Investigating worn surfaces of nanoscale TiAlN/VN multilayer coating using FIB and TEM

TiAlN/VN multilayer coatings exhibit excellent dry sliding wear resistance and low friction coefficient, believed to be associated with the formation of tribo-films comprising Magnéli phases such as V2O5. In order to investigate this hypothesis, dry sliding wear of TiAlN/VN coatings was undertaken against Al2O3. Focused ion beam was used to generate site-specific TEM specimens. A thin (2-20nm) tribo-film was observed at the worn surface, with occasional 'roll-like' wear debris (φ 5-40nm). Both were amorphous and contained the same Ti, Al and V ratio as the coating, but with the nitrogen largely replaced by oxygen. No evidence of Magnéli phases was found. © 2006 IOP Publishing Ltd

TiAIN based nanoscale multilayer coatings designed to adapt their tribological properties at elevated temperatures

The addition of properly selected elements, coupled in nanoscale multilayer structures, can further enhance the properties of TiAlN coatings and bring new high performance. The incorporation of Y in the nanoscale pseudo-superlattice TiAlCrN/TiAlYN with typical period of 1.7 nm not only improves the oxidation resistance but also effectively reduces the coefficient of friction of the coating from 0.9 to 0.65 at temperatures in the range of 850–950 °C. The adaptation of the tribological properties occurs as a result of the preferential migration of the Y to the column boundaries. TiAlN/VN superlattice can achieve another self-adaptation process. During friction the coatings adapt themselves to the combined thermal and mechanical wear by the formation of highly lubricious vanadium-oxides due to high flash temperatures at the asperity contacts on the surface. The integrity of the bulk of the coating is retained, leading to exceptionally low, for superhard coatings, friction coefficient of 0.5 and a wear coefficient of 2 × 10−17 m3·N−1·m−1. The coatings have been deposited by the combined steered cathodic arc unbalanced magnetron sputtering method.</p

A directed mutation operator for real coded genetic algorithms

Copyright @ Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.Developing directed mutation methods has been an interesting research topic to improve the performance of genetic algorithms (GAs) for function optimization. This paper introduces a directed mutation (DM) operator for GAs to explore promising areas in the search space. In this DM method, the statistics information regarding the fitness and distribution of individuals over intervals of each dimension is calculated according to the current population and is used to guide the mutation of an individual toward the neighboring interval that has the best statistics result in each dimension. Experiments are carried out to compare the proposed DM technique with an existing directed variation on a set of benchmark test problems. The experimental results show that the proposed DM operator achieves a better performance than the directed variation on most test problems

Boundary Yang-Baxter equation in the RSOS/SOS representation

We construct and solve the boundary Yang-Baxter equation in the RSOS/SOS representation. We find two classes of trigonometric solutions; diagonal and non-diagonal. As a lattice model, these two classes of solutions correspond to RSOS/SOS models with fixed and free boundary spins respectively. Applied to (1+1)-dimenional quantum field theory, these solutions give the boundary scattering amplitudes of the particles. For the diagonal solution, we propose an algebraic Bethe ansatz method to diagonalize the SOS-type transfer matrix with boundary and obtain the Bethe ansatz equations.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures, uses Latex with eepic.sty and epic.sty. Paper substantially expanded; section on SOS model is revised and a new section on the Bethe ansatz equation is adde

Generalized Farey trees, transfer Operators and phase transitions

We consider a family of Markov maps on the unit interval, interpolating between the tent map and the Farey map. The latter map is not uniformly expanding. Each map being composed of two fractional linear transformations, the family generalizes many particular properties which for the case of the Farey map have been successfully exploited in number theory. We analyze the dynamics through the spectral analysis of generalized transfer operators. Application of the thermodynamic formalism to the family reveals first and second order phase transitions and unusual properties like positivity of the interaction function.Comment: 39 pages, 10 figure

Environmental significance of biocatalytic conversion of low grade oils

Studies dealing with the interactions between extremophilic microorganisms and crude oils have led to the identification of biocatalysts which through multiple biochemical reactions catalyze desulfurization, denitrogenation, and demetalation reactions in oils. Concurrently, the oils are also converted to lighter oils. These complex biochemical reactions have served as models in the development of the crude oil bioconversion technology to be applied prior to the treatment of oils by conventional chemical processes. In practical terms, this means that the efficiency of the existing technology is being enhanced. For example, the recently introduced additional regulation for the emission of nitrogen oxides in some states restricts further the kinds of oils that may be used in burners. The biocatalysts being developed in this laboratory selectively interact with nitrogen compounds, i.e. basic and neutral types present in the oil and, hence, affect the fuel NOx production. This, in turn, has a cost-efficient influence on the processed oils and their consumption. In this paper, these cost-efficient and beneficial effects will be discussed in terms of produced oils, the lowering of sulfur and nitrogen contents, and the effect on products, as well as the longevity of catalysts due to the removal of heteroatoms and metal containing compounds found in crudes

The use of chemical markers in the evaluation of crude oil bioconversion products, technology, and economic analysis

Experimental data gathered over the past several years show that the interactions of microorganisms with crude oils are variable and depend on the microbial species and the chemical composition of crude oils. Systematic studies of chemical mechanisms by which selected microorganisms react with crude oils have led to the identification of biochemical markers characteristic of the interactions of microbes with oils. These biomarkers belong to several groups of natural products ranging from saturate and polyaromatic hydrocarbons containing heterocyclics to organometallic compounds. Chemical marker analyses indicate that the interaction of microbes with crude oils involves multiple chemical reactions resulting from the biochemical interactions between microbes and oils. Different interactions may influence the efficiency of processes in which single or mixed microbial species are used for the oil treatment and may also suggest possible combinations of biological and chemical technologies. Further, the biochemical conversions of oils can be monitored by these chemical markers, which is particularly useful in the optimization of biochemical processing, cost efficiency, and engineering studies. Recent results from these studies are discussed

Non-Markovian dynamics in a spin star system: The failure of thermalization

In most cases, a small system weakly interacting with a thermal bath will finally reach the thermal state with the temperature of the bath. We show that this intuitive picture is not always true by a spin star model where non-Markov effect predominates in the whole dynamical process. The spin star system consists a central spin homogeneously interacting with an ensemble of identical noninteracting spins. We find that the correlation time of the bath is infinite, which implies that the bath has a perfect memory, and that the dynamical evolution of the central spin must be non- Markovian. A direct consequence is that the final state of the central spin is not the thermal state equilibrium with the bath, but a steady state which depends on its initial state.Comment: 8 page

Induced biochemical interactions in immature and biodegraded heavy crude oils

Studies in which selective chemical markers have been used to explore the mechanisms by which biocatalysts interact with heavy crude oils have shown that the biochemical reactions follow distinct trends. The term biocatalyst refers to a group of extremophilic microorganisms which, under the experimental conditions used, interact with heavy crude oils to (1) cause a redistribution of hydrocarbons, (2) cause chemical changes in oil fractions containing sulfur compounds and lower the sulfur content, (3) decrease organic nitrogen content, and (4) decrease the concentration of trace metals. Current data indicate that the overall effect is due to simultaneous reactions yielding products with relatively higher concentration of saturates and lower concentrations of aromatics and resins. The compositional changes depend on the microbial species and the chemistry of the crudes. Economic analysis of a potential technology based on the available data indicate that such a technology, used in a pre-refinery mode, may be cost efficient and promising. In the present paper, the background of oil biocatalysis and some recent results will be discussed

TEM-EELS study of low-friction superlattice TiAlN/VN coating: the wear mechanisms

A 20-50 nm thick tribofilm was generated on the worn surface of a multilayer coating TiAlN/VN after dry sliding test against an alumina counterpart. The tribofilm was characterized by applying analytical transmission electron microscopy techniques with emphasis on detailed electron energy loss spectrometry and energy loss near edge structure analysis. Pronounced oxygen in the tribofilm indicated a predominant tribo-oxidation wear. Structural changes in the inner-shell ionization edges of N, Ti and V suggested decomposition of nitride fragments