O diamante natural, dada a sua extrema dureza, apresenta elevada resistência ao desgaste. No entanto, além do seu elevado custo, caracteriza-se por uma forte anisotropia no comportamento tribológico. Estas limitações são ultrapassadas pela utilização de revestimentos de diamante obtidos por deposição química em fase vapor (CVD), que pela sua natureza policristalina combinada com a retenção das propriedades de excepção do diamante, proporcionam superfícies com elevado desempenho tribológico. Os revestimentos de diamante CVD podem ser depositados sobre substratos de natureza diversa. Porém, de modo a garantir elevados níveis de adesão, os cerâmicos à base de nitreto de silício (Si3N4) são substratos particularmente atractivos dado possuírem natureza carburígena e um coeficiente de expansão térmica próximo do do diamante. No presente trabalho foram produzidas por sinterização amostras densas de Si3N4, as quais foram posteriormente revestidas a diamante obtido por deposição química a partir da fase gasosa activada por plasma de micro-ondas (MPCVD). Os testes tribológicos foram realizados na configuração esfera-placa (BOF), na ausência de lubrificação e em atmosfera ambiente, envolvendo pares próprios de diamante CVD. A carga normal aplicada variou entre 10 N e 80 N, mantendo-se constante a frequência (1 Hz) de oscilação da placa. O comportamento tribológico foi caracterizado por valores do coeficiente de atrito em regime estacionário extremamente baixos (f ~ 0.03-0.04), acompanhados de taxas de desgaste denotando um regime de desgaste suave a muito suave (10-8 ≤ K ≤10-7 mm³N-1m-1). O principal mecanismo de desgaste consistiu na clivagem dos cristais de diamante paralelamente ao plano de deslizamento, resultando no polimento à escala fina das superfícies em interacção tribológica.

Due to its extreme hardness natural diamond posses a high wear resistance. However, apart from the high cost, it is characterised by a strong anisotropy in terms of tribological behaviour. These limitations are overcome using diamond coatings produced by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) which due to their polycristalline nature, while retaining the extreme properties of natural diamond, make surfaces with high tribological performance. CVD diamond coatings can be deposited on various types of substrates. However, in order to sustain high levels of adhesion, silicon nitride (Si3N4) based ceramics constitute a particularly attractive substrate material due to its carburizing nature and low thermal expansion coefficient mismatch with diamond. In the present work, dense Si3N4 samples were diamond coated using the microwave plasma activated chemical vapour deposition (MPCVD) technique. The tribological tests were performed using a ball-on-flat (BOF) configuration on self-mated diamond CVD pairs, without the presence of lubrication in ambient atmosphere. The applied normal varied in the range 10-80 N, while keeping the frequency (1 Hz) constant throughout the tests. The tribological behaviour was characterised by extremely low steady-state friction coefficient values (f ~ 0.03-0.04), accompanied by wear rates denoting a very mild to mild wear regime (10-8£ K £ 10-7 mm³N-1m-1). The main wear mechanism consisted on the truncating of diamond crystals parallel to the plane of sliding, resulting in a self-polishing of the interacting surfaces at the micro-scale level.

A soldadura por ultra-sons é um processo utilizado na obtenção de uniões em cablagens eléctricas para automóveis. Porém, a alteração superficial das peças activas que contactam os fios de cobre durante o processo de soldadura deve ser minimizada. Assim, a superfície de contacto das ferramentas de soldadura deve possuir propriedades de resistência ao desgaste que permitam obter com qualidade o maior número possível de ciclos de soldadura. Neste trabalho é analisado o comportamento ao desgaste de ferramentas de soldadura por ultra-sons na produção de cablagens eléctricas para automóveis. Foram consideradas ferramentas em aço hipereutectóide e foi avaliada a influência da aplicação de um tratamento térmico de têmpera bem como de um revestimento metálico PVD-TiNAl no comportamento ao desgaste das ferramentas. Os testes foram realizados num equipamento industrial em condições normais de laboração. Os resultados mostraram que a aplicação do revestimento PVD-TiNAl garantiu um excelente comportamento ao desgaste, elevado padrão de qualidade das uniões e uma significativa redução de custos no processo produtivo.

Ultrasonic welding is used to obtain junctions in automotive electric cabling. However, surface damage of the active elements that contact the cupper filaments during the welding process must be minimized. Thus, the wear resistance of the contact surface of welding tools must be enough to allow good quality of joints during a high number welding cycles. In this work, the wear behaviour of tools for ultrasonic welding is analysed during the production process of cablings for the automotive industry. Hipereutectoide steel was considered for the welding tools and the influence of both the application of a heat treatment and the use of a metallic PVD-TiNAl coating on the wear behaviour of tools was evaluated. All tests were performed in industrial equipment operating in usual conditions of labour. Results showed that the application of the PVD-TiNAl coating allows excellent wear behaviour together with high quality of joints and a significant reduction of costs in the productive process.

Se han fabricado materiales densos de nitruro de silicio (Si3N4) texturados incorporando semillas de β- Si3N4, favoreciendo su alineación mediante extrusión de las piezas en verde y prensado en caliente. Estos materiales presentan elevada anisotropía microestructural que conduce a un comportamiento anisótropo de sus propiedades, tanto mecánicas como tribológicas. Se han realizado ensayos de desgaste en seco mediante movimiento recíproco lineal de pares homólogos con geometría esfera-placa. El material texturado presenta mayor resistencia al desgaste que el de referencia, sin texturar, identificándose como principal mecanismo de desgaste la abrasión debida a microfractura y arranque de granos de Si3N4. En este material, además, se desarrolla un tercer cuerpo que protege la superficie del material.

Dense textured Si3N4 materials have been processed adding β-Si3N4 seeds and promoting their alignment with a combined processing/sintering route that includes extrusion and hot-pressing. These materials present a strong anisotropy in the microstructure that leads to anisotropic mechanical and tribological properties. Dry reciprocating self-mated ball-on-flat wear tests have been performed. The textured material presents a higher wear resistance than the reference one, non-textured, being abrasion by microcracking and pull-out of the Si3N4 grains the main wear mechanism. The surface of the textured specimen is protected by a third body developed during the wear test.

Cell proliferation and migration in the intestinal crypts, and cell migration in the villus are controlled by different mechanisms in adult rats. In the present study, weanling rats and fasting rats were used to quantitatively study the correlation of cell cycle parameters and epithelial cell migration in crypts and intestinal villi. Eighteen-day-old rats received a single injection of tritiated thymidine [3H]TdR (23:00 h); half of the pups were submitted to fasting 5 h earlier. Cell proliferation was determined in radioautographs of jejunal crypts, on the basis of the labeling indices (LI) taken 1, 8, 13 and 19 h after [3H]TdR. The results showed that the labeling index did not differ 1 h or 19 h after [3H]TdR between the fed (38.7% or 48%) and fasting groups (34.6% or 50.4%). The modified method of grain count halving indicated that cell cycle time did not differ between fed (16.5 h) and fasting rats (17.8 h); the growth fraction, however, had lower values in fasting (59%) than in fed rats (77%). Cell migration in the crypt, estimated by the LI obtained for each cell position, did not change with treatment. As for the villi, the cell migration rate was significantly retarded by 3 cell positions (8%). These results suggest that the cell migration in the villi of weanling pups does not depend directly on the cell proliferation and migration in the intestinal crypt, but is directly affected by the absence of food in the lumen