The present paper is aimed at determining the less investigated effects of hydrogen uptake on the microstructure and the mechanical behavior of the oxidized Zircaloy-2 alloy. The specimens were oxidized and charged with hydrogen. The different oxidation temperatures and cathodic current densities were applied. The scanning electron microscopy, X-ray electron diffraction spectroscopy, hydrogen absorption assessment, tensile, and...

The 9% Cr steels were developed for ultra-supercritical (USC) power plants to meet the requirements of high operating temperature and pressure. These steels are produced to operate at high temperatures where impact toughness is not a concern; however, it becomes important for the welded joints to have good impact toughness at room temperature for manufacturing. The present work investigates the effect of the post-weld heat treatment...

The performance of polypropylene-poly(ethylene brassylate) block and graft copolymers and a polypropylene-polycaprolactone graft copolymer as compatibilizers for polypropylene-rich polypropylene/bisphenol A polycarbonate (PP/PC, 80/20 wt/wt) blends was elucidated. The copolymers were synthesized either by metal-catalyzed ring-opening polymerization or transesterification of a presynthesized polyester, initiated by hydroxyl-functionalized...

This paper presents laboratory testing of stiffness modulus and indirect tensile strength of three asphalt concrete (AC) and three stone mastic asphalt (SMA) mixes after isothermal storage at temperature of -20oC, at different time intervals up to 16 days. The tests under repeated dynamic loading showed physical hardening of all tested mixes which was manifested by an evident increase of their stiffness moduli after isothermal...

The inverse analysis method for identifying a nonlinear hardening function,which governs a plastic yielding of soil and rock materials in the framework of elastoplastic theory is presented. A concept of two stage finite element based on spatial discretization of computational space and hardening function space is introduced. The proposed inverse analysis can be classified as the output least squares method. The Levenberg Marquard...