Crack paths in multiaxial fatigue of C45 steel specimens and correlation of lifetime with the thermal energy dissipation

The work reports the observed fatigue damage of C45 steel specimens tested in a previous work under multiaxial loading conditions and its relationship with the thermal energy dissipation which has been used in the last decades to estimate the uniaxial fatigue behavior of metals. For this purpose, fatigue data relevant to thin-walled samples made of quenched and tempered C45 steel tested under completely reversed combined axial and torsional cyclic loadings with different biaxiality ratios and phase-shift angles have been analysed. The analyses of crack paths at the initiation point of failure were performed after a 50% stiffness loss that corresponded to a crack size ranging from 7 to 15 mm; afterwards, the characteristic crack paths of each loading condition were analysed by using a digital microscope to identify the orientation of the crack initiation plane. After having broken all fatigue tested specimens under static tensile loading, the fracture surfaces were inspected close to the crack initiation point using a digital microscope. Despite the stress states and fatigue damage mechanisms dependent on the load condition, the Q parameter applied to the present experimental results proved to correlate all multiaxial fatigue test results in a single fatigue scatter band

fatigue properties of austempered ductile iron to steel dissimilar arc welded joints

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The cientificWorldJOURNAL Research Article Acid-Base Chemistry of White Wine: Analytical Characterisation and Chemical Modelling

A chemical model of the acid-base properties is optimized for each white wine under study, together with the calculation of their ionic strength, taking into account the contributions of all significant ionic species (strong electrolytes and weak one sensitive to the chemical equilibria). Coupling the HPLC-IEC and HPLC-RP methods, we are able to quantify up to 12 carboxylic acids, the most relevant substances responsible of the acid-base equilibria of wine. The analytical concentration of carboxylic acids and of other acid-base active substances was used as input, with the total acidity, for the chemical modelling step of the study based on the contemporary treatment of overlapped protonation equilibria. New protonation constants were refined (L-lactic and succinic acids) with respect to our previous investigation on red wines. Attention was paid for mixed solvent (ethanol-water mixture), ionic strength, and temperature to ensure a thermodynamic level to the study. Validation of the chemical model optimized is achieved by way of conductometric measurements and using a synthetic "wine" especially adapted for testing

Chemical modeling of acid-base properties of soluble biopolymers derived from municipal waste treatment materials

This work reports a study of the proton-binding capacity of biopolymers obtained from different materials supplied by a municipal biowaste treatment plant located in Northern Italy. One material was the anaerobic fermentation digestate of the urban wastes organic humid fraction. The others were the compost of home and public gardening residues and the compost of the mix of the above residues, digestate and sewage sludge. These materials were hydrolyzed under alkaline conditions to yield the biopolymers by saponification. The biopolymers were characterized by 13C NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis and potentiometric titration. The titration data were elaborated to attain chemical models for interpretation of the proton-binding capacity of the biopolymers obtaining the acidic sites concentrations and their protonation constants. The results obtained with the models and by NMR spectroscopy were elaborated together in order to better characterize the nature of the macromolecules. The chemical nature of the biopolymers was found dependent upon the nature of the sourcing materials

A PETase enzyme synthesised in the chloroplast of the microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is active against post-consumer plastics

Polyethylene terephthalate hydrolases (PETases) are a newly discovered and industrially important class of enzymes that catalyze the enzymatic degradation of polyethylene terephatalate (PET), one of the most abundant plastics in the world. The greater enzymatic efficiencies of PETases compared to close relatives from the cutinase and lipase families have resulted in increasing research interest. Despite this, further characterization of PETases is essential, particularly regarding their possible activity against other kinds of plastic. In this study, we exploited for the first time the use of the microalgal chloroplast for more sustainable synthesis of a PETase enzyme. A photosynthetic-restoration strategy was used to generate a marker-free transformant line of the green microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in which the PETase from Ideonella sakaiensis was constitutively expressed in the chloroplast. Subsequently, the activity of the PETase against both PET and post-consumer plastics was investigated via atomic force microscopy, revealing evidence of degradation of the plastics