Effect of lognormal particle size distributions on particle spreading in additive manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) has attracted much attention worldwide in various applications due to its convenience and flexibility to rapidly fabricate products, which is a key advantage compared to the traditional subtractive manufacturing. This discrete element method (DEM) study focusses on the impact of particle polydispersity during the particle spreading process on parameters that affect the quality of the final product, like packing and bed surface roughness. The particle systems include four lognormal particle size distribution (PSD) widths, which are benchmarked against the monodisperse system with the same mean particle diameter. The results reveal that: (i) the solid volume fraction of the initial packed particle bed in the delivery chamber increases then plateaus as the PSD width increases; (ii) regardless of PSD width, the solid volume fraction of the particle bed increases with spreading layer height before compression, but decreases with layer height after compression; (iii) the bed surface roughness increases with PSD width or layer height both before and after the compression of the spreading layer; (iv) the extent of increase in solid volume fraction during compression is correlated with the extent of decrease in bed surface roughness; and (v) the broader PSDs exhibit larger fluctuations of solid volume fraction of the particle bed and bed surface roughness due to greater variability in the arrangement of particles of different sizes. The results here have important implications on the design and operation of particle-based AM systems.     

Recent progress of the gas diffusion layer in proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Material and structure designs of microporous layer

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) have become the most attractive power supply units for stationary and mobile applications. The operation, design characteristics, as well as performance of PEMFCs, are closely related to the multiphase transport of mass, heat, and electricity in the cell, a critical of which is the gas diffusion layer (GDL). It is very important to guarantee the transmission of water and gasses under high current density, and which is the weakness of PEMFCs at present. Microporous layer (MPL) is considered to be the key variable for mass transfer, so varieties of works focus on modification of MPL materials and its structure design. However, there is still a lack of special review to summarize and prospect the progress of MPL in recent years. This review article therefore focuses on the insights and comprehensive understanding of four critical issues of the MPL, the porosity, pore size distribution, wettability, structural design and the durability of MPL. At last, the conclusion and recommendations section summarized the future prospects and recommendations for possible research opportunities.     

Effects of particle sizes on performances of the multi-zone steam generator using waste heat in a bio-oil steam reforming hydrogen production system

Hydrogen production by bio-oil steam reforming is an advanced production technology. It is a good method of coupling waste heat utilization with bio-oil steam reforming to produce hydrogen, which increases the cleaning ability of the bio-oil steam reforming system. A multi-zone steam generator using waste heat has been proposed, which can produce the heat source and steam source of the hydrogen system. The DEM model of the multi-zone steam generator was set up. The model has been used to investigate the effects of particle sizes (40 mm–80 mm). With increasing particle size, the flow index and the flow uniformity gradually decrease, the vertical velocity gradient increases in the area on both side with the zone steam generator, and the vertical velocity fluctuation amplitude gradually increases. So, the hydrogen production decreases from the particle size increasing.     

Effects of developmental stage,cold acclimation and diet on the cold tolerance of three species of Cryptolestes (Coleoptera: Laemophloeidae)

Flat grain beetles (Coleoptera: Laemophloeidae) are common stored-product insect pests in Canada, infesting cereals in grain bins, equipment and end products in flour mills. We studied the cold tolerance of the three most common flat grain beetles: Cryptolestes ferrugineus, Cryptolestes turcicus and Cryptolestes pusillus, by measuring the survival at −10 °C and supercooling point (SCP) for different life stages (egg, young larva, old larva, pupa and adult) reared on flour mixed with brewer’s yeast. Probit analysis was used to estimate the lethal time for 50 and 95% mortality. This was done with non-acclimated individuals (only held at 30 °C) or cold-acclimated individuals (held at 18, 10 and 5 °C, for 1 week/temperature). In general, adults were the most cold-hardy stage for each of the species. Acclimated insects were anywhere from no increase in cold tolerance to 14-fold more cold-tolerant than the corresponding non-acclimated stage and species. Cryptolestes ferrugineus was most cold-tolerant species (58 d at −10 °C to reach 95% mortality for acclimated adult), C. turcicus was the next most cold-tolerant, (39 d) and C. pusillus was the least cold-tolerant (11 d). The cold tolerance of adults reared on three diets was measured both for acclimated and non-acclimated insects. The adults reared on grain diet (whole wheat kernels, cracked wheat kernels and wheat germ (90:5:5 mass ratio) were the most cold-tolerant, adults reared on white-wheat flour and brewer’s yeast diet (95:5 mass ratio) had the next highest cold tolerance followed by the adults reared on 100% white-wheat flour. Supercooling point (SCP) of insects ranged from −20.6 to −26.7 °C. In general, acclimated insects had slightly lower SCP than non-acclimated insects.     

Effect of grain size on the electrical performance of BaZr0.1Ce0.7Y0.1Yb0.1O3-δ solid electrolytes with addition of NiO

In order to clarify the effect of grain size on the electrical performance of BaZr_0.1Ce_0.7Y_0.1Yb_0.1O_3-δ (BZCYYb) solid electrolytes with addition of NiO, microcrystalline (~1.5?µm) and ultrafine-grained (~280?nm) BZCYYb electrolytes (with 1?wt% NiO) were fabricated by the conventional and two-step sintering method, respectively. The results show that compared with microcrystalline electrolytes, the ultrafine-grained electrolytes have similar grain-interior conductivities, but much lower grain-boundary conductivities, illustrating that the grain boundary is not conducive for ionic transport. As a result, the electrical conductivity of microcrystalline electrolytes (1.9?×?10^?2 S?cm^?1 at 600?°C in wet air) is higher than that of ultrafine-grained electrolytes (1.1?×?10^?2 S?cm^?1 at 600?°C in wet air). In addition, the OCV (open-circuit voltage) values of electrolyte-supported single cells show that the undesired electronic conduction exists in the electrolytes due to the BaY₂NiO₅ impurity formed by the reaction of NiO and BZCYYb. The ultrafine-grained electrolytes show lower OCV values than that of microcrystalline ones, due to the prolonged electronic transport paths. Therefore, large-grained or grain boundary-free microstructure are necessary for improving the electrical performance of BZCYYb electrolytes.     

Ultrashort pulse-induced elastodynamics in polycrystalline materials. Part I: Model validation

The coupled thermal-mechanical response of a polycrystalline metallic film in response to ultrafast optical impingement is investigated. The thermo-elastodynamics formulated in the article considers laser absorption along the axial direction and thermal diffusion along the radial direction to account for the normal and shear stresses initiated by the rapid heating. The generalized formulation incorporates a two-step hyperbolic temperature model that characterizes the energy transport of electrons and lattices as finite in velocity. The coupling of thermal and mechanical fields is established through considering the energy dissipated in the form of propagating thermo-mechanical disturbances. The thermo-elastodynamical response of the polycrystalline film is found to be a strong function of the electron heat capacity that is also temperature-dependent. In addition, grain size effects due to film surface and grain-boundary scatterings are found to impact several thermophysical properties of the material. The impact of the energy transport of electrons is particularly prominent when the thickness becomes comparable with the electron mean-free-path. A staggered-grid finite difference scheme is followed to simultaneously resolve the coupled thermo-elastodynamical responses using an axisymmetric model. The time variation of the normalized electron temperature of a single crystalline gold film derived from the generalized model is favorably examined against published physical data, thus demonstrating the feasibility of the formulation in depicting the electron transport dynamics in response to non-ablating ultrafast irradiation.     

靶面激光光斑尺寸原位测量的研究

提供了一种简便易行的靶面激光光斑尺寸原位测量的方法。从高斯光束的横向光强分布特性出发,建立了激光烧蚀斑半径与辐照激光能量、光斑尺寸、烧蚀阈值间的关系式,模拟分析发现辐照激光光斑尺寸对烧蚀斑半径随辐照能量变化曲线有较大影响。对于脉宽为2 ms,波长为1064 nm的激光,实验测量了不同能量激光辐照下相纸烧蚀斑半径,并用推导出的关系式拟合测量数据,获得了靶面处光斑尺寸和样品烧蚀阈值。同时,也测量了不同位置处的光斑尺寸和样品烧蚀阈值,对高斯光束束腰位置和样品烧蚀阈值的光斑尺寸效应进行了验证。研究结果表明该技术结果可靠,简单高效。该技术可以为高能激光与固体物质相互作用的基础研究和激光加工等应用领域中实现简单方便地测量靶面光斑尺寸提供帮助。