No Arabic abstract
Drop sizes and drop size distributions were determined by means of an optical shear cell in combination with an optical microscope for the systems polyisobutylene/poly(dimethylsiloxane) (I) and poly(dimethyl-co-methylphenylsiloxane)/poly(dimethylsiloxane) (II) at low concentrations of the suspended phases and at different constant shear rates ranging from 10 to 0.5 s-1 . After pre-shearing the two-phase mixtures (I: 50 s-1; II: 100 s-1) for the purpose of producing small drop radii, the shear rate was abruptly reduced to the preselected value and coalescence was studied as a function of time. In all cases one approaches dead end drop radii, i.e. breakup is absent. The drop size distributions are for sufficiently long shearing always unimodal, but within the early stages of coalescence they are in some cases bimodal; the shape of the different peaks is invariably Gaussian. The results are discussed by means of Elmendorp diagrams and interpreted in terms of collision frequencies and collision efficiencies.
The Ni-based superalloy Alloy 718 is used in aircraft engines as high-pressure turbine discs and must endure challenging demands on high-temperature yield strength, creep-, and oxidation-resistance. Nanoscale $gamma^{prime}$- and $gamma^{prime prime}$-precipitates commonly found in duplet and triplet co-precipitate morphologies provide high-temperature strength under these harsh operating conditions. Direct ageing of Alloy 718 is an attractive alternative manufacturing route known to increase the yield strength at 650 $^{deg}$C by at least +10 $%$, by both retaining high dislocation densities and changing the nanoscale co-precipitate morphology. However, the detailed nucleation and growth mechanisms of the duplet and triplet co-precipitate morphologies of $gamma^{prime}$ and $gamma^{prime prime}$ during the direct ageing process remain unknown. We provide a correlative high-resolution microscopy approach using transmission electron microscopy, high-angle annular dark-field imaging, and atom probe microscopy to reveal the early stages of precipitation during direct ageing of Alloy 718. Quantitative stereological analyses of the $gamma^{prime}$- and $gamma^{prime prime}$-precipitate dispersions as well as their chemical compositions have allowed us to propose a qualitative model of the microstructural evolution. It is shown that fine $gamma^{prime}$- and $gamma^{prime prime}$-precipitates nucleate homogeneously and grow coherently. However, $gamma^{prime prime}$-precipitates also nucleate heterogeneously on dislocations and experience accelerated growth due to Nb pipe diffusion. Moreover, the co-precipitation reactions are largely influenced by solute availability and the potential for enrichment of Nb and rejection of Al+Ti.
The effect of viscoelasticity on sprays produced from agricultural flat fan nozzles is investigated experimentally using dilute aqueous solutions of polyethylene oxide (PEO). Measurements of the droplet size distribution using laser diffraction reveal that polymer addition to water results in the formation of overall bigger droplets with a broader size distribution. The median droplet size $D_{50}$ is found to increase linearly with the extensional relaxation time of the liquid. The non-dimensional median droplet sizes of different polymer solutions, sprayed at different operating pressures from nozzles of different sizes, rescale on a single master curve when plotted against an empirical function of the Weber and Deborah numbers. Using high-speed photography of the spraying process, we show that the increase in droplet size with viscoelasticity can be partly attributed to an increase of the wavelength of the flapping motion responsible for the sheet breakup. We also show that droplet size distributions, rescaled by the average drop size, are well described by a compound gamma distribution with parameters $n$ and $m$ encoding for the ligament corrugation and the width of the ligament size distribution, respectively. These parameters are found to saturate to values $n=4$ and $m=4$ at high polymer concentrations.
Age hardening induced by the formation of (semi)-coherent precipitate phases is crucial for the processing and final properties of the widely used Al-6000 alloys. Early stages of precipitation are particularly important from the fundamental and technological side, but are still far from being fully understood. Here, an analysis of the energetics of nanometric precipitates of the meta-stable $beta$ phases is performed, identifying the bulk, elastic strain and interface energies that contribute to the stability of a nucleating cluster. Results show that needle-shape precipitates are unstable to growth even at the smallest size $beta$ formula unit, i.e. there is no energy barrier to growth. The small differences between different compositions points toward the need for the study of possible precipitate/matrix interface reconstruction. A classical semi-quantitative nucleation theory approach including elastic strain energy captures the trends in precipitate energy versus size and composition. This validates the use of mesoscale models to assess stability and interactions of precipitates. Studies of smaller 3d clusters also show stability relative to the solid solution state, indicating that the early stages of precipitation may be diffusion-limited. Overall, these results demonstrate the important interplay among composition-dependent bulk, interface, and elastic strain energies in determining nanoscale precipitate stability and growth.
Shear transformations, as fundamental rearrangement events operating in local regions, hold the key of plastic flow of amorphous solids. Despite their importance, the dynamic features of shear transformations are far from clear. Here, we use a colloidal glass under shear as the prototype to directly observe the shear transformation events in real space. By tracing the colloidal particle rearrangements, we quantitatively determine two basic properties of shear transformations: local shear strain and dilatation (or free volume). It is revealed that the local free volume undergoes a significantly temporary increase prior to shear transformations, eventually leading to a jump of local shear strain. We clearly demonstrate that shear transformations have no memory of the initial free volume of local regions. Instead, their emergence strongly depends on the dilatancy ability of these regions, i.e., the dynamic creation of free volume. More specifically, the particles processing the high dilatancy ability directly participate in subsequent shear transformations. These results experimentally support the Argons statement about the dilatancy nature of shear transformations, and also shed insight into the structural origin of amorphous plasticity.
The objective of this work is to study the role of shear on the rupture of ultrathin polymer films. To do so, a finite-difference numerical scheme for the resolution of the thin film equation was set up taking into account capillary and van der Waals (vdW) forces. This method was validated by comparing the dynamics obtained from an initial harmonic perturbation to established theoretical predictions. With the addition of shear, three regimes have then been evidenced as a function of the shear rate. In the case of low shear rates the rupture is delayed when compared to the no-shear problem, while at higher shear rates it is even suppressed: the perturbed interface goes back to its unperturbed state over time. In between these two limiting regimes, a transient one in which shear and vdW forces balance each other, leading to a non-monotonic temporal evolution of the perturbed interface, has been identified. While a linear analysis is sufficient to describe the rupture time in the absence of shear, the nonlinearities appear to be essential otherwise.