Sn-containing Si3N4-based composites for adaptive excellent friction and wear in a wide temperature range

Ceramic design based on reducing friction and wear-related failures in moving mechanical systems has gained tremendous attention due to increased demands for durability, reliability and energy conservation. However, only few materials can meet these requirements at high temperatures. Here, we designed and prepared a Sn-containing Si₃N₄-based composite, which displayed excellent tribological properties at high temperatures. The results showed that the friction coefficient and wear rate of the composites were reduced to 0.27 and 4.88 × 10^?6 mm³ N^?1 m^?1 in air at 800 °C. The wear mechanism of the sliding pairs at different temperatures was revealed via detailed analyses of the worn surfaces. In addition, the tribo-driven graphitization was detected on the wear surfaces and in the wear debris, and the carbon phase was identified by SEM, TEM, and Raman spectrum.     

Digital twin-based analysis of volumetric error mapping procedures

The evaluation of the volumetric accuracy of a machine tool is an open challenge in the industry, and a wide variety of technical solutions are available in the market and at research level. All solutions have advantages and disadvantages concerning which errors can be measured, the achievable uncertainty, the ease of implementation, possibility of machine integration and automation, the equipment cost and the machine occupation time, and it is not always straightforward which option to choose for each application. The need to ensure accuracy during the whole lifetime of the machine and the availability of monitoring systems developed following the Industry 4.0 trend are pushing the development of measurement systems that can be integrated in the machine to perform semi-automatic verification procedures that can be performed frequently by the machine user to monitor the condition of the machine. Calibrated artefact based calibration and verification solutions have an advantage in this field over laser based solutions in terms of cost and feasibility of machine integration, but they need to be optimized for each machine and customer requirements to achieve the required calibration uncertainty and minimize machine occupation time.This paper introduces a digital twin-based methodology to simulate all relevant effects in an artefact-based machine tool calibration procedure, from the machine itself with its expected error ranges, to the artefact geometry and uncertainty, artefact positions in the workspace, probe uncertainty, compensation model, etc. By parameterizing all relevant variables in the design of the calibration procedure, this simulation methodology can be used to analyse the effect of each design variable on the error mapping uncertainty, which is of great help in adapting the procedure to each specific machine and user requirements. The simulation methodology and the analysis possibilities are illustrated by applying it on a 3-axis milling machine tool.     

A rapid detection method for the surface defects of mosaic ceramic tiles

Due to its unique artistic value, mosaic ceramics are widely used in construction-related fields. To meet the artist's demand for high-quality mosaic ceramic to create artistic works, it is necessary to meet the needs for efficient screening of mosaic ceramic tiles. Different from the ordinary large-target ceramics, mosaic ceramics exhibit characteristics of small tile sizes, a variety of colors, large demand for quantities, and easy reflection on the surface. Common manual detection methods show problems of low efficiency or accuracy, easy to fatigue, and many others. To solve these problems, this paper proposes a new detection method to identify surface defects of mosaic ceramic tiles and designs a detection system platform to achieve rapid detection. The experiment proves that the detection system has a detection rate of 93.99% for small defects on the surface of mosaic ceramic tiles, and the detection time of a single mosaic ceramic tile is less than 0.06 s. The detection method can quickly and accurately screen out high-quality, defect-free mosaic ceramic tiles, which can effectively improve the quality and artistic value of mosaic ceramic art creation.     

高排放标准下道路燃油车处境分析

针对国六排放标准实施后道路燃油车竞争和生存压力加大的问题,调查统计近5 a汽车及新能源汽车的保有量,汽车保有量以年均12%的比例增长,新能源汽车保有量以每年约50%的比例增长;研究和对比近年来机动车排放标准,分析道路燃油车节能减排存在的问题,从政策引导制约、供油企业升级改造、燃油车本身的改进优化等几方面提出时效性方案与建议。     

Microstructure and mechanical properties of Mo coating deposited by supersonic plasma spraying

The inherent technological limitations of traditional thermal spraying technologies have the relatively high oxidation degree and porosity of prepared Molybdenum (Mo) coating. Hence, in this study, a Mo coating was fabricated using supersonic plasma spraying technology. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), tensile testing machine, high-precision macro/micro-indentation tester and ball-on-disc tribometer were used to investigate the microstructure, phase composition, mechanical and tribological properties of the coating. The results showed that the Mo coating had dense structure and highly diminished oxidation degree. The phase composition was pure Mo. The tensile strength failure occurred within the coating layer. In the meanwhile, the Mo coating exhibited a superior hardness, a high elastic work/total work (W_e/W_t), and excellent tribological properties. The wear mechanisms were fatigue wear and adhesive wear.     

[成形过程仿真优化与集成计算材料工程]限定加热管布局的快速热循环注塑成形模具电加热系统优化

针对管道布局、最大允许能耗给定条件下快速热循环注塑成形（RHCM）注塑模具型腔表面快速均匀加热的问题，提出以单根加热棒热流密度为设计变量，以模具型腔表面升温效率和温度分布均匀性为目标，结合有限元模拟、响应面设计以及多目标粒子群优化技术来优化RHCM模具电加热系统。与优化前相比，加热系统优化后，模具型腔表面最大温差降低63.4%，加热系统总能耗降低9%。对比了不同注塑成形工艺条件下成形的平板塑件表面质量，结果表明，相对传统注塑成形（CIM）工艺，RHCM工艺将制品表面粗糙度Ra从320 nm降低到118 nm，并有效抑制了制品表面熔接痕、缩痕等缺陷；发现制品表面粗糙度与型腔表面对应点温度成负相关，说明优化后的型腔表面温度分布更有利于提升制品表面质量。     

Nacre-Inspired,Liquid Metal-Based Ultrasensitive Electronic Skin by Spatially Regulated Cracking Strategy

The realization of liquid metal-based wearable systems will be a milestone toward high-performance, integrated electronic skin. However, despite the revolutionary progress achieved in many other components of electronic skin, liquid metal-based flexible sensors still suffer from poor sensitivity due to the insufficient resistance change of liquid metal to deformation. Herein, a nacre-inspired architecture composed of a biphasic pattern (liquid metal with Cr/Cu underlayer) as “bricks” and strain-sensitive Ag film as “mortar” is developed, which breaks the long-standing sensitivity bottleneck of liquid metal-based electronic skin. With 2 orders of magnitude of sensitivity amplification while maintaining wide (>85%) working range, for the first time, liquid metal-based strain sensors rival the state-of-art counterparts. This liquid metal composite features spatially regulated cracking behavior. On the one hand, hard Cr cells locally modulate the strain distribution, which avoids premature cut-through cracks and prolongs the defect propagation in the adjacent Ag film. On the other hand, the separated liquid metal cells prevent unfavorable continuous liquid-metal paths and create crack-free regions during strain. Demonstrated in diverse scenarios, the proposed design concept may spark more applications of ultrasensitive liquid metal-based electronic skins, and reveals a pathway for sensor development via crack engineering.     

Challenges and opportunities of Rankine cycle for waste heat recovery from internal combustion engine

Internal combustion engines (ICEs) are the major consumers of crude oil, and thus improvements in the fuel consumption performance of ICEs would be significant for global energy conservation and emission reduction. Owing to the constraints in the engine structure and combustion efficiency, more than half of the fuel combustion heat in ICEs is wasted. Therefore, ICE waste heat recovery (ICE-WHR) shows huge potential. Rankine cycle (organic or inorganic) provides a promising solution for ICE-WHR, which could balance efficiency and practicality. In this review, recent advances in Rankine cycles for ICE-WHR are summarized and discussed. To evaluate results from various existing studies, a uniform evaluation standard, thermodynamic perfection, was proposed based on the benchmark of the heat source based ideal thermodynamic cycle(H-iCycle), which is determined by achieving ideal thermal matching to external boundary conditions. Based on this, the effects of three major factors (cycle configuration, working fluid, and key components) on the performance of Rankine cycle can be investigated. In addition, a discussion of several application concerns, including backpressure, weight, power output type, off-design performance dynamic response, and control, enables us to gain a comprehensive understanding and assessment of Rankine cycles in ICE-WHR. With respect to working fluids, C_xH_yO_z and siloxanes with high critical temperature (such as cyclohexane, benzene, toluene, and MM) have a satisfactory thermal matching with waste heat sources. Basic Rankine cycles using these working fluids could yield a high thermodynamic perfection of up to 54.1%. With respect to the cycle configuration, cascade Rankine cycles and dual-pressure Rankine cycles are expected to achieve the highest thermodynamic perfection of 62.3%. Finally, major challenges and perspectives for the future development of Rankine cycles in ICE-WHR are discussed. Four promising research directions suggested in this review include the active design of desirable working fluids, advanced cycle configuration design based on “energy utilization according to quality,” integrated scheme research at three levels (component, system, and energy management), and advanced coordinative control.     

Effect of fiber orientation on Liquid–Gas flow in the gas diffusion layer of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

In this study, the lattice Boltzmann method was used to simulate the three-dimensional intrusion process of liquid water in the gas diffusion layer (GDL) of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). The GDL was reconstructed by the stochastic method and used to investigate fiber orientation's influence on liquid water transport in the GDL of a PEMFC. The fiber orientation can be described by the angle between a single fiber and the in-plane direction; three different samples were simulated for three different fiber orientation ranges. The simulated permeability correlated well with the anisotropic characteristics of reconstructed carbon papers. It was concluded that the fiber orientation had a significant effect on the liquid invasion pattern in the GDL by changing the pore shape and distribution of the GDL. The results indicated that the stochastically reconstructed GDL, taking into account the fiber orientation, better demonstrates the mass transport properties of the GDL.     

Correlation of Cooling Rate,Microstructure and Hardness of S34MnV Steel

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B - A study of the hardenability, the microstructure and the phase transformations as a function of the cooling rate, of a marine crankshaft S34MnV steel...