalate (PBAT) and low-density PE [LDPE]), and to characterize the resultant materials. Soaking of PBAT films under cryogenic conditions promoted embrittlement, similar to what occurs through environmental weathering. LDPE and cryogenically treated PBAT underwent mechanical milling followed by sieve fractionation into MP fractions of 840 μm, 250 μm, 106 μm, and 45 μm. The 106 μm fraction was subjected to wet grinding to produce NPs of average particle size 366.0 nm and 389.4 nm for PBAT and LDPE, respectively. A two-parameter Weibull model described the MPs\u27 particle size distributions, while NPs possessed bimodal distributions. Size reduction did not produce any changes in the chemical properties of the plastics, except for slight depolymerization and an increase of crystallinity resulting from cryogenic treatment. This study suggests that MPs form from cutting and high-impact mechanical degradation as would occur during the tillage into soil, and that NPs form from the MP fragments in regions of relative weakness that possess lower molecular weight polymers and crystallinity

Characterization and improvement of copper / glass adhesion

The development of glass substrates for use as an alternative to printed circuit boards (PCBs) attracts significant industrial attention, because of the potential for low cost but high performance interconnects and optical connection. Electroless plating is currently used to deposit conductive tracks on glass substrates and the quality of copper / glass adhesion is a key functional issue. Without adequate adhesive strength the copper plating will prematurely fail. Existing studies have covered the relationship between surface roughness and adhesion performance, but few of them have considered the detail of surface topography in any depth. This research is specifically considering the mechanical contribution of the glass surface texture to the copper / glass adhesive bond, and attempting to isolate new ISO 25178 areal surface texture parameters that can describe these surfaces. Excimer laser machining has been developed and used to create a range of micro pattern structured surfaces on CMG glass substrates. Excimer mask dimensions and laser operation parameters have been varied and optimized according to surface topography and adhesion performance of the samples. Non-contact surface measurement equipment (Zygo NewView 5000 coherence scanning interferometry) has been utilized to measure and parameterize (ISO 25178) the surface texture of the glass substrates before electroless copper metallization. Copper adhesion quality has been tested using quantitative scratch testing techniques, providing an identification of the critical load of failure for different plated substrates. This research is establishing the statistical quality of correlation between the critical load values and the associated areal parameters. In this thesis, the optimal laser processing parameter settings for CMG glass substrate machining and the topographic images of structured surfaces for achieving strong copper / glass plating adhesion are identified. The experimental relationships between critical load and areal surface parameters, as well as the discussions of a theoretical approach are presented. It is more significant to consider Sq, Sdq, Sdr, Sxp, Vv, Vmc and Vvc to describe glass substrate surface topography and the recommended data value ranges for each parameter have been identified to predict copper / plating adhesion performance

Big Hole (41TV2161): Two Stratigraphically Isolated Middle Holocene Components in Travis County, Texas Volume I

During April and May 2006, an archeological team from the Cultural Resources Section of the Planning, Permitting and Licensing Practice of TRC Environmental Corporation’s (TRC) Austin office conducted geoarcheological documentation and data recovery excavations at prehistoric site 41TV2161 (CSJ: 0440-06-006). Investigations were restricted to a 70 centimeter (cm) thick target zone between ca. 220 and 290 cm below surface (bs) on the western side of site 41TV2161 – the Big Hole site in eastern Travis County, Texas. This cultural investigation was necessary under the requirements of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), the implementing regulations of 36CRF Part 800 and the Antiquities Code of Texas (Texas Natural Resource Code, Title 9, Chapter 191 as amended) to recover a sample of the significant cultural materials prior to destruction by planned construction of State Highway 130 (SH 130). The latter by a private construction firm – Lone Star Infrastructure. This necessary data recovery was for Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), Environmental (ENV) Affairs Division under a Scientific Services Contract No. 577XXSA003 (Work Authorization No. 57701SA003). Over the years since the original award, multiple work authorizations between TxDOT and TRC were implemented and completed towards specific aspects of the analyses and reporting. The final analyses and report were conducted under contract 57-3XXSA004 (Work Authorization 57-311SA004). All work was under Texas Antiquities Committee Permit No. 4064 issued by the Texas Historical Commission (THC) to J. Michael Quigg. Initially, an archeological crew from Hicks & Company encountered site 41TV2161 during an intensive cultural resource inventory conducted south of Pearce Lane along the planned construction zone of SH 130 in the fall of 2005. Following the initial site discovery, archeologists expanded their investigations to the west across the SH 130 right-of-way, and completed excavation of 10 backhoe trenches, 13 shovel tests, and 11 test units at site 41TV2161. The investigations encountered at least seven buried cultural features and 1,034 artifacts, some in relatively good context. The survey and testing report to TxDOT presented their findings and recommendations (Campbell et al. 2006). The ENV Affairs Division of TxDOT and the THC reviewed the initial findings and recommendations, and determined site 41TV2161 was eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and as State Antiquities Landmark as the proposed roadway development was to directly impact this important site and further excavations were required. Subsequently, TRC archeologists led by Paul Matchen (Project Archeologist) and J. Michael Quigg (Principal Investigator) initiated data recovery excavations through the mechanical-removal of between 220 and 250 cm of sediment from a 30-by-40 meter (m) block area (roughly 3,000 m3). This was conducted to allow hand-excavations to start just above the deeply buried, roughly 70 cm thick targeted zone of cultural material. Mechanical stripping by Lone Star Infrastructure staff created a large hole with an irregular bottom that varied between 220 and 260 cmbs. To locate specific areas to initiate hand-excavations within the mechanically stripped area, a geophysical survey that employed ground penetrating radar (GPR) was conducted by Tiffany Osburn then with Geo-Marine in Plano, Texas. Over a dozen electronic anomalies were detected through the GPR investigation. Following processing, data filtering, and assessment, Osburn identified and ranked the anomalies for investigation. The highest ranked anomalies (1 through 8) were thought to have the greatest potential to represent cultural features. Anomalies 1 through 6 were selected and targeted through hand-excavations of 1-by-1 m units that formed continuous excavation blocks of various sizes. Blocks were designated A, B, C, D, E, and F. The type, nature, quantity, and context of encountered cultural materials in each block led the direction and expansion of each excavation block as needed. In total, TRC archeologists hand-excavated 38.5 m3 (150 m2) from a vertically narrow target zone within this deep, multicomponent and stratified prehistoric site. Hand-excavation in the two largest Blocks, B and D (51 m2 and 62 m2 respectively), revealed two vertically separate cultural components between roughly 220 and 290 cmbs. The younger component was restricted to Block B and yielded a Bell/Andice point and point base, plus a complete Big Sandy point. These points were associated with at least eight small burned rock features, one cluster of ground stone tools, limited quantities of lithic debitage, few formal chipped and ground stone tools, and a rare vertebrate faunal assemblage. Roughly 20 to 25 cm below the Bell/Andice component in Block B and across Block D was a component identified by a single corner-notched Martindale dart point. This point was associated with a scattered burned rocks, three charcoal stained hearth features, scattered animal, bird, and fish bones, mussel shells, and less than a dozen formal chipped and ground stone tools. Both identified components contained cultural materials in good stratigraphic context with high spatial integrity. Significant, both were radiocarbon dated by multiple charcoal samples to a narrow 200-year period between 5250 and 5450 B.P. during the middle Holocene. With exception of the well-preserved faunal assemblages, perishable materials were poorly preserved in the moist silty clay loam. Charcoal lacked structure and was reduced to dark stains. Microfossils (e.g., phytoliths and starch gains) were present, although in very limited numbers and deteriorated conditions. The four much smaller Blocks (A, C, E, and F) yielded various quantities of cultural material and features, but these blocks also lacked sufficient charcoal dates and diagnostic artifacts Those artifacts and samples were left unassigned and analyzed separately from the Bell/Andice and Martindale components. The two well-defined components in Blocks B and D are the focus of this technical report. The components provide very significant data towards understanding rare and poorly understood hunter-gatherer populations during late stages of the Altithermal climate period. This final report builds upon the interim report submitted to TxDOT (Quigg et al. 2007) that briefly described the methods, excavations, preliminary findings, initial results from six feasibility studies, and proposed an initial research design for data analyses. Context and integrity of the cultural materials in the two identified components was excellent. This rare circumstance combined with detailed artifact analyses, solid documentation of their ages through multiple radiocarbon dates, and multidisciplinary approach to analyses, allowed significant insights and contributions concerning the two populations involved. Results provide a greater understanding of human behaviors during a rarely identified time in Texas Prehistory. The cultural materials and various collected samples were temporarily curated at TRC’s Austin laboratory. Following completion of analyses and acceptance of this final report, the artifacts, paper records, photographs, and electronic database were permanently curated at the Center for Archaeological Studies (CAS) at Texas State University in San Marcos

NASA patent abstracts bibliography: A continuing bibliography. Section 1: Abstracts (supplement 40)

Abstracts are provided for 181 patents and patent applications entered into the NASA scientific and technical information system during the period July 1991 through December 1991. Each entry consists of a citation, an abstract, and in most cases, a key illustration selected from the patent or patent application