Significance of low energy impact damage on modal parameters of composite beams by design of experiments

This paper presents an experimental study on the effects of multi-site damage on the vibration response of composite beams damaged by low energy impacts around the barely visible impact damage limit (BVID). The variation of the modal parameters with different levels of impact energy and density of damage is studied. Vibration tests have been carried out with both burst random and classical sine dwell excitations in order to compare that which of the methods among Polymax and Half Bandwidth Method is more suitable for damping estimation in the presence of damage. Design of experiments (DOE) performed on the experimental data show that natural frequency is a more sensitive parameter for damage detection than the damping ratio. It also highlighted energy of impact as the factor having a more significant effect on the modal parameters. Half Bandwidth Method is found to be unsuitable for damping estimation in the presence of damage

Suspension Hydrogen Reduction of Iron Oxide Concentrates

The objective of the project is to develop a new ironmaking technology based on hydrogen and fine iron oxide concentrates in a suspension reduction process. The ultimate objective of the new technology is to replace the blast furnace and to drastically reduce CO2 emissions in the steel industry. The goals of this phase of development are; the performance of detailed material and energy balances, thermochemical and equilibrium calculations for sulfur and phosphorus impurities, the determination of the complete kinetics of hydrogen reduction and bench-scale testing of the suspension reduction process using a large laboratory flash reactor

Critical Currents of Josephson-Coupled Wire Arrays

We calculate the current-voltage characteristics and critical current I_c^{array} of an array of Josephson-coupled superconducting wires. The array has two layers, each consisting of a set of parallel wires, arranged at right angles, such that an overdamped resistively-shunted junction forms wherever two wires cross. A uniform magnetic field equal to f flux quanta per plaquette is applied perpendicular to the layers. If f = p/q, where p and q are mutually prime integers, I_c^{array}(f) is found to have sharp peaks when q is a small integer. To an excellent approximation, it is found in a square array of n^2 plaquettes, that I_c^{array}(f) \propto (n/q)^{1/2} for sufficiently large n. This result is interpreted in terms of the commensurability between the array and the assumed q \times q unit cell of the ground state vortex lattice.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Development of Bulk Nanocrystalline Cemented Tungsten Carbide for Industrial Applicaitons

This report contains detailed information of the research program entitled "Development of Bulk Nanocrystalline Cemented Tungsten Carbide Materials for Industrial Applications". The report include the processes that were developed for producing nanosized WC/Co composite powders, and an ultrahigh pressure rapid hot consolidation process for sintering of nanosized powders. The mechanical properties of consolidated materials using the nanosized powders are also reported

Novel Nanocrystalline Intermetallic Coatings for Metal Alloys in Coal-fired Environments

Intermetallic coatings (iron aluminide and nickel aluminide) were prepared by a novel reaction process. In the process, the aluminide coating is formed by an in-situ reaction between the aluminum powder fed through a plasma transferred arc (PTA) torch and the metal substrate (steel or Ni-base alloy). Subjected to the high temperature within an argon plasma zone, aluminum powder and the surface of the substrate melt and react to form the aluminide coatings. The prepared coatings were found to be aluminide phases that are porosity-free and metallurgically bonded to the substrate. The coatings also exhibit excellent high-temperature corrosion resistance under the conditions which simulate the steam-side and fire-side environments in coal-fired boilers. It is expected that the principle demonstrated in this process can be applied to the preparation of other intermetallic and alloy coatings