Correction: Steer et al. A Comparison of Laboratory Coal Testing with the Blast Furnace Process and Coal Injection. Metals 2021, 11, 1476

The authors wish to make the following corrections to this paper [...]

Salt Heat Treatment and Passivation to Improve the Corrosion Resistance of Nitinol (Ni-Ti)

Corrosion of nitinol (NiTi) is a major factor in the failure of implantable materials. Recently, as the importance of corrosion of metals has increased, testing according to international guidelines is essential. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the corrosion resistance of NiTi wire through heat treatment and passivation process. In this study, NiTi wire used two commercially available products and a self-manufactured stent. Experimental consideration was carried out according to ASTM standards. Heat treatment was carried out in an air or a salt furnace, and the corrosion was measured after additional process, such as passivation and scratch tests. As a result, the metal potential was rapidly decreased in the air furnace group. On the other hand, the potential of wires was dramatically increased in the salt furnace group compared to the air furnace group. The dislocation decreased below the acceptance criteria (>600 mV) within 60 s of heat treatment time in the air furnace. Moreover, the potential was dramatically improved, even after only 20 min of passivation treatment (1076 mV, 442% compared to the non-passivated group), and it continued to rise until 180 min. This phenomenon was similarly observed in the group of self-manufactured stents. The potential slightly decreased by the scratch process (93.1%) was significantly reduced by the air furnace process (315 mV, 24.4% of the nontreated group). In the passivated group of the air furnace sample with reduced potential, the potential was restored to the level before the air furnace (scratch stage) (1032 mV). In conclusion, the heat treatment is preferably carried out in a salt furnace rather than an air furnace, and the passivation process can be an advantageous tool to improve corrosion resistance by suppressing the oxidation process.

Simulation of thermal processes of shaft plasma furnace for waste gasification

Mathematical modeling of a part of a mine plasma electric furnace for waste gasification is presented. In model calculations, the study of the effect of additional resistive heating as an in-furnace process of drying waste was carried out. In the course of modeling, the electrical resistance of the waste at natural moisture was taken into account. A study was carried out to identify the uniform release of energy inside the waste batch in the drying zone with different connections of the electrodes and the type of current.

Microstructure and Corrosion Resistance of Fe-Cr-Si Alloys

Fe-Cr-Si alloys material has good abrasion resistance, corrosion resistance and high-temperature oxidation resistance, especially the introduction of Si element can further improve its corrosion resistance. In this work, two Fe-Cr-Si alloys with different Si (10wt. % and 12wt. %) contents were designed and prepared by an arc furnace process. The microstructure and corrosion resistance of Fe-Cr-Si alloys were investigated. Results has shown that the Fe-Cr-Si alloys are composed of primary dendrite and interdendrite matrix, and metal silicide Fe3Si formed in the microstructure. Fe-Cr-Si alloys have a wider passivation interval than 2Cr13 stainless steel and the corrosion resistance of the Fe-Cr-Si alloys increased by more than 20 times in 10%HCl solution compare to 2Cr13 stainless steel.\

Comparative Study of High-Temperature Annealed and RTA Process β-Ga2O3 Thin Film by Sol–Gel Process

As a wide energy band gap semiconductor, a Ga2O3 thin film was prepared by the sol–gel process with different annealing processes. Since Ga2O3 is a type of metal oxide structure, an oxygen annealing process can be considered to remove oxygen defects. An effective oxygen annealing process can help form a β-Ga2O3 structure with reduced defects. In this study, different types of annealing effects for β-Ga2O3 were investigated and compared. An electric furnace process using thermal effect characteristics of and an Rapid Thermal Annealing (RTA) process applied with an infrared radiation light source were compared. Two and 4 h thermal annealing processes were conducted at 900 °C in the furnace. Meanwhile, to study the optical annealing effects, 2 h furnace at 900 °C + 15 min in rapid thermal annealing and only 15 min in rapid thermal annealing effects were compared, respectively. Through increasing the thermal annealing temperature and time, β-Ga2O3 can be formed even though a sol–gel process was employed in this experiment. An annealing temperature of at least 900 °C was required to form β-Ga2O3 thin film. Moreover, by introducing an RTA process just after the spinning process of thin film, a β-Ga2O3 thin film was formed on the sapphire substrates. Compared with the electric furnace process applied for 2 h, the RTA process performed in 15 min has a relatively short process time and results in similar structural and optical characteristics of a thin film. From the X-ray diffraction patterns and UV spectrometer analysis, optically annealed β-Ga2O3 thin films on the sapphire substrate showed a highly crystalized structure with a wide energy band gap of 4.8 eV.