Aluminum pipes were fabricated from aluminum chips by a Friction Stir Back Extrusion (FSBE). In this process, aluminum chips were densified by material flow induced by a rotating tool plunged into the aluminum chips. It was found that aluminum pipes can be fabricated from aluminum chips by sufficient material flow with no pores and homogeneous thickness. Aluminum pipes fabricated from aluminum chips exhibited similar compression properties to those of aluminum pipes fabricated by a machining process.

Magnetic properties of soft magnetic materials under stress are important, however, they have not been fully understood. We have studied on a magnetization process of soft magnetic materials, electrical steel sheets and nanocrystalline alloys, under stress, by investigating DC magnetization curves. As well known, a hysteresis loss of electrical steel sheets increases under compression. We found that the hysteresis loss of nanocrystalline alloys does not depend on stress. In this paper, experimental results and an interpretation on the loss mechanism were described.

We have interpreted the magnetization process under compression as follows: magnetic domains distribute perpendicular to compression due to magnetoelasticity; the magnetization process is 90 degree domain wall movements in the domains. Based on this interpretation, the hysteresis loss under compression is well understood. Electrical steel sheets have crystal grains; so, the domain wall is trapped at the grain boundary in the movement process; then, hysteresis loss generates. On the other hand, nanocrytalline alloys have no crystal grains; therefore, the domain wall movement is smoothly and there is no hysteresis loss.

Materials for a purple glass bottle manufactured in the late Edo-era were studied. The design on this purple glass bottle is a potted flower. Infrared light images show light refraction at the flower and soil areas. There is a contrast between the petal and the rim in these images. These results indicate that different materials were used in these parts. UV-light fluorescence images show weak fluorescence at the leaves and the stem. The glass of this bottle contains Pb, Si, and K as the main components and minor components of Mn, Fe, Na, and Al, as revealed by SEM-EDS analysis. The glass composition is not homogeneous as a result of the manufacturing process. The Si species measured by XRF is SiO₂ and Pb is in the form of Pb₃O₄ according to X-ray diffraction measurement. Measurements of the decorated area indicate that Cu-Zn alloy is used in the area of the soil in the flowerpot, and SnO and SnO₂ are corrosion products that exist on the surface of Sn thin film. The peak at 390 nm on the reflection spectrum corresponds to the purple color of this glass bottle. The results of XAFS measurement reveal that the oxidation state of Mn is a mixture of +2 and +3, that of Fe is +3, and that of Pb is +2.

Equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) was applied to hot-bands by one pass prior to cold-rolling and annealing in order to modify the texture, and improve the ridging and formability of ferritic stainless steel sheets. The present study focuses on the effect of initial grain size before ECAP, using the samples having extremely large grain size of 210 μm and smaller ones of 30 μm. The final grain sizes of cold-rolled and annealed sheets were about 30 μm for both processes. It was found that Rankford value (r-value) of large grain size was higher compared with that of smaller one while ridging was alleviated in the latter. The recrystallization temperature of cold-rolled sheets was about 50°C lower in the larger grain size. It is considered that higher density of grain-scale shear bands in the sample of larger grain size promotes recrystallization and reduction of <001>//ND grains and increase <111>//ND grains, resulting in higher r-value. However, coarser arrangement of <001>//ND colony parallel to the rolling direction in large grain size may causes higher ridging in spite of the lower fraction <001>//ND grains.