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Go to Editorial ManagerZinc and its alloy coatings are commonly used to provide cathodic protection for weathering steel. However, the steel substrate corrodes faster than the Zinc coating because of the coating's negative corrosion potential. Many studies have examined Zinc and alloy coatings' resistance to corrosion. Hot-dip galvanizing, Electrodeposition, and Zinc-rich coat (ZRC) spray are just some of the methods that can be used to deposit such coatings. Commercially available 99.95 % pure Zinc oxide was used in the electroplating process in this investigation. Steel samples were plated in Zinc sulphate and Zinc oxide solutions and were controlled by different bath parameters such as voltage, current, pH, temperature, and coating time. The addition of hexagonal Boron Nitride (h-BN) nanoparticles has also shown significant improvements in corrosion resistance. However, Zinc-based coating techniques reinforced with h-BN incorporation show the best corrosion current density ( I corr ) of Hot dip 2 % wt. (2.1 µA/cm 2 ), ZRC 2.5 % wt., (4.4 µA/cm 2 ), and electroplating 15.75 g/L (0.081 µA/cm 2 ), which is an order of magnitude lower than coatings without h-BNs. The corrosion rates and current densities of Zn/h-BN coated layers were investigated in a controlled laboratory environment that mimicked natural conditions (Rainwater solution) by extrapolating polarization curves.
This paper aims to investigate the effect of Ag nanoparticles addition in different percentages (0.12 wt. %, 0.15 wt. %, 0.25 wt. %, 0.35 wt. %) on the microstructure properties of Cu-21%Zn-6%Al shape memory alloy. Optical and SEM were carried out to studied such effects. Two heat treatments were carried out at (825 ℃ and 850 ℃) for 10 min and quenched in ice water. It was observed that both of heat treatment lead to formation M18R martensite with V-shape and needle like, but raising the temperature of heat treatment from 825 ℃ to 850 ℃ lead to a decrease formation α phase, which leads to improving the shape memory properties. Refinement of the grain size resulted as Ag nanoparticles addition increased from 0 to 0.25 wt. %, the grain size decreases from 1551 μm to 212 μm with reduction of 86.32 wt. % at 0.25 wt. % Ag. The microstructure observation indicated that the Ag nanoparticles addition leads to creating a multi-variant oriented martensite microstructure after quenching process in ice water.
Retained Austenite (RA) has great deal with the me- chanical properties of high strength low alloy steel. Therefore, in this paper, Retained Austenite volume fractions have been evaluated in AISI4340 alloy steel using two well-known meth- ods, X-Ray diffraction (XRD) and magnetic measurement methods. The specimens were heat treated using different heat- ing temperature and different cooling rate (different quenching media). A comparison between the results of two methods proved that there results were approximately Identical .The results show that Retained Austenite formation increase as heating (Austenizing ) temperature increase for the same quenching media ,as well as ,it increases by increasing cooling rate . The maximum amount of Retained Austenite found as (27.2 Wt %) which recognized when the specimens heated up to 1000˚C then quenched in Water while the minimum amount of Retained Austenite found as ( 7.06 wt%) when the specimens heated up to ( 800 ˚C) then quenched in Sand. Hardness tests using Vickers and Rockwell methods were used and the results show that hardness values decreased with increasing heating temperatures and the maximum Vickers micro-hardness and Rockwell hardness numbers were equal to (121.8HRB) and ( 516.35 HV) which were detected when heating up of the speci- mens were up to 800 ˚C then quenched in water. Tensile tests show that increasing cooling rate lead to increasing in Strength due to increasing of hardness which in turn, leads to increase in yielding points and ultimate strengths. Retained austenite effects on microstructure were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy and the results show that at low cooling rate the microstructure consist of bainite and/or martensite phase with small amount of re- tained austenite, while, increasing heating temperature and cooling rate results in microstructure consist of martensite and retained austenite phases.
Solar desalination uses solar radiation to convert saline or seawater into clean water and is increasingly crucial due to growing pollution from industrial and automotive sources. Although solar stills offer a sustainable solution, they face challenges in terms of production efficiency. This study presents a new structural design for solar stills, which incorporates advanced insulation materials, a well-designed distillate channel, and an inclined base to enhance productivity. The research explores how different climatic conditions such as wind speed, solar radiation, and atmospheric humidity affect solar still performance. Seven experimental setups were evaluated, comparing traditional inclined stills with advanced closed-loop systems. The results demonstrated that closed-loop systems improved productivity by 28.6% compared to open-loop systems. Additionally, moderate wind speeds increased productivity by 20.82%, while partial cloud cover and light rain decreased productivity by 52.15% and 12.9%, respectively. However, light rain also enhanced condensation efficiency by cooling the glass surface. This study highlights the importance of incorporating environmental factors into the design and optimization of solar still systems for improved performance.
Image segmentation is the process of automatically dividing an image into distinct, meaningful, and non-overlapping regions. The quality of the segmentation process determines the efficiency of other image processing tasks. Analyzing microstructural images is crucial since the mechanical properties are strongly dependent on the microstructural phases’ statistics. These images are considered one of the most difficult and challenging images to deal with due to their special characteristics, such as the convergence in pixels intensity values, overlapping in colors, boundaries and textures in phase regions, infinite shapes of grains and colonies, etc. As there is no generic technique suitable to be used with all microstructures, this work reviews techniques that have been effectively used and recommended to be employed in metallurgical research, with a brief description of their principles, advantages, and disadvantages, and discusses their applicability. The major aim of this work is to spare time and effort searching for and experimenting with all the available methods for future researchers.