Refinement of primary carbides in AISI DC 53 cold work tool steel by thin section copper permanent mould casting and water atomization

In this study, as alternative methods to conventional production methods involving thin section copper permanent mould casting (fast solidification) and water atomization (rapid solidification) of AISI DC 53 cold work tool steel have been investigated. Thin slabs obtained by copper mould casting was homogenized at 1150 °C for one hour and then hot rolling was be applied. After hot rolling, conventional heat treatment have been applied to thin slabs. The same heat treatment procedure have been performed for a commercially available AISI DC 53 which is manufactured by thick section ingot casting and rolling. In order to investigate also the effect of rapid solidification on AISI DC 53 tool steel, steel powder was produced by water atomization technique. Experiments have revealed that thin steel slabs in permanent copper mould and rapidly solidified tool steel powder by water atomization have a more refined primary M₇C₃ carbides than commercially available steel.     

Zinc ferrite based gas sensors: A review

Flammable, explosive and toxic gases, such as hydrogen, hydrogen sulfide and volatile organic compounds vapor, are major threats to the ecological environment safety and human health. Among the available technologies, gas sensing is a vital component, and has been widely studied in literature for early detection and warning. As a metal oxide semiconductor, zinc ferrite (ZnFe₂O₄) represents a kind of promising gas sensing material with a spinel structure, which also shows a fine gas sensing performance to reducing gases. Due to its great potentials and widespread applications, this article is intended to provide a review on the latest development in zinc ferrite based gas sensors. We first discuss the general gas sensing mechanism of ZnFe₂O₄ sensor. This is followed by a review of the recent progress about zinc ferrite based gas sensors from several aspects: different micro-morphology, element doping and heterostructure materials. In the end, we propose that combining ZnFe₂O₄ which provides unique microstructure (such as the multi-layer porous shells hollow structure), with the semiconductors such as graphene, which provide excellent physical properties. It is expected that the mentioned composites contribute to improving selectivity, long-term stability, and other sensing performance of sensors at room or low temperature.     

Modeling of Slug Velocity and Pressure Drop in Gas‐Liquid‐Liquid Slug Flow

Gas‐liquid‐liquid slug flow in a capillary reactor is a promising new concept that allows one to incorporate gas‐liquid reaction, liquid‐liquid extraction, and facile catalyst separation in a single unit. In order to assess the performance of a gas‐liquid‐liquid slug flow reactor, it is necessary to predict the slug velocity and pressure drop to ascertain residence times and reaction rates. New empirical models for velocity and pressure drop were developed based on existing models for two‐phase gas‐liquid and liquid‐liquid slug flows, and these were validated experimentally.     

Recent Developments and Applications of Ionic Liquids in Gas Separation Membranes

Flue gas emissions and the harmful effects of these gases urge to separate and capture these unwanted gases. Ionic liquids due to negligible vapor pressure, thermal stability, and wide electrochemical stability have expanded its application in gas separations. A comprehensive overview of the recent developments and applications of ionic liquid membranes (ILMs) for gas separation is given. The three general classifications of ILMs, such as supported ionic liquid membranes (SILMs), ionic liquid polymeric membranes (ILPMs), and ionic liquid mixed‐matrix membranes (ILMMMs) along with their applications, for the separation of various mixed gases systems is discussed in detail. Furthermore, issues, challenges, computational study, and future perspectives for ILMs are also considered.     

Gas-assisted exfoliation of boron nitride nanosheets enhancing adsorption performance

A gas exfoliation strategy for controllable preparation of boron nitride (BN) nanosheets with few-layered structure were reported. The green exfoliation process provides the BN nanosheets remarkable increment of adsorption capacities to organic contaminants, which is ascribed to better exposure of active sites originating from the larger surface area and thinner layer. Moreover, the prepared BN also exhibits outstanding recyclability.     

Effect of Operating Parameters on Gas‐Solid Hydrodynamics and Heat Transfer in a Spouted Bed

Through a combined computational fluid dynamics and discrete element method approach, the effect of the operating parameters on the hydrodynamics and heat‐transfer properties of gas‐solid two‐phase flows in a spouted bed are extensively investigated. Considering the high velocity in the fountain region, gas turbulence is resolved by employing the large‐eddy simulation. The rolling friction model is adopted for more precise predictions of solid behavior near the wall. Subsequently, the gas‐solid flow patterns, gas‐solid velocities, and temperature evolution are investigated. Moreover, different operating conditions and geometry configurations are evaluated with respect to heat‐transfer performance. The results provide a fundamental understanding of heat‐transfer mechanisms in spouted beds.     

An improved two-colour pyrometer based method for measuring dynamic temperature mapping of hydrogen-air combustion

To solve the problem of measuring the combustion temperature of hydrogen gas, an improved two-colour pyrometer with suspended tungsten powder was developed and calibrated by a tungsten halogen lamp. The characteristic temperature parameters of the premixed 30% H₂/70% air flame, including temperature distribution, proportion, maximum value, minimum value, and average value, could be measured and calculated using the improved two-colour pyrometer method and a python code. The temperature measuring results of H₂-air mixture obtained by this technique were compared with that of thermocouples and previous studies. The results verified its feasibility to measure the flame temperature structure of H₂ combustion. Future work concerning the influential factors of the improved two-colour pyrometer was also mentioned.     

Preparation and electrochemical characterization of Ti-based amorphous metallic glass with high strength

Ti-based amorphous metallic glasses have excellent mechanical, physical, and chemical properties, which is an important development direction and research hotspot of metal composite reinforcement. As a stable, simple, efficient, and large-scale preparation technology of metallic powders, the gas atomization process provides an effective way of preparing amorphous metallic glasses. In this study, the controllable fabrication of a Ti-based amorphous powder, with high efficiency, has been realized by using gas atomization. The scanning electron microscope, energy-dispersive spectrometer, and X-ray diffraction are used to analyze surface morphology, element distribution, and phase structure, respectively. A microhardness tester is used to measure the mechanical property. An electrochemical workstation is used to characterize corrosion behavior. The results show that as-prepared microparticles are more uniform and exhibit good amorphous characteristics. The mechanical test shows that the hardness of amorphous powder is significantly increased as compared with that before preparation, which has the prospect of being an important part of engineering reinforced materials. Further electrochemical measurement shows that the corrosion resistance of the as-prepared sample is also significantly improved. This study has laid a solid foundation for expanding applications of Ti-based metallic glasses, especially in heavy-duty and corrosive domains.     

An experimental investigation on hydroxy (HHO) enriched ammonia as alternative fuel in gas turbine

Today, the important challenges with the utilization of hydrogen in power-producing applications (internal combustion engines and fuel cells) are its delivery and storage and these create a big hesitation regarding the application safety. Ammonia, which can be regarded as the most promising alternative fuel to hydrogen, provides the possibility of storage in liquid form at low pressures and high temperatures. This study was carried out to investigate how to compensate the drawbacks of using ammonia as the main fuel in a gas turbine by hydrogen and hydroxy-gas enrichment. During the experiments, propane that is standard working fuel of the gas turbine, neat ammonia, as well as a 10 L/min ammonia fuel enriched with 3 L/min, 5 L/min, and 7 L/min hydroxy gas, were utilized. The results show that hydroxy enrichments cause improvements in the performance data as well as emission values due to the absence of any carbon emissions. When the performance outputs are examined, it has been shown that the power values of NH₃ + 3 HHO and NH₃ + 5 HHO fuels are 10.98% and 3.65% lower than propane, whereas NH₃ + 7 HHO fuel produces 4.12% more power, and the desired performance values are reached. It has been also fund that NO_x emissions should be kept under control in addition to the increase in the performance and elimination of the carbon emissions.     

Compression properties of gas diffusion layers and its constitutive model under cyclic loading

The compressive deformation of gas diffusion layer (GDL), which is highly nonlinear and related to the loading history, affects the performance of PEM fuel cell stacks. However, linear elastic models are widely used. In this study, a new nonlinear constitutive model is proposed to describe the compression properties. Macroscopic studies reveal that GDL has different mechanical properties during the first and repeated compression stages. Besides, the tangent modulus has a significant linear relationship with stress. The constitutive model can be rebuilt using the micro-mechanical theory of fiber assemblies by considering the bending of carbon fibers. Furthermore, a prediction method is proposed to describe cyclic compression behavior. The prediction results fit well with the test results with an average and maximum relative error of less than 5.30% and 18.13%, respectively. These conclusions are beneficial to the design of GDL with specific mechanical properties and the real-time analysis of PEM fuel cell.