Design of a novel crack-free precipitation-strengthened nickel-based superalloy and composites for laser powder bed fusion

Avoiding cracking defects is crucial to ensuring processability in the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) of metallic materials. In this study, a crack-free Ni-based superalloy with a high volume fraction of the γ′ phase was designed for the LPBF process using the thermodynamic approach. The results indicate that the designed SD01 Ni-based alloy was crack-free and over 21% of the spherical γ′ phase was uniformly distributed in the matrix after heat treatment. In addition, 1 wt.% TiB2 particles were introduced into the SD01 alloy to further enhance high-temperature mechanical performance. It was found that the morphology of the γ′ phase was altered from spherical to cubic structures, and its volume fraction increased from 21% to 40% after the TiB2 addition. The SD01-TiB2 composite exhibited an excellent combination of tensile strength (437.43 MPa) and elongation (7.71%) at 900 °C compared with the SD01 alloy (252.03 MPa, 3.02%). These findings provide a new metallic material design method for the LPBF of crack-free high-performance Ni-based materials

cDNA Cloning and Expression Analysis of Gustavus Gene in the Oriental River Prawn Macrobrachium nipponense

The gustavus gene is required for localizing pole plasm and specifying germ cells. Research on gustavus gene expression will advance our understanding of the biological function of gustavus in animals. A cDNA encoding gustavus protein was identified and termed MnGus in the oriental river prawn Macrobrachium nipponense. Bioinformatic analyses showed that this gene encoded a protein of 262 amino acids and the protein belongs to the Spsb1 family. Real-time quantitative PCR analyses revealed that the expression level of MnGus in prawn embryos was slightly higher at the cleavage stage than at the blastula stage, and reached the maximum level during the zoea stage of embryos. The minimum level of MnGus expression occurred during the perinucleolus stage in the ovary, while the maximum was at the oil globule stage, and then the level of MnGus expression gradually decreased with the advancement of ovarian development. The expression level of MnGus in muscle was much higher than that in other tissues in mature prawn. The gustavus cDNA sequence was firstly cloned from the oriental river prawn and the pattern of gene expression was described during oocyte maturation, embryonic development, and in other tissues. The differential expression patterns of MnGus in the embryo, ovary and other somatic tissues suggest that the gustavus gene performs multiple physiological functions in the oriental river prawn

Effects of TiC content on microstructure and mechanical properties of nickel-based hastelloy X nanocomposites manufactured by selective laser melting

The nickel-based Hastelloy X (HX) superalloy is widely applied in the aerospace industry because of its exceptional oxidation resistance and various beneficial properties at high temperatures. HX-based nanocomposites manufactured by additive-manufacturing processes based on powder-bed fusion, such as selective laser melting (SLM), are expected to further enhance the material's mechanical and thermophysical performance. This paper systematically studies the effects of TiC nanoparticle content on the microstructure and tensile performance of SLM-fabricated HX nanocomposites. The results reveal that the microcracking that formed in pure HX was successfully eliminated in the fabricated nanocomposites when 1 wt% and 3 wt% TiC nanoparticles were introduced. The fabricated HX-3 wt.% (HX-3) TiC nanocomposite showed several TiC clusters and a much higher pore-volume percentage (0.15%) compared to the HX-1 wt.% (HX-1) TiC nanocomposite, in which this percentage was determined to be 0.026%. Compared to SLM-fabricated pure HX alloy, the HX-1 nanocomposite exhibited over 19% and 10% improvements in ultimate tensile strength and elongation to failure, respectively. A further increase in TiC content to 3 wt% was not found to further enhance the tensile strength but did result in a 10% loss in elongation to failure in HX-3 nanocomposite. These findings offer a promising pathway to employ SLM to manufacture both high-strength and high-ductility materials through the careful selection of nanoparticle materials and their content

Electronic cigarette aerosols induce oxidative stress-dependent cell death and NF-κB mediated acute lung inflammation in mice.

Electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) use has been linked to recent acute lung injury case clusters in over 2000 patients and dozens of deaths in the United States, however, the mechanism leading to lung injury is not certain although ultrafine particles, heavy metals, volatile organic compounds, and other harmful ingredients have been implicated. To systematically evaluate e-cigarette toxicity, we generated e-cigarette aerosols by varying the puff numbers (20-480), nicotine contents (0-24 mg/mL), and collected e-cigarette samples through an impinger system for biological assays. The calculated samples' concentration ranged from 1.96 to 47.06 mg/mL. THP-1 monocyte-differentiated macrophages, BEAS-2B bronchial epithelial cells, wild-type C57BL/6 mice, and NF-κB-luc transgenic mice were used to test the effects of these samples. E-cigarette samples showed cytotoxicity to THP-1 cells and BEAS-2B in vitro, leading to increased oxidative stress, inflammatory cytokine production with or without nicotine, and cell death. Furthermore, aerosol generated from PG is more toxic than VG. The toxicity of e-cigarette samples is at least partially due to the reactive oxygen species and aldehydes, which are generated during the aerosolization processes by the e-cigarette device. After NF-κB-luc mice exposed with e-cigarette samples by oropharyngeal aspiration, NF-κB expressions were observed in a dose-response fashion with or without nicotine. In addition, the e-cigarette samples induced neutrophil infiltration, IL-1β production, oxidative stress marker heme oxygenase-1 expression in wild-type C57BL/6 mice. These results suggested that oxidative stress, pro-inflammatory NF-κB pathway activation, and cell death are involved in e-cigarette aerosol-induced acute lung inflammation

Monitoring water color anomaly of lakes based on an integrated method using Landsat-8 OLI images

Water color is a crucial optical indicator of water quality, polluted water bodies often show water color anomalies. To comprehensively understand the occurrence of water color anomalies in inland lakes, an integrated method was designed using the hue angle based on the Forel-Ule Index (FUI) model, and other remote sensing indices, including the Turbid Water Index (TWI), Floating Algae Index (FAI), and Cyanobacteria and Macrophytes Index (CMI). Based on all available Landsat-8 OLI images from 2013 to 2020, continuous monitoring was conducted in three different lakes in the middle of the Yangtze River, China. The results demonstrated that: (1) The proposed method can accurately identify algal blooms, high sediment loads, and eutrophication from the abnormal water color areas; (2) The calculated hue angles of sediment-dominated water were significantly higher than those of algal blooms and aquatic vegetation, providing a noticeable visual discoloration of water; (3) These water color anomalies exhibited significant correlations with the water quality and environmental conditions. This study serves as an example for accurate and spatially continuous assessment of water color anomaly and supports practical information to facilitate local water environment conservation

Lag in Hydrologic Recovery Following Extreme Meteorological Drought Events: Implications for Ecological Water Requirements

Hydrological regimes, being strongly impacted by climate change, play a vital role in maintaining the integrity of aquatic river habitats. We investigated lag in hydrologic recovery following extreme meteorological drought events, and we also discussed its implications in the assessment of ecological environment flow. We used monthly anomalies of three specific hydrometeorological variables (precipitation, streamflow, and baseflow) to identify drought, while we used the Chapman–Maxwell method (the CM filter) with recession constant calculated from Automatic Baseflow Identification Technique (ABIT) to separate baseflow. Results showed that: (i) Compared to the default recession parameter (α = 0.925), the CM filter with the ABIT estimate (α = 0.984) separated baseflow more accurately. (ii) Hydrological drought, resulting from meteorological drought, reflected the duration and intensity of meteorological drought; namely, longer meteorological drought periods resulted in longer hydrological drought periods. Interestingly, the time lag in streamflow and baseflow indicated that aquatic ecosystem habitat recovery also lagged behind meteorological drought. (iii) Assessing environmental flow by quantifying drought provided greater detail on hydrological regimes compared to abrupt changes, such as the increased hydrological periods and the different environment flows obtained. Taken together, our results indicated that the hydrological response in streamflow and baseflow (e.g., the time lag and the precipitation recovery rate (Pr)) played a vital role in the assessment of environmental flow

Primary particle identification with MVA method for the LHAASO project

International audienceThe LHAASO (Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory) project, which is under construction at high altitude of 4400m a.s.l. in Sichuan, China,aims to observe the extensive air showers (EAS) induced by cosmic rays in the atmosphere. LHAASO consists of several large detector arrays including KM2A (1 km$^2$ array), WCDA (Water Cherenkov Detector Array) and WFCTA (Wide Field of view Cherenkov Telescope Array). By employing hybrid detection technique, LHAASO offers an accurate measurement of the cosmic-ray spectrum and composition around the knee region. Furthermore, the primary particle identification can be obtained by using Multivariate Analysis (MVA). In this contribution, we present the parameters that will be measured by various detectors of LHAASO in the EAS detection and discuss the performance of the MVA method for primary particle identification

Measurement of the knees of proton and H&He spectra below 1 PeV

International audienceGalactic Cosmic ray (CR) origin is still a mystery. Measuring the knees of the CR spectra for individual species is a very important approach to solve the problem. ARGO-YBJ and LHAASO-WFCTA[1] combined experiment made the first step by measuring the spectrum of hydrogen plus helium nuclei and finding the knee around 0.7 PeV[2]. A significant boost is expected by using LHAASO experiment[3] to measure the spectra and their knees for pure proton and other species in few years. The key is to separate the specific species from all CR samples. In this paper, a multi variate analysis (MVA) approach for the CR composition analysis in LHAASO experiment is discussed. Preliminary results of the analysis and expectations are presented

Characteristics and main controlling factors of the limy source rock gas reservoir in the first member of the Middle Permian Maokou Formation in the southern Sichuan and western Chongqing area: a case study of well DB 1

The Middle Permian Maokou Formation in the Sichuan Basin is an important natural gas payzone. Recently, Zhejiang Oilfield Company of CNPC obtained industrial gas flow of vertical well test 42×103 m3/d and horizontal well (well DB 1H) test 556×103 m3/d in the limy source rock gas reservoir of eyelid and eyeball- shaped limestone in the first member of the Maokou Formation in well DB 1, Da'an exploration area, western Chongqing. A breakthrough has been made in the unconventional gas exploration of argillaceous limestone in the southern Sichuan and western Chongqing area, showing good exploration prospects in this area. The eyelid and eyeball-shaped limestone in the first member of the Maokou Formation in the Sichuan Basin has the characteristics of self-generation and self-storage, continuous and stable distribution and high thermal maturity. The limestone of central gentle slope facies shows no water sensitivity or acid sensitivity, and is dominated by carbonate brittle minerals, which is ideal for acid-fracturing development. It is of great significance to study the characteristics and main controlling factors of the organic rich limestone reservoir. Taking well DB 1 as an example, this paper carried out a study on the petrology, sedimentology and reservoir characteristics of the first member of the Maokou Formation, and it is found that, deposited on the central gentle slope with frequent water activity and abundant organism, the dark gray to black micrite with high organic matter content has good physical properties. In general, submember c has better physical properties than submember a. The development degree of macropores in eyelid-shaped limestone is higher than that in eyeball-shaped limestone, and the development degree of micropores is not much different. The main pore types of the first member of the Maokou Formation include dissolution pores, fractures, clay mineral apertures and organic pores. The pores in clay minerals (mainly talc) and organic matters are mainly distributed in the eyelid-shaped limestone. Depositional process and diagenesis are the main factors controlling the development of the eyelid and eyeball-shaped limestone reservoirs. The central gentle slope facies controls the development and distribution features of the organic-rich micrites. Diagenesis as well as fracture and dissolution effects improve the reservoir capacity of limestone, which is critical for hydrocarbon accumulation. Stable and high yield commercial gas flow was obtained in the vertical wells and horizontal wells in the first member of the Maokou Formation which has high organic matter content in well DB 1 block in the western Chongqing area, indicating that the accumulation and occurrence conditions of limestone source rock gas are good in the first member of the Maokou Formation. It has two kinds of accumulation modes with self-generation and self-storage dominance and short distance aggregation of local structural bands, and has the characteristics of continuous distribution of gas reservoir and large resource scale. The "continuous gas reservoir: in the limestone source rock in the first member of the Maokou Formation has great exploration potential, which will become an important exploration target with good potential in the Sichuan Basin