Numerical Investigation into the Influence of Grain Orientation Distribution on the Local and Global Elastic-Plastic Behaviour of Polycrystalline Nickel-Based Superalloy INC-738 LC

Polycrystalline nickel-based superalloys tend to have large grains within component areas where high loads are dominant during operation. Due to these large grains, caused by the manufacturing and cooling process, the orientation of each grain becomes highly important, since it influences the elastic and plastic behaviour of the material. With the usage of the open source codes NEPER and FEPX, polycrystalline models of Inconel 738 LC were generated and their elastic and crystal plasticity behaviour simulated in dependence of different orientation distributions under uniaxial loading. Orientation distributions close to the [100] direction showed the lowest Young’s moduli as well as the highest elastic strains before yielding, as expected. Orientations close to the [5¯89] direction, showed the lowest elastic strains and therefore first plastic deformation under strain loading due to the highest shear stress in the slip systems caused by the interaction of Young’s modulus and the Schmid factor.

Exploring electrospun nanofibers for physically unclonable functions: a scalable and robust method toward unique identifiers

Optical physical unclonable functions (PUFs) have great potentials in the security identification of Internet of Things. In this work, electrospun nanofibers are proposed as a candidate for a nanoscale, robust, stable and scalable PUF. The dark-field reflectance images of the polymer fibers are quantitatively analyzed by Hough transform. We find that the fiber length and orientation distribution reach an optimal point as the fiber density grows up over 850 in 400 x 400 pixels for a polyvinylpyrrolidone nanofiber based PUF device. Subsequently, we test the robustness and randomness of the PUF pattern by using the fiber amount as an encoding feature, generating a reconstruction success rate over 80% and simultaneously an entropy of 260 bits within a mean size of 4 cm2. A scale-invariant algorithm is adopted to identify the uniqueness of each pattern on a 256-sensor device. Furthermore, thermo-, moisture as well as photostability of the authentication process are systematically investigated by comparing polyacrylonitrile to polyvinylpyrrolidone system.

Effect of the Fibre Orientation Distribution on the Mechanical and Preforming Behaviour of Nonwoven Preform Made of Recycled Carbon Fibres

Recycling carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP) and recovering high-cost carbon fibre (CF) is a preoccupation of scientific and industrial committees due to the environmental and economic concerns. A commercialised nonwoven mat, made of recycled carbon fibre and manufactured using carding and needle-punching technology, can promote second-life opportunities for carbon fibre. This paper aims to evaluate the mechanical and preforming behaviour of this nonwoven material. We focus on the influence that the fibre orientation distribution in the nonwoven material has on its mechanical and preforming behaviour at the preform scale, as well as the tensile properties at composite scale. The anisotropy index induced by fibre orientation is evaluated by analysing SEM micrographs using the fast Fourier transform (FFT) method. Then, the anisotropy in the tensile, bending, and preforming behaviour of the preform is inspected, as well as in the tensile behaviour of the composite. Additionally, we evaluate the impact of the stacking order of multi-layers of the nonwoven material, associated with its preferred fibre orientation (nonwoven anisotropy), on its compaction behaviour. The nonwoven anisotropy, in terms of fibre orientation, induces a strong effect on the preform mechanical and preforming behaviour, as well as the tensile behaviour of the composite. The tensile behaviour of the nonwoven material is governed by the inter-fibre cohesion, which depends on the fibre orientation. The low inter-fibre cohesion, which characterises this nonwoven material, leads to poor resistance to tearing. This type of defect rapidly occurs during preforming, even at too-low membrane tension. Otherwise, the increase in nonwoven layer numbers leads to a decrease in the impact of the nonwoven anisotropy behaviour under compaction load.

Correlation between Laser-Ultrasound and Microstructural Properties of Laser Melting Deposited Ti6Al4V/B4C Composites

The presence of large microtextured clusters (MTC) composed of small α-phase crystallites with preferred crystallographic orientations in 3D printed near-α titanium alloys leads to poor mechanical and fatigue properties. It is therefore crucial to characterize the size of MTCs nondestructively. Ti6Al4V/B4C composite materials are manufactured using Laser Melting Deposition (LMD) technology by adding an amount of nano-sized B4C particles to the original Ti6Al4V powder. TiB and TiC reinforcements precipitating at grain boundaries stimulate the elongated α crystallites and coarse columnar MTCs to equiaxed transition, and microstructures composed of approximately equiaxed MTCs with different mean sizes of 11–50 μm are obtained. Theoretical models for scattering-induced attenuation and centroid frequency downshift of ultrasonic waves propagating in such a polycrystalline medium are presented. It is indicated that, the studied composite material has an extremely narrow crystallographic orientation distribution width, i.e., a strong degree of anisotropy in MTCs. Therefore, MTCs make a dominant contribution to the total scattering-induced attenuation and spectral centroid frequency downshift, while the contribution of fine α-phase crystallites is insignificant. Laser ultrasonic inspection is performed, and the correlation between laser-generated ultrasonic wave properties and microstructural properties of the Ti6Al4V/B4C composites is analyzed. Results have shown that the deviation between the experimentally measured ultrasonic velocity and the theoretical result determined by the Voigt-averaged velocity in each crystallite is no more than 2.23%, which is in good agreement with the degree of macroscopically anisotropy in the composite specimens. The ultrasonic velocity seems to be insensitive to the size of MTCs, while the spectral centroid frequency downshift is approximately linear to the mean size of MTCs with a goodness-of-fit (R2) up to 0.99. Actually, for a macroscopically untextured near-α titanium alloy with a relatively narrow crystallographic orientation distribution, the ultrasonic velocity is not correlated with the properties of MTCs, by contrast, the central frequency downshift is dominated by the size and morphology of MTCs, showing great potentials in grain size evaluation.

Epoxidized graphene grid for high-throughput high-resolution cryoEM structural analysis

Many specimens suffer from low particle density and/or preferred orientation in cryoEM specimen grid preparation, making data collection and structure determination time consuming. We developed an epoxidized graphene grid (EG-grid) that effectively immobilizes protein particles by applying an oxidation reaction using photoactivated ClO2· and further chemical modification. The particle density and orientation distribution are both dramatically improved, having enabled us to reconstruct the density map of GroEL and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), at 1.99 and 2.16 Å resolution from only 504 and 241 micrographs, respectively. A low concentration sample solution of 0.1 mg ml–1 was sufficient to reconstruct a 3.10 Å resolution density map of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein from 1,163 micrographs. The density maps of V1-ATPase, β-galactosidase, and apoferritin were also reconstructed at 3.03, 1.81, and 1.29 Å resolution, respectively. These results indicate that the EG-grid will be a powerful tool for high-throughput cryoEM data collection to accelerate high-resolution structural analysis of biological macromolecules.

Glass fiber-reinforced composites in dentistry

Background Enormous improvements in dental materials’ manufacturing for the aim of producing durable dental materials without compromising the aesthetic properties were developed. One of the approaches that fulfill this aim is the use of reinforcing glass fibers as fillers into dental materials, typically resin polymers, in order to obtain glass fiber-reinforced composites. Glass fiber-reinforced composite offered many advantages to the dental materials though some limitations were recorded in many literature. Methods In this review, a study of the glass fibers’ types, factors affecting the properties and the properties of glass fibers reinforced materials was carried out; in addition, research papers that experimentally studied their applications in dentistry were presented. Conclusion The success of glass fibers reinforced composites in dentistry depends on glass fibers’ composition, orientation, distribution, amount, length and adhesion; these factors once employed according to the required clinical situation would provide the essential reinforcement to the dental restorations and appliances.

Radiological identification of the globus pallidus motor subregion in Parkinson’s disease

OBJECTIVE Globus pallidus (GP) lesioning improves motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and is occasionally associated with nonmotor side effects. Although these variable clinical effects were shown to be site-specific within the GP, the motor and nonmotor subregions have not been distinguished radiologically in patients with PD. The GP was recently found to have a distinct radiological signature on diffusion MRI (dMRI), potentially related to its unique cellular content and organization (or tissue architecture). In this study, the authors hypothesize that the magnitude of water diffusivity, a surrogate for tissue architecture, will radiologically distinguish motor from nonmotor GP subregions in patients with PD. They also hypothesize that the therapeutic focused ultrasound pallidotomy lesions will preferentially overlap the motor subregion. METHODS Diffusion MRI from healthy subjects (n = 45, test-retest S1200 cohort) and PD patients (n = 33) was parcellated based on the magnitude of water diffusivity in the GP, as measured orientation distribution function (ODF). A clustering algorithm was used to identify GP parcels with distinct ODF magnitude. The individual parcels were used as seeds for tractography to distinguish motor from nonmotor subregions. The locations of focused ultrasound lesions relative to the GP parcels were also analyzed in 11 patients with PD. RESULTS Radiologically, three distinct parcels were identified within the GP in healthy controls and PD patients: posterior, central, and anterior. The posterior and central parcels comprised the motor subregion and the anterior parcel was classified as a nonmotor subregion based on their tractography connections. The focused ultrasound lesions preferentially overlapped with the motor subregion (posterior more than central). The hotspots for motor improvement were localized in the posterior GP parcel. CONCLUSIONS Using a data-driven approach of ODF-based parcellation, the authors radiologically distinguished GP motor subregions in patients with PD. This method can aid stereotactic targeting in patients with PD undergoing surgical treatments, especially focused ultrasound ablation.