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The present Ph.D. thesis provides a comprehensive experimental and theoretical study of the bulging-cracking relationship in laser beam welding of thick unalloyed steel sheets. It focuses on experimentally proving the existence of the bulging region and on developing a coupled multiphysics mathematical framework to analyze its influence on the three critical factors controlling the susceptibility to solidification cracking, namely the thermal, metallurgical, and mechanical factors.
The research employs a novel experimental setup, utilizing a combination of transparent quartz glass and thick unalloyed steel sheet, enabling real-time visualization of the weld pool geometry and confirming the existence of a distinctive bulging region. To deepen the understanding of these experimental insights, an extensive multiphysics mathematical framework was developed and rigorously verified and validated. This framework introduces an innovative approach using Lamé curves for accurately describing complex three-dimensional weld pool geometries, including the bulging region's characteristics. Through analytical solutions and numerical procedures, it facilitates the computation of solidification parameters, which are crucial for understanding the metallurgical aspects of crack formation. The framework also incorporates a mechanical model to assess and evaluate the local stress distribution within the bulging region.
The findings indicate that an elongated, sharply shaped bulging region significantly increases the susceptibility to solidification cracking. This is attributed to its adverse impact on the distribution and local dwell time of liquid metal residing at grain boundaries during solidification, combined with the localized tensile stresses identified in the bulging region.
In essence, this research contributes to the broader understanding of solidification cracking in laser beam welding of thick unalloyed steel sheets, with a particular focus on the bulging region. The insights and methodologies developed in this thesis are valuable for future research and advancements in the application of the laser beam welding technology for joining high-thickness unalloyed steel components.
Additive manufacturing (AM) offers significantly greater freedom of design compared to conventional manufacturing processes since the final parts are built layer by layer. This enables metal AM, also known as metal 3D printing, to be utilized for improving efficiency and functionality, for the production of parts with very complex geometries, and rapid prototyping. However, despite many technological advancements made in recent years, several challenges hinder the mass adoption of metal AM. One of these challenges is mechanical anisotropy which describes the dependency of material properties on the material orientation. Therefore, in this work, stainless steel 316L parts produced by laser-based powder bed fusion are used to isolate and understand the root cause of anisotropy in AM parts. Furthermore, an efficient and accurate multiscale numerical framework is presented for predicting the deformation behavior of actual AM parts on the macroscale undergoing large plastic deformations. Finally, a novel constitutive model for the plastic spin is formulated to capture the influence of the microstructure evolution on the material behavior on the macroscale.
Concrete is the most important human-made material because it serves as the basis of our built environment. Since the properties of concretes are dominated by their key compound, cement, devising a way to determine the cement’s origin, known as provenancing, is of great importance for answering different provenance-related questions. These questions range from liability issues when damage occurs to concrete-made structures, to forensic investigations where cement particles are found at crime scenes. This thesis showcases the use of isotope techniques to answer these provenance-related questions. Conventional 87Sr/86Sr and 143Nd/144Nd isotope and elemental ratios consisting of Ca, Sr, K, Mn, Mg, and Ti are used as fingerprints for ordinary Portland cement (OPC) provenancing. The first part of this thesis describes research previously conducted in fingerprinting cementitious materials, providing an overview of provenance studies of cement and the main approaches commonly used. In several studies, the origin of clinker for certain locations was determined via different approaches. However, clinker is an intermediate product, which is available only at the production site and therefore, the practical relevance is rather limited. Furthermore, the use of Sr and Nd isotope systems, together with elemental fingerprints are presented as state of the art in the field. Therein, the principal approach for the overall study is sketched. For the second part of the study, a sample preparation technique for Sr isotopes in Portland cement was developed. The aim was to find the most appropriate sample preparation procedure for cement provenancing and selection was realised by comparing the 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios of differently treated OPCs with those of the corresponding clinkers. Based on these findings, the third part of the study focused on the measurements of Sr and Nd isotope ratios, together with elemental ratios, to establish a reliable technique for OPC provenancing. The outcomes of this final stage are then used to establish a procedure for fingerprinting cements. This becomes possible with the use of Sr and Nd isotope ratios and geochemical profiles. To perform isotope ratio measurements and obtain reliable data, it was necessary to establish a quality control procedure. Thus, an interlaboratory comparison (ILC) was organised to characterise 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios in geological and industrial reference materials by applying the conventional method for 87Sr/86Sr isotope ratios. As reference material, four cements (VDZ 100a, VDZ 200a, VDZ 300a, IAG OPC-1), one limestone (IAG/CGL ML-3) and one slate (IAG OU-6) were selected, thus covering a wide range of Sr isotope signatures.
Additive manufacturing processes offer extensive advantages for the design freedom of structures through layer-by-layer production. This enables high weight savings as well as the integration of functions such as cooling channels. This technology thus offers great potential to contribute to a sustainable future. The pioneer among these manufacturing processes is the powder bed fusion of metals with laser beams (PBF-LB/M). This process is characterised by high laser scanning speeds and highly localised heat input, which have a strong effect on the microstructure and thus also on the mechanical properties. For example, the austenitic steel 316L exhibits a cellular structure at the subgrain level. This microstructure feature leads to higher yield strengths and comparable ductility to conventionally processed 316L. In addition to the traditional applications of 316L steel in the petrochemical and nuclear industries, this enables new applications such as medical stents or bipolar plates for fuel cells with proton exchange membranes. However, the layer-by-layer production with high scanning speeds and localised heat input induces cooling rates in the order of 106 K.s-1. The large temperature gradients and the shrinkage restraints of each weld bead and layer lead to the development of complex residual stress fields. These reduce the material performance and can even lead to premature failure. Thus, the fatigue properties are severely affected by rapid crack growth or prematurely developing cracks. Furthermore, specimens may warp during PBF-LB/M or immediately when the components are separated from the build plate. Therefore, residual stress is one of the main disadvantages of PBF-LB/M, making it difficult for this technology to be more widely accepted in the industry. Based on the current state of the literature, the procedure for determining residual stress employing diffraction methods, the influence of the component geometry, as well as the inter-layertime (ILT) on residual stress and, lastly, suitable heat treatment strategies for relaxing residual stress in PBF-LB/M/316L, were identified as insufficiently researched areas.
Determining residual stress is a major challenge. X-ray and neutron diffraction are particularly suitable for filigree structures, which can preferably be produced using PBF-LB/M. Here, the microscopic strain of the lattice planes is used to calculate the macroscopic residual stress. These methods are nondestructive and allow the spatial resolution of the bi-axial and tri-axial residual stress. In the present work, in-situ neutron diffraction tensile tests were performed to analyse the micromechanical behaviour of PBF-LB/M/316L. The suitability of the lattice planes for calculating the macroscopic residual stress was investigated. The (311) lattice plane was found to be the best option for determining the macroscopic residual stress in PBF-LB/M/316L. Furthermore, it was shown that the Kröner model can be used to calculate the X-ray diffraction constants despite the texture. Currently, both aspects are common practices in the determination of residual stress. The results presented here support the validity of this approach and increase the confidence in the experimentally determined residual stress, which has a positive effect on the assessment of quality concerning the safety of a component manufactured by PBF-LB/M.
The geometry of a structure manufactured by PBF-LB/M determines the component stiffness and influences the thermal gradients during manufacture and ultimately the residual stress. The effect of smaller or larger dimensions (larger than 10 mm) on the residual stress is rarely considered. To investigate this aspect, representative test specimens with different thicknesses and lengths were produced. Hence, the influence of the geometry i.e., component stiffness on the residual stress was evaluated. The residual stress was determined using X-ray and neutron diffraction. The analysis of the residual stress showed that an increase in thickness leads to overall higher residual stress. In addition, it was shown that increasing the sample dimension leads to smaller residual stress gradients. Above a threshold value of a few millimetres, no significant change in the residual stress was observed.
The ILT is inherent in every PBF-LB/M construction job and influences the thermal gradients during production and thus the residual stress. A change in wall thickness in a geometrically complex structure or a variation in the number of specimens in the construction process leads directly to a change in the ILT. To simulate this, specimens with different ILT were produced. The residual stress was determined by X-ray and neutron diffraction. The use of a short ILT resulted in higher surface residual stress, but lower volume residual stress. Here, the surface residual stress and the residual stress in the volume showed contrary behaviour. This was attributed to the complex heat conduction during the process, as shown by the thermographic measurements.
To avoid distortion of the specimens or real components upon separation from the build plate or during post-processing steps, stress relief annealing is usually performed after the PBF-LB/M process. Based on standards for heat treatment of welded austenitic steels, heat treatments were performed at low (450 °C for four hours) and high (800 °C and 900 °C for one hour) temperatures. The results show that the heat treatment at 450 °C relaxed the residual stress by only 5 %. This low relaxation is due to the stability of the cell structures. The high-temperature heat treatment showed that 900 °C is required to dissolve the cell structure and achieve a relaxation of about 85 %. This result is in good agreement with the standards for stress relief annealing of welded austenitic steels.
Even though we often do not knowingly recognize them, nanoparticles are present these days in most areas of our daily life, including food and its packaging, medicine, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, pigments as well as electronic products, such as computer screens. The majority of these particles exhibits a core-shell morphology either intendedly or unintendedly. For the purpose of practicability, this core-shell nanoparticle (CSNP) morphology is often assumed to be ideal, namely a spherical core fully encapsulated by a shell of homogeneous thickness with a sharp interface between core and shell material. It is furthermore widely presumed that all nanoparticles in the sample possess the same shell thickness. As a matter of fact, most real CSNPs deviate in several ways from this ideal model with quite often severe impact on how efficiently they perform in a specific application.
The topic of this cumulative PhD thesis is the accurate characterization of the actual morphology of CSNPs by advanced X-ray analytical techniques, namely X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM). A special focus is on CSNPs which deviate from an ideal core-shell morphology. In the paper from 2019 nanoparticle shell thicknesses are extracted from the elastic-peak intensities in an XPS spectrum based on an ideal particle morphology. This happens for a series of CSNP samples comprising a poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE) core and either a poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) or polystyrene (PS) shell. The same paper as well as the paper from 2020 demonstrate for the first time, that the analysis of the inelastic background in an XPS spectrum of CSNPs can identify and quantify the heterogeneity of the shell and the incomplete encapsulation of the core.
The result from an XPS experiment is always an average across a large nanoparticle ensemble. Deviations from an ideal morphology within a single particle of the sample cannot be assessed separately. As opposed to that, a spatial resolution of 35 nm enables STXM to visualize the interior of single CSNPs which exhibit a sufficient X-ray absorption contrast between core and shell material. In the paper from 2018 a STXM analysis is demonstrated based on the example of the PTFE-PS CSNP samples already mentioned in the previous paragraph.
In the publication from 2021 (Ca/Sr)F₂ core-shell like nanoparticle ensembles for the practical use in, among others, antireflective coatings are investigated. These nanoparticles do not possess a sharp interface between core and shell material, which is why a shell thickness determination as described in the second paragraph is inappropriate. Instead, in-depth profiles of the chemical composition are obtained by XPS experiments based on synchrotron radiation with variable X-ray photon energy to elucidate the internal morphology of the particles. Additionally, theoretical in-depth profiles of Ca and Sr XPS peak intensities are simulated, in order to facilitate the interpretation of the experiments. Thus, an enrichment of CaF₂ at the particle surface was determined, which could hardly have been assessed by any other analytical technique. Because this kind of non-destructive depth profiling by XPS is very demanding, more than usual effort is spent on gapless documentation of the experiments to ensure full reproducibility.
Due to the vast diversity of nanoparticles differing in material, composition and shape, a measurement procedure cannot unalteredly be transferred from one sample to another. Nevertheless, because the papers in this thesis present a greater depth of reporting on the experiments than comparable publications, they constitute an important guidance for other scientists on how to obtain meaningful information about CSNPs from surface analysis.
Additive manufacturing technologies provide unique possibilities in the production of topologically optimized, near-net shape components. The main limiting factors affecting the structural integrity of Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) parts are manufacturing defects and residual stress (RS) because both of them are virtually inevitable. Taking into account the complex thermal history of LPBF materials, a prediction of the material behavior is not possible without experimental data on the microstructure, defect distribution, and RS fields. Therefore, this thesis aims to understand the factors that influence the LPBF Ti-6Al-4V material performance the most, covering both the production and the post-processing steps of manufacturing.
Indeed, a parametric study on the influence of manufacturing process and post-processing on RS, defects and microstructure was performed. It was found that the volumetric energy Density (EV), commonly used for the LPBF process optimization, does neither consider the pore shapes and distribution, nor the influence of individual parameters on the volume fraction of pores.
Therefore, it was recommended not to use EV without great care. It was shown that the Position on the base plate has a great impact on the amount of RS in the part.
The micromechanical behavior of LPBF Ti-6Al-4V was also studied using in-situ Synchrotron X-ray diffraction during tensile and compression tests. Diffraction elastic constants (DEC), connecting macroscopic stress and (micro) strain, of the LPBF Ti-6Al-4V showed a difference
from the DEC of conventionally manufactured alloy. This fact was attributed to the peculiar microstructure and crystallographic texture. It was therefore recommended to determine experimentally DECs whenever possible.
Low Cycle Fatigue (LCF) tests at a chosen operating temperature were performed to evaluate the effect of post-treatment on the mechanical performance. Through the information on the microstructure, the mesostructure, and the RS, the LCF behavior was (indirectly) correlated to the process parameters. It was found that the fatigue performance of LPBF samples subjected to hot isostatic pressing is similar to that of hot-formed Ti-6Al-4V. The tensile RS found at the
surface of LPBF as-built samples decreased the fatigue life compared to the heat-treated samples. The modification of the microstructure (by heat treatment) did not affect the Fatigue performance in the elastic regime. This shows that in the absence of tensile RS, the manufacturing defects solely control the failure of LPBF components and densification has the strongest effect on the improvement of the mechanical performance.
In this work, two X-ray refraction based imaging methods, namely, synchrotron X-ray refraction radiography (SXRR) and synchrotron X-ray refraction computed tomography (SXRCT), are applied to analyze quantitatively cracks and porosity in metallic materials.
SXRR and SXRCT make use of the refraction of X-rays at inner surfaces of the material, e.g., the surfaces of cracks and pores, for image contrast. Both methods are, therefore, sensitive to smaller defects than their absorption based counterparts X-ray radiography and computed tomography. They can detect defects of nanometric size.
So far the methods have been applied to the analysis of ceramic materials and fiber reinforced plastics. The analysis of metallic materials requires higher photon energies to achieve sufficient X-ray transmission due to their higher density. This causes smaller refraction angles and, thus, lower image contrast because the refraction index depends on the photon energy. Here, for the first time, a conclusive study is presented exploring the possibility to apply SXRR and SXRCT to metallic materials. It is shown that both methods can be optimized to overcome the reduced contrast due to smaller refraction angles. Hence, the only remaining limitation is the achievable X-ray Transmission which is common to all X-ray imaging methods. Further, a model for the quantitative analysis of the inner surfaces is presented and verified.
For this purpose four case studies are conducted each posing a specific challenge to the imaging task. Case study A investigates cracks in a coupon taken from an aluminum weld seam. This case study primarily serves to verify the model for quantitative analysis and prove the sensitivity to sub-resolution features. In case study B, the
damage evolution in an aluminum-based particle reinforced metal-matrix composite is analyzed. Here, the accuracy and repeatability of subsequent SXRR measurements is investigated showing that measurement errors of less than 3% can be achieved. Further, case study B marks the fist application of SXRR in combination with in-situ tensile loading. Case study C is out of the highly topical field of additive manufacturing. Here, porosity in additively manufactured Ti-Al6-V4 is analyzed with a special interest in the pore morphology. A classification scheme based on SXRR measurements is devised which allows to distinguish binding defects from keyhole pores even if the defects cannot be spatially resolved. In case study D, SXRCT is applied to the analysis of hydrogen assisted cracking in steel. Due to the high X-ray attenuation of steel a comparatively high photonenergy of 50 keV is required here. This causes increased noise and lower contrast in the data compared to the other case studies. However, despite the lower data quality a quantitative analysis of the occurance of cracks in dependence of hydrogen content and applied mechanical load is possible.
Additive Manufacturing (AM) in terms of laser powder-bed fusion (L-PBF) offers new prospects regarding the design of parts and enables therefore the production of lattice structures. These lattice structures shall be implemented in various industrial applications (e.g. gas turbines) for reasons of material savings or cooling
channels. However, internal defects, residual stress, and structural deviations from the nominal geometry are unavoidable.
In this work, the structural integrity of lattice structures manufactured by means of L-PBF was non-destructively investigated on a multiscale approach.
A workflow for quantitative 3D powder analysis in terms of particle size, particle shape, particle porosity, inter-particle distance and packing density was established.
Synchrotron computed tomography (CT) was used to correlate the packing
density with the particle size and particle shape. It was also observed that at least about 50% of the powder porosity was released during production of the struts.
Struts are the component of lattice structures and were investigated by means of laboratory CT. The focus was on the influence of the build angle on part porosity and surface quality. The surface topography analysis was advanced by the quantitative characterisation of re-entrant surface features. This characterisation was compared with conventional surface parameters showing their complementary
information, but also the need for AM specific surface parameters.
The mechanical behaviour of the lattice structure was investigated with in-situ CT under compression and successive digital volume correlation (DVC). The Deformation was found to be knot-dominated, and therefore the lattice folds unit cell layer wise.
The residual stress was determined experimentally for the first time in such lattice structures. Neutron diffraction was used for the non-destructive 3D stress investigation. The principal stress directions and values were determined in dependence of the number of measured directions. While a significant uni-axial stress state was found in the strut, a more hydrostatic stress state was found in the knot. In both cases, strut and knot, seven directions were at least needed to
find reliable principal stress directions.
Polyaniline/Silicon Dioxide Composite-Based Coating for Corrosion Protection in Geothermal Systems
(2020)
Geothermal energy is one of the cleanest renewable alternatives to reduce the dependency on fossil fuel [1, 2]. Despite its promising future, its implementation faces various challenges, one of them being corrosion processes. To implement this energy, hot fluids are pumped from a geothermal well. These hot fluids originate from deep within the earth, so consist of different ionic species and gases in a wide range of temperatures, which lead to their corrosive nature. In terms of geothermal energy resources, Indonesia is at the forefront, with the highest preserved geothermal energy in the world of about 29 GWe and 312 potential geothermal locations [3]. Geothermal wells in Sibayak (North Sumatera), Indonesia, belong to young stratovolcanoes and have operating temperatures varying from 36 °C at the near ground surface to 310 °C at the bottom of the well, which is liquid-dominated with acidic and saline properties [4, 5]. Therefore, this geothermal fluid creates an aggressive environment that is conducive to corrosion of the powerplant infrastructure.
Parts of the geothermal powerplant infrastructure, such as pipelines and heat exchangers, are commonly made of metals, e.g. carbon steel and stainless steel. Consequently, they may undergo corrosion and scaling when exposed to the geothermal fluid, especially for carbon steel. To ensure the safety and longevity of a geothermal powerplant, the infrastructure is constructed of expensive corrosion resistant alloys [6–10], e.g., titanium and Ni-Cr based alloys, or carbon steel which needs to be protected by coatings or inhibitors.
To address the corrosion of carbon steel in the geothermal environment, artificial geothermal water was used to simulate a geothermal well in Sibayak, Indonesia, with pH 4 and a saline composition of 1,500 mg/l Cl-, 20 mg/l SO42-, 15 mg/l HCO3-, 200 mg/l Ca2+, 250 mg/l K+, and 600 mg/l Na+. Carbon steel underwent the most severe corrosion at 150°C in an oxygen-containing solution with a corrosion rate of 0.34 mm/year, which is approximately ten times higher than that in the absence of dissolved oxygen. In all conditions, pitting corrosion was observed, which necessitate a protection strategy on carbon steel. In order to promote a cost effective and locally available option, this work focused on an easily applicable coating which utilized local resources.
Toward developing such protective coating based on the locally available resources in Indonesia which can yield good corrosion resistance and thermal stability in geothermal environment, two additional components, i.e. polyaniline (PANI) and silicon dioxide, were used to modify an alkyd-based commercial coating. The selection of the alkyd-based coating as a matrix focused on the industrial convenience basis, where the coating application procedure should be simple and easy to apply within reasonable costs. The alkyd-based coating underwent severe blistering when exposed to the artificial geothermal water at 70 and 150°C due to the reaction between CaCO3 (as one of its components) and the artificial geothermal water, as well as a possible alkyd hydrolysis in the initial stage of exposure. In the oxygen-free solution, the degradation was controlled by chemical and thermal reactions, whereas in the aerated condition, oxidization at the coating surface further accelerated polymer degradation.
PANI was chosen as one of the anticorrosion pigments which was widely developed over the past decades. To investigate the interaction between PANI and the artificial geothermal water, PANI film was electrochemically deposited on the carbon steel surface and exposed to the artificial geothermal water. Electrochemically synthesized oxalate-doped PANI was protective against corrosion of carbon steel in artificial geothermal water at room temperature. The mechanism involved an exchange of electroactive species within the coating layer, as confirmed by electrochemical impedance spectra. Interaction of ionic species, such as Cl-, Na+, Ca2+ from the artificial geothermal water, with the outer layer of PANI is suggested both at 25°C and 150°C, based on the EDX spectra of the coating surface after exposure to the artificial geothermal water. Thus, the protection mechanism of PANI is not solely based on the physical barrier layer properties, but rather associated with the redox mediated properties of PANI, which selectively allow ionic species intrusion from the electrolyte into the PANI layer. Although PANI is a promising candidate as an anticorrosion coating, its morphological characterization reveals that electrochemically deposited PANI is not stable for an application at 150°C. Therefore, another approach was used to promote better protective behavior of PANI by dispersing chemically synthesized PANI in the alkyd-based coating.
To enhance the thermal stability of the coating, silicon dioxide (SiO2) was added, which was able to prolong the sustainability of coated metals until 28 days compared to the unmodified alkyd-based coating, which underwent a change in color to brown/orange only within 7 days of exposure. This improvement might be associated with the role of SiO2 to proportionate the thermal expansion coefficient of the coating system to be compatible with that of carbon steel. Although the coating is thermally enhanced, the electrolyte might still intrude through the coating resulting in the change of coating color after 28 days of exposure in the artificial geothermal water. When PANI was added, the coating system provided an active corrosion protection on the carbon steel surface. The chemical and morphological characterization of the PANI-alkyd and SiO2-alkyd coating system showed that coatings were improved, and no blisters were observed, albeit the degradation continued. Based on the results of exposure tests, the combined coating system was further investigated.
The combinational coating of PANI/SiO2-alkyd was used with 2 wt% of PANI and 15 wt% of SiO2. Electrochemical tests indicated cathodic protection at 150°C, as the Ecorr of PANI/SiO2 remained approximately 400 mV lower than the carbon steel potential. The impedance spectra of the combinational coating of PANI/SiO2 showed a continuous decrease in the absolute impedance value over time. A significant decrease was observed within one day of exposure, followed by a slow gradual decrease, which might be associated with water absorption in the coating. FTIR spectra revealed that several peaks associated with the organic portion of the coatings were reduced after the specimens were exposed for 6 months. However, the absorption peaks related to the inorganic portion of the coatings remained stable until 6 months. Morphological characterization of the combinational coating of PANI/SiO2 showed that there were no blisters or significant discoloration of coatings after long-term exposure for 6 months in artificial geothermal water at 150°C, indicating that the chemical degradation does not significantly affect the functionality of the coating. This clearly shows the durability of PANI/SiO2 coating in the geothermal condition, suggesting that this coating can be used for such geothermal application. However, further testing of this coating should be conducted in a real geothermal environment on-site to ensure safety and viability.
Environmental Stress Cracking (ESC) and Slow Crack Growth (SCG) of PE-HD induced by external fluids
(2020)
High-density polyethylene (PE-HD) is widely used as a packaging material. Typical applications are pipes and containers for storage and transport of dangerous goods. For these applications, the understanding of the craze-crack damage mechanisms slow crack growth (SCG) and environmental stress cracking (ESC) is of importance. Since these mechanisms are considered to be the major causes of failure, their understanding is essential for inspection and release of those materials.
A well-established test method for the assessment of these damage mechanisms is the full-notch creep test (FNCT). It is used in this study for a detailed investigation of crack propagation phenomena in PE-HD container materials under the influence of different fluids such as air, water and aqueous detergent solutions (Arkopal N 100) as well as biodiesel and diesel. Based on the results of the FNCT, a classification scheme of different fluids is proposed, which allows for an assignment of the respective damage mechanisms. Hereby, it is differentiated between (i) inert, (ii) purely surface-active and (iii) additionally sorptive, bulk-active fluids with respect to SCG. If the test fluid changes the intrinsic properties (at the surface or in the bulk), the damage mechanism is addressed to ESC behavior.
In FNCT investigations, stress, temperature and specimen geometry were varied systematically. In addition to the time to failure as common measure for the resistance of a PE-HD type against crack propagation, specimen elongation was considered in detail.
Several imaging techniques were applied for fracture surface analysis of specimens tested in FNCT to gain novel information on SCG and ESC behavior. From height profiles obtained by laser scanning microscopy (LSM) and information on surface structures from scanning electron microscopy (SEM), indicators for the differentiation of the crack propagation mechanisms could be derived. Based on the LSM data, an algorithm for the distinction between ductile shear deformation and brittle crack growth as dominating failure mechanism was developed. Imaging techniques were also used for determination of crack propagation rates, which were related to time-resolved FNCT elongation data. From the time-resolved determination of crack lengths of partly damaged FNCT specimens, an increasing length of craze zone with a progressively propagating crack was revealed for the first time. This relation of crack and craze zones was specified by fracture mechanical considerations.
The present work is intended to make a contribution to the monitoring of civil engineering structures. The detection of damage to structures is based on the evaluation of spatially and temporally distributed hybrid measurements. The acquired data can be evaluated purely geometrically or physically. It is preferable to do the latter, since the cause of damage can be determined by means of geometrical-physical laws in order to be able to intervene in time and ensure the further use of the structures. For this reason, the continuum mechanical field equations in conjunction with the finite element method and hybrid measurements are combined into a single evaluation method by the adjustment calculation. This results in two challenges.
The first task deals with the relationship between the finite element method and the method of least squares. The finite element method solves certain problem classes, which are described by a system of elliptical partial differential equations. Whereas the method of least squares solves another class of problems, which is formulated as an overdetermined system of equations. The striking similarity between both methods is known since many decades. However, it remains unresolved why this resemblance exists. The contribution is to clarify this by examining the variational calculus, especially with regard to its methodological procedure. Although the well-known Gauss-Markov model within the method of least squares and the finite element method solve inherently different problem classes, it is shown that both methods can be derived by following the same methodological steps of the variational calculus. From a methodical viewpoint, this implies that both methods are not only similar, but actually the same. In addition, it is pointed out where a possible cross-connection to other methods exists.
The second task introduces a Measurement- and Model-based Structural Analysis (MeMoS) by integrating the finite element method into the adjustment calculation. It is shown in numerical examinations how this integrated analysis can be used for parameter identification of simple as well as arbitrarily shaped structural components. Based on this, it is examined with which observation types, with which precision and at which location of the structure these measurements must be carried out in order to determine the material parameters as precisely as possible. This serves to determine an optimal and economic measurement set-up. With this integrated analysis, a substitute model of a geometrically complex structure can also be determined. The issue of the detection and localisation of damage within a structure is studied by means of this structural analysis. The Measurement and Model-based Structural Analysis is validated using two different test setups, an aluminum model bridge and a bending beam.
The present work is intended to make a contribution to the monitoring of civil engineering structures. The detection of damage to structures is based on the evaluation of spatially and temporally distributed hybrid measurements. The acquired data can be evaluated purely geometrically or physically. It is preferable to do the latter, since the cause of damage can be determined by means of geometrical-physical laws in order to be able to intervene in time and ensure the further use of the structures. For this reason, the continuum mechanical field equations in conjunction with the finite element method and hybrid measurements are combined into a single evaluation method by the adjustment calculation. This results in two challenges.
The first task deals with the relationship between the finite element method and the method of least squares. The finite element method solves certain problem classes, which are described by a system of elliptical partial differential equations. Whereas the method of least squares solves another class of problems, which is formulated as an overdetermined system of equations. The striking similarity between both methods is known since many decades. However, it remains unresolved why this resemblance exists. The contribution is to clarify this by examining the variational calculus, especially with regard to its methodological procedure. Although the well-known Gauss-Markov model within the method of least squares and the finite element method solve inherently different problem classes, it is shown that both methods can be derived by following the same methodological steps of the variational calculus. From a methodical viewpoint, this implies that both methods are not only similar, but actually the same. In addition, it is pointed out where a possible cross-connection to other methods exists.
The second task introduces a Measurement- and Model-based Structural Analysis (MeMoS) by integrating the finite element method into the adjustment calculation. It is shown in numerical examinations how this integrated analysis can be used for parameter identification of simple as well as arbitrarily shaped structural components. Based on this, it is examined with which observation types, with which precision and at which location of the structure these measurements must be carried out in order to determine the material parameters as precisely as possible. This serves to determine an optimal and economic measurement set-up. With this integrated analysis, a substitute model of a geometrically complex structure can also be determined. The issue of the detection and localisation of damage within a structure is studied by means of this structural analysis. The Measurement and Model-based Structural Analysis is validated using two different test setups, an aluminum model bridge and a bending beam.
For almost 150 years it is known that hydrogen has a deleterious effect on the mechanical properties of metallic components. Nowadays, the problem of hydrogen assisted degradation is highly relevant in energy related fields due to the massive use of steel as a structural component in these applications and its sensitivity to hydrogen. Since the discovery of hydrogen assisted cracking (HAC), researchers studied intensively and suggested possible explanations and mechanisms in order to define how hydrogen is affecting the material. In general, it is considered that hydrogen changes the mechanical properties more in terms of ductility (deformation capacities) than in strength (load capacities). Hydrogen concentration is one of three crucial factors in the degradation process, together with the microstructure of the material and the internal/external mechanical load. The relatively high concentration of hydrogen resulting in this loss of ductility can originate during production or before service (e.g. welding processes) and during service (i.e. catholically protected systems to eliminate corrosion processes in sour environments).
In parallel to the theoretical work, tremendous efforts were, and are still, invested in searching for a proper method to elucidate, map and quantify the hydrogen in the microstructure, which is the basis for this work. For steels, the focus is mainly on the observations of diffusion processes and the interaction of hydrogen with the microstructure
in regions with high local stresses/strains (for example around evolving cracks). The challenge for reaching this goal arises from the fact that accurate indication of hydrogen by means of position, unlike heavier atoms, can be made only by mass spectrometry or by interaction with another element (e.g. silver decoration, special coating and resonant nuclear reaction by nitrogen). In addition to this, the difficulty recording the hydrogen behavior while it rapidly diffuses through the material, leaving only the unpredicted failure, should be taken into account.
Although using powerful characterization methods, models and computational simulations, the key to defining the mechanisms behind HAC is still under debate and not fully understood. The relationship between material and hydrogen is determined by three factors, i.e., the material structure and microstructure – determining the physical properties, the mechanical load applied on the material and the hydrogen concentration. It is well known that in order to have a complete definition of HAC these three factors must be examined locally with the minimal scale and the maximal resolution reachable. The major gap is the lack in such a characterization method or a technique by which one has the ability to detect and observe the hydrogen in the metallic microstructure. The commonly used techniques nowadays are capable of characterization of the microstructure without the ability to observe the hydrogen distribution. Global hydrogen concentration and localized hydrogen observation are possible by some techniques which are incapable of indicating a change in the structure or microstructure therefore a comprehensive overview can be gained only by combining several methods.
In the presented research, secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) was adopted as the main tool to detect and locally map the hydrogen distribution in two types of duplex stainless steel grades: EN 1.4462 (standard 2205 duplex stainless steel) and EN 1.4162 (2101 lean duplex stainless steel). The term duplex stainless steel (DSS) refers to the austenitic-ferritic microstructure of the steel where the combination of physical and mechanical properties of the two phases is achieved. The DSS was selected as a case study for this work due to the wide use of this grade in many energy and the lack of knowledge on hydrogen behavior in two-phase containing microstructures. ToFSIMS was exploited in-situ and ex-situ in three experimental approaches during or following
an electrochemical charging procedure. This type of hydrogen charging was selected as it simulated a procedure of cathodic protection of most sub-water oil and gas extraction and delivery systems. The experimental procedures were:
1. Ex-situ charging followed by ToF-SIMS imaging for basic understanding of hydrogen distribution.
2. Ex-situ charging followed by in-situ mechanical loading to obtain information on hydrogen behavior around a propagating crack.
3. In-situ permeation of hydrogen through a steel membrane inside the ToF-SIMS to obtain information on diffusion behavior of hydrogen in a two-phase microstructure.
The comprehensive view of the effect of hydrogen on steel was gained by using supplementary methods, such as high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HR-SEM), focused ion beam (FIB) and electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD). The state of the art in this work lies in applying both: in-situ experimental approaches and data treatment of the ToF-SIMS raw data. The data treatment includes the combination of data from several sources (data fusion).
The results for the ex-situ charging followed by static sample imaging and data fusion showed that when the analyzed surface is directly exposed to the electrolyte the degradation is pronounced differently in the ferrite, austenite and interface. The degradation mechanisms in the ferrite and austenite were reflected by the formation of cracks on the surface of both, where a high concentration of hydrogen was obtained. This result supports the assumption that hydrogen is attracted to highly deformed regions. The advantage of using in-situ charging/permeation in comparison to ex-situ charging is that the effect of hydrogen on the ferrite and austenite phases when the hydrogen is evolving from within the microstructure is realized, in comparison to when the analyzed surface is initially exposed directly to the electrolyte. In both experiments the ferrite was observed as a fast diffusion path for the hydrogen. The faster diffusion of hydrogen through the ferrite is expected due to the higher diffusion coefficient, however, a direct proof for the diffusion sequence in this scale was never shown. Most significant results were achieved by the ‘core’ experiments of this research. These experiments included the design of a novel dynamic mechanical loading device to apply an external load during SIMS imaging of a hydrogen precharged-notched sample. For the first time it was shown that plastic deformation induced by applying a mechanical load is resulting in a redistribution of hydrogen locally around the notch.
Glass is an amorphous material. When compared to steel, both its density and weight is three times lower. Its high theoretical strength makes it stand out as a premier material for a variety of applications. One such application is acting as a pressure resistant vessel for gas storage. Because glass has a high theoretical strength this makes it potentially suitable to withstand much higher pressures than steel or composite vessels. As a result of its brittle character, glass breaks when reaching a critical stress level. Therefore, the stress distribution during pressure load needs to be homogeneous without local stress peaks. At those peaks an initial crack will occur and the material will break. This PhD thesis is primarily concerned with the determination of the strength of several structures made of single hollow glass fibers during inner pressure treatment. Therefore, different kinds of hollow glass structures with varying parameters of shape and dimension were examined concerning their strength by determining the burst pressure. The burst pressure method was compared to the tensile test method, which poses the common test method for examining the strength of a material. The conclusion reached was that both test methods lead to comparable results and therefore, the burst pressure method poses an adequate tool for examining the strength of a hollow material against inner pressure. Another tool used in this thesis is the Finite Elements Method (FEM) simulation of internal stress and expansion of glass structures during pressure treatment. FEM was used to validate the burst pressure test results. A few selected material parameters needed to be incorporated, most notably the Young’s Modulus. Therefore, the expansion of single glass fibers was measured with light microscope during pressure load. Within the parameters of expansion, wall thickness and applied pressure, the Young’s Modulus was calculated with the Barlow’s Formula. According to the results, different two-dimensional models from single fibers to complex structures with up to 1000 single fibers were constructed and simulated with the CFD software Comsol Multiphysics. The expansion as well as the principal stress during pressure load was calculated. Different dimensions as well as different geometries of the glasses were considered to find a structure with the highest possible free volume and at the same time as less stress peaks as possible. This calculation was made in order to determine the best structure for gas storage. For this purpose the calculations were done with different dimensions of round single fibers right up to hexagonal structures consisting of more than one thousand round single fibers, which resulted in constant expansion of the structure. Furthermore, the problem of occurring interspaces between round single fibers, regarding their burst pressure-decreasing influence, was approached. Closing these interspaces with glass or other materials to avoid unsolicited pressure load led to increased strength of the structure and low storage capacities due to the increased weight and less free inner volume. The behavior of hexagonal fibers was determined as single fiber as well as in bundled condition. The walls between two hexagonal single fibers with applied inner pressure showed homogeneously distributed stress. Merely the outer walls without counter pressure showed high deformation and high structural stress. Based on that knowledge, several structures were modeled varying in different aspects. The fibers with hexagonal shape showed optimal stress distribution and high storage capacities because of high free inner volume, provided that these fibers are surrounded by additional fibers with identical inner pressure. Reducing the wall thickness for even higher free inner volume led to similar distribution but higher stress and expansion. To overcome the problem with the high stress at the outer fibers, the influence of outer fibers with different shape and dimension was simulated as well as the influence of solid glass fibers at the outer layer of the structure. The results showed that a structure with hexagonal thin-walled fibers should be surrounded by round fibers with higher wall thickness. This way the high stress peaks at the outer fibers are lowered. The examined practical strength of glass is about 100 to 1000 times lower than the theoretical strength. This is caused by defects, which may occur at the glass surface by handling or inside the material by defective production. Since the modeled results are based on the theoretical strength, the optimal wall thickness with a good compromise of strength and free inner volume needs to be found in practical tests. If further handling of the structures is necessary, an outer layer of solid fibers works as a protection layer against damages at the outer hollow glass fibers and increases the strength. Additionally, the influence of collapsing fibers inside a structure on the remaining system has been modeled as well as the influence of defects like holes or cracks at the surface or manufacturing induced defects inside the material. Any kind of defect leads to areas of high stress, whereby failure occurrence will be encouraged. In order to approve the theoretical results, the simulated structures were compared to the previously manufactured and tested ones. Due to the burst pressure test results, the tested structures showed low strength compared to the theoretical strength. This was primarily caused by the existence of defects in the material and on the surface of the glass structures. Therefore, the production process needs to be optimized in order to prevent such defects. Furthermore, an additional protection against outer influence like air humidity or the physical contact to other materials is required.
Pharmacologically active compounds are omnipresent in contemporary daily life, in our food and in our environment. The fast and easy quantification of those substances is becoming a subject of global importance. The fluorescence polarization immunoassay (FPIA) is a homogeneous mix-and-read format and a suitable tool for this purpose that offers a high sample throughput. Yet, the applicability to complex matrices can be limited by possible interaction of matrix compounds with antibodies or tracer.
Caffeine is one of the most frequently consumed pharmacologically active compounds and is present in a large variety of consumer products, including beverages and cosmetics. Adverse health effects of high caffeine concentrations especially for pregnant women are under discussion. Therefore, and due to legal regulations, caffeine should be monitored. Automated FPIA measurements enabled the precise and accurate quantification of caffeine in beverages and cosmetics within 2 min. Samples could be highly diluted before analysis due to high assay sensitivity in the low μg/L range. Therefore, no matrix effects were observed.
The antiepileptic drug carbamazepine (CBZ) is discussed as a marker for the elimination efficiency of wastewater treatment plants and the dispersion of their respective effluents in surface water. The development of a FPIA for CBZ included the synthesis and evaluation of different tracers. Using the optimum tracer CBZ-triglycine-5-(aminoacetamido) fluorescein, CBZ concentrations in surface waters could be measured on different platforms: one sample within 4 min in tubes or 24 samples within 20 min on microtiter plates (MTPs). For this study, a commercially available antibody was used, which led to overestimations with recovery rates up to 140% due to high cross-reactivities towards CBZ metabolites and other pharmaceuticals.
For more accurate CBZ determination, a new monoclonal antibody was produced. In this attempt, methods for improving the monitoring during the production process were successfully applied, including feces screening and cell culture supernatant screening with FPIA. The new monoclonal antibody is highly specific for CBZ and showed mostly negligible cross-reactivities towards environmentally relevant compounds. Measurements at non-equilibrium state improved the sensitivity and selectivity of the developed FPIA due to slow binding kinetics of the new antibody. Additionally, this measure enables for CBZ determination over a measurement range of almost three orders of magnitude. The comprehensively characterized antibody was successfully applied for the development of sensitive homogeneous and heterogeneous immunoassays.
The new antibody made the development of an on-site measurement system for the determination of CBZ in wastewater possible. After comprehensive optimization, this automated FPIA platform allows the precise quantification of CBZ in wastewater samples only pre-treated by filtration within 16 min. Recovery rates of 61 to 104% were observed. Measurements in the low μg/L range are possible without the application of tedious sample preparation techniques.
Different FPIA platforms including MTPs, cuvettes and tubes were successfully applied. For the choice of the right format, the application field should be considered, e.g. desired sample throughput, usage for optimization or characterization of antibodies or if a set-up for routine measurements is sought for. For high sample throughput and optimization, FPIA performance on MTPs is advantageous. The best results for the application to real samples were obtained using kinetic FP measurements in cuvettes.
High-strength steels are favoured materials in the industry for production of safe and sustainable structures. The main technology used for joining the components of such steel is fusion welding.
Steel alloy design concepts combined with advanced processing technologies have been extensively investigated during the development of High-Strength Low-Alloy (HSLA) steels. However, very few studies have addressed the issue of how various alloy designs, even with limited microalloy addition, can influence the properties of high-strength steel welds. In high-strength steel welding practices, the challenges regarding microstructure evolution and the resulting mechanical properties variation, are of great interest. The main focus is the debate regarding the role of microalloy elements on phase transformation and weld performance. Limited Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) softening and limited austenite grain coarsening are significant design essentials, but the primary goal is to ensure excellent toughness and tensile properties in the steel weld. To achieve this purpose, microalloy elements such as Ti, Nb, or V were intentionally added to modern high-strength steels. The focus of this work was to understand the mechanical properties of HSLA steels resulting from differences in alloy design after joining by modern welding processes.
To begin, three microalloyed S690QL steels (Nb, Ti, and Ti+V addition) were investigated. Optical microscopy confirmed that similar mixtures of tempered bainite and martensite predominated the parent microstructure in the three steels, different types of coarse microalloy precipitates were also visible. These precipitates were analysed by using a thermodynamic-based software and then identified by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Results of mechanical testing revealed that all three steels performed above the standard toughness and tensile strength values, but with varied yielding phenomena. During the welding operation, each of the three steels was joined by using the same filler material. The fused weld metal was influenced by the high dilution of microalloyed elements in the base metal, this was significantly pronounced during the modified spray arc welding technique. As a result, the Nb-containing steel exhibited sufficient amounts of alloy pick-up to transition the microstructure in the weld metal from acicular ferrite to bainite as cooling rate was increased, leading to reduced toughness. This was not observed with the other two steels.
A second focus was made on the microstructure Evolution and toughness properties of the coarse and fine grained HAZ as welding parameters changed. In order to characterise the microstructure and austenite grain growth behaviour, physical simulations were conducted. The microalloy precipitates were found to be a dominant factor restricting the austenite grain coarsening. The extent of Austenite coarsening in the HAZ is closely related to the type and volume fraction of each microalloy precipitate.
Among the three steels, the Ti-containing HAZ exhibited the smallest extent of grain growth due to the sufficient amount of stable Ti-rich precipitates. Microalloy Addition also markedly influenced the subsequent phase transformation in the HAZ. The formation of intragranular acicular ferrite was promoted by Ti-rich precipitate, acting as favourable nucleation sites of ferrite. This structure enhanced the HAZ toughness owing to fine, high-angle boundaries of ferrite plates. The synergistic effect of Nb and Mo elements was beneficial to improve the HAZ toughness at fast cooling rates by promoting fine lower bainite formation. At high heat input, large upper bainite was formed which caused reduced toughness.
The final set of experimental work was concentrated on understanding the HAZ softening mechanisms that influenced variations in the tensile properties of the welded joints. The tensile failure in the softened HAZ or base material depended on the welding parameters and the type of steel being joined. In Ti-containing steel, increased heat Input extended the softened zone width, which caused a significant decrease in hardness and then resulted in failure in this area. Therefore, limited heat Input was used to shift failure position to base material. But this was not observed in the other two steels.
Hence, small differences in microalloy addition exhibited large variation in tensile properties. Among the three steels, Ti-containing welds were found to have the most pronounced softening, followed by Ti+V-containing welds and finally Nb-containing welds. This varied softening phenomenon was related to two significant processes supported by the results of additional dilatometry simulation: phase transformation and tempering behaviour. In the Ti-containing steel, the phase Transformation product ferrite was large-sized, as a consequence of initial large austenite grains. This led to the decreased corresponding hardness of the Ti-containing steel. Furthermore, lower tempering resistance in Ti-containing steel as compared to Nb-containing steel, resulted in additional softening effect in the softened HAZ. Therefore, steel alloy identification and heat Input during welding were critical, proven by the experimentation within the same S690QL steel grade.
This work emphasised the influence of microalloy elements on weld microstructure and mechanical properties in welded joints. Knowledge of this delicate balance between steel alloy design and appropriate welding parameters is critical for the end product. Thus, this work provides specific recommendations and results to ensure proper welding practice and steel design of microalloyed high-strength steels.
Trans-Zearalenone(ZEN)is a non-steroidal estrogenic mycotoxin which frequently contaminates cereal grains worldwide. Ingestion of food and feed containing ZEN causes numerous mycotoxicoses in animals and possibly humans with pronounced estrogenic effects. Due to the trans-configurated double bond, ZEN isomerizes to the cis-configuration upon the influence of light. This work investigates the instrumental analysis, metabolism and toxicity of ZEN and cis- ZEN. The first part focused on the determination of ZEN in edible oils. Due to a maximum level of 400 µg/kg ZEN in the European Union (EU), reliable analytical methods are needed. A comprehensive method comparison proved dynamic covalent hydrazine chemistry (DCHC) to be the most suitable approach. Thus, an automated solid phase extraction (SPE) coupled online to high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed with the novelty of a covalent SPE step comprising the DCHC principle. The automated online system allows an accurate, selective and reliable quantification of ZEN in edible oils in compliance with EU performance criteria while significantly reducing workload and thereby personnel costs. In contrast to ZEN, reference standards and analytical methods are missing for cis- ZEN which causes a lack of data on the occurrence, fate and risks of cis-ZEN. Therefore, a native and an isotopically labeled cis-ZEN standard were synthesized and implemented in an existing stable isotope dilution analysis HPLC tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) method. Using this method, a large extent of cis-ZEN formation was observed for ZEN contaminated maize germ oils when exposed to daylight which confirms that cis-ZEN can be a relevant food contaminant and should be considered in the analysis of food and feed. Furthermore, this work investigated the in vitro phase I metabolism of ZEN and cis-ZEN in rat and human liver microsomes by using HPLC-MS and -MS/MS analyses. The metabolic pathways of cis-ZEN were found to be essentially similar to ZEN including reduction and oxidation reactions generating α- and β-cis- zearalenol as well as 13- and 15-OH-cis-ZEN. A previously unidentified oxidative metabolic pathway for both isomers of ZEN results in the formation of cis-ZEN-11,12-oxide and ZEN-11,12-oxide in human liver microsomes. The estrogenicity of cis-ZEN and its reductive metabolites was assessed using the E-Screen assay. cis-ZEN proved to be slightly more estrogenic than ZEN. Biotransformation of cis-ZEN to β-cis-ZEL corresponds to a detoxification, whereas metabolism to α-cis-ZEL resembles a metabolic activation as its estrogenicity considerably exceeds that of cis-ZEN. The catecholic metabolites can be expected to show a decreased estrogenicity as demonstrated for 15-OH- ZEN. Independent of the estrogenic effects, the catecholic and epoxidic metabolites identified in this work can be expected to act genotoxic and carcinogenic. The epoxides in particular could fundamentally change the widely accepted view of ZEN causing adverse effects exclusively through endocrine disrupting actions.
Glass has different outstanding material-specific properties which offer theoretically the application of thin-walled hollow fibers in the field of high pressure gas storage. Especially the storage of hydrogen as renewable and environmental friendly energy carrier is possible. Glass is an amorphous material which is characterized by a theoretical tensile strength much higher than this of other materials. However, in practice the tensile strength is decreased significantly by defects on the glass surface or in the material and its network structure. As part of this thesis the burst pressures of hollow glass fibers were determined. The burst pressure correlates very well with the tensile strength of hollow glass fibers. By using the Weibull statistic the results of different test series were evaluated in respect to failure probabilities and compared to each other. Thereby the influence of various parameters on the pressure resistance was investigated. Beside the influence of the chemical composition of the material the aging by environmental and their effect on the pressure resistance was investigated. Additionally hollow glass fibers were loaded dynamically and statically with different gases. Afterwards the burst pressure was determined and the effect of used gas on the pressure resistance could be determined as well as the impact of method and duration of loading. A further influence of the dimension of hollow glass fibers on their resistance against inner pressure load is the ratio between wall thickness and inner diameter which was investigated as well as the combination of different glasses and the utilization of their disparate coefficient of thermal expansion which lead to prestressing of the hollow glass fiber. Finally, the impact of the variation of several production parameters on the pressure resistance was determined experimentally as like as the influence of surface coatings. These shall protect the glass surface from subsequently procured defects and, hence, increase the pressure resistance. As essential part of current thesis the defect analysis of test samples of various series was done whereby the differentiation between material and production dependent defects was important. Not only a light microscope but a scanning electron microscope was used for the investigation, as well. Beside volume defects like bubbles or inclusions surface defects in the form of scratches or spalling can be detected and observed. A calculation of the failure-causing defect size from measured burst pressure is possible. Dependent on the dimension and determined burst pressure value of each single fiber defect sizes of less than one micron were calculated. Particularly the geometry of the test samples inappropriate for many examination methods and the fact that the calculated defect size occurs only under loaded conditions at actual burst pressure the local detection of corresponding defect rendered impossible. In the end, the present thesis shows the pressure resistance of hollow glass fibers and their potential to store safely gases under high pressure.
Non-destructive testing (NDT) is regarded as one of the key elements in ensuring quality of engineering systems and their safe use. A failure of NDT to detect critical defects in safetyrelevant components, such as those in the nuclear industry, may lead to catastrophic consequences for the environment and the people. Therefore, ensuring that NDT methods are capable of detecting all critical defects, i.e. that they are reliable, is of utmost importance. Reliability of NDT is affected by human factors, which have thus far received the least amount of attention in the reliability assessments. With increased use of automation, in terms of mechanised testing (automation-assisted inspection and the corresponding evaluation of data), higher reliability standards are believed to have been achieved. However, human inspectors, and thus human factors, still play an important role throughout this process, and the risks involved in this application are unknown. The overall aim of the work presented in this dissertation was to explore for the first time the risks associated with mechanised NDT and find ways of mitigating their effects on the inspection performance. Hence, the objectives were to (1) identify and analyse potential risks in mechanised NDT, (2) devise measures against them, (3) critically address the preventive measures with respect to new potential risks, and (4) suggest ways for the implementation of the preventive measures. To address the first two objectives a risk assessment in form of a Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) was conducted (Study 1). This analysis revealed potential for failure during both the acquisition and evaluation of NDT data that could be assigned to human, technology, and organisation. Since the existing preventive measures are insufficient to defend the system from identified failures, new preventive measures were suggested. The conclusion of the study was that those preventive measures need to be carefully considered with respect to new potential risks, before they can be implemented, thus serving as a starting point for further empirical studies. To address the final two objectives, two preventive measures, i.e. human redundancy and the use of automated aids in the evaluation of NDT data, were critically assessed with regard to potential downfalls arising from the social interaction between redundant individuals and the belief in the high reliability of automated aids. The second study was concerned with the potential withdrawal of effort in sequential redundant teams when working collectively as opposed to working alone, when independence between the two redundant individuals is not present. The results revealed that the first redundant inspector, led to believe someone else will conduct the same task afterwards, invested the same amount of effort as when working alone. The redundant checker was not affected by the information about the superior experience of his predecessor and—instead of expected withdrawal of effort—exhibited better performance in the task. Both results were in contradiction to the hypotheses, the explanations for which can be found in the social loafing and social compensation effects and in the methodological limitations. The third study examined inappropriate use of the aid measured in terms of (a) agreement with the errors of the aid in connection to the frequency of verifying its results and in terms of (b) the overall performance in the task. The results showed that the information about the high reliability of the aid did not affect the perception of that aid’s performance and, hence, no differences in the actual use of the aid were to be expected. However, the participants did not use the aid appropriately: They misused it, i.e. agreed with the errors committed by the aid and disused it, i.e. disagreed with the correct information provided by the aid, thereby reducing the overall reliability of the aid in terms of sizing ability. Whereas aid’s misuse could be assigned to low propensity to take risks and reduced verification behaviour because of a bias towards automation, the disuse was assigned to the possible misunderstanding of the task. The results of these studies raised the awareness that methods used to increase reliability and safety, such as automation and human redundancy, can backfire if their implementation is not carefully considered with respect to new potential risks arising from the interaction between individuals and complex systems. In an attempt to minimise this risk, suggestions for their implementation in the NDT practice were provided.
In order to meet the goal of reducing CO2 emissions, automotive industry places significant importance on downsizing components to achieve greater efficiency through lower weight and reduced friction. As friction reductions are associated with energy efficiency and wear protection with resource conservation, ever greater attention has been given to adamantine carbon-
based coatings and high-alloyed steels. Such applications are, however, associated with high production costs and energy expenditures, as well as many technical difficulties. Therefore a key issue in meeting the goals of friction reduction, wear protection and development of comprehensive lightweight strategies is whether or not the functional profiles of state-of-the art alloys can be enhanced by affordable solutions.
The running-in phase of mechanical systems is inevitable and, from a tribological standpoint, critical for the lifetime of such systems, though receives little attention and is poorly understood.
The growth of micro-cracks accelerates premature material failure and wear during this phase of heightened friction. With this in mind, the ultimate goal of this current work is to transfer the running-in phase into the final step of the mechanical finishing process through the targeted pre-conditioning of novel, high toughness steel bearings without thermo-chemical treatments and compare these to conventional, case-hardened steels. Two mechanisms were
investigated:
a. Cold work hardening and
b. Chemical tribofilm formation.
Steels that showed a tendency toward work hardening and tribofilm formation in previous testing were chosen for this investigation. Thorough characterization of the chosen Steels was carried out before any pre-conditioning techniques were applied. The widely used 20MnCr5, seen as a reference gear steel, underwent case-hardening and subsequent deep freezing treatments in an attempt to yield discrete sample groups with respect to residual austenite.
This allowed for a more thorough investigation into the effects of residual austenite on the properties of this material. The high-performance alternative steels, 36NiCrMoV1-5-7 (hot working steel) and 45SiCrMo6 (spring steel), were heat treated as recommended by their respective manufacturers, and were not case-hardened. The selection of materials with and materials without case-hardening allows for an investigation into whether or not case-hardening is even necessary to deliver acceptable friction behaviour and wear performance. Elemental
analyses were conducted by multiple methods to ensure accurate results. Residual Austenite contents of the steels and the depth profiles of residual stresses were determined by X-Ray diffraction (XRD), for 20MnCr5 ranging from approximately 6 – 14 vol.%, and under 2 vol.% for
the alternative alloys. Hardness profiles were taken from the testing surfaces into the material core. The carburization of 20MnCr5 led to higher hardness and the greater concentration of carbon in the carburization zone more representative of a hardened SAE E52100, or
100Cr6/102Cr6, than of a non-case-hardened 20MnCr5. Residual stresses from machining and case-hardening were measured directly at the sample surface. The high-performance Steels fulfilled manufacturer expectations in terms of elemental content, with hardness values between
50 – 55 HRC and strongly martensitic microstructure character. With characterization of the chosen materials complete, the materials could then be subjected to pre-conditioning.
The first pre-conditioning method involved targeted generation of cold work hardening as induced boundary layers to protect the contact zone against wear. Work hardening was identified both by variations in residual stress profiles, i.e. the introduction of beneficial compressive residual stresses, and hardness increases in the contact zone, providing enhanced wear resistance. Parameters for work hardening were further optimized to reduce damage to the surface substrates of the treated materials. The second pre-conditioning method involved
the targeted generation of chemically reactive tribolayers (tribofilms) on twin disk testing rigs.
The lubrication strategies were based on:
a. CaCO3, which is predominant in engine oils, and
b. MoDTC, which is commonly used in engine and gear oils.
The films generated in pre-conditioning were analyzed by SEM-EDX with Element-Mapping, Raman spectroscopy, and XPS to elucidate their molecular composition and concentration on the sample surfaces. The combination of these methods of analysis gave a clear indication that 104 cycles were sufficient to generate stable and lasting tribofilms. CaO and CaCO3 were the main components of the tribofilm from the first lubricant package, while MoS2, MoO2 and MoO3
were the main components from the second lubricant package.
Finally, slip-rolling endurance testing (T = +120 °C, 107 cycles, approximately 19 days in
a factory fill engine oil) was carried out on all materials. It was shown that both pre-conditioning methods could achieve significant reductions in friction and wear during testing at up to and including P0Mean =1.94 GPa (P0Max = 2.91 GPa, FN = 2,000 N). Ultimately, this research showed that:
1. non-case-hardened high-performance steels offer competitive wear performance and better friction behaviour than the case-hardened 20MnCr5.
2. pre-conditioning led to COF reductions to under 7/10 and wear coefficient reductions to an astonishing 1/10 of the original values for the untreated steels under mixed/boundary lubrication.
3. the observed improvements to friction behaviour and wear performance are indicative of
a technically simple, cost- and energy-efficient pre-conditioning strategy that may prove
In Europe a multi-national research project was initiated entitled “Rational Production and
Improved Working Environment through Using Self-Compacting Concrete”, followed by
another project entitled “Testing SCC”, which helped spreading the benefits of SCC to a wide
range of appliers. This project was also the basis of a widely accepted European guideline
on Self compacted concrete published by the European industry association bibm,
CEMBUREAU, EFCA, EFNARC, ERMCO, which again builds the basis of the European
standards for the testing of SCC (EN 12350, Parts 8 to 12) as well as for the actual
modernisation of the European concrete standard EN 206-1.
Novel fibre optic sensor (FOS) systems maintaining fibre Bragg gratings (FBG) are finding wide application for health monitoring of large-scale structures such as dams, bridges, towers, as well as aircrafts, robots, automotive vehicles, and in composite technology. The principal advantage of such type of sensors is that the measured information is wavelength encoded (an absolute quantity). The main advantages include small size, immunity against electromagnetic field, good resolution, high sensitivity, and possibility to work in adverse environment. Especially small dimensions of the sensor allow its application for investigation of composite materials. The use of sensors enables to get information in areas, where other sensors would affect the structure or the material. On the other hand, it is important to keep signal stability of the sensor to the measured value of interest and obtain reliable data. Intimate embedment produces, however, additional perturbations affecting optical fibre sensor such as general mechanical stress, microbending, bending, and point-wise transverse load, which result in such undesirable sensor signal changes as attenuation, birefringence, spectrum broadening, sideband increasing, or small wavelength shift. No reliable knowledge about those effects and their consequences to the measured signal could be found in literature. This lack of knowledge led to the motivation of this work. The thesis discusses behaviour of uniform short-period fibre Bragg grating signal under before mentioned perturbing influences. The main accent is made onto theoretical and experimental study of additional mechanical perturbations: point-wise transverse indentation, and microbending, arising at sensor operation depending on the grating integration type and measurement purpose. Response of this type of gratings (unapplied and integrated in/on the object to be mesaured) to the axial strain and composite-integrated gratings to the temperature is also investigated. Problems arising from the sensor fixing on/in the object to be measured are considered.
Many new technologies are based on applications in extreme conditions, such as at low temperatures or in hydrogen environment. This involves new requirements on material properties, in particular regarding their operability and reliability. To fulfil this demand, the tribological behaviour of PTFE- and PEEK-matrix composites filled with carbon fibres were investigated at cryogenic temperatures and in hydrogen by means of surface analyses. For a better understanding of the tribological behaviour, and because of the temperature-dependent characteristics of polymer materials, thermal and mechanical properties of selected composites were initially investigated at low temperatures. Thermal shock experiments as well as cryo- and hydrogen treatments were carried out. Different coefficients of thermal expansion within the composite lead to debondings of particles, particularly in the case of PTFE materials. Tensile tests indicate that the YOUNG'S modulus increases at T= 77 K compared to room temperature. However, this improvement at low temperatures is moderate for PEEK composite which is already under its glass transition at room temperature. In the main investigation, tribological experiments were carried out at first at T= 77 K to observe the influence of the matrix, fillers and fibres on the material behaviour comparing to room temperature. The reduction of the friction coefficient and wear at low temperatures has been attributed to the low temperature properties of the polymer in particular due to the higher YOUNG'S modulus at T= 77 K. Whereas at room temperature friction and wear depend strongly of the CF content, the quantity of fillers and fibres does not have a significant effect on the tribological behaviour at low temperatures. At T= 77 K, the tribological behaviour of PTFE and PEEK composites is mainly influenced by the matrix. PEEK composites have a better tribological performance than PTFE materials especially regarding the wear resistance. Furthermore, the influence of the cryogenic medium was determined with experiments carried out in LN2 (T= 77 K), LH2 (T= 20 K) and LHe (T= 4.2 K), as well as in helium at T= 77 K and hydrogen at room temperature. The thermal properties of the cryogenic medium have a significant influence on the tribological performances of the composites. Due to the lower frictional heat at low sliding speed, the effect of low temperatures on the tribological behaviour of these composites was more clearly detected in this case, with a change in wear mechanism from mainly adhesive to more abrasive. Experiments in LN2 give the best friction and wear performance at low as well as at high sliding speed. The behaviour of these composites in LHe does not benefit from the low temperature properties of polymers due to the low heat of evaporation of LHe. The influence of hydrogen was particularly seen after the tribological experiments performed in LH2 on the surface of the disc. The reduction effect of hydrogen may have an influence on the tribochemical reactions which appear during sliding, enhancing the formation of iron fluorides, but no influence of the metal fluorides on the tribological performance could be determined in this study.
The epoxy/metal interface regions are recognized as crucial for the mechanical reliability of composite materials. In particular, the spatial stress distribution is governed by modulus variations, which may result from the physical-chemical interactions between epoxy and the metal surface. The properties of the interphase between bulk polymer and metal were analyzed in nanometer scale. It was aimed to characterize the stiffness gradient of the polymeric interphase, which was formed by a thermoset being cured in contact with a metal surface.
A new algorithm for detection of longitudinal crack-like indications in radiographic images is developed in this work. Conventional local detection techniques give unsatisfactory results for this task due to the low signal to noise ratio (SNR ~ 1) of crack-like indications in radiographic images. The usage of global features of crack-like indications provides the necessary noise resistance, but this is connected with prohibitive computational complexities of detection and difficulties in a formal description of the indication shape. Conventionally, the excessive computational complexity of the solution is reduced by usage of heuristics. The heuristics to be used, are selected on a trial and error basis, are problem dependent and do not guarantee the optimal solution. Not following this way is a distinctive feature of the algorithm developed here. Instead, a global characteristic of crack-like indication (the estimation function) is used, whose maximum in the space of all possible positions, lengths and shapes can be found exactly, i.e. without any heuristics. The proposed estimation function is defined as a sum of a posteriori information gains about hypothesis of indication presence in each point along the whole hypothetical indication. The gain in the information about hypothesis of indication presence results from the analysis of the underlying image in the local area. Such an estimation function is theoretically justified and exhibits a desirable behaviour on changing signals. The developed algorithm is implemented in the C++ programming language and testet on synthetic as well as on real images. It delivers good results (high correct detection rate by given false alarm rate) which are comparable to the performance of trained human inspectors.
This thesis proposes a design of experiment for testing and evaluation of the equipment and the methods used in manual mine clearance. The thesis is based on several metal detector trials and a trial of manual demining methods. The core of this dissertation comprises four metal detector trials performed in Germany and Croatian in 2003 and 2005. The purpose of these trials was to investigate the feasibility of the tests described in the CWA (Comité Européende Normalisation/CEN/Workshop Agreement) 14747:2003, the standard for testing metal detectors for humanitarian demining. The goals of the trials were: to find an appropriate design of experiment for testing metal detectors; to establish the use of ROC diagrams (Receiver Operating Characteristics) and POD curves (Probability of Detection) in the analysis of the experimental results; and to gain practical experience in organising and conducting metal detector trials. Apart of this thesis is devoted to a trial of manual demining methods performed in Mozambique in 2004. The main goal of that trial was to compare the speed of various manual demining methods, including the most common excavation methods. The outcome of this work is the proposals and recommendations for an update of the standard for testing metal detectors CWA 14747:2003. Maximum detection height measurements were performed as a part of the metal detector trial carried out in Croatiain2005. The results reveal a high variability of the maximum detection height. This high variability needs to be taken into account in all experiments. Apart of the variability is caused by the differences between the operators and by the setup of the metal detector. It is therefore recommended that two kinds of experiments with the maximum detection height as a response variable are defined in the next update of CWA 14747:2003. The first kind should include the setup, the soil and the operator as factors in the design of experiment. The in-soil measurements with the same detector should be performed with repeated setups and with several operators. The second kind of experiments should be experiments evaluating the influence of other predictor variables. In those experiments, it is recommended to perform one-factor or multiple-factor in-air measurements with the operators and the setup as a block. The main part of the metal detector trials described in this thesis was the detection reliability tests. Detection reliability tests as described in CWA14747:2003 come closest to representing the real field conditions in demining. They include many environmental influences and, most importantly, many of the human factor influences. However, each test design is a compromise between fully representative conditions and cost effectiveness. In this thesis, a fractional factorial design based on the Graeco-Latin square is proposed as a solution to the experimental problem. The results are reported in the form of ROC diagrams and POD curves. The crossover design enables each operator to work with fewer detector models with in a certain time. The variations of the design enabled an unbiased comparison of detectors in each soil and with each target model separately. It is recommended that the solutions proposed in this thesis be incorporated in the standard CWA14747:2003. It has been shown that maximum detection heights measurements provide the information about the best possible performance of a metal detector in are liability test.
The ability to reliably predict the amount and type of salts within a wet masonry is one of the most important and challenging subjects in the field of non-destructive combat of salt attack and preserving buildings and monuments of historical or archaeological value. To investigate the potential value of complex resistivity (CR) measurements for the early detection of salt and moisture related stone altering, a controlled salt type and concentration experiment series has been performed and a new procedure of an image based effective impedance modelling developed. Complex resistivity magnitude and phase measurements in the frequency range of 1 mHz to 100 Hz were acquired on a wide variety of wholly and partially brine saturated building stone samples. Deteriorating agents NaCl, Na2SO4, CaCl2 and MgSO4 were used. Since water and salt are not measured directly, the method is incapable of deducing possible building damages lacking a priori information. In the case of saturated materials, and provided thorough calibration data are available, a reliable estimate of salt concentration is possible from the measured resistivity magnitude. Additional indication on the dominant cation in the solution can be obtained from the measured resistivity phase, which is significantly higher the lower its valency. Furthermore, the measurements reported in this study give an important guide to the limitations of CR in obtaining pore surface area and pore throat estimates. For wet porous materials, in which polarization occurs due to complex surface conduction, the dominant pore throat and amount of specific surface affect its polarizability. Sandstones, sand-limestones and aerated concretes are more qualified observation objects (pore throats between 20 and 100 μm), whereas for bricks (pore sizes often < 5 μm) the method seems far less favorable. For those materials, which exhibit a Cole-Cole (C-C) type of relaxation, the phase peak is observed to decrease significantly with pore throat size and to occur at higher frequencies. The predicted power-law correlation between the C-C relaxation time and characteristic length scale (pore throat size for consolidated materials) is supported by the presented data. The experimental salinity study reveals how responsive polarization (in terms of imaginary conductivity) is to changing the ionic concentration or composition of the pore fluid. The properties of the electrical double layer and particularly its chemical composition are most likely the crucial controlling factors. The imaginary conductivity is observed to increase for most materials up to fluid salinities of about 1 S/m - a fact, that may be attributed to a mechanism of ion saturation within the electrical double layer; further ion supply seems to counteract this leading to ion-ion interactions, which decrease ionic mobility. CR measurements on partially saturated samples demonstrate the method’s sensitivity to water content. For most materials the imaginary conductivity component decreased significantly faster than the real component. Independent of the pore fluid and even though its salinity naturally increased during the evaporative drying procedure, the normalized saturation exponent of the quadrature component was about twice as high as the real one especially for clay-rich sandstones. The results revealed diverse behavior such as decreases and increases in relaxation time with saturation. In some cases a suppression of a distinctive relaxation curve at low saturations was observed. The results indicate, that contrary to conclusions from recent related studies, the correlation between a C-C relaxation time and hydraulic properties may be limited. In order to infer information on the charge distributions within the EDL, zeta-potentials and surface charge densities were obtained from electroacoustic measurements on particle suspension containing the same amounts and types of salt like used in the brine saturation CR study. The results add weight to the assumption that there is some universal positive relationship between zeta-potential and imaginary conductivity. A notable dependence of imaginary conductivity on diffuse layer surface charge was only observed in case of one sandstone (Cottaer), this being the material with the most abundant clay content. An image based effective impedance modelling approach revealed the fact that, even though it is not able to factor scale effects in, it is helpful to study general microstructural implications on CR responses. It was observed, that an increasing salt concentration (that creates a shrinking electrical double layer) reduces the peak phase and moves it towards higher frequency. The same effect would have an increasing fluid conductivity for a otherwise fixed microstructure. For some combinations of material and salt, however, in the experimental work the peak phase was observed to shift towards lower frequency: a phenomenon that could not be explained with the modelling. Therefore, it is assumed that chemical properties, like ion mobilities or other surface chemistry properties (ionexchange processes) must be regarded to conclusively explain surface conductivity mechanisms. Other experimental observations like the alteration of CR spectra at desaturation could likewise be modelled. If these models truly mimic the effective electrical properties, the results give new implications on the effective medium behavior. Concluding, the author values the complex resistivity method as a possible effective non-destructive testing (NDT) tool for a wide range of building stones. Depending on pore size and saturation important additional information can be obtained. In all cases, a priori information and calibration data are essential, that is, CR should not be treated as a stand-alone method. Further measurements are needed to develop a more complete model of the electrical double layer and its alteration with changing salinity and ion types.
The objective of this work is to demonstrate the practical application and sensitivity of ultrasound as a high frequency Dynamic Mechanical Analysis DMA technique for the characterisation of polymers. Conventional DMA techniques are used to determine thermo mechanical behaviour of polymers by typically employing dynamic shear or tensile loading modes at defined frequencies between 0.1 and 50 Hz. Sound waves may also be employed for DMA applications and depending on type of wave propagated, shear G´, G´´ and longitudinal L´, L´´ storage or loss modulus and tan (δ) may be determined from the measured acoustic parameters sound velocity and amplitude. The primary advantage of ultrasound DMA is that due to the compact sensor size it can easily be integrated into most manufacturing processes. To demonstrate the sensitivity of ultrasound to variations in the viscoelastic properties of polymers, the acoustic properties of a cured epoxy with an observed glass transition temperature of 86 °C (tan(δ) peak, 1Hz) were monitored in a temperature range from 20 to 200 °C and compared to conventional DMA results. The influence of measurement frequency, dispersion, hysteresis, reflections at material boundaries, and changes in material density on the measured sound velocity and amplitude were taken into account. To support conclusions a wide range of experimental data was evaluated using sensors operating in the frequency ranges 400 to 800 kHz and 3 to 6 MHz. The ultrasound results are compared to the tensile moduli E´, E´´ and tan(δ) measured using a conventional DMA technique operating at 0.1 to 33 Hz. Using different evaluation strategies such as the Williams Landel Ferry WLF equation it was possible to study the sensitivity of wave propagation to variations in the viscoelastic behaviour of a polymer. Taking advantage of this background knowledge, further experimental results are presented with the aim of demonstrating the sensitivity of this technique for cure monitoring applications and to the material transformations: gelation and vitrification. For this purpose an epoxy resin was cured at a range of constant temperatures whereby the curing reaction and the corresponding change in viscoelastic properties were monitored. Analysis techniques employed included ultrasound at 3 to 6 MHz, Differential Scanning Calorimeter DSC and Rheometry at 1 Hz. All results were summarised and presented graphically. Additionally an Arrhenius relationship was employed enabling direct comparison of results obtained from analysis techniques based on different working principles. Using this information, it was possible to demonstrate the practical application and the sensitivity of this technique to even small changes in viscoelastic properties of polymers.
With increasing environmental awareness and the general need to economise on the use of fossil fuels, there is growing pressure for industry to produce lighter, more efficient, gas turbine engines. One such material that will help to achieve these improvements is the intermetallic gamma titanium aluminide (γ-TiAl) alloy. At only half the density of current nickel-based superalloys its weight saving capability is highly desirable, however, its mechanical properties have not yet been fully explored especially, when it is to be considered for structural components in aeronautical gas turbine engines. Critical components in these engines typically experience large variations in temperatures and multiaxial states of stress under non-isothermal conditions. These stress states are known as tri-axial thermo-mechanical fatigue (TMF). The work presented here investigates the effects these multi-axial stresses, have on a γ- TiAl, (Ti-45Al-5Nb-0.2B-0.2C) alloy under TMF conditions. The uniaxial, torsional and xialtorsional TMF behaviour of this γ-TiAl alloy have been examined at 400 – 800oC with strain amplitudes ranging from 0.15% to 0.7%. The tests were conducted at both thermomechanical in-phase (IP) and out-of-phase (OP). Selected tests additionally contained a 180 seconds hold period. Fatigue lifetimes are strongly influenced by the strain amplitude, a small increase in amplitude reduces the lifetime considerably. The uniaxial IP tests showed significantly longer fatigue lifetimes than of all the tests performed. Torsional loading although have shorter fatigue lifetimes than the uniaxial IP loading they have longer fatigue lifetimes than the uniaxial OP loading. The non-proportional axial-torsional 90 degree OP test is most damaging which resulted in a shorter lifetime than the uniaxial OP test with the same Mises equivalent mechanical strain amplitude. A hold period at maximum temperatures reduced the lifetime for all tests regardless of the temperature-strain history. The effects of TMF on the microstructure were also investigated. For all types of tests intergranular fracture is predominant. Failure is strongly influenced by environmental conditions. This study compares TMF results of TiAl with previous TMF investigations on the nickelbased alloys IN 738 and Nimonic 90. IN 738 shows similar TMF behaviour to γ-TiAl in that uniaxial IP loading has the longest fatigue lifetimes. Nimonic 90 shows the opposite behaviour to both of these alloys. A lifetime model developed for this near-γ-TiAl alloy, successfully describes all temperaturestrain TMF loading conditions over the test temperature range, with the use of a single loading parameter. The loading parameter is based on the plastic work per cycle, and is not only dependant on the mean tensile stress but also on the maximum principal stress. The loading parameter responds to various strain-temperature-paths differently. It describes the lifetime relation between uniaxial IP and OP loading, axial and torsional loading and the hold period effect.
Slip-rolling resistance of novel Zr(C,N) thin film coatings under high Hertzian contact pressures
(2010)
The present work was carried out within the framework of my four years activities as a scientific co-worker in the Working Group Tribological Optimization; Failure Analysis; Extreme Exposure in the division Tribology and Wear protection (VI.2) of the BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research and testing in Berlin, Germany and generously funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG WO521/6-1). First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor Dr.-Ing. Mathias Woydt, head of the aforementioned working group, who gave me the opportunity to start my professional development, initiated and intensively supported this PhD work as well as accepted to take part in thesis committee. Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Walter Reimers, Chairman of the Institute for Materials Science and Technology of the Technical University of Berlin (TU Berlin), is also gratefully thanked for his interest in the thesis subject, for helpful comments and suggestions as well as for agreeing to participate in the referee of this work. I would like to thank also Prof. Dr.-Ing. Claudia Fleck, Chairman of the Material Engineering Department (Fachgebiet Werkstofftechnik) of the Technical University Berlin (TU Berlin), for assuming the chairmanship of the thesis committee. All the staff of the tribology division is also greatly acknowledged for bringing a pleasant working environment. Dr. Dirk Spaltmann is particularly thanked for the helpful discussions as well as for his assistance in English formulation. Dipl.-Ing. Manuel Reichelt and my bureau colleague Dr.-Ing. Géraldine Theiler will find here my many thanks for promoting constantly a good working atmosphere. Sigrid Binkowski and Dipl.-Ing. Norbert Kelling are also gratefully acknowledged for their constant and helpful technical support. André Otto is also thanked for his substantial administrative support. My sincere thanks go to Dr. rer. nat. (and “by the way” world and olympic champion in eights rowing) Ilona Dörfel (BAM V.1, Composition and Microstructure of Engineering Materials) for performing the highly relevant TEM investigations as also Heidemarie Rooch, and Ing. Wolfgang Gesatzke for the specific preparation of the samples. Furthermore, I greatly appreciate the contributions of Dr.-Ing. Vasile-Dan Hodoroaba, Birgid Strauß, Sigrid Benemann and Dipl.-Phys. Thomas Wirth (BAM VI.4) for their valuable contributions in microscopy analysis and to Dr.-Ing. Eric Wild (TU Berlin) for the substantial residual stress analysis of the coatings. Acknowledgement is also due to Dr. Thomas Chudoba from ASMEC GmbH for performing hardness measurements with his QCSM module. Thanks are surely extended to Fundación Tekniker, specifically Josu Goikoetxea and Dr. Javier Barriga for the manufacturing of the coatings in industrial deposition chambers and to the machining shop BAM Z.5 for the specimens preparation. Last, but by no means the least, I would like to thank all my friends for their support and to all the people who helped me directly or indirectly in my doctoral work and/or for my pleasant German adaptation. My very special thanks (du fond du coeur) go to my beloved parents Marie-Hélène (What is Tribology?) and Gérard (I miss you so much) and “of course” to my bright (and sometimes nerve-racking) sister Sophie, for everlasting encouragement and plenty of good advices in a wide range of domains. Ania, especially for your contribution in the decision of pursuing my “German experiment”.
Experimental investigation and CFD simulation of organic peroxide pool fires (TBPB and TBPEH)
(2010)
Time averaged mass burning rate (m˙′′f ), flame length (H), temperature (T ), irradi- ance (E) and surface emissive power (SEP ) of TBPB (tert -butyl peroxybenzoate) and TBPEH (tert-butyl peroxy-2-ethylhexanoate) pool fires are measured for six pool di- ameters (d = 0.059 m, 0.107 m, 0.18 m, 0.5 m, 1 m and 3.4 m) at BAM in house and outside test facility. The measured heats of combustion (–Δhc) of TBPB and TBPEH are 30113 kJ/kg and 34455 kJ/kg and the specific heat capacities at constant pressure (cp) are 1.8 kJ/(kg K) and 2.1 kJ/(kg K) respectively. The measured m˙′′f of TBPB and TBPEH pool fires are in the range of 0.37 kg/(m2 s)≤ m˙ ′′ f ≤ 0.83 kg/(m2 s) and show little dependence on the pool diameter d, and are four to sixty times higher (for d = 1 m) than that of hydrocarbon pool fires. It is shown that the mass burning rates of the investigated organic peroxides can be represented as an exponential function of the self-accelerating decomposition temperature (SADT). Low SADT implies that the organic peroxide pool fires burn at a much higher m˙′′f than hydrocarbon pool fires. Fuel Froude numbers (Frf) of TBPB and TBPEH are 5 to 100 times (depending on d) higher than for hydrocarbon pool fires. Due to higher Frf the H of TBPB and TBPEH (measured with a S-VHS Videocamera) are found to be two times larger (d = 1 m) than corresponding pool fires of hydrocarbons. Heskestads flame length correlation predicts the Hd (d = 3.4 m) of TBPB and TBPEH pool fires much better than Thomas and Fay correlations. The measured time averaged flame temperatures T (d = 3.4 m) for TBPB and TBPEH pool fires are in the range of 1400 K ≤ T ≤ 1500 K and are 200 K to 300 K higher than for JP-4, kerosene and gasoline. The irradiances of the TBPB and TBPEH pool fires measured by radiometers are E (Δy/d = 0.3) = 45 kW/m2 and E = 98 kW/m2 which are two to ten times higher in comparison to the corresponding n-pentane, super gasoline and diesel pool fires. So the thermal safety distances for organic peroxide pool fires are larger by a factor four in comparison to the hydrocarbon pool fires. An infrared thermography system is used for the determination of SEP of TBPB and TBPEH pool fires. The values of surface emissive power for TBPB and TBPEH are SEP (d = 3.4 m) = 196 kW/m2 and SEP = 258 kW/m2 and thus the SEP are by a factor of approximately two higher than for hydrocarbon pool fires. A self-sustained pulsating Hd (’W’-Effect) is found in TBPB pool flames and is further analysed to explain the reason of occurance on the basis of chemical structure of the fuel and discontinuous heat flux back from flame to the liquid pool. CFD simulations of TBPB and TBPEH pool fires at d = 0.18 m, 0.5 m, 1 m, 3.4 m and 8 m are carried out using the Unsteady Reynolds Averaged Navier Stokes (URANS) equa- tions. The three-dimensional geometries have been discritized with unstructured hybrid grids, with the number of cells in the range of 1 million. Depending on the grid resolu- tion and the pool diameter time steps of 0.0001 s ≤ Δt ≤ 0.01 s for the CFD simulations are used. For solving the discritized equations a finite volume based implicit solver AN- SYS CFX has been used. For modelling the combustion, stoichiometric combustion for both peroxides are assumed. The temperature dependence of the reaction rate has been determined by the Arrhenius approach. For modelling the combustion eddy dissipation concept (EDC) model has been used. For turbulence buoyancy modified k- � and SAS (Scale Adaptive Simulation) turbulence models are used. For the thermal radiation and soot mass fraction discrete transfer radiation model and Magnusson soot model have been used. A new method is suggested for the prediction of mass burning rate (m˙′′f ) by CFD simula- tion. Both peroxide pool fires show approximately constant mass burning rate indepen- dent of d whereas m˙′′f of TBPEH are under predicted at the beginning but show relatively good agreement with measurements for large pool diameters (d = 1 m). In case of TBPB the CFD simulation over predicts the mass burning rate m˙′′f of small TBPB pool fires and shows a continuous decrease with d. CFD predicts the flame length H close to the measured data provided that the constants in Thomas equation are modified. The CFD predicted time averaged surface emission flame temperatures of TBPB and TBPEH pool fires (d = 3.4 m, 1437 K and 1542 K) are in good agreement with the measured time averaged flame temperatures. The CFD predicted SEP for TBPB and TBPEH pool fires (d = 3.4 m, 217 kW/m2 and 288 kW/m2) are also in agreement with the measured values. From the CFD predicted irradiance ECFD it is possible to determine the thermal safety distances from large pool fires of hydrocarbons and organic peroxides.
Saprotrophic basidiomycetes decompose wood in aerobic environments and can cause economic damage. The availability of nitrogen is determining for decomposition, and diazotrophic bacteria might enhance the nitrogen availability by fixation of atmospheric N2. Simultaneous decomposition by basidiomycetes and diazotrophs may intensify decomposition, because N2 fixation requires ATP, which could be provided during cellulose decomposition. In this study, the interaction was analysed by measurements of the nitrogen content and the δ15N values in biomass. Besides, the activity of basidiomycetes, influenced by different nitrogen sources, was determined. The analysis of the nitrogen content in biomass of Oligoporus placenta and Trametes versicolor proved the efficient uptake of organic nitrogen by wood-decomposing fungi even if only traces were available. In the presence of urea and ammonium chloride, the growth of T. versicolor was intensified. At cultivations in a 15N2/O2 atmosphere, the diazotrophic bacteria Azotobacter croococcum, Beijerinckia acida and Novosphingobium nitrogenifigens covered 1 to 13% of the nitrogen in their biomass by N2 fixation. If basidiomycetes and diazotrophs were co-cultivated, only B. acida fixed N2 and transferred it to both fungi. A. croococcum and N. nitrogenifigens did not coexist with the fungi. The effects of the nitrogen sources, i.e., organic nitrogen in the medium, organic nitrogen in sapwood and N2 from air, on the biomass of the mentioned basidiomycetes were determined in experiments according to full-factorial experimental plans. Organic nitrogen in the medium increased the growth of both basidiomycetes significantly. In additional experiments, the nitrogen source in the medium was replaced by an inoculum of B. acida. Then, atmospheric N2 supported the bacterial growth, which caused a significant decrease of basidiomycetal biomass compared to N2-free conditions. The presence of B. acida increased the biomass of T. versicolor to a low extent, but had no effect on the biomass of O. placenta. In contrast to the previously mentioned organisms, Hypholoma fasciculare and proteobacteria occur together in nature. In experiments, the growth of biomass of H. fasciculare and proteobacteria was supported by organic nitrogen, urea and ammonium chloride. The N2 fixation of the bacteria was significant but amounted to a low extent and was therefore explained by adsorption and not by nitrogenase activity. Competition between H. fasciculare and proteobacteria for the same nitrogen sources appeared more probable than N enrichment by diazotrophic activity.
Up to now only little knowledge has been recorded about the fire behavior and flame retardancy of wood-plastic composites (WPCs). The use of WPCs has increased continuously in recent years. Especially in their main field of application as a decking material, WPCs present a big share of the market. To date no flame-retarded solution has been introduced for WPC materials that fulfils the necessary requirements. But flameretarded materials are indispensable, especially for indoor use and the protection of escape routes. In this study basic knowledge about the fire behavior of WPCs is investigated first. Second, the effectiveness and mode of action of different flame-retardant additives is investigated. Special attention is drawn to products made of WPC material. Therefore WPC was further investigated in its main field of application as decking boards. The fire behavior of materials and products was investigated by means of cone calorimeter measurements as well as radiant panel tests. Furthermore numerical simulations were carried out to study the effects of various thermal material properties on burning behavior. Thermal decomposition was studied using thermogravimetric methods and spectroscopic investigations. Against this background, models for thermal decomposition pathways were built for combinations of WPC material with different flame retardants. WPCs show burning behavior similar to that of pure wood samples with an increased heat release rate due to polymeric fractions. It is shown that all investigated flame retardants had a positive effect on the burning behavior of WPCs. The best results were achieved by the flame retardants ammonium polyphosphate, Paxymer and expandable graphite. Especially in combination with red phosphorus, expandable graphite was highly effective because red phosphorus stabilized formed residue. Apart from the influence of flame retardants, other influencing factors like geometry and moisture content also played an important role concerning the flame retardancy of WPC decking boards. Indeed, hollow decking boards offer a reduced amount of combustible material, but their flame spread is increased in comparison to solid samples.
Due to the growing environmental awareness worldwide, containment provisions for CO2 emissions in mobility systems and increasing performance requirements the demands on mechanical systems and their materials continuously rise. These high demands require the implementation of new technical approaches, for example of light-weight strategies in automotive powertrains, and directly raise questions about the suitability of the most promising technical solution. Two basic parameters, the surface hardness of the tooth flanks and the core fatigue strength of the tooth root, illustrate exemplarily increasing demands on material grades used for gear wheels in automotive powertrains. In addition to light-weight strategies, a reduction in friction and an increase of the fatigue lifetime are two other major development directions to strive the mentioned targets. It is clear that any kind of solution must show an equal application profile, preferably an improvement, compared to the state-of- the-art solutions. For tribological systems, the following paths may offer lower friction and higher load carrying capabilities: 1. Alternative base oils and additives (such as esters, polyglycols), 2. Thin film coatings (e.g. DLC) and/or 3. Novel steel metallurgies. In previous investigations on the slip-rolling resistance of thin film coatings (a-C, ta-C, Zr(C,N)) the substrates were mainly made of the bearing steels 100Cr6H and Cronidur 30. Applying contact pressures of up to P0max = 2.9 GPa (FN = 2,000 N), the samples were tested up to 10 million load cycles in endurance tests. The aim of the present work is to broaden the research by varying the input parameters. Newly developed engine oil mixtures, high performance thin film coatings and alternative steel solutions are intensively investigated in highly stressed slip-rolling contacts at lubricant temperatures of 120°C. Specifically, in using new steel metallurgies, i.e. the high toughness and high strength steels V300 and NC310YW (Aubert & Duval) as well as CSS-42L (Latrobe Specialty Steel Company), in combination with thin film coatings, even if they compete in the uncoated state, the Hertzian contact pressures could be increased up to P0max = 4.2 GPa (FN = 5,000 N) without any surface failures of coating or substrate. It was shown that selected thin film coatings can minimize the wear rates down to nearly ‘zero-wear’ in highly stressed contacts [Woy08] [Woy11]. In addition, the studies revealed not only the high potential in slip-rolling resistance, but also a possible friction reduction down to 0.047 by use of uncoated steels with increased toughness. Compared to steels like 100Cr6H and Cronidur 30 this means a reduction in friction of approximately 40% under identical testing conditions. Different test series with newly developed base oil-additive formulations were investigated with specific emphasis on the frictional behavior of selected bio-no-tox EP/AW additives and friction modifiers. Additional influencing factors like the structural and surface conditions of the steels/coatings before and after the tests were analyzed by means of REM, EDX, XRD and TEM.
The reduced size of nanoparticles (diameter < 100 nm) confers them high specific surface areas and permeability through many biological pathways resulting in high interaction with biological systems. Therefore, in the recent years, nanoparticles (NPs) have increasingly found many applications in biomedical research. Herein, silica-based NPs are among the most promising candidates for biomedical studies due to their relative low toxicity and the possibility of functional variability. The main focus of this thesis work has been the synthesis and characterisation of novel hybrid NPs with enhanced properties for biomedical studies. More specifically, suppression of protein adsorption and achievement of highly fluorescent NPs in serum-rich media are well focused. First, a chemical strategy for the preparation of highly fluorescent silica nanoparticles by covalent attachment of Alexa dyes and subsequent shielding by an additional pure silica shell is well presented. These nanoparticles were investigated by Dynamic light scattering (DLS), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and fluorescence spectroscopy, the latter includes determination of absolute fluorescence quantum yields of such scattering suspensions with an integrating sphere setup and the assignment of fluorescence intensity values. At low shelling extension core-shell fluorescent silica nanoparticles show smooth surfaces and high quantum yields, even comparable to those for free dyes. However, by increasing the amount of shell precursor, nanoparticle surfaces show raspberry morphologies and decay of the quantum yields. Secondly, two different types of novel silica-poly(ethylene glycol) hybrid nanoparticles (H- SiO2-PEG and G- SiO2@PEG) have been synthesized by use of the same polymer precursor: Here the influence of concentration of the polymer precursor poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether-3-(triethoxysilyl) propyl urethane (mPEG-IPTES) on the particle properties was scrutinised. For polymer grafted NPs, the concentration of polymer precursor increases the PEG density and the hydrophobicity of the NPs surface. On the other hand, for condensated NPs, the polymer precursor influences the size, but not the density of polymer chains on the NPs surface, which indicates that PEG on the surface of the NPs effectively reduces the adsorption of Bovine serum albumin (BSA). Finally, the influence of polymer length on the ability to repel BSA adsorption onto nanoparticles is reported. SNPs@PEG with different molecular weights (mPEG: 350, 2000 and 5000 g/mol) were synthesized by nucleophilic substitution of tosylated mPEG to aminated silica nanoparticles (chemical grafting). The resulted hybrid nanoparticles were consistently characterized by DLS, TEM, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). BSA at different concentrations were used as a model protein to study the protein-corona formation after adsorption onto the pristine and modified nanoparticles (SNPs@PEG). For pristine SNPs and SNPs@PEG (MW = 350 g/mol), zeta potential at different incubation times (0, 24 and 48 h) show a dynamic evolution of the nanoparticle-protein corona. Conversely, for SNPs@PEG with MW ≥ 2000 g/mol, a significant suppression of corona formation and time evolution was observed. In resume, protein corona is strongly influenced by the adsorption inhibition of PEG surfaces.
Before the development of computational science, heat conduction problems were mainly solved by analytical techniques. Analytical solutions are exact solutions of differential equations; the investigated physical phenomena, for instance the temperature, are solved locally for one single point independently of the rest of the investigated structure resulting in extremely short computational times. These analytical solutions are however only valid for some simple geometries and boundary conditions making their applications for complex industrial geometries directly not possible. Numerical techniques, such as the Finite Element Method, enable overcoming this problem. However, the numerical simulation of the structural heat effect of welding for complex and large assemblies requires high computational effort and time. Therefore, the wide application of welding simulation in industry is not established, yet. The aim of this study is to combine the advantages of analytical and numerical simulation methods to accelerate the calibration of the thermal model of structure welding simulation. This is done firstly by calibrating automatically the simulation model with a fast analytical temperature field solution and secondly by solving the welding simulation problem numerically with the analytically calibrated input parameters. In order to achieve this goal, the analytical solution of the heat conduction problem for a point source moving in an infinite solid was extended and validated against reference models until a solution for a volumetric heat source moving on a thin small sheet with several arbitrary curved welding paths was found. The potential of this analytical solution by means of computational time was subsequently demonstrated on a semi-industrial geometry with large dimensions and several curved welds. The combined method was then transferred to an industrial assembly welded with four parallel welds. For this joint geometry, it was possible to apply the extended analytical solution. The calibration of the simulation model was done automatically against experimental data by combining the extended fast analytical solution with a global optimisation algorithm. For this calibration, more than 3000 direct simulations were required which run in less computational time than one corresponding single numerical simulation. The results of the numerical simulation executed with the analytically calibrated input parameters matched the experimental data within a scatter band of ± 10 %. The limit of the combined method is shown for an industrial assembly welded with eight overlap welds. For this joint geometry, a conventional numerical approach was applied, since no analytical solution was actually available. The final simulation results matched the experimental data within a scatter band of ± 10 %. The results of this work provide a comprehensive method to accelerate the calibration of the thermal model of the structure welding simulation of complex and large welded assemblies, even though within limitation. In the future, the implementation of this method in a welding simulation tool accessible to a typical industrial user still has to be done.
Grain refinement is an important opportunity to improve mechanical properties of fusion welds and the weldability (cracking sensitivity) of the base metal. In this thesis, grain refinement was achieved for aluminium welds by additions of a grain refiner. For this purpose, inserts consisting of aluminium base metal and small additions of commercial Al Ti5B1 grain refiner were cast, deposited in base metal plates, and fused in a gas tungsten arc (GTA) welding process. As a result, higher grain refiner additions increased the weld’s titanium and boron content resulting in a significant decrease in the weld metal mean grain size up to 86%. This grain size reduction led to a transition from predominantly columnar to equiaxed grain shape (columnar to equiaxed transition CET). The grain refinement was thereby found to be strongly dependent upon the base metal chemical composition. Accordingly, the grain refining efficiency was the highest in commercial pure Al (Alloy 1050A, Al 99.5), followed by Alloy 6082 (Al Si1MgMn) and Alloy 5083 (Al Mg4.5Mn0.7). In this regard, the parameters P and Q were applied to investigate the influence of alloying elements on the supply of constitutional undercooling during solidification and on final grain size. Also, WDS (wavelength dispersive x-ray spectroscopy) and TEM (transmission electron microscopy) analysis found an increasing number of particles rich in Ti and B. These substrates are probably TiB2 particles coated by Al3Ti likely nucleating Al grains during solidification. The variation in torch speed showed that increasing torch speeds support the CET effect leading to many small and equiaxed grains at high torch speed. To give explanations for this observation, the thermal conditions, that are controlled by welding parameters such as torch speed, were determined with temperature measurements via thermocouples. These measurements revealed that solidification parameters like solidification growth rate, cooling rate, (local) thermal gradient and solidification time vary significantly along the solidification front (from weld centreline to weld fusion line). In a further step, the solidification parameters were related to the corresponding grain size and shape. On the basis of this comparison, an analytical approach was used to model the CET. This allowed the prediction of critical values for both solidification growth rate and thermal gradient, at which the CET occurs in aluminium weld metal. The influence of grain refinement on the weld mechanical properties was investigated in tensile tests. Accordingly, the ductility of Alloy 5083 welds was increased through grain refinement whereas no improvement in weld metal strength was observed. Furthermore, tear tests with notched specimens revealed for Alloy 1050A that the resistance against initiation and propagation of cracks in the weld metal can be enhanced through grain refinement. In addition, when welding Alloy 6082, weld metal grain refinement prevented the formation of centreline solidification cracking that was present only in welds with unrefined grain structure. On the basis of the above experiments, the Ti/B contents needed in commercial filler wires or rods to allow optimum weld metal grain refinement were estimated. Accordingly, this work gives specific recommendations to filler material producers through a simple calculation that considers the influence of base alloy and welding process. The results show that the Ti/B contents defined by the corresponding standards for filler alloys are too low to allow weld metal grain refinement.