Effect of microstructural features on the corrosion behavior of severely deformed Al–Mg–Si alloy

The aim of this study was to determine the influence of severe plastic deformation processing and the changes in microstructure resulting therefrom on the corrosion resistance of an Al–Mg–Si alloy. The alloy was processed using incremental equal channel angular pressing, which caused a reduction in grain size from 15 to 0.9 µm. The grain refinement was accompanied by an increase in the number of grain boundaries and dislocations, and by changes in grain orientation. However, there was no change in the size and number of intermetallic particles, which presumably resulted in a constant number of galvanic couplings. Electrochemical experiments revealed only slight differences between the samples before and after processing. Higher potential transients/oscillations upon immersion and increased corrosion currents in the vicinity of corrosion potential point to slightly higher reactivity of the most refined material. This indicates that intermetallic particles are the most crucial microstructural elements in terms of corrosion resistance. Their impact exceeds that of grain boundaries, in particular, at the stage of corrosion initiation. The development of corrosion attack is controlled more by the microstructure of the matrix as the grain refinement resulted in a less pronounced corrosion attack in comparison with the coarse-grained sample.     

Enhanced mechanical properties of glass fibre epoxy composites by 2D exfoliated graphene oxide filler

Graphene oxide (GO) received a significant attention in the scientific community due to their excellent mechanical properties identifying themselves as an alternative and combinatory to various other metals and composites. Though GO possess excellent strength, it was observed from the literature that graphene oxide consisting of hydroxyl group elements ensue in poor bonding. Thus reduced functional group density (rFGD) graphene is preferred which has an advantage of good bonding, alongside very small quantity as a filler is required to achieve the enhancement equivalent to graphene oxide which forms the novelty of the current work. In current case, 3, 6 and 9 wt% of rFGD is dispersed into E-glass fibre reinforced composite by traditional hand layup technique. The obtained results revealed that, the tensile, flexural and impact strength have shown superior enhancement with 3 and 6 wt% of rGO than neat E-glass epoxy (0 wt% rGO), whereas an asymptotic decrement is noticed at 9 wt% when tested with ASTM standards except for impact strength. The microstructural studies also indicated the proper adhesion and alignment of fibres without any agglomerations corroborate the enhancement of properties. These overall finding supports the suitability of the developed laminates for potential use in structural applications in aerospace industry.     

Designing amorphous formulations of polyphenols with naringin by spray-drying for enhanced solubility and permeability

Naringin (NAR), a major flavanone (FVA) glycoside, is a component of food mainly obtained from grapefruit. We used NAR as a food additive to improve the solubility and permeability of hydrophobic polyphenols used as supplements in the food industry. The spray-dried particles (SDPs) of NAR alone show an amorphous state with a glass transition temperature (T_g) at 93.2 °C. SDPs of hydrophobic polyphenols, such as flavone (FVO), quercetin (QCT), naringenin (NRG), and resveratrol (RVT) were prepared by adding varying amounts of NAR. All SDPs of hydrophobic polyphenols with added NAR were in an amorphous state with a single T_g, but SDPs of hydrophobic polyphenols without added NAR showed diffraction peaks derived from each crystal. The SDPs with NAR could keep an amorphous state after storage at a high humidity condition for one month, except for SDPs of RVT/NAR. SDPs with NAR enhanced the solubility of hydrophobic polyphenols, especially NRG solubility, which was enhanced more than 9 times compared to NRG crystal. The enhanced solubility resulted in the increased membrane permeability of NRG. The antioxidant effect of the hydrophobic NRG was also enhanced by the synergetic effect of NAR. The findings demonstrated that NAR could be used as a food additive to enhance the solubility and membrane permeability of hydrophobic polyphenols.     

Effect of mesoporous carbon on oxygen reduction reaction activity as cathode catalyst support for proton exchange membrane fuel cell

In this paper, a new carbon support with a large number of mesoporous-structures is selected to prepare Pt/C catalysts. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) results show that the Pt/3# catalyst presents a sponge-like morphology, Pt particles are not only evenly distributed on the surface of carbon support, but also the smaller Pt particles are deposited in the mesoporous inside the support. The average diameter of Pt particles is only 2.8 nm. The membrane electrode assembly (MEA) based on Pt/3# catalyst also shows excellent performance. In conclusion, the 3# support is an idea carbon support for PEMFC, which helps to improve the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity of the catalyst. Based on the “internal-Pt” structure of the support mesoporous, the efficient three-phase boundaries (TPBs) are construct to avoid the poisoning effect of ionomer on the nano-metal particles, reduce the activation impedance and oxygen mass transfer impedance, and improve the reaction efficiency.     

基于滚动摩擦作用下玉米颗粒在模拟筒仓卸料中的力链分析（网络首发、推荐阅读）

针对颗粒滚动摩擦作用对筒仓中玉米颗粒的力链空间分布进行研究，通过EDEM离散元软件建立筒仓模型与仿真玉米颗粒模型进行卸粮仿真模拟，并与筒仓卸料实验作流态对比，验证模型与仿真结果的准确性。通过对模拟仓进行切片观察和数据处理，对比分析了不同摩擦情况下力链的细观参数随时间演化规律。模拟结果表明：颗粒间摩擦系数越大，卸粮完成的最终时间越长；颗粒间滚动摩擦系数越小，颗粒由整体流转变为管状流的时间越早。对于有漏斗的筒仓来说，减小颗粒间摩擦会改变整体流和管状流之间的极限，从而增加产生管状流的面积。标准滚动摩擦系数下玉米颗粒在卸料过程中会出现起拱-塌陷效应；减小滚动摩擦，玉米颗粒卸料较稳定，未出现起拱的应力突增、以及拱塌陷的应力衰减；增大颗粒间滚动摩擦不但会增加拱效应，且出现成拱高度距离漏斗口更高。     

磨料有序排布电镀砂轮的制备及其把持力研究

为解决电镀砂轮磨削加工中容屑空间不足的问题，采用点胶微粘接的方法制备了磨料有序排布的电镀砂轮，分析了磨料粘接效果和镀层力学性能。通过SEM分析了磨料/镀层/导电胶的结合界面，并进行了干磨削试验。研究结果表明，直径约为磨料粒径40%的胶点可粘接住磨料，单个胶点上粘接多颗磨料的占比小于6%；双脉冲电镀工艺制备的镀层显微硬度大于500HV，表层残余应力小于100MPa，磨料/镀层/导电胶之间的界面贴合紧密，无明显缺陷；砂轮在磨削时没有出现磨料脱落现象。     

The Versatile Manipulations of Self-Assembled Proteins in Vaccine Design

Protein assemblies provide unique structural features which make them useful as carrier molecules in biomedical and chemical science. Protein assemblies can accommodate a variety of organic, inorganic and biological molecules such as small proteins and peptides and have been used in development of subunit vaccines via display parts of viral pathogens or antigens. Such subunit vaccines are much safer than traditional vaccines based on inactivated pathogens which are more likely to produce side-effects. Therefore, to tackle a pandemic and rapidly produce safer and more effective subunit vaccines based on protein assemblies, it is necessary to understand the basic structural features which drive protein self-assembly and functionalization of portions of pathogens. This review highlights recent developments and future perspectives in production of non-viral protein assemblies with essential structural features of subunit vaccines.     

Repeated low-velocity impact responses of SiC particle reinforced Al metal-matrix composites

This study aimed to investigate experimentally the repeated low-velocity impact behaviors of SiC reinforced aluminum 6061 metal-matrix composites for different volume fractions and energy levels. In addition, the hardness variations were measured by the Vickers hardness tests from the impacted and impact-free cross-sections of the particle reinforced metal-matrix composites. Low-velocity impact tests were applied to composite samples manufactured by powder metallurgy (in 10, 20, and 30% volume fractions) at two total energy levels (15 and 60 J as single) and in repetitions equal to the sum of these energy levels (5 + 5 + 5 and 20 + 20 + 20 J as repeated). As a result, in increasing the impact number for all volume fractions, the total contact time was shortened and the peak contact force increased, whereas both the permanent central deflection and the absorbed energies reduced. Hence, these variations obtained under repeated impacts (5 + 5 + 5 and 20 + 20 + 20 J) revealed that metal-matrix composites showed a tougher behavior with an increase in the impact numbers from 1st to 3rd, particularly because of the strain hardening effect. Furthermore, an increase in volume fraction from 10 to 30% resulted in an increase in the impact strength under all repeated and single impacts despite changing deformation and damage mechanisms due to increasing the strain hardening effect and particle fractures. The hardness was affected by the volume fraction and increased as the volume fraction increased in both the impacted and impact-free zones. The repeated impact increased the impacted zone hardness more than the single impact for all volume fractions. Additionally, the hardness of the impacted zone under 20 + 20 + 20 J repeated impact was measured as the highest value in the 30% volume fraction. Therefore, metal-matrix composites can behave harder with the strain hardening effect under repeated impacts.     

A comparative study on the effect of carbon-based and ceramic additives on the properties of fiber reinforced polymer matrix composites for high temperature applications

Ablative composites have been in use for thermal protection of space vehicles for decades. Carbon-phenolic composites have proven to perform exceptionally well in these applications. However with development in aerospace industry their performance needs improvement. In this field, different carbon-based and ceramic additives have been introduced into ablative composite systems. This review article gives a comparative analysis of researches done in this field in the recent past. Density, ablative, thermal and mechanical properties of ablative composites with different ultra-high temperature ceramic particles i.e. ZrSi₂, Cenosphere, nano-SiO₂, BN etc. and carbon-based nanoparticles i.e. CNTs, nano-Diamonds, Graphene oxide etc. used as additives, have been compared and discussed. Emphasis is put on carbon-phenolic composite systems although some epoxy matrix systems have also been discussed for comparison.     

双亲纳米SiO2颗粒的制备及提高渗吸采收率性能

以正辛基三乙氧基硅烷和3-巯基丙基三乙氧基硅烷为改性剂，以双氧水为氧化剂，在水基环境下对亲水纳米SiO2颗粒表面进行改性，得到具有磺酸基和辛基的双亲纳米SiO2颗粒，并通过红外和热重对其化学结构和热稳定性进行分析。将双亲纳米SiO2颗粒分散在地层水中制备纳米流体，并评价纳米流体的稳定性、界面性质和渗吸效率。利用核磁共振技术探究纳米流体渗吸过程中岩心孔隙内原油运移规律。结果表明，纳米流体储存30 d未出现分层现象，表现出良好的稳定性；经纳米流体处理的岩心亲水性增强。此外，双亲纳米SiO2颗粒将油水界面张力降低至1.7 mN/m；纳米流体渗吸采收率高达22.6%，渗吸初始阶段小孔隙中的原油被动用，而在渗吸后期阶段大孔隙中的原油才被动用。