Resolidification of a mushy-zone and directional solidification: a method for efficient alloy development demonstrated using the example of Cu–Ga–Sn

An experimental method for alloy development that allows to systematically scan multicomponent alloy systems is presented using the Cu–Ga–Sn system as an example. Rods with homogeneous concentration distribution of different initial compositions are annealed in a steep temperature gradient with temperatures in the range from above liquidus to below solidus temperature. During resolidification of the initially formed mushy-zone, a continuously varying composition over the length of the rods develops. Further concentration gradients of the alloying elements are generated during subsequent directional solidification. The graded samples are evaluated for different properties. Vickers hardness as a function of composition was measured along the length of the samples to get first information on the mechanical behavior of bulk samples. The melting range of selected compositions (cylindrical disks of 1 mm thickness cut out of the rods) was determined by differential scanning calorimetry and compared to liquidus temperatures extrapolated from the binary systems with a fitting method and the Calphad method. With the procedure introduced here, it is possible to determine several alloy properties over an extended composition range of a multicomponent system with significantly reduced experimental effort.

Early C. elegans embryos modulate cell division timing to compensate for, and survive, the discordant conditions of a severe temperature gradient

Despite a constant barrage of intrinsic and environmental noise, embryogenesis is remarkably reliable, suggesting the existence of systems that ensure faithful execution of this complex process. We report that early C. elegans embryos, which normally show a highly reproducible lineage and cellular geometry, can compensate for deviations imposed by the discordant conditions of a steep temperature gradient generated in a microfluidic device starting at the two-cell stage. Embryos can survive a gradient of up to 7.5°C across the 50-micron axis through at least three rounds of division. This response is orientation-dependent: survival is higher when the normally faster-dividing anterior daughter of the zygote, AB, but not its sister, the posterior P1, is warmer. We find that temperature-dependent cellular division rates in the early embryo can be effectively modeled by a modification of the Arrhenius equation. Further, both cells respond to the gradient by dramatically reducing division rates compared to the predicted rates for the temperature experienced by the cell even though the temperature extremes are well within the range for normal development. This finding suggests that embryos may sense discordance and slow development in response. We found that in the cohort of surviving embryos, the cell on the warmer side at the two-cell stage shows a greater average decrease in expected division rate than that on the cooler side, thereby preserving the normal cellular geometry of the embryo under the discordant conditions. A diminished average slow-down response correlated with lethality, presumably owing to disruption of normal division order and developmental fidelity. Remarkably, some inviable embryos in which the canonical division order was reversed nonetheless proceeded through relatively normal morphogenesis, suggesting a subsequent compensation mechanism independent of cell division control. These findings provide evidence for a previously unrecognized process in C. elegans embryos that may serve to compensate for deviations imposed by aberrant environmental conditions, thereby resulting in a high-fidelity output.

Micro-Texture Analyses of a Cold-Work Tool Steel for Additive Manufacturing

Small objects of an alloy tool steel were built by selective laser melting at different scan speeds, and their microstructures were analyzed using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). To present an explicit correlation with the local thermal cycles in the objects, prior austenite grains were reconstructed using the EBSD mapping data. Extensive growth of austenitic grains after solidification could be detected by the disagreement between the networks of carbides and austenite grain boundaries. A rapid laser scan at 2000 mm/s led to less growth, but retained a larger amount of austenite than a slow one at 50 mm/s. The rapid scan also exhibited definite evolution of Goss-type textures in austenite, which could be attributed to the growth of austenitic grains under a steep temperature gradient. The local variations in the microstructures and the textures enabled us to speculate the locally different thermal cycles determined by the different process conditions, that is, scan speeds.

Chapter 29: Grasberg Copper-Gold-(Molybdenum) Deposit: Product of Two Overlapping Porphyry Systems

The supergiant Grasberg porphyry deposit in Papua, Indonesia (5.26 Gt @ 0.61% Cu and 0.57 g/t Au, with no cutoff applied) is hosted by the Grasberg Igneous Complex that fills an upward-flared diatreme ~1,800 m wide at the 4,250-m surface elevation. The Grasberg Igneous Complex is emplaced into folded and strike-slip faulted Tertiary and older sediments and comprises 3.6 to 3.3 Ma Dalam monzodiorite intrusions and subordinate volcanic rocks occupying much of the pipe, the central 3.2 Ma Main Grasberg intrusion, and the NW-SE-trending 3.2 to 3.0 Ma Kali dikes. The Grasberg Igneous Complex contains two porphyry systems: Gajah Tidur copper-(molybdenum) and Main Grasberg copper-gold. The Gajah Tidur intrusion belongs to the Dalam igneous group and is a 3.4 Ma porphyritic monzonite with its top at a 2,750-m elevation; it is overprinted by an extensive, domal, quartz stockwork, with a low-grade and intensely phyllic-altered core, surrounded by molybdenite-bearing veins, with a pre-Main Grasberg Re-Os age, as well as chalcopyrite and overprinting pyrite-covellite veins. The strongly potassic-altered, Main Grasberg monzodiorite porphyry extends from surface to the 2,700-m elevation and is overprinted by a cylindrical, ~1-km-diameter, intense quartz-magnetite stockwork cut by abundant chalcopyrite-bornite veins with rare molybdenite dated at 3.09 Ma. A 700-m-wide annulus of chalcopyrite overprinted by pyrite-covellite-mineralized phyllic alteration surrounds the stockwork. Altered and mineralized Main Grasberg and surrounding Dalam rocks were subsequently wedged apart by the largely unmineralized Kali dikes. Gold is predominantly associated with the Main Grasberg porphyry system where it occurs as 1- to 150-µm (avg ~15 µm) native gold inclusions within chalcopyrite and bornite. Melt and fluid inclusions from Main Grasberg stockwork quartz veins, which exhibit crack-seal textures, comprise K-feldspar-rich silicate melt, sulfide melt, virtually water-free salt melt, and coexisting hypersaline and vapor-rich fluids. Factors important in forming the Grasberg deposit include the following: (1) generation of highly oxidized fertile magma in a postsubduction tectonic setting; (2) efficient extraction of metals from the parental magma chamber; (3) prolonged maintenance of a fluid-accumulating cupola in a strike-slip structural setting that delivered multiple overlapping discharges of metal-rich fluid; (4) highly focused fluid flow into a narrow, permeable stockwork zone in which a steep temperature gradient enabled highly efficient copper and gold precipitation and led to high ore grades; (5) limited dilution by postmineral intrusions; (6) the youthfulness of the deposit minimized erosion and resulted in preservation of nearly all the high-grade Main Grasberg porphyry orebody; and (7) the proximity of the two porphyry centers enables them to be mined as a single, large deposit. The Gajah Tidur copper-(molybdenum) and Main Grasberg copper-gold porphyry centers overlap in space and formed within ~250,000 years of one another. However, their distinct metal endowment, depth of emplacement, and geometry indicate that they formed under different magmatic, hydrothermal, and structural conditions, which are the subject of ongoing research.

Modern pollen-vegetation relationships along a steep temperature gradient in the Tropical Andes of Ecuador

The characterization of modern pollen rain assemblages along environmental gradients is an essential prerequisite for reliable interpretations of fossil pollen records. In this study, we identify pollen-vegetation relationships using modern pollen rain assemblages in moss polsters (n = 13) and lake sediment surface samples (n = 11) along a steep temperature gradient of 7°C (3100–4200 m above sea level) on the western Andean Cordillera, Ecuador. The pollen rain is correlated to vascular plant abundance data recorded in vegetation relevées (n = 13). Results show that pollen spectra from both moss polsters and sediment surface samples reflect changes in species composition along the temperature gradient, despite overrepresentation of upper montane forest taxa in the latter. Estimated pollen transport distance for a lake (Laguna Llaviucu) situated in a steep upper montane forest valley is 1–2 km, while a lake (Laguna Pallcacocha) in the páramo captures pollen input from a distance of up to 10–40 km. Weinmannia spp., Podocarpus spp., and Hedyosmum sp. are indicators of local upper montane forest vegetation, while Phlegmariurus spp. and Plantago spp. are indicators for local páramo vegetation.

Simplification of sound-pressure characteristics using narrow flow channels subject with temperature gradient

A thermoacoustic engine is one of promising system for utilization of unused energy. The object of this paper is to study the system of unused energy, such as heat energy and sound energy in noise using thermoacoustic engine. The thermoacoustic engine is composed of a stack sandwiched by two heat exchangers and tube. The stack has many narrow flow channels and its length for 50 mm. For example, in order to create narrow flow channels, the stack is comprised of wire-mesh screen. When the steep temperature gradient is made in the stack, a self-exited gas oscillation is generated. Thus, heat energy can be converted into sound energy. In this paper, thermoacoustic conversion device applied for noise energy generated from engine plants was presented. The noise has complicated frequency characteristics and low energy density. We demonstrated selective amplification of acoustic pressure only one-frequency in noise by utilization of the technique of thermoacoustic engine. In addition, the other frequencies were attenuated by viscosity dissipation in the stack. Summarizing these results, the simplification and amplified sound was created from complex noise.

Numerical Re-examination of Chilton–Colburn Analogy for Variable Thermophysical Fluid Properties

The Chilton–Colburn analogy is very helpful for evaluating the heat transfer in internal forced flows. The Chilton–Colburn analogy between the Chilton–Colburn j-factor for heat transfer, jH (St·Pr2/3) and the Fanning friction factor (cf) is popularly considered to hold when St·Pr2/3 equals to cf/2, for constant fluid properties. The physical fluid properties, namely, viscosity and thermal conductivity, are generally a function of temperature for microconvective water flow due to a quite steep temperature gradient. Therefore, in present investigation, the validity of Chilton–Colburn analogy between St·Pr2/3 and cf is re-examined for laminar microconvective flow with variable thermophysical fluid properties. It is observed that the Chilton–Colburn analogy is valid only for that portion of the flow regime, where St·Pr2/3 decreases with decreasing cf. The validity of Chilton–Colburn analogy is also verified by the inverse dependence of Reynolds number (Re) with cf. Two modified nondimensional parameters “ΠSμ and ΠSk” are emerged from the nondimensional form of 2D, steady-state, incompressible, pure continuum-based, laminar conservation of momentum and energy equations, respectively. These modified nondimensional parameters show the significance of variable fluid properties in momentum transport and energy transport. Additionally, the role of ΠSμ and ΠSk in flow friction is also investigated. The higher values of ΠSμ and ΠSk indicate the stronger influence on microconvection due to large variations in fluid properties.