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To develop an ultra-high-temperature resistant coating for a reusable thermal protection system, the preparation of a tantalum-based MoSi2-Mo coating by a new two-step process of multi-arc ion plating and halide activated pack cementation is presented. The coating has a dense structure and is well compatible with the tantalum substrate, which can be thermally shocked from room temperature to 1750 °C for 360 cycles without failure. The mechanism of the coating’s excellent resistance to high-temperature thermal shocks is that a strong-binding gradient interface and a dense SiO2 oxide scale with good oxygen resistance are formed by the high-temperature self-diffusion of Si.

Tantalum (Ta) alloys are important ultra-high-temperature structural materials owing to their excellent high-temperature mechanical properties and processability. However, they exhibit poor high-temperature oxidation resistance. In this study, a dense MoSi2 ceramic coating was prepared on a Ta substrate using an innovative multi-arc ion plating process and halide activated pack cementation in order to improve its ultra-high-temperature oxidation resistance. This ceramic coating exhibited a low roughness space arithmetic (287.1 ± 26.3 nm) and a dense structure. The relationship between the thickness of the coating and the duration of pack-cementation at 1250 ℃ was parabolic. The coating had a service life of more than 12 h at 1750 ℃, and showed excellent high-temperature oxidation resistance because of the uniform and dense structure of the coating and the rapid formation of a dense SiO2 layer with low O2 permeability during high-temperature oxidation.

To protect refractory metal against oxidation at ultra-high temperatures, a MoSi2-TaSi2 ceramic coating was prepared on a pure tantalum (Ta) substrate using a novel three-step process, which included dip-coating with a molybdenum slurry, vacuum sintering, and halide-activated pack cementation (HAPC). The original coating had a MoSi2-TaSi2 double-layer structure from the surface to the substrate. After oxidation at 1700°C for 8 h in air, the coating exhibited a complex multi-layer structure composed of SiO2-Mo5Si3-MoSi2-(Mo,Ta)5Si3-TaSi2-Ta5Si3 from the outer layer to the inner layer, due to the high-temperature phase transition and diffusion of Si and O. The coating effectively protected the Ta substrate at 1700°C for 12 h without failure, thereby demonstrating great improvement to its service life in an ultra-high-temperature aerobic environment. The protective effect was attributed to the integrity of the ceramic coating and the formation of a dense, uniform SiO2 film that effectively lowered the inward oxygen diffusion rate.

Reliability is an essential scientific and technological domain intrinsically linked with system integration. Nowadays, semiconductor industries are confronted with ever-increasing design complexity, dramatically decreasing design margins, increasing chances for and consequences of failures, shortening of product development and qualification time, and increasing difficulties to meet quality, robustness, and reliability requirements. The scientific successes of many micro/nano-related technology developments cannot lead to business success without innovation and breakthroughs in the way that we address reliability through the whole value chain. The aim of reliability is to predict, optimize and design upfront the reliability of micro/nanoelectronics and systems, an area denoted as ‘Design for Reliability (DfR)’. While virtual schemes based on numerical simulation are widely used for functional design, they lack a systematic approach when used for reliability assessments. Besides this, lifetime predictions are still based on old standards assuming a constant failure rate behavior. In this paper, we will present the reliability and failures found in solid-state lighting systems. It includes both degradation and catastrophic failure modes from observation towards a full description of its mechanism obtained by extensive use of acceleration tests using knowledge-based qualification methods. A use case will be presented in more details.

To develop an ultra-high temperature resistant coating for niobium alloy, a new type of 10%ZrB2 + 5%YSZ-modified Si-Mo-18%W coating with a boride diffusion barrier was prepared by a novel three-step method. The coating with NbB2-Nb3B2 diffusion barrier can effectively protect Nb521 alloy at 1850 °C for more than 8 h, while the life of coating without diffusion barrier was only 3.5 h. The excellent performance of the coating was attributed to the present of diffusion barrier and formation of self-healing SiO2-B2O3-ZrSiO4-ZrO2 oxide scale. The diffusion barrier can effectively hinder mutual diffusion of coating and substrate, and reduce inward consumption of silicon element.

Sodium-ion batteries (SIBs) are one of the most potential candidates for large-scale energy storage due to the low cost and eco-friendliness, however, a stable and reversible anode is urgently developed. In this work, a novel 2 × 2 tunnel-structured K1.28Ti8O16@N-doped carbon nanofibers (KTO@N CNFs) anode is successfully synthesized via simple electrospinning and subsequent thermal treatment with urea acted as the additional convenient nitrogen source. In-situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurement confirms the intercalation reaction mechanism and robust structure during Na+insertion/extraction. This composite material exhibits a reversible capacity of 116.4 mAh g − 1 at a current density of 100 mA g − 1 after 1000 cycles. More impressively, even at a high current density of 1 A g − 1, the battery delivers capacity retention of 98.4 mAh g − 1 after 5000 cycles. The excellent electrochemical performance is attributed to the adequate 2 × 2 tunnel structure and the nano-confinement of N-doped nanofibers on K1.28Ti8O16 nanocrystals, which offers enough diffusion paths and enhance the ionic diffusion of sodium ions. This work provides a facile strategy to synthesis stable, reversible, and long-cycle anode for sodium-ion batteries.

Surface dents may occur on both rail head and wheel tread and have a deep influence on their microstructures. This investigation aims at exploring the microstructure evolution and RCF of wheel/rail materials with spherical dents. The experimental results, obtained through a suitable instrumented roller-rig, highlight the different microstructure evolutions not only between rail and wheel, but also between front and rear areas of dent. Electron backscattered diffraction data shows that the grains around dent on wheel have higher strain, misorientation and quantity of large angle grain boundaries than those on rail roller, leading to a weaker RCF resistance in wheel rollers. Meanwhile, cracks tend to propagate in front area of dent on rail and rear area of dent on wheel.

A new YSZ (yttria stabilized zirconia) modified silicide coating was prepared on Mo-based alloy through a two-step process, including spraying of Si-Mo-YSZ slurry followed by reaction sintering. Microstructure and oxidation behavior of the coatings with different YSZ content (0, 5, 10 and 15%) were studied. The coating consists of a MoSi2-ZrSi2-SiO2 outer layer and a MoSi2 inner layer. The 10% YSZ modified coating possessed the best oxidation protection at ultra-high temperatures and, for the coating, the mass gain was 0.96 mg/cm2 after being exposed at 1725 °C in air for 22 h, whereas the uncoated Mo-based alloy completely ablated for 0.35 h. The excellent oxidation resistance of the silicide coating was attributed to the compact and self-healing SiO2 protective scale, which contained the dispersed ZrO2 and ZrSiO4. Keywords: Molybdenum-based alloy, Silicide coating, Oxidation, YSZ, MoSi2, Ultra-high temperature

The cobalt coating with an average thickness of 15–20 nm was uniformly plated on the surface of ultra-fine WC powders by electroless plating in the present work. The effects of electroless plating condition parameters on the deposition rate were studied. It was found that the deposition rate increased with the increase of CoSO4·7H2O content, pH value, complexing agent concentration, and bath temperature, while decreased with the increase of reducing agent (NaH2PO2·H2O) concentration. Furthermore, the cobalt deposition rate empirical equation and activation energy were determined. The results show that the activation energy (Ea) for the electroless cobalt on WC substrates is approximately 54.65 kJ/mol.

Deformation twinning in a medium carbon steel containing ferrite and pearlite under shock compression is investigated below and above the α–e phase transition stress (σT), within a peak stress range of 10–20 GPa. Free surface velocity histories are measured to obtain the Hugoniot elastic limit (2.7 GPa), σT (13.3 GPa) and bulk plastic strain. Postmortem samples are characterized with electron backscatter diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Below σT, all the {112}〈111〉 twinning activation in ferrite and pearlite follows the Schmid law, while above σT, approximately 1/6 of the activation deviates from the law. Propagation of the {112}〈111〉 twins in pearlite depends on the orientation of the activated twinning plane relative to cementite lamellae. With increasing peak stress, the {112}〈111〉 twin area fraction in ferrite/pearlite increases greatly/slightly; the {112}〈111〉 twin area fraction in ferrite is about 7 times that of pearlite. The {332}〈113〉 twins can only form above σT, favoring ferrite over pearlite, and are likely to be the secondary twins originated at the {112}〈111〉 twin boundaries.

The stress-aging method is proposed to improve the dimensional stability of Al-Cu-Mg (2024 aluminum) alloy. Both the reduction of residual stress and the acceleration of precipitates are investigated during the stress-aging process. It is observed that some S′ particles precipitate in the alloy during stress-aging. With the external stress increase to 100 MPa, the residual stress and thermal strain (ɛ c ) decrease, while the micro-yield strength increases significantly. This is attributed to that the dislocations are effectively pinned by the uniformly distributed precipitates and the stored elastic energy diminishes remarkably, which leads to a considerable improvement of the dimensional stability of 2024 aluminum alloy. However, when further increases the external stress to 150 MPa, due to the coarsened precipitates, the residual stress and thermal strain increase, while the micro-yield strength decreases slightly.

Ultra-fine WC/Co composite powders were prepared by electroless plating in this study. The Co layers with an average thickness of 50–100 nm were uniformly and completely covered on raw WC particles with a diameter of 0.3–0.5 µm. The influences of electroless plating conditions on the composites were investigated. The Co layer covering on WC particles was controlled by the content of CoSO 4 ·7H 2 O, pH value and bath temperature. With increasing the content of CoSO 4 ·7H 2 O up to 25 g/L, both the weight gain and the plating rate markedly increased. However, when the content of CoSO 4 ·7H 2 O further increased to 30 g/L, while the weight gain displayed a slight decrease, the plating rate continued to increase moderately. Moreover, with the increase of pH value from 9.5 to 11, both the weight gain and the reaction time decreased. Furthermore, the plating rate exhibited an exponential relationship with the bath temperature. When the pH value, bath temperature and the concentration of CoSO 4 ·7H 2 O are 10, 80 °C and 25 g/L respectively, the weight gain of Co-coated WC composite powders is 185.1 mg/g.

Due to the excellent structural and functional properties, such as low density, high fracture toughness and fatigue strength, Al-Cu-Mg (2024 aluminum) alloy has become an attractive light weight material for inertial instruments and aerospace applications. However, it has relatively low dimensional stability. The aim of this investigation is to enhance the dimensional stability of 2024 aluminum alloy via two-stage aging method, and identify the precipitation behavior and the underlying stabilizing mechanisms of 2024 aluminum alloy. When the second aging time was 24 h, the uniformly distributed precipitates could effectively pin the dislocations and impede their movement. This leaded to a significant improvement of the micro-yield strength and the thermal strain in the 2024 aluminum alloy, and thus the dimensional stability of the alloy increased.

Solderjoints of LEDs mounted by SMD reflow on Cu wire assemblies can exhibit irregular shapes that are very different from the interconnects of components on normal printed circuit boards. In order to understand the effect of the irregularities on the solder interconnect reliability and the intermetallic layer growth, the solder degradation was studied by setting up a series of accelerating tests and finite element modelling. In addition, the sensitivity of design parameters on the aging behavior was analyzed. It turns out that the cyclic fatigue of the solder interconnects due to thermal expansion mismatch is not as critical as the one from assemblies on traditional circuit boards. However, the decreasing interconnect strength due to the embrittlement of the intermetallic compound (IMC) is more critical and some optimization must be considered in the design.

The thermodynamic stability and mechanical properties of titanium carbonitrides TiC x N1−x (0 ⩽ x ⩽ 1) are investigated by a combination of the universal cluster expansion method and the first-principles calculations. By considering the ordering of the N/C distributions on the anion sublattice sites of TiC x N1−x , a binary diagram of the heat of formation is constructed, and seven kinds of ground-state structures are predicted in the whole range of 0 ⩽ x ⩽ 1. These predicted ground-state TiC x N1−x structures are further proved to be dynamically and mechanically stable by examining their phonon dispersion spectra and elastic constants. Further studies indicate that the mechanical and thermodynamic properties of the ternary TiC x N1−x structures are generally better than those of the binary TiC or TiN, while the differences within the ternary systems are insignificant. The possible origin of the enhancement of the mechanical and thermodynamic properties of the predicted ground-state TiC x N1−x are discussed together with the electronic structures.

Ozone has become the main factor affecting the air quality in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in recent years, and a clear understanding source of ozone pollution is a top priority of ozone pollution prevention. However, the vertical distribution of tropospheric ozone in the PRD is poorly understood. Based on daily ozone sounding data obtained in Yangjiang (111°58'00" E, 21°50'00" N), Guangdong Province, from 18 November tjo 3 December 2013, the detailed vertical distribution of tropospheric ozone and its influencing factors were determined and compared with weekly autumn ozone profile data obtained at the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) and corresponding tropospheric column ozone (TCO) datasets from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) and Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) onboard satellite AURA. Overall, the ozone profiles observed in Yangjiang are in accordance with those of the HKO in terms of the vertical structure. The TCO values are 34.2 ± 4.0 and 34.3 ± 4.6 DU, respectively, that are, 4 DU higher than those of satellite data, indicating that the OMI/MLS product underestimates the TCO level in the PRD region. The Yangjiang ozone profiles indicate significant variations in the ozone vertical structure and concentration during the observation period. A significant ozone peak permanently occurs in the lower troposphere at 1.1 ± 0.4 km above the surface. The vertical structural difference is mainly reflected in the presence of low-ozone strata (below 30 ppbv) near the tropopause and ozone peaks and high-ozone stratification in the middle and upper troposphere. The average ozone peak concentrations in the lower, middle, and upper troposphere are 65.2 ± 9.9, 57.8 ± 7.7, 71.8 ± 13.6 ppbv, respectively, which are higher than the average ground-level ozone concentration (48.9 ± 9.4 ppbv). Based on the analysis of the profile characteristics, weather conditions, and backward trajectories, it can be concluded that the low-ozone strata near the tropopause are caused by the regional transport of the tropical air mass from the tropical cyclone storm area. Potential vorticity analysis shows that stratosphere-troposphere exchange (STE) is the main reason for the formation of the ozone peaks and its varying concentrations in the middle and upper troposphere. Photochemical reactions represent the main factor affecting the ozone concentration in the lower troposphere. The STE is also an important factor affecting the ozone in the lower troposphere, leading to an increase in the surface ozone concentration by ~10.9 ppbv.

The Nb-30Ti-18Al alloys doped with the amounts of 0 at%, 1 at% and 5 at% carbon were prepared by arc melting and annealing. The effects of carbon addition on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Nb ss /Nb 3 Al in situ composites as well as the strengthening mechanisms were investigated. The results showed that during annealing at 1200 °C, supersaturated Nb ss decomposed and Nb 3 Al phase precipitated in C-free alloy, while carbide decomposed with the precipitation of Nb 3 Al in C-doped alloys. Furthermore, the orientation relationship of Nb 3 Al phase and the surrounding (Nb, Ti)C was observed in Nb-30Ti-18Al-5C (NA5) alloy. Additionally, with increasing the carbon content, the compressive strength of alloys at high temperature were improved significantly ascribed to the occurrence of solid solution and volume fraction increase of strengthen phase, while the fracture toughness decreased due to the volume fraction decrease of Nb ss .

Due to excellent chemical stability, high rigidity, superior corrosion and wear resistance, aluminum oxynitride (AlON) has been considered as one of most promising candidate ceramic materials in high-performance structural, advanced abrasives and refractory fields. However, it usually exhibited relatively low flexural strength and poor fracture toughness. The study is aimed to develop silicon carbide (SiC) and zirconium nitride (ZrN) nano-particulate reinforced AlON composites with improved mechanical properties and fracture resistance via a hot-press sintering process. It was found that the addition of ZrO 2 nanoparticles would be transformed into ZrN during sintering. Due to the pinning effect of SiC and ZrN nano-particles positioned at grain boundaries of micro-sized AlON particles, the presence of SiC and ZrN nano-particles resulted in the reduction of both porosity and grain size, and a change of fracture mode from intergranular cracking in AlON to intragranular cracking in composites. With presence of 8 wt% SiC and 5.2 wt% ZrN nano-particles, the relative density, microhardness, Young’s modulus, flexural strength and fracture toughness increased. Different toughening mechanisms including crack bridging, crack branching and crack deflection were observed, thus effectively increasing the crack propagation resistance and leading to a considerable improvement in flexural strength and fracture toughness.

The explosion of high density and high temperature electronic devices is intensifying the desire for high temperature Pb-free solders. Alloying high melting point elements with conventional solders is one of the most potential solutions drawing attention. In this paper, the relationship between cracking and microstructure evolution of SnAgCu and Ni, Sb, Bi alloyed SnAgCu solders during thermal cycling was systematically studied and compared by ultrasonic C-scanning, SEM, EDX, EBSD, etc. It turned out that alloying Ni, Sb, Bi with SnAgCu solder offered better crack resistance by strengthening and recrystallization energy consumption before ~600 cycles. However, its failure dramatically accelerated after those cycles because of the large amount of grain boundaries caused by severe early recrystallization, the coarsened IMCs, and the decrease of Schmid Factor as SnAgCu were softened, while SnAgCuNiSbBi can be excessively hardened by thermal cycles.

The in-situ laminated Nb/Nb5Si3 composite was prepared by spark plasma sintering. The microstructures and mechanical properties of the laminated Nb/Nb5Si3 composite were investigated in present work. It could be found that, alternant distribution microstructures of Nbss and Nb5Si3 layers were observed after sintering. The Nb/Nb5Si3 composite exhibited fracture toughness of 11.2 MPa·m1/2, and the predicted fracture toughness was estimated by the Ashby model. Moreover, the deviation of the experimental value from the predicted value was discussed. In addition, the compressive strength of the in-situ laminated Nb/Nb5Si3 composite was measured at 1400 °C and compared with that of the unidirectionally solidified Nb-17.5Si alloy.

Thermal diffusion process (TD) is an important surface modification technique to prepare carbide coating on steel, which can effectively improve the hardness and wear resistance, as well as prolong the service life of the substrate. However, cracking problems are often encountered in the TD processing of high-speed steel. In this work, TD process was used to prepare vanadium carbide coating on M35 high speed steel. The results indicated that the coarse crack after TD treatment was quenching crack. The mechanism of such failure were attributed to the diffusion of elements (mainly C and V) and the volume expansion caused by martensitic transformation during the TD process. Bainite isothermal quenching and three times tempering process were selected as the way of solving this cracking failure. The microstructure and properties of the coating prepared by the improvement process were studied. The coating was composed of fine equiaxial crystals containing V6C5 and VC. The hardness of the coated sample could achieve 2644 HV, which increased greatly compared with uncoated M35 matrix (750 HV), and the friction/wear performance of the samples treated by TD process increase by 82.8%.

MoSi2-NbSi2 coating and Ce-modified MoSi2-NbSi2 coating were prepared on Nb-alloy through a new two-step process, including molybdenum slurry spraying and halide-activated pack cementation. The bare alloy was pulverized after oxidation at 1600 °C for 15 min. The both two coated samples have the effective protection for 24.7 h and 28.5 h with the weight gain rate of 3.578 and 2.947 mg2 cm−4 h−1, respectively. Ce-modified samples show better performance due to Ce has the ability of grain refinement. The reasons for the excellent performance are the good matching between MoSi2 outer layer and NbSi2 inner layer and the continuous SiO2 oxide scale.

A double-layer MoSi2 thick coating was prepared on Titanium-Zirconium-Molybdenum (TZM) alloy through a new two-step method, including molybdenum slurry vacuum sintering and halide-activated pack cementation. The coating was formed by a porous MoSi2 outer layer and a dense MoSi2 inner layer. The ball-milled fine Mo powder can effectively improve the coating density and the high temperature oxidation resistance. The oxidation protection time of the coatings prepared by coarse and fine Mo powders were 1 h and 6 h at 1700 °C, respectively. After oxidation, the coating exhibited multilayer structure consisted of SiO2 oxide layer, porous MoSi2 layer, dense MoSi2 layer and Mo5Si3 layer from the outer to the inner. With oxidation proceeding, the Mo5Si3 layer thickened, while the MoSi2 layer thinned and eventually transformed into Mo5Si3 completely, leading to coating failure because of the depletion of silicon.

Surface dents on railroad rails may be caused, for example, by the drop of freight goods or the impact of ballast rocks and may have a deep effect on the rail service life. To better understand this problem, this investigation aims at exploring the rolling contact fatigue behavior of the rail materials (as, for example, PD3 steel) after being impacted by two kinds of hard bodies: a simple spherical steel ball and a more realistic ballast rock. The results show that the residual tensile stress, which is distributed on the shoulders of the dent, decreases the rolling contact fatigue (RCF) resistance of the material around the dent. Moreover, the unbalanced wear behavior between the two shoulders of the dent makes the situation even worse on the side of the dent where the tangential force acts firstly. Finally, due to the higher martensite hardness with respect to the matrix material, the crack propagates faster around the dent in presence of white etching layer on the bottom of the dent itself.

Aluminum foam sandwich (AFS) structure materials have drawn much attention due to their unique structural and functional properties. However, the use of AFS materials as an attractive candidate for some applications was limited. In this work, AFS was fabricated by the brazing method, using Al-Si-based alloy, aluminum foam and steel plates as filler, matrix and panels, respectively. The microstructures of the soldered interfacial region, elemental distributions and phase identification were determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The diffusion behavior of Si, Al, Fe and Cr was investigated. The effect of brazing time on the shear strengths of soldered joints was also analyzed. The results showed that the microstructures of joints were changed on increasing the brazing time. When the brazing time was 5 min, the solder started melting, which led to low shear strength. When increasing the brazing time to 10 min, the shear streng...

In the present investigation the microstructure and corrosion behavior of Zn-Cu-Ti and Zn-Cu-Ti-Mg alloys in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution were studied through scanning electron microscope, electron probe microanalysis, X-ray diffraction, polarization measurements and immersion tests. The Zn-Cu-Ti exhibited eutectic structure with rod-shaped TiZn15 phase, while the Zn-Cu-Ti-Mg mainly consisted of Zn matrix, TiZn15, τ2-Cu2TiZn22 ternary phase and Zn-Mg intermetallics along the grain boundaries. It was observed that in the corrosion products of both Zn-Cu-Ti and Zn-Cu-Ti-Mg alloys, the main phases were ZnO and Zn5(OH)8Cl2 · H2O. The corrosion tests showed that the cathodic process was suppressed and the weight gain decreased for Zn-Cu-Ti-Mg alloy in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution. The better corrosion properties of Zn-Cu-Ti-Mg was owed to the formation of a more compact and protective corrosion layer arising from the increased intensity of Zn5(OH)8Cl2 · H2O.

The push for miniaturization in microelectronics, coupled with conversion towards Pb-free electronics has led to increasing interest in adhesive bonding of flip-chip dies directly to printed wiring boards (PWBs). However, the interconnect strength and durability have not been adequately studied, which hampers proper reliability assessment. This paper focuses on the integrity of joints made with non-conducting adhesives (NCAs). The durability of such joints comes partly from the residual compressive stresses generated by the curing-induced shrinkage of the adhesive and partly from direct metal-to-metal bonding between the mating bond pads. The focus in this paper is specifically on the nature of the second mechanism, viz. metal-to-metal bonding and its dependence on the bonding parameters. To further explore this issue, detailed experiments are conducted on specially fabricated test specimens that consist of a pair of gold-bumped flip-chip dies that are bonded to each other without any adhesive between the...

Aluminum oxynitride (AlON) exhibits excellent stability, chemical and mechanical properties. Corrosion resistance to molten steel is an important performance index of ceramic refractories. While silicon carbide (SiC) particles have been proven to improve the mechanical properties and thermal shock resistance of AlON ceramic, the corrosion of AlON and SiC–AlON composites by molten steel were unknown. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the corrosion resistance to molten steel and identify the underlying mechanisms of AlON ceramic and 8 wt% SiC–AlON composites at the temperature of 1550 °C for 30 min. Due to the reaction between AlON and molten steel, a solid product of Al 2 O 3 is detected in the corrosion region. Besides, some round shaped pores form and increase toward the sample surface in the corrosion region. The thickness of corrosion region of AlON ceramic is about 150 μm, indicating that the AlON ceramic has an excellent corrosion resistance to molten steel. However, the corrosion resistance of 8 wt% SiC–AlON composites to molten steel can be characterized with a penetrated depth of approximately 250 μm. This is mainly attributed to the thermal dissociation of SiC and the reaction between SiC and molten steel.

Aluminum oxynitride (AlON) has been considered as a potential ceramic material for high-performance structural and advanced refractory applications owing to its excellent stability and mechanical properties such as high rigidity and good chemical stability. Thermal shock resistance is a major concern and an important performance index of refractories and high-temperature ceramics. While zirconium nitride (ZrN) particles have been proven to improve mechanical properties of AlON ceramic, the thermal shock behavior has not been evaluated yet. The aim of this investigation was to identify the thermal shock resistance and underlying mechanisms of hot-pressed 2.7% ZrN–AlON composites by a water-quenching technique over a temperature range between 225 °C and 275 °C. The residual strength and Young's modulus after thermal shock decreased with increasing temperature range and thermal shock times due to large temperature gradients and thermal stresses caused by abrupt water-quenching. The presence of nano-sized ZrN particles exhibited a positive effect on the improvement of both residual strength and critical temperature difference of AlON ceramic due to the toughening effects, the higher thermal conductivity of ZrN, the refined grain size and the reduction of porosity. Different toughening mechanisms including crack deflection, crack bridging and crack branching were observed during thermal shock experiments, thus effectively enhancing the crack initiation and propagation resistance and leading to a considerable improvement in thermal shock resistance in the ZrN–AlON composites.

In this paper, a numerical two-fluid flow model combining with the Realizable k–ε turbulent model for compressible viscous fluid is presented for the computation of flow characteristics in an aeration tank; and the equations are solved with the finite volume method. A multigrid technique based on the full approximation storage (FAS) scheme is employed to accelerate the numerical convergence. The numerical results for velocity and turbulent kinetic energy distribution in the aeration tank are obtained. It is shown that the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a valuable tool to analyze the interaction of flow field and aeration.

This paper is concerned with a gas-liquid two-phase model combining with the k–ε turbulent model for numerical simulation of 3D flood waves due to complete or partial dam-break. The flow equations are solved with the finite volume method and solved by the pressure-correction algorithm of the SIMPLE-type. The free fluid surface is simulated by the the volume of fluid(VOF) method. The comparisons with other numerical results show that the proposed method is accurate, reliable and effective in simulation of dam-break flood waves.

The present work used hydrothermal synthesis method utilizing glucose as carbon source to obtain homogeneous nano-sized carbon spheres. The holding time and the concentration of glucose have a remarkable effect on the microstructure of nanometer carbon spheres. When synthesized at a constant temperature and kept the same in the productivity, the lower concentration of glucose or the shorter holding time, the easier to acquired homogeneous and tiny nanometer carbon spheres

A computational model is implemented to investigate hydraulic characteristics of turbulent flow through a 90 bending square duct. In the numerical solution the governing equations are first transformed by using boundary-fitted coordinate to map the physical domain to a uniform transformed space, subsequently discretized by finite-volume method and collocated grid system, and solved via SIMPLEC algorithm.The flow parameters at the control surface are obtained by momentum interpolation method. The modified k-ε turbulence model is applied to close the Reynolds stresses. The 3D hydraulic characteristics of flows in a bend square duct are computed, and the comparison between numerical results and experimental data shows a very good agreement.

This paper is concerned with the numerical study of gas–liquid flow in bubble columns by large eddy simulations (LES). The Euler–Euler approach is used to describe the equations of motion of the two-phase flow. The mean velocities and the fluctuating velocities are obtained. It is found that, when the drag, lift and virtual mass forces are used, the computed results in agreement with experimental transient behavior can be captured.

A method for orthogonal grid generation is presented. The generating system is based on solution of a system of partial differential equations with finite difference discretization. The influence of the number of grid points, type of boundary, and intensity of the grid quality control function and grid properties are investigated. Specification of both boundary point distribution on all sides is used. The proposed method is applied to various test problems，which shows this method provides a good balance between controlling grid orthogonality and cell aspect ratio.

A suspension with good rheology and high stability is crucial for slip casting and gelcasting technology. However, a mixed suspension from two or more different powders usually has bad rheology because of the easy agglomeration of mixed powders caused by the attractive force between the powders with heterocharges. We studied the surface modification of the each single-component powders (SiC, Al2O3, ZrO2(3Y) powders) and the SiC-Al2O3-ZrO2(3Y) mixed powders to increase the repulsive force by adjusting the pH value and adding polyacrylic acid (PAA) as dispersant. The PAA addition effects on the SiC-Al2O3-ZrO2(3Y) mixture were investigated in terms of zeta potential, pH range for heterocharge region, dispersion of the mixed powders and rheology of the mixed slurry based on the study of each unary suspensions. The results show that before surface modification the SiC-Al2O3-ZrO2(3Y) mixed powders were agglomerated severely because they were in the heterocharge region with a broad pH range from 3.5 to 8.25, while after surface modification (pH = 10.5, PAA = 0.8wt%) the heterocharge region was narrowed with a relatively narrower pH range from 2.6 to 3.7. The mixed powders with homocharges were dispersed well because of the great electrostatic repulsive force and steric hindrance offered by PAA and the mixed suspensions had favorable rheology.

Aluminum oxynitride (Alon) has been considered as a potential ceramic material due to excellent stability, chemical and mechanical properties such as high rigidity and good chemical stability, but it has relatively low strength and poor fracture toughness. The aim of this study was to investigate a type of silicon carbide (SiC) nano-particulate reinforced Alon composites with improved mechanical properties and fracture resistance via hot-press sintering. The addition of SiC nano-particles resulted in a reduction of both porosity and grain size, and a change of fracture mode from intergranular cracking in the monolithic Alon to intragranular cracking in the composites due to the pinning effect of SiC nano-particles positioned at grain boundaries or triple junctions of micro-sized Alon particles. With 8 wt% SiC nano-particles addition, the relative density, microhardness, Young's modulus, flexural strength, and fracture toughness all increased. Different toughening mechanisms including crack bridging, crack branching and crack deflection were observed, thus effectively increasing the crack propagation resistance and leading to a considerable improvement in the flexural strength and fracture toughness of the composites.