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Continuous annealing (CA) units usually lack a physical shapemeter; consequently, real-time display and closed-loop control of the strip shape are impossible to achieve.

A shape model for the CA process is established in this study. Specifically, a virtual shapemeter and closed-loop control system based on the advanced parameter acquisition system and information transmission of CA units are developed in C++ programming language. This system realises real-time dynamic shape display, closed-loop control and shape prediction by collecting raw data of steel coils and parameters during CA.

Field test results show that the shape predicted by the virtual shapemeter coincides with the measured shape by over 90 per cent, which fully meets the precision requirement of industrial applications.

Moreover, shape quality is effectively improved without increasing hardware investments.

The aim of this paper was to inhibit the serious corrosion of conventional ionic liquids, a series of new ionic liquids (ILs) containing the triazole functionality, as the anti-corrosion groups were synthesized in this work.

It is well known that nitrogen and sulfur containing organic compounds have been traditionally used as corrosion inhibitors. Among them, triazole derivatives are most often used as corrosion inhibitors. To alleviate the corrosion of the ILs and further improve the anti-wear property, the authors prepared a series of imidazolium ILs modified with the triazole functionality in the present study.

The corrosion behavior of the ILs was evaluated with the iron disk corrosion test and their tribological properties were investigated on an Optimol SRV IV oscillating friction and wear tester at elevated temperatures. The results showed that the ILs with the triazole functionality could effectively reduce the corrosion and exhibit a smaller friction coefficient and wear volume than the unmodified counterpart. The ILs containing the triazole functionality can be used as the single component anti-corrosion base oils even at elevated temperatures.

The results showed that the ILs with the triazole functionality could effectively reduce the corrosion and exhibit a smaller friction coefficient and wear volume than the unmodified counterpart. The ILs containing the triazole functionality can be used as the single component anti-corrosion base oils even at elevated temperatures.

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize a series of cyclophosphazene derivatives with better tribological properties.

To improve the adsorptivity to substrate, a series of cyclophosphazene derivatives substituted with ionic liquids were synthesized. The lubricity characteristics of phosphazene derivatives were evaluated on an Optimol SRV IV oscillating friction and wear tester. Scanning electron microscope and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscope analyses were conducted to examine the morphology and chemical composition of the wear scars and the possible tribochemical changes involved in the friction process.

Alkoxycyclophosphazene derivatives substituted with ionic liquids synthesized in the present work show better antiwear ability and load‐carrying capacity in steel‐steel contacts. The density of ion pairs plays an important role on tribological properties.

The paper deals with only a limited compounds and steel‐steel contacts. The paper works on the subject progressively to explore more combinations for better tribological properties.

All the cyclophosphazene derivatives present better tribological performance and could be used as base oils, such as hard disk surface lubricants.

Ionic liquids are introduced to cyclophosphazene derivatives in this paper. This is a new method to improve the tribological properties of cyclophosphazene derivatives.

The purpose of this paper is to prepare water‐soluble TiO₂ nanoparticles and evaluate the tribological properties as additives in water.

Nanoparticles present excellent friction‐reducing and antiwear properties as additives in base oils. However, there are seldom literatures about the nanoparticles as additives in water as yet. In this work, water‐soluble TiO₂ nanoparticles were prepared by sol‐gel method and characterized with transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction. The tribological properties as additives in water were investigated by SRV and the surface analysis by scanning electron microscope and X‐ray photon electron spectroscope.

TiO₂ nanoparticles modified with polyethylene glycol have uniform size about 10 nm and easily dissolve in water. The tribological experiments showed TiO₂ nanoparticles exhibit excellent friction‐reducing and antiwear properties.

The paper is restricted to only TiO₂ nanoparticles. Some other water‐soluble nanoparticles also should be prepared and their tribological properties investigated.

Water‐soluble TiO₂ nanoparticles could be used as water additives and improve the tribological properties.

This paper emphasises that the water‐soluble nanoparticles are prepared and could be used as water additives.

This study examines how maturity mismatch, a specific type of financial structure of firms, affects corporate outward foreign direct investment (OFDI).

Using the number of newly established foreign subsidiaries in a given year as firm-level OFDI and utilizing data from Chinese listed firms between 2007 and 2022, we employ a negative binomial regression model to examine the impact of corporate maturity mismatch on the OFDI. We also make efforts to ensure the robustness of the result, such as employing an exogenous policy to establish a difference-in-difference model.

The empirical result indicates that maturity mismatch inhibits firms' OFDI. Additional test shows that maturity mismatch increases firms' financing costs and reduces firms' research and development (R&D) investment and that the negative impact of maturity mismatch on OFDI is predominantly observed in firms with high financial constraints and low R&D intensity, indicating that maturity mismatch may affect firms' OFDI through the financing cost channel and the R&D investment channel.

Corporate maturity mismatch is common in China and similar emerging markets. However, research on the economic consequences of maturity mismatch, especially its impact on firms' overseas expansions, is rare. This study establishes the relationship between corporate maturity mismatch and OFDI, contributes to the literature on the relationship between financial factors and OFDI, and provides policy implications for emerging market countries.

This paper aims to link location choice and ownership structure to the debate on the multinationality–performance relationship.

This paper draws on a panel data set that covers 1,321 emerging economy multinational enterprises (EMNEs) and includes 4,227 observations from 44 emerging economies between 2004 and, 2013.

The empirical results find that multinationality has a positive effect on EMNEs’ performance, and that this positive effect is larger for their investments in developed countries than in developing countries. The study also finds that this positive effect of foreign operation in developed countries switch to negative at higher levels of multinationality for privately owned EMNEs than for state-owned EMNEs.

This paper provides new empirical evidence to support an institutional perspective of the internationalisation of EMNEs that are investing in developed countries, contributing to the multinationality-performance literature, highlighting the importance of foreign direct investment location decision and ownership structure.

This study aims to improve the maneuverability and stability of four-wheel chassis in a small paddy field; a front axle swing steering four-wheel chassis with optimal steering is designed.

When turning, the front inner wheel stops and the rear inner wheel is in the following state. The hydraulic drive system of the walking wheel adopts a driving mode in which two front-wheel motors are connected in series and two rear wheel motors in parallel. The chassis uses a combination of a gasoline engine with a water cooling system, a CVT continuously variable transmission and a hydraulic drive system to increase the control capability. The front axle rotary chassis adopts a step-less variable speed engine and a hydraulic control system to solve the hydraulic stability of the chassis in uphill and downhill conditions so as to effectively control the over-speed of the wheel-side drive motors. Through the quadratic orthogonal rotation combination design test, the mathematical models of uphill and downhill front-wheel pressures and test factors are established.

The results show that the chassis stability is optimal when the back pressure is 0.5 MPa, and the rotating slope is 4°. The uphill and downhill pressures of the front wheels are 2.38 MPa and 1.5 MPa, respectively.

The influence of external changes on the pressure of hydraulic motors is studied through experiments, which lays the foundation for further research.

The traction behaviours of lubricating oil significantly affect the stability and lubrication regime of aviation high-speed ball bearings. Rolling elements will slide at a low traction force (TF). Therefore, traction behaviours need to be studied, and a fitting expression for traction curves to rapidly calculate the traction coefficient (TC) should be developed.

The traction behaviours of an aviation lubricating oil were studied in severe operating conditions with a self-designed two-disc testing rig. Based on the least squares method and the Levenberg–Marquardt theory, a rapid calculation expression was developed by fitting the obtained traction curves. The correction of this expression was experimentally verified by comparing the TCs under different operating conditions. This expression was also used to modify the commonly accepted quasi-dynamic model of rolling bearings.

An increase of the load led to an increase in the TC. In comparison, the temperature and entrainment speed showed inverse effects. The proposed expression exactly predicted the trend of the experimentally acquired traction curve. The calculation with the modified dynamic model showed that the action of the TF on a single rolling element varied and that the temperature increase of the outer raceway is higher than the inner raceway, which is caused by the TF and relative sliding speed between the elements and raceways.

The proposed fitting expression is able to simplify the TC calculation of synthetic aviation lubricating oil in practical engineering applications. This paper can provide an important reference for the traction behaviour of synthetic aviation lubricating oil under severe conditions and assist with its rapid calculation and practical application in engineering.

The purpose of this research is to investigate how critical managerial IT capabilities, such as IT business spanning capability, interact with two pivotal types of technical IT capabilities (i.e. IT flexibility and IT integration) to affect organizational agility. Especially, the authors mainly examine a positive synergy or complementary relationship between IT business spanning capability and IT flexibility and a negative synergy or substitution relationship between IT business spanning capability and IT integration.

The authors develop a research model that integrates IT flexibility, IT integration, IT business spanning capability and organizational agility. Based on a matched-pair, cross-sectional field survey of IT and business managers, they use partial least squares (PLS) to analyze this research model.

IT flexibility and IT integration have been empirically proven to be positively associated with organizational agility. Furthermore, the research results indicate a positive synergy or complementary relationship between IT business spanning capability and IT flexibility, whereas they indicate a negative synergy or substitution relationship between IT business spanning capability and IT integration with regard to organizational agility. This finding demonstrates that IT business spanning capability can differentially influence organizational agility depending on its interaction with specific technical IT capability types. In addition, the effects of IT flexibility on organizational agility are high, whereas the effectiveness of IT integration decreases in the presence of high IT business spanning capability. Each type of technical IT capability displays different effectiveness under high IT business spanning capability. Thus, appropriate technical IT capability types should be carefully deployed, and highly effective technical IT capability types, such as IT flexibility, should be prioritized under high levels of IT business spanning capability.

This research highlights the joint effects of IT business spanning capability and two pivotal types of technical IT capabilities (i.e. IT flexibility and IT integration) on organizational agility, ultimately contributing to OM theories and practices.

Accurate presentation of the rock microstructure is critical to the grain-scale analysis of rock deformation and failure in numerical modelling. 3D granite microstructure modelling has only been used in limited studies with the mineral pattern often remaining poorly constructed. In this study, the authors developed a new approach for generating 2D and 3D granite microstructure models from a 2D image by combining a heterogeneous material reconstruction method (simulated annealing method) with Voronoi tessellation.

More specifically, the stochastic information in the 2D image is first extracted using the two-point correlation function (TPCF). Then an initial 2D or 3D Voronoi diagram with a random distribution of the minerals is generated and optimised using a simulated annealing method until the corresponding TPCF is consistent with that in the 2D image. The generated microstructure model accurately inherits the stochastic information (e.g. volume fraction and mineral pattern) from the 2D image. Lastly, the authors compared the topological characteristics and mechanical properties of the 2D and 3D reconstructed microstructure models with the model obtained by direct mapping from the 2D image of a real rock sample.

The good agreements between the mapped and reconstructed models indicate the accuracy of the reconstructed microstructure models on topological characteristics and mechanical properties.

The newly developed reconstruction method successfully transfers the mineral pattern from a granite sample into the 2D and 3D Voronoi-based microstructure models ready for use in grain-scale modelling.