The Enthusiast’s Eye: The Value of Unsanctioned Knowledge in Design Historical Scholarship

If design history research relies solely on institutionalized documentation and academic scholarship – that is, sanctioned knowledge – not only will its purview be limited to a very narrow segment of design culture, it will also lose out on a vast array of sources to valuable knowledge about our material environment produced by amateurs, collectors, and enthusiasts – what we in this article define as “unsanctioned knowledge.” Because of its dissociation with professional institutions and academic protocols and their – albeit admittedly utopian, but nonetheless upheld – ideals of objectivity, this type of knowledge is typically considered fundamentally subjective in nature and therefore of little or no relevance and value to academic scholarship. In this article, we argue that, to the contrary, design historical scholarship has much to gain from engaging more seriously with the unsanctioned knowledge represented by the enthusiast's eye

Improving tribological properties of cast Al-Si alloys through application of wear-resistant thermal spray coatings

Flame Spray Thermal Spray coatings are low-cost, high-wear surface-treatment technologies. However, little has been reported on their potential effects on cast automotive aluminum alloys. The aim of this research was to investigate the tribological properties of as-sprayed NiCrBSi and WC/12Co Flame Spray coatings applied to two cast aluminum alloys: high-copper LM24 (AlSi8Cu3Fe), and low-copper LM25 (AlSi7Mg). Potential interactions between the mechanical properties of the substrate and the deposited coatings were deemed to be significant. Microstructural, microhardness, friction, and wear (pin-on-disk, microabrasion, Taber abrasion, etc.) results are reported, and the performance differences between coatings on the different substrates were noted. The coefficient of friction was reduced from 0.69-0.72 to 0.12-0.35. Wear (pin-on-disk) was reduced by a factor of 103-104, which was related to the high surface roughness of the coatings. Microabrasion wear was dependent on coating hardness and applied load. Taber abrasion results showed a strong dependency on the substrate, coating morphology, and homogeneity

Mechanical properties of polycrystalline copper and single-crystal LiF initial components for composite system Cu/LiF

Access full text - https://doi.org/10.3103/S1068375516030066The paper deals with an investigation of mechanical properties and deformation features of polycrystalline copper and single-crystal LiF under dynamic nano/microindentation. It is shown that the values of hardness and Young’s modulus depend on the magnitude of the applied load (Pmax): when the load is increased, H and E decrease. General regularities of the indenter penetration process in a wide range of loads are revealed: the appearance of a “pop-in” effect at the initial stage of the loading process, the formation of more pop-in steps with the growth in load, and the formation of pileups around the indentations. Such a nature of deformation is the result of sequential activation of different dislocation mechanisms with indenter deepening. Along with a great similarity in the specificity of deformation, some differences are noted at the unloading stage. The results serve to compare the mechanical properties of Cu and LiF individual components with similar parameters of the “coating/substrate” composite systems (CS Cu/LiF) produced on their basis