Design and fabrication of functionally graded PZT/Pt piezoelectric bimorph actuator

A laminated piezoelectric bimorph actuator with a graded compositional distribution of PZT and Pt was fabricated, and its deflection characteristics were evaluated. Using experimentally determined compositional dependency of elastic and piezoelectric properties in the PZT/Pt composites, the modified classical lamination theory and the finite element method were applied to find the optimum compositional profile that will give a larger deflection and smaller stress, simultaneously. The miniature bimorph-type graded actuator that consists of a composite internal-electrode (PZT/30 vol% Pt) and three piezoelectric layers of different compositions (PZT/0–20 vol% Pt) were fabricated by powder stacking and sintering. The deflection of the actuator was measured using electric strain gages mounted on the top and bottom surfaces of the actuator. The deflection was found to strongly depend on the composition distribution profile. Under an applied electric field of 100 V m⁻¹, the actuator with an optimum composition profile exhibited a curvature of up to 0.03 m⁻¹, which is a satisfactory performance for this kind of actuators. The stress generated on actuation was estimated to be as low as 0.4 MPa, which is much smaller than those of conventional directly bonded actuators and will assure a long actuation life.     

Bispectral analysis for on-line monitoring of stamping operation

Owing to the ever-increased demand for product quality improvement and production cost reduction, on-line monitoring of stamping operations has become a common practice in shop floors around the world today. Based on a market survey, for most stamping processes, monitoring systems use tonnage signals and/or strain signals. Recently, a few attempts have been reported using acceleration signals as they contain rich information and are relatively inexpensive. However, it is known that acceleration signals are vulnerable to the noise disturbances, and hence are less robust. This paper presents a study that uses bispectrum to analyze the acceleration signals. It is shown that the bispectrum can suppress Gaussian color noise to boost the signal-to-noise ratio. It also extracts the features of the signal that are related to the defective parts (such as material too thick or slug). The experimental results demonstrate that the method presented is effective and has a good potential for applications in shop floor. We also present new method for reducing the computation load in the process.     

Application of spent grains to increase porosity in bricks

The dumping of spent grains is going to be more difficult because of the increasing number of cattle. That means new ways of dumping must be developed.The goal of the work was to test the technical properties of bricks produced with spent grains added to increase porosity.The flexural strength of the fired samples remained at 8.5 MPa; the air-dried samples exhibited a small increase in flexural strength. The shrinkage and true density were almost identical, while the raw density, capacity for water absorption and open porosity showed minor differences.In the large-scale experiment no problems were observed during the production. The bricks produced with spent grains possessed a comparable or higher strength, a higher porosity and a reduced density after firing than those from a standard production clay. Because of the lower sintering temperatures the fired clay product was more strongly sintered, exhibiting both greater strength and higher porosity.     

明胶应用性能的研究

文章综述了皮革废弃物明胶的一系列优异物性,如胶体保护性、成膜性、表面活性、凝胶态和溶胶态的可逆转变性、两性聚电解质特性、侧基的高化学反应活性等。及其在感光工业、食品、医药、化妆品、纺织、造纸、防腐抗蚀、化工等行业应用的情况以及所产生的技术经济效益,并对其应用前景作了展望。     

Inulins improve sensoric and textural properties of low-fat yoghurts

In this study we investigated in detail the effects of the addition of inulins to the sensoric properties of low-fat yoghurts. Yoghurts were prepared from skimmed milk and with different concentrations of inulin (0–4%). Two types of inulin with different chain length of the polymer were used. Attributes contributing to creamy mouthfeel were assessed by a trained expert panel. The analysis showed that stickiness, airiness and thickness contributed to the creamy mouthfeel of the yoghurts with thickness being significantly affected by the inulins. Unexpectedly, we found that inulins affected airiness and we could show that for long chain inulin an optimum was reached for airiness in the concentration range between 1.5% and 4%, with an apparent optimum at 3% and that native inulin with a shorter chain length was less effective.The results show that inulins can be used successfully to improve the creamy mouthfeel of low-fat yoghurts.     

Methods for size classification of wood chips

Methods for size classification of wood chips were analysed in an international round robin using 13 conventional wood chip samples and two specially prepared standard samples, one from wood chips and one from hog fuel. The true size distribution of these two samples (according to length, width and height) had been determined stereometrically (reference method) using a digital calliper gauge and by weighing each of the about 7000 wood particles per sample. Five different horizontal and three rotary screening devices were tested using five different screen hole diameters (3.15, 8, 16, 45, 63 mm, round holes). These systems are compared to a commercially available continuously measuring image analysis equipment.The results show that among the devices of a measuring principle—horizontal and rotary screening—the results are quite comparable, while there is a severe incompatibility when distributions are determined by different measuring principles. Highest conformity with the reference values is given for measurements with an image analysis system, whereas for all machines with horizontal screens the median value of the size distribution only reached between one-third to half of the reference median value for the particle length distribution. These deviations can be attributed to a higher particle misplacement, which is particularly found in the larger fractions. Such differences decrease when the particle's shape is more roundish (i.e. sphericity closer to one). The median values of length distributions from screenings with a rotary classifier are between the measurements from an image analysis and horizontal screening devices.     

Performance analysis of a threshold-based discrete-time queue using maximum entropy

The provision of guaranteed QoS for various Internet traffic types has become a challenging problem for researchers. New Internet applications, mostly multimedia-based, require differentiated treatments under certain QoS constraints. Due to a rapid increase in these new services, Internet routers are facing serious traffic congestion problems. This paper presents an approximate analytical performance model in a discrete-time queue, based on closed form expressions using queue threshold, to control the congestion caused by the bursty Internet traffic. The methodology of maximum entropy (ME) has been used to characterize closed form expressions for the state and blocking probabilities. A discrete-time GGeo/GGeo/1/{N₁, N₂} censored queue with finite capacity, N₂, external compound Bernoulli traffic process and generalised geometric transmission times under a first come first serve (FCFS) rule and arrival first (AF) buffer management policy has been used for the solution process. To satisfy the low delay along with high throughput, a threshold, N₁, has been incorporated to slow the arrival process from mean arrival rate λ₁ to λ₂ once the instantaneous queue length has been reached, otherwise the source operates normally. This creates an implicit feedback from the queue to the arrival process. The system can be potentially used as a model for congestion control based on the Random Early Detection (RED) mechanism. Typical numerical experiments have been included to show the credibility of ME solution against simulation for various performance measures and to demonstrate the performance evaluation of the proposed analytical model.     

Effects of different tempers on precipitation hardening of 6000 series aluminium alloys

By means of Vickers hardness,mechanical property and formability tests,the effects of different tempers on precipitation hardening of 6000 series aluminium alloys for automotive body sheets were investigated.The results indicate that the short-time pre-aging at 170℃makes for subsequent artificial aging precipitation hardening.With the increase of pre-aging time,the artificial aging hardenability increases.The aging hardening rate reaches the maximum when pre-aging time is up to 10 min,and then it decreases.The short-time pre-aging at 170℃benefits sheets to obtain lower strength under delivery condition and consequently to improve stamping formability of automotive body sheets.The effects of different tempers on precipitation hardening are much more obvious than those of the alloying elements.It is a good treatment schedule to perform pre-aging for 5 min at 170℃right after solution treatment.     

纤维素酶处理对阔叶木浆打浆性能的影响

就纤维素酶处理对漂白阔叶木浆打浆性能的影响进行了研究.结果表明,Novozym476处理阔叶木浆,在相同的打浆转数下可以提高打浆度,在转数为30000r时打浆度提高了7.3%.在相同的打浆转数下,经纤维素酶处理后浆料的裂断长、撕裂指数和耐破指数都比未经酶处理的浆料有所下降,而松厚度有所增加.