Effect of Compositional Variation in TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript>-Based Flux-Cored Arc Welding Fluxes on the Thermo-physical Properties and Mechanical Behavior of a Weld Zone

The effect of compositional variation in TiO₂-based flux-cored arc welding fluxes on viscosity, wettability, and electronegativity was studied. The thermo-physical properties of the retrieved fluxes and their relationship with the mechanical properties of the weld zone, including tensile strength and micro-Vickers hardness, after welding were identified. Microstructural observation under similar welding conditions revealed significant grain coarsening at a corrected optical basicity (Λ^corr) of 0.62, resulting in reduced strength and hardness due to greater heat transfer. Welding fluxes containing TiO₂-based simple structural units should result in greater heat transfer due to the deficiency in complex [AlO₄]^5?- and [SiO₄]^4?-based structural units, as identified through spectroscopic analyses using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The electronegativity of the retrieved fluxes was also evaluated since higher electronegativity results in greater absorption of electrons in the arc, resulting in arc condensation towards the center direction. Consequently, deeper penetration could be obtained, where the highest electronegativity was identified to be approximately 0.62 of the corrected optical basicity. Thus, both the thermal conductivity and electronegativity of the welding fluxes were identified to determine the heat transfer phenomenon during flux-cored arc welding.     

Gas-diffusion layer's structural anisotropy induced localized instability of nafion membrane in polymer electrolyte fuel cell

The design of robust polymer electrolyte fuel cell requires a thorough understanding of the materials' response of the cell components to the operational conditions such as temperature and hydration. As the electrolyte membrane's mechanical properties are temperature, hydration and rate dependent, its response under cyclic loading is of significant importance to predict the damage onset and thus the membrane lifetime. This article reports on the variation in stress levels in the membrane induced due to the gas-diffusion layer's (GDL) anisotropic mechanical properties while accurately capturing the membrane's mechanical response under time dependent hygrothermomechanical conditions. An observation is made on the evolution of negative strain in the membrane under the bipolar plate channel area, which is an indication of membrane thinning, and the magnitude of this strain found to depend upon the GDL's in-plane mechanical properties. In order to come up with a strategy that reduces the magnitude of tensile stresses evolved in the membrane during the hygrothermal unloading and to increase the membrane's lifetime, we numerically show that by employing a fast hygrothermal loading rate and unloading rate strategy, significant reduction (in this study, nearly 100%) in the magnitude of tensile stresses is achievable. The present study assists in understanding the relation between materials compatibility and durability of fuel cell components.     

Investigation of the Reduction/Oxidation Behavior of Cobalt Supported on Nano-ceria

The oxidation and reduction behavior of cobalt catalysts supported on nano-ceria (5–8 nm) was investigated under hydrogen, oxygen and water atmospheres. A novel quantitative isothermal reduction (QIR) technique was introduced to analyze the kinetics and activation barrier of Co reduction. CoO to Co reduction was found to be of first order in the 250–350 °C temperature range. Temperature programmed reduction and oxidation experiments were conducted and the Kissinger method was used to obtain apparent activation energies for reduction and oxidation with O₂. The apparent activation energy for CoO reduction was found to agree with that obtained from the QIR technique. Re-oxidation of Co metal was found to have a slightly lower activation energy barrier than the reduction. The reduction and oxidation behavior was further investigated with in situ XANES where the reaction order for reduction was observed to change at 450 °C. The pre-reduced samples were seen to re-oxidize under a water atmosphere, where the oxidation followed first order kinetics. Re-oxidation by water yielded a higher activation energy when compared to re-oxidation under oxygen.     

Vision-based arm gesture recognition for a long-range human–robot interaction

This paper proposes a vision-based human arm gesture recognition method for human–robot interaction, particularly at a long distance where speech information is not available. We define four meaningful arm gestures for a long-range interaction. The proposed method is capable of recognizing the defined gestures only with 320×240 pixel-sized low-resolution input images captured from a single camera at a long distance, approximately five meters from the camera. In addition, the system differentiates the target gestures from the users’ normal actions that occur in daily life without any constraints. For human detection at a long distance, the proposed approach combines results from mean-shift color tracking, short- and long-range face detection, and omega shape detection. The system then detects arm blocks using a background subtraction method with a background updating module and recognizes the target gestures based on information about the region, periodical motion, and shape of the arm blocks. From experiments using a large realistic database, a recognition rate of 97.235% is achieved, which is a sufficiently practical level for various pervasive and ubiquitous applications based on human gestures.     

Hydrogen Reduction Kinetics of Magnetite Concentrate Particles Relevant to a Novel Flash Ironmaking Process

A novel ironmaking technology is under development at the University of Utah. The purpose of this research was to determine comprehensive kinetics of the flash reduction reaction of magnetite concentrate particles by hydrogen. Experiments were carried out in the temperature range of 1423 K to 1673 K (1150 °C to 1400 °C) with the other experimental variables being hydrogen partial pressure and particle size. The nucleation and growth kinetics expression was found to describe the reduction rate of fine concentrate particles and the reduction kinetics had a 1/2-order dependence on hydrogen partial pressure and an activation energy of 463 kJ/mol. Unexpectedly, large concentrate particles reacted faster at 1423 K and 1473 K (1150 °C and 1200 °C), but the effect of particle size was negligible when the reduction temperature was above 1573 K (1300 °C). A complete reaction rate expression incorporating all these factors was formulated.     

Effect of NaF and CaO/SiO2 Mass pct. on the Hydrogen Dissolution Behavior in Calcium-Silicate-Based Molten Fluxes

Metals and Materials International - The effect of NaF and CaO/SiO2 mass pct. ratio (C/S) on the hydrogen solubility in terms of the hydroxyl capacity of the CaO–SiO2–NaF welding flux...