Phase and structural transformations when forming a welded joint from rail steel. Report 3. The use of thermokinetic and isothermal diagrams of austenite decomposition for selection of optimal modes of electric contact welding

During contact flash welding of rails, the metal is heated and continuously cooled in the zone of thermal influence. Accelerated heating and subsequent intensive cooling, implemented by the pulsed flashing-off method, lead to the formation of quenching structures. Subsequently, during the operation of the rails welded joint, this leads to the formation of cracks and to brittle destruction. We have investigated the possibilities of using contact heating after welding to avoid the formation of quenching structures in the metal of the welded joint made of R350LHT rail steel. The thermal cycles during welding and subsequent contact heating were recorded. The regularity of formation of the weld metal structure was established including the zone of thermal influence during pulsed contact heating for R350LHT rail steel. It is shown that contact pulse heating slows down the welded joint cooling and prevents the formation of quenching structures. However, contact pulse heating when using suboptimal modes can also lead to the opposite effect. It is determined that with a significant investment of heat by contact heating, cooling rate of the metal exceeds the critical one, transformation process passes through a diffusion-free mechanism with the formation of martensite coarse-grained structure. The use of thermokinetic and isothermal diagrams of austenite decomposition at known thermal welding cycles allows us to significantly narrow the search limits for optimal modes of contact butt welding of railway rails and subsequent contact heating. The use of optimal contact heating modes makes it possible to obtain a minimum length of heat-affected zones with reduced hardness without the formation of quenching structures in the welded joint of railway rails.

Phase and structural transformations when forming a welded joint from rail steel. Report 2. Isothermal diagram of decomposition of supercooled austenite of R350LHT rail steel

An isothermal diagram of decomposition of supercooled austenite of R350LHT steel was constructed based on the results of dilatometric, metallographic and hardness analysis of this decomposition during continuous cooling and under isothermal conditions. When comparing the thermokinetic and isothermal diagrams, it was found that the thermokinetic diagram plotted during continuous cooling shifts downward and to the right in comparison with the isothermal diagram. This result is fully consistent with the known regularities. During the research, the critical points of R350LHT steel were determined: Ас1 = 711 °С; Мn = 196 °С. This isothermal diagram was used to determine the temperature of the minimum stability of overcooled austenite, which was 500 °C. Under isothermal conditions, pearlite-type structures appear in the temperature range from 700 to 600 °C. At 550 °C, a mixture of pearlitic and bainitic structures is formed. In the temperature range from 500 to 250 °C, bainitic structures are formed: at 500 – 400 °C – upper bainite; at 350 ° C – a mixture of upper and lower bainite; at 300 – 250 °С – lower bainite. Almost in the entire studied temperature range of overcooled austenite isothermal decomposition, an increase in the hardness of the transformation products is observed with a decrease in the holding temperature from 246 HV (at 700 °C) to 689 HV (at 250 °C). However, at a temperature of 500 °C, a slight drop in hardness occurs, which is apparently caused by the appearance of retained austenite during the development of bainitic transformation.

Cellulose Acetate Sulfate as a Lyotropic Liquid Crystalline Polyelectrolyte: Synthesis, Properties, and Application

The optimal conditions of cellulose acetate sulfate (CAS) homogeneous synthesis with the yield of 94–98 wt.% have been determined. CAS was confirmed to have an even distribution of functional groups along the polymer chain. The polymer was characterized by an exceptionally high water solubility (up to 70 wt.%). The isothermal diagrams of its solubility in water-alcohol media have been obtained. CAS aqueous solutions stability, electrolytic, thermal, and viscous properties have been defined. The main hydrodynamic characteristics such as intrinsic viscosity, Huggins constant, and crossover concentration have been evaluated. The parameters of polymer chain thermodynamic rigidity have been calculated. The formation of liquid crystalline structures in concentrated CAS solutions has been confirmed. CAS was recommended to be used as a binder for the medicinal forms of activated carbon and carbon sorbent for water treatment, hydrophilic ointment foundation.

Equation of state problems in inertial confinement fusion

An analysis is made of the equation of state problems in inertial confinement fusion. After reviewing the need for compression for inertial confinement fusion along the lines of the classical self similarity model which is derived in a modified way with indications of the equation of state, the problems of the central core ignition are examined with respect to the equation of state. A basic difficulty is elaborated in the ‘scape goat diagram’. After describing alternative compression schemes such as non-linear force and cannon ball, the two temperature equation of state is developed with electronic and ionic contributions following the ideal gas, the Debye-Grüneisen equation of state, the solid-gas interpolation and the SESAME tables. A remarkable discrepancy for the isothermal diagrams is shown between the general result and the result based on the earlier McCarthy–Kalitkin scheme.