What is a good thermal paper roll?
Thermal Paper Rolls are used in thermal printers for customer receipts, tickets, etc. Obviously, there are lots of brands of thermal printers popular, such as Epson, Zebra. For each model of the printer, it has the fixed paper roll size it needed. This makes it easy for us to choose paper rolls for our printer.

Paper Roll Size:

The three key factors for roll size are width, diameter and length. The most popular width is 57mm (2 1/4″) and 80mm (3 1/8″), while 60mm, 70mm & 110mm for some other printers. For the diameter, it varies from 30mm to 250mm. Here comes length of roll. In a fixed paper roll size, such as 80x80mm, the lower paper gram mage is, the long meters this roll contains. You can use this roll for longer time.

What is a good thermal paper roll?

Do not say it is just a piece of paper. Paper is crucial to the machines.

For the specific printer, the paper roll size is fixed. So here comes the paper quality. When you get a paper roll at hand, please see the whiteness, smoothness, image sensitivity.

It’s your choice for the whiteness while it does not affect the usage.

For bad quality thermal roll, it is rough and coarse on front and back of paper. It is not lint free, so it leaves powder inside of the printer when you use it.  This is harmful to the printer and will reduce the life span of the machine. To protect it,  please pay attention to paper smoothness.

Image sensitivity is another important factor. People will find they see the image is clear or fuzzy on receipts from different shops. It does. Thermal Paper is coated with a chemical that is why it changes colors when exposed to heat. If the coated chemial is even and enough, the text showed on paper will be clear, black and crisp. A flame on back of paper for one second can change color of paper. A fingernail swiped quickly across the paper will also change it. This is the same theory. Please make sure the image is even and clear.

Thermal paper has a specialty coating that allows inkless printing and gives excellent results on printing as it provides reliable, speedy and high definition images. Thermal paper rolls are cost effective as they have lower maintenance costs. Furthermore, thermal printing technology is quieter as compared to its alternatives, which offers a pleasant experience when working with high volumes of printing. Key manufacturers such as Appvion are adopting latest printing technologies such as Techkon SpectroDens for thermal paper rolls to achieve excellent printing results. Attributing to their reliable and durability, 80mm thermal paper rolls finds application in various end uses. For instance, retailers use thermal paper rolls for point-of-scale applications such as super stores, grocery store, and ATM banks. In addition, ticket agencies and lottery systems, which require accurate and large volume printouts, also rely on thermal paper rolls.

Thermal Paper Rolls Market: Dynamics

The advent of digitalization in developing regions such as India has been driving the need for POS systems and subsequently, escalating the demand for thermal paper rolls in the market. In addition, the rising importance of labelling against the counterfeiting of products has been having a positive impact on the demand for thermal paper rolls. Moreover, thermal paper offers excellent coloring capability at high speeds and a highly durable finish that doesn't fade easily. This feature allows printed bar codes to be used in POS food labelling & other applications during their manufacturing and shipping, which has been escalating the demand for 3 1/8''  thermal paper rolls, globally.

On the other hand, the usage of BPA in thermal paper has a negative impact on human health, which may hamper the growth of the thermal paper rolls market in the near future. Therefore, many retailers are adopting digital receipt software programs that work with existing POS systems and they print customer receipts only on request in order to minimize the usage of thermal paper.

This intelligence report by TMR is the outcome of intense study and rigorous assessment of various dynamics shaping the growth of the market. TMR nurtures a close-knit team of analysts, strategists, and industry experts who offer clients tools, methodologies, and frameworks to make smarter decisions. Our objective, insights, and actionable analytics provide CXOs and executives to advance their mission-critical priorities with confidence.

The scrutiny of the various forces impacting the dynamics of the market, and key and associated industries, guides enterprises in understanding various consumer propositions. Our clients leverage these insights and perspectives to enhance customer experience in the fast-paced business environment.

All our insights and perspectives are broadly based on 4 Pillars or Stages: ASBC-S, which offer an elaborate and customizable framework for the success of an organization. The essence and the roles of these in organizational successes are highlighted below:

Agenda for CXOs: TMR, through the study, sets the tone for agendas that are pertinent to CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, and other CXO executives of businesses operating in the market. The perspectives help our clients to bridge the gap between agenda and action plan. TMR strives to offer guidance to CXOs to undertake mission-critical activities empowered by various business analysis tools, and boost the performance of the organizations. The perspectives guide you to decide on your own marketing mix that align well with the policies, visions, and mission.
Strategic Frameworks: The study offers how organizations are setting both short-term and long-term strategic plans. Our team of experts collaborate and communicate with you to understand these to make your organizations sustainable and resilient during tough times. The insights help them decide sustainable competitive advantage for each business units.
Benchmarking for Deciding Target Markets and Brand Positioning: The assessments in the study provides a scrutiny of marketing channels and marketing mix. Our various teams work synergistically with you to help identify your actual and potential direct, indirect, and budget competition areas. Additionally, the study helps you decide most effective budgets for various processes and promotional activities. Furthermore, the study guides you to set benchmarks for integrating people and processes with the 4Ps of marketing. Eventually, this will empower you to find out unique propositioning strategies and niches.
Business Composability for Sustainability (C-S): Constant strategy planning for sustainability characterizing our C-S framework in the report has become more relevant than before in the face of disruptions caused by pandemics, recessions, boom and bust cycles, and changing geopolitical scenario. The TMR study offers a high level of customization to help you achieve business composability. Composable enterprises are increasingly gaining the attention of CXOs in order to help them combat market volatility. Our analysts and industry experts help you wade through such uncertainties and guide you to become a smart sustainable business in entirety.

With a robust experience in creating exceptional market reports, Transparency Market Research has emerged as one of the trusted market research companies among a large number of stakeholders and CXOs. Every report at Transparency Market Research goes through rigorous research activity in every aspect. The researchers at TMR keep a close watch on the market and extract beneficial growth-boosting points. These points help the stakeholders to strategize their business plans accordingly.

TMR researchers conduct exhaustive qualitative and quantitative research. This research involves taking inputs from the experts in the market, focused attention on recent developments, and others. This method of research makes TMR stand out from other market research firms.

Here's how Transparency Market Research helps the stakeholders and CXOs through the reports:

Inculcation and Evaluation of Strategic Collaborations: The TMR researchers analyze recent strategic activities like mergers, acquisitions, partnerships, collaborations, and joint ventures. All the information is compiled and included in the report.

Perfect Market Size Estimations: The report analyzes the demographics, growth potential, and capability of the market through the forecast period. This factor leads to the estimation of the market size and also provides an outline about how the market will retrieve growth during the assessment period.

Investment Research: The report focuses on the ongoing and upcoming investment opportunities across a particular market. These developments make the stakeholders aware of the current investment scenario across the market.

Disclaimer: This market research study is an ongoing effort and extreme care has been taken to maintain the highest levels of accuracy at all stages. However, in the light of the rapidly evolving business dynamics, some region-specific or other segment-specific changes may take time to be part of the study.

Retail businesses are well aware that to function seamlessly and serve customers in the best way possible, using specific elements is essential. Those items mostly include pricing guns, shopping bags, signage, and most importantly, thermal papers. Retailers use thermal paper to print receipts, and it generally comes in a paper roll. You probably know if you have noticed in a boutique, stationery, or grocery store that it is the thermal printing device, which shoots out the receipt with transaction details.

Thermal papers are unlike the normal ones, and you can understand that quite well by merely feeling them. A retail business owner can save a considerable amount of money by investing in thermal papers instead of ribbons or ink rollers. However, when it comes to purchasing thermal papers, certain key things you need to take into consideration.

Read the following to know what you should look for when shopping for 57mm thermal paper rolls online.

It might look to you at first glance that all thermal paper rolls are similar and of the same quality. However, it isn’t. If you visit an Online Papers Rolls Shop Tauranga, you will find thermal paper rolls are available in an extensive range of quality levels. Ensure that you get premium-quality paper rolls for your retail business because the sub-standard ones mostly leave behind residue on the ribbon, adversely impact the printing procedure, and increase the risk for damage to your thermal printer.


On the market, thermal paper rolls are available in a variety of lengths and thicknesses. To get your hands on the right thermal paper to meet your requirements, it is of the utmost importance to know the precise model of the thermal printer. Aside from the width, you can also select the length of the thermal paper roll. Opting for a longer roll will help you significantly to print more receipts.


Making a budget before you shop for these paper rolls is imperative. Research well and compare prices of high-quality paper rolls available in different online stores. Once you find paper rolls of decent-quality, enough long, and affordable, you should purchase those without delay. Also, try to look for online stores that offer great discounts for bulk 2 1/4'' thermal paper roll orders.


If you visit a well-known Online Pencil Store in NZ or any store where office consumables are available, chances are higher that you will get discounts if you purchase thermal paper rolls in bulk. So, even if you run a small retail store and usually require a handful of thermal paper rolls, you should buy them in bulk to save a considerable amount of hard-earned money.

You will certainly be able to get your hands on the right paper rolls to meet your business requirements without any hassle if you consider the critical factors mentioned above.

Glass vs. metal baking pans
Size isn’t the only thing that counts when choosing a pan from the many in your cupboard. The material it’s made of will affect both the baking time and the color of your breads, pies, cakes, and brownies.

Glass pans give food a darker, browner crust, so they’re generally best for breads and pies, which benefit from a deeply baked exterior. Because of the way glass transfers heat in the oven, it will bake both faster and darker than most metal pans (the exceptions are very dark, heavy-gauge metal pans, like the black cake pans used in professional kitchens. These intense heat conductors cook quickly and will also turn out appealing, dark crusts.)

Lighter-colored pans give you a paler crust, which is what you want with delicate cakes and brownies. Light-colored aluminum and shiny stainless-steel pans reflect more heat than glass and dark metal pans. This may mean your baked goods will need a bit more time to finish cooking, but it also means the sugar and chocolate in these pastries won’t be as likely to burn. Avoid flimsy muffin pan, which often bake unevenly and tend to warp at high temperatures. If you don’t have a high-quality pan, it’s worth investing in one (see “Pros Pick the Best Baking Sheets,”).

Martha Stewart was placing two apple crisps on a sheet pan to catch the juices that bubble out during baking when she said, “If you saw how many sheet pans I owned, you would be quite horrified. I have a lot of sheet pans.”

And she’s accumulated them over a long time: Ms. Stewart was first introduced to commercial loaf pan — the thick, uncoated aluminum baking sheets with 1-inch-high rims and rolled edges — by Fred Bridge in the 1970s. She had a catering business in Connecticut, and he owned Bridge Co., a professional kitchenware store on 52nd Street in Manhattan.

“That’s where I really started learning about high-quality, restaurant-quality, long-lived equipment,” Ms. Stewart said. “I bought my best things from Mr. Bridge.”

On her first TV show, two decades later, she used 9 inch round nonstick cake pan on set, showing them to home viewers repeatedly — though not intentionally. Like most professional chefs in America, and bakers in particular, Ms. Stewart relied on those pans even if she didn’t showcase them.

And yet this utilitarian piece of equipment has become a star. That can be attributed in part to a surge of sheet-pan recipes from food publications, cookbooks and bloggers, a new genre of weeknight cooking that provides an entire meal on the pan. Cousins of one-pot meals, sheet-pan suppers combine vegetables, protein and starch in a single piece of cookware, but offer a larger canvas to compose a range of shapes and colors. The actual cooking requires nothing more than passive waiting.

If you've ever debated on baking a cake in a glass pan versus a metal pan, or had cookies burn on the bottom at 350 ºF within a "reasonable" amount of baking time, this post is for you! Find out everything you need to know about baking pans and bakeware, from how the material and the colour of the pan have an impact on baking to why 7 inch in cm cake pan may warp, bend, or rust.

The point of this post isn't to have you throw out all your bakeware and buy new. On the contrary, what I am hoping is that this post will help you better understand how your baking pans affect your baking and how to make adjustments so that you know how to make adjustments and adapt, regardless of what bakeware you're using! If you want to easily convert recipes from one pan size to another, I recommend investing in the complete baking conversion charts bundle to get conversion charts for ingredients, pans, temperatures, volumes, weights, and more.

Every editorial product is independently selected, though we may be compensated or receive an affiliate commission if you buy something through our links. Ratings and prices are accurate and items are in stock as of time of publication.

When you’re diving into a recipe, it’s always important to look at the ingredients. Checking to make sure you have everything on hand can make or break a dish. But is it just as important to take a look at the required bakeware for the recipe? The short answer—yes. Depending on what you’re making, there certainly is a difference between a baking dish and a baking pan. Here’s what you need to know to choose the right one.

What’s a Baking Dish?
The term “baking dish” typically refers to an oven-safe rectangular dish made out of glass, stoneware or porcelain. Baking dishes also come in oval and square shapes, and they vary in size and depth.

Glass, stoneware and porcelain don’t conduct heat very well, so they take a while to heat up. But once hot, a baking dish will distribute heat more evenly. It’s also important to remember that a baking dish has the ability to shatter. Be sure you’re not putting a cold baking dish in a hot oven or using the broil setting to add intense heat.

What’s a Baking Dish Best For?
Reserve baking dishes for desserts such as fruit crisps, cobblers and bread pudding. A baking dish is also perfect for savory dishes such as casseroles, potatoes au gratin, enchiladas and quiche.

A baking pan refers to bakeware made out of metal, often aluminum. Aluminum is one of the best metal options for conducting heat, so the pan gets hot quickly. As the pan heats up, it transfers the heat to what you’re baking. Baking pans can withstand higher temps and come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes, including multiple sizes of rounds, squares, rectangles, Bundts and cupcake pans.

What’s a Baking Pan Best For?
Because of its heat conductivity, a baking pan is great for recipes when you need a bit of browning. Most commonly, a baking pan will be used for cakes, but you can also use a baking pan for treats such as brownies, muffins and breads. Use baking pans for savory items such as meatloaf and roast vegetables as well.

Just be sure to consider acidity when making your decision. If your dish includes acidic fruits or vegetables, which can react with metal, consider making the switch to a baking dish for best results.

You've undoubtedly heard about the benefits of a well-seasoned cast-iron skillet. Legends are spun about this heavily-coated, durable piece of cookware that's often passed down by generation after generation of home cooks.

But have you ever considered the benefits of a well-seasoned sheet pan?

That splotchy tray you use to cook countless weeknight dinners—the one you hide when guests come because you're afraid they'll think you don't properly clean your cookware—is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, it's time to celebrate those splotches, to stop thinking of your pan as dirty and start considering it perfectly worn-in.

That patina—which is really baked-on oil—carries a host of advantages. The darkened surface aids in the caramelization of whatever food is in direct contact with it. Epicurious food director Rhoda Boone always uses a well-worn baking sheet for roasting vegetables. "The seasoning gets the cut edges nice and golden brown," she says. "More so than vegetables cooked on a lighter baking sheet." She also prefers it for roasting chicken thighs and pork chops.

Anna Stockwell, another Epi test kitchen editor, agrees. That dark discoloration on well-used pans functions as a sort of natural non-stick surface, which means that vegetables are less likely too stick, even without the help of parchment paper. And less parchment used in the kitchen means both less waste and less money spent at the grocery store.

There are a few times you might want to avoid a seasoned sheet pan, warns Katherine Sacks, Epi's resident pastry expert. "They can be a bit dinged up, so for cake or cookies—where it's important for the surface to be flat—I would use as new a pan as possible." And if you're baking a light-colored cookie or pastry that you don't want to color and a well-worn pan is your only option, lining it with parchment will slow down the browning.

Unlike your trusty cast-iron, you should keep washing your sheet pans regularly. A quick scrub with mild, soapy water is best to keep the pan from building up too much residue, and a quick dry will ward off rust. But there's no need to pull out the baking soda and vinegar or stress about the amount of elbow grease it will take to get your darkened pan looking shiny and new.

Besides, there's no better way than a loved and dented sheet pan to add panache to your Instagram photos.
Today, we're breaking down a question we've asked ourselves, oh, a million times: How do we adapt cake pan sizes in baking recipes? (Say, something calls for a 8x8-inch, but you only have an 9x9.) Alice will show you with just a little math. 

The brownie recipe you want to make calls for an 8-inch square pan, but your only square pan is a 9-inch. Should you risk it? Maybe you want to double or triple a recipe but you aren’t sure which pan to use, or maybe you have a specific large pan but don’t know how many times to multiply your recipe in order to fill it.

The answers to these and similar questions (asked endlessly in cooking classes!) do not involve rocket science, but just enough elementary school math to calculate the area of a square, rectangle, or circle. I love the math (and I’ve included a little math review below if you want to brush up), but I’m sharing my chart in case you don’t have my thing for math.  

The handy list below (or some basic math, also explained below) will tell you the surface area of your pan. Once you know the area of any pan, you can compare it to the area of another pan to see how much bigger or smaller it is. You can divide the area of a large pan by the area of a small pan to figure out how many times to multiply a recipe to fill the larger pan with the same depth of batter (more on that later).


Just by glancing at the two pans, you might think that a 9-inch pan is very close in size to an 8-inch pan of the same shape, thus making it a reasonable substitute. But if you check the chart, you’ll find that a 9-inch square pan is more than 25% larger than an 8-inch square pan. (The relationship between a 9-inch and 8-inch round pan is similar.) Such a considerable difference will result in a 9-inch batch of very thin brownies that may be over-baked by the time you check them for doneness (because thin brownies bake faster than thick ones). Knowing this beforehand, you can increase the recipe by 25% for results as thick than the original recipe intended. If you want brownies that are even a tad thicker than the original recipe, you can even increase the recipe by 33%. 

Here’s what to do if you multiply a recipe and end up needing part of an egg: Set aside any whole eggs you need. Next, whisk the other egg to blend the white and yolk; weigh it (preferably in grams); then weigh out the fraction of the egg that you need for the recipe and add that to the whole eggs. If you need 40% of a 50-gram egg, that’s 20 grams of the whisked egg. When egg whites and yolks are used separately, weigh and measure them in the same way, but separately. Add leftover egg parts to your morning scramble. See, no waste and still no rocket science!

The chart (or your ability to do the math) is extremely valuable: Use it but don’t be a slave to it. When I make brownies in a large quantity, I like them to be about the same thickness as they are in a small batch, so I stay close to the chart. But, when I increase the dimensions of a birthday cake, I often make it a bit taller than the original (in other words, I round up when multiplying) because the proportions are visually more pleasing. For example, if I am making a 12-inch round cake using a recipe meant for an 8-inch pan, I divide the area of the 12-inch round pan (113) by the area of the 8-inch round (50 inches) and get 2.26. But instead of multiplying the recipe by just 2.26, I might multiply it by 3 so that the cake will turn out tall and lofty. See: Love the chart, but don’t let it bully you! 

How It Works: Gate Valves
All valves are designed to stop, allow, or throttle the flow of a process fluid. Gate valves—one of the original valve designs—are ideally suited for on-off, primarily liquid, service. A gate valve functions by lifting a rectangular or circular gate out of the path of the fluid. When the valve is fully open, forged steel gate valves are full bore, meaning there is nothing to obstruct the flow because the gate and pipeline diameter have the same opening. This bore diameter also determines the valve size. An advantage of this fullbore design is very low friction loss, which saves energy and reduces total cost of ownership.

Gate valves can have a rising or nonrising stem design. Rising stems are attached directly to the gate and provide a visual indicator of the valve position. Nonrising stems are generally threaded into the upper part of the gate and have a pointer threaded onto the top to indicate position. Nonrising stem designs are ideally suited for applications where vertical space is limited, in well applications, and where scraping or pigging is not required.

Gate valves are designed with a sealing unit to provide a tight seal around the stem. Our patented single loaded-spring (SLS) stem seal design, used in thread and socket gate valve and WKM Pow-R-Seal double expanding gate valves, provides superior leak protection and a self-adjusting seal designed to reduce maintenance.

Bonnets
Gate valves generally have one of four types of bonnets, which provide closure to prevent fluids from leaking out of the valve. Screw-in bonnets are simple, durable sealing units that use pressure to seal. Union bonnets provide easy access to the valve body for applications that may require frequent maintenance or inspection. Bolted bonnets are generally used for larger valves in higher-pressure applications. Pressure seal bonnets are designed for services with pressure in excess of 2,250 psi [15 MPa].

Applications
Because of the diversity of construction materials, trim offerings, and design combinations available with pressure sealing gate valves, they are appropriate for a wide variety of applications. From high-temperature coking units to food and pharmaceutical services, gate valves can be trusted to reliably perform.

The protected seat-face design of double expanding and slab gate valves eliminates degradation of the seat face caused by debris in the process fluid, which makes them ideal for liquid service. When additional protection is needed at points in pipeline applications where operational integrity is vital and the consequences of environmental exposure are higher, such as near waterways and municipalities, double expanding gate valves are a particularly wise choice.

Our smaller 2- to 4-in nonrising stem version of the Pow-R-Seal API 6A expanding gate valve is commonly used in wellhead manifold systems because of its reliable mechanical seal and high pressure capability.

Drilling manifold systems can also be easily designed to use certain gate valves, such as the Cameron DEMCO valve DM series, with space-saving and versatile mounting designs.

In the power industry, NEWCO gate, globe, and check valves and DOUGLAS CHERO forged-steel gate, globe, and check valves are ideal for standard and critical applications, such as steam distribution in power plants. By replacing the body and bonnet flanges with a welded connection, the design of this valve eliminates a leak path, reduces weight, and simplifies the application of exterior insulation. This, in concert with the forged steel body, provides the highest integrity sealing available.

For challenging subsea environments, where pressures are extremely high, temperatures are low, and operation is difficult, subsea manifolds that integrate valves and interface panels are used for critical isolation. The simple design of the Cameron RING-O subsea valve is ideally suited for integration into these systems and can be actuated manually, via ROV, or hydraulically for ease of operation.

The research presented was conducted to quantify the effects of butterfly and forged flange gate valves located upstream water meters with diameters larger than 50 mm. Errors caused by these valves can have an enormous financial impact taking into consideration that a small percentage of variation in the error of a large meter is typically related to a significant volume of water. The uncertainty on the economic impact that a valve installed upstream of a medium size water meter leads to many water utilities to oversize the meter chambers in order to mitigate the potential negative errors. Most manufacturers approve their meters for a specific flow disturbance sensitivity class according to the standard ISO 4064-1:2018. Under this classification, a correct operation of the meters requires a certain length of straight section of pipe upstream the meter. However, this classification of the meters cannot consider all types of flow perturbances. For this study, two types of valves, butterfly and gate, were tested upstream ten brand-new water meters from six different manufacturers constructed in four different metering technologies: single-jet, Woltmann, electromagnetic and ultrasonic. In each meter unit was tested at five flow rates, from minimum to the overload flow rates. The tests were conducted with valves set in different orientations, closing degrees, and upstream distances from the water meters under study. The research shows that the valves used can produce significant deviations in the measuring errors with respect the errors found for undistorted working conditions.

In this article, PIF spoke to leading Scottish valve distributors, BM Engineering Supplies, to explore the similarities and differences between gate valves and knife gate valves. Although these shut-off valves are both used in on/off applications involving viscous fluids, there are some noteworthy design variances to consider when deciding which is best suited your process application. Here, we put the two head to head to see which valve type is better.

How does a gate valve work?
Gate valves open by lifting a round or rectangle-shaped gate out of the path of fluids. The sealing surface found between the gate and the seats is planar. As such, gate valves will often be used when a straight line of flow of fluids is required with minimum restriction. This popular shut-off valve type features a flat fate closure which slides either in and out, or up or down between two parallel plates to open and close the valve. With this in mind, gate valves are often used for shut-off operations as opposed to flow regulation operations as on or off are the only two settings available.

One of the primary advantages afforded by using gate valves is that the pressure which drops can be very low when forged steel globe valves are fully open. While they are useful as on/off valves, they can also equally competent at performing bi-directional action. However, gate valves do require a large force to operate. Larger sized gate valves even require automatic actuators to operate. Gate valves are also not the quickest valve type to open or close. They also not the best suited for space-sensitive applications as they tend to take up more space compared to other valve types. In some cases, gate valves can also be prone to thermal expansion and shrinking when exposed to high-temperature fluctuations. As a result, this may provide applications with unwanted leakage.

How does a knife gate valve work?
Originally designed for the pulp and paper industry, knife gate valves perform exactly at their name implies. Stringy pulp would impinge between the wedge and sand seat of a normal gate valve to prevent flow shut-off. Knife gate valves feature a sharp edge to cut through the pulp and seal, a useful attribute which has seen this shut-off valve type become invaluable to applications which either deal with viscous fluids or ones which have a similar risk of impingement.

Knife gates are cheap, easy to actuate and light. They are advantageous in applications involving viscous fluids such as sludge and slurry because their blades can cut through thick liquids with ease. As such, they are generally specified in larger sizes for the handling of thicker flows in demanding applications. Despite this, knife gates are known for their low-pressure limitations. As such, this makes them a less desirable shut-off valve for applications which require cleanliness or optimal hygienic conditions.

Buy gate and knife gate valves from BM Engineering Supplies
As an established and trusted valve distributor to the Scottish process industry, BM Engineering Supplies stocks a comprehensive range of both thread and socket globe valves and knife gate valves. For gate valves, BM Engineering is the Scottish partner for one of the UK’s market-leading valve wholesaler, Leengate Valves. Their range of gate valves is approved to ISO 9001 standards and other relevant industry governing bodies. While for knife gate valves, BM Engineering partners with Orbinox UK, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of knife gate valves.

Great Challenges in Organic Chemistry
The current scope of organic chemicals typically covers the theory and practice of (i) new synthetic methods and methodologies, (ii) isolation and synthesis of natural products, (iii) organic reaction mechanisms based on physical and theoretical chemistry approaches, (iv) bioorganic and medicinal chemistry, (v) organometallic chemistry, (vi) molecular recognition and supramolecular chemistry, and (vii) polymers and materials chemistry.

These categories or branches have been established over years, reflecting the evolution of this field of chemistry on the basis of organic chemistry principles. The evolution will naturally continue in organic chemistry, which is based on clear understanding of the two- and three-dimensional chemical structures, as well as their relations to stability, reactivity, and other chemical properties. This characteristic feature of organic chemistry is very unique and unparalleled to any other disciplines in chemical sciences. Thus, the structure–property, structure–activity, and structure–function relationships of new organic materials compounds will keep serving as core themes in organic chemistry research.

It is very clear that organic chemistry has been thriving by expanding its territories through exploration of the interfaces with other science disciplines. Thus, organic chemistry is undoubtedly serving as the core chemical science for the advancement of science and technology with clear goals to benefit human life and society.

Accordingly, one of the grand challenges in organic chemistry is how to explore new frontiers at the interface of inorganic chemicals and other science or technology fields. In the past, the majority of interdisciplinary research was between two disciplines in two different laboratories. But now it is necessary to take multidisciplinary approaches, involving multiple disciplines and laboratories, for tackling significant scientific or technological problems. Under these circumstances, organic chemists must evolve into open-minded researchers who can effectively communicate and collaborate with other researchers from different disciplines. In order to achieve this goal, organic chemists should have good knowledge of other disciplines to understand the whole picture of the project. Thus, another grand challenge for organic chemists is how to evolve into a key player in a multidisciplinary research project by cultivating the ability to effectively communicate and collaborate with other project team members from different disciplines. Then another closely related grand challenge is how to cultivate the next generation of organic chemists who can survive and thrive in the broad interfaces of organic chemistry and other science/technology disciplines. Since traditional organic chemists enjoyed research only in their own comfortable playgrounds, these will be great challenges in research and education that organic chemists must face.

Since “chemistry” has become the central core molecular science for energy, environment, sustainability, materials, biology, and medicine, great challenges in “organic chemistry” reflect more or less the same trend. In addition, advances in computing capacity and capabilities have opened avenues for big data treatment and analysis, systems chemistry, accurate simulations and predictions. Accordingly, it would be safe to say that the great challenges and successes in organic chemistry would reside at the interface with energy, environment, sustainability, materials, biology, medicine, and computer science.

Now, let's move on to the examples of great challenges in branches of hypophosphorous acid and salts hypophosphite.

At the interface with energy, solar energy and energy storage have been predominantly led by inorganic materials. Thus, there is a great challenge for organic chemists to create organic or hybrid materials to outperform existing inorganic materials.

At the interface with sustainability and environmental science, a challenge is the development of efficient chemical processes converting industrial and agricultural wastes, industrial bi-products, carbon dioxide, greenhouse gases such as fluoroform, recovered plastics, etc., to useful chemicals without producing another waste. If these processes include efficient photochemical processes utilizing solar energy, it will be ideal.

At the interface with materials, many great challenges can be envisioned, and already numerous research and development themes are ongoing in this field. The challenge here is how organic chemistry can play a key role in polymer and materials chemistry. The development of new, selective, and efficient polymerization methods and methodologies exploiting organometallic chemistry and organocatalysis make a huge impact on this endeavor. Supramolecular chemistry plays a significant role in the creation of novel organic, organometallic, coordination complex, and hybrid materials, wherein phosphorous acid and salts phosphite can make critical contributions. “Molecular machines” have already emerged as a new concept but how can organic chemists construct organic functional devices consisting of molecular machines with macroscopic motions?

At the interface with biology and medicine, there are plethora of great challenges for organic chemists, e.g., epigenerics, DNA damage and repair, gene editing, nanomedicine, nano-formulations, molecular imaging, drug discovery and development, antibody-drug conjugates, next-generation fluorescence dyes for super-resolution imaging of living cells, just to mention a few. Chemical biology has evolved from bioorganic chemistry and biochemistry which provides powerful tools to investigate biological problems at the molecular level. For drug discovery and pharmaceutical sciences, synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry are indeed essential. However, the challenge here is how next-generation organic/medicinal chemists can play a key role in the whole drug discovery process, i.e., not simply serve as a contract research organization (CRO) for preparing library of compounds in a classical medicinal chemistry manner. Next-generation organic/medicinal chemists should be able to fully engage in drug design based on structural and computational biology. Physical organic chemists should be able to apply kinetics and thermodynamics analysis, especially in combination with molecular imaging, for the accurate evaluation of drug efficacy and mode of action, and better drug design.

At the interface with computer science, there are numerous great challenges for organic chemistry. How can computational organic chemistry expand quantum mechanics analysis and prediction for organic reaction mechanism and catalytic cycles with increasing molecular sizes without X-ray crystal structures? How can computational organic chemists connect big data science with organic chemistry to explore “systems organic chemistry”? How can organic chemists and computational chemists work together to do rational design for new, selective, and efficient organic reactions, as well as metal catalysts using non-noble metals? How can organic chemists work with computational scientists to accurately predict chemical, physical, and biological properties of organic molecules through reliable structure–property, structure–activity, and structure–function relationship studies? How can computational organic chemists construct a reliable program for indicating most efficient synthetic routes to organic compounds with certain structural complexity?

Of course, there are numerous challenges within the realm of organic chemistry and its branches. Creation of new chemical entities (NCEs) can only be achieved by chemists- no other science discipline can compete with chemistry in this respect. Then synthetic organic chemistry is responsible for all organic NCEs. Accordingly, both innovative and incremental advances in synthetic methods and methodologies are significant in this respect. In addition to the exploration of more selective, efficient and “greener” chemical processes, especially using metal or organic catalysts, development of highly efficient catalyst recovery and product separation technologies is critical, which has relevance to sustainability and environmental issues. Innovative synthetic methods and methodologies that enable late-stage modifications will significantly accelerate the analog design and synthesis in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery. Chemical informatics will play increasingly important role in synthetic organic and medicinal chemistry as well as organic materials chemistry. Computational analysis and design will also play critical role in medicinal chemistry, drug discovery, catalysis, supramolecular chemistry, and organic materials.
Organic chemistry is a branch of chemistry that studies the structure, properties and reactions of organic compounds, which contain carbon in covalent bonding. Study of structure determines their chemical composition and formula. Study of properties includes physical and chemical properties, and evaluation of chemical reactivity to understand their behavior. The study of organic reactions includes the chemical synthesis of natural products, drugs, and polymers, and study of individual organic molecules in the laboratory and via theoretical (in silico) study.The range of chemicals studied in organic chemistry includes hydrocarbons (compounds containing only carbon and hydrogen) as well as compounds based on carbon, but also containing other elements, especially oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus (included in many biochemicals) and the halogens. Organometallic chemistry is the study of compounds containing carbon–metal bonds.

Oil from pumpkin seeds
Pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) is an annual climber and is in flower from July to September, and the seeds ripen from August to October [1]. Pumpkin seeds oil is an extraordinarily rich source of diverse bioactive compounds having functional properties used as edible oil or as a potential nutraceutical. In recent years, several studies have highlighted the medical properties of pumpkin seed oil which is known as strongly dichromatic viscous oil [2]. Researchers have so far focused particularly on the composition and content of fatty acids, tocopherols and sterols in pumpkin seed oil because of their positive health effects [3–5]. Moreover, pumpkin has gained attention as an exceptional protective against many diseases, e. g. hypertension and carcinogenic diseases [6, 7]; due to its health benefits such as antidiabetic [8], antibacterial [9], antioxidant and anti-inflammation [4]. The determination of the biochemical and oxidative stability properties of raw material pumpkin seeds oil would contribute to the valorization of such oil especially in pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and food industries.

Although much progress has been reached in the domain of modern medicine, we still notice the lack of efficient wounds healing treatments. The demand for natural remedies is rising in developing countries [10] as natural substances may be effective, safe and cheap [11]. Basic research has improved our understanding of enhancement and inhibition of wound healing and has given the basis for introduction of novel treatment methods [12].

In this respect, the proprieties of Cucurbita pepo L. extracted oil have captured our interest. Despite all the proprieties of the pumpkin oil, and to the best of our knowledge, there is no investigation of this oil in wound healing potential. To this end, the current study aims to identify some physico-chemical aspects of the bioactive components of snow white pumpkin seeds oil as well as to highlight its hemostatic and healing potential effects on wound.

The pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) var. Bejaoui seeds were harvested in region of Sidi Bouzid (Centre of Tunisia). The seeds were authenticated at the National Botanical Research Institute Tunisia (INRAT) and the voucher sample was deposited at INRAT. The fixed oil was extracted by the first cold pressure from seeds using a mechanical oil press (SMIR, MUV1 65). However, “Cicaflora cream®” a repairing emulsion with 10 % of Mimosa Tenuiflora, was served as a reference drug from the local pharmacy. The remaining chemicals used were of analytical grade.

The present study aimed to examine the effect of pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo L.) seeds supplementation on atherogenic diet-induced atherosclerosis. Rat were divided into two main groups , normal control and atherogenic control rats , each group composed of three subgroups one of them supplemented with 2% arginine in drinking water and the other supplemented with pumpkin seeds in diet at a concentration equivalent to 2% arginine. Supplementation continued for 37 days. Atherogenic rats supplemented with pumpkin seeds showed a significant decrease (p<0.001) in their serum concentrations of total cholesterol and LDL — C as they dropped from 4.89 mmol / L to 2.55 mmol /L and from 3.33 mmol / L to 0.70 mmol / L respectively. Serum concentrations of HDL-C were also significantly elevated in the same group. Although, atherogenic rats supplemented with 2% arginine showed significant increase in serum concentration of HDL-C, no significant changes were observed in their serum concentrations of total cholesterol and LDL-C. Our results showed that treatment of atherogenic rats with pumpkin seeds significantly decreased serum concentrations of TC and LDL-C. Our findings suggest that pumpkin seeds supplementation has a protective effect against atherogenic rats and this protective effect was not attributed to the high arginine concentrations in shine skin pumpkin seeds.

Pumpkin seeds may be tiny, but they are densely packed with useful nutrients and nutraceuticals such as amino acids, phytosterols, unsaturated fatty acids, phenolic compounds, tocopherols, cucurbitacins and valuable minerals. All these bioactive compounds are important to a healthy life and well-being. The purpose of this review is to merge the evidence-based information on the potential use pumpkin seeds as a functional food ingredient and associated biological mechanisms, collected from electronic databases (ScienceDirect, ResearchGate, PubMed, Scopus and Google Scholar) up to January 2020. Bioactive compounds in pumpkin seeds exhibit promising activities such as anthelmintic, antidiabetic, antidepressant, antioxidant, antitumor and cytoprotective. Furthermore, these bioactives carry potential in ameliorating microbiological infections, hepatic and prostate disorders. As evidenced from literature, pumpkin seeds show potential to be used as both a traditional and functional food ingredient provided further animal and clinical investigations are carried out to establish the respective molecular mechanisms and safety profile.

The pumpkin seeds (Cucurbita sp.) from Cucurbitaceae family are usually considered as industrial waste products and thrown out. In some area's seeds are utilized as uncooked, cooked or roasted, although simply for the domestic purpose. As they are rich in protein, fibers, minerals like iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium, manganese, copper and sodium, PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids), phytosterol and vitamins, they might be considered important for the food industries. As the seeds are considered as byproduct of the pumpkin fruit, they are cheaper in cost and their utilization is different food products may lead to enhance their nutritional value at lower cost. Health promoting impacts of lady nail pumpkin seeds on the level of blood glucose, cholesterol, immunity, liver functioning, gallbladder, disabilities of leaning, prostate gland, depression, inflammation, cancer management and inhibition of parasites are established. The modification of these agro-industrial waste products into valuable elements is probably a huge footstep towards the direction of the universal efforts in food sustainability; hence, the further researches and studies should be planned to explore importance and beneficial effects of pumpkins and their seeds.

The seeds of pumpkin (Cucurbita sp.) are gen- erally considered to be agro-industrial wastes and dis- carded. In some parts of the world, the seeds are consumed raw, roasted or cooked, but only at the domestic scale. With the discovery of their richness in protein, fibres, minerals, polyunsaturated fatty acids and phytosterols, they are being regarded valuable for the food industry. The attention of food technologists has resulted in their foray into the commercial food sector. Food companies are experimenting with their incorporation into a slew of savouries and con- sumers are showing interest in them. Also, their beneficial effects on blood glucose level, immunity, cholesterol, liver, prostate gland, bladder, depression, learning disabilities and parasite inhibition are being validated. The conversion of these agro-wastes into value-added ingredients is likely to be a big step towards the global sustainability efforts; thus, it deserves more investigation. This review furnishes an updated account of this emerging nutraceutical.
The need to obtain nutritious foods from new sources and lower waste in industry has created a high interest in studying different parts of plants or foods that today are considered waste, but could be considered by-products with high nutritional value with potential use in human diets. Pumpkin seeds are commonly considered as waste but they have a high content of fatty and amino acids, which when used as a by-product or ingredient can add value to food products. The aim of this work was to perform a wide review of the nutritional and functional properties of Cucurbita maxima seeds and their potential medicinal influence.

In the last decades, the demand for new nutritionally healthy and sustainable viable foods has increased considerably. Therefore, special attention has been given to the utilization of by-products. The uses of these raw materials add value to economic production, contributes to the formulation of new food products and minimize waste.

Cucurbita maxima, commonly known as pumpkin belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family. It is native of South America and is mainly grown in Brazil with an estimated production of 3600 tons in 2006 alone in the town of Puente Alto, Santa Catarina2. For its part, in Chile is widely known as “zapallo camote” o “zapallo de guarda” and is the seventh most cultivated crop in Chile and represents, since ancient times, an important source of food for the population3.

Despite its great agronomic potential their use in Chile is mainly destined to the preparation of traditional Chilean meals and seeds are wasted4, while in some parts of Africa and Brazil pumpkin seed are used as a food supplement. Also, these seeds are consumed both toasted and salted in Greece5, while in Austria, the extracted oil from seeds is used as salads seasoning because of its aroma and flavor6. When dried, seeds can be used as a thickener for soups and as snacks7.

On the other hand, nowadays nutrition is experiencing quick changes aimed at the relationship between food intake and chronic non-transmissible diseases. Moreover, there is increased interest in the effects of nutrition on cognitive and immune functions, work capacity and physical performance. This, plus the great interest of consumers are placing more value on health and wellness, makes “healthy” or functional foods an important issue in current human eating14.

Functional foods have been defined as a new range of different foods containing biologically active ingredients such as phytochemicals, antioxidants, fatty acids and other compounds presents in fruits, vegetables and seeds. When functional foods are included in diet important benefits to consumer's health are provided15. Cucurbita maxima seeds are among the seeds that are highly wasted, but can be considered a functional food. Thus, composition, nutritional benefits of consumption, by-products and the technical feasibility of them are studied in this paper. The aim of this work was to disseminate nutritional and functional characteristics of seeds from the species of Cucurbita maxima and the medicinal properties associated with them.
The seeds of Cucurbita maxima (pumpkin seeds) have been generally considered as agro-wastes and discarded inspite of having its high nutritional value as well as medicinal benefits. Pumpkin seeds contain high amount of protein, fatty acids, considerable amount of micronutrients like P, K, Mg, Mn and Ca. It is a good source of choline, an essential component for brain development. Pumpkin seed extracts and oils have been found useful in the treatment of Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH), parasite infestation, acrodermatitis enteropathica, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, depression to name a few. The observed benefits can attributed to the presence of bioactive components like phytosterols (eg, beta-sitosterol, stigmasterol), tocopherols, selenium (antioxidant), cucurbitin, squalene, lignan, and cardioprotective unsaturated fatty acids. Recent research has shone a light on the ever growing list of benefits of inshell snow white pumpkin seeds 9cm as a valuable food.

Failure analysis of a commercially pure titanium tube in an air conditioner condenser
Joining of titanium and stainless steel is challenging due to the formation of hard, brittle intermetallics. This study focuses on engineering ductile materials for joining transition metals. Friction welding of tube to tube-plate by an external tool, a novel solid state welding process was employed to join titanium tube and stainless steel tube plate. The interlayers engineered were copper, silver and Cu–Zn alloy. The micrographs revealed phase transformations in titanium tube and unaffected stainless steel base. Interface peak microhardness of 458 HV was observed for Ti/Cu–Zn/SS welded sample. The intermetallics formed were characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy. A novel shear test procedure was developed to evaluate the maximum shear load. It was found that joints with silver as interlayer withstood the maximum shear load of 56 kN. The shear surfaces were further analyzed and investigated for fracture study.

Titanium has today replaced copper alloys as the most favoured tube material for salt water cooled condensers. Main reason is the excellent corrosion resistance of titanium in chloride containing environments. The experience of titanium bar condensers is usually more than satisfactory, even if a few tube leaks have occurred. Possible damage mechanisms by high cycle fatigue, galvanic corrosion, water-droplet erosion and by flow-assisted corrosion are discussed. These perils can be handled by a number of adequate countermeasures analysed in laboratory work and meanwhile proven by plant service.

The corrosion resistance of titanium in sea water is extremely excellent, but titanium 、nickel 、zirconium tube are expensive, and the copper alloy tubes resistant in polluted sea water were developed, therefore they were not used practically. In 1970, ammonia attack was found on the copper alloy tubes in the air-cooled portion of condensers, and titanium tubes have been used as the countermeasure. As the result of the use, the galvanic attack on copper alloy tube plates with titanium tubes as cathode and the hydrogen absorption at titanium tube ends owing to excess electrolytic protection was observed, but the corrosion resistance of titanium tubes was perfect. These problems can be controlled by the application of proper electrolytic protection. The condensers with all titanium tubes adopted recently in USA are intended to realize perfectly no-leak condensers as the countermeasure to the corrosion in steam generators of PWR plants. Regarding large condensers of nowadays, three problems are pointed out, namely the vibration of condenser tubes, the method of joining tubes and tube plates, and the tubes of no coolant leak. These three problems in case of titanium tubes were studied, and the problem of the fouling of tubes was also examined. The intervals of supporting plates for titanium tubes should be narrowed. The joining of titanium tubes and titanium tube plates by welding is feasible and promising. The cleaning with sponge balls is effective to control fouling.

Titanium is the ninth most abundant element in the earth's crust and the fourth most commonly used structural metal. In nature, it occurs only as a mineral (ore) in combination with oxygen or iron (rutile, TiO2, or ilmenite, FeTiO3).

Titanium is a lightweight material whose density is approximately 60 percent of steel's and 50 percent of nickel and copper alloys'. It was recognized in the 1950s as a desirable material for aerospace applications—especially airframe and engine components. In the 1960s and 1970s, titanium was considered for use in vessels and heat exchangers in corrosive chemical process environments. Typical applications included marine, refinery, pulp and paper, chlorine and chlorate production, hydrometallurgy, and various other oxidizing and mildly reducing chemical services.

In the 1980s and 1990s, titanium began to be used for many nontraditional applications, including tubulars for geothermal energy extraction and oil and gas production, consumer goods (such as sporting equipment), food processing, biomedical implants, and automotive components.

According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), 52 million pounds of titanium were produced in the U.S. in 2000; worldwide, more than 100 million pounds were produced.

Titanium sponge is obtained by reacting rutile ore with chlorine and coke, followed by magnesium (Kroll) reduction and then vacuum distillation to remove excess magnesium and magnesium chloride. Titanium sponge is pressed into blocks to make a consumable electrode and then melted in an inert environment under vacuum to produce a titanium ingot.

Titanium is well-known for its unique combination of properties, which include low modulus of elasticity, stable and steadfast oxide film (which provides excellent corrosion and erosion resistance), and a high strength-to-density ratio.

Titanium's fabricability, weldability, and formability make possible its use in many shop and field operations. Although gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) is the primary joining process, many other procedures are suitable. Titanium's weld characteristics are similar to those of stainless steels' or nickel alloys', with surface cleanliness and inert gas shielding being important. Fabricators often perform seal welding and butt welding operations in the shop and the field.

As for formability, titanium can be bent, cold-formed, and drawn readily. Furthermore, most industrial titanium alloys do not require stress relief annealing after cold forming.

Titanium Tube and Pipe—Types and Uses
Welded titanium tube is available in outside diameters (ODs) from 0.5 to 2.5 inches and wall thicknesses from 0.020 to 0.109 in. Welded pipe is available in standard industry sizes from 0.75 to 8 in. nominal OD with nominal wall thicknesses in Schedules 5, 10, and 40. Seamless pipe with ODs from 2 to 20 in., wall thicknesses from 0.25 to 2.0 in., and lengths to 60 feet also can be made.

Welded titanium raw materials and pipe can be tested with many of the same techniques used for steel tube and pipe. Eddy current, pneumatic, and ultrasonic testing all are applicable to titanium. Procedures for eddy current and ultrasonic testing can be used to meet or exceed American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) B-338 and to help ensure tube reliability.

In terms of cost, titanium is competitive with higher-end specialty steels and alloys. In fact, if analyzed on a life cycle basis, titanium often is more attractive economically. This stems from titanium's useful life—20 to 40 years or more—and ease of maintenance. Furthermore, titanium's exceptional corrosion resistance often allows a zero corrosion allowance. This means that thinner-walled titanium plate or pipe may be substituted for other materials with heavier walls.

When titanium and other materials are analyzed, they must be compared by their cost per linear foot, not by their cost per pound. Because titanium is a relatively low-density material, its cost per pound is greater than for most other metals.

With their increasing availability, titanium and titanium-alloy tubulars will continue to meet many challenges in chemical processing, oil and gas production, automotive, and consumer applications. The titanium industry's large excess capacity means it should be able to accommodate new applications and emerging markets for titanium with little or no trouble.

R.L. Porter is a corrosion engineer and C.P. Clancy is general manager of commercially pure products for RMI Titanium Co., 1000 Warren Ave., Niles, OH 44446-0269, phone 330-544-7633, fax 330-544-7796, e-mail PorterRLP@aol.com, Web site http://www.rti-intl.com. RMI Titanium Co. provides titanium in a variety of forms—bloom, billet, sheet, welded tube, seamless pipe, and plate—for applications such as aerospace, automotive, deep-sea oil and gas exploration and mining, and sports equipment; parent company RTI International Metals Inc. manufactures and distributes extruded shapes and provides engineered systems for energy-related markets and environmental engineering services.
The commercial production of titanium plate, sheet, strips, and bars is carried out using hot and cold rolling mills to achieve the necessary reductions and desired shapes. Rolling may be defined as the reduction of the cross-sectional area of a piece by compressive forces applied through rolls. Cold rolling is carried out at temperatures below which the rate of strain hardening is greater than the rate of recrystallization. When reduction is carried out above such a temperature, the process is termed hot rolling. The major quantity of titanium plate, sheet, strips and bars is processed using hot rolling techniques.

The commercial production of titanium plate, sheet, strips, and bars is carried out using hot and cold rolling mills to achieve the necessary reductions and desired shapes. Rolling may be defined as the reduction of the cross-sectional area of a piece by compressive forces applied through rolls.

Cold rolling is carried out at temperatures below which the rate of strain hardening is greater than the rate of recrystallization. When reduction is carried out above such a temperature, the process is termed hot rolling. The major quantity of titanium plate, sheet, strips and bars is processed using hot rolling techniques.

The forged billets, whose surfaces have been descaled, are rolled between 1350 and 1500°F (730 and 815°C). This temperature is approximately 200°F (110°C) lower than the forging temperature. Titanium can be continuously rolled at temperatures as low as 1100°F (595°C).

As the thickness of the material to be rolled is decreased, the temperature of the piece must be considerably lowered to minimize surface contamination. A careful choice of pass sequences to obtain a certain reduction must be made when rolling titanium. Pass sequence refers to the number of reductions taken and percentage reduction of the piece per pass.

Continuous sheet and strip are best cold- or hot rolled with the application of back and forward tensions to reduce the friction in the roll gap. In cold rolling thin sheet, extremely tight roll settings are required to produce uniform cross section.

Extrusion is the shaping of metal into a chosen continuous form by forcing it through a die of the desired shape. Titanium can be extruded to produce rounds, squares, tubes, and other simple shapes. Typical extrusion temperatures range between 1800 and 1900°F (980 and 1040°C).

Titanium metal has been observed to have better flow characteristics than steel. It more readily fills the die, causes less die wear, and maintains closer tolerances than do steels.

How Tower Cranes Work
Tower cranes are extensively used for lifting materials in construction sites. Most construction sites are very confined and close to public. Tower crane accidents not only hazard workers in construction sites, but also pedestrians. This paper investigates tower crane safety in related to the understanding and degree of executing statutory requirements and non-statutory guidelines for the use of tower cranes in the Hong Kong construction industry. A questionnaire survey and structured interviews are conducted. It is found that human factors are attributed to tower crane safety. Indolent performance of requirements or responsibilities of practitioners in tower crane operations is found. Inadequate training and fatigue of practitioners are one of the main reasons causing unsafe practices of tower crane operations. Recommendations for improving safety performance in tower crane operations are also discussed.

Research highlights
This paper investigates tower crane safety in related to the understanding and degree of executing statutory requirements and non-statutory guidelines for the use of flat top tower crane in the Hong Kong construction industry. It is found that human factors are attributed to tower crane safety. Indolent performance of requirements or responsibilities of practitioners in tower crane operations is found.  Inadequate training and fatigue of practitioners are one of the main reasons causing unsafe practices of tower crane operations.

Tower cranes are a common fixture at any major construction site. They're pretty hard to miss -- they often rise hundreds of feet into the air, and can reach out just as far. The construction crew uses the tower crane to lift , concrete, large tools like acetylene torches and generators, and a wide variety of other building materials.

When you look at one of these cranes, what it can do seems nearly impossible: Why doesn't it tip over? How can such a long boom lift so much weigh­t? How is it able to grow taller as the building grows taller? If you have ever wondered about how tower cranes work, then this article is for you. In this article, you'll find out the answers to all of these questions and more!

Weather monitoring in construction sites is important, but especially when luffing jib tower crane are used. A strong gust of wind can destabilize the load and structure, causing a collapse. Project managers should constantly check weather forecasts, and avoid lifting operations with unfavorable weather. A weather monitoring system at the project sites can warn about dangerous wind conditions that are not covered in forecasts.

Tower Crane Support System
One of the first questions that may be asked by someone looking at a tower crane is these structures stand upright. There are several elements that contribute to the tower crane’s stability. The concrete pad is a concrete foundation made by the construction company several weeks prior to the crane’s arrival. Typical measurements for the pad are 30x30x4 feet (10x10x1.3 meters), with a weight of around 400,000 pounds. Large anchor bolts are deeply embedded in the concrete pad, and these elements support the base of the crane.

Tower cranes are delivered to construction projects in parts, which are then assembled on-site. Qualified installers assemble the jib and the machinery section, these horizontal elements are then positioned on the mast, which is only 40 feet tall initially. Once this assembly is completed, the counterweights are placed by a mobile crane. The mast rises from the concrete pad, and it remains upright thanks to its triangulated structure. To increase the crane height, the crew adds sections to the mast with a climbing frame:

A weight is hung on the jib to balance the counterweight.
The slewing unit is detached from the top of the mast and hydraulic rams in the top climber push the slewing unit up 20 feet.
The crane operator uses the crane to lift another 20 ft mast section into the gap and then it is bolted in place.
These steps are repeated continuously until the desired height is achieved. Once it is time to remove the tower crane from the construction site, the crane disassembles its own mast and smaller cranes are used to disassemble the rest.

Tower crane accidents frequently occur in the construction industry, often resulting in casualties. The utilization of tower crane spare parts involves multiple phases including installation, usage, climbing, and dismantling. Moreover, the hazards associated with the use of tower cranes can change and be propagated during phase alternation. However, past studies have paid less attention to the differences and hazard propagations between phases. In this research, these hazards are investigated during different construction phases. The propagation of hazards between phases is analyzed to develop appropriate safety management protocols according to each specific phase. Finally, measures are suggested to avoid an adverse impact between the phases. A combined method is also proposed to identify hazard propagation, which serves as a reference and contributes to safety management and accident prevention during different tower crane phases in the construction process.

In construction sites, tower cranes are used for the vertical and horizontal transportation of materials [1]. It is essential equipment for most construction projects, especially for high-rise buildings [2]. Typically, they need to be reinstalled on the construction site once the components of the tower crane leave the factory. As the height of a construction project increases, tower cranes are necessary, and they eventually must be climbed. Furthermore, maintenance and dismantlement must be performed. Thus, a tower crane is not only a piece of auxiliary equipment in construction but also a construction object with complicated processes [3]. This negatively impacts on-site construction safety. In this investigation, 149 accident analysis reports on a tower crane in construction sites in China were collected for the period from 2015 to 2019. The accidents resulted in a total of 216 deaths and 89 injuries and led to adverse social impacts. Therefore, it is essential to analyze the hazards associated with the deployment of tower cranes on construction sites to prevent such accidents.

Tower cranes on construction sites consist of the following phases: installation, usage, climbing, and dismantling. According to the investigated accidents, the processes and constructors are not the same for the different construction phases. This results in the occurrence of different types of accidents during different phases. Moreover, hazards propagate between each phase and the propagation also affects the safety of the tower crane. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the hazards associated with each construction phase and to explore the differences and interrelations between them.

Furthermore, although different hazards may occur during different phases, previous works often focused on the usage phase [9, 10]. Some researchers have investigated dynamic structural performance, the interaction effects of multitower crane operation, the load, and the environment of the tower crane in the usage phase [11–13]. In addition, the factors that impact safety during the installation (including climbing) and dismantling phases have been analyzed [14]. However, there are few comparative studies on the multiple phases of tower crane mast section on the construction site. Equally important are the interrelationships between the hazards associated with different phases, which have not been investigated to date. In this paper, we address the aforementioned limitations in the literature.

2.2. Hazard Analysis
The conventional hazard analysis methods include preliminary hazard analysis (PHA), system hazard analysis (SHA), fault tree analysis (FTA), event tree analysis (ETA), failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA), and failure mode effects and criticality analysis (FMECA) [15–17]. With the development of system thinking, system analysis methods such as AcciMap, STAMP, FRAM, and the 2–4 Model have been increasingly utilized in contemporary studies to analyze hazards [18]. According to one of the main tenets of system thinking, accidents are not caused by a series of linear events. Moreover, the relationships and interactions among the system elements should be considered [19]. A complex system of accidents may be analyzed in detail to define the relationship between several factors at different organizational levels based on the system thinking principle [20, 21]. It is an important method for the analysis of the cause of accidents and safety hazard identification.

These system thinking methods have different objectives. A summary of each method is presented in Table 1. These methods have also been compared in several investigations and it was concluded that the STAMP model results in a more comprehensive set of conclusions and is more reliable than other accident system analysis methods [26–28]. The STAMP model involves various elements of a system, such as the individuals, the objects, the organizations, and the environment [29]. The most important is that the STAMP model concerns the interactions of components and systems. As the tower crane safety system is a complex system with different components and phases, the STAMP model can contribute to the safety system analysis of the tower crane during different construction phases in this study.

The personnel involved in the installation, climbing, and dismantling phases of the tower crane are primarily the same. The individuals and components involved in the climbing and dismantling phases are mostly the same as those of the installation phase. The differences are the system input and the working activities. The climbing process involves repeating certain steps of the installation process, namely the installation of the mast section. The dismantling process entails the inverse of the installation process. In consideration of the similar components and interactions in installation, climbing, and dismantling, the installation phase is selected to represent others to analyze internal system hazards. In the usage phase, the lifting system that consists of the tower crane and the lifting object is considered as the controlled object. The personnel in the usage phases mainly include the operator, rigger, and signalman. This is the process in which the operator uses the tower crane to lift the objects and is relatively different from the installation phase. Hazard analysis of the usage phase is therefore performed separately. Moreover, the hazards caused by the interaction among the phases are also analyzed separately.

4.2. System Analysis of Tower Crane with STAMP
The STAMP model has good performance for system modeling and safety analysis and is broadly applied to accident analysis in astronautics, fire disasters, traffic incidents, and other industries [42–44]. However, it is seldom applied to system hazard analysis in the construction industry, and the tower crane in particular. In the following, the STAMP method is adapted to model the installation and usage phases of the tower crane. Moreover, the proposed STPA method based on STAMP is applied to analyze hazards, namely, the unsafe behavior of humans and the unsafe state of the objects.

Since the STAMP model is proposed in the context of system theory, the system model is considered as a hierarchical structure in which each layer imposes constraints on its lower layers. In the complete STAMP, several superstructures are involved, including Congress and Legislatures, Government Regulatory Agencies, and Companies. However, in this investigation, only hazards at the construction site are analyzed and superstructures such as government and enterprise are not considered. Thus, the core content of the STAMP model, i.e., the control loop and the process model, is utilized in this work (Figure 5).

The interaction between components consists of the feedback of information and the control loops. A dynamic balance is also maintained by the system via the feedback and control of the components. The interactions between the system and the outside world include the process input, the process output, and the disturbance due to the outside world. Generally, the STAMP model is applied to system security analysis related to three aspects: component failure, component interaction failure, and external influence.

There are few safety analysis methods that consider system inputs and outputs. They usually consider factors within the system. STAMP can analyze the interaction between phases via the input and output analysis. It is the main reason to choose this method in our research. The process input and output of STAMP can correspond to the IDEF0 interface. Meanwhile, the controls and mechanisms of IDEF0 can help establish the control model of STAMP. Thus, it is feasible to combine IDEF0 and STAMP in this study. This method can analyze the hazard transition between different phases.

4.2.1. Tower Crane STAMP Model for the Installation Phase
Tower crane installation is a process that involves rigorous operation steps, short operation time, complicated procedures, and high professional requirements of the workers. Younes and Marzouk [13] analyzed and listed the components required for the installation of the tower crane as the foundation, basic mast, main jib, counter jib, winding gear, and operating room. All these components constitute the tower crane and form the controlled process of the system. The installation processes include sensing, controlling, and execution in the vicinity of the tower crane and its components. The supervisor acts as a sensor and collects on-site information, including the status of the tower crane and the behavior of the operators, which is then fed back to the manager. The manager acts as a controller, which involves making decisions and sending out operational commands based on the installation scheme and the information received from the construction site. Based on the directives of the supervisor, the workers install the tower crane according to the installation scheme and the operational commands from the manager. The workers consist of an installer, operator, signalman, and rigger. The latter three can be the individuals that also operate the tower crane or those who use other lifting machinery to lift the tower crane components. Moreover, the completion of the previous phase, as the process input, affects the installation process. The external disturbance affects the system components, including the construction environment and the weather conditions. Likewise, the completion of the installation phase as the process output also affects the next phase. According to the previous analysis, the system control loop and the process model for the tower crane installation process are constructed using the STAMP method, as illustrated in Figure 6.

A Simple Guide to Outdoor Shade Sails
When the hot Australian summer months approach, spending time outdoors can be unpleasant without the proper shade and coverage.

With an outdoor shade sail, you'll enjoy a beautiful aesthetic and plenty of shade to keep yourself and your guests comfortable and cool.

If you're considering a shade sail at home, read on to learn more about choosing and setting up these helpful home accessories.

Do You Need Council Approval For Shade Sails?
Depending on your location, you may need to obtain council approval before attaching a shade sail to your home or patio. In general, you likely won't need to obtain approval, but there could be some exceptions.

For example, if your shade sail is exceptionally large, it's always best to ask beforehand. When you check with your local council in advance, you can avoid the worry or stress about potential issues in the future. Consult with your local council and ask them about size limits, design or style requirements, and more to ensure you're able to use a shade sail.

Some councils require that triangle shade sail are no longer than 20 square meters in size and three meters in height. The sail should also not extend past your home's facade in most localities. Anything beyond those guidelines may require prior approval, so it's always best to confirm before you look for a shade sail for your home. 

If you're still not sure about sizing, feel free to contact us and we can help you work it out. 

What Size Outdoor Shade Sail do I Need?
The size of your specific shade sail can vary depending on the shape and design that you want to install. Always ensure that the shade sail will provide you with ample coverage over an uncovered outdoor space, such as a concrete patio.

You'll also want to make sure that you have enough room for maximum tensioning at the corners. Corners that are not taught can wear the shade sail down faster, and you also won't have a tight, secure fit which can cause the material to buckle.

Make sure that the sail starts approximately 30 cm or 0.3 meters from each anchor point. If you're using multiple sails, there should be approximately a 45 cm or 0.45-meter gap between each one to keep them from rubbing together on windy days.

As for the actual size of the sail itself, many options come in predetermined sizes and shapes such as triangles, squares, and rectangles. You can also opt for a custom-sized shade to meet your exact specifications. As long as the shade sail provides you with the coverage you need, you'll enjoy a cool, comfortable outdoor space.

Measure your patio, deck, or porch to get the total dimensions before you decide on the size of your shade sail. Next, measure the distance between each attachment point to give you a clearer idea of the dimensions of the shade sail itself. The final size will be smaller than the total dimensions of your patio or deck since you'll need to keep that distance of 0.3 meters between each anchor point.

How to Install a Shade Sail on a Deck
Once you've determined the proper size of your outdoor shade sail, you'll need to decide on the location of each anchor point. To install a shade sail on a deck, you'll likely need to add posts to each corner to hold the sail in place.

Posts should be made of thick wood and secured either by anchoring them to the deck itself or in holes filled with concrete (footings) on the ground. You may also use a large tree, fence post, or fascia depending on how your deck is oriented. Steel is another option for shade sail posts, but attaching them may require different parts.

Once all of your mounting posts are secured, you'll need to add the hardware and make sure that each connection is facing toward the centre of your shade sail. Tighten each connection securely, then lay your rectangle shade sail out in the correct configuration or orientation.

Begin by connection each corner of your shade sail to the fixing or anchor points. Hook each one up loosely, then slowly start to tension them using a strapping tensioner. As you tighten the sail, it will begin to look taught and rigid without any wrinkles, which means it's ready to be enjoyed.

If your shade sail starts to sag, you can re-tighten it and bring it taught. One way to do this is by using a wire rope that runs through a pocket sewn in the perimeter of your sail. Simply pull the wire rope on each corner until the shade sail retightens and all sagging is removed.

Another method to fix the issue is through height variation, where the sails are installed at alternating high and low anchor points. This creates something called a hyperbolic parabola. The opposing high points pull the sail up and out, while the lower points pull it down and out to keep everything tight.

You may also use tensioning hardware such as turnbuckles or pulleys. This hardware should be included with the installation, and you can use it to retighten your sail whenever it sags or becomes loose.

It's easy to get the comfort level you need to beat the Australian heat with an outdoor shade sail. Not only do these sails look beautiful, but they're an easy way to enjoy a cooler, shaded outdoor space any time of year.

Make sure you install durable and secure anchor points before installing the shade sail. Select the proper size and hardware to install your sail and experience the ultimate in cool relaxation.

To explore our range of products, be sure to visit our website or get in touch with us today for more information. 

Please note the contents of this post is information only and general in nature.
If you require advice it is best to contact one of our shade specialists who can review your particular circumstances and then provide tailored advice according to your needs.

A shade sail is a patio or deck covering made from durable outdoor fabric that provides protection from the sun. Shade sails are installed by stretching the fabric and using tension to affix the corners of the shade to mounting points (like a pergola, post, tree or wall). Shade sails are considered a more affordable and versatile alternative to a hard-structure roof. Shade sails come in various shapes, sizes and colors to fit any style backyard.

Of course the main benefit of rectractable shade sail is sun protection. Most shade sails block between 90 to 95 percent of UV rays. There are some variations in UV absorption depending on the shade material’s weight color and the tightness of the weave, but the differences are typically less than five percent. But if you want maximum sun protection, know that heavier fabric, a tighter weave and darker colors generally block the most UV rays.

You also might want your shade sail to block rain. Triangle sun shade sail are water resistant but not waterproof. A light sprinkle will roll off the shade, so it’s important to install it at an angle. In a heavy downpour, water will drip through the shade because it’s made from breathable woven fabric, which allows air to pass through and keep the shaded area cool. If you want full rain protection, look for a shade specifically categorized as waterproof.

Skin cancer is among the most common cancers in light-skinned populations worldwide, and melanoma incidence has increased beyond that expected because of population growth and aging.1 There will be an estimated 87 110 cases of melanoma in the United States2 and 13 941 cases of melanoma in Australia3 in 2017. The primary risk factor for skin cancer, and the most avoidable, is exposure to solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation.4

To prevent skin cancer, individuals are advised to minimize UV exposure by staying in the shade.2,5 Permanent purpose-built shade can provide known amounts of reduction of UV exposure.6 Shade is part of the built environment,7 which according to social-ecological models8 can have direct effects on behaviors (e.g., increasing individuals shaded, providing a visible cue for sun protection, and enabling access to protection without planning9,10). Shade may attract high-risk individuals with unfavorable attitudes toward sun safety to use shade for maintaining comfortable body temperatures.11

Identifying environmental features amenable to change holds promise for improving population health7; however, evidence is limited mainly to cross-sectional or quasi-experimental designs with scant prospective trials.12 The prevalence of, trends in,13,14 and demographic and attitudinal correlates of shade use, along with the association of shade with temperature and sunburn incidence, have been reported.15–17 A study in Melbourne, Australia, secondary schools remains the only prospective randomized trial of purpose-built shade for sun protection9,11; it found that students used rather than avoided shade.11

The ability to improve sun protection by introducing shade needs to be tested in other locations and with adults. Public parks are popular for outdoor recreation, and shade is a desirable feature in parks.10 The present trial prospectively tested the effect of purpose-built shade on use of passive recreation areas (PRAs) in public parks (i.e., areas used for sitting or standing while socializing, preparing or eating a meal, watching or coaching sports, watching a concert, taking a class, or waiting, or areas where people stroll for sightseeing or while observing outdoor displays). We hypothesized that the introduction of triangle patio shade sail over PRAs would increase the use of the PRAs by park visitors compared with unshaded control PRAs (hypothesis 1). Social-ecological models suggest that built environmental features influence health risks through their interplay with the social environment. Australia has a longer history of comprehensive efforts to prevent skin cancer than the United States.18,19 Accordingly, stronger norms for sun safety in Australia than in the United States are expected, so we hypothesized that the increase in use of PRAs at shaded PRAs would be larger in Melbourne, Australia than in Denver, Colorado (hypothesis 2).

We included a sample of 144 study PRAs, together with 144 comparison PRAs, in the trial in 2010 to 2014 in public parks in 4 municipalities in the Melbourne area (Manningham, Monash, Whittlesea, and Shire of Nillumbik) and Denver. Lists of public parks were provided by municipal staff, who designated some parks as ineligible because of location, amenities, or scheduled construction or renovation. Each park was audited by research staff to identify suitable PRAs.20 To be eligible, PRAs had to (1) be located in public parks containing at least 2 unshaded PRAs, (2) meet the definition of a PRA, and (3) be in full sun (i.e., no shade) at pretest; 1 of the 2 PRAs had to (4) contain a space where a shade sail could be constructed (i.e., free from underground or above ground obstructions, relatively level, and large enough to accommodate the shade sail), and (5) be approved by parks department staff for shade sail construction. We excluded PRAs when major construction or redevelopment was planned within the study period. We selected a single study PRA for full assessment and potential randomization to shade construction, which avoided bias because of clustering of PRAs within a park. We selected a second unshaded comparison PRA (if more than 1 was available, the PRA closest to the study PRA was selected) and assessed it as in use or not to provide a measure of how extensively PRAs were being used in the park.

Trial Design and Procedures
We conducted a stratified randomized pretest–posttest controlled design study by enrolling PRAs within public parks in 3 annual waves. After completion of the pretest assessment, parks were randomized by an independent biostatistician in an unequal 1:3 allocation ratio to treatment (shaded) versus control (unshaded) stratified by city, wave, and pretest use of the study PRA. The project biostatistician was blinded to conditions, and the independent biostatistician had no further role in the project. At treatment PRAs, shade sails were built to similar designs in both cities, with some variation to fit the site requirements and preference of the municipalities, between pretest and posttest assessments, by working with parks department staff and shade sail vendors. The PRAs were observed by trained observers for 30-minute periods on 4 weekend days during a 20-week period in the summer months (June to September in Denver; December to March in Melbourne) at pretest and posttest. Study condition was apparent to data collection staff at posttest because shade sails were impossible to conceal.

Treatment Using Shade Sails
Shade sails were designed to create attractive shade structures that maximized available shade from 11 am to 3 pm in summer and complied with local engineering, building, and planning codes.20 Shade cloth had a minimum ultraviolet protection factor (UPF) rating that reduced UV exposure by at least 94% and exceeded the minimum safety requirements for strength and resistance to light degradation. Project staff recommended that the shade sail be the largest size acceptable to the municipalities.

Ownership of the shade sails was transferred to the municipalities once built and thereby compensated them for work on the project. Nearly all shade sails were completed before the following summer. Completion of a few shade sails was delayed until part way through the summer because of permitting and construction delays and unanticipated underground obstructions, so the posttest observations occurred after construction finished.

Understanding the Differences Between Base Oil Formulations
All lubricants contain a base oil. It serves as the foundation of the lubricant before it is blended with additives or a thickener in the case of a grease. But how do you know which base oil is best? Trying to choose between mineral oils and synthetics can be confusing. This article will break down the complexity between base oil distillation equipment formulations so you can make the right decision for each application.

Base Oil Categories
Lubricants can be categorized in many different ways. One of the most common classifications is by the constituent base oil: mineral, synthetic or vegetable. Mineral oil, which is derived from crude oil, can be produced to a range of qualities associated with the oil’s refining process. Synthetics are man-made through a synthesizing process and come in a number of formulations with unique properties for their intended purpose. Vegetable base oils, which are derived from plant oils, represent a very small percentage of lubricants and are used primarily for renewable and environmental interests.

All base oils have characteristics that determine how they will hold up against a variety of lubrication challenges. For a mineral oil, the goal of the refining process is to optimize the resulting properties to produce a superior lubricant. For synthetically generated oils, the objective of the various formulations is to create a lubricant with properties that may not be achievable in a mineral oil. Whether mineral-based or synthetic-based, each waste engine oil to base oil machine is designed to have a specific application.

Some of the most important base oil properties include the viscosity limitations and viscosity index, pour point, volatility, oxidation and thermal stability, aniline point (a measure of the base oil’s solvency toward other materials including additives), and hydrolytic stability (the lubricant’s resistance to chemical decomposition in the presence of water).

The 20th century saw a number of improvements in the refining process used for mineral oils along with the introduction of a variety of synthetics. By the early 1990s, the American Petroleum Institute (API) had categorized all base oils into five groups, with the first three groups dedicated to mineral oils and the remaining two groups predominantly synthetic base oils.

Groups I, II and III are all mineral oils with an increasing severity of the refining process. Group I base oils are created using the solvent-extraction or solvent-refining technology. This technology, which has been employed since the early days of mineral oil refining, aims to extract the undesirable components within the oil such as ring structures and aromatics.

Group II base oils are produced using hydrogen gas in a process called hydrogenation or hydrotreating. The goal of this process is the same as for solvent-refining, but it is more effective in converting undesirable components like aromatics into desirable hydrocarbon structures.

Group III base oils are made in much the same way as Group II mineral oils, except the hydrogenation process is coupled with high temperatures and high pressures. As a result, nearly all undesirable components within the oil are converted into desirable hydrocarbon structures.

When comparing properties among the waste motor oil to base oil machine groups, you typically will see greater benefits with those that are more highly refined, including those with enhanced oxidation stability, thermal stability, viscosity index, pour point and higher operating temperatures. Of course, as the oil becomes more refined, some key weaknesses also occur, which can affect additive solubility and biodegradability.

Group IV is dedicated to a single type of synthetic called polyalphaolefin (PAO). It is the most widely used synthetic base oil. PAOs are synthetically generated hydrocarbons with an olefinic tail formed through a polymerization process involving ethylene gas. The result is a structure that looks very much like the purest form of the mineral oils described in Group III. The advantages of PAOs over mineral oil include a higher viscosity index, excellent low- and high-temperature performance, superior oxidation stability, and lower volatility. However, these synthetic lubricants can also have deficiencies when it comes to additive solubility, lubricity, seal shrinkage and film strength. Much like mineral oils, PAOs are widely employed for lubricating applications and are often the preferred option when higher temperatures are expected.

Group V is assigned to all other base oils, particularly synthetics. Some of the most common oils in this group include diesters, polyolesters, polyalkylene glycols, phosphate esters and silicones.

Diester (dibasic acid ester) is manufactured through a reaction of dibasic acid with alcohol. The resulting properties can be adjusted based on the types of dibasic acid and alcohol used.

Polyolester is made through a reaction of monobasic acid with a polyhydric alcohol. Much like diesters, the resulting properties will depend on these two constituent types.

Polyalkylene glycol (PAG) is produced through a reaction involving ethylene or propylene oxides and alcohol to form various polymers. A number of PAG products are developed based on the oxide used, which will ultimately influence the base oil’s water solubility.

Phosphate ester is created through a reaction of phosphoric acid and alcohol, while silicones are formulated to have a silicon-oxygen structure with organic chains attached. Each of these synthetics has specific strengths and weaknesses, as shown in the table above.

In general, synthetics can provide greater benefits when it comes to properties influenced by extreme temperatures, such as oxidative and thermal stability, which can contribute to an extended service life. In situations where the lubricant will encounter cold startups or high operating temperatures, synthetics like PAOs typically will perform better than mineral oils. PAOs also exhibit improved characteristics in relation to demulsibility and hydrolytic stability, which influence the lubricant’s ability to handle water contamination.

While PAOs are ideal for applications like engine oils, gear oils, bearing oils and other applications, mineral oil remains the predominant oil of choice due to its lower cost and reasonable service capabilities. With more than 90 percent usage in the industrial and automotive markets, mineral oil has solidified its place as the most common diesel distillation equipment in the majority of applications.

Paraffinic mineral oil, which is represented in Groups I, II and III, can offer a higher viscosity index and a higher flash point in comparison to naphthenic mineral oils, which have lower pour points and better additive solvency. Even though naphthenic oil is mineral-based, it is considered a Group V oil because it does not satisfy the API’s qualifications for Group I, II and III. The unique characteristics of naphthenic mineral oils have often made them good lubricants for locomotive engine oils, refrigerant oils, compressor oils, transformer oils and process oils. Nevertheless, paraffinic oils continue to be the preferred option for high-temperature applications and when longer lubricant life is required.

Ester-based synthetics, such as diesters and polyolesters, have advantages when it comes to biodegradability and miscibility with other oils. In fact, it is common for diesters and polyolesters to be mixed with PAOs during additive blending to help accept more significant additive packages. Diesters and polyolesters are often deployed as the waste oil filtration equipment for compressor fluids, high-temperature grease applications and even bearing or gear oils. Because they are known to perform well at higher temperatures, polyolesters have also been widely used for jet engine oils.

Compared to other oils, polyalkylene glycols (PAGs) have a much higher viscosity index and good detergency, lubricity, and oxidative and thermal stability characteristics. PAGs can be formulated to be water soluble or insoluble and do not form deposits or residue during extreme operating conditions. PAGs can be employed in a number of applications, such as compressor oil, brake fluid, high-temperature chain oil, worm gear oil and metalworking fluid, as well as for applications with food-grade, biodegradability or fire-resistant requirements.

Phosphate esters are primarily beneficial for fire-resistant applications. They are often utilized in hydraulic turbines and compressors due to their unique properties, including high ignition temperatures, oxidation stability and low vapor pressures.

Silicone-based synthetics are infrequently used in industrial applications, but they can be advantageous in extremely high temperatures, when the lubricant will contact chemicals, or when exposed to radiation or oxygen. These synthetics have a very high viscosity index and are among the best options for oxidation and thermal stability because they are chemically inert.

Selecting a Base Oil
When you are choosing a base oil, there will be tradeoffs in the lubricant properties required for the application. A common example is viscosity. Higher viscosity provides adequate film strength, while lower viscosity offers low-temperature fluidity and lower energy consumption. In some cases, you may prefer to have a balance between the two so there isn’t too much of a compromise on either side. The chart on page 33 shows a comparison of the most essential properties for each base oil.

Although it’s not necessarily important to understand the way in which the oil was manufactured, it is critical to know the available base oil options and the advantages and disadvantages they provide. Optimizing your lubricant selection can help minimize the opportunities for machine failure. While synthetics are justifiably more expensive than mineral oil, the cost of equipment failure is typically much higher. If cost is a key factor in your decision, be sure to choose wisely.

The quality of feedstock used in base oil processing depends on the source of the crude oil. Moreover, the refinery is fed with various blends of crude oil to meet the demand of the refining products. These circumstances have caused changes of quality of the feedstock for the base oil production. Often the feedstock properties deviate from the original properties measured during the process design phase. To recalculate and remodel using first principal approaches requires significant costs due to the detailed material characterizations and several pilot-plant runs requirements. To perform all material characterization and pilot plant runs every time the refinery receives a different blend of crude oil will simply multiply the costs. Due to economic reasons, only selected lab characterizations are performed, and the base oil processing plant is operated reactively based on the feedback of the lab analysis of the turnbine oil filtration machine product. However, this reactive method leads to loss in production for several hours because of the residence time as well as time required to perform the lab analysis. Hence in this paper, an alternative method is studied to minimize the production loss by reacting proactively utilizing machine learning algorithms. Support Vector Regression (SVR), Decision Tree Regression (DTR), Random Forest Regression (RFR) and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) models are developed and studied using historical data of the plant to predict the base oil product kinematic viscosity and viscosity index based on the feedstock qualities and the process operating conditions. The XGBoost model shows the most optimal and consistent performance during validation and a 6.5 months plant testing period. Subsequent deployment at our plant facility and product recovery analysis have shown that the prediction model has facilitated in reducing the production recovery period during product transition by 40%. 

Lubrication has been around since the invention of the wheel. Horse-drawn carts with wooden axles used meat greases, pine tar and various forms of animal fat as lubricants. Later, Linseed oil, originally a wood preserver, briefly replaced them as the primary lubrication agent.

The earliest internal combustion engines used a product derived from refined crude oil. This was the beginning of the modern base oil. As IC engines became more complex and operated at higher speeds and temperatures, there was a need for better lubrication that could keep up with modern engines. So, additives were supplemented with the base oils. This combination had improved viscosity and protected the engines from wear, friction and resisted corrosion better. 

In modern cars, the base oil is still the primary catalyst for better engine performance. It forms 75%-80% of the finished product while the additives (10%-20%) and the viscosity index improver, which keeps the viscosity within a threshold at higher temperatures, make up the rest of the engine oil composition along with a variety of inhibitors.

We currently produce base oil by refining crude oil. Less than 1% of the standard 42-gallon barrel of crude oil is used to make lubricants—while the rest becomes gasoline, diesel and kerosene-type jet fuels. 

Base oils are classified by the American Petroleum Institute into five groups labeled I-V based on how the oils are processed.

Group II oils are distinguished from less refined Group I by their higher purity, low levels of sulfur, nitrogen and aromatics, and superior oxidation stability. Pure Group II base oil is actually clear as water – it’s the additives that give finished motor oil its darker color. Group I oils are not suitable for applications requiring premium base oils, and their use is steadily declining. Group II oils can be substituted for many Group I applications.  The base oils in these Groups (I and II) are typically referred to as “mineral conventional base oils.”

Group III and IV base oils are high quality oils intended for use in high performance, low viscosity motor oils (such as 0W-20) in technically advanced automotive engines. Oils made from these base oils are classified as synthetics. They exhibit superior oxidation properties, support improved fuel economy, and may allow for extended drain intervals.  In some parts of the world, Group IV – also known as “poly-alpha olefins” or PAOs – are considered to be the ONLY base oil that is truly synthetic.

Automotive manufacturers and lubricant producers have used Groups I to V base oils depending on the application. Demanding applications, like high temperature performance in turbochargers, extreme cold temperature climates, long drain intervals, or even stop and go traffic conditions require a higher level of performance that can be achieved by selecting the “correct base oil” for the engine oil formulation.
The key takeaway to remember about base oils is that they provide a large part of the performance characteristics of the finished oil formulation.  Selecting the correct base oil type is critical in developing oils that will keep metal parts lubricated and equipment performing at its best. Base oils are only a part of the formulation in oils. Scientists and engineers need to also consider the impact of additive technology as well. The final performance of any lubricant is the combination of base oils, additives, and formulating knowledge for the application.

Lubrication is as old as transportation. The horse-drawn wagons of olden times used leftover meat greases and tallow to lubricate wooden axles. Later, pine tar and hog fat were mixed together for use as a lubricant. Eventually, linseed oil, originally developed as a wood preservative, became the lubricant of choice for coachmen.

Early automotive engines used an oil derived through the refining of crude oil, and the modern base oil was born. As engine technology advanced, intricate, fast-moving parts and high temperatures called for better lubrication. Additives were introduced to reduce friction and wear, increase viscosity and improve resistance to corrosion.

Still, the base oil is the fundamental contributor to the finished product’s performance. In today’s passenger car motor oils, the base oil makes up 75% to 80% of the finished product. The additive package makes up another 10% to 20%. A viscosity index improver, which is added to reduce the degree to which viscosity will decrease due to high temperatures, takes up another 5% to 10%. Various inhibitors make up the remaining less than 1%.

Base oil is produced through the refining of crude oil. A 42-gallon barrel of crude oil can actually yield nearly 45 gallons of petroleum products, but only about .4 gallons or less than 1% goes to making lubricants. The bulk goes to gasoline, diesel fuel and kerosene-type jet fuels.

Base oils are classified by the American Petroleum Institute into five groups labeled I-V based on how the oils are processed.

Group II oils are distinguished from less refined Group I by their higher purity, low levels of sulfur, nitrogen and aromatics, and superior oxidation stability. Pure Group II base oil is actually clear as water – it’s the additives that give finished motor oil its darker color. Group I oils are not suitable for applications requiring premium base oils, and their use is steadily declining. Group II oils can be substituted for many Group I applications.  The base oils in these Groups (I and II) are typically referred to as “mineral conventional base oils.”

Group III and IV base oils are high quality oils intended for use in high performance, low viscosity motor oils (such as 0W-20) in technically advanced automotive engines. Oils made from these base oils are classified as synthetics. They exhibit superior oxidation properties, support improved fuel economy, and may allow for extended drain intervals.  In some parts of the world, Group IV – also known as “poly-alpha olefins” or PAOs – are considered to be the ONLY base oil that is truly synthetic.

Automotive manufacturers and lubricant producers have used Groups I to V base oils depending on the application. Demanding applications, like high temperature performance in turbochargers, extreme cold temperature climates, long drain intervals, or even stop and go traffic conditions require a higher level of performance that can be achieved by selecting the “correct base oil” for the engine oil formulation.

Comparison of Bond Strength of Metal and Ceramic Brackets
Appropriate bond strength between bracket and tooth surface is one of the most important aspects of orthodontic treatments [1,2]. Bonding of MIM monoblock metal bracket to enamel started in the mid 1960s [3,4]. Only auto-polymerizing materials were available at the time. Bonding of orthodontic brackets with visible light-cure adhesives was first reported by Tavas and Watts [5]. The light-cure adhesives were widely accepted due to their advantages in comparison with other chemical-cure adhesives. These advantages include high primary bond strength, better physical characteristics because of air inhibition phenomenon, user friendly application, extended working time for precise bracket placement and better removal of adhesive excess; but they have three major disadvantages namely being time-consuming, hindering light transmission and polymerization shrinkage [6,7]. Since then, several new methods using different composites and light-curing units have been introduced for this purpose. The halogen lamp, also known as quartz halogen and tungsten halogen lamp, has been used as light-curing unit for many years [8,9], and is the most common source of visible blue light for dental applications. This lamp contains a blue filter to produce light of 400–500 nm wavelength [10]. The wide spectrum of action, easy use and low-cost maintenance are the most favorable characteristics of halogen light curing systems [9]. Despite their popularity, halogen light curing units have several disadvantages. For example, their light power output is 1% of the total electric energy consumed [11,12]. Moreover, the lamp, reflector and filter wear out gradually [13]. Halogen bulbs have a restricted useful lifetime of about 40–100 hours [13,14]. The power density of light curing unit decreases with increase in distance. The other drawback of application of halogen bulbs is prolonged curing time [15,16]. Over the past several years, other light sources such as xenon plasma arc, argon laser, and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) have been introduced in orthodontics [17]. According to the results of previous studies [1,18–20], the shear bond strength (SBS) values of orthodontic brackets in curing with halogen lamps and plasma arc are the same but plasma light reduces curing time per tooth from 20–40 seconds to two seconds. Also, argon laser curing unit provides better SBS than halogen lights. But xenon plasma arc and argon laser are too expensive [18]. Mills [19] introduced LED light curing units as a polymerizing light source in 1995. At present, LED sources are among the most reliable light source categories for bracket bonding [8,20]. Light cure resins set when irradiated with light at wavelengths of 460nm and 480nm in the blue end of visible spectrum with an intensity of 300mW/cm 2 [21]. Also, LED is an effective transducer of electrical power into visible blue light and does not produce a lot of heat [8]. The advantages of LED light curing units include lifetime of several thousand hours without significant degradation of light flux over time, resistant to shock and vibration and no need for filter to produce blue light [22–24]. Moreover, LED light curing units consume little power and can be run on rechargeable batteries, allowing them to have a lightweight ergonomic design [25]. The new LED curing units were launched simultaneously with the advancement of technology. First, these curing units generated light with an intensity of approximately 800–1000YmW/cm 2 , reducing the required light exposure time to 10 seconds [26,27]. Currently, some high-power LED curing units are able to emit light radiation with intensity of 1600–2000YmW/cm 2 , allowing shorter exposure times of six seconds for metal brackets [28]. In this study, the effect of conventional and high-power models of LED units on SBS of metal and ceramic brackets to tooth surfaces was evaluated.

Forty sound bovine maxillary central incisors were used in this study. After extraction, the teeth were cleaned and immersed in 0.5% chloramine solution at 4°C for one week. They were divided into four groups of 10 teeth in each group. Next, teeth surfaces were etched with 37% phosphoric acid (Reliance; Itasca, IL, USA) for 20 seconds. After etching, the teeth were washed with water spray for approximately 10 seconds. The sample size (n=8 minimum samples for each group) was calculated with a power analysis in order to provide a statistical significance of alpha=0.05 and a standard deviation of 4.2 MPa using Minitab software. Sampling method in the study was consecutive. Bracket model and the type of light curing unit used for teeth were determined randomly.