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This study investigates the effect of tool pin eccentricity and welding speed on the grain structure, crystallographic texture, and mechanical properties of friction stir welded (FSWed) AA5754-H24. Three tool pin eccentricities of 0, 0.2, and 0.8 mm at different welding speeds ranging from 100 mm/min to 500 mm/min and a constant tool rotation rate of 600 rpm were investigated. High-resolution electron backscattering diffraction (EBSD) data were acquired from each weld's center of the nugget zone (NG) and processed to analyze the grain structure and texture. In terms of mechanical properties, both hardness and tensile properties were investigated. The grain structure in the NG of the joints produced at 100 mm/min, 600 rpm, and different tool pin eccentricities showed significant grain refining due to dynamic recrystallization with average grain sizes of 18, 15, and 18 µm at 0, 0.2, and 0.8 mm pin eccentricities, respectively. Increasing the welding speed from 100 to 500 mm/min further reduced the average grain size of the NG zone to 12.4, 10, and 11 µm at 0, 0.2, and 0.8 mm eccentricity, respectively. The simple shear texture dominates the crystallographic texture with both B ¯ /B texture component with the C component at their ideal positions after rotating the data to align the shear reference frame with the FSW reference frame in both the PFs and ODF sections. The tensile properties of the welded joints were slightly lower than the base material due to the hardness reduction in the weld zone. However, the ultimate tensile strength and the yield stress for all welded joints increased by increasing the friction stir welding (FSW) speed from 100 to 500 mm/min. Welding using the pin eccentricity of 0.2 mm resulted in the highest tensile strength; at a welding speed of 500 mm/min, it reached 97% of the base material strength. The hardness profile showed the typical W shape with a reduction in the hardness of the weld zone and a slight recovery of the hardness in the NG zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motivation for the current study was to improve the wear and frictional properties of Al, Al–Al2O3, and SiC MMCs through HPT processing. The wear test using a tungsten carbide (WC) ball was carried out for different PM and HPT-processed Al and MMC samples. The effect of the sample processing methods on the wear rate, friction, and wear surface morphology was thoroughly investigated. The high hardness after Al grain refinement and reinforcement fragmentation through the HPT processing of the samples increased the wear resistance by 16–81% over that of the PM samples. The average coefficient values and variation ranges were reduced after HPT processing. The Al and Al MMC processing methods affected the wear mechanism and surface morphologies, as proven by the microscopic observations and analyses of the worn surfaces of the samples and WC balls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Al-Al2O3 and SiC metal matrix composites (MMCs) samples with different volume fractions up to 20% were produced by high-pressure torsion (HPT) using 10 GPa for 30 revolutions of Al-Al2O3, and SiC and powder metallurgy (PM). The effect of the processing method of micro-size Al MMCs on the density, microstructure evolution, mechanical properties, and tensile fracture mode was thoroughly investigated. HPT processing produces fully dense samples relative to those produced using powder metallurgy (PM). The HPT of the Al MMCs reduces the Al matrix grain size and fragmentation of the reinforcement particles. The Al matrix average grain size decreased to 0.39, 0.23, and 0.2 µm after the HPT processing of Al, Al-20% Al2O3, and SiC samples. Moreover, Al2O3 and SiC particle sizes decreased from 31.7 and 25.5 µm to 0.15 and 0.13 µm with a 99.5% decrease. The production of ultrafine grain (UFG) composite samples effectively improves the microhardness and tensile strength of the Al and Al MMCs by 31–88% and 10–110% over those of the PM-processed samples. The good bonding between the Al matrix and reinforcement particles noted in the HPTed Al MMCs increases the strength relative to the PM samples. The tensile fracture surface morphology results confirm the tensile properties results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of the number of passes and the tube materials on the microstructural evolution, mechanical properties, and wear behavior of Cu and brass tubes after parallel tubular channel angular pressing (PTCAP) was investigated. The grain size decreased to final grain sizes of 138.6 nm and 142.7 nm, after PTCAP of the Cu and brass tubes was conducted in up to 4 and 2 passes, respectively. PTCAP contributes to obtaining an ultra-fine grain (UFG) microstructure, with a mixture of different grain sizes that conferred high hardness. The present results indicate the superior wear resistance of Cu and brass PTCAP tubes, relative to Cu and brass samples that were previously deformed by different severe plastic deformation (SPD) processes. The wear mechanism of the Cu tubes changed from delamination and cracks with a high degree of adhesive wear before PTCAP into a combination of adhesive and abrasive wear, with a decrease in the presence of oxygen content after the PTCAP procedure. The wear mechanism also changed from a combination of adhesive and abrasive mechanisms into abrasive ones with the absence of oxygen after the PTCAP of brass tubes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of renewable energy resources and distributed energy systems herald a new set of challenges of power quality, efficient distribution, and stability in the power system. Furthermore, the power electronic converters integration has been increased in interfacing alternate energy systems and industries with the transmission and distribution grids. Owing to the intermittency of renewable energy resources and the application of power electronic converters the power distribution faces peculiar challenges. The dead-time effects are among the main challenges, which leads to the distortion of third harmonics, phase angle, torque pulsation, and induction motor current, causing severe quality problems for power delivery. To tackle these problems, this paper proposes a novel dead time compensation technique for improving the power quality parameters and improving the efficiency of power converters. The proposed model is simulated in MATLAB and the parametric equations are plotted against the corresponding parametric values. Furthermore, by implementing the proposed strategy, significant improvements are attained in the torque pulsation, speed, and total harmonic distortion of the induction motor. The comparisons are drawn between with and without dead time compensation technique, the former shows significant improvements in all aspects of the power quality parameters and power converters efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work presents a detailed investigation for the effect of Y2O3 and Ni additions on the densification behavior, microstructural evolution and mechanical properties of a WC-Co-TaC-NbC composite. With the aim of obtaining WC-based composites with improved fracture toughness, to be used in severe conditions of high-temperature deformation, different concentrations of Y2O3 were incorporated with and without 5 wt% Ni addition. The consolidated composites were characterized using density measurement, XRD, SEM, hardness, fracture toughness, transverse rupture strength and compression testing. Fully dense composites were obtained through the applied consolidation regime of cold compaction and sintering at 1450 °C for 1.5 h under vacuum with a relative density up to 97%. The addition of 2.5 wt% Y2O3 to the base WC composite increased the relative density and then slightly decreased with the increase of the Y2O3 content. The addition of 5 wt% Ni to the base composites significantly increased the relative density to 97%. The XRD results indicated the existence of the Co3W3C η-phase after sintering, and the intensity of its peaks was reduced with the addition of 5 wt% Ni. The microstructure of the consolidated composites consisted of three phases: WC, Co3W3C and Y2O3. The area fraction of the Y2O3 phase increased as its weight fraction increased. In terms of the fracture toughness, the transverse-rupture strength (TRS) and the compressive strength were significantly improved by the addition of 5 wt% Ni with the 2.5 wt% Y2O3. Accordingly, this composition was used to manufacture the tools for the friction stir welding of the high-softening-temperature materials, which was successfully used for 25 plunges and about 500 cm of butt joints in nickel-based and carbon–steel alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The isolation between the microstrip patches has a great significance to examine the performance of the multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antennas. The patch antennas are placed on the top of 1.46 mm thick Rogers RO3003 substrate having a length of 60 mm, a width of 50 mm, and relative permittivity of 3. The distance between the resonators is 0.06λ and they are stimulated by two coaxial probes extended from the bottom ground layer. The defective ground structure of the H-shape slot is inserted on the bottom ground layer to achieve high isolation (mutual coupling reduction). The proposed MIMO antenna operates at 5.3 GHz frequency, which can be used for WiMAX, Wi-Fi, and future 5G services all over the world. The results of the designed structure have been simulated in a finite element method-based solver high-frequency structure simulator (HFSS). The simulated results show that the reflection coefficient (S11) and isolation (S21) at the desired frequency are −32 dB and −41 dB, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric vehicles (EVs) have been receiving greater attention as a tool for frequency control due to their fast regulation capability. The proliferation of EVs for primary frequency regulation is hampered by the need to simultaneously maintain industrial microgrids dispatch and EV state of charge levels. The current research aims to examine the operative and dominating role of the charging station operator, along with a vehicle to grid strategy; where, indeterminate tasks are executed in the microgrid without the EVs charging/discharging statistics. The role of the charging station operator in regulation is the assignment of the job inside the primary frequency control capacity of electric vehicles. Real-time rectification of programmed vehicle to grid (V2G) power ensures electric vehicles' state of charge at the desired levels. The proposed V2G strategy for primary frequency control is validated through the application of a two-area interconnected industrial micro-grid and another microgrids with renewable resources. Regulation specifications are communicated to electric vehicles and charging station operators through an electric vehicle aggregator in the proposed strategy. At the charging station operator, V2G power at the present time is utilized for frequency regulation capacity calculation. Subsequently, the V2G power is dispatched in light of the charging demand and the frequency regulation. Furthermore, V2G control strategies for distribution of regulation requirement to individual EVs are also developed. In summary, the article presents a novel primary frequency control through V2G strategy in an industrial microgrid, involving effective coordination of the charging station operator, EV aggregator, and EV operator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the gradual increase in the installed capacity of wind turbines, more and more attention has been paid to the economy of wind power. Economic model-predictive control (EMPC) has been developed as an effective advanced control strategy, which can improve the dynamic economy performance of the system. However, the variable-speed wind turbine (VSWT) system widely used is generally nonlinear and highly coupled nonaffine systems, containing multiple economic terms. Therefore, a nonlinear EMPC strategy considering power maximization and mechanical load minimization is proposed based on the comprehensive VSWT model, including the dynamics of the tower and the gearbox in this paper. Three groups of simulations verify the effectiveness and reliability/practicability of the proposed nonlinear EMPC strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The motivation for the current study was to improve the wear and frictional properties of Al, Al-Al 2 O 3 , and SiC MMCs through HPT processing. The wear test using a tungsten carbide (WC) ball was carried out for different PM and HPT-processed Al and MMC samples. The effect of the sample processing methods on the wear rate, friction, and wear surface morphology was thoroughly investigated. The high hardness after Al grain refinement and reinforcement fragmentation through the HPT processing of the samples increased the wear resistance by 16-81% over that of the PM samples. The average coefficient values and variation ranges were reduced after HPT processing. The Al and Al MMC processing methods affected the wear mechanism and surface morphologies, as proven by the microscopic observations and analyses of the worn surfaces of the samples and WC balls.