Influence of water and oil immersion on the tribological properties of Excentrodendron hsienmu

Modern composite materials and lignum vitae are widely studied and used in water-lubricated bearings. Noise, wear and tear, environmental pollution, and limited resources restrict the application of these materials. Thus, alternatives to lignum vitae for water-lubricated bearings should be identified and developed. In this work, the chemical composition and mechanical and tribological properties of water-, vegetable oil-, and gear oil-immersed and wax- and water-extracted Excentrodendron hsienmu (E. hsienmu) samples were studied. Results showed that the friction coefficients of the water- and gear oil-immersed and waxand water-extracted E. hsienmu samples are significantly smaller than those of the wax- and water-extracted lignum vitae samples. The grinding crack widths of the water-extracted gear oil-immersed E. hsienmu samples are smaller than those of the water-immersed lignum vitae samples. The preliminary results show that it is possible to provide an environmentally friendly method that could replace lignum vitae and other composite materials for water-lubricated bearings.     

Morphology study of oriented SmBCO film deposited by MOCVD

c-axis-oriented SmBa_2Cu_3O_7(SmBCO) films have been deposited on(100)- LaA1O_3(LAO)substrate by metal organic chemical vapor deposition(MOCVD) technique.The effects of deposition temperature(T_(dep)) and total pressure(P_(tot)) on the orientation and microstructure of SmBCO films were investigated.The orientation of SmBCO films transformed from α-axis to c-axis with increasing of T_(dep) from 900 to 1 100℃.At T_(dep)=1 050℃,SmBCO films had c-axis orientation and tetragon surface.At P_(tot)~(dep)=400-800 Pa and T_(dep)=1 050 ℃,totally c-axis-oriented SmBCO films were obtained.The R_(dep) of SmBCO films increased firstly and then decreased with increasing P_(tot).The surface of SmBCO films exhibited tetragon morphology at 1 050 ℃ and400 Pa.Maximum thickness of SmBCO film deposited was 1.2μm at P_(tot)= 600 Pa,and the corresponding R_(dep)was 7.2 μm·h~(-1).     

Composition dependence of phase structure and electrical properties of (1−y)Bi1−xNdxFeO3−yBiScO3 ceramics

In this work, we have studied a new lead-free ceramic of(1-y)Bi_(1-x)Nd_xFeO_(3-y)BiScO_3(0.05≤x≤0.15 and 0.05≤y≤0.15) prepared by a conventional solid-state method, and the influences of Nd and Sc content on their phase structure and electrical properties were investigated in detail. The ceramics with 0.05≤x≤0.10 and 0.05≤y≤0.15 belong to an R3 c phase, and the rhombohedral-like and orthorhombic multiphase coexistence is established in the composition range of 0.125≤x≤0.15 and y=0. The electrical properties of the ceramics can be enhanced by modifying x and y values. The highest piezoelectric coefficient(d33~51 p C/N) is obtained in the ceramics with x=0.075 and y=0.125, which is superior to that of a pure BiFeO_3 ceramic. In addition, a lowest dielectric loss(tan δ~0.095%, f=100 k Hz) is shown in the ceramics with x=0.15 and y=0 due to the involvement of low defect concentrations, and the improved thermal stability of piezoelectricity at 20–600oC is possessed in the ceramics. We believe that the ceramics can play a meaningful role in the high-temperature lead-free piezoelectric applications.     

Surface functionalized carbon nanofibers and their effect on the dispersion and tribological property of epoxy nanocomposites

Surface functionalization of carbon nanofibers (CNFs) was carried out, i e, CNFs were firstly oxidized and then the surface was silanized by 3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) via an assembly method. A new kind of high wear resistance s-CNFs/epoxy composite was fabricated by in-situ reaction. FTIR spectroscopy was used to detect the changes of the functional groups produced by silane on the surface of CNFs. The tribological properties and microstructures of modified and unmodified CNFs/epoxy composites were studied, respectively. The expremental results indicate that APTES is covalently linked to the surface of CNFs successfully and improves the dispersion of CNF in epoxy matrix. The friction coefficients and the wear rates of s-CNFs/epoxy composites are evidently lower than those of u-CNFs/epoxy composites under the same loads. Investigations also indicate that abrasive wear is the main wear mechanism for u-CNFs/epoxy composite, with slight adhesive wear for s-CNFs/epoxy composite under the same sliding wear condition.     

Effect of Al in slag blended cement paste under sulfate attack

Unilateral sulfate attack of cementitious materials containing 40% slag with different water to binder ratios was investigated. The results showed that the degradation of slag blended cement pastes was nearly from the corners of paste surface with cracking and spallings, water-to-binder(w/b) ratio made a significant sense to the damage that low w/b ratio led to little weight loss, less cracking and spalling damage and vice versa. Microstructural experimental results demonstrated that in the three different stages of sulfate attack, degradation of pastes was primarily associated with the migration behavior and bonding configuration of aluminum, in the early ages Al was mostly present in C-(A)-S-H, and thus, the damage of pastes hardly appeared while at later ones Al had been largely transferred from C-(A)-S-H into AFt, leading to expansive damage.     

Structural and electrical properties of high Curie temperature Aurivillius phase composite ceramics with largely enhanced piezoelectricity

High performance piezoelectric ceramics with high Curie temperatures(TC) are the bottle necks of relevant high temperature devices. In this study, the electrical performance and microstructure of Li and Mn codoped Aurivillius-type composite ceramics with a composition Ca_(0.99-x_Bi_(6.99+x)(Li Mn)_(0.01) Nb Ti_5O_(24)(x = 0–0.8) were systematically investigated. The results indicated that uniform intergrowth structure with a lattice similar to that of the end member CBT could be formed at a low x value(x 0.4). Phase separation occurred when more A-site Ca~(2+) ions were replaced by Bi~(3+) ions. Nevertheless, all composite samples showed d_(33) values about 2 to 3 times of that of the constituent phase Ca Bi_4Ti_4O_(15) and Bi_3 Ti NbO_9 with still a high depolarization temperature. The performance of the samples was found to be related to the density and larger lattice distortion along the polarization a axis. The results also demonstrated that formation of the compound system was an effective way in improving the performance of Aurivillius-type high TC piezoelectric ceramics.     

Effect of pH on crystallization of nanocrystalline zirconia in a microwave-hydrothermal process

Nanocrystalline zirconia (ZrO₂) was synthesized using a microwave-hydrothermal process. The effect of pH on the crystallization of the ZrO₂ powders was investigated. The phase and microstructure of ZrO₂ powders were examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results show that pure m-ZrO₂ can be obtained at low pH (pH<2). Pure t-ZrO₂ is formed at pH = 7 and 14. The size of the ZrO₂ crystals is in the range of 8-26 nm and decreases with increasing pH. The formation of m-ZrO₂ results from the precipitation of ZrO₂ from solution. The t-ZrO₂ is formed through the in-situ structural rearrangement of amorphous Zr(OH) _x O _y . The stabilization of t-ZrO₂ is attributed to the small crystal size and the adsorption of hydroxy ions on the surfaces of the crystals.     

Effect of Cu-Ti-C reaction composition on reinforcing particles size of TiC<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>/Cu composites

TiC _x /Cu composites were fabricated by combustion synthesis and hot press technology. Using XRD, SEM, EDS, FESEM analysis methods, the effects of various carbon sources and different Cu contents on the microstructures of TiC _x /Cu composites and the size of TiC _x particles were investigated. Results showed that TiC _x reinforcing particles size increases with decreasing Cu content in Cu-Ti-C reaction system. With carbon nanotubes (carbon black) serving as carbon source, the generated TiC _x particles size transits from nanometer to submicron when Cu content corresponding to the reaction system is reduced to 60 vol% (70 vol%); while graphite serves as carbon source, there is no clear limiting concentration. C particles with smaller size, larger specific surface area and better distribution result in finer TiC _x particles, which is more beneficial to generating nano-sized TiC _x /Cu composites.     

Reaction mechanism and microstructure evolution of reaction sintered <Emphasis Type="Italic">h</Emphasis>-BN

Hexagonal boron nitride ceramic (h-BN) based on the nitridation of B powders was obtained by reaction sintering method. The effects of sintering temperature on the mechanical properties and microstructure of the resultant products were investigated and the reaction mechanism was discussed. Results showed that the reaction between B and N₂ occurred vigorously at temperatures ranging from 1 000 °C to 1 300 °C, which resulted in the generation of t-BN. When the temperature exceeded 1 450 °C, transformation from t-BN to h-BN began to occur. As the sintering temperature increased, the spherical particles of t-BN gradually transformed into fine sheet particles of h-BN. These particles subsequently displayed a compact arrangement to achieve a more uniform microstructure, thereby increasing the strength.     

Bimodal plate structures induced by pulsed laser in duplex-phase Zr alloy

A duplex-phase Zr-2.5Nb alloy was treated by pulsed laser, followed by careful microstructural characterization using field emission gun scanning electron microscope and attached electron backscatter diffraction. Beneath the modification zones with common uniform α-plate structures(UPS), a layer of unreported bimodal α-plate structures(BPS) featured by coarse(submicron)plates forming multiple cores surrounded by dense fine(nanoscale) plates was found. Presence of such BPS is attributed to non-equilibrium thermodynamic conditions induced by the pulsed laser treatments. Limited diffusion of Nb due to the short pulse during laser heating allows β phases with distinctly different Nb contents to be presented: Nb-enriched prior β films and Nb-depleted β phases, transforming into the fine and the coarse plates during cooling, respectively. Orientation analyses show that both types of plates in the BPS are aroused essentially from a single β orientation, suggesting epitaxial growth of the Nb-depletedβ phases from the preexisting β films.     

Elimination of Voids at Interface of <Emphasis Type="Italic">β</Emphasis>-SiC Films and Si Substrate by Laser CVD

Void-free β-SiC films were deposited on Si(001) substrates by laser chemical vapor deposition using hexamethyldisilane (HMDS) as the precursor. The effect of the time of introducing HMDS, i e, the substrate temperature when HMDS introduced (T_in), on the preferred orientation, surface microstructure and void was investigated. The orientation of the deposited SiC films changed from <001> to random to <111> with increasing T_in. The surface showed a layer-by-layer microstructure with voids above T_in ? 773 K, and then transformed into mosaic structure without voids at T_in= 298 K. The mechanism of the elimination of voids was discussed. At T_in =298 K, Si surface can be covered by an ultrathin SiC film, which inhibits the out-diffusion of Si atoms from substrate and prohibites the formation of the voids.     

Probabilistic composition of cone-based cardinal direction relations

Composition tables play a significant role in qualitative spatial reasoning (QSR). At present, a couple of composition tables focusing on various spatial relations have been developed in a qualitative approach. However, the spatial reasoning processes are usually not purely qualitative in everyday life, where probability is one important issue that should be considered. In this paper, the probabilistic compositions of cone-based cardinal direction relations (CDR) are discussed and estimated by making some assumptions. Consequently, the form of composition result turns to be {(R ₁,P ₁), (R ₂,P ₂), ..., (R _n ,P _n )}, where P _i is the probability associated with relation R _i . Employing the area integral method, the probabilities in each composition case can be computed with the assumption that the target object is uniformly distributed in the corresponding cone regions.     

Characterization and properties of duplex a-C:H/MAO coatings on magnesium alloy using combined microarc oxidation and hybrid magnetron sputtering

The combined microarc oxidation (MAO) and magnetron sputtering deposition process was used to deposit duplex a-C:H/MAO and Ti-a-C:H/MAO coatings on AM80 magnesium alloy. The microstructure, mechanical properties and tribological behavior of the two duplex coatings were investigated. The experimental results showed that the a-C:H and Ti-a-C:H top films on Si substrates were dense and had a low G peak position and ID/IG ratio, compared with the hydrogen-free amorphous carbon films. Numerous micropores were found on the duplex a-C:H/MAO and Ti-a-C:H/MAO coatings together with low values of hardness (H) and elastic modulus (E), which also showed good binding strength with the Mg alloy substrates. Compared to MAO treated substrate used for the protection of the Mg alloy, the duplex a-C:H/MAO and Ti-a-C:H/MAO coatings still had stable and low value of friction coefficient, even though the surface of the duplex coatings was rough and porous. Furthermore, the mechanism of friction reduction of the two duplex coatings on the Mg alloy substrates was discussed.     

Rheological behaviors of fresh cement pastes with polycarboxylate superplasticizer

The rheologicalbehaviors of fresh cement paste with polycarboxylate superplasticizer were systematically investigated.Influentialfactors including superplasticizer to cement ratio(Sp/C),water to cement ratio(w/c),temperature,and time were discussed.Fresh cement pastes with Sp/Cs in the range of 0 to 2.0% and varied W/Cs from 0.25 to 0.5 were prepared and tested at 0,20 and 40 °C,respectively.Flowability and rheologicaltests on cement pastes were conducted to characterize the development of the rheologicalbehavior of fresh cement pastes over time.The exprimentalresults indicate that the initialflowability and flowability retention over shelf time increase with the growth in superplasticizer dosage due to the plasticizing effect and retardation effect of superplasticizer.Higher temperature usually leads to a sharper drop in initialflowability and flowability retention.However,for the cement paste with high Sp/C or w/c,the flowability is slightly affected by temperature.Yield stress and plastic viscosity show similar variation trends to the flowability under the abovementioned influentialfactors at low Sp/C.In the case of high Sp/C,yield stress and plastic viscosity start to decline over shelf time and the decreasing rate descends at elevated temperature.Moreover,two equations to roughly predict yield stress and plastic viscosity of the fresh cement pastes incorporating Sp/C,w/c,temperature and time are developed on the basis of the existing models,in which experimentalconstants can be extracted from a database created by the rheologicaltest results.     

Effects of annealing processes on Cu<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript>Si<Subscript>1-<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis></Subscript> thin films

The Cu _x Si_1-x thin films have been grown by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) with in situ annealing on Si (001) and Si (111), respectively. The transformation of phase was detected by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results showed that the as-deposited films were composed of Cu on both Si (001) and Si (111). The annealed thin films consisted of Cu + η”-Cu₃Si on Si (001) while Cu + η’-Cu₃Si on Si (111), respectively, at annealed temperature (T _a) = 300-600 °C. With the further increasing of T _a, at T _a= 700 °C, there was only one main phase, η”-Cu₃Si on Si (001) while η’-Cu₃Si on Si (111), respectively. The annealed thin films transformed from continuous dense structure to scattered-grain morphology with increasing T _a detected by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). It was also showed that the grain size would enlarge with increasing annealing time (t _a).     

Effects of electrode on resistance switching properties of ZnMn<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>4</Subscript> films deposited by magnetron sputtering

ZnMn₂O₄ films for resistance random access memory (RRAM) were fabricated with different device structures by magnetron sputtering. The effects of electrode on I-V characteristics, resistance switching behavior, endurance and retention characteristics of ZnMn₂O₄ films were investigated. The ZnMn₂O₄ films, using p-Si and Pt as bottom electrode, exhibit bipolar resistive switching (BRS) behavior dominated by the space-charge-limited conduction (SCLC) mechanism in the high resistance state (HRS) and the filament conduction mechanism in the low resistance state (LRS), but the ZnMn₂O₄ films using n-Si as bottom electrodes exhibit both bipolar and unipolar resistive switching behaviors controlled by the Poole-Frenkel (P-F) conduction mechanism in both HRS and LRS. Ag/ZnMn₂O₄/p-Si device possesses the best endurance and retention characteristics, in which the number of stable repetition switching cycle is over 1000 and the retention time is longer than 10⁶ seconds. However, the highest R _HRS/R _LRS ratio of 10⁴ and the lowest V _ON and V _OFF of 3.0 V have been observed in Ag/ZnMn₂O₄/Pt device. Though the Ag/ZnMn₂O₄/n-Si device also possesses the highest R _HRS/R _LRS ratio of 10⁴, but the highest values of V _ON,V _OFF, R _HRS and R _LRS, as well as the poor endurance and retention characteristics.     

Electronic Structure and Optical Properties of LiBiO<Subscript>3</Subscript> Doped with V,Nb, and Ta

The crystal structure, band structure, density of states, Mulliken charge, bond population and optical properties for LiBi_1-xM_xO₃ (M=V, Nb, and Ta) were investigated using hybrid density functional theory. It was found that LiBiO₃ doped with V, Nb, and Ta presented distinctly stronger covalent interactions in M-O (M=V, Nb, and Ta) than Bi-O, thus resulting in mild distortion of the structure and facilitating the separation of photogenerated carriers. Furthermore, the hybridizations of Bi-6s, M-d (M=V, Nb, and Ta) and O-2p widened the valence and conduction bands, which promoted transmission of photogenerated carriers in the band edge and thus caused better photocatalytic performance.     

Entransy dissipation minimization for generalized heat exchange processes

This paper investigates the MED(Minimum Entransy Dissipation) optimization of heat transfer processes with the generalized heat transfer law q ∝(△(T~n))~m T. For the fixed amount of heat transfer, the optimal temperature paths for the MED are obtained. The results show that the strategy of the MED with generalized convective law q ∝(△T)~m T is that the temperature difference keeps constant, which is in accordance with the famous temperature-difference-field uniformity principle, while the strategy of the MED with linear phenomenological law q ∝△(T~(-1)) is that the temperature ratio keeps constant. For special cases with Dulong-Petit law q ∝(△T)~(1.25) and an imaginary complex law q ∝(△(T~4))~(1.25), numerical examples are provided and further compared with the strategies of the MEG(Minimum Entropy Generation), CHF(Constant Heat Flux) and CRT(Constant Reservoir Temperature) operations. Besides, influences of the change of the heat transfer amount on the optimization results with various heat resistance models are discussed in detail.     

A triple-exposure color PIV technique for pressure reconstruction

The study developed a triple-exposure color particle image velocimetry (TE-CPIV) technique associated with pressure reconstruction, and validated its feasibility. A light source with the three primary colors of red, green, and blue (R, G, and B) is produced in a time sequence by a liquid crystal display (LCD) projector. Particle images at three different instants under the color illuminations are captured in one snapshot using a color digital single-lens reflex (SLR) camera with a complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor. A contamination correction algorithm based on a specific calibration is performed on the different color layers (R layer, G layer, and B layer) of the raw color image to reduce the contaminated intensity of each color illumination on the other two color layers. The corrected intensity generates three new color layers, from which a standard cross-correlation process in the classical PIV method is used to obtain two velocity fields. Eventually, an instantaneous pressure field is reconstructed from the two velocity fields. The feasibility of TE-CPIV was tested by two experiments with a solid body rotation flow and a cylinder wake flow. The results show acceptable accuracy and robustness of the new technique. The idea of the TE-CPIV is believed to provide a simple and effective way of estimating a pressure field with low cost and high convenience.     

Modified k-ω model using kinematic vorticity for corner separation in compressor cascades

A new method of modifying the conventional k-ω turbulence model for corner separation is proposed in this paper. The production term in the ω equation is modified using kinematic vorticity considering fluid rotation and deformation in complex geometric boundary conditions. The corner separation flow in linear compressor cascades is calculated using the original k-ω model, the modified k-ω model and the Reynolds stress model(RSM). The numerical results of the modified model are compared with the available experimental data, as well as the corresponding results of the original k-ω model and RSM. In terms of accuracy, the modified model, which significantly improves the performance of the original k-ω model for predicting corner separation, is quite competitive with the RSM. However, the modified model, which has considerably lower computational cost, is more robust than the RSM.