Reduced‐scale test to assess the effect of fire barriers on the flaming combustion of cored composites: An upholstery‐material case study

Herein, we describe a reduced‐scale test (“Cube” test), measuring the fire performance of specimens including a fire barrier (FB) and a flammable core material, which acts as the main fuel load. The specimen is intended to reproduce a cross‐section of a composite product where heat/mass transfer occurs primarily in a direction perpendicular to the FB. The Cube test procedure and benefits are discussed in this work by adopting residential upholstery furniture as an exemplary study. One flexible polyurethane foam, one polypropylene cover fabric, and 10 commercially available FBs were selected. They were used to compare the fire performance of FBs, measured in terms of peak of heat release rate, in the ASTM E1474‐14 standard test and the newly developed Cube test. Edge effects severely affected the performance of FBs in the ASTM E1474‐14 standard test but not in the Cube test. Furthermore, appropriate test conditions were determined in the Cube test to measure the so‐called “wetting point,” that is, the time and value of heat release rate measured when flammable liquid products were first observed on the bottom of the specimen. The relevance of the “wetting point” in terms of full‐scale fire performance and failure mechanism of FBs is discussed.     

Dual contextual module for neural machine translation

Machine Translation - Self-attention-based encoder-decoder frameworks have drawn increasing attention in recent years. The self-attention mechanism generates contextual representations by attending...     

Study of the synergistic effect of boron nitride and carbon nanotubes in the improvement of thermal conductivity of epoxy composites

The enhancement of the thermal conductivity, keeping the electrical insulation, of epoxy thermosets through the addition of pristine and oxidized carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and microplatelets of boron nitride (BN) was studied. Two different epoxy resins were selected: a cycloaliphatic (ECC) epoxy resin and a glycidylic (DGEBA) epoxy resin. The characteristics of the composites prepared were evaluated and compared in terms of thermal, thermomechanical, rheological and electrical properties. Two different dispersion methods were used in the addition of pristine and oxidized CNTs depending on the type of epoxy resin used. Slight changes in the kinetics of the curing reaction were observed in the presence of the fillers. The addition of pristine CNTs led to a greater enhancement of the mechanical properties of the ECC composite whereas the oxidized CNTs presented a greater effect in the DGEBA matrix. The addition of CNTs alone led to a marked decrease of the electrical resistivity of the composites. Nevertheless, in the presence of BN, which is an electrically insulating material, it was possible to increase the proportion of pristine CNTs to 0.25 wt% in the formulation without deterioration of the electrical resistivity. A small but significant synergic effect was determined when both fillers were added together. Improvements of about 750% and 400% in thermal conductivity were obtained in comparison to the neat epoxy matrix for the ECC and DGEBA composites, respectively. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry     

Enhanced electron harvesting in next generation solar cells by employing TiO2 nanoparticles prepared through hydrolysis catalytic process

Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized through solvothermal route by changing the rate of hydrolysis in the catalytic process. In order to change the hydrolysis rate, the concentration of acetic acid, as additive, was varied as 2 M, 3 M and 4 M. The synthesized NPs were examined by various physico-chemical characterization techniques. The powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) analysis of the NPs reveals only the anatase phase of TiO_2. The spherical shaped morphology of the NPs was observed in the high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM) analysis. The optical behaviour such as absorption, bandgap, diffuse reflectance and photoluminescence (PL) emission of the NPs were studied. The material's nature and behaviors were scrutinized and they were employed as photoanode in dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) and as electron transport layer (ETL) in carbon-based perovskite solar cell (C-PSC). The charge transfer at the interface of the devices was studied with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The fabricated DSSC and C-PSC show highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.1% and 10.6%, respectively. The highest current collection was detected in C-PSC and the results are discussed in detail.     

A methodology for predicting and comparing the full‐scale fire performance of similar materials based on small‐scale testing

Reconstructive fire testing is an important tool used by fire investigators to determine the cause, origin, and progression of a particular fire. Accurate reconstruction of the fire requires the laboratory structure to be outfitted with materials that, in terms of contribution to fire growth, perform similarly to the original materials found at the fire scene. Therefore, a procedure was developed to enable fire investigators to select these replacement materials on the basis of a quantitative assessment of their relative fire performance. This procedure consists of gram‐scale and/or milligram‐scale standard testing accompanied by inverse numerical modeling of these tests, which is used to obtain relevant material properties. A numerical model composed of a detailed pyrolysis submodel and empirical flame heat feedback submodels, which were developed in this study, is subsequently employed to simulate the early stages of the Room Corner Test, which was selected to represent full‐scale material performance. The results of these simulations demonstrate that this procedure can successfully differentiate between fire growth propensities of several commercially available medium density fiberboards.     

Seismic risk analysis for reinforced concrete structures with both random and parallelepiped convex variables

This article develops an improved seismic risk assessment formulation exhibiting both random and bounded uncertainties using a probability and parallelepiped convex set mixed model. Limit thresholds for different types of components are described via a probabilistic model. The distribution parameters of limit thresholds are originally treated by employing a multidimensional parallelepiped convex model, in which marginal intervals are utilised to represent scattering levels for the distribution parameters, while relevant angle are employed to express the correlation between uncertain distribution parameters. The structural responses, i.e., engineering demand parameters (EDPs), are considered as correlated random variables and are assumed to follow a multidimensional lognormal distribution. A performance limit state function, which allows considering the relationship between the EDPs and the corresponding limit thresholds, is employed to reflect the coexistence of both random and parallelepiped convex variables. The limit state function is mapped into the standard parameter space via a transformation technique. Then, the improved seismic risk formulation, characterised through a probability and parallelepiped convex mixed variables, can be derived with the combination of the seismic fragility function and the ground motion hazard curve. The main purpose is to illustrate that the performance limit states should be properly modeled as random and parallelepiped convex mixed variables rather than only random or deterministic quantities. A six-story reinforced concrete building designed according to Chinese codes are used to illustrate the proposed approach for constructing hazard curves. The interstory drift and the peak floor acceleration are the selected EDPs, calculated through incremental dynamic analysis. The results demonstrate that the calculated failure probabilities for different limit states in 50?years are found capable of meeting the requirements of Chinese seismic norms after the proposed seismic risk formulation is adopted.     

Evaluation of the occurrence and biodegradation of parabens and halogenated by-products in wastewater by accurate-mass liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS)

An assessment of the sewage occurrence and biodegradability of seven parabens and three halogenated derivatives of methyl paraben (MeP) is presented. Several wastewater samples were collected at three different wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) during April and May 2010, concentrated by solid-phase extraction (SPE) and analysed by liquid chromatography-electrospray-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-QTOF-MS). The performance of the QTOF system proved to be comparable to triple-quadrupole instruments in terms of quantitative capabilities, with good linearity (R² > 0.99 in the 5-500 ng mL⁻¹ range), repeatability (RSD < 5.6%) and LODs (0.3-4.0 ng L⁻¹ after SPE). MeP and n-propyl paraben (n-PrP) were the most frequently detected and the most abundant analytes in raw wastewater (0.3-10 μg L⁻¹), in accordance with the data displayed in the bibliography and reflecting their wider use in cosmetic formulations. Samples were also evaluated in search for potential halogenated by-products of parabens, formed as a result of their reaction with residual chlorine contained in tap water. Monochloro- and dichloro-methyl paraben (ClMeP and Cl₂MeP) were found and quantified in raw wastewater at levels between 0.01 and 0.1 μg L⁻¹. Halogenated derivatives of n-PrP could not be quantified due to the lack of standards; nevertheless, the monochlorinated species (ClPrP) was identified in several samples from its accurate precursor and product ions mass/charge ratios (m/z). Removal efficiencies of parabens and MeP chlorinated by-products in WWTPs exceeded 90%, with the lowest percentages corresponding to the latter species. This trend was confirmed by an activated sludge biodegradation batch test, where non-halogenated parabens had half-lives lower than 4 days, whereas halogenated derivatives of MeP turned out to be more persistent, with up to 10 days of half-life in the case of dihalogenated derivatives. A further stability test performed with raw wastewater also showed that parabens degrade rapidly in real sewage, with half-lives lower than 10 h for n-butyl-paraben, while dihalogenated species again turned out to be more stable, with half-lives longer than a week.     

Behavior of pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and hormones in a sewage treatment plant

Two cosmetic ingredients (galaxolide, tonalide), eight pharmaceuticals (carbamazepine, diazepam, diclofenac, ibuprofen, naproxen, roxithromycin, sulfamethoxazole and iopromide) and three hormones (estrone, 17beta-estradiol and 17alpha-ethinylestradiol) have been surveyed along the different units of a municipal Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in Galicia, NW Spain. Among all the substances considered, significant concentrations in the influent were only found for the two musks (galaxolide and tonalide), two anti-inflammatories (ibuprofen and naproxen), two natural estrogens (estrone, 17beta-estradiol), one antibiotic (sulfamethoxazole) and the X-ray contrast medium (iopromide), where the other compounds studied were below the limit of quantification. In the primary treatment, only the fragrances (30-50%) and 17beta-estradiol (20%) were partially removed. On the other hand, the aerobic treatment (activated sludges) caused an important reduction in all compounds detected, between 35% and 75%, with the exception of iopromide, which remained in the aqueous phase. The overall removal efficiencies within the STP ranged between 70-90% for the fragrances, 40-65% for the anti-inflammatories, around 65% for 17beta-estradiol and 60% for sulfamethoxazole. However, the concentration of estrone increased along the treatment due to the partial oxidation of 17beta-estradiol in the aeration tank.