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The paper deals with the innovative ways of nonstandard, simplifying applications of the valid method for evaluating uncertainties in measurement results and with the definition of conditions of their usability. The evaluation of a substitute criterion for measurement accuracy by means of a relative difference between the measurand and its reference value is proposed. This nonstandard relative uncertainty is comparable with the overall relative standard uncertainty in the measurement result, and thus the evaluation of it enables other simplifications in the calculations of measurement result uncertainties. The use of the simplified evaluation of measurement results is illustrated in two experiments in measurement of the coefficient of thermal conductivity of an insulating material newly developed for the needs of building practice, namely measurement using commercial instruments, and measurement using a newly developed original measuring instrument.

The paper presents the study results on chemical composition of the coarse primary M7C3 carbides occurring in the soft annealed NC11LV/D2 tool steel consisting of: 1.53% C; 11.65% Cr; 0.01% W; 0.81% Mo; 0.068% V; (balance iron plus admixtures), used for cold operation. The microanalyzer of type SEMPROBE Su-30, French made by CAMECA Co., equipped with two WDS X-ray spectrometers and an EDS VOYAGER 3 100, NORAN Instruments Co., made in USA. It was found that out of the three alloying elements occurring in the big carbides of the annealed NC11LV/D2 steel, i.e. Cr, Mo, and V, the chromium appears to be the most uniformly distributed. The big carbides vary concerning C, Cr, Mo, V; the greatest differentiation degree of the contents of Mo and Cr, and the least - of vanadium. The average chemical composition of the big/coarse carbides is as follows: C = 9.42±1.28%; Cr = 44.17±2.95%; Mo = 4.48±3.52%; V = 4.53±0.31%; balance Fe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stainless steel materials are widely used for multiple applications because of their good mechanical properties and very good corrosion resistance in a number of environments. They are also used as biomaterials to manufacture conventional and novel medical devices. The stability of the surface oxide layer is one of the most important features of a biomaterial. Electrochemical polishing (EP) is the most extensively used surface technology for stainless steel. We have improved this surface technology by introducing a magnetic field. With a new process called magnetoelectropolishing (MEP) we can improve metal surface properties by making the stainless steel more resistant to halides encountered in a variety of body fluids, such as blood, saliva, urine, etc. Corrosion research results are presented on the behavior of the most commonly used material—medical-grade AISI Type 316L (UNS S31603) stainless steel—applied for human body implants, stents, and devices. Three basic environments have been adopted for the studies: pure distilled water, the Ringer's body fluid, and 3% sodium chloride (NaCl) aqueous solution (the most aggressive environment). The study results cover open-circuit potential and polarization curve characteristics of austenitic stainless steels (Types 304 [UNS S30400], 304L [UNS S30403], 316 [UNS S31600], and 316L), and a ferritic stainless steel (Type 430 (UNS S43000]). The comparison of the corrosion behavior of the stainless steels' surface after two elect ropolishing processes carried out in the absence (EP) and presence of the magnetic field (MEP) is reported. The experiments were carried out at room temperature (25°C). It has been found that the proposed MEP process shifts the corrosion potentials into the direction of greater corrosion resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coatings enriched with zinc and copper as well as calcium or magnesium, fabricated on titanium substrate by Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation (PEO) under AC conditions (two cathodic voltages, i.e., -35 or -135 V, and anodic voltage of +400 V), were investigated. In all experiments, the electrolytes were based on concentrated orthophosphoric acid (85 wt%) and zinc, copper, calcium and/or magnesium nitrates. It was found that the introduced calcium and magnesium were in the ranges 5.0-5.4 at% and 5.6-6.5 at%, respectively, while the zinc and copper amounts were in the range of 0.3-0.6 at%. Additionally, it was noted that the metals of the block S (Ca and Mg) could be incorporated into the structure about 13 times more than metals of the transition group (Zn and Cu). The incorporated metals (from the electrolyte) into the top-layer of PEO phosphate coatings were on their first (Cu + ) or second (Cu 2+ , Ca 2+ and Mg 2+ ) oxidation states. The crystalline phases (TiO and Ti 3 O) were detected only in coatings fabricated at cathodic voltage of -135 V. It has also been pointed that fabricated porous calcium-phosphate coatings enriched with biocompatible magnesium as well as with antibacterial zinc and copper are dedicated mainly to medical applications. However, their use for other applications (e.g., catalysis and photocatalysis) after additional functionalizations is not excluded.

This paper shows that the subject of porous coatings fabrication by Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation (PEO), known also as Micro Arc Oxidation (MAO), is still current, inter alia because metals and alloys, which can be treated by the PEO method, for example, titanium, niobium, tantalum and their alloys, are increasingly available for sale. On the international market, apart from scientific works/activity developed at universities, scientific research on the PEO coatings is also underway in companies such as Keronite (Great Britain), Magoxid-Coat (Germany), Mofratech (France), Machaon (Russia), as well as CeraFuse, Tagnite, Microplasmic (USA). In addition, it should be noted that the development of the space industry and implantology will force the production of trouble-free micro- and macro-machines with very high durability. Another aspect in favor of this technique is the rate of part treatment, which does not exceed several dozen minutes, and usually only lasts a few minutes. Another advantage is functionalization of fabricated surface through thermal or hydrothermal modification of fabricated coatings, or other methods (Physical vapor deposition (PVD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD), sol-gel), including also reoxidation by PEO treatment in another electrolyte. In the following chapters, coatings obtained both in aqueous solutions and electrolytes based on orthophosphoric acid will be presented; therein, dependent on the PEO treatment and the electrolyte used, they are characterized by different properties associated with their subsequent use. The possibilities for using coatings produced by means of plasma electrolytic oxidation are very wide, beginning from various types of catalysts, gas sensors, to biocompatible and antibacterial coatings, as well as hard wear coatings used in machine parts, among others, used in the aviation and aerospace industries.

The present paper covers the possible ways to fabricate advanced porous coatings that are enriched in copper on a titanium substrate through Direct Current Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation (DC-PEO) with voltage control, in electrolytes made of concentrated orthophosphoric acid with the addition of copper(II) nitrate(V) trihydrate. In these studies, solutions containing from 0 to 650 g salt per 1 dm 3 of acid and anodic voltages from 450 V up to 650 V were used. The obtained coatings featuring variable porosity could be best defined by the three-dimensional (3D) parameter Sz , which lies in the range 9.72 to 45.18 μm. The use of copper(II) nitrate(V) trihydrate in the electrolyte, resulted, for all cases, in the incorporation of the two oxidation forms, i.e., Cu + and Cu 2+ into the coatings. Detailed X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) studies layers allowed for stating that the percentage of copper in the surface layer of the obtained coatings was in the range of 0.24 at% to 2.59 at%. The X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) studies showed the presence of copper (α-Cu 2 P 2 O 7 , and Cu 3 (PO 4 ) 2 ) and titanium (TiO 2 -anatase, TiO 3 , TiP 2 O 7 , and Ti 0.73 O 0.91 ) compounds in coatings. From Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS) and XPS studies, it was found that the Cu/P ratio increases with the increase of voltage and the amount of salt in the electrolyte. The depth profile analysis by Glow-Discharge Optical Emission Spectroscopy (GDOES) method showed that a three-layer model consisting of a top porous layer, a semi-porous layer, and a transient/barrier layer might describe the fabricated coatings.

To fabricate porous copper coatings on titanium, we used the process of plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) with voltage control. For all experiments, the three-phase step-up transformer with six-diode Graetz bridge was used. The voltage and the amount of salt used in the electrolyte were determined so as to obtain porous coatings. Within the framework of this study, the PEO process was carried out at a voltage of 450 V RMS in four electrolytes containing the salt as copper(II) nitrate(V) trihydrate. Moreover, we showed that the content of salt in the electrolyte needed to obtain a porous PEO coating was in the range 300-600 g/dm 3 . After exceeding this amount of salts in the electrolyte, some inclusions on the sample surface were observed. It is worth noting that this limitation of the amount of salts in the electrolyte was not connected with the maximum solubility of copper(II) nitrate(V) trihydrate in the concentrated (85%) orthophosphoric acid. To characterize the obtained coatings, numerous techniques were used. In this work, we used scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with electron-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), conducted surface analysis using confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), and studied the surface layer chemical composition of the obtained coatings by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), glow discharge of optical emission spectroscopy (GDOES), and biological tests. It was found that the higher the concentration of Cu(NO 3 ) 2 ∙3H 2 O in the electrolyte, the higher the roughness of the coatings, which may be described by 3D roughness parameters, such as Sa (1.17-1.90 μm) and Sp (7.62-13.91 μm). The thicknesses of PEO coatings obtained in the electrolyte with 300-600 g/dm 3 Cu(NO 3 ) 2 ∙3H 2 O were in the range 7.8 to 10 μm. The Cu/P ratio of the whole volume of coating measured by EDS was in the range 0.05-0.12, while the range for the top layer (measured using XPS) was 0.17-0.24. The atomic concentration of copper (0.54-0.72 at%) resulted in antibacterial and fungicidal properties in the fabricated coatings, which can be dedicated to biocompatible applications.