Load capacity of single-lap adhesive joints made of 2024-T3 aluminium alloy sheets after shot peening

The goal of the work reported was to determine the influence of selected shot peening parameters on the deflection of the Almen strip and the load capacity of single-lap adhesive joints made of 2-mm-thick aluminium alloy EN AW-2024-T3. Moreover, the research was aimed at checking the possibility of using the Almen strip deflection indicator to predict the load capacity of adhesive joints after shot peening. The analysis was carried out according to Hartley’s PS/DS-P:Ha3 plan. The input factors were the shot peening parameters: treatment time t (60–180 s), ball diameter dk (0.5–1.5 mm) and compressed air pressure p (0.3–0.5 MPa). It has been proved in this work that shot peening treatment of the outer surface of single-lap adhesive joints can be used to strengthen the joint. The maximum increase in the load capacity of the shot peened joints was 33.4%. It was observed that the load capacity of the joints decreases with an increase in the deflection of the Almen strip (in the assumed area of variability of technological parameters). Moreover, the results obtained indicate that the adoption of too intensive treatment, manifested in high values of deflection of the Almen strip, may weaken single-lap adhesive joints.

Embedding a Membrane Protein into an Enveloped Artificial Viral Replica

Natural enveloped viruses, in which nucleocapsids are covered with lipid bilayers, contain membrane proteins on the outer surface that are involved in diverse functions, such as adhesion and infection of...

Preliminary Study of Using Colloidal SiO2@ZrO2 Particles in Recovering Actinides from Water and Immobilizing them in a Glass-Ceramic

Actinides, which are toxic for humans, increased their presence in the hydrosphere over the last 80 years. Though actinide recovery from water and immobilization for safe storage is technically feasible, it remains a complex process. Herein, we preliminary studied SiO2@ZrO2 in recovering actinides from water and trapping them in a glass-ceramic upon thermal treatment. To simplify our experimental work, we surrogated radioactive actinides with stable cerium. In the first part of the work, we tested SiO2@ZrO2's ability to recover Ce from water in batch systems. Then, we thermally treated SiO2@ZrO2 with Ce to form a glass-ceramic. All batch experiments showed that SiO2@ZrO2 removes Ce from water. Moreover, all experiments show that SiO2@ZrO2 with Ce converts into a glass-ceramic upon thermal treatment. When heated up to 1000 °C, particles remained spherical, and Ce remained trapped within the structure of crystalline spheroids located between the outer surface and a 50 nm depth. When heated up to 1450 °C, sintering produced bigger particles than the original colloid, and Ce remained trapped within the structure of crystalline spheroids having a broad size distribution located everywhere in the particles.

Flesh of pumpkin from ecological farming as part of fruit suitable for non-destructive cultivar classification using computer vision

The aim of this study was to build the discriminative models for distinguishing the different cultivars of flesh of pumpkin ‘Bambino’, ‘Butternut’, ‘Uchiki Kuri’ and ‘Orange’ based on selected textures of the outer surface of images of cubes. The novelty of research involved the use of about 2000 different textures for one image. The highest total accuracy (98%) of discrimination of pumpkin ‘Bambino’, ‘Butternut’, ‘Uchiki Kuri’ and ‘Orange’ was determined for models built based on textures selected from the color space Lab and the IBk classifier and some of the individual cultivars were classified with the correctness of 100%. The total accuracy of up to 96% was observed for color space RGB and 97.5% for color space XYZ. In the case of color channels, the total accuracies reached 91% for channel b, 89.5% for channel X, 89% for channel Z.

A Numerical Study on the Effects of the Geometry and Location of an Inserted Wire on Methane–Air Flames in a Micro–Burner

The effects of the diameter and location of an inserted wire on methane–air flame characteristics in a micro-burner, with a backward-facing step, were investigated numerically. Our goal was to shed light on the parameters that the authors had not already considered in the previous study. To do so, the effects of the studied parameters on the flame location and distribution of temperature, H, and OH species, were scrutinized. It was shown that increasing the inserted wire’s diameter and relocating the inserted wire towards the outlet had polynomial and linear effects on the flame location in the burner, respectively. Although changing these two parameters did not have any obvious effects on the maximum temperature of the auxiliary axis in the burner or the external wall, effects on the peak values of the hot-flame critical chemical species of OH and H were recognized. Furthermore, it was shown that the temperature distribution on the outer surface of the burner was more influenced by the wire’s axial location in the burner, rather than the wire’s diameter. This effect may be of interest for designing micro-TPVs or micro-TEGs.

Persistent Anti- Borrelia IgM Antibodies without Lyme Borreliosis in the Clinical and Immunological Context

The reactivity of human IgM with the outer surface protein C (OspC) of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato is frequently used to detect Borrelia specific IgM in commercial immunoassays, and such antibodies usually occur in the early phase of the infection. We identified a group of individuals with persistent Borrelia IgM without symptoms of Lyme borreliosis.

ATTEMPT TO IMPROVE THE OPERATING AND TECHNOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF THE COMBINED GRAIN WASHING MACHINE

Washing machines are used in the production lines of grain cleaning departments of flour mills for thorough cleaning of the grain surface, in particular, its grooves from the remnants of organic and mineral dust, microorganisms and mold. In addition, the grain mass during washing is cleaned of hydrodynamically light and heavy impurities - chaff, seeds of waste plants, straw fragments, mineral particles in the form of sand, small stones, lumps of earth, as well as spores and wormwood seeds. At the same time, foreign odors of grain disappear.Experience in the operation of Ж9-БМА machines shows that along with many advantages, they have some disadvantages. In particular, the productivity of the machine 10 t / h does not correspond to the productivity of the conjugated technological equipment of the production line, and the specific water consumption for washing grain is 1.8… 2.0 l / kg, which is too much in modern conditions of acute shortage of drinking water. Enterprises to abandon the use of washing machines. In addition, certain problems and inconveniences are caused by the design of the sieve shell of the impression column. Stamped sieves with scaly asymmetric holes have a low coefficient of living cross section, which complicates the process of dehydration of washed grain, quickly corrode and rub, require special attention during installation or replacement. Therefore, an attempt is made to eliminate these shortcomings.In particular, the reduction of water consumption is achieved due to the elimination of the grain hydraulic conveyor during its transfer from the washing bath to the pressure column. For this purpose, a device for mechanical overloading of grain by a rotary bucket device located within the alloy chamber is used. At the same time, attention was paid to the separation of light organic impurities from the grain. This decision needs further explanation.The functional diagram shows that the initial grain mixture enters the receiving device, which feeds it with a minimum vertical speed into the ascending water streams created by the screws of two grain augers rotating with the same frequency in the opposite direction. The augers pick up the grain and, keeping it afloat in a suspended state, mix it with the water of the washing bath. At the same time the grain is washed and particles are separated from it, which differ from it in terms of density: mineral impurities begin to sink, fall down and through the longitudinal slit in the auger trough fall into the area of the auger for mineral impurities. This auger transports the "stones" in the opposite direction to the funnel with the ejector of the hydrotransporter of mineral particles. Light impurities, during the transportation of grain by grain augers, float to the surface of the water, the level of which in the washing bath is maintained up to the axis of the augers. Together with grain and water, these impurities are pushed out of the bath into the alloy chamber.In the chamber, in the transverse direction, a pipe with a longitudinal absorption slot is installed, the lower edge of which is immersed in water so that the upper layer of water merges into this slot together with light impurities that have surfaced in the washing bath. The amount of water that fuses light impurities can be adjusted by the depth of immersion in water of the lower edge of the absorption hole. To do this, the pipe is rotated relative to its axis with a special handle with a clamp and a pointing scale. One end of the pipe is closed by a plug, and the other passes through a hole in the wall and drains the water with light impurities into the sink sump. The described device provides almost complete removal of light impurities and minimal consumption of floating water. This solution is in the invention according to the copyright certificate 701708404, developed by specialists of the department TOZV. In addition, certain problems and inconveniences are caused by the design of the sieve shell of the squeezing column. Dirt particles tend to stick to the outer surface of the sieve cylinder and block its holes. This can slow down and even stop the separation of water by centrifugation. Therefore, the upper outer surface of the cylinder is washed with water, which in automatic mode is periodically fed to the sieve by the control device and the solenoid valve. It also saves water.