The grade 2 commercially pure titanium (CP-Ti) sheets were incrementally deformed using the multipoint incremental forming (MPIF) process, where sheets of thickness up to 1 mm were deformed with the aid of a six-spherical ball-ended tool. Frustum cups were made at spindle speeds of 200, 250, and 300 rpm. In MPIF, shape changes in sheet metals can be achieved without the use of a punch and die, even for ultra-thin materials. Therefore, this process is recommended for fabricating parts in the automotive, aerospace, and biomedical industries. This research focused on studying formability through electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, to investigate the phase analysis, grain orientation, and dislocation density. Potentio Dynamic Polarization (PDP) tests were conducted to investigate the corrosion behavior of both the BM and deformed samples. Morphological studies of the corrosion pattern were conducted using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) at various spindle speeds following the MPIF process. The influence of spindle speed on the forming limits of Grade 2 CP-Ti was investigated. Maximum plastic deformation (plasticity), higher dislocation density, and enhanced corrosion resistance were observed at a higher speed (300 rpm), due to the strengthening of the basal texture and weakening of the prismatic texture components. The Forming Limit Strain (FLS) was drawn for different spindle speeds (200, 250, and 300 rpm). The FLS was correlated with microstructural, mechanical, and corrosion properties at different spindle speeds.
Hybrid composites have attracted increasing attention for medical and prosthetic applications; however, achieving an optimal balance between mechanical strength, fatigue durability, wear resistance, and moisture stability remains a critical challenge for long-term biomedical use. In this context, the present study investigates the influence of Kevlar and Himalayan nettle fibers reinforced with carp fish–derived collagen macromolecules on the overall performance of hybrid polymer composites aimed at human prosthetic applications. Five different composite configurations were fabricated and evaluated: B (100 vol
Visible light-driven photocatalysis offers a sustainable approach for degrading synthetic textile dyes. This work aims to synthesize morphology-tuned ZnO nanostructures and evaluate their photocatalytic efficiency for cost-effective wastewater remediation. In this study, ZnO nanostructures with controlled morphologies were synthesized via a hydrothermal route by varying the synthesis time. ZnO nanostructures were characterized by XRD, UV–Vis, Raman, FTIR, FESEM, and TEM techniques. The analyses confirmed wurtzite crystallinity, revealed tunable crystallite sizes, demonstrated band gap narrowing, and enhanced morphology for photocatalytic efficiency in the synthesized ZnO nanostructures.. Notably, ZnO nanoflowers prepared over 7 h exhibited enhanced crystallinity, abundant oxygen vacancies, and a narrowed band gap, leading to improved visible light absorption and photocatalytic efficiency. Under 400-nm illumination, these nanostructures achieved 92
In this study, Al7075 metal matrix composites are processed using the casting method, adding carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as reinforcement material. The wear behavior of the Al7075/CNT composites was investigated using a pin-on-disc setup under dry conditions. Key factors such as reinforcement percentage, normal load, sliding velocity, and sliding distance were selected to assess their effects on wear-rate and coefficient of friction (COF). A set of 108 experiments were employed. The experimental data were carefully analyzed to understand the influence of each wear parameter on output responses. Additionally, the wear mechanisms under extreme conditions were studied using scanning electron microscope images of the specimen's worn surface. Scanning electron microscopic analysis observed the existence of delamination, abrasion, oxidation, and adhesion as the main wear mechanisms. Machine learning models for wear-rate (WR) were successfully developed using polynomial regression (PR), random forest (RF), support vector regression (SVR), and multilayer perceptron (MLP) algorithms. Among these, the SVR model demonstrated superior performance, achieving a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 0.1611 and an R2 of 98.76%, indicating the highest predictive accuracy. However, in COF prediction, the RF model demonstrated superior accuracy with an RMSE of 0.0128 and an R2 of 98.71%, outperforming other models.
The present study investigates the optical performance of a V-trough solar concentrator using four distinct bottom reflector configurations: flat, parabolic (PP), circular (CC), and a combination of circular and parabolic (CC–PP). Detailed ray tracing simulations were conducted to analyze the distribution of heat flux, optical efficiency, and local concentration ratio (LCR) across varying incidence angles for each configuration. The analysis compares bifacial and trifacial absorbers using tonatiuh ray tracing software. The novel trifacial absorber features three active surfaces arranged in a triangular layout, which enhances the light capture and optical efficiency. The left and right lateral surfaces of the trifacial absorber exhibit better uniformity and local concentration ratio across all incident angles. The trifacial system outperformed the bifacial system with all types of reflector configurations (flat, CC, PP, and CC–PP). The CC–PP achieved the maximum optical efficiency of 85%, 66%, and 40% (trifacial) and 46%, 53%, and 38% (bifacial) at incident angles of 0 deg, 20 deg, and 40 deg, respectively, followed by PP, CC, and flat configurations. The same trend follows with other incidence angles. Among all bottom reflector configurations, the CC–PP exhibited better performance, reaching a peak value of local concentration ratio of 4.5 at 30 deg and a maximum heat flux of 4500 W/m2 on the bottom surface.
