Heat treatment was introduced onto the aluminum coated low carbon steel to promote the formation of thin layer of oxide for enhancement of oxidation protection of steel. This process has transformed the existing intermetallic layer formed during hot dip aluminizing process. Experiment was conducted on the low carbon steel substrates with 10mm x 10mm x 2mm dimension. Hot dip aluminizing of low carbon steel was carried out at 750 ºC dipping temperature in a molten pure aluminum for 5 minutes. Aluminized samples were heat treated at 600 ºC, 700 ºC, 800 ºC, and 900 ºC for 1 hour. X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and EDAX were used in investigation. From the observation, it showed the intermetallic thickness increased with the increase in temperature. The result of EDAX analysis revealed the existence of oxide phase and the intermetallics. The XRD identified the intermetallics as Fe2Al5 and FeAl3.
Even though a lot of new advanced materials have been developed nowadays, steel remains a major material in construction, automobiles, appliances, industrial machinery as well as in the nuclear industry. Due to steel easily corroded, a proper surface protection is required to avoid any failures and extended the life cycle of the components. Surface coating is an efficient and economical method to obtain desirable material surfaces properties. Hot dip aluminizing technique was utilized in this study. Experiments have been conducted on the mild steel substrates with 12mm diameter. Prior to hot dipping process, observation on grain growth at three different temperatures had also been conducted to understand the behaviour of steel under application of heat. The substrates were heated at 700ºC, 800ºC and 900ºC for 1 hour and the microstructure was analyzed. The temperature of 800C was chosen for hot dipping. The substrates were dipped into the molten aluminum maintained at temperature 800ºC for 2,4,6,8,10,15 and 20 minutes. Optical microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were used in this investigation. From the microstructure observation, it showed the appearance of intermetallic layer covered by the top layer of Al on the mild steel substrate increased with the increase in dipping time ranging from 36 to 282μm. The result of EDX analysis revealed the existence of Fe and Al in form of Fe2Al5 phase for all the dipping time.
The thermal conductivity of boron carbide filled thermoplastic natural rubber blend composite is studied experimentally as a function of filler loading and filler size. A polymer blend of 60/40 NR/HDPE was used as matrix for incorporation of particulate nano- and micro-sized B4C as filler to form the composite. As the filler loading is increased from 2-10%wt, a reduction and increment of thermal conductivity was observed. The results show at lower filler loading, HDPE crystallinity affects the thermal conductivity up to 4 and 6%wt of filler for nano- and micro-composite respectively. Further increase the loading do not much alter the crystallinity as the filler is distributed in continues phase of NR. The increment of filler amount in the amorphous NR causes the thermal conductivity to gradually increase which indicates the formation of interconnecting filler network structures