Water Relations of Some Grasses with Phreatophytic Properties

Botan

Preparation and characterization of chalcopyrite compound for thin film solar cells

CulnS2 thin films were electrodeposited onto indium tin oxide substrate by the electrodeposition technique. Cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry were carried out to determine the optimum pH and the amount of sodium thiosulfate for electroplating CuInS2 compound. The composition, crystallinity and optical properties of the compounds synthesized were studied by energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), (SEM), X-ray diffraction and UV–Visible spectra. It was found that the increasing pH shifts the electrodepositions voltage toward more negative and lowers the deposition current. Increasing the amount of sodium thiosulfate also decreases the deposition current but it has no effect on the deposition potential. It was concluded that CuInS2 with atomic stoichiometric ratio was prepared at pH equals 1 and 150 ml of 0.1 M sodium thiosulfate, 5 ml of 0.1 M indium chloride and 5 ml of 0.1 M cupper acetate. The energy gaps were calculated to be 1.6, 1.7 and 1.75 eV for CuInS2 prepared at 1, 1.5 and 2 of pH, respectively. It was indicated that the amount of the sodium thiosulfate has a slight effect on the energy gap

A Novel Image Stream Cipher Based On Dynamic Substitution

Recently, many chaos-based stream cipher algorithms have been developed. Traditional chaos stream cipher is based on XORing a generated secure random number sequence based on chaotic maps (e.g. logistic map, Bernoulli Map, Tent Map etc.) with the original image to get the encrypted image, This type of stream cipher seems to be vulnerable to chosen plaintext attacks. This paper introduces a new stream cipher algorithm based on dynamic substitution box. The new algorithm uses one substitution box (S-box) and a chaotic shuffling process. Each byte in the plain image vector is substituted using a different S-box to get the cipher image vector. This algorithm is designed to be invulnerable to chosen plaintext attacks. In addition, this algorithm is more secured compared to conventional stream cipher

The Role of Mg Content and Aging Treatment on the Tensile and Fatigue Properties of Die-Cast 380 Alloy

The main objective of this contribution was to determine the impact of magnesium (Mg) concentration and solidification rate (about 800 °C/s) on the mechanical properties of commercial A380.1 die-cast alloy. Respective amounts of 0.10%, 0.30%, and 0.50% Mg were used to establish their influence on the main tensile properties, namely, the ultimate limit, the elastic limit, and the percentage of elongation to fracture. The study also focused on the effect of magnesium on the fatigue behavior of A380.1 alloy where the role of surface defects and internal defects (porosity, oxide films, and inclusions) on the alloy fatigue life was also determined. The tensile properties were analyzed in order to optimize the heat treatments of T6 (under-aging) and T7 (over-aging). Consequently, the influence of several parameters was evaluated using tensile testing and optical and scanning electron micrography. Fatigue strength was investigated by performing rotational bending tests. The results show that the alloy tensile strength parameters improve with up to 0.3% Mg. Further addition of Mg, i.e., 0.5%, does not produce any significant improvement with respect to either traction or fatigue. It is observed that the tensile properties fluctuate according to the Guinier–Preston zones which occur during heat treatment, while the fatigue properties decrease as the Mg content increases. In contrast to a mechanical fatigue failure mechanism, in the present study, cracks were initiated at the sample’s outer surface and then propagated toward the center

Change of Tensile Properties with Aging Time and Temperature in Al-Si-Cu-Mg 354 Cast Alloys with/without Minor Addition of Ni and/or Zr

The principal aim of the present research work was to investigate the effects of minor additions of nickel and zirconium on the strength of cast aluminum alloy 354 at room temperature (25°C). A decrease in tensile properties of ∼10% with the addition of 0.4 wt.% nickel is attributed to a nickel-copper reaction which interferes with the formation of Al2Cu precipitates. The platelet-like phases (Al,Si)3(Zr,Ni,Fe) and (Al,Si)3(Zr,Ti) are the main features observed in the microstructures of the tensile samples of alloys with Zr additions. The reduction in mechanical properties is due to the increase in the percentage of intermetallic phases formed during solidification; such particles would act as stress concentrators, decreasing the alloy ductility. The main effect of Zr addition lies in a significant reduction in the alloy grain size ∼40%, rather than an increase in the mechanical properties. Quality index charts could be used in assessing the effects of the Ni and Zr additions to the base alloy, as well as evaluating the heat treatment relationships to the alloy tensile properties, in particular when the system shows multiple precipitation reactions. Due to the high liquidus temperature of the Al-Zr binary phase diagram, addition of Zr beyond 0.2% is not recommended to avoid undissolved Zr