Nanostructured titanium aluminides prepared by mechanical alloying and subsequent thermal treatment

Ternary Ti-Al-Nb elemental powder blends with minor addition of SiC were synthesized in a high energy ball mill in order to understand the structural evolution during mechanical alloying (MA) and subsequent thermal treatment. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques were employed to study the structural development during MA. Ti-48%Al-4%Nb-3%SiC and Ti-48%Al-8%Nb-3%SiC blends milled to 20 h were subjected to thermal treatment at 750 °C for 1 h in vacuum. Repeated cold welding and fracturing events of MA resulted in nanocrystalline structure with supersaturated solid solution and amorphous phase. The powder particles were also refined to submicron size due to high energy collision. The nanocrystalline supersaturated solid solution evolved by MA was sustained for prolonged milling time. There was no evidence of intermetallics formation even after early solid solubility extension and formation of nanocrystalline structure. However, nanostructured TiAl and Ti₃Al intermetallic compounds were observed after giving thermal treatment to MA powder blend. Since their surface area and energy were enhanced to a great extent, the dispersed ceramic particles reacted with titanium and formed nanosilicide particles.     

Field equations for incompressible non-viscous fluids using artificial intelligence

In this article, we introduce new field equations for incompressible non-viscous fluids, which can be treated similarly to Maxwell’s electromagnetic equations based on artificial intelligence algorithms. Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations are used to arrive at field equations that are solved using convolutional neural networks. Four linear differential equations, which describe the two fields, namely, the dynamic pressure and the vortex fields, are derived, and these can be used in place of Euler’s equation. The only assumption while deriving this equation is that the dynamic pressure and vortex fields obey the superposition principle. The important finding to be noted is that Euler’s fluid equations can be converted into field equations analogous to Maxwell’s electromagnetic equations. We solve the flow problem for laminar flow past a cylinder, sphere, and cone in two dimensions similar to the conduction in a uniform electric field and arrive at closed-form expressions. These closed-form expressions, which are obtained for the potentials of fluid flow, are similar to the streamline potential functions in the case of fluid dynamics.

     

Design of XNBR nanocomposites for underwater acoustic sensor applications: Effect of MWNT on dynamic mechanical properties and morphology

In this work, application of rubber‐MWNT nanocomposite for underwater acoustic sensors is explored. The nanocomposite is developed by incorporating multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) into carboxylated nitrile rubber by mechanical mixing. The addition of MWNT up to 10 phr is found to result in about 330% increase in tensile strength, 140% increase in modulus, and 160% increase in tear strength. Transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy analyses indicate uniform dispersion of nanotubes in the rubber matrix. Dynamic mechanical analysis shows that damping at ambient temperature gradually increases with increasing filler content. This is attributed to the augmented frictional energy loss at the interface. The damping peak position shifts upward with increase in MWNT concentration, which may be gainfully used to tune to the operational frequency range of underwater acoustic sensors. Payne effect is observed at higher filler concentration due to the breakage of aggregates formed by filler–filler interaction. The nanocomposite may find application for damping structural vibrations and thus to improve the performance of underwater acoustic sensors. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40752.     

Spectral characteristics of a binary dye-mixture laser

We have investigated laser action in a binary mixture of dyes, Rh-6G and DCM, resulting in tunable laser emission over an extended frequency region. The two dyes absorb the same pump radiation but fluoresce over frequency ranges that are shifted with respect to each other, thereby resulting in extended tunability. Following a time-dependent analysis of a rate-equation model that describe the operation of such a laser, theoretical estimates for optimum dye concentrations and the corresponding extension of the laser tuning range have been obtained.     

Process Parameter Optimization in Jatropha Methyl Ester Yield Using Taguchi Technique

Among all alternate fuel sources available, the biodiesel of Jatropha curcas appears to be a potential fuel as it widely exists in Asia. The Jatropha methyl ester (JME) is produced by transesterification process. In the transesterification process, alkyl group of ester exchanges with that of an alcohol. This work focuses on optimizing various parameters like quantities of methanol, KOH, and stirrer speed, which influence high JME yield. Based on L₉ orthogonal array, experiments are conducted by using Taguchi technique. All the nine combinations of L₉ orthogonal array are experimentally done for extraction of JME, and then it is used for analysis in Taguchi technique. The analysis of maximum yield is done on the basis of “larger is better” signal to noise ratio (S/N ratio). The best combination in the L₉ orthogonal array is found to be methanol (110 ml), KOH (1.306 gm), and stirrer speed (1200 rpm). The influence of methanol, KOH, and stirrer speed on the yield is found by analysis of variance (ANOVA). Based on the results of ANOVA, it is found that the influence of methanol, KOH, and stirrer speed on the yield are obtained as 70.10%, 20.35%, and 5.78%, respectively.     

Artificial neural network a tool for predicting failure strength of composite tensile coupons using acoustic emission technique

A series of 18 tensile coupons were monitored with an acoustic emission (AE) system, while loading them up to failure. AE signals emitted due to different failure modes in tensile coupons were recorded. Amplitude, duration, energy, counts, etc., are the effective parameters to classify the different failure modes in composites, viz., matrix crazing, fiber cut, and delamination, with several subcategories such as matrix splitting, fiber/matrix debonding, fiber pullout, etc. Back propagation neural network was generated to predict the failure load of tensile specimens. Three different networks were developed with the amplitude distribution data of AE collected up to 30%, 40%, and 50% of the failure loads, respectively. Amplitude frequencies of 12 specimens in the training set and the corresponding failure loads were used to train the network. Only amplitude frequencies of six remaining specimens were given as input to get the output failure load from the trained network. The results of three independent networks were compared, and we found that the network trained with more data was having better prediction performance.     

Mechanical,ablative, and thermal properties of cenosphere‐filled ceramic/phenolic composites

This study mainly deals with cenosphere‐filled phenolic resin‐based composite that is prepared using ceramic‐ceramic fiber as reinforcement by traditional hand layup technique. The effect of cenosphere at various percentage is investigated on the mechanical, ablative, and thermal properties of the filled composites. Mechanical investigation revealed that the addition of microsized cenosphere up to 10% concentration increased the tensile strength of the composite. It is also observed that the addition of cenosphere increased the compressive strength and impact resistance of the composites. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and ablative test revealed that the addition of cenosphere not only decreased both linear and mass ablative rates but also increased the upper working temperature of the filled ceramic/phenolic composites. POLYM. COMPOS., 37:1906–1913, 2016. © 2015 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Sulfonated polyether sulfone‐poly(vinylidene fluoride) blend membrane for DMFC applications

Direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) proton exchange membranes were prepared by blending poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) with sulfonated poly(ether sulfone) (SPES). Using a diffusion cell and gas chromatographic technique, the effects of PVDF content on methanol permeability in the blended membranes were investigated. The thermal resistance and proton conductivity of the membranes were also determined by using a thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and an impedance analysis technique respectively. The presence of sulfonic acid groups in SPES was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). It was found that the methanol permeability in the blended membranes decreased with PVDF content at the expense of proton conductivity. Blended membranes show methanol permeability values much lower than that of Nafion 115, whereas the proton conductivities of the membranes are comparable with that of Nafion. The thermal stability of these blended membranes is above 250°C, which is sufficiently high for use in DMFC. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Microstructure,electrical and humidity sensing properties of TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript>/polyaniline nanocomposite films prepared by sol–gel spin coating technique

High sensitive resistive type humidity sensor based titanium oxide/polyaniline (TiO₂/PANI) nanocomposite thin films prepared by a sol–gel spin coating technique on an alumina substrate. The resultant nanocomposites were characterized by using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field emission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV–Vis absorbance and energy dispersive spectra analysis. In the XRD patterns of both pure and TiO₂/PANI composite confirms the deposition of PANI on TiO₂ and the average size of the composite particle was found to be 32 nm. Large number of nano grain surface being covered by PANI, which agrees very well with the results obtained by XRD studies. FTIR and UV–Vis spectra reveal that the PANI component undergoes an electronic structure modification as a result of the TiO₂ and PANI interaction. The room temperature resistivity was found to be for TiO₂ and TiO₂/PANI nanocomposite films 1.42?×?10⁶ and 2.56?×?10³ Ω cm respectively. The obtained TiO₂/PANI nanocomposites sensor exhibited higher humidity sensing performance such as high sensitivity, fast response (20 s) and recovery time (15 s) and high stability.