Firm size and export performance: some empirical evidence

This paper uses firm level data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in its Business Longitudinal Survey to help fill the information gap about the characteristics of successful exporters. This study suggests that the main influences on export performance of Australian manufacturing firms may lie with a range of ‘firm-specific’ factors other than size or domestic market share. These potentially include: kind of activity, product design and quality, marketing expertise and the motivation of management.firm size - exports - performance - business - company - exporters

Trade Union Trade-Offs: Unions, Voters, and the Rise of Right-Wing Populism

Trade union membership in European Union member states has been in decline for decades, which has many concerned about the future of workers’ rights. While existing work examines the reasons for this decline, my research shifts the focus from union density to the functions unions serve and how these functions affect and are affected by changing electoral behavior. I examine the rise of right-wing populist movements in Europe and how these movements and the challenges today’s labor unions face can be traced to the same underlying forces. I argue that, as the relevance of trade unions declines for blue-collar workers, support for right-wing movements increases. I test this claim with the help of statistical analyses of European Values Study data. I find preliminary support for my hypothesis, and suggest how this can inform our responses to the rise of populism in Europe

Transient liquid phase sintering of high density Transient liquid phase sintering of high density Fe₃Al using Fe and Fe₂Al₅/FeAl₂ powders Part 1: Experimentation and results

High density Fe[sub 3]Al was produced through transient liquid phase sintering, using rapid heating rates of greater than 150 K min[sup -1] and a mixture of prealloyed and elemental powders. Prealloyed Fe[sub 2]Al[sub 5]/FeAl[sub 2] (50Fe/50Al, wt-%) powder was added to elemental iron powder in a ratio appropriate for producing an overall Fe[sub 3]Al (13•87 wt-%) ratio. The heating rate, sintering time, sintering temperature, green density and powder particle size were controlled during the study. Heating rate, sintering time and powder particle size had the most significant influence upon the sintered density of the compacts. The highest sintered density of 6•12 Mg m[sup -3] (92% of the theoretical density for Fe3Al) was achieved after 15 minutes of sintering at 1350°C, using a 250 K min[sup - 1] heating rate, 1-6 μm Fe powders and 5•66 μm alloy powders. SEM microscopy suggests that agglomerated Fe[sub 2]Al[sub 5]/ FeAl[sub 2] particles, which form a liquid during sintering, are responsible for a significant portion of the remaining porosity in high sintered density compacts, creating stable pores, larger than 100 μm diameter, after melting. High density was achieved by minimising the Kirkendall porosity formed during heating by unbalanced diffusion and solubility between the iron and Fe[sub 2]Al[sub 5]/FeAl[sub 2] components. The lower diffusion rate of aluminium in the prealloyed powder into the iron compared with elemental aluminium in iron, coupled with a fast heating rate, is expected to permit minimal iron-aluminium interdiffusion during heating so that when a liquid forms the aluminium dissolves in the iron to promote solidification at a lower aluminium content. This leads to a further reduction in porosity

The mechanical behaviour of an ultrafine grained Ti-47Al-2Cr (at%) alloy in tension and compression and at different temperatures

A bulk ultrafine grained (UFG) Ti-47Al-2Cr (at%) alloy has been produced using a powder metallurgy process that combines high energy mechanical milling (HEMM) of a mixture of Ti, Al and Cr powders to produce a Ti/Al/Cr composite powder and hot isostatic pressing (HIP) of the composite powder compact. The purpose of the present study is to determine the mechanical behaviour of the alloy in tension and compression at room temperature (RT) and elevated temperatures, and also to compare the compression behaviour of the material with its tensile behaviour. It has been found that due to the residual pores, lack of full level interparticle bonding and high oxygen content (0.87wt%) in the consolidated samples, the UFG TiAl based alloy has a very low room temperature tensile fracture strength of 100 MPa and shows no tensile ductility. However these microstructural defects and high oxygen content have much less significant effect on the room temperature compressive mechanical properties, and the alloy shows a high compressive yield strength of 1410 MPa, and some ductility (plastic strain to fracture 4%). At elevated temperatures of 800oC and above, the alloy shows high tensile and compressive ductility as demonstrated by 75% tensile elongation to fracture and no cracking in upset forging with a height reduction of 50% at 900oC. The yield strength of the alloy at 900oC is 55 MPa in tension and 33 MPa in compression, both of which are lower than those of coarse grained TiAl based alloys with similar compositions at 900oC. This is due to a higher creep rate of the UFG alloy caused by the small grains. The good formability of the UFG TiAl based alloy as reflected by the lower critical temperature above which the alloy becomes highly formable indicates that the material can be used as a suitable precursor for secondary thermomechanical processing and super-plastic forming

Development and design of binder systems for titanium metal injection molding: An overview

Titanium metal injection molding (Ti-MIM) has been practiced since the late 1980s. Logically, the Ti-MIM practice follows the similar processes developed for the antecedent materials such as stainless steel and ceramics. Although Ti-MIM is a favorite research topic today, the issue of convincing the designers to use Ti injection-molded parts still exists. This is mainly because of the concern about contamination which seems unavoidable during the Ti-MIM process. Much information about the binder formulation, powder requirements, debinding, and sintering is available in the literature. There are several powder vendors and feedstock suppliers. However, most of the binders in the feedstock are proprietarily protected. The disclosed information on the binders used for formulating powder feedstock is very limited, which in turn discourages their adoption by engineering designers. This overview intends to discuss some of major binder systems for Ti-MIM available in the literature. It serves to provide a guideline for the Ti-MIM practitioners to choose a suitable powder feedstock

Price Effects of Regulation: Telecommunications, Air Passenger Transport and Electricity Supply

Price Effects of Regulation draws on research undertaken at the OECD to quantify the effects of domestic regulatory regimes on prices in up to 50 economies for 3 sectors — international air passenger transport, telecommunications and electricity supply. The study finds wide variations in regulatory regimes across economies for each sector. The results suggest a positive relationship between the stringency of regulatory regimes and higher prices in each sector. For example, the bilateral system of restrictions on the number of air passenger flights between countries and the conditions under which they operate are estimated to collectively increase airfares by between 3 and 22 per cent.regulation - price effects - telecommunications - air transport - airlines - electricity - trade restrictions

Effect of microwave sintering on the mechanical and structural properties of pewter alloy

97%Sn 2%Cu 1%Sb (pewter) alloys were examined to determine the effect of green density, sintering time and sintering temperature on the mechanical and structural properties of the conventional and microwave sintered compacts. Two compaction loads; 30kN and 40kN were used to produce the samples with different green densities. Eight different time-temperature combinations were used for each heat treatment. Samples with a higher green density resulted in a higher sintered density and higher hardness. Longer sintering time and higher sintering temperatures resulted in higher densities, larger grain size and higher hardness for both sintering methods. However, the microwave sintered samples in general have finer microstructures, higher densities and higher hardness compared to the conventional sintered samples in a much shorter duration. Better mechanical and structural properties were achieved by microwave sintering in 15 minutes compared to 120 minutes by conventional sintering

Shape and deformation measurement using heterodyne range imaging technology

Range imaging is emerging as a promising alternative technology for applications that require non-contact visual inspection of object deformation and shape. Previously, we presented a solid-state full-field heterodyne range imaging device capable of capturing three-dimensional images with sub-millimetre range resolution. Using a heterodyne indirect time-of-flight configuration, this system simultaneously measures distance (and intensity), for each pixel in a cameras field of view. In this paper we briefly describe our range imaging system, and its principle of operation. By performing measurements on several metal objects, we demonstrate the potential capabilities of this technology for surface profiling and deformation measurement. In addition to verifying system performance, the reported examples highlight some important system limitations. With these in mind we subsequently discuss the further developments required to enable the use of this device as a robust and practical tool in non-destructive testing and measurement applications

Development of low cost PM Ti alloys by thermomechanical processing of powder blends

This research focuses on the development of low cost powder metallurgy (PM) Ti alloys suitable for application in PM thermomechanical processing with mechanical properties comparable to those of wrought Ti6Al4V alloy. The alloy systems studied are Ti3Al2V, Ti5Fe and Ti3.2Fe1Cr0.6Ni0.1Mo (Ti5SS). The alloy mixtures were produced by blending Ti HDH powders with Al40V, 316SS master alloy powders or elemental Fe powder. The blended powders were further consolidated using various methods: high vacuum sintering (HVS), induction sintering (IS), powder compact forging (PCF) and powder compact extrusion (PCE). It is found that, PM Ti3Al2V and Ti5Fe alloy processed by PCE or PCF followed by recrystallization annealing (RA) achieved tensile properties comparable with wrought Ti6Al4V alloy. Tensile properties such as yield strength (YS) of 910MPa, UTS of 1010MPa and 15% elongation to fracture for Ti3Al2V alloy are reported. Ti5Fe alloy gives YS and UTS of 870MPa and 968MPa respectively, combined with 20.3% elongation to fracture. The tensile results are related to the microstructure developed during the consolidation processes. The oxygen contamination as a result of the high temperature processing is also reported