Cause of angular distortion in fusion welding: asymmetric cross-sectional profile along thickness

Angular distortion is a common problem in fusion welding, especially when it comes to thick plates. Despite the fact that various processes and influencing factors have been discussed, the cause of the angular distortion has not been clearly revealed. In this research, the asymmetry of cross-sectional profile along thickness is considered of great importance to the angular distortion. A theoretical model concerning the melting-solidification process in fusion welding was established. An expression of the angular distortion was formulated and then validated by experiments of laser welding 316L stainless steel. The results show that the asymmetric cross-sectional profile is a major contributory factor towards the angular distortion mechanism. The asymmetry of cross-section profile along thickness causes the difference between two bending moments in the lower and upper parts of the joint. This is the difference that drives the angular distortion of the welded part. Besides, the asymmetry of cross-section profile is likely to be influenced by various processes and parameters, thereby changing the angular distortion

The size effect on forming quality of Ti–6Al–4V solid struts fabricated via laser powder bed fusion

Laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) is useful for manufacturing complex structures; however, factors affecting the forming quality have not been clearly researched. This study aimed to clarify the influence of geometric characteristic size on the forming quality of solid struts. Ti–6Al–4V struts with a square section on the side length (0.4 to 1.4 mm) were fabricated with different scan speeds. Micro-computed tomography was used to detect the struts’ profile error and defect distribution. Scanning electron microscopy and light microscopy were used to characterize the samples’ microstructure. Nanoindentation tests were conducted to evaluate the mechanical properties. The experimental results illustrated that geometric characteristic size influenced the struts’ physical characteristics by affecting the cooling condition. This size effect became obvious when the geometric characteristic size and the scan speed were both relatively small. The solid struts with smaller geometric characteristic size had more obvious size error. When the geometric characteristic size was smaller than 1 mm, the nanohardness and elastic modulus increased with the increase in scan speed, and decreased with the decline of the geometric characteristic size. Therefore, a relatively high scan speed should be selected for LPBF—the manufacturing of a porous structure, whose struts have small geometric characteristic size

Mechanical properties of in-situ synthesis of Ti-Ti3Al metal composite prepared by selective laser melting

Titanium composite strengthened by Ti3Al precipitations is considered to be one of the excellent materials that is widely used in engineering. In this work, we prepared a kind of Ti-Ti3Al metallic composite by in-situ synthesis technology during the SLM (selective laser melting) process, and analyzed its microstructure, wear resistance, microhardness, and compression properties. The results showed that the Ti-Ti3Al composite, prepared by in-situ synthesis technology based on SLM, had more homogeneous Ti3Al-enhanced phase dispersion strengthening structure. The grain size of the workpiece was about 1 μm, and that of the Ti3Al particle was about 200 nm. Granular Ti3Al was precipitated after the aluminum-containing workpiece formed, with a relatively uniform distribution. Regarding the mechanical properties, the hardness (539 HV) and the wear resistance were significantly improved when compared with the Cp-Ti workpiece. The compressive strength of the workpiece increased from 886.32 MPa to 1568 MPa, and the tensile strength of the workpiece increased from 531 MPa to 567 MPa after adding aluminum. In the future, the combination of in-situ synthesis technology and SLM technology can be used to flexibly adjust the properties of Ti-based materials

Traveling kink oscillations of coronal loops launched by a solar flare

We investigate the traveling kink oscillation triggered by a solar flare on 2022 September 29. The observational data is mainly measured by the Solar Upper Transition Region Imager (SUTRI), the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), and the Spectrometer/Telescope for Imaging X-rays (STIX). The transverse oscillations with apparent decaying in amplitudes, which are nearly perpendicular to the oscillating loop, are observed in passbands of SUTRI 465 A, AIA 171 A, and 193 A. The decaying oscillation is launched by a solar flare erupted closely to one footpoint of coronal loops, and then it propagates along several loops. Next, the traveling kink wave is evolved to a standing kink oscillation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of the evolution of a traveling kink pulse to a standing kink wave along coronal loops. The standing kink oscillation along one coronal loop has a similar period of about 6.3 minutes at multiple wavelengths, and the decaying time is estimated to about 9.6-10.6 minutes. Finally, two dominant periods of 5.1 minutes and 2.0 minutes are detected in another oscillating loop, suggesting the coexistence of the fundamental and third harmonics.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, accepted by A&

Properties of jet-plated Ni coating on Ti alloy (Ti6Al4V) with laser cleaning pretreatment

The surface mechanical properties of the Selective Laser Melting (SLM) formed Ti6Al4V samples were improved by adopting a novel laser cleaning pretreatment process combined with a jet electrodeposition process. This paper aimed to investigate the effects of different laser powers on the morphologies and adhesions of the nickel coatings. The advantages of the laser cleaning process are no grinding, no contact, high efficiency and environmental protection. The morphologies, adhesion, wear resistance, and hardness of the coatings were characterized. The results indicate that when the laser energy density reached 20% (4 J/cm2), the contaminations on the substrate and the oxide layer were removed and the crystalline grain of the coating was 15.3 nm. The shallow pits generated by laser burning increased the adhesion of the coatings. In addition, when the laser energy density increased to 6 J/cm2, a yellow oxide layer was produced on the surface of the cleaned titanium alloy. Moreover, the wear resistance of the titanium alloy after the nickel plating was improved. The wear volume was only 0.046 mm3, and the hardness increased to 1967.6 N/mm2

Assumption of constraining force to explain distortion in laser additive manufacturing

Distortion is a common but unrevealed problem in metal additive manufacturing, due to the rapid melting in metallurgy and the intricate thermal-mechanical processes involved. We explain the distortion mechanism and major influencing factors by assumption of constraining force, which is assumed between the added layer and substrate. The constraining force was set to act on the substrate in a static structural finite element analysis (FEA) model. The results were compared with those of a thermal-mechanical FEA model and experiments. The constraining force and the associated static structural FEA showed trends in distortion and stress distribution similar to those shown by thermal-mechanical FEA and experiments. It can be concluded that the constraining force acting on the substrate is a major contributory factor towards the distortion mechanism. The constraining force seems to be primarily related to the material properties, temperature, and cross-sectional area of the added layer

Additive manufacturing of bio-inspired ceramic bone scaffolds: structural design, mechanical properties and biocompatibility

Ideal bone scaffolds require good biocompatibility and moderate mechanical properties, so as to promote the proliferation and differentiation of osteoblast cells, and achieve the good bone repair. Inspired by the porous structure of cancellous bone, 15 groups of bone scaffolds with variable irregularity (Ir1-5) and porosity (35.53-61.75%) were designed and fabricated by ceramic digital light processing (DLP) using 20 wt.% hydroxyapatite doped zirconia as the matrix material. The effects of structural parameters and material on mechanical properties and biocompatibility were studied. The shrinkage test results showed that the density of scaffolds was mainly affected by the porosity. The mechanical test results showed that Ir2 and Ir3 scaffolds had better compressive behaviors, and the compressive strength could be increased by 30% by regulating the irregularity. All scaffolds showed comparable mechanical properties to that of cancellous bone. Cell experiments showed that the effect of structure on cell proliferation, differentiation, and mineralization was most evident at the early stage of implantation. Meanwhile, the biocompatibility variation with the irregularity was consistent with mechanical properties. This study proved that a bio-inspired bone scaffold with excellent comprehensive properties could be obtained through reasonable design

Finite element analysis of mechanical behavior, permeability of irregular porous scaffolds and lattice-based porous scaffolds

In view of the low elastic modulus of the porous structure, it has attracted extensive attention in the field of artificial tissue implants for bone tissue engineering, and it has become important to find a porous structure suitable for human bone tissue. In this study, we constructed three type regular porous structure (cube, diamond, rhombohedral dodecahedron) and an irregular porous structure based on Voronoi tessellation. Firstly, the structural characteristics of porous structures were studied. After permeation simulation and compression simulation, we found that the structural characteristics (porosity, pore size, specific surface area) of four porous structures have a strong positive correlation with permeability. With the increase of porosity, the effective elastic modulus of the four porous structures decreases gradually. When the porosity is 80%, the effective elastic modulus and permeability of the four porous structures can basically meet the requirements of human bone implants. Irregular porous scaffolds exhibit relatively limited anisotropy in terms of mechanical properties and permeability. In view of the similarity between the structure and the human bone, the irregular porous structure exhibits superior development and application potential compared to the regular porous structure

Zn-doped chitosan/alginate multilayer coatings on porous hydroxyapatite scaffold with osteogenic and antibacterial properties

Porous hydroxyapatite (HA) scaffolds prepared by three-dimensional (3D) printing have wide application prospects owing to personalized structural design and excellent biocompatibility. However, the lack of antimicrobial properties limits its widespread use. In this study, a porous ceramic scaffold was fabricated by digital light processing (DLP) method. The multilayer chitosan/alginate composite coatings prepared by layer-by-layer method were applied to scaffolds and Zn2+ was doped into coatings in the form of ion crosslinking. The chemical composition and morphology of coatings were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis demonstrated that Zn2+ was uniformly distributed in the coating. Besides, the compressive strength of coated scaffolds (11.52 ± 0.3 MPa) was slightly improved compared with that of bare scaffolds (10.42 ± 0.56 MPa). The result of soaking experiment indicated that coated scaffolds exhibited delayed degradation. In vitro experiments demonstrated that within the limits of concentration, a higher Zn content in the coating has a stronger capacity to promote cell adhesion, proliferation and differentiation. Although excessive release of Zn2+ led to cytotoxicity, it presented a stronger antibacterial effect against Escherichia coli (99.4%) and Staphylococcus aureus (93%)

QTL Mapping for Grain Zinc and Iron Concentrations in Bread Wheat

Deficiency of micronutrient elements, such as zinc (Zn) and iron (Fe), is called “hidden hunger,” and bio-fortification is the most effective way to overcome the problem. In this study, a high-density Affymetrix 50K single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array was used to map quantitative trait loci (QTL) for grain Zn (GZn) and grain Fe (GFe) concentrations in 254 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) from a cross Jingdong 8/Bainong AK58 in nine environments. There was a wide range of variation in GZn and GFe concentrations among the RILs, with the largest effect contributed by the line × environment interaction, followed by line and environmental effects. The broad sense heritabilities of GZn and GFe were 0.36 ± 0.03 and 0.39 ± 0.03, respectively. Seven QTL for GZn on chromosomes 1DS, 2AS, 3BS, 4DS, 6AS, 6DL, and 7BL accounted for 2.2–25.1% of the phenotypic variances, and four QTL for GFe on chromosomes 3BL, 4DS, 6AS, and 7BL explained 2.3–30.4% of the phenotypic variances. QTL on chromosomes 4DS, 6AS, and 7BL might have pleiotropic effects on both GZn and GFe that were validated on a germplasm panel. Closely linked SNP markers were converted to high-throughput KASP markers, providing valuable tools for selection of improved Zn and Fe bio-fortification in breeding