The paper presented the findings obtained by industrial research and experimental development on the use of rare earth metals (REMs) in the production of heavy steel ingots and their impact on the internal quality of the 42CrMo4 grade steel forging. REMs alloying was carried out after vacuuming the steel. A relatively large melting loss of cerium (about 50%) and its further decrease in casting due to reoxidation were observed. Refinement of structure and better mechanical properties of forged bar containing about 0.02 wt.% of Ce compared to that of the standard production were not achieved. The wind power shaft with content of about 0.06 wt.% of Ce showed high amount of REM inclusions, which were locally chained, and in some cases, initiated cracks. Four stoichiometrically different types of REM inclusions were detected in forgings, namely (La-Ce)2O2S + (La-Ce)O2 + SiO2 (minority); oxygen, phosphorus, arsenic, and antimony bound to lanthanum and cerium probably bonded with iron oxides La + Ce, MgO, Al2O3 a SiO2; (La-Ce)2O2S, FeO, SiO2, and CaO or CaS.

An experimental system for complex thermo-mechanical material analysis is presented in this article. The system provides simultaneous measurements of tensile properties as well as heat generation in the process of tensile deformation. The cooling curve of the sample after its reversible deformation was measured. On the basis of an exponential model of a cooling body with respect to the Biot number Bi, it is possible to calculate the specific heat capacity c p , the thermal diffusivity α, and the thermal conductivity k. The method had been tested on a variety of materials and the results were compared to those in the technical literature or obtained by reference independent experiments and showed very good agreement.

The work is focused on evaluation of resistance of the welded joint made of supermartensitic 13Cr6Ni2.5Mo stainless steel to sulfide stress cracking. Testing method A and solution B in accordance with NACE TM 0177 were used. All the testing samples were ruptured in a very short time interval but welded joint samples were fractured primarily in the weld metal or in heat affected zone and not in the basic material. Material analysis of samples were made with use of a ZEISS NEOPHOT 32 light microscope and a JEOL 6490LV scanning electron microscope.

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In the paper we present measurements of transport physical parameters such as thermal conductivity, diffusivity and specific heat capacity and dc electrical conductivity as well as the mechanical values E*, tg δ for rubber compounds filled by different ratio of silica - carbon black fillers. From presented results it is possible to see that proper filler concentration (rubber blend - silica - carbon black) rising all thermal parameters as well as mechanical properties represented by complex Young’s modulus and so, maintains the good mechanical parameters of the blend and finally it also lowers the electrical resistance. All trends are favourable for the improvement of useful rubber blends properties.