Sharif Digital Repository

In this paper, Ti-6Al-4V/TiC composite was fabricated by VIM furnace and graphite crucible. X-ray diffraction analysis and EDS techniques were used to identify the phases in the material. Microstructure characteristics of the Ti-6Al-4V/TiC composite were evaluated by means of optical microscopy. The tensile test was performed at room temperature after hot-rolling of the samples in the beta phase field. The results revealed that at different melting times, three kinds of precipitates are formed in the microstructure including grain boundary, eutectic and transgranular precipitates. The size of transgranular precipitates was significantly larger than that of the other two types of carbides and... 

To improve the hydrogen kinetics of magnesium hydride, TiCr 1.2Fe0.6 alloy was prepared by vacuum arc remelting (VAR) and the alloy was co-milled with MgH2 to process nanostructured MgH2-5 at.% TiCr1.2Fe0.6 powder. The hydrogen desorption properties of the composite powder were studied and compared with pure magnesium hydride. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that the composite powder prepared by VAR/mechanical alloying (MA) procedure consisted of β-MgH2, γ-MgH2, bcc Ti-Cr-Fe alloy, and small amount of MgO. The average size of particles and their grain structure after 4 h MA were determined by a laser particle size analyzer and XRD method and found to be 194 nm and 11 nm,... 

The field-emission properties of molybdenum oxide nanowires grown on a silicon substrate and its emission performance in various vacuum gaps are reported in this article. A new kind of molybdenum oxides named nanowires with nanoscale protrusions on their surfaces were grown by thermal vapor deposition with a length of ~1 μm and an average diameter of ~50 nm. The morphology, structure, composition and chemical states of the prepared nanostructures were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). According to XRD, XPS, and TEM analyses, the synthesized samples... 

Application of the existing materials selection methods is not much popular in space environment. This is in spite of involvement of the selection process in this field with a wide range of influential factors (e.g. conventional mechanical properties and over 21 space environmental effects). In this paper an introductory road map for employing systematic materials selection methods in the field by engaging the selection process with mechanical properties and only one of the space environmental factors is presented. Here, selected case studies, which are involved with outgassing phenomenon of materials in vacuum condition, highlight the incapability of some of the methods in dealing with such... 

The present paper deals with different effects of homogenization time and cooling environment on Ni-42.5wt%Ti-7.5wt%Cu alloy. The alloy was prepared by vacuum arc melting. Afterwards, three homogenization times (half, one and two hour) and three cooling environments (water, air and furnace) at 1373 K were selected. Optical and Scanning Electron Microscopic methods, EDX, DSC and hardness tests have been used to evaluate the microstructure, transformation temperatures and hardness. Results indicate that specimens that were cooled in air are super-saturated. Also, the microstructure from furnace cooling has many disparities with the other cooling environments' microstructure and two types of... 

The field emission properties of MoO2 nanostars grown on a silicon substrate and their emission performance in various vacuum gaps are reported in this article. A new structure of molybdenum oxides, named a nanostar, is grown by thermal vapor deposition with a length of ̃1 μm, a thickness of ̃50 nm, and its width in the range of 500-700 nm. The morphology, structure, composition, and chemical states of the prepared nanostars were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). According to XRD analysis, the grown nanostructures are composed of both crystalline Mo4O11 and... 

Ultra clean NiTi shape memory alloy was produced by electron beam melting of Ni rich vacuum inductionally melted butts together with pure Ti chunks in both condensed and electrographite crucibles. A hollow cathode discharge gun was used for heating up to 1623, 1653 and 1693 K and holding the charge materials under vacuum for 300, 600, 900 and 1200 s. Effects of temperature, time and compactness of the crucible on formation/disappearance of the hard compounds like Ni3Ti, Ti4Ni2O, Ti4Ni 2C, Ti3Ni2OC and TiC were determined by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray analysis. A combination of the experimental results with the kinetic rate equations indicated... 

High-voltage power supplies (HVPSs) are widely used to supply vacuum tubes. The amount of delivered energy from the HVPS to the tube is an important issue during the vacuum arc in the tube. The conventional protection mechanism consists of a shunt crowbar which diverts the fault current from the tube to itself as a parallel path. The crowbar circuit is usually built of the devices without the turn-off capability. It is a drawback since the output of the power supply is shortened for a long time. Thus, the restoration time of these power supplies is excessive. This demerit can have detrimental effects on mission-critical applications. In this paper, the insulated-gate bipolar transistor... 

The ceramic fracture in output RF window is one of the most important failure factors in high power microwave sources. Fast protection systems are used to protect the source. The methods for determining the required protection response time are conservative and rough. In this paper, an investigation is presented about the twin growth in the ceramic of RF window in faulty condition. It is shown that the twin growth in ceramic can be a reliable figure of merit for the response time calculation of the microwave source protection system  

Vacuum tubes are widely used for various applications. These vacuum tubes are supplied by high voltage power supplies. The amount of delivered energy from the high voltage power supply to the vacuum tube is an important issue during the vacuum arc in the tube. The protection mechanism consists of a shunt crowbar which diverts the fault current from the tube to itself as a parallel path. Detection of the vacuum arc is crucial and only one sensor is usually employed to detect the vacuum arc. This characteristic intensifies the interference susceptibility of the vacuum arc diagnosis system in a noisy environment. As a result of the noise, the arc detection system can report false alarms. False... 

Vacuum arc is one of the most important failure factors of the vacuum tubes. The amount of delivered energy from the high-voltage dc power supply to the vacuum tube is an important issue during the vacuum arc in the tube. Vacuum arc acts as a short-circuit fault (SCF) at the power supply output. The majority of converters use a single current sensor to measure only the converter output current for detecting the SCF. However, the sensor may provide unreliable data because of the noise effect. Application of a low-pass filter reduces the noise effect. Regarding the delay of the low-pass filter, the interval of arc detection increases and more energy is delivered to the tube. In this article, a... 

High-voltage power supplies (HVPSs) are widely used to drive vacuum tubes, inherently susceptible to vacuum arc faults. Owing to the considerable cost of vacuum tubes, the HVPS should enjoy a reliable, fast protection mechanism. A common protection mechanism against vacuum arc faults is the shunt crowbar. The crowbar diverts the energy stored in the elements of the HVPS through itself as a parallel path, thereby protecting vacuum tubes from irrecoverable damages. Among all types of the shunt crowbar, the thyristor-based crowbar along with the fault current limiter (FCL) resistors attracts more attention because of its more reliable operation. The absence of the comprehensive design procedure... 

Epitaxial formation of CoSi2 nanolayer by solid state reaction of Co-Si in refractory metal intermediate-layer and cap-layer systems was investigated. Thin films of Ta and W, as the refractory metal intermediate or cap layers of the Co film, were deposited on Si(100) substrate and then heat-treated. The both interlayers resulted in formation of epitaxial CoSi 2 with (100) crystallographic orientation at 900°C. However, in the Ta intermediated system, the grown CoSi2 layer was thermally unstable at 1000°C, unlike the W system with a stable silicide layer. We found that use of W cap-layer cannot yield an epitaxial CoSi2 phase. But, a Ta cap-layer resulted in formation of epitaxial CoSi2(100)... 

The safe operating condition for the vacuum tubes is very important and critical since they are very expensive and delicate. Providing limited short circuit energy for the vacuum tube and fast transferring from the short circuit to the nominal operation state are absolutely necessary. Extant protection strategies threat the availability of the vacuum tubes. In addition, they cannot completely protect the tube due to the delay of the fault detection system. This article proposes a high voltage (HV) short circuit fault current limiter which can limit the short circuit energy of the system inherently. The proposed structure activates automatically when the current exceeds the predetermined... 

In conventional high-voltage power supplies used for driving the microwave tubes, the shunt crowbar, which generally consists of series-connected thyristors, protects the microwave tube against the vacuum arc fault. In the case of arc fault, the thyristor-based crowbar is closed as a parallel path and diverts the fault current through itself. It avoids serious damage to the microwave tube. However, thyristor switches usually have a limited rate of rise of ON-state current (di/dt), which necessitates placing a series inductor in the crowbar path. Thus, satisfying all protection limits of microwave tubes-including the injected fault energy and the fault current interruption time-is a... 

Vacuum arc is one of the most important failure factors of the vacuum tubes. The amount of delivered energy from the high-voltage dc power supply to the vacuum tube is an important issue during the vacuum arc in the tube. Vacuum arc acts as a short-circuit fault (SCF) at the power supply output. The majority of converters use a single current sensor to measure only the converter output current for detecting the SCF. However, the sensor may provide unreliable data because of the noise effect. Application of a low-pass filter reduces the noise effect. Regarding the delay of the low-pass filter, the interval of arc detection increases and more energy is delivered to the tube. In this article, a... 

Ti4Ni2O, Ti4Ni2N, TiC and Ti2Ni are brittle compounds usually formed during production and processing of the Ti-Ni SMA alloys. These compounds adversely affect on workability and shape memory properties of the alloy. This paper presents most recent findings related to the morphologies of various inclusions and Ti-Ni phases formed during and after vacuum induction melting and casting of Ti-45wt.% Ni material. Cast samples were mechanically and/or electrolytically polished and etched. Extensive optical and scanning electron microscopic studies were carried out to characterize the composition and microstructure of the as cast Ti-Ni alloys. Results indicated that mechanical polishing followed by... 

The present study is undertaken to calculate the rate of change of pressure and residual air mass in die casting for vacuum venting under choked flow conditions. In these calculations, the influence of friction factor, due to roughness and vent air velocity change through the Mach number, has been taken into account. The results show that there is a critical area ratio below which the pressure and vent inlet Mach number increase with time and above which decrease with time. In addition, for an area ratio less than the critical area, the rate of change of residual air mass seems to be more changed at the late stages than at the early stages of the filling time. The picture is reversed for a...