Justinas Gargasas

Physical Properties of Building Blocks from Hemp Shives Aggregate and Cementitious Binder, Manufactured in the Expanded Clay (Vibro Pressing) Production Line

Scientific literature mostly aims at investigation of composites with fibre hemp shives (FHS) aggregate and lime binder, although, such materials are characterised by pretty low mechanical properties. In order to obtain higher mechanical properties of a composite, it is appropriate to use cementitious binder. This work investigates physical properties of blocks from hemp shives aggregate and cementitious binder, manufactured in the expanded clay production line using vibro pressing technology. Following properties of the blocks are determined: freeze-thaw resistance, compressive strength, thermal conductivity and density. Thermal resistance according to EN ISO 6946 for the block with cavities is calculated as well. It is found that compressive strength of FHS-cement blocks may be up to 3.18 MPa when the density is of ~850 kg/m3 and thermal conductivity up to 0.135 W/(m∙K). It is found as well that the decrease of compressive strength is 8.7% after 25 freeze-thaw cycles.

Wear and Corrosion Resistance of Electric-ARC Coatings Sprayed from Powder Wires of the Stein-Mesyfil Series

We investigate the influence of the chemical composition and modes of spraying of electric-arc coatings from powder wires of the Stein-Mesyfil series, in particular, 953V, 932V, 954V, and 957V, on their abrasive wear resistance and corrosion characteristics. It is established that all coatings obtained at a current of arc burning of 350 А, have the smallest porosity and largest resistance to abrasive wear resistance, and coatings obtained from 932V and 957V wires are most wear resistant. An influence of the chemical composition and spraying modes on the electrochemical properties of the coatings in a 3% solution of sodium chloride is not found.

Modification of the AFM Sensor by a Precisely Regulated Air Stream to Increase Imaging Speed and Accuracy in the Contact Mode

Increasing the imaging rate of atomic force microscopy (AFM) without impairing of the imaging quality is a challenging task, since the increase in the scanning speed leads to a number of artifacts related to the limited mechanical bandwidth of the AFM components. One of these artifacts is the loss of contact between the probe tip and the sample. We propose to apply an additional nonlinear force on the upper surface of a cantilever, which will help to keep the tip and surface in contact. In practice, this force can be produced by the precisely regulated airflow. Such an improvement affects the AFM system dynamics, which were evaluated using a mathematical model that is presented in this paper. The model defines the relationships between the additional nonlinear force, the pressure of the applied air stream, and the initial air gap between the upper surface of the cantilever and the end of the air duct. It was found that the nonlinear force created by the stream of compressed air (aerodynamic force) prevents the contact loss caused by the high scanning speed or the higher surface roughness, thus maintaining stable contact between the probe and the surface. This improvement allows us to effectively increase the scanning speed by at least 10 times using a soft (spring constant of 0.2 N/m) cantilever by applying the air pressure of 40 Pa. If a stiff cantilever (spring constant of 40 N/m) is used, the potential of vertical deviation improvement is twice is large. This method is suitable for use with different types of AFM sensors and it can be implemented practically without essential changes in AFM sensor design.

Modification of the AFM Sensor by the Precisely Regulated Air Stream to Increase the Imaging Speed and Accuracy

Increasing of the imaging rate of conventional atomic force microscopy (AFM) is almost impossible without impairing of the imaging quality, since the probe tip tends to lose contact with the sample. We propose to apply the additional nonlinear force on the upper surface of a cantilever, which will help to keep the tip and surface in contact. In practice this force can be produced by the precisely regulated airflow. Such an improvement affects the AFM system dynamics, which were evaluated using a mathematical model presented in this paper. The model defines the relationships between the additional nonlinear force, the pressure of the applied air stream and the initial air gap between the upper surface of the cantilever and the end of the air duct. It was found that the nonlinear force created by the stream of compressed air (aerodynamic force) prevents the contact loss caused by the high scanning speed or higher surface roughness, and at the same time has minimal influence on the interaction force, thus maintaining stable contact between the probe and the surface. This improvement allows to effectively increase the scanning speed by at least 10 times using a soft (spring constant of 0.2 N/m) cantilever by applying the air pressure of 40 Pa. If a stiff cantilever (spring constant of 40 N/m) is used, the potential of accuracy improvement reaches 92 times. This method is suitable for use with different types of AFM sensors and can be implemented practically without essential changes in AFM sensor design.

The Research of Thermal Arc Sprayed Coatings Tribological Properties by Using Rubber Wheel Test

This paper present the result obtained from new experimental STEIN-MESYFIL 953 V; STEIN-MESYFIL 954 V coatings. The surfacing material was wires of 1.6 mm diameter. The tests aimed at determining wear resistance of coatings sprayed on steel substrate. The investigation shows that the tribological behaviour of new experimental thermal arc sprayed coatings is greatly affected by its microstructural constituents such as porosity, oxide inclusions, and microhardness of coatings. Results show that increasing porosity of coatings twice, it doubles the mass loss. Results for thermal sprayed coatings of all experiments showed their high wear resistance and are discussed.