Graphene possesses many outstanding properties, such as high strengths, light weight, making it an ideal reinforcement for metal matrix composite (MMCs). Meanwhile, fabricating MMCs through laser assisted additive manufacturing (LAAM) has attracted much attention in recent years due to the advantages of low waste, high precision, short production lead time, and high flexibility. In this study, graphene reinforced aluminum alloy AlSi10Mg is fabricated using selective laser melting. Composite powder is prepared using high-energy ball milling. Room temperature tensile tests are conducted to evaluate the tensile properties. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations are conducted to investigate the microstructure and fracture surface of obtain composite. It is found that adding GNPs significantly increases porosity and therefore deteriorates material tensile performance. The relationship between porosity and material strength are numerically investigated. Taking into consideration the strength reduction caused by large porosity, the strengthening effect of GNPs turns out to be significant, which reaches 60.2 MPa.

The well-known “Bertrand paradox” describes a price competition game in which two competing firms reach an outcome where both charge a price equal to the marginal cost. The fact that the Bertrand paradox often goes against empirical evidences has intrigued many researchers. In this work, we study the game from a new theoretical perspective—an evolutionary game on complex networks. Three classic network models, square lattice, WS small-world network, and BA scale-free network, are used to describe the competitive relations among the firms which are bounded rational. The analysis result shows that full price keeping is one of the evolutionary equilibriums in a well-mixed interaction situation. Detailed experiment results indicate that the price-keeping phenomenon emerges in a square lattice, small-world network and scale-free network much more frequently than in a complete network which represents the well-mixed interaction situation. While the square lattice has little advantage in achieving full price keeping, the small-world network and the scale-free network exhibit a stronger capability in full price keeping than the complete network. This means that a complex competitive relation is a crucial factor for maintaining the price in the real world. Moreover, competition scale, original price, degree of cutting price, and demand sensitivity to price show a significant influence on price evolution on a complex network. The payoff scheme, which describes how each firm’s payoff is calculated in each round game, only influences the price evolution on the scale-free network. These results provide new and important insights for understanding price competition in the real world.

In this work, we study an evolutionary prisoner’s dilemma game (PDG) on Barabási–Albert scale-free networks with limited player interactions, and explore the effect of interaction style and degree on cooperation. The results show that high-degree preference interaction, namely the most applicable interaction in the real world, is less beneficial for emergence of cooperation on scale-free networks than random interaction. Besides, cooperation on scale-free networks is enhanced with the increase of interaction degree regardless whether the interaction is high-degree preference or random. If the interaction degree is very low, the cooperation level on scale-free networks is much lower than that on regular ring networks, which is against the common belief that scale-free networks must be more beneficial for cooperation. Our analysis indicates that the interaction relations, the strategy and the game payoff of high-connectivity players play important roles in the evolution of cooperation on scale-free networks. A certain number of interactions are necessary for scale-free networks to exhibit strong capability of facilitating cooperation. Our work provides important insight for members on how to interact with others in a social organization.

Graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) have many outstanding properties, such as high mechanical strengths, light weight, and high electric conductivity. These unique properties make it an ideal reinforcement used for metal matrix composite (MMCs). In the past few years, many studies have been performed to incorporate GNPs into metal matrix and investigate the properties of obtained metal matrix composites. Meanwhile, fabrication of MMCs through laser assisted additive manufacturing (LAAM) has attracted much attention in recent years due to the advantages of low waste, high precision, short production lead time, and high workpiece complexity capability. In this study, the two attractive features are combined to produce GNPs reinforced MMC using selective laser melting (SLM) process, one of the LAAM processes. The target metal matrix material is Inconel 718, a nickel-based Ni-Cr-Fe austenitic superalloy that possesses excellent workability and mechanical performance and has wide applications in industries. Inconel 718 holds outstanding mechanical performance, corrosion, oxidation, and wear performance over a wide range of temperatures, making it an attractive superalloy used for high temperature service components. In the experiment, pure Inconel 718 and GNPs reinforced Inconel 718 composites with two levels of GNPs content (i.e., 0.25 and 1 wt.%) are obtained by SLM. Note that the SLM process, a novel powder mixture procedure is adopted to ensure the even dispersion of GNPs in the Inconel 718 powders. Room temperature tensile tests are conducted to evaluate the tensile properties. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations are conducted to analyze the fracture surface of materials and to understand the reinforcing mechanism. It is found that fabrication of GNPs reinforced MMC using SLM is a viable approach. The obtained composite possesses dense microstructure and significantly enhanced tensile strength. The ultimate tensile strengths (UTS) are 997.8, 1296.3 and 1511.6 MPa, and the Young’s moduli are 475, 536, and 675 GPa, for 0 wt.% (pure Inconel 718), 0.25 wt.%, and 1 wt.% GNP additions, respectively. The bonding between GNPs and matrix material appears to be strong, and GNPs are well retained during the SLM process. The strengthening effect and mechanisms involved in the composites are discussed. Load transfer, thermal expansion coefficient mismatch, and dislocation hindering are believed to be the three main reinforcing mechanisms involved. It should be noted that more work needs to be conducted in the future to obtain more comprehensive information regarding other static and dynamic properties, and the high temperature performances of the GNP reinforced MMCs produced by SLM. Process parameter optimization should also be investigated.

No abstract