Corrosion Inhibition of SiC_p/5A06 Aluminum Metal Matrix Composite by Cerium Conversion Treatment

This article studies the effects of the CeCl₃ concentrations in conversion solutions with and without addition of NaCl, pH-values of conversion solution, drying temperature, time and temperature of immersion on the Ce-conversion coatings for corrosion protection of the SiC_p/5A06 Al-MMC and 5A06 Al-alloy in the 3.5% NaCl aqueous solution at room temperature. Potentiodynamic polarization tests reveal that the Ce-conversion treatment could markedly improve the pitting corrosion resistance of the composite and the matrix alloy in chloride containing environment. The best corrosion resistance effects are obtained for the samples treatment in 1‰ CeCl₃·7H₂O/ 3.5% NaCl solution at 45 °C for 60 min, followed by drying at 100 °C for 30 min. Examinations by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersion spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) indicate that this behavior is due to the precipitation of Ce-oxides/hydroxides on the cathodic intermetallics and the Al-oxide film on the rest of the metal matrix.     

Atmosphere-ionosphere coupling from convectively generated gravity waves

Ionospheric variability impacts operational performances of a variety of technological systems, such as HF communication, Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation, and radar surveillance. The ionosphere is not only perturbed by geomagnetic inputs but is also influenced by atmospheric tides and other wave disturbances propagating from the troposphere to high altitudes. Atmospheric Gravity Waves (AGWs) excited by meteorological sources are one of the largest sources of mesoscale variability in the ionosphere. In this paper, Total Electron Content (TEC) data from networks of GPS receivers in the United States are analyzed to investigate AGWs in the ionosphere generated by convective thunderstorms. Two case studies of convectively generated gravity waves are presented. On April 4, 2014 two distinct large convective systems in Texas and Arkansas generated two sets of concentric AGWs that were observed in the ionosphere as Traveling Ionospheric Disturbances (TIDs). The period of the observed TIDs was 20.8 min, the horizontal wavelength was 182.4 km, and the horizontal phase speed was 146.4 m/s. The second case study shows TIDs generated from an extended squall line on December 23, 2015 stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes in North America. Unlike the concentric wave features seen in the first case study, the extended squall line generated TIDs, which exhibited almost plane-parallel phase fronts. The TID period was 20.1 min, its horizontal wavelength was 209.6 km, and the horizontal phase speed was 180.1 m/s. The AGWs generated by both of these meteorological events have large vertical wavelength (>100 km), which are larger than the F2 layer thickness, thus allowing them to be discernible in the TEC dataset.