Aluminium is a commonly used metal in Mauritius. However, the tropical Mauritian atmosphere is quite corrosive with the highest measured corrosivity, according to ISO 9223, falling in the category C4. Hence, this study was performed to investigate the atmospheric corrosion behaviour of aluminium AA1050 in the island. The aluminium samples were exposed outdoors at three sites, according to ISO 8565. Upon removal after specific time intervals over a 1½ years period, pit depth, pit diameter and pit density of the samples were determined. The maximum pit depth varied with the time of exposure, according to the power law function. Pit diameter increased linearly with the time of exposure. Chart rating, according to ISO 11463, was also performed. It was found that the corrosivity of the Mauritian atmosphere falls in categories A4-B1-C1 and A5-B1-C1. Application of extreme value statistics showed that Gumbel type 1 distribution fits maximum pit depth data at the three sites.
There are many types of agricultural water bowsers on the market, which vary in geometry and size. However, in all such bowsers there are “unused spaces” between the bottom of the tank and the axle. The objective of this research was to design an agricultural water bowser with improved capacity by exploiting the “unused spaces”. This would allow a sufficient amount of water to be supplied to wide areas in a short time. Each concept of agricultural water bowser was generated as an integrated chassis water tank to be hitched to a tractor, and the best concept was chosen using a multi-criteria decision-making methodology (house of quality matrix and Pugh selection matrix). The selected design consisted of an U-shaped angle bent bottom sheet welded to a top circular sheet. The Agreement Dangerous Road (ADR) European standard was used for the sizing of the bowser and the selected material was S275 steel. The resultant forces on the shell of the bowser were calculated using analytical methods. A 3-D model of the bowser was developed in SolidWorks 2015, and the static structural analysis tool was used to examine stresses on the body for various types of loading, roads, and driving maneuvers. The shape and size of the bottom part of the proposed bowser increased the capacity of the tank by 20.3%.
Carbon steel is a commonly used metal in water applications in Mauritius. However, the corrosion resistance of steels and effectiveness of corrosion prevention methods in Mauritian water bodies are unknown. This study is performed to investigate the corrosion behavior of S235 carbon steel in the local tropical waters using various corrosion monitoring techniques. Specimens of the metal are subjected to a simple laboratory immersion test under ambient conditions according to ASTM G31. The coupons are immersed in three distinctively different waters. Upon removal after specific time intervals over a 3-month period, the mass loss, thickness loss and surface roughness are duly evaluated. Mass loss and thickness loss variation with time of immersion are obtained in the form of the power law function. Regarding the surface roughness parameters measured, it is observed that they change logarithmically with corrosion loss due to increasing thickness of the rust layer. A general deterministic model in terms of Rp and Rq is successfully stemmed using Genetic Programming to forecast the corrosion rate.
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