The Hybrid composites are the emerging materials which uses two or more reinforced particles or fibres simultaneously. As potential applications of the composites, wood reinforced thermoplastic composites are commercially attractive for high volume applications, but their properties can be enhanced by adding Nano SiO₂ particles. Wood powder and nano SiO₂ were mixed with high density polyethylene as matrix material. Wood powder with fixed 5 wt. % and Nano SiO₂ with varying weight % (3, 5, 7 wt. %) are reinforced in HDPE to manufacture composite materials by compression moulding process. Mechanical properties including tensile strength, flexural strength and Izod impact strength were evaluated and it was revealed that tensile strength and flexural strength were obtained maximum at 5 wt. % of Nano SiO₂ and impact strength was obtained maximum at 3 wt. % of Nano SiO₂.

Austenitic Stainless-Steel grade 316L is one among the significant ASS grades which is most used in various industry sectors. It has excellent corrosion resistance in ordinary atmospheric and in more arduous environments such as saltwater. Whilst performing well when exposed to relatively high temperatures, this grade of ASS also maintains its strength and toughness at sub-zero temperatures, making this an excellent choice for various applications in industrial sectors such as Marine, general construction and water treatment. Therefore, present study focused on evaluating the mechanical properties, ultimate tensile strength (UTS), yield strength (YS) and strain hardening exponent (n) are evaluated based on the experimental data obtained from the uniaxial isothermal tensile tests performed at an interval of −25°C from 0°C to −50°C and at three orientations 0, 45, 90 degrees to the rolling direction and cross-head velocity 3, 5, 7 mm/min were chosen. Total of 27 experiments have been planned based on design-of-experiments. A mathematical model for the prediction of UTS, YS and n was developed using process parameters such as temperature, orientation and cross-head velocities. Results have shown that mechanical properties can be predicted with a reasonable accuracy within the range of process parameters considered in this study.

Austenitic stainless steels (ASS) grades have strong corrosion resistance in mildly corrosive acid, industrial and marine environments than other materials such as brass, bronze or galvanised steel. Among the ASS grades, AISI 316 stainless steel is safe to seawater. This paper describes the efficiency and enhancement of the performance of stainless steel in a marine environment. Plasma arc welding has been used for joining AISI 304 and 316 stainless steels and observed the microstructures of the welded joints. Corrosion resistance test has been used to determine the corrosion rate of the welded steels. Using Tafel plot curve the corrosion rate has been analysed, for the three types of samples for which AISI 316 has very less corrosion rate when compared to AISI 304 and the welded joint of both AISI 316 and 304.

In the sheet metal industry, hot forming of high strength sheet metal alloys such as austenitic stainless steels (ASSs) are in great demand. Identifying the safe strain region is essential to avoid failures and reduce the wastage. Forming limit diagram (FLD) is a vital tool which is used to describe the maximum limit of principal strains that can be sustained by sheet metals till the onset of localised necking. These diagrams are also useful in comparing the changes in forming characteristics of the material with changes in process parameters like temperature, orientation and speed of deformation. The present study aimed at comparing the experimental FLD for ASS 316L at room temperature and 900°C by stretch forming. These specimens are cut in three different orientations (0°, 45° & 90°) to the rolling direction and experiments are conducted at a strain rate of 0.1/s. It is reported that, the specimens from rolling direction are among the stronger samples. The change in formability characteristics of ASS 316L with changes in temperatures using FLD has been observed. The optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy is analysed to understand the fracture morphologies. The comparison between these set of results indicates that there is significant increase in formability of material. Abbreviations ASS: Austenitic Stainless Steel; RT: Room Temperature; FLD: Forming Limit Diagram; FFLD: Fracture Forming Limit Diagram; SEM: Scanning Electronic Microscopy; LDH: Limiting Dome Height; UTS: Ultimate Tensile Strength; YTS: Yield Tensile Strength; K: Strength Factor; n: Strain Hardening Exponent