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The improved wear and corrosion resistance of gray cast iron (GCI) with enhanced mechanical properties is a proven stepping stone towards the longevity of its versatile industrial applications. In this article, we have tailored the microstructural properties of GCI by alloying it with titanium (Ti) and tungsten (W) additives, which resulted in improved mechanical, wear, and corrosion resistance. The results also show the nucleation of the B-, D-, and E-type graphite flakes with the A-type graphite flake in the alloyed GCI microstructure. Additionally, the alloyed microstructure demonstrated that the ratio of the pearlite volume percentage to the ferrite volume percentage was improved from 67/33 to 87/13, whereas a reduction in the maximum graphite length and average grain size from 356 ± 31 µm to 297 ± 16 µm and 378 ± 18 µm to 349 ± 19 µm was detected. Consequently, it improved the mechanical properties and wear and corrosion resistance of alloyed GCI. A significant improvement in Brinell hardness, yield strength, and tensile strength of the modified microstructure from 213 ± 7 BHN to 272 ± 8 BHN, 260 ± 3 MPa to 310 ± 2 MPa, and 346 ± 12 MPa to 375 ± 7 MPa was achieved, respectively. The substantial reduction in the wear rate of alloyed GCI from 8.49 × 10 -3 mm 3 /N.m to 1.59 × 10 -3 mm 3 /N.m resulted in the upgradation of the surface roughness quality from 297.625 nm to 192.553 nm. Due to the increase in the corrosion potential from -0.5832 V to -0.4813 V, the impedance of the alloyed GCI was increased from 1545 Ohm·cm 2 to 2290 Ohm·cm 2 . On the basis of the achieved experimental results, it is suggested that the reliability of alloyed GCI based on experimentally validated microstructural compositions can be ensured during the operation of plants and components in a severe wear and corrosive environment. It can be predicted that the proposed alloyed GCI components are capable of preventing the premature failure of high-tech components susceptible to a wear and corrosion environment.

COVID-19 outbreak has become a global pandemic that affected more than 200 countries. Predicting the epidemiological behavior of this outbreak has a vital role to prevent its spreading. In this study, long short-term memory (LSTM) network as a robust deep learning model is proposed to forecast the number of total confirmed cases, total recovered cases, and total deaths in Saudi Arabia. The model was trained using the official reported data. The optimal values of the model's parameters that maximize the forecasting accuracy were determined. The forecasting accuracy of the model was assessed using seven statistical assessment criteria, namely, root mean square error (RMSE), coefficient of determination (R 2 ), mean absolute error (MAE), efficiency coefficient (EC), overall index (OI), coefficient of variation (COV), and coefficient of residual mass (CRM). A reasonable forecasting accuracy was obtained. The forecasting accuracy of the suggested model is compared with two other models. The first is a statistical based model called autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA). The second is an artificial intelligence based model called nonlinear autoregressive artificial neural networks (NARANN). Finally, the proposed LSTM model was applied to forecast the total number of confirmed cases as well as deaths in six different countries; Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, and USA. These countries have different epidemic trends as they apply different polices and have different age structure, weather, and culture. The social distancing and protection measures applied in different countries are assumed to be maintained during the forecasting period. The obtained results may help policymakers to control the disease and to put strategic plans to organize Hajj and the closure periods of the schools and universities., Competing Interests: The authors report no declarations of interest., (© 2020 Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)