MODELING OF CARBIDES COMPOSITION IN WELDED ALLOY SYSTEM Ni-34Cr-4,3W-2,3Mo-1,3Al-1,3Ti-1,3Nb-0,1C

In this work, theoretical modeling of the thermodynamic processes of the release of excess phases is carried out, as well as a practical study of the structure and distribution of chemical elements in carbides, depending on alloying using a scanning electron microscope. The obtained dependences were experimentally confirmed using X-ray spectroscopy on nickel-based superalloys. It is recommended to use the obtained mathematical models not only in the design of new nickel-based superalloys, but also in the improvement of known brand compositions within the declared concentrations.

Structure and Phase Transformations in High Nitrogen and High Interstitial Steels of Different Alloying Systems - Short Review

The features of the structure evolution under thermal effect of Cr, Cr-Ni, Cr-Ni-Mn, and Cr-Mn-austenitic stainless steels with high nitrogen content and a total high content of carbon and nitrogen are analyzed. When studying the structure, we used light and electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, dilatometry analysis and electrical resistance measurements. Fine structure and aging processes of austenite, nature and morphology of excess phases, as well as character of phase transformations and their relationship with the properties of steels have been studied. It is shown that Cr-Mn-steels with a high content of (C + N), having a homogeneous structure of austenite without excess phases, surpass Cr-Ni austenitic steels in mechanical and corrosion properties, have higher process ability than Cr-Mn-N-steel and are comparable with them in mechanical properties.

Effect of Zr on Structure and Resistance to Intergranular Corrosion of Severely Deformed 2024 Aluminum Alloy

Effects of severe plastic deformation by isothermal сryorolling with a strain of e~2 and subsequent natural and artificial aging on the structure and resistance to intergranular corrosion (IGC) of the preliminary quenched 2024 aluminum alloy of standard and Zr modified compositions were investigated. Increasing the temperature of aging leads to decreasing the alloy IGC resistance due to precipitation of more stable strengthening S-phase (Al2CuMg), rising difference of electrochemical potentials at grain and subgrain boundaries. Zr additions, оn the opposite, significantly increased the alloy IGC resistance in both naturally and artificially aged conditions, reducing its depth and intensity. The main structural factor, influencing the alloy corrosion behavior, is excess phases: their composition, volume fraction and distribution.

Partition-Coefficient Relations for Improved Equation-of-State Description of Microemulsion-Phase Behavior

Summary Surfactant-mediated enhanced-oil-recovery (EOR) techniques, such as surfactant/polymer (SP) flooding, have received increased attention because of their ability to reduce capillary forces at the pore-scale to ultralow values and mobilize trapped oil. Recently, there have been increased efforts in microemulsion-phase-behavior modeling capabilities by relying on the hydrophilic/lipophilic-difference (HLD) measure for surfactant-affinity quantification. One common assumption of most microemulsion-phase-behavior models is the assumption of pure excess phases, which states that the surfactant component is only present in the microemulsion phase. This assumption can lead to significant errors for some surfactant systems, especially when applied to chemical simulations in which discontinuities may arise. The main novelty of this paper is to allow for surfactant partitioning into both the water and oil excess phases by use of a simple approach, and then relate relevant surfactant-partitioning coefficients (i.e., K-values) to HLD. Surfactant screening that is based on surfactant-structure parameters is also considered based on estimated K-values. Key dimensionless groups are identified as a function of activity coefficients, which allow for a simplified description of the surfactant-partition coefficients. These surfactant-partition coefficients are combined with the chemical-potentials (CP) equation-of-state (EoS) model to describe and predict the phase behavior when the excess phases are not pure. Further, the developed surfactant-partitioning model can be used in other microemulsion-phase-behavior models to allow for impure excess phases.

Wave-optics uncertainty propagation and regression-based bias model in GNSS radio occultation bending angle retrievals

A new reference occultation processing system (rOPS) will include a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) retrieval chain with integrated uncertainty propagation. In this paper, we focus on wave-optics bending angle (BA) retrieval in the lower troposphere and introduce (1) an empirically estimated boundary layer bias (BLB) model then employed to reduce the systematic uncertainty of excess phases and bending angles in about the lowest 2 km of the troposphere and (2) the estimation of (residual) systematic uncertainties and their propagation together with random uncertainties from excess phase to bending angle profiles. Our BLB model describes the estimated bias of the excess phase transferred from the estimated bias of the bending angle, for which the model is built, informed by analyzing refractivity fluctuation statistics shown to induce such biases. The model is derived from regression analysis using a large ensemble of Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) RO observations and concurrent European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) analysis fields. It is formulated in terms of predictors and adaptive functions (powers and cross products of predictors), where we use six main predictors derived from observations: impact altitude, latitude, bending angle and its standard deviation, canonical transform (CT) amplitude, and its fluctuation index. Based on an ensemble of test days, independent of the days of data used for the regression analysis to establish the BLB model, we find the model very effective for bias reduction and capable of reducing bending angle and corresponding refractivity biases by about a factor of 5. The estimated residual systematic uncertainty, after the BLB profile subtraction, is lower bounded by the uncertainty from the (indirect) use of ECMWF analysis fields but is significantly lower than the systematic uncertainty without BLB correction. The systematic and random uncertainties are propagated from excess phase to bending angle profiles, using a perturbation approach and the wave-optical method recently introduced by Gorbunov and Kirchengast (2015), starting with estimated excess phase uncertainties. The results are encouraging and this uncertainty propagation approach combined with BLB correction enables a robust reduction and quantification of the uncertainties of excess phases and bending angles in the lower troposphere.

Microemulsion Phase-Behavior Equation-of-State Model Using Empirical Trends in Chemical Potentials

Summary Surfactant-based enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is a promising technique because of surfactant's ability to mobilize previously trapped oil by significantly reducing capillary forces at the pore scale. However, the field-implementation of these techniques is challenged by the high cost of chemicals, which makes the margin of error for the deployment of such methods increasingly narrow. Some commonly recognized issues are surfactant adsorption, surfactant partitioning to the excess phases, thermal and physical degradation, and scale-representative phase behavior. Recent contributions to the petroleum-engineering literature have used the hydrophilic/lipophilic-difference net-average-curvature (HLD-NAC) model to develop a phase-behavior equation of state (EoS) to fit experimental data and predict phase behavior away from tuned data. The model currently assumes spherical micelles and constant three-phase correlation length, which may yield errors in the bicontinuous region where micelles transition into cylindrical and planar shapes. In this paper, we introduce a new empirical phase-behavior model that is based on chemical-potential (CP) trends and HLD that eliminates NAC so that spherical micelles and the constant three-phase correlation length are no longer assumed. The model is able to describe all two-phase regions, and is shown to represent accurately experimental data at fixed composition and changing HLD (e.g., a salinity scan) as well as variable-composition data at fixed HLD. Further, the model is extended to account for surfactant partitioning into the excess phases. The model is benchmarked against experimental data (considering both pure-alkane and crude-oil cases), showing excellent fits and predictions for a wide variety of experiments, and is compared to the recently developed HLD-NAC EoS model for reference.

Wave-optics uncertainty propagation and regression-based bias model in GNSS radio occultation bending angle retrievals

A new reference occultation processing system (rOPS) will include a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) radio occultation (RO) retrieval chain with integrated uncertainty propagation. In this paper, we focus on wave-optics bending angle retrieval in the lower troposphere and introduce 1. an empirically estimated boundary layer bias (BLB) model then employed to reduce the systematic uncertainty of excess phases and bending angles in the lowest about two kilometers of the troposphere, and 2. the estimation of (residual) systematic uncertainties and their propagation together with random uncertainties from excess phase to bending angle profiles. Our BLB model describes the estimated bias of the excess phase transferred from the estimated bias of the bending angle, for which the model is built, informed by analyzing refractivity fluctuation statistics shown to induce such biases. The model is derived from regression analysis using a large ensemble of Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate (COSMIC) RO observations and concurrent European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) analysis fields. It is formulated in terms predictors and adaptive functions (powers and cross-products of predictors), where we use six main predictors derived from observations: impact altitude, latitude, bending angle and its standard deviation, canonical transform amplitude and its fluctuation index. Based on an ensemble of test days, independent of the days of data used for the regression analysis to establish the BLB model, we find the model very effective for bias reduction, capable of reducing bending angle and corresponding refractivity biases by about a factor of five. The estimated residual systematic uncertainty, after the BLB profile subtraction, is lower-bounded by the uncertainty from (indirect) use of ECMWF analysis fields but is significantly lower than the systematic uncertainty without BLB correction. The systematic and random uncertainties are propagated from excess phase to bending angle profiles, using a perturbation approach and the wave-optical method recently introduced by Gorbunov and Kirchengast (2015), starting with estimated excess phase uncertainties. The results are encouraging that this uncertainty propagation approach combined with BLB correction enables a robust reduction and quantification of the uncertainties of excess phases and bending angles in the lower troposphere.

Thermodynamics of Crystallizing Low-Alloy Boron Steel Melt Components Interaction

Thermodynamic analysis of the phase equilibria in the Fe–Mn–Cr–Si–Al–Ti– Ni–V–Mo–B–S–P–C–N–O system at fixed concentrations of boron, manganese, chromium, silicon, aluminum, titanium, nickel, vanadium, molybdenum, sulfur, phosphorus, carbon and nitrogen was performed. Formation of nonmetallic phases upon cooling and crystallization of liquid metal solutions of various compositions was studied. It was established how aluminum and nitrogen content in the liquid metal solution affects the composition and amount of separated excess phases. Calculations demonstrated that boron nitride was not formed in the liquid metal and during crystallization.