Topic Review
Additive Manufacturing of Magnesium-Based Alloys through Laser-Based Approach
Magnesium alloys continue to be important in the context of modern and lightweight technologies. The increased use of Mg each year indicates a rise in demand for alloys containing Mg. With additive manufacturing (AM), components can be produced directly in a net shape, providing new ideas relating to the new prospects for Mg-based materials. 
  • 438
  • 23 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Possibilities and Opportunities in the Indian Steel Industry
Demand for iron ore has been increasing with the increased production of iron and steel in developing countries such as India and China. However, the quality of iron ore has deteriorated over the years globally due to long-term mining. The low-grade iron requires beneficiation before agglomerating for use in the iron-making process. The iron ore interlocked with silica and alumina has to be liberated for efficient beneficiation.
  • 412
  • 22 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Abrasive Wear of Cermets
Abrasive wear occurs when hard particles or sometimes hard protuberances on a counterface are forced against and are moved along the surface. The amount of material removed depends on the normal load pressing particles against the surface and the sliding distance. A distinction is usually made between the two-body and the three-body abrasive wear and between low-stress (abrasive particles remain unbroken during abrasion) and high-stress (abrasive particles are broken during the wear process) abrasion. WC-based hardmetals (cemented carbides) are employed widely as wear-resistant ceramic-metal composites for tools and wear parts. Raw materials supply, environmental concerns and some limitations of hardmetals have directed efforts toward development of alternative wear-resistant composites-cermets. Cermets consist primarily of ceramic particles such as titanium carbonitride (Ti(C,N)), titanium carbide (TiC), and chromium carbide (Cr3C2) bonded with alloys of Ni, Co or Fe. Cermets as resistant to abrasive wear materials demonstrate their potential mainly in environmentally severe wear conditions – at elevated temperatures and corrosive envronments.
  • 409
  • 10 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Fatigue Shear-band in Metallic Glass
Metallic glass (MG) is a class of metallic material fabricated by the fast-cooling during solidification. This alloy lacks the long-range order characteristic and the crystalline defects including grain boundaries and dislocations. The unique structural feature makes some mechanical properties of MG obviously superior than conventional crystalline alloys, such as strength, hardness, elastic limit, wear resistance, etc. It is estimated that ~90% of all mechanical failures in the structural materials are caused by fatigue. Thus, the fatigue property is an important evaluation index before a new structural material application. Without the dislocations and grain boundaries, the plastic deformation of MG occurs in the form of atomic clusters operation at room temperature, eventually leading to the generation of shear band. It is found that the fatigue damage and fracture of MGs were dominated by shear band. As a result, understanding how shear band evolution under cyclic loading is important for improving the fatigue performance of MGs.
  • 382
  • 16 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Sn on Ag-Based Brazing Filler Metals
Ag-based brazing filler metals containing Sn have been widely applied in many engineering fields. By summarizing the effects of Sn on the melting temperature, wettability and microstructure, and mechanical properties of the filler metals, the Sn element can significantly decrease the melting point and improve the wettability, and proper addition of Sn can optimize the microstructure and improve the comprehensive properties of the filler metals, while excessive addition of Sn will form brittle IMCs and decrease the mechanical properties of the filler metals.
  • 378
  • 29 Nov 2021
Topic Review
Organization of Indian Steel Sector
Steel manufacturing is a technologically complex industry having subsequent linkages in terms of material flow and plays a vital role in determining infrastructure and the overall development of a country. The global steel industry and its supply chain constitute 40 million jobs across the world. In 2019, India established itself as the second-largest steel producer with 111.3 million tons, constituting 5.9% of total crude steel production on the planet for the respective year, and it has ambitious plans to produce 250 million tons by 2030 with a per capita consumption aim of 160 kg.
  • 377
  • 20 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Innovative Application of Metallic PCMs in Metal Casting
Phase Change Materials (PCMs) are materials that release or absorb sufficient latent heat at a constant temperature or a relatively narrow temperature range during their solid/liquid transformation to be used for heating or cooling purposes. Although the use of PCMs has increased significantly in recent years, their major applications are limited to Latent Heat Storage (LHS) applications, especially in solar energy systems and buildings. Metallic PCMs appear to be the best alternative to salts and organic materials due to their high conductivity, high latent heat storage capacity and wide-ranging phase change temperature. Recent studies indicate that besides their conventional applications, metallic PCMs can be used in casting design to control the solidification microstructure as well as the feedability and defect formation in castings. Use of metallic PCM-fitted chillers is believed to open new horizons in smart control of the casting structure.
  • 366
  • 23 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Cadmium Recovery from Spent Ni-Cd Batteries
The significant increase in the demand for efficient electric energy storage during the last decade has promoted an increase in the production and use of Cd-containing batteries. On the one hand, the amount of toxic Cd-containing used batteries is growing, while on the other hand, Cd is on a list of critical raw materials (for Europe). Both of these factors call for the development of effective technology for Cd recovery from spent batteries. Alkaline nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd) batteries are widely used as autonomous sources of industrial and household current (power banks) due to a successful combination of feasibility studies and achieved sustainable electrical characteristics. In recent decades, the market of secondary current sources for portable equipment has undergone significant changes, which leads to an intensive replacement of Ni-Cd batteries with lithium-ion (LIB) and nickel-metal-hydride.
  • 365
  • 07 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Ni-Base Superalloys
Ni-base superalloys are materials largely used in aero-space and energy production sectors, in particular for manufacturing engine parts (e.g. blades, rotors, turbine disks etc.) of aircrafts and aerospace vehicles and parts of power plants (e.g. extraction of oil and gas, nuclear reactors, etc.). At high temperature they exhibit an exceptional combination of high mechanical strength and excellent corrosion resistance. Ni-base superalloys are considered materials of strategic importance and a lot of metallurgical research has been devoted for optimizing their microstructure and improving mechanical properties so that they can operate at ever higher temperature in conditions of safety and reliability. Ni-base superalloys are strengthened by the precipitation of the ordered γ' phase, L12 Ni3(Al,Ti), crystallographically coherent to the f.c.c. γ matrix and their unique mechanical properties at high temperature result from the great microstructure stability. The volume fraction of γ' phase varies from 25% to 50% in polycrystalline superalloys and reaches about 70% in the most modern single crystal superalloys used for the first stage of aeronautical turbine blades. In order to reduce as much as possible the strain misfit between coherent γ and γ' phases (less than 0.4%) they are designed by an accurate tailoring of the chemical composition and a strict control of the process parameters; the resulting interface energy (20-30 mJ/m2) guarantees an excellent stability of the microstructure at high temperature. Other phases such as carbides, borides, γ'', η, δ, σ, µ and Laves phases may be also present with various effects on the mechanical properties; for instance, the topological closed-packed (TCP) σ, µ and Laves phases are undesirable because reduce the ductility.  In spite of the fact that Ni-base superalloys cost from 3 to 5 times the Fe-base ones, their use is expanding especially in gas turbine components for the production of energy because higher temperature of the thermal cycle guarantees greater efficiency and reduction of polluting emission. The demand of Ni-base superalloys is expected to expand also for the energy production through conventional steam turbine plants for achieving super-critical conditions with a predicted increase of efficiency to ~ 60% and reduction of CO2 to about 0.7 ton/kWatth while current sub-critical power plants have an efficiency of ~ 35% and produce 1.2 ton/kWatth of CO2. Of course, higher operating temperature involves more severe degradation of mechanical properties owing to these factors: (i) microstructure evolution including formation of undesired phases, coalescence of γ' precipitates, degeneration of carbides due to fatigue and creep exposure etc.; ii) the formation of cracks. Three topics of great industrial relevance will be discussed hereinafter: (i) microstructural stability; (ii) manufacturing parts of complex geometry; (iii) welding of superalloys. 
  • 361
  • 16 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining
The aim of this work is to explain the concepts of sustainability with respect to small artisanal gold mining. For this, a qualitative approach with a descriptive scope was used, for which the bibliographic review technique was conducted. In this sense, articles, theses, books and institutional documents, and any contribution related to the research topic were taken into consideration. Likewise, this documentation contributed to the delimiting aspects that allowed a contrast between the proposed definitions and small artisanal mining in the Northeast Antioquia region in Colombia. Based on the reviewed sources, different needs were recognized in artisanal small-scale gold mining in Northeast Antioquia that still need action. In conclusion, through the exposition of sustainability theories, three common factors were identified within the various positions that were raised—the environmental, economic, and sociocultural dimensions. 
  • 355
  • 27 Aug 2021
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