Age hardening of a sintered Al-Cu-Mg-Si-(Sn) alloy

The age hardening response of a sintered Al-3.8 wt% Cu-1.0 wt% Mg-0.70 wt% Si alloy with and without 0.1 wt% Sn was investigated. The sequence of precipitation was characterised using transmission electron microscopy. The ageing response of the sintered Al-Cu-Mg-Si-(Sn) alloy is similar to that of cognate wrought 2xxx series alloys. Peak hardness was associated with a fine, uniform dispersion of lath shaped precipitates, believed to be either the betaor Q phase, oriented along < 010 >. directions and theta' plates lying on {001}(alpha). planes. Natural ageing also resulted in comparable behaviour to that observed in wrought alloys. Porosity in the powder metallurgy alloys did not significantly affect the kinetics of precipitation during artificial ageing. Trace levels of tin, used to aid sintering, slightly reduced the hardening response of the alloy. However, this was compensated for by significant improvements in density and hardness. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Isolates of 'Candidatus Nostocoida limicola' Blackall et al. 2000 should be described as three novel species of the genus Tetrasphaera, as Tetrasphaera jenkinsii sp nov., Tetrasphaera vanveenii sp nov and Tetrasphaera veronensis sp nov.

Despite differences in their morphologies, comparative analyses of 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed high levels of similarity (> 94 %) between strains of the filamentous bacterium 'Candidatus Nostocoida limicola' and the cocci Tetrasphaera australiensis and Tetrasphaera japonica and the rod Tetrasphaera elongata, all isolated from activated sludge. These sequence data and their chemotaxonomic characters, including cell wall, menaquinone and lipid compositions and fingerprints of their 16S-23S rRNA intergenic regions, support the proposition that these isolates should be combined into a single genus containing six species, in the family Intrasporangiaceae in the Actinobacteria. This suggestion receives additional support from DNA-DNA hybridization data and when partial sequences of the rpoC1 gene are compared between these strains. Even though few phenotypic characterization data were obtained for these slowly growing isolates, it is proposed, on the basis of the extensive chemotaxonomic and molecular evidence presented here, that 'Candidatus N. limicola' strains Ben 17, Ben 18, Ben 67, Ben 68 and Ben 74 all be placed into the species Tetrasphaera jenkinsii sp. nov. (type strain Ben 74(T) = DSM 17519(T) = NCIMB 14128(T)), 'Candidatus N. limicola' strain Ben 70 into Tetrasphaera vanveenii sp. nov. (type strain Ben 70(T) = DSM 17518(T) = NCIMB 14127(T)) and 'Candidatus N. limicola' strains Ver 1 and Ver 2 into Tetrasphaera veronensis sp. nov. (type strain Ver 1(T) = DSM 17520(T) = NCIMB 14129(T)).