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Surface texturing has been proven as an effective means of contact performance enhancement. However, limited work has been done to investigate the regular relationship to solve the multi-parameters problem of textures, and inertia effect and elastic deformation were seldom considered together in previous optimization work. This paper aims to quantitatively obtain the relationship between the textured depth and liquid film thickness and find the effect of deformation on the optimal textured height ratio in elastic parallel sliders.

Numerical models of hydrodynamic lubrication are established based on the computational fluid dynamic method. Elastic deformation is considered through fluid–structure interaction (FSI) method. Using response surface optimization method, textured parallel sliders are optimized with maximum loading capacity as the objective.

The results show that the optimal height ratios are all within the range of 0.60-0.65 when textured parallel sliders are considered as rigid. After considering the effect of elastic deformation, loading capacity drops and is reduced more obviously with a decrease in the elastic moduli. The optimal height ratios are within the range of 0.60-0.63, which shows that FSI has a considerable influence on loading capacity but has no significant influence on the optimal height ratio.

The present research provides a theoretical reference for engineering application of elastic textured parallel sliders.

Shear stresses have a considerable influence on the characteristics of lubricants and become significant at high rotating speeds. This study aims to investigate the influences of shear cavitation (SC) on loading capacity of journal bearings.

A principal normal stress cavitation criterion based on the stress applied to flowing lubricant in journal bearings is developed and used to investigate SC in journal bearings. A computational fluid dynamic (CFD) model for calculating the loading capacity is established using this criterion. After validation with experimental results, the loading capacity is calculated under different conditions.

The calculation results indicate that SC intensifies when viscosity, speed and eccentricity increase. Angle of loading capacity with SC is larger than that without SC. The magnitude of loading capacity with SC is smaller than that without SC due to the decrease in the ultimate pressure. In addition, the magnitude difference between the loading capacity with and without SC increases when viscosity, speed and eccentricity increases.

Present research can provide some guidance for calculating the loading capacity when a journal bearing is operating at high speed or with a high viscosity lubricant.

Surface textures have been widely used in thrust bearings as a means of enhancing the tribological performance. The effect of textures with a spiral distribution on the lubrication characteristics of thrust bearings has not been fully covered. This paper aims to investigate and find the optimal structure and distribution parameters of textures with the maximum loading capacity and minimum friction force as goals.

Combining the multi-objective optimization method based on the non-dominated sorted genetic algorithm-II with response surface methodology, the key textured parameters are optimized. Local sensitivity analysis is used to evaluate the impact level of each parameter.

Spiral distribution of textures can effectively improve the lubrication performance of the thrust bearing compared with the linear distribution. The distribution with high amplitudes and high cycle numbers will weaken the spiral effect and destroy the high-pressure region. Through the multi-objective optimization of the textured structure and distribution parameters, the loading capacity demonstrates a 55.05per cent improvement compared to the basic model. Textured width is the most sensitive parameter for both loading capacity and friction force.

Present research provides a fundamental design guide for textured thrust bearings.

The growing demand of efficiency and economy has led to a dramatic increase of the operating speed of the journal bearing, with a higher temperature distribution. This paper aims to investigate the three-dimensional temperature distribution of journal bearings.

A thermo-hydrodynamic lubrication model of a journal bearing was established based on the full 3D CFD method. A two-sided wall was used to include the conjugate heat transfer effect. The temperature-dependent characteristics of lubrication and cavitation impact were also included. The simulation results well agreed with the experimental results. Based on this method, the three-dimensional temperature distribution was analyzed under different operating conditions.

The temperature distribution in the radial direction had a difference. An increase of speed and de-crease of inlet temperature promoted temperature differences in the higher temperature zone and the increasing temperature zone, respectively. However, the inlet pressure had less influence on these differences. The temperature distribution was basically the same at a lower bearing conductivity. As the conductivity increased, the radial temperature difference was increased.

The temperature distribution in the radial direction was found under different operating conditions, and the present research provides references to understand the three-dimensional temperature distribution of journal bearings.

The loading mechanism of textures considering turbulence has not been fully covered. This paper aims to investigate the effect of turbulence on the textured loading capacity under water lubrication and to analyze the causes of the turbulence effect.

Computational fluid dynamic models with different textured shapes are established after validation. The transition shear stress transport (SST) model, which is suitable for predicting the transition process of fluid from laminar state to turbulent state, is adopted in the present study. To illustrate the effect of turbulence, the loading capacity of textures predicted by transition SST model and laminar model is compared.

The loading capacity is higher after considering turbulence because more lubricant enters into textures and the flow rate of lubricant to textured outlet increases. There exists an optimal textured depth ratio and density for loading capacity and the change of flow state would not affect the optimal values. The degree of fluid blockage at textured outlet has a dominant influence on loading capacity. As the textured shape changes to triangle or ellipse from rectangle, the vortices at the textured bottom move forward and the blockage at a textured outlet is enhanced, which makes loading capacity improved under the action of blocking effect.

The enhancement of the blocking effect is found to be crucial to the improvement of textured loading capacity after considering turbulence. Present research provides references to understand the loading mechanism of textures under turbulent conditions.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/ILT-04-2020-0149/

The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of chromium content on the microstructure and corrosion resistance of Ni-Cr coating.

Ni-Cr coating was prepared by pulse current electrodeposition with trivalent chromium. On the basis of studying effect of electroplating parameters on composition and morphology, Ni-Cr alloy coatings with various chromium contents were obtained. The microstructure was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometer and transmission electron microscopy. Corrosion behavior was studied by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy techniques.

Electrodeposited chromium was solidly dissolved in nickel and refined the grain of the coating. With the increase of Cr content, the corrosion resistance of Ni-Cr coating was enhanced, which is due to the formation of continuous nickel hydroxide and compact chromium oxide passive films.

Ni-Cr alloy coating without penetration crack was prepared in trivalent chromium electrolyte, and the mechanism of its excellent corrosion resistance was proposed.

This paper aims to explore the impact of product market competition (PMC) on companies’ investment in external auditing.

This paper applies a conceptual framework derived from demand–supply analysis and a panel data set of 2,263 listed manufacturing companies in China covering the period 2012–2019. In the assessment of PMC, this study measures industry-level competition intensity and company-specific market power separately.

Industries appear to engage in a lower average level of external auditing if industrial competition intensity is either too high or too low. Similarly, companies spend less on external auditing if their market power is either too strong or too weak, and the company-level inverted U-shaped relationship is much more evident in industries with weak PMC.

This paper shows that a company’s external audit strategy is affected by the level of competition it faces in its market. The findings of this paper can improve the current linear PMC–auditing theoretical framework and provide insights into the strategic auditing of listed companies in China. The findings also have significant implications for policy recommendations regarding corporate governance and market scrutiny regulations.

Nickel-aluminum bronze (NAB) has been widely used in ship propellers. It is always subjected to local micro-plastic deformation in service environments. This paper aims to study the influence of plastic deformation on the mechanical strength and corrosion resistance of NAB in 3.5 Wt.% NaCl solution.

Scanning electron microscope and X-ray diffraction were used to analyze the microstructure of NAB alloy with different plastic deformations. Mechanical properties of the sample were measured by tensile experiment, and corrosion behavior was studied by electrochemical measurements and the long-term immersion corrosion test.

Results showed that the plastic deformation caused lattice distortion but did not change the microstructure of NAB alloy. Microhardness and yield strength of NAB were significantly improved with the increase of deformation. The lattice distortion accelerated the formation of corrosion product film, which made the deformed alloy show a more positive open-circuit potential and an increased Rp. However, during the long-term immersion corrosion, the corrosion resistance of NAB alloys deteriorated with the increase of plastic deformation. This is because larger plastic deformation brought about higher internal stress in corrosion product film, which resulted in the premature peeling of the film and the loss of its protective effect on the alloy substrate.

Tensile plastic deformations were found to cause a decline in the corrosion resistance of NAB. And the mechanism was clarified from the evolution of corrosion products during the corrosion process.

Student participation has been an important issue for information literacy (IL) teachings. The purpose of this paper is to promote active student participation in IL courses with Rain Classroom, an intelligent teaching tool.

Using mixed method research, the paper presents a practical case study of the author’s experiences with Rain Classroom to improve teaching and learning of IL.

The study shows that Rain Classroom helps implement problem-based learning, promote student participation in class interaction and optimize learning experience, which facilitates a shift of the IL course from passive to active learning.

It is known that university public courses have large class sizes (more than 50 students per class), and, therefore, class interaction is difficult to organize. So this is a big issue for the researchers to study.

The proposed Rain Classroom is a free teaching tool and can be used in other academic libraries to enhance active student participation in IL lessons.

The paper includes implications for improving interaction in large-size conference or trainings using Rain Classroom.

The existing literature has not traced the reports on using the Rain Classroom to enhance student participation in IL courses in academic libraries. This paper intends to fill this gap and share practical methods and experiences, deepening the application research of Rain Classroom.

The purpose of this paper is to study the cavitation erosion stages of AA5083 by electrochemical noise (EN).

EN technology including noise resistance and fast Fourier transform were used to characterize the electrochemical process during the cavitation erosion process.

AA5083 suffers from uniform corrosion during the cavitation erosion process. The whole cavitation erosion process can be divided into three stages: incubation stage, acceleration stage and steady-state stage. EN signals showed obvious differences in different stages of cavitation erosion.

EN technique is a suitable method that can be used to study cavitation erosion mechanism and identify cavitation erosion stages.