Improving the calculation of rate of stratification in APROS

APROS (Advanced Process Simulation Environment) is a computer simulation program developed to simulate thermal hydraulic processes in nuclear and conventional power plants. Earlier research at VTT Technological Research Centre of Finland had found the current version of APROS to produce inaccurate simulation results for a certain case of loop seal clearing. The objective of this Master’s thesis is to find and implement an alternative method for calculating the rate of stratification in APROS, which was found to be the reason for the inaccuracies. Brief literature study was performed and a promising candidate for the new method was found. The new method was implemented into APROS and tested against experiments and simulations from two test facilities and the current version of APROS. Simulation results with the new version were partially conflicting; in some cases the new method was more accurate than the current version, in some the current method was better. Overall, the new method can be assessed as an improvement.

The National Digital Library of Finland – Public Interface FINNA

Aki Lassilan esitys IFLA-konferenssissa Helsingissä 14.8.2012.

Design and implementation of robot gripper interface

This thesis presents a design for an asynchronous interface to Robotiq adaptive gripper s-model. Designed interface is a communication layer that works on top of modbus layer. The design contains function definitions, finite state machine and exceptions. The design was not fully implemented but enough was so that it can be used. The implementation was done with c++ in linux environment. Additionally to the implementation a simple demo program was made to show the interface is used. Also grippers closing speed and force were measured. There is also a brief introduction into robotics and robot grasping.

Understanding the in vitro dissolution rate of glasses with respect to future clinical applications

Glass is a unique material with a long history. Several glass products are used daily in our everyday life, often unnoticed. Glass can be found not only in obvious applications such as tableware, windows, and light bulbs, but also in tennis rackets, windmill turbine blades, optical devices, and medical implants. The glasses used at present as implants are inorganic silica-based melt-derived compositions mainly for hard-tissue repair as bone graft substitute in dentistry and orthopedics. The degree of glass reactivity desired varies according to implantation situation and it is vital that the ion release from any glasses used in medical applications is controlled. Understanding the in vitro dissolution rate of glasses provides a first approximation of their behavior in vivo. Specific studies concerning dissolution properties of bioactive glasses have been relatively scarce and mostly concentrated to static condition studies. The motivation behind this work was to develop a simple and accurate method for quantifying the in vitro dissolution rate of highly different types of glass compositions with interest for future clinical applications. By combining information from various experimental conditions, a better knowledge of glass dissolution and the suitability of different glasses for different medical applications can be obtained. Thus, two traditional and one novel approach were utilized in this thesis to study glass dissolution. The chemical durability of silicate glasses was tested in water and TRIS-buffered solution at static and dynamic conditions. The traditional in vitro testing with a TRISbuffered solution under static conditions works well with bioactive or with readily dissolving glasses, and it is easy to follow the ion dissolution reactions. However, in the buffered solution no marked differences between the more durable glasses were observed. The hydrolytic resistance of the glasses was studied using the standard procedure ISO 719. The relative scale given by the standard failed to provide any relevant information when bioactive glasses were studied. However, the clear differences in the hydrolytic resistance values imply that the method could be used as a rapid test to get an overall idea of the biodegradability of glasses. The standard method combined with the ion concentration and pH measurements gives a better estimate of the hydrolytic resistance because of the high silicon amount released from a glass. A sensitive on-line analysis method utilizing inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer and a flow-through micro-volume pH electrode was developed to study the initial dissolution of biocompatible glasses. This approach was found suitable for compositions within a large range of chemical durability. With this approach, the initial dissolution of all ions could be measured simultaneously and quantitatively, which gave a good overall idea of the initial dissolution rates for the individual ions and the dissolution mechanism. These types of results with glass dissolution were presented for the first time during the course of writing this thesis. Based on the initial dissolution patterns obtained with the novel approach using TRIS, the experimental glasses could be divided into four distinct categories. The initial dissolution patterns of glasses correlated well with the anticipated bioactivity. Moreover, the normalized surface-specific mass loss rates and the different in vivo models and the actual in vivo data correlated well. The results suggest that this type of approach can be used for prescreening the suitability of novel glass compositions for future clinical applications. Furthermore, the results shed light on the possible bioactivity of glasses. An additional goal in this thesis was to gain insight into the phase changes occurring during various heat treatments of glasses with three selected compositions. Engineering-type T-T-T curves for glasses 1-98 and 13-93 were stablished. The information gained is essential in manufacturing amorphous porous implants or for drawing of continuous fibers of the glasses. Although both glasses can be hot worked to amorphous products at carefully controlled conditions, 1-98 showed one magnitude greater nucleation and crystal growth rate than 13-93. Thus, 13-93 is better suited than 1-98 for working processes which require long residence times at high temperatures. It was also shown that amorphous and partially crystalline porous implants can be sintered from bioactive glass S53P4. Surface crystallization of S53P4, forming Na2O∙CaO∙2SiO2, was observed to start at 650°C. The secondary crystals of Na2Ca4(PO4)2SiO4, reported for the first time in this thesis, were detected at higher temperatures, from 850°C to 1000°C. The crystal phases formed affected the dissolution behavior of the implants in simulated body fluid. This study opens up new possibilities for using S53P4 to manufacture various structures, while tailoring their bioactivity by controlling the proportions of the different phases. The results obtained in this thesis give valuable additional information and tools to the state of the art for designing glasses with respect to future clinical applications. With the knowledge gained we can identify different dissolution patters and use this information to improve the tuning of glass compositions. In addition, the novel online analysis approach provides an excellent opportunity to further enhance our knowledge of glass behavior in simulated body conditions.

Fusion weld metal solidification:Continuum from weld interface to centerline

We present a brief résumé of the history of solidification research and key factors affecting the solidification of fusion welds. There is a general agreement of the basic solidification theory, albeit differing - even confusing - nomenclatures do exist, and Cases 2 and 3 (the Chalmers' basic boundary conditions for solidification, categorized by Savage as Cases) are variably emphasized. Model Frame, a tool helping to model the continuum of fusion weld solidification from start to end, is proposed. It incorporates the general solidification models, of which the pertinent ones are selected for the actual modeling. The basic models are the main solidification Cases 1…4. These discrete Cases are joined with Sub-Cases: models of Pfann, Flemings and others, bringing needed Sub-Case variables into the model. Model Frame depicts a grain growing from the weld interface to its centerline. Besides modeling, the Model Frame supports education and academic debate. The new mathematical modeling techniques will extend its use into multi-dimensional modeling, introducing new variables and increasing the modeling accuracy. We propose a model: melting/solidification-model (M/S-model) - predicting the solute profile at the start of the solidification of a fusion weld. This Case 3-based Sub-Case takes into account the melting stage, the solute back-diffusion in the solid, and the growth rate acceleration typical to fusion welds. We propose - based on works of Rutter & Chalmers, David & Vitek and our experimental results on copper - that NEGS-EGS-transition is not associated only with cellular-dendritic-transition. Solidification is studied experimentally on pure and doped copper with welding speed range from 0 to 200 cm/min, with one test at 3000 cm/min. Found were only planar and cellular structures, no dendrites - columnar or equiaxed. Cell sub structures: rows of cubic elements we call "cubelettes", "cell-bands" and "micro-cells", as well as an anomalous crack morphology "crack-eye", were detected, as well as microscopic hot crack nucleus we call "grain-lag cracks", caused by a grain slightly lagging behind its neighbors in arrival to the weld centerline. Varestraint test and R-test revealed a change of crack morphologies from centerline cracks to grainand cell boundary cracks with an increasing welding speed. High speed made the cracks invisible to bare eye and hardly detectable with light microscope, while electron microscope often revealed networks of fine micro-cracks.