Development of New Heat Treatment Method to Impart High Creep Strength and High Toughness to Rotor Material for Condensing Steam Turbine

LectureHigher temperatures in the HP section of the condensing Turbine requires rotor with high creep strength while low temperatures in the LP section require the rotor to have high toughness. The design basis for current rotor material, Ni-1.25Cr-Mo-V forged steel was high toughness at low temperatures. This led to rotor having insufficient creep strength in very high temperature region around control stage which limited the maximum allowable temperature of inlet steam thereby limiting the efficiency of the Turbine. This paper highlights the development of new heat treatment method to improve Ni-2.25Cr-Mo-V forged steel (10325MTE) as rotor material. To improve the mechanical properties of the material, heat treatment simulations were performed. A series of tests were done on the rotor. These tests evaluated the creep strength at high temperatures and toughness low temperatures. SCC (Stress Corrosion Cracking) susceptibility was evaluated in an accumulated corrosive environment using SSRT (Slow Strain Rate Test)

Development of New Heat Treatment Method to Impart High Creep Strength and High Toughness to Rotor Material for Condensing Steam Turbine

LectureHigher temperatures in the HP section of the condensing Turbine requires rotor with high creep strength while low temperatures in the LP section require the rotor to have high toughness. The design basis for current rotor material, Ni-1.25Cr-Mo-V forged steel was high toughness at low temperatures. This led to rotor having insufficient creep strength in very high temperature region around control stage which limited the maximum allowable temperature of inlet steam thereby limiting the efficiency of the Turbine. This paper highlights the development of new heat treatment method to improve Ni-2.25Cr-Mo-V forged steel (10325MTE) as rotor material. To improve the mechanical properties of the material, heat treatment simulations were performed. A series of tests were done on the rotor. These tests evaluated the creep strength at high temperatures and toughness low temperatures. SCC (Stress Corrosion Cracking) susceptibility was evaluated in an accumulated corrosive environment using SSRT (Slow Strain Rate Test)

Clinical characteristics of elderly depressive patients with low metaiodobenzylguanidine uptake

BACKGROUND: Recently, depression with Lewy body pathology before the appearance of parkinsonism and cognitive dysfunction has been drawing attention. Low cardiac metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) uptake is helpful for early differentiation of Lewy body disease (LBD) from late-onset psychiatric disorders even before parkinsonism or dementia appears. In this study, we used MIBG uptake as a tool in suspected LBD, and evaluated the relationship of MIBG results to clinical characteristics and depressive symptoms. METHODS: Fifty-two elderly inpatients with depression were included in this study. The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) was administered at admission, and 123 I-MIBG cardiac scintigraphy was performed. Of 52 patients, 38 had normal and 14 had reduced MIBG uptake. RESULTS: Correlation analyses of the late phase heart-to-mediastinum (H/M) ratio on the MIBG test and each item of the HDRS revealed that the H/M ratio was significantly correlated with scores of 'agitation', 'anxiety-somatic', and 'retardation' on the HDRS. Mean HDRS composite scores of 'somatic and psychic anxiety (Marcos)' and 'somatic anxiety/somatization factor (Pancheri)' were higher in the low uptake group than in the normal uptake group. CONCLUSION: Elderly patients with depression who manifested an obvious somatic anxiety tend to show low MIBG uptake, and are more likely to have Lewy body pathology

Mesoscopic Architectures Made of Electrically Charged Binary Colloidal Nanosheets in Aqueous System

Inorganic layered materials can be converted to colloidal liquid crystals through exfoliation into inorganic nanosheets, and binary nanosheet colloids exhibit rich phase behavior characterized by multiphase coexistence. In particular, niobate–clay binary nanosheet colloids are characterized by phase separation at a mesoscopic (∼several tens of micrometers) scale whereas they are apparently homogeneous at a macroscopic scale. Although the mesoscopic structure of the niobate–clay binary colloid is advantageous to realize unusual photochemical functions, the structure itself has not been clearly demonstrated in real space. The present study investigated the structure of niobate–clay binary nanosheet colloids in detail. Four clay nanosheets (hectorite, saponite, fluorohectorite, and tetrasilisic mica) with different lateral sizes were compared. Small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) indicated lamellar ordering of niobate nanosheets in the binary colloid. The basal spacing of the lamellar phase was reduced by increasing the concentration of clay nanosheets, indicating the compression of the liquid crystalline niobate phase by the isotropic clay phase. Scattering and fluorescence microscope observations using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) demonstrated the phase separation of niobate and clay nanosheets in real space. Niobate nanosheets assembled into domains of several tens of micrometers whereas clay nanosheets were located in voids between the niobate domains. The results clearly confirmed the spatial separation of two nanosheets and the phase separation at a mesoscopic scale. Distribution of clay nanosheets is dependent on the employed clay nanosheets; the nanosheets with large lateral length are more localized or assembled. This is in harmony with larger basal spacings of niobate lamellar phase for large clay particles. Although three-dimensional compression of the niobate phase by the coexisting clay phase was observed at low clay concentrations, the basal spacing of niobate phase was almost constant irrespective of niobate concentrations at high clay concentrations, which was ascribed to competition of compression by clay phase and restoring of the niobate phase

Photoinduced electron transfer in semiconductor–clay binary nanosheet colloids controlled by clay particles as a turnout switch

Although semiconductor photocatalysis has been investigated actively for a long time, control of dark processes successive to electron transfer from photocatalysts is almost unexplored compared with designing photocatalysts themselves. The present study proposes employment of clay particles as for controlling the dark processes independently of semiconductor photocatalyst particles. We employed niobate–clay binary nanosheet colloids, where colloidal niobate and clay nanosheets are spatially separated at a micrometer level. Niobate nanosheets worked as the semiconductor photocatalyst that released electrons upon UV excitation, and clay nanosheets worked as the turnout switch of the released electrons to determine their destination. When methylviologen (MV2+) molecules that accept the electrons released from niobate were adsorbed on clay nanosheets, reduction of MV2+ predominantly occurred, and hydrogen was little evolved from the colloid. When Pt nanoparticles were deposited on clay nanosheets, photocatalytic hydrogen evolution occurred because Pt loaded on the clay nanoparticles played a role of cocatalyst. When MV2+ and Pt were co-loaded on clay nanosheets, both of MV2+ reduction and hydrogen evolution occurred competitively. The photocatalytic hydrogen evolution carried out by stirring the colloid sample was worse than that conducted without stirring, which indicated positive contribution of the spatial separation of photocatalytic niobate and cocatalytic clay nanosheets

Irinotecan Plus Mitomycin C as Second-Line Chemotherapy for Advanced Gastric Cancer Resistant to Fluoropyrimidine and Cisplatin: A Retrospective Study

Background. S-1 plus cisplatin has been established to be standard first-line chemotherapy for advanced gastric cancer in Japan. The optimal second-line treatment refractory to S-1 plus cisplatin remains unclear. Methods. We retrospectively studied the efficacy, toxicity, and survival of irinotecan plus mitomycin C in patients with advanced gastric cancer refractory to a fluoropyrimidine plus cisplatin. Results. Twenty-four patients were studied. Prior chemotherapy was S-1 plus cisplatin in 15 patients, S-1 plus cisplatin and docetaxel in 8, and 5-fluorouracil plus cisplatin with radiotherapy in 1. The overall response rate was 17.4%. The median overall survival was 8.6 months, and the median progression-free survival was 3.6 months. Grade 3 or 4 toxicities included leukopenia (33%), neutropenia (50%), anemia (33%), thrombocytopenia (4%), anorexia (13%), diarrhea (4%), and febrile neutropenia (13%). Conclusion. A combination of irinotecan and mitomycin C is potentially effective in patients with advanced gastric cancer refractory to a fluoropyrimidine plus cisplatin

Neuropeptide signaling through neurokinin-1 and neurokinin-2 receptors augments antigen presentation by human dendritic cells

Background: Neurotransmitters, including substance P (SP) and neurokinin A (NKA), are widely distributed in both the central and peripheral nervous system and their receptors, neurokinin-1 receptor (NK1R) and neurokinin-2 receptor (NK2R), are expressed on immune cells. However, the role of the NKA-NK2R axis in immune responses relative to the SP-NK1R signaling cascade has not been elucidated. Objective: We sought to examine the effect of neuropeptide signaling through NK1Rand NK2R on antigen presentation by dendritic cells (DCs) and the subsequent activation of effector Th cells. Methods: Expression levels of NK1R, NK2R, HLA-class II and costimulatory molecules of human MoDCs and cytokine production by birch pollen antigen-specific CD4+ T cells cocultured with MoDCs in the presence of NK1R and NK2R antagonists were evaluated by quantitative RT-PCR, flow cytometry or ELISA. NK1R and NK2R expression in the lung of patients with asthma and hypersensitivity pneumonitis was evaluated by immunohistochemistry. Results: Human MoDCs significantly upregulated NK2R and NK1R expression in response to poly I:C stimulation in a STAT1-dependent manner. Both NK2R and NK1R were expressed on alveolar macrophages and lung DCs from patients with asthma and pneumonitis hypersensitivity. Surface expression levels of HLA-class II and costimulatory molecules on DCs were modulated by NK1R or NK2R antagonists. Activation of birch pollen-derived antigen-specific CD4+ T cells and their production of cytokines including IL-4 and IFN-γ as well as IL-12 production by MoDCs, were suppressed by blocking NK1R or NK2R after in vitro antigen stimulation. Conclusions: NK1R- and NK2R-mediated neuropeptide signaling promotes both innate and acquired immune responses through activation of human DCs