Ampletracks user tutorial - steel#

In this tutorial, we will be using the Demo instance of Ampletracks. You can follow along in two ways:

  1. If you have a working instance of Ampletracks running, you can import the relevant Record Type schemata from our GitHub repository Ampletracks/Ampletracks

  2. You can register your details and get an instance-on-demand for a week. Please see our instance-on-demand guide

    Attention

    Be sure to check your spam folder.

If you are setting up your own Ampletracks be sure to check the optional steps to ensure that you have all the appropriate records and relationship pairs specified. These will already be available on instance-on-demand.

Context#

In this tutorial we will assuming a study investigating the oxidation behaviour related to chromium content by weight % (wt.%) in three different steel compositions. Each of the three different steel compositions has increasing chromium content. We will be creating three bulk parent sample Records for each of these compositions. Each will be sectioned into to 5 regular 5mmx5mmx5mm child Record samples using wire electric discharge machining (wire EDM). These will then undergo thermogravimetric analysis in air. After that, the samples will be mounted in cold mounting resin and ground up to reveal the cross-section. Once the samples are prepared, they will be imaged with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and analysed with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX).

For simplicity we will only be tracking 3 bulk parent samples and child samples in this tutorial. For a thorough tutorial, please use this guide Currently under construction.

This tutorial was partly inspired by the work of Li et al. [3] but will deviate from it.

Tutorial#

Ampletracks features#

This tutorial will familiarise you with the Ampletracks features of creating and cloning records, adding child records to parent records, and adding relationships between records of different type.

All sections of this tutorial will be accompanied by images below the steps. For steps which follow similar steps we will not be providing as many images.

Create a sub-project#

  1. On the top right-hand side menu panel of the Ampletracks user interface (UI), ensure that you are Currently viewing Sub project Fig. 25

  2. (optional) If you are not within the Sub project listing, navigate to the top right-hand side menu panel, hover over the bottom arrow and click on Switch to Sub project on the menu that appears Fig. 26

  3. Click on the Add Sub project button, this should either be on the right-hand corner above the listing table or underneath the Sub project list title depending on the size of your viewport Fig. 27

  4. Ensure that the correct Project is selected under the Ownership section on the form, if you are part of multiple projects Fig. 28

  5. Fill in the text boxes either by

    1. Inspecting the form and filling any with relevant details as you see fit, or

    2. Navigate to Project name: and fill the text box with

    Oxidation behaviour of chromium containing steel

    1. Navigate to Name of project contact and fill the text box with your name, an example name, or the person who is responsible for this project

    Hint

    This could be you, your principal investigator (PI) of the project, your PhD supervisor, or a postdoctoral researcher within your group that is supervising you.

    1. Navigate to Project description and fill the text box with

    Investigating the effect of increasing chromium content to the oxidation resistance of chromium containing steels, from 0 wt.% chromium to 1.0 wt.% chromium.

  6. Populate the other fields at your discretion and to get a feel for the Sub project form

  7. Click on the Save & Close button

  8. You will be redirected back to list view

Visual guide

Sub project view on the Ampletracks UI

Fig. 25 Sub project view on the Ampletracks UI#

Ampletracks switch record type panel

Fig. 26 The Ampletracks switch record type panel#

Ampletracks switch record type panel

Fig. 27 Add Sub project#

Ampletracks record ownership section

Fig. 28 Add Sub project#

Create samples#

Create Sample#

  1. On the top right-hand side menu panel of the Ampletracks user interface (UI), ensure that you are Currently viewing Sample (Demo)

  2. (optional) If you are not within the Sample (Demo) listing, navigate to the top right-hand side menu panel, hover over the bottom arrow and click on Switch to Sample (Demo) on the menu that appears

  3. Click on the Add Sample (Demo) button, this should either be on the right-hand corner above the listing table or underneath the Sub project list title depending on the size of your viewport

  4. Ensure that the correct Project is selected under the Ownership section on the form, if you are part of multiple projects

  5. Fill in the text boxes either by

    1. Inspecting the form and filling any with relevant details as you see fit, or

    2. Navigate to Unique name of the sample and fill the text box with a unique name, for the purposes of this tutorial the tutorial writer uses

    Chromium steel 0000

    1. Navigate to Material and fill the text box with

    Steel alloy

    1. Navigate to What is the composition of the sample and

      1. Select the + button, you should see a periodic table open up Fig. 29

      2. Select elements Carbon (C) Silicon (Si) Chromium (Cr) Manganese (Mn) Phosphorus (P) Surlfur(S) and Iron (Fe)

      3. Select the wt.% composition declaration on the right-hand corner Fig. 30

      4. Click on the number at the bottom right of the square housing Fe, set it to 1

      5. Now repeat this for each of the other elements according to the table below, you will see that Fe balances automatically

      Table 2 First parent sample composition#

      C

      Si

      Cr

      Mn

      P

      S

      Fe

      0.00019

      0.00011

      0

      0.00020

      0.00015

      0.00007

      Bal.

    2. Navigate to Has this sample been manufactured in-house or received? Select the radio button on the left of:

    Received

    1. The Who supplied this sample? field will now appear

    2. Select

    Research partners (Public research institution)

    1. Scroll to Who is responsible for this sample?

    2. Select the most appropriate choice for you

    3. Fill in the contact fields as you please

    Warning

    For your privacy, please do not supply your personal information

    1. Click on the Save & Close button

    Investigating the effect of increasing chromium content to the oxidation resistance of chromium containing steels, from 0 wt.% chromium to 1.0 wt.% chromium.

Add elements to composition

Fig. 29 Add elements to composition#

Ampletracks weight percent declaration

Fig. 30 Create composition with weight percent declaration#

Relate sample to sub-project#
  1. Navigate to the sample we just created

  2. Select the Edit button

  3. Select the -- Add new relationship -- drop-down box under the Relationships section

  4. Select is part of to create a Sample to Sub project relationship

  5. Type in ‘oxi’ in the search box that will have appeared

  6. Select the name you gave to your sub-project, which is Oxidation behaviour of chromium containing steel for the tutorial writers Fig. 31

  7. Click on the Save & Close button

Select sub project relationship

Fig. 31 Create relationship from Sample to Sub project#

Clone initial sample#

We will now create the next two bulk material samples by using the clone feature on Ampletracks.

  1. Navigate to the Sample Record list view

  2. Locate the sample record we just made

  3. Hover over the cog icon

  4. Select the Clone from the hover menu, you will be redirected to a sample form for the cloned Sample

  5. Edit cloned Sample record

    1. Click on the Edit button

    2. Change the name to

      Chromium steel 0005

    3. Change the content of Chromium to 0.005

    4. Click on the Save & Close button

  6. Follow the steps outline in the section above to relate the sample to the sub project we created

  7. Repeat all steps from step 1 - 6

    1. Use the following name for the newly cloned sample

      Chromium steel 0010

    2. Change the content of Chromium to 0.01

Create child samples#

Caution

For simplicity, we will only be creating child samples for the sample we named

Chromium steel 0005

  1. Navigate to the Sample Record list view

  2. Locate the sample record ‘Chromium steel 0005’

  3. Hover over the cog icon

  4. Select the Add Child from the hover menu, you will be redirected to a sample form for the child Sample

  5. Change the name to

    Chromium steel 0005 EDM cube 01

  6. Explore other fields

  7. Fill in other fields within the form as you see fit for the sample and our known process history

  8. Click on the Save button

  9. Scroll up to the Relationships section

    1. Click on the --- Add new relationship --- drop down menu

    2. Select

      was made using

    3. Type ‘EDM’ into the search box, or the most appropriate Equipment name for you

    4. Select the piece of equipment

    5. Click on the Save button

  10. Click on the Save button

  11. Explore what other relationships and with what pieces of equipment are available to the Sample record type

  12. Create a relationship between the record and your Sub project

    Hint

    You can search for records to relate to the currently active record using your name within the Ampletracks app

  13. Click on the Save & Close button

  14. Repeat steps 1 - 6 twice

  15. Name the new child samples ‘Chromium steel 0005 EDM cube 02’ and ‘Chromium steel 0005 EDM cube 03’

  16. Locate sample record ‘Chromium steel 0005’

  17. Click on the Edit button

  18. Navigate to Process history field

  19. Update the Process history field with

    Was machined by wire EDM to produce 3 cubic 5mmx5mmx5mm child samples

Hint

Another method to create a child record is to navigate to the record we are interested in and click on the + New child record button under the Descendants title

../_images/demo_ampletracks_add_child_descendants.png

Relate samples to other records#

Equipment#

We have see above how to create relationships between pre-existing records such as equipment.

  • Look at what other types of relationships exist for samples

  • Is there a rewlationship that satisfies characterisation?

  • Can you identify a piece of equipment to relate the sample to?

Creating a record on relationship - Dataset#

For this part of the tutorial we are assuming that we have imaged our sample already and created a relationship with the equipment that imaged it

  1. Navigate to your sample of interest

  2. Click on on the Edit button

  3. Scroll to the Relationships section

    1. Click on the --- Add new relationship --- drop down menu

    2. Select

      was measured to produce

    3. Start typing in the text box the name of the Dataset record we want to create

      Hint

      You only need 3 characters for search to begin. You can use wilcard characters such as %%% or ___ to show everything you have available for relationship creation between records.

    4. Click on Add new record. You will be redirected to a Dataset creation page

    5. Fill in the details of your dataset

    6. Click on the Save button

Optional steps#

For the following step you will need to be granted elevated access to an administrative role at the project level.

You might have noticed that we have yet to create a piece of equipment for sample preparation, such as a sample mounting press and a horizontal grinding wheel.

In the following set of instructions, create an equipment record for either of these pieces of equipment, or a piece of characterisation equipment that you think is necessary for this study.

Create equipment#

  1. Switch to the Equipement record type listing

  2. Click on the Add Equipment button

  3. Make sure that the project we are registering this piece of equipment under is ‘Central Index’

    ../_images/demo_ampletracks_project_select.png

    Fig. 32 Project select drop-down menu in record creation#

  4. Fill in the equipment record with the appropriate details

  5. Click on the Save & Close button

Changing user records#

When elevated to an administrative role at the Project level, you will have the permission to change records from within the Projects you have access to.

  • Try changing a record you do not own

  • Has the UI changed?

    • How?

    • What other features do you have access to?

  • Record ownership transfer

    • Try changing the owner of a record from one user to another