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The problem of Australian forest fires has always captured the world’s attention. Each forest fire will bring huge losses. It can be huge death of animals, leading to more animals becoming endangered species, and it causes a high mortality rate. The study is about the impact of climate change on Australia's forest fires. The study contains information about Australia's current climate change and the analysis of the relationship between climate change and forest fires, finding that climate is the main factor for the increasing possibility of the forest fire. The study also includes the measurement used by governments and suggestions to reduce the cost of forest fires. For example, the wide no-fuel or micro-fuel Asset Protection Zone (APZ) can greatly influence the operation and viability of small lands and public reserves. Reducing the use of flammable matter and house density and building residential areas with fire suppression devices are necessary. The study shows the severity of problems caused by climate change and the necessity of fire prevention.

In laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF), most powders are not melted in the chamber and collected after the printing process. Powder reuse is appreciable without sacrificing the mechanical properties of target components. To understand the influences of powder reuse on mechanical performance, a nickel-based superalloy, IN738LC, was investigated. Powder morphology, microstructure and chemical compositions of virgin and reused powders were characterized. An increase in oxygen content, generally metallic oxides, was located on the surface of powders. Monotonic tensile and cyclic fatigue were tested. Negligible deterioration in strength and tensile ductility were found, while scattered fatigue performance with regard to fatigue life was shown. Deformation and fatigue crack propagation mechanisms were discussed for describing the powder degradation effects.

In laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF), most powders are not melted in the chamber and collected after the printing process. Powder reuse is appreciable without sacrificing the mechanical properties of target components. To understand the influences of powder reuse on mechanical performance, a nickel-based superalloy, IN738LC, was investigated. Powder morphology, microstructure and chemical compositions of virgin and reused powders were characterized. An increase in oxygen content, generally metallic oxides, was located on the surface of powders. Monotonic tensile and cyclic fatigue were tested. Negligible deterioration in strength and tensile ductility were found, while scattered fatigue performance with regard to fatigue life was shown. Deformation and fatigue crack propagation mechanisms were discussed for describing the powder degradation effects.

The additive manufacturability of nickel-based superalloys for laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technologies is studied by considering the in-process cracking mechanisms. The additive manufacturability of nickel-based superalloys largely depends on the resistance to the liquid and solid-state cracking. Herein, we propose a two-parameter-based, heat resistance and deformation resistance (HR-DR) model, accounting for the relation between chemical composition (both major and minor elements) and cracking susceptibility, which is generalized from the elemental microsegregation behavior and mechanisms of LPBF process induced cracking. The proposed model is validated by the LPBF experiments in this study and by the hitherto reported data in LPBF superalloys community. The HR-DR-model is found to be a theoretically acceptable and easy-to-use approach for the prediction of in-process cracking of nickel-based superalloys during LPBF. The influence of alloying elements and the gamma precipitates on the additive manufacturability is discussed. The model provides a path for designing not only new solid solutioning, but also and more importantly gamma strengthened nickel-based superalloys for LPBF applications. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Acta Materialia Inc. Funding Agencies|Swedish Agency for In-novation Systems via SIP Metalliska Material [2018-00804]; Linkping University (SFO-MAT-LiU) [2009-00971]; Center for Additive Manufacture - Metal (Vinnova) [2016-05175]

To attain the desired mechanical properties of an additively manufactured component, robust post-processing in term of thermal treatment is highly required to reduce the crystallographic anisotropy. However, the microstructure appearance with respect to the post-treatment temperature is not well understood mechanistically. In this study, the microstructural evolution of grains of a laser-powder bed fused (L-PBF) nickel-base superalloy, CM247LC, during post-processing heat treatment is investigated systematically. Recrystallization barely happens below the gamma solvus temperature leading to a remaining unhomogenized dendritic(cellular) structure. However, recrystallization is introduced above the gamma solvus temperature. By considering the grain boundary (GB) migration mechanisms and supported by experimental observations, the sluggish recrystallization behavior of this gamma-strengthened nickel-based superalloy has been understood. Owing to lack of the difference in stored energy between adjacent grains, this primary driving force is constrained. The GB migration is majorly driven by capillarity force (1-10 MPa) before the recrystallization occurrence, which is evident by the evolution of GB curvatures. On the other hand, the Zener pinning force generated from GB precipitates including carbides and gamma precipitates provides the dragging force in the comparable scale (1-10 MPa) against the GB migration. Funding Agencies|Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems via SIP Metalliska Material, (Vinnova) [2018-00804]; Linkoping University (SFO-MAT-LiU) [2009-00971]; CAM2 the center for Additive Manufacture - Metal (Vinnova)Vinnova [201605175]

The fabrication of gamma prime (γ′) strengthened nickel-based superalloys by additive manufacturing (AM) techniques is of huge interest from the industrial and research community owing to their excellent high-temperature properties. The effect of post-AM-processing heat treatment on the microstructural characteristics and microhardness response of a laser powder bed fused (LPBF) γ′ strengthened nickel-based superalloy, MAD542, is systematically investigated. Post-processing heat treatment shows the significant importance of tailoring the γ′ morphology. With insufficient solutioning duration time, coarse γ′ formed in the interdendritic region heterogeneously, due to the lack of chemical composition homogenization. The cooling rate from the super-solvus solutioning plays an important role in controlling the γ′ size and morphology. Spherical γ′ is formed during the air cooling while irregularly shaped γ′ formed during the furnace cooling. The following aging heat treatment further tunes the γ′ morphology and γ channel width. After two-step aging, cuboidal γ′ is developed in the air-cooled sample, while in contrast, bi-modally distributed γ′ is developed in the furnace cooled sample with fine spherical γ′ embedded in the wide γ channel between coarse irregular shaped secondary γ′. More than 90% of the grains recrystallized during solutioning treatment at the super-solvus temperature for 30 min. The rapid recrystallization kinetics are attributed to the formation of annealing twins which significantly reduced the stored energy. Microhardness responses from different heat-treated conditions were examined.

Wafer alignment is the core technique of lithographic tools. Image-processing-based wafer alignment techniques are commonly used in lithographic tools. An alignment algorithm is used to analyze the alignment mark image for obtaining the mark position. The accuracy and speed of the alignment algorithm are very important for guaranteeing the overlay and throughput of lithographic tools. The most commonly used algorithm in image-processing-based alignment techniques is the self-correlation method. This method has a high accuracy, but the calculation is complex, and the calculation speed is slow. In this paper, we propose a sub-pixel position estimation algorithm based on Gaussian fitting and sampling theorem interpolation. The algorithm first reconstructs the alignment signal by sampling theorem interpolation and then obtains the sub-pixel position of the mark by Gaussian fitting. The accuracy and robustness of the algorithm are verified by testing the simulated marks and experimentally captured marks. The repeat accuracy can reach 1/100 pixels, which is in the same level with the self-correlation method. The calculation speed is highly improved compared with the self-correlation method, which needs only about 1/3 of even short calculation time.

Salt and drought stresses are major environmental conditions that severely limit grape growth and productivity, while exogenous melatonin can alleviate the drought and salt damage to grapevines. N-acetylserotonin methyltransferase (ASMT) is the key enzyme in melatonin synthesis, which plays a critical role in regulating stress responses. However, the roles of ASMTs from grapevine under drought and salt stresses responses remain largely unclear. In this study, the VvASMT1 gene was isolated from grapevine, and its physiological functions in salt and mimic drought stress tolerance were investigated. Expression pattern analysis revealed that VvASMT1 was significantly induced by different salt and osmotic stresses. Ectopic expression of VvASMT1 in Nicotiana benthamiana significantly enhanced melatonin production in transgenic plants. Compared with wild-type plants, the transgenic lines exhibited a higher germination ratio, longer root length, lower degree of leaf wilting and relative water content (RWC) under salt and osmotic stresses. In addition, under salt and osmotic stresses, overexpression of VvASMT1 improved proline and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents, increased the activity of antioxidant enzymes and decreased the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Taken together, our results demonstrate the explicit role of VvASMT1 in salt and osmotic stress responses, which provides a theoretical foundation for the genetic engineering of grapevine.

Nickel-based superalloys, an alloy system bases on nickel as the matrix element with the addition of up to 10 more alloying elements including chromium, aluminum, cobalt, tungsten, molybdenum, tita ...

Microstructural evolution related to the mechanical response from isothermal dwell-fatigue testing at 700 °C of two austenitic steels, Esshete 1250 and Sanicro 25, is reported. Coherent Cu-precipitates and incoherent Nb-carbides were found to impede dislocation motion, increase hardening and improving the high temperature properties of Sanicro 25. Sparsely placed intergranular Cr- and Nb-carbides made Esshete 1250 susceptible to creep damage and intergranular crack propagation, mainly from interaction of the carbides and fatigue induced slip bands. Dynamic recrystallization of the plastic zone at the crack tip appeared to affect crack propagation of Sanicro 25 by providing an energetically privileged path. Funding agencies: AB Sandvik Materials Technology in Sweden; Swedish Energy Agency through the Research Consortium of Materials Technology for Thermal Energy Processes [KME-701]

Relationships between microstructures and hardening nature of laser powder bed fused (L-PBF) 316 L stainless steel have been studied. Using integrated experimental efforts and calculations, the evolution of microstructure entities such as dislocation density, organization, cellular structure and recrystallization behaviors were characterized as a function of heat treatments. Furthermore, the evolution of dislocation-type, namely the geometrically necessary dislocations (GNDs) and statistically stored dislocations (SSDs), and their impacts on the hardness variation during annealing treatments for L-PBF alloy were experimentally investigated. The GND and SSD densities were statistically measured utilizing the Hough-based EBSD method and Taylor's hardening model. With the progress of recovery, the GNDs migrate from cellular walls to more energetically-favourable regions, resulting in the higher concentration of GNDs along subgrain boundaries. The SSD density decreases faster than the GND density during heat treatments, because the SSD density is more sensitive to the release of thermal distortions formed in printing. In all annealing conditions, the dislocations contribute to more than 50% of the hardness, and over 85.8% of the total dislocations are GNDs, while changes of other strengthening mechanism contributions are negligible, which draws a conclusion that the hardness of the present L-PBF alloy is governed predominantly by GNDs. Funding: Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems (Vinnova)Vinnova [2016-05175]; Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)Science Foundation Ireland [16/RC/3872]; Center for Additive Manufacturing-metal (CAM2); European Regional Development FundEuropean Commission

An experimental printable γ′-strengthened nickel-based superalloy, MAD542, is proposed. By process optimization, a crack-free component with less than 0.06% defect was achieved by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). After post-processing by solution heat treatment, a recrystallized structure was revealed, which was also associated with the formation of annealing twins. After the aging treatment, 60–65% γ′ precipitates were obtained with a cuboidal morphology. The success of printing and post-processing the new MAD542 superalloy may give new insights into alloy design approaches for additive manufacturing.

The fatigue behavior and damage mechanisms of Inconel 718 are investigated and discussed under thermomechanical fatigue (TMF) and isothermal fatigue (IF) test conditions. The experimental results show that cyclic temperature accelerates fatigue degradation compared to isothermal equivalents, and the fatigue life under in-phase (IP) TMF mode is shorter than that under out-of-phase (OP) mode. The S-N data can be fitted by Coffin-Manson equation under LCF condition, and TMF lifetime can be predicted by the model based on hysteresis loop energy with a comprehensive consideration of mechanical and thermal strains.

Low cycle fatigue (LCF) performance of a novel high Co nickel-base polycrystalline superalloy was investigated at 750 °C under the strain ranges from 0.6 to 1.0%. The objective is to focus on fatigue life, cyclic deformation behavior, deformation substructure, fracture mode, crack propagation pathway as well as oxidation attack at the crack tip. The fatigue life decreases with strain range increasing and follow the Coffin-Manson power law with plastic strain. The experimental results show that a transformation from intergranular to transgranular failure was detected using microscopic observation. Post-mortem examination shows that the crack prefers propagating along random high angle boundaries comparing to twin boundaries. It has been evidenced that oxidation damage accumulation at the crack tip can promote intergranular crack propagation.

The post-processing on the additively manufactured component is of huge interest as the key to tailor the microstructure to obtain certain mechanical properties. In this present study, the effects of hot isostatic pressing, as well as heat treatment on the microstructure, phase configuration and mechanical properties of laser powder bed fused (LPBF) IN718 superalloy were systematically investigated. Three different post-processes were studied such as hot isostatic pressing (HIP), heat treatment (HT), and HIP followed by HT (HIP+HT). The HIP process effectively eliminated the Laves phase remained in the as-built microstructure and brought uniformly distributed super fine γ″ precipitates in nano-meter size. In the heat-treated microstructure, larger γ″ precipitates were promoted directly from the as-built material. In comparison the HIP+HT process caused a moderate growth of γ″. In the latter two cases, the developed γ″ significantly strengthened the material. Yield strength of IN718 was increased from 738 MPa in as-built condition to 1015 MPa and 1184 MPa after HT and HIP+HT, respectively. On the contrary the ductility in the as-built IN718 condition was reduced by more than 40% after HT and HIP+HT. This can be compared to an increase in the ductility by almost 30% when subjected the as-built specimens to only HIPping. Finally, the correlation between microstructure evolution and mechanical properties is discussed in detail. Funding: RISE IVF AB; Lighter Academy [Vinnova 2017-05200]

Low cycle fatigue (LCF) performance of IN718 superalloy under different heat treatment conditions are investigated with controlled strain amplitudes from 0.6% to 1.0% at 350 °C and 650 °C. Standard heat treatment (ST) and delta-phase aging treatment (DA) are applied to produce two types of precipitation microstructures. Under the same strain amplitude and temperature, the fatigue lives of ST specimens exceed that of DA specimens. And strikingly, ST specimens exhibit cyclic softening behavior in contrast to cyclic hardening behavior for DA specimens. The different stress responses can be rationalized by the dislocation interaction mechanisms with the precipitates. For the ST specimens, the dislocation shearing of γ′′ precipitates governs the microscopic deformation process, while the micrometer-sized δ phases are not shearable but act as the obstacles against dislocation slipping and lead to the cyclic hardening. Our TEM observations clearly show that recrystallization nucleation is prevalent in the DA specimens under 650 °C, which is interpreted by the high dislocation density induced by the δ phases. The results shed new lights on the fatigue microscopic deformation mechanisms of IN718 superalloy.

We propose a novel measurement algorithm for wafer alignment technology based on principal component analysis (PCA) of a mark image. The waveform of the mark is extracted from the enlarged mark image, which is collected by CCD. The position of the mark center on the CCD can be calculated based on the extracted waveform. By applying PCA to the mark image, the first principal component containing position information of the mark can be obtained. Therefore PCA can be used to extract the waveform from the mark image. Compared with the typical waveform extraction method (the summed projection (SP) method), the proposed PCA method can use the position information contained in the mark image more effectively. Through simulation and experiment, it is proved that the proposed PCA method can improve the contrast of the normalized waveform, and then improve the alignment accuracy.

The γ′ phase strengthened Nickel-base superalloy is one of the most significant dual-phase alloy systems for high-temperature engineering applications. The tensile properties of laser powder-bed-fused IN738LC superalloy in the as-built state have been shown to have both good strength and ductility compared with its post-thermal treated state. A microstructural hierarchy composed of weak texture, sub-micron cellular structures and dislocation cellular walls was promoted in the as-built sample. After post-thermal treatment, the secondary phase γ′ precipitated with various size and fraction depending on heat treatment process. For room-temperature tensile tests, the dominated deformation mechanism is planar slip of dislocations in the as-built sample while dislocations bypassing the precipitates via Orowan looping in the γ′ strengthened samples. The extraordinary strengthening effect due to the dislocation substructure in the as-built sample provides an addition of 372 MPa in yield strength. The results of our calculation are in agreement with experimental yield strength for all the three different conditions investigated. Strikingly, the γ′ strengthened samples have higher work hardening rate than as-built sample but encounter premature failure. Experimental evidence shows that the embrittlement mechanism in the γ′ strengthened samples is caused by the high dislocation hardening of the grain interior region, which reduces the ability to accommodate further plastic strain and leads to premature intergranular cracking. On the basis of these results, the strengthening micromechanism and double-edge effect of strength and ductility of Nickel-base superalloy is discussed in detail.