Temperature scanning stress relaxation behavior of water responsive and mechanically adaptive elastomer nanocomposites

The decrease of stress at constant strain, that is, the stress relaxation process as a function of temperature, is a central mechanical characteristics of elastomer nanocomposites for their potential applications. However, in the conventional stress relaxation test, the relaxation behavior is usually determined as a function of time at constant temperature. The present work reports the temperature scanning stress relaxation (TSSR) characteristics of a new kind of mechanically adaptive elastomer nanocomposite by monitoring the nonisothermal relaxation behavior as a function of temperature. This kind of adaptive elastomer nanocomposite was prepared by introducing calcium sulfate (CaSO₄), as the water-responsive phase into the hydrophilic elastomer matrix. The influence of water-induced structural changes on TSSR behavior was investigated. Water treatment had a strong effect on the shape of the relaxation spectrum of the nanocomposite. It was revealed that the in situ development of hydrated nano-rod crystal structures of CaSO₄ in the elastomer matrix was responsible for the changes in the mechanical relaxation behavior of the composites. Atomic force microscopy was used to verify this nano-rod crystal morphology in the elastomer matrix. The mechanism of water-induced mechanical reinforcement of the composite was explored from dynamic mechanical analysis of the material and correlated with its stress relaxation behavior. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020 , 137, 48344.     

Development of formaldehyde-free leathers in the perspective of retanning: part II. Combination of formaldehyde-free retanning syntans

There is a growing demand for the formaldehyde-free leathers in global leather market due to increasing awareness towards eco-labelling. The first part of this work described the optimisation of formaldehyde-free syntans in their applications as single syntans in making leathers with desired properties. In this work the use of formaldehyde-free syntans in combination to produce leathers with desired properties has been attempted. Three combination-retanning systems have been chosen using formaldehyde-free resin, acrylic and protein syntans. The performance of leathers in terms of bulk and strength properties is shown to be comparable or even better for all the combination-retanning systems chosen compared to the control system. In particular, Experiment “C” (resin syntan 3%, acrylic syntan 4% and protein syntan 2%) provides leathers with improved bulk, strength and colour properties as well as reduced COD and TS loads, besides not having free formaldehyde. Scanning electron microscopic study reveals that the extent of filling in all the three combination-retanning systems is similar.     

Two-level heaps: a new priority queue structure with applications to the single source shortest path problem

The single source shortest paths problem with positive edge weights (SSSPP) is one of the more widely studied problems in operations research and theoretical computer science, on account of its wide applicability to practical situations. This problem was first solved in polynomial time by Dijkstra, who showed that by extracting vertices with the smallest distance from the source and relaxing its outgoing edges, the shortest path to each vertex is obtained. Variations of this general theme have led to a number of algorithms which work well in practice. At the heart of a Dijkstra implementation is the technique used to implement a priority queue. It is well known that using Dijkstra’s approach requires Ω(n log n) steps on a graph having n vertices, since it essentially sorts vertices based on their distances from the source. Accordingly, the fastest implementation of Dijkstra’s algorithm on a graph with n vertices and m edges should take Ω(m + n · log n) time, and consequently, the Dijkstra procedure for SSSPP using Fibonacci Heaps is optimal in the comparison-based model. In this paper, we introduce a new data structure to implement priority queues called two-level heap (TLH) and a new variant of Dijkstra’s algorithm called Phased Dijkstra. We contrast the performance of Dijkstra’s algorithm (both the simple and the phased variants) using a number of data structures to implement the priority queue and empirically establish that TLH are far superior to Fibonacci heaps on every graph family considered. It is to be noted that our profiling includes both sparse and dense graphs.     

NiZnCo ferrite films by spin spray technique: morphology and magnetic properties

In the present study, highly crystallized spinel NiZnCo ferrite films were prepared by spin-spray ferrite plating, employing a reaction solution (containing Fe²⁺, Ni²⁺, Zn²⁺ and Co²⁺) and an oxidizing solution (KNO₂ + CH₃COOK). The solutions were sprayed independently onto a glass substrate maintained at 90 °C. Series of films with various Zn and Co compositions were prepared and their structural and magnetic properties were studied. The films had a columnar structure perpendicular to the substrate surface as confirmed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies and showed no preferential orientation confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The films had a saturization magnetization M _s of 325–520 emu/cc and H _c of 5–12 Oe. At the optimized compositions, we obtained an initial permeability of around 190 (Ni_0.18Zn_0.6Co_0.02Fe_2.2O_4−δ ) and resonance frequency f _r of 300 MHz (Ni_0.16Zn_0.2Co_0.02Fe_2.62O_4−δ ). Such films with high permeability can be employed as trimming layers of inductors to increase the inductance and films with high resonance frequency can be used as electromagnetic noise suppressors at high frequency.     

Equilibrium considerations in aerosol formation during sodium combustion

Combustion of liquid sodium is of interest in the safety assessment of liquid metal cooled fast breeder reactor systems. In the present study, a detailed thermodynamic analysis of sodium-air system has been carried out for equivalence ratios in the range of 0.1–1.9 and for flame temperatures ranging from 1100 to 1950 K. In addition to this, decomposition calculations presented for product aerosols such as sodium oxide (Na₂O), sodium dioxide (Na₂O₂) and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) in normal oxygen and oxygen-deficient conditions (which are some form of phase diagrams of these aerosols) are used rigorously to find out the predominant aerosol that should be present in and outside the burn pan for a pool fire of liquid sodium. The conditions of occurrence of various sodium oxides under two different fire conditions namely pool and jet fires have been worked out. It is established that heterogeneous reactions involving sodium oxide are responsible for the formation of sodium dioxide and sodium hydroxide. It is necessary to take account of the rates of these heterogeneous reactions as well as the equivalence ratio-dependent decomposition calculations to correctly estimate the aerosol product mix in practical situations.     

Tractable Fragments of Presburger Arithmetic

In this paper we introduce a problem called Quantified Integer Programming, which generalizes the Quantified Satisfiability problem (QSAT). In a Quantified Integer Program (QIP) the program variables can assume arbitrary integral values, as opposed to the boolean values that are assumed by the variables of an instance of QSAT. QIPs naturally represent two-person integer matrix games. The Quantified Integer Programming problem is PSPACE-hard in general, since the QSAT problem is PSPACE-complete. Quantified Integer Programming can be thought of as a restriction of Presburger Arithmetic, in that we allow only conjunctions of linear inequalities. We focus on analyzing various special cases of the general problem, with a view to discovering subclasses that are tractable. Subclasses of the general QIP problem are obtained by restricting either the constraint matrix or quantifier specification or both. We show that if the constraint matrix is totally unimodular, the problem of deciding a QIP can be solved in polynomial time. We also establish the computational complexities of Oblivious strategy games and Clairvoyant strategy games.     

Dynamics of liquid sodium pool spreading under sodium fire conditions

The spreading of burning liquid sodium has been investigated using a depth-averaged shallow water equation for isothermal and non-isothermal (burning) conditions. In the latter case, the spreading is one-way coupled with the flame through a separate energy equation for the pool, with appropriate source terms for radiative and conductive heat transfer from the flame, and a sink term (for the continuity equation) to account for loss due to burning. Pool fires on soil and concrete surface have been considered with appropriate friction and heat transfer terms in the momentum and energy equations, respectively. Using this model, numerical simulations have been carried out for a wide range of leak rates, and for a range of burning rates of liquid sodium. Results obtained from the non-isothermal model show that the non-isothermal effects of liquid sodium spreading can safely be neglected for the case or spreading of burning liquid sodium on a typical ground surface such as concrete or soil. Based on these conclusions, dimensionless correlations are proposed for the prediction of spreading parameters such as, equilibrium pool radius, pool formation time, and for mass inventory under pool fire conditions for liquid sodium. These parameters which are obtained from the spreading code can be specified, as input parameters for the existing sodium fire safety codes.     

Investigation of thermal effects on mechanical properties of 9Cr-1Mo to 9Cr-1Mo welded joints for high-temperature applications

Modified 9CR-1MO usage has been highly increased in recent years mainly under high-temperature application. This paper focusses on microstructure without post heat treatment and hardness, stress analysis of weld zone, heat affected zone and parent metal with and without post heat treatment. Here, among many suitable welding processes, we have been chosen Tungsten Inert Gas Welding with an appropriate filler rod ER308L.The post heat treatment is been carried out by an annealing process. The study of microstructure for 9cr-1mo steel mainly describes size and shape of grains by the Scanning Electronic Microscope, micro, and macro structure examination. The tensile and hardness strength of the 9cr-1mo steel has been determined by using suitable equipment throughout the base metal and weld zone. The microstructure is uniform and free from a dendritic pattern, the ductility of material more after annealing and the hardness of material become uniform overall except in HAZ.