Surface remelting of 316 L + 434 L sintered steel: microstructure and corrosion resistance

This study presents arc surface remelting of three types of sintered stainless steels carried out in order to constitute a homogeneous microstructure in the surface layer which is free from open and interconnected porosity. The main aim of this treatment was to improve functional properties of the sinters analysed, especially their resistance to pitting corrosion. The sinters were obtained from powders of 316 L and 434 L steels. The PM austenitic-ferritic stainless steels are used mainly in the automotive industry, but their general application is still limited due to relatively poor corrosion properties when compared to casts or wrought components. This study used the gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) process as a method of economical surface treatment. The effect of surface treatment was evaluated based on macro- and microstructural observations, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) analysis, X-ray phase analysis, measurements of surface roughness and electrochemical examinations. It was found that a cellular or mixed cellular and dendritic structure was formed in the remelted zone of the sinters after remelting. X-ray analysis demonstrated that application of remelting contributes to formation of the austenitic phase in the surface layer. The corrosion resistance of the remelted surface layers was evaluated using polarization tests in 0.5 M NaCl solution. It was found that arc surface remelted layers exhibit much better anticorrosive properties than sinters without surface treatment. Microstructural observations of the surface of specimens after electrochemical tests showed only a few single pits in the remelted layer, while the surface of initial sinters was much more corroded.     

Growth,entropy and commutativity of algebras satisfying prescribed relations

In 1964, Golod and Shafarevich found that, provided that the number of relations of each degree satisfies some bounds, there exist infinitely dimensional algebras satisfying the relations. These algebras are called Golod–Shafarevich algebras. This paper provides bounds for the growth function on images of Golod–Shafarevich algebras based upon the number of defining relations. This extends results from Smoktunowicz and Bartholdi (Q J Math. doi:10.1093/qmath/hat005 2013) and Smoktunowicz (J Algebra 381:116–130, 2013). Lower bounds of growth for constructed algebras are also obtained, permitting the construction of algebras with various growth functions of various entropies. In particular, the paper answers a question by Drensky (A private communication, 2013) by constructing algebras with subexponential growth satisfying given relations, under mild assumption on the number of generating relations of each degree. Examples of nil algebras with neither polynomial nor exponential growth over uncountable fields are also constructed, answering a question by Zelmanov (2013). Recently, several open questions concerning the commutativity of algebras satisfying a prescribed number of defining relations have arisen from the study of noncommutative singularities. Additionally, this paper solves one such question, posed by Donovan and Wemyss (Noncommutative deformations and flops, ArXiv:1309.0698v2 [math.AG]).