High density polyethylene (HDPE): Experiments and modeling

The uniaxial tension (loading and unloading), creep and relaxation experiments on high density polyethylene (HDPE) have been carried out at room temperature. The stress–strain behavior of HDPE under different strain rates, creep (relaxation) behavior at different stress (strain) levels have been investigated. These experimental results are used to compare the simulation results of a unified state variable theory, viscoplasticity theory based on overstress (VBO) and a macro-mechanical constitutive model for elasto-viscoplastic deformation of polymeric materials developed by Boyce et al. (Polymer 41:2183–2201, 2000). It is observed that elasto-viscoplasticity model by Boyce et al. (Polymer 41:2183–2201, 2000) is not good enough to simulate stress–strain, creep and relaxation behaviors of HDPE. However, the aforementioned behaviors can be modeled quantitatively by using VBO model.     

Template‐Based Synthesis of Aluminum Nitride Hollow Nanofibers Via Plasma‐Enhanced Atomic Layer Deposition

Aluminum nitride (AlN) hollow nanofibers were synthesized via plasma‐enhanced atomic layer deposition using sacrificial electrospun polymeric nanofiber templates having different average fiber diameters (~70, ~330, and ~740 nm). Depositions were carried out at 200°C using trimethylaluminum and ammonia precursors. AlN‐coated nanofibers were calcined subsequently at 500°C for 2 h to remove the sacrificial polymeric nanofiber template. SEM studies have shown that there is a critical wall thickness value depending on the template's average fiber diameter for AlN hollow nanofibers to preserve their shapes after the template has been removed by calcination. Best morphologies were observed for AlN hollow nanofibers prepared by depositing 800 cycles (corresponding to ~69 nm) on nanofiber templates having ~330 nm average fiber diameter. TEM images indicated uniform wall thicknesses of ~65 nm along the fiber axes for samples prepared using templates having ~70 and ~330 nm average fiber diameters. Synthesized AlN hollow nanofibers were polycrystalline with a hexagonal crystal structure as determined by high‐resolution TEM and selected area electron diffraction. Chemical compositions of coated and calcined samples were studied using X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). High‐resolution XPS spectra confirmed the presence of AlN.     

Low-voltage small-size double-arm MEMS actuator

The fabrication and characterisation of a double-arm cantilever-type metallic DC-contact MEMS actuator with low pull-down voltage are reported. Bi-layer TiW cantilevers with an internal stress gradient were fabricated using a microwave-compatible fabrication process. Owing to its small size, cantilever length (L = 5-50 mum) and width (W = 2-40 mum), i.e. ~10-100 times smaller in lateral dimensions than a standard MEMS actuator, this actuator showed actuation voltages lower than 10 V. RP measurements of the 10 mum-wide actuators yielded an average insertion loss less than 1 dB and isolation higher than 40 dB up to 25 GHz. The developed actuator is well suited for integration in reconfigurable microwave circuits and systems such as reconfigurable antennas and arrays.     

Correction to: Two New Co(II) Complexes of Picolinate: Synthesis,Crystal Structure,Spectral Characterization, α-Glucosidase İnhibition and TD/DFT Study

Journal of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers and Materials -     

Dual symbol optimization‐based partial transmit sequence technique for PAPR reduction in WOLA‐OFDM waveform

Weighted overlap and add‐orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (WOLA‐OFDM) is a new waveform proposed recently for meeting the requirements of fifth generation (5G) telecommunication standards. In spite of being a serious 5G waveform candidate, WOLA‐OFDM is exposed to the problem of high peak to average power ratio (PAPR) similar to the other waveforms in which multicarrier transmission strategy is employed. Due to the overlapping nature of WOLA‐OFDM waveform, where the extension of the current symbol is overlapped with the extension of the previous symbol, it will not be efficient to apply conventional PTS (C‐PTS) directly to the WOLA‐OFDM waveform. Therefore, in this paper, we propose dual symbol optimization‐based partial transmit sequence (DSO‐PTS) technique for PAPR reduction in WOLA‐OFDM waveform. In our proposed technique, two adjacent symbols are jointly considered when searching for the optimal data block with minimum PAPR unlike the C‐PTS where the adjacent symbols are optimized individually. In the simulations, our proposed DSO‐PTS technique, C‐PTS, and GreenOFDM that is developed recently by modifying the conventional selective mapping (SLM) method are compared with each other with regard to PAPR reduction performance for different search numbers (SNs). In addition, the effects of DSO‐PTS, C‐PTS, and GreenOFDM on the amount of out of band (OOB) radiation in the power spectral density (PSD) graph of WOLA‐OFDM employing solid state power amplifier (SSPA) is measured for different SNs and input back off (IBO) values. According to the simulation results, our proposed DSO‐PTS technique clearly demonstrates a superior PAPR reduction and PSD performance.     

Design and analysis of a 35 kVA medium frequency power transformer with the nanocrystalline core material

Medium frequency power transformers embedded into power electronics converters are frequently encountered in many applications such as electrical transportation and renewable energy systems and power supplies. Thus, researchers have been focused on soft magnetic materials such as amorphous and nanocrystalline materials to obtain smaller and more efficient transformer designs with the improvements on manufacturing technologies of the high frequency core materials. In this study, the transformer design methodology is proposed with the finite element analysis method, and a 35 kVA medium frequency transformer with nanocrystalline core material is designed. After the sizing stage, three-dimensional model of the transformer is created with finite element analysis software, and then co-simulations of this electromagnetic transformer model with a power electronics converter circuit are performed for practical operation conditions. Furthermore, thermal behavior of the prototype transformer is determined with the thermal coupling analysis, and temperature distribution of the prototype transformer is visualized with a thermal imaging camera. The transformer efficiency, exact equivalent circuit of the transformer and flux distributions in the transformer core are obtained from these simulation studies. In addition, the prototype of the designed transformer is produced and tested. The design conditions and simulation results are validated with experimental studies.     

Pilot Tones Optimization Using Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm for MIMO–OFDM Systems

How to design the pilot tones that are used in channel estimation has a significant effect on the estimation performance. To achieve good performance in least square (LS) algorithm, we propose the artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm for optimizing the placement of pilot tones in MIMO–OFDM systems. We also derive the upper bound of mean square error of LS estimation with the help of Gerschgorin disc theorem for fitness function of ABC algorithm. The results show that designing pilot tones using the ABC algorithm outperforms other considered placement strategies in terms of high system performance and low computational complexity.     

Neural Network Based Receiver for Multiuser Detection in MC-CDMA Systems

In this paper, we present a multiuser detection technique based on artificial neural network (NN) for synchronous multicarrier code division multiple access systems over Rayleigh fading channels. To test the robustness of the proposed receiver, also the effect of power control problem is studied with a comparative manner. Bit error rate (BER) performance of the NN based receiver is compared with the single user bound and conventional receivers. Although the BER performance of the conventional receiver degrades as the number of the users and power level differences among the users increase, as a decision structure, neural network based receiver gives closer BER performance to the single user bound.     

Determination of material parameters of a viscoplastic model by genetic algorithm

Macroscopic (continuum) and microscopic models, used for simulation of material behaviors under different loading conditions, contain a large number of material parameters and determination of these parameters is an important and difficult issue in the modeling. The aim of this work essentially deals with parameter determination procedure of any viscoplasticity model. In this study, genetic algorithm (GA) parameter optimization procedure has been proposed to determine material parameters of viscoplastic models. Parameter determination capability of the GA optimization method was tested by using VBO model which one of the viscoplasticity theory with no yield surface and loading–unloading conditions. Fourteen material parameters of VBO model are determined using uniaxial loading–unloading stress strain curves of high density polyethylene (HDPE). Using these material parameters, creep and relaxation behaviors of HDPE are simulated. A good match with experimental results is obtained. Apart from many existing studies in the literature, GA optimization procedure is applied to determine material parameters instead of trial and error procedure. This method can also be used to determine materials parameters of other viscoplasticity theories for all kinds of materials.     

Influence of temperature on viscoelastic–viscoplastic behavior of poly(lactic acid) under loading–unloading

Experimental data are reported on poly(lactic acid) (PLA) in tensile loading–unloading tests and relaxation tests under stretching and retraction at temperatures ranging from room temperature up to 50°C. Two characteristic features of the time‐dependent response of PLA are revealed: (i) with a decrease in minimum stress under retraction at a fixed temperature, relaxation curves change their shape from monotonically decaying with time (simple relaxation), to non‐monotonic (mixed relaxation) to monotonically increasing (inverse relaxation) and (ii) with an increase in temperature, inverse relaxation after unloading down to the zero stress evolves into mixed relaxation with a pronounced shift of the peak position to smaller relaxation times. Constitutive equations are derived for the mechanical behavior of PLA, and adjustable parameters in the stress–strain relations are found by fitting the observations. Ability of the model to predict the time‐dependent response under cyclic deformation is confirmed by numerical simulation. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 57:239–247, 2017. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers