Early Detection of Abnormal Growth Associated with Juvenile Acquired Hypothyroidism

Context Development of the typical growth phenotype in juvenile acquired hypothyroidism (JHT), the faltering linear growth with increasing weight, has not been thoroughly characterized. Objective To describe longitudinal growth pattern in children developing JHT and investigate how their growth differs from the general population in systematic growth monitoring. Design Retrospective case-control study. Setting JHT cases from 3 Finnish University Hospitals and healthy matched controls from primary health care. Patients A total of 109 JHT patients aged 1.2 to 15.6 years (born 1983-2010) with 554 height and weight measurements obtained for 5 years preceding JHT diagnosis. Each patient was paired with 100 healthy controls (born 1983-2008) by sex and age. Longitudinal growth pattern was evaluated in mixed linear models. Growth monitoring parameters were evaluated using receiver operating characteristics analysis. Results At diagnosis, JHT patients were heavier (mean adjusted body mass index-for-age [BMISDS] difference, 0.65 [95% CI, 0.46-0.84]) and shorter (mean adjusted height-for-age deviation from the target height [(THSDS)-S-DEV] difference, -0.34 [95% CI, -0.57 to -0.10]) than healthy controls. However, 5 years before diagnosis, patients were heavier (mean BMISDS difference, 0.33 [95% CI, 0.12-0.54]) and taller (mean (THSDS)-S-DEV difference, 0.29 [95% CI, 0.06-0.52]) than controls. JHT could be detected with good accuracy when several growth parameters were used simultaneously in screening (area under the curve, 0.83 [95% CI, 0.78-0.89]). Conclusions Abnormal growth pattern of patients with JHT evolves years before diagnosis. Systematic growth monitoring would detect abnormal growth at an early phase of JHT and facilitate timely diagnosis of JHT.Peer reviewe

Mechanical properties of butt-welded ultra-high strength steels at elevated temperatures

Variety of ultra-high strength steels (UHSS) with different microstructural characteristics is becoming available with continuous development of the manufacturing process in the steel industries. In order to effectively design structures made of such steel grades, a detailed knowledge of the mechanical properties is vital. Fire safety design is one of the areas in which such knowledge is essential. Welding process is indispensable in construction of steels structures with inevitable welding-induced degradation of mechanical properties of UHSSs. Thus, conducting experimental research on elevated-temperature constitutive mechanical behavior of welded joints made of UHSSs is of paramount importance. This study addresses elevated-temperature mechanical properties of as-received and as-welded S960 (manufactured via direct quenching technique) and S1100 (quenched and tempered) steel grades. A fully automated gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process with low heat input value was utilized to join the steel plates. Next, steady-state uniaxial tensile tests in the temperature range between room temperature (RT) and 900 °C were carried out. Accordingly, reduction factor-temperature relations for each tested steel in both as-received and as-welded forms are discussed and compared with several design standards, as well as with previous studies in the literature. Finally, predictive equations are proposed to estimate the elevated-temperature mechanical properties reduction factors of the tested UHSSs in as-received and as-welded forms.</p

Digital image correlation and optical strain measuring in bendability assessment of ultra-high strength structural steels

Abstract Air-bending is a widely used forming process for ultra-high strength steel because it is fast, cost-effective and flexible way to form material. The bendability of a material can be expressed by minimum bending radius R/tmin, which is the relation of the smallest inner radius to the sheet thickness the material can be bent without damage. Damage usually occurs on the outer surface of the bend in the form of intense strain localization that further progresses to cracking. The minimum bending radius contains no other information that affects the bendability such as the lower tool width or the desired bending angle. Hence, developing more detailed test procedure is critical to better describe the behavior of ultra-high strength steel sheet in bending. In this paper, a method for more detailed assessment of bendability for ultra-high strength structural steel is presented. Using optical strain measuring techniques and digital image correlation coupled with bending tests in a universal tensile test machine one can measure the strain evolution at the outer surface of the bend and determine the critical strains that limit the bendability of these materials

Strain distribution during air bending of ultra-high strength steels

Abstract Air bending is a widely used method for forming ultra-high strength steels (UHSS). However, the limited formability of UHSS poses some challenges for the bending process in the form of strain localisation, surface defects, punch detachment (multi-breakage) and pseudo-polygonal “nut-like” shape of the bend. In this study, the bendability of three UHSS grades (700, 900 and 1100 MPa) is investigated with 3-point bending tests, utilising Digital Image Correlation (DIC) for measuring the strain distributions on the outer curvature. The differences in the extent of multi-breakage and the bend shapes are also studied, and these observations are correlated with the findings from the bending force and strain measurements. The differences between the investigated UHSS grades are significant. The 900 MPa grade produces more localised strain distributions and pronounced multi-breakage compared to the other grades, along with a more polygonal “nut-like” geometry. The reasons and effects of the multi-breakage phenomenon, as well as the causes for the observed differences in the behaviour of the materials are discussed in this paper. The presented results and the measurement data provide more information about the behaviour of the investigated materials in bending, and can be used for improving bending simulation, numerical models, and workshop instructions

Effect of temperature on the plastic flow and strain hardening of direct-quenched ultra-high strength steel S960MC

Abstract This study investigates the plastic deformation and hardening behavior of the direct-quenched ultra-high strength steel S960MC at various temperatures ranging from room temperature to 900 ℃. In this regard, the Hollomon and Voce equations are used to model the hardening behavior of the material at different temperatures. The suitability of each equation to predict the plastic flow of S960MC is evaluated based on the best resulted fit for the material. In addition, microstructural investigations are carried out to indicate the correlations between the microstructural changes, occurring in the range of room temperature to 900 ℃, and hardening behavior and governing parameters. The Hollomon approach showed deviations from the experimental results for room to intermediate temperatures; however, the Voce equation modeled the material’s strain hardening and flow behavior more successfully for the entire temperature range of room temperature–900 ℃. Additionally, there was a significant consistency between the Kocks-Mecking and Voce parameters. Dislocation interactions, dynamic strain aging, dynamic recrystallization, dynamic recovery, tempering (martensite decomposition), and austenite formation were the most influential microstructural features on the hardening behavior at various temperatures. The correlations between these microstructural features and hardening parameters were established satisfactorily for both the Hollomon and Voce approaches

Mechanical properties of butt-welded ultra-high strength steels at elevated temperatures

Abstract Variety of ultra-high strength steels (UHSS) with different microstructural characteristics is becoming available with continuous development of the manufacturing process in the steel industries. In order to effectively design structures made of such steel grades, a detailed knowledge of the mechanical properties is vital. Fire safety design is one of the areas in which such knowledge is essential. Welding process is indispensable in construction of steels structures with inevitable welding-induced degradation of mechanical properties of UHSSs. Thus, conducting experimental research on elevated-temperature constitutive mechanical behavior of welded joints made of UHSSs is of paramount importance. This study addresses elevated-temperature mechanical properties of as-received and as-welded S960 (manufactured via direct quenching technique) and S1100 (quenched and tempered) steel grades. A fully automated gas metal arc welding (GMAW) process with low heat input value was utilized to join the steel plates. Next, steady-state uniaxial tensile tests in the temperature range between room temperature (RT) and 900 °C were carried out. Accordingly, reduction factor-temperature relations for each tested steel in both as-received and as-welded forms are discussed and compared with several design standards, as well as with previous studies in the literature. Finally, predictive equations are proposed to estimate the elevated-temperature mechanical properties reduction factors of the tested UHSSs in as-received and as-welded forms