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Pawpaw (Asimina triloba (L.) Dunal) has significant potential as a new fruit crop. During ripening, loss of firmness is extremely rapid, and this trait may be the biggest obstacle to the development of a broader market as handling without injury is difficult. Cold storage of pawpaw seems limited to 4 weeks at 4 C. A study of several cultivars with commercial appeal showed that ripening traits such as ethylene production, respiration and loss of firmness were similar in all genotypes, and that no cultivar showed superior responses to cold storage. Cold storage for longer than 4 weeks caused the development of cold injury symptoms such as black discoloration, rapid loss of firmness, impaired respiration, tissue acidification, decrease in antioxidant content, decrease in volatile ester production and development of off-flavor volatile compounds. Overall cold storage injury symptoms observed in pawpaw may be due to oxidative damage linked to the failure of the two major antioxidant systems that could protect against such damage: phenolics and the ascorbateglutamate system. With the aim of enhancing pawpaw low temperature tolerance and prolonging cold storage length, different techniques such as hot air exposure and hot water dips of fruit prior to beginning cold storage, and intermittent warming periods during cold storage, were evaluated. Despite positive results with these techniques for other commodities, all the strategies failed to appreciably alter fruit ripening, loss of firmness or maintain fruit quality during and/or after cold storage.

Radiata pine is a major plantation grown wood in the Southern hemisphere, but has inferior dimensional stability and low durability compared to other commercial species and the improvement of these features is the focus of this thesis. Specifically this thesis examines the dimensional stability, durability and mechanical properties of radiata pine after heat-treatment (160-210°C) in linseed oil. Changes in colour, micro-structure and chemistry with heat-treatment were studied. To optimise the treatment results, oil heat-treatment of wood was also carried out after thermo-mechanical compression of wood and the effect of the prior thermo-mechanical compression on stability, durability and mechanical properties were examined. The oil heat-treated wood turned uniformly darker in colour. The hydrophobicity (Water Repellence Efficiency-WRE up to 30%), dimensional stability (Ant-Swelling Efficiency-ASE up to 60%) and fungal resistance (up to 36%) were improved with the extent of the changes mainly depending on treatment temperature. However, the mechanical properties of oil heat-treated wood were reduced compared to the untreated control group. Accelerated UV weathering tests have shown that the oil heat-treated wood retained its colour and dimensional stability better than the untreated wood (the control group). The cell wall of treated wood was intact and no distinct structural changes were observed even at the most severe treatment (210°C for 6 hrs).The treatment resulted in changes to the wood chemical constituents, mainly the degradation of hemicelluloses which is believed to be principal reason for alterations in wood properties. A study of the effect of prolong heating on the linseed oil showed an increase in viscosity with heating time which in turn reduced the oil uptake and water repellency of treated wood. However, no significant difference in the colour and dimensional stability of the treated wood was noticed with oil of different heating ages. Oil absorbed by the wood during heat treatment was removed by organic solvent extraction and its contribution to the weight percentage change and moisture related properties were evaluated. The oil uptake percentage, determined by organic solvent extraction, was greater than the weight percentage loss that was deduced to occur during the heat treatment phase, which was attributed to mass losses or thermal degradation of wood constituents. Moisture excluding efficiency decreased after removal of the oil from treated wood, which suggested that the hydrophobicity of treated wood is affected by oil absorbtion. The influence of the post-treatment cooling period on properties of treated wood was studied separately. Oil uptake increased substantially with the post-treatment cooling time which in turn affected the hydrophobicity of treated wood although this effect was less important to dimensional stability. The loss of mechanical properties due to heat-treatment was successfully countered by thermo-mechanical compression of wood prior to the oil heat-treatment. The wood was compressed to 39% of its original thickness without any visible surface checks and cracks. Spring back and compression set recovery in densified wood decreased after oil heat-treatment. This combination treatment also resulted in improved fungal resistance compared to untreated wood. From this research, it is concluded that oil heat-treatment of radiata pine wood can improve its dimensional stability and durability obviating the need to introduce any persistent toxic chemicals. Thermo-mechanical densification of wood prior to oil heat-treatment can countered the loss of mechanical properties due to heat-treatment. The heating oil can be re-used in subsequent treatments and oil uptake can be minimised by limiting the post-treatment cooling time without any significant effect on the dimensional stability of treated wood.

Slurry coating technique, as one of the most popular deposition methods, is widely used to produce various material coatings. This method includes two processes: spraying, brushing or dipping of slurry, and sintering heat treatment of the coated specimen. Superalloys and stainless steels are the most common materials used as either coating materials or substrate materials because of their excellent corrosion, wear, high-temperature and mechanical properties. This research is aimed at investigating the influence of the sintering heat treatment in the slurry coating process developed at Kennametal Stellite Inc. on the microstructure, hardness and wear behavior of superalloys and stainless steels. Low-carbon Stellite 22, cobalt-based Tribaloy T-400C, martensitic AISI 420 and AISI 440C stainless steels are studied in this research. The microstructure, hardness and wear resistance of these alloys before and after the heat treatment are investigated, stressing the influence of the heat treatment on these material characteristics. The hardness and wear tested are conducted on these alloys at both room temperature and at elevated temperatures. The worn surfaces of each specimen are analyzed using a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) with backscatter electron imaging (BEI) and energy dispersive X ray (EDX) spectrum. It is demonstrated that the heat treatment alters the microstructures of these alloys differently; it increases the hardness but affects the wear resistance more complexly than hardness. At room temperature, the wear resistance of these alloys is governed by their microstructures. However, at high temperatures, oxidation, resulting in formation of oxide films on the specimen surface, influences the wear resistance significantly.

The thermal processing of milk changes the composition and surface properties of the colloidal particles present and alters the physical properties of the milk. Whilst some changes such as those used to improve the texture of products such as yoghurt and are desirable, others such as gel formation during the manufacture of Ultra-High Temperature milk are highly undesirable. This work aims to characterize the effects of milk composition and pH on the chemical and physical changes that occur when milk is heated in order to understand and control the effect of thermal processing on the functional properties of the milk. Particularly important are: (i) the changes to the integrity of the casein micelles and the extent to which they are reversible on cooling of the heated milk, (ii) the changes to the speciation of the components of the serum as they re-equilibrate in response to the changed environment during heating and on cooling, (iii) the heat-induced denaturation of the whey proteins, (iv) the interaction between the components of the micelles and those in the milk serum, particularly those interactions that lead to aggregation or other changes that affect the functional properties of the milk on heating. This project includes thermal treatment (90°C/10 min) of control skim milk solutions (9% Milk Solids Non Fat) with or without addition of calcium chelating agents (orthophosphate (Pin) & Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA)) and concentrated skim milk solutions (up to 21% MSNF). The pH range chosen was 6.2 to 7.2. Almost all of the studies on heat stability to date have been carried out by heating the milk and determining the changes that have occurred after the milk is cooled. This project is focussed on the direct measurements in real time of the changes that occur at the exact temperature. The experimental techniques included pH, calcium activity and 31P NMR measurements at high temperatures to investigate the consequences to the change in mineral speciation, Size Exclusion Chromatography in combination with SDS-PAGE analysis for protein speciation during heating and Diffusing Wave Spectroscopy and viscosity measurements to determine the heat stability of milk systems. pH and calcium activity decreased with increase in temperature for all the milk systems studied. These changes were largely reversible as enough time was given for equilibration. pH and calcium activity changes during heating are a function of milk composition. The quantity, size and the composition of the protein aggregates present in the serum phase after mild centrifugation (~33,000g) of heated (90°C/10min) milk solutions were found to be a function of pH and milk composition (including the consequent differences in speciation of the components of milk). DWS and the viscosity measurements showed that pH at the temperature of heating is one of the primary determinants in influencing the aggregation of the proteins, which led to thermal stability of milk systems. Hence, changing the milk composition resulted in differences in pH at the temperature of heating, which led to different behaviours of heat stability of milk systems. Careful control of the composition of milk and thereby the pH at the temperature of heating allows a greater control of thermal stability of milk systems.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:27:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-08-14Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:16:11Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 silva_rc_me_guara.pdf: 9001097 bytes, checksum: 6f1a3bc8edbfd3fd88699167a64182bc (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Na exploração e produção de petróleo e gás existe uma demanda crescente por aços especiais e de alta resistência. Com os campos mais fáceis e de melhor relação custo benefício já em produção, as empresas estão se movendo para exploração e produção de áreas não convencionais. O aumento da perfuração nessas áreas críticas traz um impacto direto no consumo de produtos de alta tecnologia, como tubulações fabricadas com aços de alta resistência. Para obtenção de aços de alta resistência, o mercado tem investido no desenvolvimento de aços, com progresso considerável nos processamentos térmicos e termomecânicos. Neste contexto, a martensita revenida, obtida através de têmpera e revenimento, representa uma alternativa importante, tendo em vista que esta estrutura pode aumentar a resistência, mantendo um bom nível de tenacidade. Os aços ligados ao boro são de baixo custo, boa temperabilidade e baixa dureza do material na condição após laminado, o que facilita sua conformação, e o torna um boa opção para fabricação de tubos. Com o tratamento térmico de têmpera e revenimento, há a possibilidade de obtenção de distintas propriedades mecânicas em função da variação das temperaturas de revenimento. Neste projeto, objetivou-se otimizar os parâmetros de tratamento térmico (têmpera e revenimento), para obtenção de uma microestrutura martensítica revenida, a partir de um aço de baixo carbono ligado ao boro utilizado na fabricação de tubos. Foram realizadas caracterizações mecânicas e microestruturais do material tratado termicamente em distintas faixas de temperatura. O material apresentou alta temperabilidade após têmpera, e foi possível verificar a mudança das propriedades em função das distintas temperaturas de revenimento. As características microestruturais e mecânicas (resistência à tração, limite de escoamento e ductilidade) são apresentadas neste trabalho. / The exploration and production of oil and gas has increased its demand for special steels and high resistance steels. With the easiest, most cost-effective fields already in production, oil companies are now moving to non-traditional areas and fields that are more difficult to develop. Increased drilling in those critical environments will have a direct impact in the consumption of high-steel grade tubulars. In oder to attend this demand, the market has invested in R&D of high resistance steels, focusing on heat treatment and thermomechanical processes. In this sense, tempered martensite microstructure represents a good steel design alternative, since that microstructure can increase steel resistance maintaining its toughness properties. Boron bearing steels are low cost, have excellent hardenability and low hardness on the as-rolled condition, which makes it a good alternative for pipe manufacturing. This characteristic has put the tempered martensite as one of the microstructures with high potential in terms of utilization for pipe manufacturing. The quench and tempering heat treatments gives the possibility of obtaining different mechanical properties as a result of changes in the tempering temperatures. This project aimed to optimize quench and tempering heat treatment processes in order to obtain tempered martensite microstructures utilizing a boron microalloyed steel. The material presented high hardenability after quenching and it was verified mechanical properties changes after tempering at different temperatures. The microstructural characteristics and mechanical properties (tensile strength, yield strength and ductility) are presented in this work.

Hot-dip galvanizing is widely used for corrosion protection of steel structures. However, there has been a plethora of recent reports on premature cracking in galvanized steel structures, which have resulted in some early decommissions or even hazardous collapses. This research focuses on cold-formed Rectangular Hollow Sections (RHS). A total of 108 tensile coupons were tested to investigate the effects of galvanizing as well as different pre-galvanizing treatments on the material properties around the cross sections of the specimens. For the first time, this thesis reports a comprehensive measurement of residual stresses in different directions at the member ends which are directly relevant to the cracking issue. The results were also compared to the residual stresses far away from the member ends, which are relevant to structural stability research. In all, the research provides a better understanding of the characteristics and structural performance of galvanized RHS to facilitate its application. The recommendations can help engineers, fabricators, and galvanizers mitigate the risk of cracking in RHS during galvanizing. / Graduate

Orientador: Marcelo dos Santos Pereira / Banca: Cristina de Carvalho Ares Elisei / Banca: André Luis Moreira de Carvalho / Resumo: Na exploração e produção de petróleo e gás existe uma demanda crescente por aços especiais e de alta resistência. Com os campos mais fáceis e de melhor relação custo benefício já em produção, as empresas estão se movendo para exploração e produção de áreas não convencionais. O aumento da perfuração nessas áreas críticas traz um impacto direto no consumo de produtos de alta tecnologia, como tubulações fabricadas com aços de alta resistência. Para obtenção de aços de alta resistência, o mercado tem investido no desenvolvimento de aços, com progresso considerável nos processamentos térmicos e termomecânicos. Neste contexto, a martensita revenida, obtida através de têmpera e revenimento, representa uma alternativa importante, tendo em vista que esta estrutura pode aumentar a resistência, mantendo um bom nível de tenacidade. Os aços ligados ao boro são de baixo custo, boa temperabilidade e baixa dureza do material na condição após laminado, o que facilita sua conformação, e o torna um boa opção para fabricação de tubos. Com o tratamento térmico de têmpera e revenimento, há a possibilidade de obtenção de distintas propriedades mecânicas em função da variação das temperaturas de revenimento. Neste projeto, objetivou-se otimizar os parâmetros de tratamento térmico (têmpera e revenimento), para obtenção de uma microestrutura martensítica revenida, a partir de um aço de baixo carbono ligado ao boro utilizado na fabricação de tubos. Foram realizadas caracterizações mecânicas e microestruturais do material tratado termicamente em distintas faixas de temperatura. O material apresentou alta temperabilidade após têmpera, e foi possível verificar a mudança das propriedades em função das distintas temperaturas de revenimento. As características microestruturais e mecânicas (resistência à tração, limite de escoamento e ductilidade) são apresentadas neste trabalho. / Abstract: The exploration and production of oil and gas has increased its demand for special steels and high resistance steels. With the easiest, most cost-effective fields already in production, oil companies are now moving to non-traditional areas and fields that are more difficult to develop. Increased drilling in those critical environments will have a direct impact in the consumption of high-steel grade tubulars. In oder to attend this demand, the market has invested in R&D of high resistance steels, focusing on heat treatment and thermomechanical processes. In this sense, tempered martensite microstructure represents a good steel design alternative, since that microstructure can increase steel resistance maintaining its toughness properties. Boron bearing steels are low cost, have excellent hardenability and low hardness on the as-rolled condition, which makes it a good alternative for pipe manufacturing. This characteristic has put the tempered martensite as one of the microstructures with high potential in terms of utilization for pipe manufacturing. The quench and tempering heat treatments gives the possibility of obtaining different mechanical properties as a result of changes in the tempering temperatures. This project aimed to optimize quench and tempering heat treatment processes in order to obtain tempered martensite microstructures utilizing a boron microalloyed steel. The material presented high hardenability after quenching and it was verified mechanical properties changes after tempering at different temperatures. The microstructural characteristics and mechanical properties (tensile strength, yield strength and ductility) are presented in this work. / Mestre