Consistent and reasonable characterization of the material behavior under the coupled effects of strain, strain rate and temperature on the material flow stress is remarkably crucial in order to design as well as optimize the process parameters in the metal forming industrial practice. The objective of this work was to formulate an appropriate flow stress model to characterize the flow behavior of AISI-1045 medium carbon steel over a practical range of deformation temperatures (650–950 ${}^{\circ }$ C) and strain rates (0.05–1.0 s ${}^{-1}$ ). Subsequently, the Johnson-Cook flow stress model was adopted for modeling and predicting the material flow behavior at elevated temperatures. Furthermore, surrogate models were developed based on the constitutive relations, and the model constants were estimated using the experimental results. As a result, the constitutive flow stress model was formed and the constructed model was examined systematically against experimental data by both numerical and graphical validations. In addition, to predict the material damage behavior, the failure model proposed by Johnson and Cook was used, and to determine the model parameters, seven different specimens, including flat, smooth round bars and pre-notched specimens, were tested at room temperature under quasi strain rate conditions. From the results, it can be seen that the developed model over predicts the material behavior at a low temperature for all strain rates. However, overall, the developed model can produce a fairly accurate and precise estimation of flow behavior with good correlation to the experimental data under high temperature conditions. Furthermore, the damage model parameters estimated in this research can be used to model the metal forming simulations, and valuable prediction results for the work material can be achieved.

The purification of water is not only essential for human consumption but is becoming a necessity considering the limited freshwater reserves of the planet. Over the last few decades advancements in material sciences and technology have paved the way for the development of novel purification techniques. Amongst these techniques membrane-based filtration is considered as the least expensive and most effective. These membrane-based filtration techniques can be broadly categorized into reverse osmosis (RO), ultrafiltration, microfiltration and activated carbon filters (ACF). The mode of operation, research evolution and practical applications of each technique are compared in this holistic analysis. Although RO is the oldest and most established membrane-based filtration technique in the literature, it is ACF that is ranked as the most promising new technique with much simplicity and effectiveness.

In this article, size-dependent vibrations and the stability of moving viscoelastic axially functionally graded (AFG) nanobeams were investigated numerically and analytically, aiming at the stability enhancement of translating nanosystems. Additionally, a parametric investigation is presented to elucidate the influence of various key factors such as axial gradation of the material, viscosity coefficient, and nonlocal parameter on the stability boundaries of the system. Material characteristics of the system vary smoothly along the axial direction based on a power-law distribution function. Laplace transformation in conjunction with the Galerkin discretization scheme was implemented to obtain the natural frequencies, dynamical configuration, divergence, and flutter instability thresholds of the system. Furthermore, the critical velocity of the system was evaluated analytically. Stability maps of the system were examined, and it can be concluded that the nonlocal effect in the system can be significantly dampened by fine-tuning of axial material distribution. It was demonstrated that AFG materials can profoundly enhance the stability and dynamical response of axially moving nanosystems in comparison to homogeneous materials. The results indicate that for low and high values of the nonlocal parameter, the power index plays an opposite role in the dynamical behavior of the system. Meanwhile, it was shown that the qualitative stability of axially moving nanobeams depends on the effect of viscoelastic properties in the system, while axial grading of material has a significant role in determining the critical velocity and natural frequencies of the system.