High velocity oxy-fuel thermal spraying was used to prepare free-standing CoNiCrAlY ) bond coat alloy samples approximately 0.5 mm thick. Creep tests were conducted at 750 C on these samples using a small punch (SP) creep test method. The samples were characterised before and after creep testing using scanning electron microscopy with electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). EBSD revealed a two phase fcc -Ni and bcc B2 β-NiAl microstructure with grain sizes ~ 1-2 m for both phases, which did not change significantly following testing. The constant temperature SP test data were characterised by a minimum creep strain rate, , and a total time to failure, t f , at different applied stresses. The data are fitted to conventional power law equations with a stress exponent for creep close to 8 in the Norton power law and between 7 and 10 in the Monkman-Grant creep rupture law. Creep rupture was predominantly due to creep cavitation voids nucleating at both the γ -β interphase boundaries and the  - grain boundaries leading to final failure by void linkage. However, rupture life was influenced by the quantity of oxide entrained in the coating during the spray deposition process.

A pump is not ideally designed to operate as a turbine. To improve the efficiency of a pump as turbine (PAT), the redesign of the PAT, according to the flow of the turbine, is required. The blade wrap angle is one of the main geometric parameters in impeller design. Therefore, an investigation into the blade wrap angle to the PAT’s influence can be useful. In order to understand blade wrap angle to the influence of the PAT, this paper numerically investigated three different specific speeds of PATs with different blade wrap angles. The validity of numerical simulation was first confirmed through a comparison between numerical and experimental results. The performance change of the PATs with the blade wrap angle was acquired. A detailed hydraulic loss distribution and a theoretical analysis were performed to investigate the reasons for performance changes caused by the blade wrap angle. The results show that there is an optimal blade wrap angle for a PAT to achieve the highest efficiency and the optimal blade wrap angle decreases with an increasing specific speed. A performance analysis shows the PAT’s flow versus pressure head (Q-H) and flow versus generated shaft power (Q-P) curves are lowered with the decrease of the blade wrap angle. The hydraulic loss distribution and theoretical analysis illustrate that it is the decrease of hydraulic loss within the impeller, together with the decrease of the theoretical head, that results in the performance decrease. The decrease of hydraulic loss within the impeller is attributed to the shortened impeller blade passage and the reduced velocity gradient within the impeller flow channel. With the decrease of the blade wrap angle, the slip factor of the PAT’s impeller is decreased; therefore, its theoretical head is also decreased.

Over many decades, significant efforts have been made to improve the strength-elongation product of advanced high strength steels (AHSSs) by creating tailored multi-phase microstructures. Successive solid-state phase transformations for steels with a well selected chemical composition turned out to be the key instrument in the realisation of such microstructures. In this contribution, we first provide a brief review of the desired microstructures for Transformation-induced plasticity (TRIP), Carbide-free Bainitic (CFB), Quenching & Partitioning (Q&P) and Medium Manganese steels followed by comprehensive discussions on the phase transformations to be used in their creation. The implications for the steel composition to be selected are addressed too. As the presence of the right amount and type of metastable retained austenite (RA) is of crucial importance for the mechanical performance of these AHSSs, special attention is paid to the important role of successive solid-state phase transformations in creating the desired fraction and composition of RA by suitable element partitioning (in particular C and Mn). This critical partitioning not only takes place during final cooling (austenite decomposition) but also during the back transformation (austenite reversion) during reheating.This review aims to be more than just descriptive of the various findings, but to present them from a coherent thermodynamic / thermo-kinetic perspective, such that it provides the academic and industrial community with a rather complete conceptual and theoretical framework to accelerate the further development of this important class of steels. The detailed stepwise treatment makes the review relevant not only for experts but also metallurgists entering the field.

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Self-lubricating polymer composite coatings, with tailorable tribological and mechanical properties, have been widely employed on mechanical parts to reduce friction and wear, which saves energy and improves the overall performance for applications such as aerospace satellite parts, shafts, gears, and bushings. The addition of functional fillers can overcome the limitations of single-polymer coatings and extend the service life of the coatings by providing a combination of low friction, high wear resistance, high load bearing, high temperature resistance, and high adhesion. This paper compares the heat resistance, and the tribological and mechanical properties of common polymer matrices, as well as the categories of functional fillers that improve the coating performance. Applicable scopes, process parameters, advantages, and limitations of the preparation methods of polymer coatings are discussed in detail. The tribological properties of the composite coatings with different matrices and fillers are compared, and the lubrication mechanisms are analyzed. Fillers reduce friction by promoting the formation of transfer films or liquid shear films. Improvement of the mechanical properties of the composite coatings with fillers of different morphologies is described in terms of strengthening and toughening mechanisms, including a stress transfer mechanism, shear yielding, crack bridging, and interfacial debonding. The test and enhancement methods for the adhesion properties between the coating and substrate are discussed. The coating adhesion can be enhanced through mechanical treatment, chemical treatment, and energy treatment of the substrate. Finally, we propose the design strategies for high-performance polymer composite coating systems adapted to specific operating conditions, and the limitations of current polymer composite coating research are identified.

Reversed phase microcolumns have been widely used for peptide pretreatment to desalt and remove interferences before tandem LC-MS in proteomics studies. However, few studies have characterized the effects of experimental parameters as well as column characteristics on the composition of identified peptides. In this study, several parameters including the concentration of ACN in washing buffer, the microcolumn's purification effect, the peptide recovery rate, and the dynamic-binding capacity were characterized in detail, based upon stable isotope labeling by amino acids in a cell culture quantitative approach. The results showed that peptide losses can be reduced with low ACN concentration in washing buffers resulting in a recovery rate of approximately 82%. Furthermore, the effects of ACN concentration and loading amount on the properties of identified peptides were also evaluated. We found that the dynamic-binding capacity of the column was approximately 26 μg. With increased loading amounts, more hydrophilic peptides were replaced by hydrophobic peptides.

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This paper investigates the β-phase depletion behaviour during oxidation of free-standing CoNiCrAlY (Co-31.7%Ni-20.8%Cr-8.1%Al-0.5%Y, all in wt%) bond coats prepared by high velocity oxy-fuel (HVOF) thermal spraying. The microstructure of the coatings was characterised using scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis and electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). It comprises a two phase structure of fcc-Ni and bcc -NiAl, with grain sizes varying largely from 0.5 to 2 µm for both phases.Isothermal oxidation tests of the free-standing coatings were carried out at 1100 C for times up to 250 h. The phase depletion behaviour at the surface was measured and was also simulated using Thermo-Calc and DICTRA software. An Al flux function derived from an oxide growth model was employed as the boundary condition in the diffusion model. The diffusion calculations were performed using the TTNi7 thermodynamic database together with the MOB2 mobility database. Reasonable agreement was achieved between the measured and the predicted element concentration and phase fraction profiles after various 2 time periods. Grain boundary diffusion is likely to be important to element diffusion in this HVOF sprayed CoNiCrAlY coating due to the sub-micron grains. Keywords IntroductionThermal barrier coatings (TBCs) are widely used to protect high temperature components in turbine engines from harsh operating environments [1,2]. TBC systems consist of a ceramic top coat, a metallic bond coat and a superalloy substrate [3][4][5]. Additionally, a thermally grown oxide (TGO) forms at the interface between the top coat and the bond coat during service at elevated temperature due to the fact that oxygen permeates through the ceramic top coat and oxidises the bond coat. The durability of the overall TBC system is largely determined by the microstructural, chemical and mechanical characteristics of the bond coat due to interdiffusion of element between the MCrAlY and the superalloy substrate. This is not considered in the present paper but has been studied by others, e.g. [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41]. In these research works, the emphasis has been on substrate/bond coat interdiffusion and specific comparisons between measured and predicted β-phase depletion at the oxide/bond coat interface have not been considered. On the other hand, several analytical models concerned with the oxidation of 4 two phase systems in which the secondary phase dissolves during oxidation have been reported, e.g. [42][43][44][45][46][47][48]. In these models, the secondary phase depletion behaviour during oxidation can generally be represented by the parabolic diffusion law, Eq. (1), ~√( 1) where is the width of the second phase depletion zone and is the oxidation time.Considering the significance of β depletion on the degradation of TBCs, therefore, the aims of the work reported in this paper were to investigate specifically the kinetics of β depletion at the oxide surface in free-standing MCrAlY coatings ...