Light metals and their composites

It is known that metallurgy influences almost all sectors of industry, including energy, aeronautics, automotive, space, chemical, machinery, scientific equipment, construction, packaging, electrical, computing and health. Without metals and alloys, the modern world would be inconceivable and could not function successfully. The importance of lightweighting in the transport sector, as an effective way of cutting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, cannot be overstated. As an example of weight-saving potential, a 100 kg weight reduction for a long-haul aeroplane saves about 20,000 gigajoules of energy and 1,900,000 kg of CO2 emissions over its 30-year lifetime. Similarly, a 100 kg weight reduction for an average car saves about 25 gigajoules and 1600 kg of CO2 over its 10-year lifetim

Theoretical and experimental investigations of the process of vibration treatment of liquid metals containing nanoparticles

It is known that the use of external effects, such as acoustic fields (from ultrasonic to low-frequency range), help in breaking down agglomerates, improving particle wettability, providing uniform particle distribution in the melt volume, and reducing the grain size. The fragmentation of growing crystals, de-agglomeration of particles and their mixing in liquid metal under the influence of vibration (with frequencies of 10–100 Hz) are considered in this paper. The major advantage of such a technique in comparison with high-frequency methods (sonic, ultrasonic) is the capability of processing large melt volumes proportional to the wavelength. The mechanisms of the breaking down of particle agglomerates and the mixing of particles under conditions of cavitation and turbulence during the vibration treatment of the melt are considered. Expressions linking the threshold intensity and frequency with the amplitude necessary to activate mechanisms of turbulence and cavitation were obtained. The results of vibration treatment experiments for an aluminum alloy containing diamond nanoparticles are given. This treatment makes it possible to significantly reduce the grain size and to improve the casting homogeneity and thus improve the mechanical properties of the alloy

Self-propagating high-temperature synthesis of energetic borides

A promising way to synthesize new energy materials based on refactory inorganic compounds is self-propagating high-temperature synthesis of compositions based on boron compounds. This paper describes a laboratory technology of production of aluminum borides. The experimental results of thermogravimetric analysis and particle size analysis obtained for synthesized powders are given. According to thermogravimetric analysis data the degree of oxidation of obtained powders exceeds 95 %. The experimental data have shown that the development of new compositions of high-energy fuel cells using borides can yield high-quality results in the sphere of solid hypersonic engines

Mathematical Modelling of In-Chamber Processes in Hydrocombined Propellant Solid Rocket Motors

The special conditions of employment of commercial rockets in the sea environment has opened up new possibilities of improving motor performance. The interesting method suggests supplying water into the running motor. This paper reports the calculations and experiments carried out with solid propellant model setups. The results prove the validity of the proposed method and allow the refinement of calculation techniques for the prediction of solid rocket motor performance characteristics. The serviceability of the solid propellant charges working in combination with water is demonstrated. A mathematical model is proposed for the operation of a hydrocombined propellant motor with water and powdered additives applied to the combustion chamber.

On the possibility to fabricate ceramics using fused deposition modeling

The paper presents a uniquely designed device that enables controlled manufacturing of semi-fabricated products from thermoplastic ceramic suspensions by fused deposition modeling. Sintering of the products yields ceramics with high strength and hardness. We use ceramic aluminum oxide (Al2O3) as an example to prove that additive ceramic structures can be produced without noticeable boundaries between layers of the material

Influence of wire geometry on the mechanical behavior of the TiNi design

The present article is aimed at studying the deformation behavior of TiNi wire and knitted metal TiNi mesh under uniaxial tension and revealing the role of wire geometry on their main mechanical characteristics and mechanisms of deformation behavior. The temperature dependence curve of the electrical resistance indicates that a two-stage martensitic transformation of B2!R!B190 is occurring, and is responsible for the superelasticity effect. The TEM results showed that at room temperature, the TiNi wire has a nanocrystalline structure composed of B2 austenite grains. A change in the deformation mechanism was established under the uniaxial tension, where the TiNi wire exhibits the effect of superelasticity, while the knitted metal TiNi mesh made from this wire is characterized by hyperelastic behavior. Fracturing of the knitted metal TiNi mesh requires significant loads of up to 3500 MPa compared to the fracture load of the TiNi wire. With the uniaxial tension of the wire, which maximally repeats the geometry of the wire in knitted metal mesh, an increase in mechanical characteristics was observed