Scientific Research Publishing

Read  full  paper  at: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=20523#.VNhtJCzQrzE Author(s)   B. Gideon , L. Ward , K. Short Affiliation(s) ARV Offshore, Bangkok, Thailand . School of Civil, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne, Vic. 3001, Australia . Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization, Lucas Heights, NSW, 2234, Australia . ABSTRACT Standard metallography and optical microscopy are well established techniques for the characterization of duplex stainless steels (DSS), which consist of approximately 50% ferrite and 50% austenite. Recently, the use of atomic and magnetic force microscopies (AFM and MFM respectively) have been employed to differentiate between magnetic and non magnetic phases in materials. Such techniques would be valuable to identify different phases in duplex stainless steels, particularly the weld regions, and would thus compliment sta...

Read  full  paper  at: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=53121#.VLXOVsnQrzE Author(s)    Shahbaz Ahmad , Shazia Bashir , Daniel Yousaf , Nisar Ali , Tousif Hussain Affiliation(s) Center for Advanced Studies in Physics, Government College University, Lahore, Pakistan . ABSTRACT Brass targets were irradiated with various laser pulses of Excimer laser ranging from 1200 to 3000 for constant fluence of 3.4 J/cm 2 in oxygen atmosphere (100 Torr). The surface morphology and crystallographic analyses were performed by using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-Ray Diffractometer (XRD). SEM analysis reveals the formation of laser-induced micro-sized cavities, bumps, cones and wave-like ridges with non-uniform shape and density distribution. These features are formed for all number of pulses; however with increasing number of pulses from 1200 to 2400, the density of cavities decreases whereas, the wave-like ridg...

Read full paper at: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=52848#.VKs4qMnQrzE Author(s)    Dalia Santa Cruz-Navarro , Rosa María Espinosa-Valdemar , Margarita Beltrán-Villavicencio , Alethia Vázquez-Morillas , Maribel Velasco-Pérez Affiliation(s) Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Azcapotzalco, México D.F., México . ABSTRACT Degradable plastic mulch is being used to overcome the negative environmental impacts of burning and landfilling agricultural plastic waste. In this study P. ostreatus was used to model the capacity of a vegetal species to degrade conventional and degradable plastic films. Plastics studied were oxo-degradable polyethylene (OXO-PE), UV-irradiated oxo-degra...

Read full paper at: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=50888#.VE8FpFfHRK0 Author(s)   Benjamin Kemmerer , Jude Liu Affiliation(s) Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA . ABSTRACT As a dedicated energy crop, switchgrass may be harvested in fall or early spring depending on weather conditions, field capacities of harvesting machines, storage capacities, field management and availability of machine operators. To reduce storage space demand and increase transportation efficiency, harvested switchgrass should be densified. This research was conducted to examine energy consumption of compressing switchgrass colle...