Orientation relationship in Eurofer martensitic steels

Both TEM and SEM/EBSD orientation measurements are carried out on a Eurofer97 martensitic steel. The influence of the prior austenitic grain size is studied using dedicated heat treatments. The intra laths misorientation is estimated by TEM. SEM/EBSD orientation mapping enable to study the actual orientation relationship (OR) between the parent austenitic phase and the martensitic phase. Neither the Nishiyama–Wasserman nor the Kurdjumov–Sachs OR is able to account for both the misorientation angle distributions, the pole figure and the misorientation axes measured. The mixed OR recently proposed by Gourgues et al. (Electron backscattering diffraction study of acicular ferrite, bainite, and martensite steel microstructures, Mater. Sci. Tech. 16 (2000), pp. 26–40.) and Sonderegger et al. (Martensite laths in creep resistant martensitic 9–12%Cr steels – Calculation and measurement of misorientations, Mater. Characterization (2006), in Press.) seems to be able to account for most of these results. Based on this OR, a new angular criterion is proposed to detect blocks of laths.     

Flow-induced vibration in two-phase flow with wire coil inserts

Information of flow-induced vibration (FIV) in two-phase flow with wire coil inserts at atmospheric pressure, is presented in this study. FIV was measured in an upward vertical tube for four different wire coil inserts using an air–water mixture as process fluid. Vibration increased along with mass flux and quality. The narrower wire coils produced more vibration. The FIV prediction correlation for two-phase flow with wire coil inserts was experimentally developed with coefficient correlation value of 0.956.     

Molecular deformation mechanisms of isotactic polypropylene in α‐ and β‐crystal forms by FTIR spectroscopy

The orientation behavior of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) in α‐ and β‐crystal form was investigated by rheo‐optical Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. This method enabled quantification of the degree of orientation as a feature of structural changes during uniaxial elongation in not only the crystalline phase but also the amorphous one. Molecular orientation mechanisms can be successfully derived from experimental results. Generally, three mechanisms were detected for iPP: (1) interlamellar separation in the amorphous phase, (2) interlamellar slip and lamellar twisting at small elongations, and (3) intralamellar slip at high elongations. The third mechanism was favored by α‐PP, whereas β‐PP favored the second mechanism, which, in fact, was responsible for the different mechanical properties of both materials at the macroscopic level. On the other hand, crystallization conditions may have significantly affected the amorphous orientation. Nevertheless, for both iPP types the chains in the amorphous phase always oriented less than did those in the crystalline phase. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 4478–4488, 2004     

Nano‐hydroxyapatite/polyamide66 composite tissue‐engineering scaffolds with anisotropy in morphology and mechanical behaviors

Based on a biomimetic conception, nano‐hydroxyapatite (n‐HA)/polyamide66 (PA66) composite scaffolds were prepared with anisotropic properties both in morphology and mechanical behavior. A novel improved thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) technique was developed to generate orientation‐structured scaffolds for tissue engineering. The physiochemical, morphological, and mechanical properties of the resultant scaffolds were evaluated. According to the results, the improved TIPS method exhibited good processability and reproducibility and enabled the composite scaffolds to have a high content of inorganic fillers. The morphological study proved that the n‐HA/PA66 scaffolds exhibited unidirectional microtubular architecture with high porosity (ca. 80–85%) and an optimal pore size ranging from 200 to 500 μm. Besides, the effect of n‐HA content on the morphology of the scaffolds was studied, and the results indicated that the obtained scaffolds presented an improvement in anisotropic morphology with increase of n‐HA content. The anisotropy was also evaluated in the mechanical properties of the scaffolds, that is, the longitudinal compressive strength and modulus were ～1.5 times of the transverse ones. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 658–669, 2009     

Molecular orientation and mechanical anisotropy of polypropylene sheet containing N,N′‐dicyclohexyl‐2,6‐naphthalenedicarboxamide

Effect of mixing and processing conditions at T‐die extrusion on the structure and mechanical properties is studied for isotactic polypropylene (PP) containing a small amount of β‐form nucleating agent, N,N′‐dicyclohexyl‐2,6‐naphthalenedicarboxamide. It is found that trigonal β crystals are predominantly formed in the extruded samples containing the nucleating agent irrespective of the mixing and processing conditions, leading to the marked mechanical toughness. On the contrary, the molecular orientation is significantly affected by the mixing and processing conditions. In particular, it should be noted that PP molecules in the extruded sheet which was mixed at high temperature (260 °C) and extruded at low temperature (200 °C) orient perpendicular to the applied flow direction. As a result, the sheet shows anomalous mechanical anisotropy. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 47: 424–433, 2009     

Generalizing Mutational Equations for Uniqueness of Some Nonlocal 1st-Order Geometric Evolutions

The mutational equations of Aubin extend ordinary differential equations to metric spaces (with compact balls). In first-order geometric evolutions, however, the topological boundary need not be continuous in the sense of Painlevé–Kuratowski. So this paper suggests a generalization of Aubin’s mutational equations that extends classical notions of dynamical systems and functional analysis beyond the traditional border of vector spaces: Distribution-like solutions are introduced in a set just supplied with a countable family of (possibly non-symmetric) distance functions. Moreover their existence is proved by means of Euler approximations and a form of “weak” sequential compactness (although no continuous linear forms are available beyond topological vector spaces). This general framework is applied to a first-order geometric example, i.e. compact subsets of ℝ ^N evolving according to the nonlocal properties of both the current set and its proximal normal cones. Here neither regularity assumptions about the boundaries nor the inclusion principle are required. In particular, we specify sufficient conditions for the uniqueness of these solutions.      

Modeling the mechanical properties of highly oriented polymer films: A fiber/gel composite theory approach

Controlling the extent of orientation is of great interest in polymer processing and is effected by the choice of polymer, the fabrication technique and the processing conditions. Understanding the crystalline transitions that form highly oriented fibrils is necessary for modeling the changes in physical properties, relative to degree of orientation. A model is proposed to describe the mechanical properties of drawn semicrystalline polymer films based on structural transitions. With a minimal amount of experimental data (requiring testing on only two drawn films samples), this model can be used to predict film properties. These properties include the critical and maximum draw ratios, the moduli at the maximum draw ratio, the moduli of the fiber, the modulus of the nonfibrous gel relative to draw ratio, the volume fraction of fibers, and the rate of fibrillation. Where high degrees of uniaxial orientation are required, the polymer is typically drawn in the solid state, meaning the polymer is stretched in a single direction at temperatures below the melting point. During this process, pre‐existing crystallites are transformed into fiber‐like structures with large aspect ratios. The presence of these rigid asymmetric structures significantly enhances the moduli and break strength of the polymer. This work presents a model that describes the formation of fiber‐like structures. The volume fraction of fibers is predicted to be linear in draw ratio. The derived relationship between volume fraction of fibers and draw ratio can then be used for the prediction of the various properties of the oriented film. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 46: 607–618, 2008     

Minimally non-Pfaffian graphs

We consider the question of characterizing Pfaffian graphs. We exhibit an infinite family of non-Pfaffian graphs minimal with respect to the matching minor relation. This is in sharp contrast with the bipartite case, as Little [C.H.C. Little, A characterization of convertible (0,1)-matrices, J. Combin. Theory Ser. B 18 (1975) 187–208] proved that every bipartite non-Pfaffian graph contains a matching minor isomorphic to K_3,3. We relax the notion of a matching minor and conjecture that there are only finitely many (perhaps as few as two) non-Pfaffian graphs minimal with respect to this notion.We define Pfaffian factor-critical graphs and study them in the second part of the paper. They seem to be of interest as the number of near perfect matchings in a Pfaffian factor-critical graph can be computed in polynomial time. We give a polynomial time recognition algorithm for this class of graphs and characterize non-Pfaffian factor-critical graphs in terms of forbidden central subgraphs.