Search Results (855)

In the manufacturing process of high-grade non-oriented electrical steel, cast billets are subjected to hot rolling and normalizing treatments. These processes are implemented to optimize the microstructure and texture of steel sheets during production, mitigate corrugated defects, and enhance the magnetic properties of the final finished sheets. In this study, two types of high-strength non-oriented silicon steel test specimens were prepared via the incorporation of the trace alloying element Sn, namely one without Sn addition and the other with 0.045 wt% Sn. The test specimens were first hot-rolled to a thickness of 2.0 mm, followed by normalization treatment in the laboratory to simulate the continuous normalizing process employed by a domestic steel mill. The effects of Sn on the normalized microstructure, texture, and precipitates of non-oriented silicon steel tailored for new energy vehicles were investigated. The findings reveal that the alloying element Sn can increase the thickness of the recrystallized layer on the surface of hot-rolled sheets and refine the grain size of non-oriented silicon steel. After continuous normalizing treatment, a comparison between the two test specimens shows that as the normalizing temperature rises, the reduction in average grain size of the 0.045 wt% Sn specimen relative to the Sn-free specimen increases from 1.4% to 15.96%. Additionally, the incorporation of Sn reduces the fraction of the {111} texture component (detrimental to magnetic properties) while increasing the fraction of the {100} texture component (beneficial to magnetic properties) in the non-oriented silicon steel. Precipitates exhibited significant coarsening and a reduction in number with increasing temperature, while the addition of Sn exerted a certain inhibitory effect on precipitate growth. Furthermore, the 0.045 wt% Sn-containing test specimen achieved an optimal balance between magnetic and mechanical properties when subjected to normalization at 980 °C and annealing at 920 °C. Under these processing conditions, the magnetic induction B₅₀ reached 1.733 T, the iron loss P_1.5/50 was 2.01 W/kg, the yield strength was 410 MPa, and the tensile strength was 529 MPa. Full article

Grain number is a primary agronomic trait for targeted yield improvement, with the prospect of enhanced grain production leading to greater food security. Given the complex polygenic nature of the grain number trait, large sample sizes are essential for effective QTL identification. The implementation of trained computer vision models for grain detection offers a timely and cost-effective solution for rapid QTL isolation. In this study, we trained a grain detection model using Ultralytics’ You Only Look Once (YOLOv11) framework. Training was completed on 1000 images of barley spikes, derived from a doubled haploid (DH) population descended from Hindmarsh and RGT Planet. The trained model, termed BarleyGC, achieved satisfactory accuracy metrics (mAP50–95 = 71.9%, recall = 96.7%, precision = 97.1%). Phenotypic characterisation of the DH population was completed with BarleyGC on a distinct collection of 973 images. The Pearson correlation coefficient (r) between model and manual-derived counts for the trait of grain number per spike was 0.895 (p < 0.0001), and 92.4% of all measurements fell within three grains of the manual measurement. Downstream QTL analysis on the phenotype data (n = 153 DH lines), revealed a QTL peak at position 224.959 cM on the genetic map (LOD = 3.14), named qGN-2H. The QTL region contained 21 candidate genes—including HORVU2Hr1G092290 (HORVU.MOREX.r3.2HG0184740), encoding the six-rowed spike 1 (Vrs1) gene—a well-characterised major regulator of row-type divergence and lateral spikelet development. Our study demonstrates the power of the YOLOv11 framework for grain quantification, with BarleyGC capable of grain detection directly from images of intact spikes in two-rowed barley varieties—thus achieving accelerated sample processing for the grain number trait. Full article

This paper presents an outline of a historical stone: the Marble of Campiglia, from Tuscany (Italy). A comprehensive review of the literature and archival documents, combined with a new detailed field survey, allowed us to revise the geological setting and exploitation history of this cultural heritage marble, which has been sporadically utilized from Etruscan times to the present day. The Campiglia Marittima Marble (CMM) has a thermal-metamorphic origin associated with the intrusion of a granitic pluton dated to approximately 5.4 Ma. This process gave rise to a marble with peculiar textural, grain size, and fracturing characteristics that influenced extraction techniques and methodologies. The primary exploitation periods of the CMM as an ornamental stone were the Etruscan-Roman era, the Renaissance, and the nineteenth century; currently, it is used exclusively for industrial purposes. A significant number of ancient quarries are located on the western slope of Monte Rombolo, likely attributable to the high variety of commercial marble types available in the area and its strategic location, which facilitated transport routes to the Tyrrhenian Sea. This research aims to bring attention to this historical marble and may support, alongside the potential reopening of selected quarries for restoration purposes, the preservation of the authenticity of the historical artefacts in which it was employed. Full article

Wildfires may significantly alter the mineralogical and microstructural characteristics of geological materials, leading to increased susceptibility to landslides, debris flows, and other related hazards. These processes may involve considerable post-fire hydrological changes that affect the infiltration rate and the surface runoff in the burned soils. In the present study, a laboratory experimental investigation is carried out focusing on the water infiltration in burned soils which were produced in a muffle furnace at accurately controlled temperatures within 400 °C∼800 °C. The original and burned soils were first subjected to a number of geotechnical tests, including grain size distribution, consistency, and hydraulic conductivity. Subsequently, their water infiltration rates were measured in a laboratory setup. Finally, numerical simulations are performed to assess the infiltration process based on the Green–Ampt model. The experimental results reveal significant differences in the hydrological behavior between burned and unburned soils. Overall, burned soils experienced quicker ponding and slower infiltration. However, as the burning temperature increased from moderate to high, the infiltration rate also rose considerably, along with delayed ponding time. This trend may be related to the microstructural change in the grain size distribution explored experimentally in the present study. The numerical results are highly consistent with the experimental data. The hydraulic conductivity is identified as the predominant parameter in the infiltration process examined and simulated in the present study. Its evolution with varied burning temperatures can also be traced to the fire-induced alteration in the grain size distribution, and primarily accounts for the differences in the infiltration of different soil specimens. The present study demonstrates the potential of laboratory experiments complemented with a quantitative modeling approach in improving our understanding of soil’s post-fire hydrological responses. Full article

Accurate microstructural characterization for materials with grain sizes ranging from tens to hundreds of nanometers is often constrained by insufficient resolution and noise, leading to distorted statistics. In this study, we constructed a simulated dataset incorporating noise induced by effective resolution based on experimental electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) characteristics and proposed an SRGAN-based method for simultaneous super-resolution and denoising. Compared with conventional interpolation-based denoising methods widely adopted in EBSD experiments, the proposed framework effectively alleviates the underestimation of grain size and grain boundary number distributions, and more faithfully recovers microstructural geometry and topology. Quantitatively, conventional methods cause an average of approximately 16.03% of the grains to shift toward smaller size bins, whereas the SRGAN-based approach reduces this proportion to about 3.35%. In addition, the SRGAN-based method shows a 2.58% improvement in the accuracy of grain boundary counts compared with conventional method, effectively mitigating statistical distribution distortion. Moreover, although trained exclusively on simulated images, the network performs effectively on experimental images, demonstrating practical applicability for microstructural analysis. Full article

High-manganese steel has emerged as a potential alternative material to austenitic stainless steel for liquid hydrogen storage and transportation environments, owing to its superior mechanical characteristics and limited hydrogen diffusivity. However, its hydrogen embrittlement (HE) susceptibility limits its engineering applications. This study investigates the effect of microstructural regulation through trace titanium (Ti, 0.021 wt%) addition on HE resistance in high-manganese steel. By means of Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD), TEM, SEM, and Slow Strain Rate Tensile (SSRT) tests, the effects of Ti on the microstructure, mechanical properties, and HE susceptibility of high-manganese steel are systematically investigated. The results show that the addition of Ti did not significantly alter the average austenite grain size or phase composition, but it generated a large number of Ti(C,N) nanoscale precipitates with sizes ranging from 20 to 70 nm within the matrix. The elongation loss of the 25Mn-Ti specimen was significantly lower than that of the 25Mn specimen when hydrogen-charged for 72 h, decreasing from 18.4% to 9.3%. The fracture surfaces consistently exhibited ductile dimple morphology, whereas 25Mn steel demonstrated significant cleavage-induced brittle fracture. EBSD analysis revealed that hydrogen-charged 25Mn-Ti steel exhibited higher Kernel Average Misorientation (KAM) value retention rate and more uniform grain strain distribution, indicating enhanced microstructural deformation compatibility. The main mechanism was that Ti pre-formed nanoscale Ti(C,N) precipitates during the preparation of 25Mn high-manganese steel, which played a key role in inhibiting HE. These precipitates altered hydrogen diffusion behavior and distribution patterns, reduced stress concentration levels, and inhibited hydrogen-induced crack initiation. This work is of great significance for improving the HE resistance of high-manganese steels. Full article

Hypereutectic Al-Si alloys are used in a number of industries; however, the large size of primary Si grains significantly limits their industrial applications. Grain refinement through the addition of modifiers has become a crucial technical approach to overcome this challenge. Rare earth elements, particularly Ce and Er, are promising modifiers, and they have a synergistic effect on the refining of Si in hypereutectic Al-Si alloys. However, the synergistic mechanism between Ce and Er is rarely reported. Thus, this study aimed to reveal the mechanism underlying the synergistic effect of Ce and Er on refining the grains in hypereutectic Al-25 wt.% Si alloy. The results indicate that the synergistic doping of Ce and Er significantly reduces the size of the primary Si grains. The addition of 0.5 wt.% Ce and 1 wt.% Er to the alloy reduced the primary Si grain size to 428.51 μm, achieving an overall refinement rate of up to 55.1% compared with the alloy without Ce and Er. Microstructural analysis revealed that Ce and Er accumulated around the primary Si crystals, resulting in the formation of complex intermetallic phases. These intermetallic complex phases provided additional nucleation sites for the growth of primary Si, thereby promoting its heterogeneous nucleation and inhibiting grain growth. Furthermore, they reduced the intensity of crystal growth in the direction of the preferred growth orientation of the primary Si, thereby further inhibiting its growth. This study provides essential experimental evidence supporting the synergistic refinement of hypereutectic Al-Si alloys using Ce and Er. Full article

Infrared small target detection (ISTD) plays a crucial role in many real-world applications. However, this task remains highly challenging due to the extremely small target size, low contrast, and complex background interference as infrared small targets often occupy fewer than 80 pixels in a $256\times 256$ image under a commonly used ISTD criterion. Although Segment Anything Model (SAM) shows strong generalization in image segmentation, directly applying SAM to ISTD is suboptimal, primarily due to the significant modality gap between RGB and infrared imagery, as well as the prohibitive cost of full-parameter fine-tuning. To address these challenges, we propose a prompt-free and parameter-efficient fine-tuning framework that adapts SAM for ISTD. To bridge the cross-modality gap while preserving the pretrained prior knowledge of SAM, a lightweight Infrared Adapter (IR-Adapter) is introduced into the image encoder, enabling effective task adaptation with only a small number of trainable parameters. Furthermore, to alleviate the loss of small target information in deep network layers, we design a Multi-Scale Feature Fusion (MSF) module that integrates hierarchical features from different encoder stages. In addition, a Coarse-to-Fine Head (CFH) with dual-branch prediction is proposed to incorporate fine-grained details for more accurate target localization and segmentation. Extensive experiments conducted on two public datasets demonstrate that the proposed method achieves better overall performance than existing representative approaches, yielding higher IoU, nIoU and Pd. Full article

Foliar preparations are used in potato cultivation, and their use can affect starch properties, which are important for food production. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of foliar application of preparations (biostimulants, fertilizers) during the growing season of potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.), cultivar Concordia, on selected physicochemical, thermal, and rheological properties of starch. Eight commercial preparations (Basfoliar 12-4-6+S + ADOB PK (ADOB), Asahi SL, BlueN^®, Megafol^®, Quantis™, Qultivo, Rizoderma TSI, and Rizofos) were foliarly applied during the growing season. Potato starch was isolated using a laboratory method. Starch from potatoes grown without foliarly preparations served as a control sample. The research methodology included determination of amylose content and mean starch granule diameter. Thermodynamic characterization of gelatinization and retrogradation was performed using a DSC (differential scanning calorimeter), viscometric pasting characterization was performed with a Rapid Visco Analyzer (RVA), and flow curves were determined. A statistically significant effect of the type of foliar biostimulant/fertilizer applied on amylose content, starch grain size distribution, and rheological properties of the tested starches was observed. Amylose content ranged from 31.7% (BlueN) to 36.3% (ADOB). Starch from potatoes grown with ADOB had the largest grains, with the largest number of grains having a diameter >40 µm. The tested starches generally did not differ in terms of the onset, peak, and end temperatures of gelatinization determined using DSC. Similarly, slight differences were observed in the pasting temperature determined viscometrically. The RVA analysis showed that the highest maximum viscosity value was observed for starch obtained from the raw material stimulated with the Megafol preparation (3744 mPa·s), and the paste based on starch isolated from potatoes grown with the Asahi biostimulant was characterized by the highest rheological stability at 95 °C. The starch pastes obtained from the raw material stimulated with the Megafol and Quantis preparations were characterized by the lowest values of the consistency coefficient (15.7 Pa·sⁿ), and the control starch had the highest value of this parameter (21.7 Pa·sⁿ). Full article

In this work, Ce-doped ZnO thin films at various contents of cerium were deposited on glass substrates by thermal vacuum evaporation to study the influence of Ce concentration on their optical, structural, morphological, and photocatalytic behavior. Pure ZnO and Ce-doped ZnO films doped with 2% and 5% Ce were characterized by SEM, XRD, AFM, UV–VIS spectroscopy, and ellipsometry. The XRD analysis confirmed that all the films retained the hexagonal wurtzite structure, while Ce incorporation induced lattice strain and reduced crystallite size, particularly at higher doping levels. SEM and AFM studies showed that films with 2% Ce exhibited smaller grain size and lower roughness, whereas 5% Ce-doped films showed grain growth and increased roughness. Pure ZnO films displayed high transparency (>90%), whereas Ce incorporation caused a red shift in the absorption edge and narrowing of the optical band gap due to defect-related states and lattice distortion. Photocatalytic experiments revealed that Ce doping improved charge carrier separation and increased the number of oxygen vacancies. Among all samples, the 2% Ce-doped ZnO film demonstrated the highest photocatalytic efficiency. These findings highlight the importance of controlled Ce doping in tuning the microstructure, optical properties, and photocatalytic performance of ZnO thin films, making them suitable for environmental remediation and optoelectronic applications. Full article

This study presented an application of thermomechanical processing consisting of cold rolling and subsequent annealing in SP2215 heat-resistant steel to investigate the effects of thermomechanical processing parameters on the evolution of grain boundary character distribution (GBCD) and to elucidate the relationship between GBCD and creep properties. The experimental results show that the optimal process, characterized by 10% cold rolling reduction followed by annealing at 1100 °C for 10 min, was determined to significantly increase the fraction of low-Σ coincidence site lattice (CSL) boundaries up to 74.27%, and effectively disrupt the connectivity of the random boundary network, as corroborated by the highest average twin-related domain (TRD) size of 42.58 μm and average number of grains per TRD of 7.28. Such a modified GBCD leads to a notable enhancement in creep performance, resulting from the induction of a high fraction of low-Σ CSL boundaries and the disruption of the random boundary network, which effectively inhibits intergranular crack initiation and propagation during creep deformation. Full article

It has long been hypothesized that some arthropod lineages transitioned to land by following an interstitial pathway through the spaces between sand grains. In recent years, various molecular phylogenetic analyses suggest a greater number of terrestrialization events within Arthropoda than previously hypothesized. The relative importance of an interstitial route to land is likely to have been underestimated because of biases in the fossil record and the choice of techniques used for collecting extant arthropods from sands and other types of mineral regolith (sediment with low organic content). A number of early-branching taxa are microarthropods that are common in mineral regolith, providing phyloecological evidence for an interstitial pathway onto land. Following interstitial terrestrialization, hexapods and early-branching arachnids may have remained minute and soft-bodied within mineral regolith until the Early Devonian, when organically rich soils developed on much of the land surface, resulting in increased food resources but also increased rates of predation. This led to defensive modifications and increases in surface abundance and body size, which would have all elevated the probability of fossilization. Full article

A large number of low-resistivity and low-permeability reservoirs have been discovered in the deep Paleogene strata of the Wenchang Sag. These reservoirs are characterized by complex porosity–permeability relationships and difficulties in fluid property identification, which restrict the progress of exploration and development operations. However, existing reservoir studies mostly focus on either low-permeability or low-resistivity reservoirs, with relatively few investigations targeting this specific type. Using petrological analysis and physical property testing as the main methods, combined with sedimentary and diagenetic studies, this paper examines the characteristics and genesis of low-resistivity and low-permeability reservoirs in the Paleogene of the Wenchang Sag. The results show that the Paleogene reservoirs are dominated by lithic quartz sandstones, with secondary pores as the main reservoir space, consisting of medium–small pores and fine throats. Samples of the same grain size exhibit a favorable porosity–permeability correlation. Based on capillary pressure curve morphology, the reservoirs can be classified into three types: high mercury intrusion saturation with low displacement pressure, medium mercury intrusion saturation with medium displacement pressure, and medium mercury intrusion saturation with medium–high displacement pressure. The low porosity and permeability are mainly attributed to the fact that the reservoir rocks are primarily deposited in near-source braided fluvial delta underwater distributary channels, resulting in low compositional and textural maturity of sandstones. Strong compaction resistance leads to a significant reduction in primary pores during burial, and intergranular cement filling further deteriorates physical properties. On the other hand, rapid lithological changes and complex pore structures give rise to abundant isolated pores and poor connectivity, leading to high irreducible water saturation. Coupled with high formation water salinity, these factors collectively give rise to low-resistivity reservoirs in the study area. This study clarifies the formation mechanism of low-permeability and low-resistivity reservoirs in the Paleogene of the Wenchang Sag, providing guidance for reservoir evaluation in subsequent oil and gas exploration and serving as a reference for analogous areas. Full article

Grain number and size are important agronomic traits determining grain yield, and yield improvement depends on exploring functional variations of key regulatory genes. Mitogen-activated protein kinase 6 (MAPK6) plays a key role in crop development; however, its function and variation in wheat remain largely unclear. In this study, we aimed to characterize the function and haplotype variations of TaMAPK6-7A in wheat and develop functional molecular markers for marker assisted breeding. We identified three TaMAPK6 homoeologs on 7A, 7B, and 7D in wheat through bioinformatics analysis and revealed their evolutionary trajectory by phylogenetic analysis, with clear monocot-dicot lineage divergence and TaMAPK6 homoeolog clustering matching with hexaploid wheat’s allopolyploid origin. Spatiotemporal expression analysis showed that the TaMAPK6 homoeologs constitutively expressed in wheat tissues and were highly abundant in endosperm, spike, grain, and anther, with TaMAPK6-7A showing slightly higher transcript levels. In an ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS)-induced Jing411 mutant library, we identified a loss-of-function mutant of TaMAPK6-7A (J7633452), which exhibited severely reduced grain number per spike, impaired anther fertility, and increased grain size. Natural variation analysis of a large set of wheat accessions identified two major haplotypes of TaMAPK6-7A, with Type I was identical to the reference genome cultivar ‘Chinese Spring’, and Type II was consistent with the elite wheat cultivar ‘AK58’. We developed a PCR marker to accurately distinguish the two haplotypes and genotyped 192 wheat cultivars and elite breeding lines. Phenotypic evaluation indicated that Type II was an elite haplotype significantly associated with higher grain number per spike. This study characterizes TaMAPK6-7A as a key regulator of grain number per spike, providing a gene and molecular marker for marker-assisted breeding to improve grain yield. Full article

Accurate discretization of the orientation distribution function (ODF) is essential for reliable microstructural modeling of polycrystalline aggregates. This work proposes a novel texture discretization method that achieves high-fidelity ODF approximation even with a small number of orientations using only grain volume information. The core idea is to extend conventional inverse transform sampling by reconstructing the source samples before inversion. This reconstruction suppresses discretization errors induced by random sampling fluctuations and improves adaptability to non-uniform grain size distributions (GSDs). To preserve texture diversity under the same ODF, spatial shuffling and subsequent unscrambling of grain positions are introduced. The total variation distance (TVD) is adopted as a global metric to quantify discretization errors, and key influential factors are systematically analyzed, particularly the binning strategies. Error comparisons demonstrate that, within the typical range of grain numbers (10²–10³), the TVD of the proposed method is one order of magnitude lower than that of the conventional method, with its standard deviation two orders of magnitude smaller. The randomness and periodicity of discretized textures are further investigated, thereby elucidating the underlying mechanisms for the newly introduced advantages. This method provides a robust and efficient framework for texture modeling with consideration of GSDs. Full article