Method to increase the toughness of aluminum-lithium alloys at cryogenic temperatures

A method to increase the toughness of the aluminum-lithium alloy C458 and similar alloys at cryogenic temperatures above their room temperature toughness is provided. Increasing the cryogenic toughness of the aluminum-lithium alloy C458 allows the use of alloy C458 for cryogenic tanks, for example for launch vehicles in the aerospace industry. A two-step aging treatment for alloy C458 is provided. A specific set of times and temperatures to age the aluminum-lithium alloy C458 to T8 temper is disclosed that results in a higher toughness at cryogenic temperatures compared to room temperature. The disclosed two-step aging treatment for alloy 458 can be easily practiced in the manufacturing process, does not involve impractical heating rates or durations, and does not degrade other material properties

Characterizing Long COVID in Children and Adolescents

ImportanceMost research to understand postacute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), or long COVID, has focused on adults, with less known about this complex condition in children. Research is needed to characterize pediatric PASC to enable studies of underlying mechanisms that will guide future treatment.ObjectiveTo identify the most common prolonged symptoms experienced by children (aged 6 to 17 years) after SARS-CoV-2 infection, how these symptoms differ by age (school-age [6-11 years] vs adolescents [12-17 years]), how they cluster into distinct phenotypes, and what symptoms in combination could be used as an empirically derived index to assist researchers to study the likely presence of PASC.Design, setting, and participantsMulticenter longitudinal observational cohort study with participants recruited from more than 60 US health care and community settings between March 2022 and December 2023, including school-age children and adolescents with and without SARS-CoV-2 infection history.ExposureSARS-CoV-2 infection.Main outcomes and measuresPASC and 89 prolonged symptoms across 9 symptom domains.ResultsA total of 898 school-age children (751 with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection [referred to as infected] and 147 without [referred to as uninfected]; mean age, 8.6 years; 49% female; 11% were Black or African American, 34% were Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish, and 60% were White) and 4469 adolescents (3109 infected and 1360 uninfected; mean age, 14.8 years; 48% female; 13% were Black or African American, 21% were Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish, and 73% were White) were included. Median time between first infection and symptom survey was 506 days for school-age children and 556 days for adolescents. In models adjusted for sex and race and ethnicity, 14 symptoms in both school-age children and adolescents were more common in those with SARS-CoV-2 infection history compared with those without infection history, with 4 additional symptoms in school-age children only and 3 in adolescents only. These symptoms affected almost every organ system. Combinations of symptoms most associated with infection history were identified to form a PASC research index for each age group; these indices correlated with poorer overall health and quality of life. The index emphasizes neurocognitive, pain, and gastrointestinal symptoms in school-age children but change or loss in smell or taste, pain, and fatigue/malaise-related symptoms in adolescents. Clustering analyses identified 4 PASC symptom phenotypes in school-age children and 3 in adolescents.Conclusions and relevanceThis study developed research indices for characterizing PASC in children and adolescents. Symptom patterns were similar but distinguishable between the 2 groups, highlighting the importance of characterizing PASC separately for these age ranges

On a Generalisation of Uniform Distribution and its Properties

Nadarajah et al.(2013) introduced a family life time models using truncated negative binomial distribution and derived some properties of the family of distributions. It is a generalization of Marshall-Olkin family of distributions. In this paper, we introduce Generalized Uniform Distribution (GUD) using the approach of Nadarajah et al.(2013). The shape properties of density function and hazard function are discussed. The expression for moments, order statistics, entropies are obtained. Estimation procedure is also discussed.The GDU introduced here is a generalization of the Marshall-Olkin extended uniform distribution studied in Jose and Krishna(2011)

Structure-property Correlations in Al 7050 and Al 7055 High-strength Aluminum Alloys

The 7XXX series age-hardenable high-strength aluminum alloys find useful applications in the field of aerospace engineering. Constant efforts are being made to tailor the mechanical and corrosion properties of these alloys as per requirements for a particular application. These properties are a function of factors like microstructure, chemical composition and processing parameters. An effort has been made to collate the information available from different studies conducted on alloys Al 7050 and Al 7055. Databases were created to consolidate the information about microstructure, mechanical properties and corrosion behavior for the two alloys. Existing models were utilized to predict strength and fracture toughness for these alloys and these models were validated using experimental values and a qualitative evaluation was made for the corrosion behavior of these alloys. Available data were utilized to prepare maps that are intended to serve as guides to design aluminum alloys with desired combination of properties

Microstructure and Mechanical Behavior of Friction Stir Processed Ultrafine Grained Al-Mg-Sc Alloy

Twin-roll cast (TRC) Al-Mg-Sc alloy was frictionstir processed (FSP) to obtain ultrafine grained (UFG) microstructure. Average grain size of TRC alloy in as-received (AR) condition was 19.0 ± 27.2 μm. The grain size reduced to 0.73 ± 0.44 μm after FSP. About 80% of the grains were smaller than 1 μm in FSP condition. FSP resulted into 80% of the grain boundaries to have high angle grain boundary (HAGBs) character. Uniaxial tensile testing of UFG alloy showed an increase in yield strength (YS) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) (by ∼100 MPa each) of the alloy with a very marginal decrease in total and uniform elongation (total - 27% in AR and 24% in UFG and uniform - 19% in AR and 14% in UFG). A theoretical model predicted that the grain refinement cannot take place via discontinuous dynamic recrystallization. Zener pinning model correctly predicted the grain size distribution for UFG alloy. From work hardening behaviors in both the conditions, it was concluded that grain boundary spacing is more important than the character of grain boundaries for influencing extent of uniform deformation of an allo

The Effect of Friction Stir Processing on the Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Equal Channel Angular Pressed 5052Al Alloy Sheet

In this study, equal channel angular pressed (ECAP) 5052Al alloy sheet was friction stir processed (FSP). This was carried out to understand the effect of FSP on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the ECAP sheet. FSP led to further grain refinement and a tighter distribution of grains. Fraction of high-angle grain boundaries changed from 15% in ECAP condition to more than 70% after FSP. Although FSP caused lowering of yield strength (YS) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS), it resulted into a substantial improvement in uniform deformation region of the tensile sample (from 1.3% in as-received condition to 12.9% in FSP condition). Strain hardening rate (SHR) analysis showed lowering of recovery rate on FSP. A static grain growth model correctly predicted the average grain size obtained after FSP. Existing grain boundary, solid solution, and dislocation strengthening models were used to estimate the YS of 5052Al alloy in both the conditions. The strengthening model was able to predict the YS of the alloy in as-received and FSP conditions very well

Critical Grain Size for Change in Deformation Behavior in Ultrafine Grained Al-Mg-Sc Alloy

Experimental evaluation of critical grain size for the change in deformation behavior from strain hardening to strain softening in ultrafine grained (UFG) Al-Mg-Sc was carried out. UFG alloy was processed using friction stir processing (FSP). Two different average grain sizes were obtained by changing the FSP parameters. UFG alloy with grain size larger than the subgrain size showed sufficient strain hardening during tensile testing, whereas smaller grain size material exhibited strain softening