Melt-compounded nanocomposites of titanium dioxide atomic-layer-deposition-coated polyamide and polystyrene powders

Polyamide and polystyrene particles were coated with titanium dioxide films by atomic layer deposition (ALD) and then melt-compounded to form polymer nanocomposites. The rheological properties of the ALD-created nanocomposite materials were characterized with a melt flow indexer, a melt flow spiral mould, and a rotational rheometer. The results suggest that the melt flow properties of polyamide nanocomposites were markedly better than those of pure polyamide and polystyrene nanocomposites. Such behavior was shown to originate in an uncontrollable decrease in the polyamide molecular weight, likely affected by a high thin-film impurity content, as shown in gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy-dispersive spectrometer. Transmission electron microscope image showed that a thin film grew on both studied polymer particles, and that subsequent melt-compounding was successful, producing well dispersed ribbon-like titanium dioxide with the titanium dioxide filler content ranging from 0.06 to 1.12wt%. Even though we used nanofillers with a high aspect ratio, they had only a minor effect on the tensile and flexural properties of the polystyrene nanocomposites. The mechanical behavior of polyamide nanocomposites was more complex because of the molecular weight degradation. Our approach here to form polymeric nanocomposites is one way to tailor ceramic nanofillers and form homogenous polymer nanocomposites with minimal work-related risks in handling powder form nanofillers. However, further research is needed to gauge the commercial potential of ALD-created nanocomposite materials. Copyright (C) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Deformation of titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V under dynamic compression

Deformation localisation is the main reason for material failure in cold forging of titanium alloys and is thus closely related to the production yield of cold forging. In the study of the influence of process parameters on dynamic compression, considering material constitutive behaviour, physical parameters and process parameters, a numerical dynamic compression model for titanium alloys has been constructed. By adjusting the process parameters, the severity of strain localisation and stress state in the localised zone can be controlled thus enhancing the compression performance of titanium alloys.

Three-dimensional electron number densities in a titanium PLD plasma using interferometry

Interferometry has been used to investigate the spatio-temporal evolution of the electron number density in the initial stages of expansion following 248 nm ablation of a titanium target. Three-dimensional electron number densities are obtained from an interferogram of the plasma plume using the Abel inversion technique.

Microscopy of heat treated titanium alloy BT16

Metallographic characterisation is combined with statistical analysis to study the microstructure of a BT16 titanium alloy after different heat treatment processes. It was found that the length, width and aspect ratio of α plates in this alloy follow the three-parameter Weibull distribution. Increasing annealing temperature or time causes the probability distribution of the length and the width of α plates to tend toward a normal distribution. The phase transformation temperature of the BT16 titanium alloy was found to be 875±5°C.