bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Computer Integrated Manufacturing: The Realities and Hidden Costs of Automation
Authors: Ligeti MS 
Published: December 2008

Automation of semiconductor manufacturing is no longer an option: technological and competitive pressures have made it a necessity. Increasing wafer sizes, the need for reduced particle contamination, increasingly complex process technologies, high capital equipment costs, and continuously declining selling prices are all major challenges for manufacturers. Devices must be produced not only with greater precision and higher quality, but with ongoing unit cost reductions as well. Automation appears to be the top candidate to help meet these challenges.
Automation, however, is not a magic wand. If not approached and managed carefully, it may become a very costly and disruptive exercise, instead of the beneficial one expected.
This paper covers some of the general problems and pitfalls of automation and highlights possible approaches to successful and cost effective solutions. The external and internal factors that determine the level of success also are discussed.
Finally, the recommended approach to automation and the responsibility for implementation will be described.
The Universal Closed System for Liquids
Authors: Reynolds R 
Published: December 2008

Many methods have been developed to control accidental contamination from liquid pesticides. They comprise “dry-break” or dripless connectors, and closed systems. The latter result from progressive legislation in California that restricts the open pouring of liquid pesticides.
The usual method for extracting pesticides from containers employs a removable, reusable probe, which is always contaminated. A new means to avoid contamination, the Universal Closed System, currently in development, uses a built-in disposable probe and valve in each container. The valve is dripless and is always closed unless activated by a unique extractor.
Field testing has shown the system to be safe, reproducible, and easy to use. Anticipated costs are at acceptable levels.
Method for Determining Spray Penetration into Carpet
Authors: Byron DW , Robinson WH 
Published: December 2008

Control of an indoor flea infestation involves two simultaneous steps: treatment of the animal to kill adult fleas and application of residual insecticides to the carpet (substrate) to kill immature stages.
Laboratory studies have shown that about 80% of the larvae in carpet remain at the base. The pesticide application method used in flea control must be capable of delivering pesticides to the target pest, flea larvae. The object of the research presented here was to investigate spray penetration into carpet using an 80015 flat-fan nozzle while varying the application pressure and spray height.
A solution containing a 0.24% water-soluble fluorescent dye (fluorescein sodium: C.I. 45350) and a 0.1% non-ionic wetting agent (Agral) in WHO standard water (CIPAC D) was applied to saxony pile (18 mm) carpet. The carpet samples were dried, then horizontally sectioned. The fluorescent dye was extracted and subjected to spectrofluorimetric analysis.
The results indicate that neither application pressure nor spray height within the ranges of 137.9, 206.9, 275.8, 344.8, 413.7, and 482.7 kPa (20, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 psi) at 35, 45, and 55 cm have a significant effect on the penetration potential into carpet. The application equipment used by pest control professionals for indoor flea control may not be adequate in view of its intended function or the importance of household flea infestations in the United States.
Unique Methods of Herbicide Application
Authors: Larsen TE 
Published: December 2008

The last several years have witnessed the development of several unique and novel approaches to herbicide application. Since the widespread adoption of the use of herbicides in the 1940s the most widely used method of application has been hydraulic spray techniques. This method utilizes forcing a liquid containing the herbicide through various designs of orifices that meter and direct the solution onto the area to be treated. This method of application remained largely unchanged until the late 1970s.
With the commercial introduction of glyphosate (N-[phosphonomethyl]glycine) in the mid-1970s, changes began to take place in application technology. Glyphosate is formulated as the isopropylamine salt in the commercial product Roundup® herbicide. Glyphosate has some unique properties that prompted the search for new application techniques. It is a post-emergence, nonselective herbicide (at normal use rates) with broad-spectrum activity on both grass and broadleaf plants. It is translocated in plants, so that contact with the foliar portion of a plant results in the destruction of both the aboveground and the belowground portions of the plant. These features of glyphosate have prompted a wide range of unique application techniques to be developed or improved upon.
The principal motivation in the development of these new application techniques has been to utilize the activity of glyphosate in a selective manner. Another primary goal of some application techniques is the reduction in herbicide cost. Some techniques are able to reduce the amount of herbicide applied to a given area. Substantial cost savings can often be realized compared with conventional broadcast applications.
Within a short time after the introduction of glyphosate, several methods of selective application began to be developed. All utilized the same common principle. The herbicide is applied directly to the undesirable foliage while avoiding or minimizing contact with the foliage of the crop or desirable vegetation. By applying the herbicide in such a manner the weeds can be destroyed without damage to the crop.
Among the application methods developed were recirculating sprayers, rope-wick applicators, carpet wipers, roller applicators, and sponge wipers, as well as modifications to hooded and shielded applicators. Later unique concepts regarding broadcast applications were developed in an effort to improve the economics of pesticide application.
The characteristics of glyphosate are discussed. The advantages and disadvantages of various application techniques are summarized as are the precautions that should be exercised when applying glyphosate regardless of the application technique utilized.
Dry Application of Water-Dispersible Granules: A Three-Year Update
Authors: Gandrud DE , Skoglund JH 
Published: December 2008

The trend in granular application of pesticides will be towards the use of small quantities of more concentrated granules. Three developments in recent years will hasten that trend:
1. Development and wide acceptance of dry flowable formulations. 2. Development and wide acceptance of pneumatic applicators for distributing conventional granular chemicals. These pneumatic applicators have lowered the broadcast rate which can be safely applied from 11 to 5.5 kg/ha. 3. Development of a new metering system to be used in conjunction with the pneumatic distribution system. The new combination has been calibrated to broadcast rates as low as 0.2 kg/ha.
Field tests were initiated in 1983 and repeated in 1984 and 1985 which showed that dry flowable herbicide formulations such as metribuzin can be applied to the soil dry at a rate of 0.6 kg/ha of formulated product and produce effective weed control.
Developments in Microencapsulation, High Concentration
Authors: Beestman GB , Deming JM 
Published: December 2008

The earliest method of achieving microcapsules was the technique of coacervation. Polymers were used to disperse or suspend material to be microencapsulated. A polymer-rich phase was caused to develop in the suspension and envelop the suspended material. Further processing was required to harden the precipitated polymers to produce useful shell walls. Because coacervation was a dilute process and batch-to-batch variation was difficult to control, this technique did not gain wide practice in the microencapsulation of agricultural pesticides.
Microencapsulation by interfacial polymerization was a major step toward agricultural applications. Water-soluble monomers in the aqueous phase were reacted with oil-soluble monomers in the oil phase to produce microcapsule shell walls at the interface of suspended droplets. Although more concentrated suspensions of microcapsules could be produced by interfacial polymerization, agricultural formulations were limited to about two pounds of active ingredient per gallon. Recent break-throughs in interfacial polymerization have expanded this technology to concentrations of active ingredients typical of commercial agricultural products. Directly usable suspensions of microcapsules which can be diluted with formulating ingredients to contain four pounds of microencapsulated active ingredient per gallon have been made.
Quality Control of Surfactants for Pesticide Formulations
Authors: Chasin DG , Vandegrift KP 
Published: December 2008

Quality control of all components in pesticide formulations is becoming increasingly important because of such factors as (1) regulatory limitations on “inert” ingredients, (2) more chemically sensitive actives, (3) built-in adjuvant functionality, (4) the growth of pre-mix formulations, (5) inherently more sophisticated formulations, (6) difficulty in reworking certain types of formulations, and (7) overall emphasis on final formulation product quality.
Adequate quality control of POE-POP block copolymer nonionics, polymeric dispersants and surfactant blend products is especially important. Depending on surfactant chemistry and applications, a variety of wet chemical, chromatographic analyses and/or performance testing is needed to insure regulatory compliance, and reproducible quality and functionality. These Q.C. aspects are delineated in this paper.
Effect of Irradiation at 588 K on Mechanical Properties and Deformation Behavior of Zirconium Alloy Strip
Authors: Morize P , Baicry J , Mardon JP 
Published: December 2008

Irradiation tests conducted for the Advanced Fuel Assembly (AFA) grid development allowed the measurement of the mechanical characteristics, growth, and relaxation of the following materials: stress-relieved, α-annealed, and β-quenched Zircaloy-4, and α-annealed Zr-3Sn-1Mo. The mechanical characteristics of the zirconium alloys approached a limit value as early as 5 × 1024 n m−2, except for the β-quenched Zircaloy-4 for which the limit value was reached later at about 5 × 1025 n m−2. Uniform elongation at 588 K showed a minimum at about 5 × 1024 n m−2; beyond this fluence, stress-relieved Zircaloy-4 presented the most marked tendency to increase. Longitudinal direction growth of annealed Zircaloy-4 and longitudinal and transverse direction growth of stress-relieved Zircaloy-4 may be expressed by the formula ε = A(φt)n where n = 0.67 (stress-relieved Zircaloy-4) and n = 0.4 (annealed Zircaloy-4). It is doubtful that the growth is associated with a density change. The stress-relaxation of the zirconium base materials is nearly complete for 4 × 1025 n m−2, with the exception of Zr-1Nb which has an intermediate behavior between those of Zircaloy-4 and Inconel 718.
Tests on elementary grid cells, beyond 2 × 1025 n m−2, showed that the load exerted by the springs of Zircaloy-4 prototype cells is completely relaxed; for the AFA cells the residual load after irradiation at about 5 × 1025 n m−2 is comparable to that observed for an Inconel 718 manufactured cell.
Recycling Off-Grade Zircaloy Scrap Using a Molten-Salt Electro-Refining Process
Authors: Chintamani  , Saratchandran N , Pande P , Taneja AK , Sehra JC 
Published: December 2008

Zircaloy hardwares meant for use in nuclear power reactors have to meet very stringent nuclear, metallurgical, and mechanical specifications. For this purpose, many complex chemical, metallurgical, and manufacturing processes have to be gone through. In view of these factors, the conversion yield from sponge to Zircaloy hardwares varies from 25 to 40%. The low recovery, low hafnium content in scrap, and the cost factor necessitate recycling of scrap to maximum extent.
A variety of processes have been developed for treating and recycling of scrap. A major portion of the remeltable stock is treated in an inert-gas plasma melting furance to make a consumable electrode which is further vacuum arc melted. The odd shape scrap is broken down by hydriding-dehydriding for mixing with sponge for further processing by vacuum arc melting.
The non-remeltable stock, where the degree of contamination with respect to interstitials is high, needs chemical processing. Two methods, chlorination and Kroll reduction and molten-salt electro-refining, have been attempted. In the first process, the scrap is converted into ZrCl4 which is subsequently reduced to sponge by the Kroll process. In the molten-salt electro-refining process, the scrap is converted into zirconium dendrites in NaCl-K2ZrF6 or NaCl-NaF-ZrCl4 bath. The product obtained by the electro-refining process meets reactor-grade specifications. This paper describes briefly the foregoing methods of recycling Zircaloy scrap at the Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyderabad, India, with a critical review of the molten-salt electro-refining method.
Effect of Beta Quenching on the Microstructure and Corrosion of Zircaloys
Authors: Bangaru NV , Busch RA , Schemel JH 
Published: December 2008

The effects of variations in the beta-quench parameters during the tube reduction process on the final microstructure and microchemistry of Zircaloy-2 and Zircaloy-4 cladding were studied by TEM/STEM and correlated with corrosion rates in 400 and 500°C steam autoclaves.
The Process A Zircaloy-2 specimens (recrystallization annealed) revealed primarily two types of ternary intermetallic compounds: tetragonal Zr2(Fe,Ni) and hexagonal Zr(Fe,Cr)2. The solutelean Zr2(Fe,Ni) particles were much coarser than the solute-rich Zr(Fe,Cr)2 particles. The Process A Zircaloy-4 specimens revealed only one type of ternary particles, Zr(Fe,Cr)2, but with much higher Fe/Cr ratios and mean particle size than those of the corresponding particles in Zircaloy-2. Also, both the cubic and hexagonal forms of Zr(Fe,Cr)2 were noted in this sample.
More aggressive beta quenching reduced the mean particle size and volume fraction of the intermetallic particles and increased their number density in both alloys; however, the changes were greater in Zircaloy-2. In both alloys, the degree of these changes was most pronounced when beta quenching was performed close to the final tube reduction step. In Zircaloy-2, the Zr-Fe-Cr type particles showed higher refinement than the Zr-Fe-Ni type particles.
The variations in Zircaloy microstructure with the timing and aggressiveness of beta quenching in the tube reduction process were attributed to differences in quench severity and thermal exposure after the quench. A critical discussion of the influence of alloy chemistry was also presented to reconcile the differences in beta-quenching response between Zircaloys 2 and 4. The 500°C steam autoclave corrosion data revealed significant improvement when beta quenching was performed close to the final tube dimensions.
Cumulative Fatigue and Creep-Fatigue Damage at 350°C on Recrystallized Zircaloy-4
Authors: Brun G , Pelchat J , Floz JC , Galimberti M 
Published: December 2008

An experimental program undertaken by CEA, EDF, and FRAGEMA with the aim of characterizing the fatigue and creep-fatigue behavior of Zircaloy-4 following different annealing treatments (recrystallization, stress relief, etc.) is in progress. The results given in this paper concern only recrystallized material. Low-cycle fatigue curves and creep behavior laws under high stresses have been established. Sequential tests of pure fatigue and creep-fatigue were performed.
The cumulative life fractions at fracture depend on the sequence of loading, stress history, and number of cycles of prestressing. Miner's rule appears to be conservative with regard to a low-high loading sequence, whereas it is not for the reverse high-low loading sequences. Fatigue and creep damage are not interchangeable. Pre-creep improves the fatigue resistance. Pre-fatigue improves the creep strength so long as the beneficial effect of cyclic hardening overcomes the damaging effect of surface cracking. The introduction of a tension hold time into the fatigue cycle slightly increases cyclic hardening and reduces the number of cycles to failure. For hold times of less than 1 h, the sum of fatigue and creep life fractions is close to one.
Effect of Cold Reduction on Anisotropy of Zircaloy Tubing
Authors: Konishi T , Honji M , Kojima T , Abe H 
Published: December 2008

The effect of cold-work parameters on the texture and the contractile strain ratio (CSR) was investigated using Zircaloy tubes fabricated by different reduction processes. The results were as follows:
1. For the as-rolled and stress-relieved tubes, the f-factors were strongly influenced by the reduction in area as well as the Q-value during final cold work. As the reduction in area increased under the same Q-value, the fr-factor decreased.
2. When these tubes were recrystallized, tubes with lower reduction had little change in texture and tubes with higher reduction showed greater change. Thus texture was independent of reduction in area in the case of recrystallized tubes.
3. The relation between reduction and CSR showed the same tendency as the above relation between reduction and fr-factor.
4. The tool design had a significant effect on the deformation texture. The experimental data for the f-factors correlated fairly well with that calculated on the basis of the theory that the texture is determined by the local strain ratio.
Thermal Autoignition Temperatures from the 1.2-L Furnace and Their Use in Evaluating the Explosion Potential of Dusts
Authors: Conti RS , Hertzberg M 
Published: December 2008

The Bureau of Mines 1.2-L furnace for measuring the thermal autoignition temperatures (AITs) of dusts in air is described. The minimum AITs measured for a large number of dusts are presented, and the data are compared with those in the literature. The data reveal that the measured minimum AITs for the carbonaceous dusts correlate with their volatility yield and the temperature required for pyrolysis and devolatilization. Reaction kinetic factors play a role in determining the onset temperature for the pyrolysis-devolatilization process and in the exothermic oxidation reactions that lead to the autoignition of those volatiles.
The use of the minimum AIT data in estimating the explosion potential of a dust under a given set of operating conditions is also considered. The “ignition sensitivity” parameter and its use in an “explosibility index” are no longer recommended by the Bureau. Alternative means are discussed for evaluating the frequency or probability of explosions in terms of the measured minimum AIT and its relationship to operating conditions in a given facility and to other flammability properties of the dust.
Propagation of Coal Dust Explosions in Pipes
Authors: Pineau JP , Ronchail G 
Published: December 2008

This paper discusses the possibilities of pulverized coal explosions in pneumatic conveying. To characterize the coal dust explosions, we measured, at different points on rectilinear pipes, possibly connected to a 1-m3 vessel, explosion overpressures, Pmax, and flame speeds.
Trials in an isolated, 250-mm-diameter, 20-m-long pipeline and ignition near a closed end showed the difficulty of the flame propagation that did not surpass 10 m with Pmax values at the maximum equal to 0.6 bar (60 kPa) for a one-end-open duct and 0.95 bar (95 kPa) for a closed duct. On the other hand, with the pipeline connected to a 1-m3 vessel, with ignition in the vessel, the Pmax values inside the pipe can reach 10 bar (1000 kPa) and flame speeds 1500 to 2000 m/s. When exchanging the 250-mm-diameter pipe for a 440-mm one, such a character is not obtained and flame speeds are 600 m/s at the maximum with overpressures around 2.5 bar (250 kPa). If the open end, 250-mm-diameter pipe connected to a 1-m3 vessel is only 10 m long, overpressures inside remain under that obtained in the vessel, that is, around 4 bar (400 kPa). With a 40-m-long pipe, the high speed flames seem unable to be sustained.
In the 1-m3 vessel and 150-mm-diameter open end pipe system, the overpressures in the pipe have similar values to that obtained in the vessel (Pmax: 5 bar [500 kPa]) and the flame propagates up to 20 m. When the pipe is 40 m long, Pmax values remain the same, but the flame stops generally after 20 m.
With closed end, 150- and 250-mm pipe connected to a 1-m3 vessel, flames cannot propagate the full length of the duct, but explosion overpressures may be 10 to 20 bar (1000 to 2000 kPa).
For low concentration it has been noticed, outside the duct, that the concentration is heterogeneous but shows periodical figures; when the flame appears the same periodicity is found again. This may be due to the geometry of the studied system.
All these trials demonstrate the difficulty of a pulverized coal explosion in a pipe with a diameter less than or equal to 250 mm and the influence of the dust cloud local concentration.
Coal Dust and Gas Explosion Suppression by Barriers
Authors: Ng D , Sapko M , Furno A , Pro R 
Published: December 2008

Explosion suppression barriers are devices that contain fire extinguishants that are activated to disperse at some critical point during the propagation of an explosion to suppress it. Suppression of coal dust explosions using barriers (both triggered and passive) has been investigated by the U.S. Bureau of Mines. The work reported in the present study is an update of the continuing study of passive barriers of both rigid and flexible construction. Suppressants tested were water and ABC powder (ammonium phosphate). The coal dust mixtures contained 60 to 65% total incombustible matter and were distributed in the Bureau's single entry experimental mine for a total distance of 111 m (365 ft). Dust explosions were initiated by a 7% methane-air gas zone at the face. The passive barriers were located at distances of 60 to 108 m (200 to 356 ft) from the face. At these distances, the magnitude of the explosion pressure pulse was about 0.70 to 1.14 bar (70 to 114 kPa) at the time the flame front arrived at the barrier. With the exception of the powders, the pressure pulse was sufficiently energetic to fracture the troughs and disperse the suppressants.
The powder (approximately 180 kg per test) was almost totally ineffective when used with the rigid barrier because it did not disperse. One to four troughs of water effectively suppressed explosions. It was found that the mounting arrangement for the flexible troughs was most important for successful operation and release of the suppressant.
Triggered barrier systems for protection against incipient gas explosions were tested in a simulated longwall panel. Results show that ABC powder was much more effective in suppressing the developing explosion than equal amounts of water released from the same pressurized reservoir. Although water was effective in stopping fully developed dust explosions, it had little effect against an explosion during its incipient stage.