Micro Welding of Ni-based Alloy Monel 400 Thin Foil by Pulsed Nd:YAG laser

In this study a pulsed Nd:YAG laser was used to join Monel 400 thin foil with 100 mu m thickness. Pulse energy was varied from 1.0 to 2.25J at small increments of 0.25J. The macro and microstructures were analyzed by optical microscopy, tensile shear test and microhardness. Sound laser welds without discontinuities were obtained with 1.5 J pulse energy. Results indicate that using a precise control of the pulse energy, and so a control of the bottom foil dilution rate, it is possible to weld Monel 400 thin foil. The process appeared to be very sensitive to the gap between couples.

Pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding of Ni-alloy Hastelloy C-276 foils

In this study a pulsed Nd:YAG laser was used to join Hastelloy C-276 thin foil with 100 microns thickness. Pulse energy was varied from 1.0 to 2.25 J at small increments of 0.25 J with a 4 ms pulse duration. The macro and microstructures of the welds were analyzed by optical and electronic microscopy, tensile shear test and microhardness. Sound laser welds without discontinuities were obtained with 1.5 J pulse energy. Results indicate that using a precise control of the pulse energy, and so a control of the dilution rate, it is possible to weld Hastelloy C-276 thin foil by pulsed Nd: YAG laser. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B. V. Selection and/or review under responsibility of Bayerisches Laserzentrum GmbH

Fatigue strength: effect of welding type and joint design executed in Ti-6Al-4V structures

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Mechanical Strength and Analysis of Fracture of Titanium Joining Submitted to Laser and Tig Welding

This study compared the tensile strength and fracture mechanism of tungsten inert gas (TIG) welds in cylindrical rods of commercially pure titanium (cp Ti) with those of laser welds and intact samples. Thirty dumbbell-shaped samples were developed by using brass rods as patterns. The samples were invested in casings, subjected to thermal cycles, and positioned in a plasma arc welding machine under argon atmosphere and vacuum, and titanium was injected under vacuum/pressure. The samples were X-rayed to detect possible welding flaws and randomly assigned to three groups to test the tensile strength and the fracture mechanism: intact, laser welding, and TIG welding. The tensile test results were investigated using ANOVA, which indicated that the samples were statistically similar. The fracture analysis showed that the cpTi samples subjected to laser welding exhibited brittle fracture and those subjected to TIG welding exhibited mixed brittle/ductile fracture with a predominance of ductile fracture with the presence of microcavities and cleavage areas. Intact samples presented the characteristic straightening in the fracture areas, indicating the ductility of the material.

Optimisation of a continuous flash fermentation for butanol production using the response surface methodology

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Effect of welding on the microstructure and electrochemical corrosion of Al-Zn-Mg-Fe alloys

The effect of gas tungsten are welding on the microstructure and electrochemical corrosion of Al-Zn-Mg-Fe alloys submitted to different heat treatments (as fabricated, annealed and aged) has been studied using optical microscopy, SEM, TEM, EDX, cyclic voltammetry and corrosion potential measurements in chloride solutions. The electrochemical techniques were very sensitive to the change in the phase compositions produced by welding. Welding caused a decrease in the mean grain size, in the hardness and in the corrosion resistance of the age-hardened alloys. The structure of the latter became strongly altered by welding to lead to phase compositions very close to those of the cold rolled and annealed specimens. (C) 2000 Elsevier B.V. Ltd. All rights reserved.

Stoichiometry unbalance and photoluminescence emission in Ga1-XAsX films prepared by flash evaporation

Both narrow and broad photoluminescence bands were observed in Ga1-XAsX films prepared by flash evaporation of polycrystalline GaAs containing native C impurities. The observed narrow crystalline-like bands are similar to band-to-band and C acceptor impurity emissions in crystalline GaAs. The narrow bands are evidence that the As excess favors the PL active GaAs crystallite formation in films deposited onto silicon (10 0) substrate, even when the As excess is very large (X = 0.84). This favoring is not observed in twin samples grown on silica glass substrates nor on Ga rich samples, indicating the important role of the combined effect of the As excess and Si substrate in the GaAs crystallite formation. The broad amorphous-like bands were observed in Ga rich and in moderately As rich samples. The photoluminescence emission is compared with the microstructure of the material as determined from the micro-Raman, absorption edge and reflectance measurements. The volume fraction of the crystallites formed is small and PL emission indicates that the crystallite electronic quality is much better than the ones formed heat treating films grown on silica glass substrates. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Unbalanced Three-Phase Induction Motors Starting and Arc Welding Machines Short-Circuit Modeling

Three-Phase Induction Motors (TIM) and Arc Welding Machines (AWM) are loads of special behavior widely used in industrial and commercial installations, and therefore may contribute significantly to the deterioration of the quality of energy supplied by utilities. This paper proposes a modeling in constant power of the unbalanced TIM starting using Genetic Algorithm (GA) and AWM short-circuit based on their statics characteristics curves. The proposed models are compared with the conventional models in the literature. The results showed the good performance of the proposed models, allowing a more precise analysis of the real requests of these loads.

Urbach energy parameter of flash evaporated amorphous gallium arsenide films

The dependence of the optical absorption edge on the deposition crucible temperature is used to investigate the electronic states in As-rich a-GaAs flash evaporated films. The Urbach energy parameter, determined from photothermal deflection spectroscopy (PDS), presents large correlated variations with crucible temperature. The optical and electrical results are consistent with the As under coordinated sites being the more important defect in the material. © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

An alternative process for butanol production: Continuous flash fermentation

The objective of this work is to introduce and demonstrate the technical feasibility of the continuous flash fermentation for the production of butanol. The evaluation was carried out through mathematical modeling and computer simulation which is a good approach in such a process development stage. The process consists of three interconnected units, as follows: the fermentor, the cell retention system (tangential microfiltration) and the vacuum flash vessel (responsible for the continuous recovery of butanol from the broth). The efficiency of this process was experimentally validated for the ethanol fermentation, whose main results are also shown. With the proposed design the concentration of butanol in the fermentor was lowered from 11.3 to 7.8 g/l, which represented a significant reduction in the inhibitory effect. As a result, the final concentration of butanol was 28.2 g/l for a broth with 140 g/l of glucose. Solvents productivity and yield were, respectively, 11.7 g/l.h and 33.5 % for a sugar conversion of 95.6 %. Positive aspects about the flash fermentation process are the solvents productivity, the use of concentrated sugar solution and the final butanol concentration. The last two features can be responsible for a meaningful reduction in the distillation costs and result in environmental benefits due to lower quantities of wastewater generated by the process. © 2008 Berkeley Electronic Press. All rights reserved.

Dynamics of a continuous flash fermentation for butanol production

The ABE (acetone, butanol, ethanol) fermentation is characterized by its low productivity. In this paper, this issue is overcome with an innovative industrial process that employs the flash fermentation technology. The process consists of three interconnected units, as follows: fermentor, cell retention system (tangential microfiltration) and vacuum flash vessel (responsible for the continuous recovery of butanol from the broth). The dynamic behaviour of the process is described by a nonlinear mathematical model with kinetic parameters determined experimentally. From simulations of the mathematical model the dynamic characteristics of the process were investigated. Analyzes of the open-loop dynamic behavior of the process, after step perturbations in the manipulated variables, determined the best control structures for the process. Copyright © 2010, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.