Iranian Journal of Materials Science and Engineering

In the present investigation, A356-TiB₂/TiC composites with a various weight fractions (0, 2.5, 5 and 7.5%) were synthesized through a K₂TiF₆-KBF₄-Graphite (C) reaction system. Formation of TiB₂ and TiC particulates and their distribution are confirmed by various characterization techniques. The tensile properties such as ultimate strength, yield strength, young's modulus and percentage of elongation in addition to their failure behavior of these composites were studied at ambiance and high temperatures (100, 200 and 300⁰C). The increment in the volume fraction of the composite raises the hardness and the enhancement of hardness was reported up to 49% at 7.5% reinforced composite due to the strengthening effect. The density and porosity of fabricated composites were investigated. The rise in volume fraction of reinforcement phase declines the density and increase the porosity of composites. Further, the ultimate strength, yield strength, young's modulus is declining by raising the temperature. Result analysis illustrates that the 7.5% reinforced composite retaining the ultimate strength up to 84.4% and the ductility is raised by 27% at 300⁰C. Yield strength and young's modulus are also retained 74.31% and 71.09% respectively at the similar material and experimental conditions. The fracture surface analysis of the composites illustrates that, the ductile nature of failure appearance microscopically with the formation of fine dimples and voids on fracture surface at elevated temperatures. Cleavage facets and tear crumples observation indicates the brittle kind of failure at the ambient temperature. Findings from the experimental study provide the tensile behavior of the composites at the regular working temperature of the automobile engine piston.

In this study, Si-modified aluminide coating on nickel-base superalloy IN-738LC was prepared using a pack cementation method with various powder compositions at 1050 °C for 6 h. The cyclic oxidation test was conducted at 1000 °C followed by cooling at room temperature for 200 h and 20 cycles. The effect of powder composition and the way of cooling on the coatings microstructure and oxidation behavior were studied. Investigations carried out using a scanning electron microscope (SEM), EDS analysis, and XRD. Microstructural observations revealed that the coating thickness of 293 and 274 µm was achieved in the case of using pure Al and Si powder and alloyed Al-20wt.%Si one in the packed mixture, respectively. It was also found that utilizing pure Al and Si powder with NH₄Cl as an activator in the pack led to the formation of silicide coating, owing to the higher diffusion of Si, which showed superior cyclic oxidation performance.

Heat transfer in foams consists of conduction through solid and gaseous phases, convection within the cells as well as radiation through the whole medium. Radiation thermal conduction affects the overall thermal conductivity by 40% in a high porosity. Therefore, the investigation of that term seems to be necessary. Radiation thermal conduction depends on the extinction coefficient which its determination is experimentally complex. In this study, this coefficient is theoretically estimated using Glicksman model for polyolefin foams and is verified in comparison with the experimental data. Extinction coefficient which plays an effective role in the radiation thermal conduction depends on the morphological properties including foam and solid densities, cell and strut diameters. The results demonstrate that the radiation thermal conduction decreases by reducing cell size and increasing foam density and strut diameter. An L₂₅ orthogonal array of Taguchi approach is used for optimization of radiation thermal conduction respect to foam density, cell and strut diameters as variable parameters. The analysis of variance results illuminate that foam density and cell diameter with 58 and 32% contribution are the most effective parameters on the radiation thermal conduction, respectively. At optimum conditions according to the prediction tool of Taguchi approach, the radiation thermal conduction significantly decreases to 1.0908 mW/mK.

Low-grade iron ores contain many impurities and are difficult to upgrade to make appropriate concentrates for the blast furnace (BF) or direct reduction (DR) technologies. In this study, the beneficiation of an Oolitic-iron ore (containing 45.46wt% Fe₂O₃) with magnetization roasting by non-coking coal (containing 62.1wt% fixed carbon) under a stream of argon gas was investigated. Then, a 2500 Gaussian magnet was used for dry magnetic separation method. The effects of roasting time, ore particle size and reaction temperature on the amount of separated part and grade of the product were examined. It was found out that the hematite inside of ore could almost be completely converted into magnetite by stoichiometric ratio of coal to ore at the roasting temperature of 625 °C for 25 min. Under the optimum condition, a high amount of magnetic part of the product (72.22 wt%) with a grade of 92.7% was separated. The most important point in this process was prevention of reduced ore from re-oxidation reaction by controlling roasting atmosphere, time and temperature. In addition, different analytical methods such as X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential thermal analysis (DTA), thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were applied to investigate and expound the results.

The influence of melt superheating treatment on the solidification characteristics and microstructure of Al–20%Mg₂Si in-situ composite has been investigated. The results revealed that melt superheating temperature has a significant effect on solidification parameters and morphology of primary Mg₂Si particles. Solidification parameters acquired using cooling curve thermal analysis method, indicate that both nucleation temperature and nucleation undercooling of primary Mg₂Si particles increase by increasing melt superheating temperature, while recalescence undercooling decrease under the same condition. Also, based on the microstructural evaluations, melt superheating treatment can refine primary Mg₂Si particles and alter their morphology from dendritic shape to more spherical shape and the eutectic microstructure of a-Al + Mg₂Si becomes finer and the distance between eutectic layers becomes smaller.
 

The effect of pouring temperature while preparing Al SiC metal matrix composites, with additional benefits of magnesium and copper through stir casting technique were investigated. The composites were fabricated by mixing 12 wt% of SiC reinforcements, 4 wt% magnesium and 2 wt% copper into 6061 aluminium alloy melt at different pouring temperatures (630 ºC, 670 ºC and 710ºC). The addition of magnesium will enhance the wettability of the SiC particles with Al matrix and subsequently increase its interface bonding strength. The inclusion of copper has considerable improvement in strength and hardness of the composite. The microstructure and mechanical properties (tensile strength and hardness) of the Al MMC are evaluated with the corresponding processing parameter, specifically pouring temperature of the cast composite. The metallurgical characterization utilizing optical and scanning electron microscope were observed for the prepared composites. The coarse microstructure and homogenous distribution of alloying elements along with SiC particles were appeared within dendrite structures of the Al SiC composites. The SiC particles has effectively distributed and produced better bonding strength in composites prepared with 670ºC pouring temperature. Higher tensile strength and maximum hardness have occurred in composite at pouring temperature of 670ºC as compared to other composites. The mechanical properties were lower in composites prepared using lesser pouring temperature (630ºC) and significantly decreased for higher pouring temperature (710ºC) of the composites.
 

In this paper, chemically-crosslinked gelatin/chitosan hydrogels containg zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZNPs), were loaded with curcumin (CUR), and their microstructural features, physical properties, curcumin entrapment efficiency, and drug release kinetics were evaluated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the liquid displacement method, and UV–Vis spectroscopy. The in vitro kinetics of drug release was also studied using First-order, Korsmeyer-Peppas, Hixon-Crowell, and Higuchi kinetic models. The SEM micrographs confirmed the formation of highly porous structures possessing well-defined, interconnected pore geometries. A significant reduction in the average pore sizes of the drug-loaded hydrogels was observed with the addition of ZNPs and CUR to the bare hydrogels. High value of drug loading efficiency (~ 72 %) and maximum drug release of about 50 % were obtained for the drug-loaded scaffolds. It was found that curcumin was transported via the non-Fickian diffusion mechanism. It was also shown that the kinetics of curcumin release was best described in order by Hixon-Crowell, Higuchi, and Korsmeyer-Peppas models, demonstrating that drug release was controlled by diffusion, degradation, and swelling of the drug carrier. However, lower degree of fitting was observed with First-order kinetic model.

It has long been thought-provoking and challenging as well for researchers to design and produce a special low-modulus β titanium alloy such as Ti‐35Nb‐7Zr‐5Ta, representing optimal mechanical properties that is needed to successfully simulate bone tissue. In order to identify the key effects of processing pathways on the development of microstructure, Young’s modulus, and strength, a nominal Ti-35Nb-7Zr-5Ta alloy was made via casting, hot forging, homogenizing, cold rolling and finally annealing. Results from tensile test alongside microscopic and XRD analysis confirm the importance influence of processing method on fully β phase microstructure, low elastic modulus and high strength of the alloy. The specimen with post-deformation annealing at 500 °C demonstrated the Young’s modulus of 49.8 GPa, yield strength of 780 MPa and ultimate tensile strength of 890 MPa, all of which are incredibly close to that of bone, hence suitable for orthopedic implants. At temperature above 500 °C, a sharp fall was observed in the mechanical properties.