In this study a two-step short wet etching was implemented for the black silicon formation. The proposed structure consists of two steps. The first step: wet acidic etched pits-like morphology with a quite new solution of lowering the texturization temperature and second step: wires structure obtained by a metal assisted etching (MAE). The temperature of the process was chosen due to surface development control and surface defects limitation during texturing process. This allowed to maintain better minority carrier lifetime compared to etching in ambient temperature. On the top of the acidic texture the wires were formed with optimized height of 350 nm. The effective reflectance of presented black silicon structure in the wavelength range of 300-1100 nm was equal to 3.65%.

Mechanical properties and residual stresses of friction stir welded and autogenous tungsten inert gas welded structural steel butt welds have been studied. Friction stir welding (FSW) of structural steel butt joints has been carried out by in-house prepared tungsten carbide tool with 20 mm/ min welding speed and 931 rpm tool rotation. Tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding of the butt joints was carried out with welding current, arc voltage and the welding speed of 140 amp, 12 V and 90 mm/min respectively. Residual stress measurement in the butt welds has been carried out in weld fusion zone and heat affected zone (HAZ) by using blind hole drilling method. The magnitude of longitudinal residual stress along the weld line of TIG welded joints were observed to be higher than friction stir welded joint. In both TIG and FSW joints, the nature of longitudinal stress in the base metal was observed to be compressive whereas in HAZ was observed to be tensile. It can be stated that butt welds produced with FSW process had residual stress much lower than the autogenous TIG welds.

This paper presents the results of experiments on metallization of plastic elements produced using 3D printing technology from the light-hardened resins. The obtained coatings were bimetallic (Cu/Ni). The first step of metallization was the electroless deposition of copper. The second one was electrodeposition of nickel on the previously prepared copper substrate. The parameters of 3D prints preparation and metallization processes were deeply investigated. The etching of plastics substrates and duration of electroless metallization of 3D prints by copper were analyzed. In the next step the influence of nickel electrodeposition time was investigated. The coating were analyzed by XRD method and morphology of surface was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The thickness of coatings was calculated based on mass differences and measured by using optical microscopy method. The optimal parameters for both processes were specified.

An ecoefficient, economical and sustainable valorization process for the synthesis of Co3O4 from waste lithium-ion battery (LIB) by leaching-solvent extract-scrubbing-precipitation stripping route has been developed. Through an optimization, the waste LIB cathode was leached using 2000 mole/m3 of H2SO4 and 5 Vol. % of the H2O2 at a pulp density of 100 kg/m3 under leaching time 60 minutes and temperature 75 °C. From the separated leach liquor, cobalt was purified by saponified Cyanex 272. From cobalt, loaded Cyanex 272 impurities were scrubbed and the CoC2O4·2H2O was recovered through precipitation stripping. Finally, the precipitate was calcined to synthesize Co3O4, which is a precursor for LIB cathode materials manufacturing. From TGA-DTA, followed by XRD analysis it was confirmed that at 200 °C the CoC2O4·2H2O can be converted to anhydrous CoC2O4 and at 350 °C the anhydrous can be converted to Co3O4 and at 1100 °C the Co3O4 can be converted to CoO. Through reported route waste LIB can back to LIB manufacturing process through a versatile and flexible industrial approach.

This paper deals with the possibilities of using physical modelling to study the degassing of metal melt during its treatment in the refining ladle. The method of inert gas blowing, so-called refining gas, presents the most common operational technology for the elimination of impurities from molten metal, e.g. for decreasing or removing the hydrogen content from liquid aluminium. This refining process presents the system of gas-liquid and its efficiency depends on the creation of fine bubbles with a high interphase surface, uniform distribution, long period of its effect in the melt, and mostly on the uniform arrangement of bubbles into the whole volume of the refining ladle. Physical modelling represents the basic method of modelling and it makes it possible to obtain information about the course of refining processes. On the basis of obtained results, it is possible to predict the behaviour of the real system during different changes in the process. The experimental part focuses on the evaluation of methodical laboratory experiments aimed at the proposal and testing of the developed methods of degassing during physical modelling. The results obtained on the basis of laboratory experiments realized on the specific physical model were discussed.

Stability of silver nanoparticles strongly influences the potential of their application. The literature shows wide possibilities of nanoparticles preparation, which has significantly impact on their properties. Therefore, the improvement of AgNPs preparation plays a key role in the case of their practical use. The pH values of the environment are one of the important factors, which directly influences stability of AgNPs. We present a comparing study of the silver nanoparticles prepared by „bottom-up“ methods over by chemical synthesis and biosynthesis using AgNO3 (0.29 mM) solution. For the biosynthesis of the silver nanoparticles, the green freshwater algae Parachlorella kessleri and Citrus limon extracts were used as reducing and stabilizing agents. Chemically synthesized AgNPs were performed using sodium citrate (0.5%) as a capping agent and 0.01% gelatine as a reducing agent. The formation and long term stability of those silver nanoparticles synthesized either biologically and chemically were clearly observed by solution colour changes and confirmed by UV-vis spectroscopy. The pH values of formed nanoparticle solutions were 3 and 5.8 for biosynthesized AgNPs using extract of Citrus limon and Parachlorella kessleri, respectively and 7.2 for chemically prepared AgNPs solution using citrate. The SEM as a surface imaging method was used for the characterization of nanoparticle shapes, size distribution and also for resolving different particle sizes. These micrographs confirmed the presence of dispersed and aggregated AgNPs with various shapes and sizes.

The principle of work of many metallurgical shaft furnaces is based on the flow of reaction gas through the descending packed bed composed of metallurgical materials. Hot gases flow up the shaft furnace through the column of materials, give their heat to the descending charge materials. At the same time due to their reducing nature they interact chemically, causing the reduction of oxides inside the charge. In real conditions, during the course of the process, the powder is generated, the source of which is the batch materials or it is introduced into the as part of the process procedure. The powder in the form of thin slurry is carried by the stream of flowing gas. Such multiphase flow might considerably affect the permeability of the charge due to the local holdup of powder. The holdup of solid phase in packed beds of metallurgical shaft furnaces leads to radial changes in bed porosity. Radial changes in bed porosity uneven gas flow along the radius of the reactor and negatively affect the course and efficiency of the process. The article describes the model studies on radial distribution of carbon powder holdup in the packed bed composed of metallurgical materials. The powder was divided into fractions – “static” and “dynamic”. Large diversity of carbon powder distribution was observed in the function of the radius of reactor in relation to the bed type, apparent velocity of gas carrying powder and the level of bed height.

The paper evaluates two approaches of numerical modelling of solidification of continuously cast steel billets by finite element method, namely by the numerical modelling under the Steady-State Thermal Conditions, and by the numerical modelling with the Traveling Boundary Conditions. In the paper, the 3D drawing of the geometry, the preparation of computational mesh, the definition of boundary conditions and also the definition of thermo-physical properties of materials in relation to the expected results are discussed. The effect of thermo-physical properties on the computation of central porosity in billet is also mentioned. In conclusion, the advantages and disadvantages of two described approaches are listed and the direction of the next research in the prediction of temperature field in continuously cast billets is also outlined.

In the paper, the technology of the production of the modified ceramic proppants used in the shale gas extracting process is described. The natural available materials and uncomplicated process to new ceramic proppants preparation were applied. The modification of the ceramic proppants based on the addition of the waste material as fly ash. The produced ceramic material in the form of granules characterized by high mechanical properties and low production costs. Moreover, the obtained good values of compressive strength and gas permeability for investigated proppants confirmed that this material has appropriate properties to be used in the hydraulic fracturing.

Fe-40wt% TiB2 nanocomposites were fabricated by mechanical activation and spark-plasma sintering of a powder mixture of iron boride (FeB) and titanium hydride (TiH2). The powder mixture of (FeB, TiH2) was prepared by high-energy ball milling in a planetary ball mill at 700 rpm for 3 h followed by spark-plasma sintering (SPS) at various conditions. Analysis of the change in relative sintered density and densification rate during sintering showed that a self-propagating high-temperature synthesis reaction occurs to form TiB2 from FeB and Ti. A sintered body with relative density higher than 98% was obtained after sintering at 1150°C for 5 and 15 min. The microstructural observation of sintered compacts with the use of FE-SEM and TEM revealed that ultrafine particulates with approximately 5 nm were evenly distributed in an Fe-matrix. A hardness value of 83 HRC was obtained, which is equivalent to that of conventional WC-20 Co systems.

Metallic fuel slugs containing rare-earth (RE) elements have high reactivity with quartz (SiO2) molds, and a reaction layer with a considerable thickness is formed at the surface of metallic fuel slugs. The surface characterization of metallic fuel slugs is essential for safety while operating a fast reactor at elevated temperature. Hence, it is necessary to evaluate the surface characteristics of the fuel slugs so that chemical interaction between fuel slug and cladding can be minimized in the reactor. When the Si element causes a eutectic reaction with the cladding, it deteriorates the metallic fuel slugs. Thus, it is necessary to examine the characteristics of the surface reaction layer to prevent the reaction of the metallic fuel slugs. In this study, we investigated the metallurgical characteristics of the surface reaction layer of fabricated U-10wt.%Zr-Xwt.%RE (X = 0, 5, 10) fuel slugs using injection casting. The results showed that the thickness of the surface reaction layer increased as the RE content of the metallic fuel slugs increased. The surface reaction layer of the metallic fuel slug was mainly formed by RE, Zr and the Si, which diffused in the quartz mold.

In this study, precisely controlled large scale gas atomization process was applied to produce spherical and uniform shaped high entropy alloy powder. The gas atomization process was carried out to fabricate CoCrFeNiMn alloy, which was studied for high ductility and mechanical properties at low temperatures. It was confirmed that the mass scale, single phase, equiatomic, and high purity spherical high entropy alloy powder was produced by gas atomization process. The powder was sintered by spark plasma sintering process with various sintering conditions, and mechanical properties were characterized. Through this research, we have developed a mass production process of high quality and spherical high entropy alloy powder, and it is expected to expand applications of this high entropy alloy into fields such as powder injection molding and 3D printing for complex shaped components.

Among the various thin film coating techniques, atomic layer deposition (ALD) has features of good controllability of the thickness, excellent step-coverage in 3-dimensional object even in the sub-nm thickness range at the relatively low deposition temperature. In this study, SnO2 thin films were grown by ALD in the variation of substrate temperatures from 150 to 250°C. Even such a low temperature may influence on the growth kinetics of the ALD reaction and thus the physical characteristics of thin films, such as crystallinity, film density and optical band gap, etc. We observed the decrease of the growth rate with increasing substrate temperature, at the same time, the density of the film was decreased with increasing temperature. Steric hindrance effect of the precursor molecule was attributed to the inverse relationship of the growth temperature and growth rate as well as the film density. Optical indirect band gap energy (~3.6 eV) of the ALD-grown amorphous SnO2 films grown at 150°C was similar with that of the literature value, while slightly lower band gap energy (~3.4 eV) was acquired at the films grown at higher temperature.

Lead-free ceramics of Na0.5K0.5Nb1-xSbxO3 (NKNS) and Na0.5K0.5Nb1-xSbxO3 + 0.5 mol%MnO2 (NKNS + 0.5 mol%MnO2) (0 < x < 0.06) ceramics were prepared by a conventional solid-state hot pressing method. The ceramics possess a single-phase perovskite structure with orthorhombic symmetry. Microstructural examination revealed that Mn doping of NKNS leads to improvement of densification. The cubic-tetragonal and tetragonal-orthorhombic phase transitions of NKNS shifted to higher and lower temperature, respectively after introduction of Mn ion. Besides, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties were improved. The results were discussed in term of difference in both ionic size and electronegativity of Nb5+ and Sb5+ and improvement of densification after Mn ion doping.

This article describes the influence of thermal and dielectric properties of materials to properties of electrical insulating systems in high voltage electrical equipment. The aim of this experiment is to improve the thermal and dielectric properties of electrical insulating (composite) materials using micro fillers of aluminium oxide Al2O3. Supplement of fillers of aluminium oxide with better thermal conductivity to the electrical insulating systems can be modified to increase their thermal conductivity. Improving the thermal conductivity of electric insulation by addition of micro- or nanofillers and in the same time not adversely affecting the dielectric properties is the objective of the study. Paper is presenting the results measured on prepared samples. Improved thermal conductivity is compared with other dielectric properties as: dissipation factor temperature dependences, resistivity and dielectric spectroscopy. To determine the dielectric insulating properties the following characteristics were measured: tanδ versus temperature from 110°C to 150°C, absorption and resorption currents, volume resistivity. Furthermore, this article describes analysis of moisture and conductivity the material by dielectric spectroscopy.

A series of Al-5Ti-1B master alloys were obtained via fluoride salt process by holding them between 780°C and 880°C for 10-90 min. The influence of holding temperature and time during preparation on the microstructure and its refining performance were investigated by X-ray diffractometer, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy equ ipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The results indicated both the morphology and the distribution of TiB2 and Al3Ti were seriously affected by holding conditions. Inadequate TiB2 particles were generated when holding time was short. However, Fe-containing impurity particles that aggregated along the matrix grain boundaries were found after the prolonged holding time. The refining and microhardness test results revealed that Al -5Ti-1B, the one held at 820°C for 30 min showed the optimum refining efficiency on Al-Cu alloy.

Zinc is present in electric arc furnace dust (EAFD) mainly in two basic minerals, namely as franklinite ZnFe2O4 and/or zincite ZnO. While zincite is relatively reactive and easily treatable, franklinite is considerably refractory, which causes problems during EAFD processing. In this work EAFD containing 18.53% Zn was leached in water solution of ammonium carbonate. This leaching solution selectively leaches zincite, while franklinite is refractory and stable against leaching in this case. The temperature dependence of zinc leaching from EAFD was studied and the activation energy EA was determined by two methods: 1.) classically based on zinc chemical analyses from the leaching solution and 2.) by using of X-Ray diffraction qualitative phase analyses of leaching residues. The determined values of activation energies 37.41 and 38.55 kJmol–1 match perfectly, which show the excellent possibility of using X-Ray diffraction toward the study of leaching kinetics at properly chosen experimental conditions. The important result is the determination of the amount zincite and franklinite in EAFD, which is not possible by using of classical chemical methods.

Ductile irons of the type of Si-Mo are characterized by increased resistance to long-term influence of high temperatures and cyclic temperature changes. They are mainly used in castings of combustion engine exhaust piping and other castings utilized at temperatures of up to 850°C. The aim of the study is to verify the mechanical properties of non-alloyed cast iron EN CSN GJS 450, SiMo4-0.5 and SiMo5-1 ductile irons at temperatures of 700 to 800°C, and the extent of their superficial oxidation after longterm annealing at a temperature of 900°C. Via chemical microanalysis the composition of oxidation products in the surface layer was evaluated.

The paper deals with hypereutectic high chromium cast irons. The subject of examination was the effect of various alloying elements (Ti, W, Mo, V) on the size of primary carbides and on the resultant material hardness. Using a scanning electron microscope with a wave dispersion analyser, the carbon content in carbides was established. To determine the other elements, an energy dispersion analyser was used. It was found that both the primary and the eutectic carbides were of the M7C3 type and very similar in composition. The carbides always contained Cr and Fe, and also W, Mo, V or Ti, in dependence on the alloying elements used. The structure of materials containing only chromium without any alloying additions exhibited coarse acicular primary carbides. The structure of materials alloyed with another element was always finer. Marked refinement was obtained by Ti alloying.

This paper focused on the effect of pure torsion deformation and various torsion pitches on the mechanical properties of the commercial pure Al wires which has not been examined so far. The initial wires with diameter of 4 mm have been torsion deformed to different pitch length (PL). In order to investigate the effect of gradient microstructure caused by torsion deformation, three different pitch length of 15 mm, 20 mm and 30 mm are considered. The results revealed that the level of grain refinement is correlated with the amount of induced plastic shear strain by torsion deformation. For the wire with pitch length of 15 mm, the grain sizes decreased to about 106 μm and 47 μm in the wire center and edge from the initial size of about 150 μm of the annealed wire. The micro-hardness measurement results show a gradient distribution of hardness from the wire center to the wire surface that confirmed the increasing trend of plastic shear strain obtained by FE simulations. The hardness of annealed sample (35 HV) is increased up to 73 HV at the wire surface for the smallest pitch length. The yield and ultimate tensile strength of the torsion deformed wires are also increased up to about 85 MPa and 152 MPa from the initial values of 38 MPa and 103 MPa of the annealed one respectively while the maximum elongation reduced significantly.

Aluminium based metal matrix composite (Al-MMC’s) are much popular in the field like automobile and aerospace industries, because of its ease of fabrication process and excellent mechanical properties. In this study, Al-Zn-Mg alloy composite reinforced with 3, 6 and 9 v % of zircon sand was synthesised by stir casting technique. The microstructure of the composites revealed uniform distribution of reinforced particles. Hardness, tensile strength and wear resistance of Al-Zn-Mg alloy/zircon sand composite were found to increase with increase in v % percentage of zircon sand. Scanning Electron Microscope analysis of wear tested sample surface of composites revealed no evidence of plastic deformation of matrix phase. Particle pulls out and abrasive wear was the common feature observed from all the composites.

Point of present exploration was to figure out the anticorrosion activity of Acacia Cyanophylla (Saligna leaves) extract on the corrosion of mild steel in dilute sulfuric acid medium, using weight loss measurements and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The result of the study revealed that the extract act as a potent inhibitor on mild steel in acid medium. The increase in inhibitor concentration and immersion time showed a positive effect on inhibition efficiency. EIS exhibited one capacitive loop which indicates that the corrosion reaction is controlled by charge transfer process. The increase of phase shift (n) in presence of (ACLE) lower surface roughness. This change reveals the adsorption of the inhibitor compound on the steel surface. According to the results of weight loss measurements, the adsorption of the extract on the steel surface can be described by the Langmuir isotherm. The inhibition mechanism of (ACLE) molecules involves physical interaction between the inhibitor and metal surface. Additionally, Protective film formation against acid attack was confirmed by FT-IR and AFM techniques.

Codeposition of antimony and tin from acidic chloride and chloride-sulfate baths was investigated. The calculations of distribution of species showed domination of neutral SnCl2 and anionic SbCl4 – complexes in chloride solution, while in the presence of sulfate ions neutral SnSO4 and cationic SbCl2+ complexes were found. Cyclic voltammetry, anodic stripping analysis and potentiostatic measurements showed that antimony deposited favorably and the reaction run under limiting control. Analysis of chronoamperometric curves suggested instantaneous nucleation of the solid phase in the chloride bath, but progressive model was more probable in the presence of sulfate ions.

Aluminium metal matrix composites (AMMCs) are the fastest developing materials for structural applications. Friction Stir Processing (FSP) has evolved as a promising surface composite fabrication technique mainly because it is an eco-friendly and solid-state process. A spurt in the interest of research community and a resulting huge research output makes it difficult to find relevant information to further the research with objectivity. To facilitate this, the present article addresses the current state of the art and development in surface metal matrix fabrication through FSP with a specific focus on ex-situ routes. The available literature has been carefully read and categorized to present effects of particle size, morphology and elemental composition. The effect of various reinforcements on development of different functional characteristics is also discussed. Effect of main FSP parameters on various responses is presented with objectivity. Based on the studied literature concluding summary is presented in a manner in which the literature becomes useful to the researchers working on this important technology.