Review: tailoring the properties of macroporous carbon foams

Carbon foams are non-toxic, highly porous, light materials which demonstrate a wide range of properties. That fact allows carbon foams to be applied in many areas of life, ranging from electronics industry, through machinery, car and construction industry, to environmental protection. The properties of carbon foams are closely connected with their density, and its value is especially influenced by their internal structure, i.e. mainly size and number of pores, pore wall thickness and structural order of solid matrix. That is why it is possible to design the properties of carbon foams by controlling their growth. The main control factors are selecting the suitable raw material, the process parameters (temperature and pressure) and the suitable production method. Additionally, the properties of carbon foams may be modified by doping them with carbon or mineral fillers. The second method is the enrichment of carbon matrix with heteroatoms, mainly of boron and nitrogen. This paper presents the review of the possibilities of tailoring the structure and properties of carbon foams, based on the current level of knowledge available in the literature.     

Coupled thermal‐electrical analysis of carbon nanotube/epoxy composites

The electrical and thermal behavior of epoxy composites reinforced with different contents of multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (from 0.1 to 0.4 wt% CNT) is studied when they are subjected to relatively high DC voltages (from 1 to 100 V). These materials obey Ohm's law, reaching values of electrical conductivity in the range of 0.01–0.5 S/m. The transported electric current leads to a significant increase of temperature, which is a result of the Joule heating effect. The temperature increases to 40ºC in CNT/epoxy composites when applying 100 V. The study of heating due to Joule's effect gives information about the electrical transport mechanisms implied. It is also confirmed that both, electrical conductivity and Joule's heating effect depend on the morphological features of the composites. The functionalization of CNTs decreases the electrical conductivity of composites but increases their corresponding Joule heating, due to the strong interface between the nanotubes and matrix, which hinders the formation of pathways in CNT in direct contact. The technique of CNT dispersion applied also affects to the increase of temperature induced by the electrical current. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:1976–1982, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Fatty acid profiles from forty-nine plant species that are potential new sources of γ-linolenic acid

Forty-nine plant species from Spain, belonging to the Boraginaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Onagraceae, and Ranunculaceae families, were surveyed in a search of new sources of γ-linolenic acid (18∶3ω6, GLA). Fatty acid profiles from seeds, stems, roots, flowers and leaves were determined. GLA was detected mainly in seed and root tissues. High GLA amounts were found in seeds of Boraginaceae species, with a maximum of 20.25% of total fatty acids in Myosotis nemorosa. Within the Scrophulariaceae the highest GLA content (10.17%) was found in Scrophularia sciophila. Variable amounts of stearidonic acid, (18∶4ω3, SDA) were present in Boraginaceae species, ranging from 0.08% of total seed fatty acids in Anchusa azurea to 21.06% in Echium asperrimum. SDA was also very abundant in all organs of Asperugo procumbens. A multivariate analysis was performed using our results and those reported for other plant species belonging to the same families in order to investigate a possible correlation between the fatty acid profile and the genera within these families.     

Hydrothermal purification and enrichment of Chilean copper concentrates. Part 2: The behavior of the bulk concentrates

The hydrothermal treatment of Chilean Codelco-type copper concentrates with copper sulfate solutions was investigated as a mean of removal of impurities and subsequent increase of the copper assay. The behavior of the mineral phases (digenite, chalcopyrite, covellite, bornite, pyrite and sphalerite) was similar to those obtained in previous works from pure mineral samples. An almost complete transformation of bornite, chalcopirite, covellite and sphalerite into Cu_2 ? xS phases was obtained at 225 °C–240 °C. The highest degree of elimination (around 80%) of impurities was in Zn, Cd, Tl and Bi. An intermediate elimination (40–70%) was achieved for Pb and Te, with only moderate elimination (20–40%) of Mo, Hg, Sb and As. Temperature was the variable having the greatest influence on the elimination of the impurities. A concentrate containing 33% Cu, 33% S, 22% Fe and 2% Zn was converted to a highly enriched concentrate containing 70% Cu, 19% S and 3% Fe. The advantages of a concentrate of this type would include: (1) raising by more than twice the smelting capacity due to the high copper content, (2) generation of a minimum amount of slag, (3) reduction by almost 50% in sulfur emissions, (4) substantial reduction of wastes containing hazardous metals and, finally (5), retention of the option to hydrometallurgical copper recovery since the neo-formed Cu_2 ? xS phases are more reactive than chalcopyrite to the chemical or biochemical leaching.     

Anthocyanin composition in aged Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon red wines

Anthocyanins in aged Cabernet Sauvignon red wines were studied by HPLC–MS. The major anthocyanin in 6, 7, and 8 year old red wine extracts was the dimer vitisin A produced by condensation of malvidin-3-O-glucoside mediated by pyruvic acid. In aged wine, the content of malvidin-3-O-glucoside decreased with age with a concomitant increase of vitisin A. The latter is accompanied by several condensation products with molecular weight up to 1500 m/z. Differential pulse voltammetry indicated that aged wines have lower antioxidant capacity than young wine (400 mV), but higher than malvidin-3-O-glucoside (483 mV). Tafel’s plots showed that the electrochemical process occurring in aged wines is different from young wines. Six, seven and eight year old wines show similar behaviour with plots of 234, 177 and 188 mV/dec, respectively. These values are higher than the expected 120 mV/dec corresponding to a first electronic transfer but smaller compared to the 523 mV/dec corresponding to young wine.     

Design of reconfigurable machining lines: A novel comprehensive optimisation method

We present a novel comprehensive optimization model for designing reconfigurable machining lines. Due to the proposed fine mathematical modelling, it is possible to optimize simultaneously the whole set of machines and machining modules as well as their cutting parameters, their configuration that will be used for processing of each part and part position at each machine. The experimental results show that the proposed optimization approach substantially outperforms the existing heuristic design method and therefore it can be used by the designers in order to reduce the total system cost and improve the efficiency of reconfigurable machining lines.     

An improved algorithm for the three‐fluid‐phase VLLE flash calculation

The VLLE flash is important in water and hydrocarbons mixtures, hydrocarbon and CO₂ rich mixtures, and hydrocarbon methane rich mixtures that are encountered in reservoir performance and recovery studies. A robust VLLE flash algorithm is proposed. The equilibrium and mass balance equations are solved as a constrained minimization problem. An inverse barrier function is used to handle the inequality constrains to solve for the phase fractions. It warrants always arriving to the solution. The challenging cases analyzed showed that the initialization procedure proposed, together with successive substitution iteration in the outer loop, is a good method for a stable VLLE flash algorithm, even near critical points. Whenever the result is in the region outside the three‐phase physical domain, the solution suggests that the system has fewer phases. In one of the cases analyzed, a region with three liquid phases was encountered and the algorithm found two different solutions with positive phase fractions. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 3081–3093, 2015     

Starch Consolidation Casting of Cordierite Precursor Mixtures—Rheological Behavior and Green Body Properties

The rheology of suspensions and mechanical properties of green bodies with cordierite composition (raw materials 37 wt% kaolin, 41 wt% talc, 22 wt% alumina, resulting in 46.6 wt% SiO₂, 38.1 wt% Al₂O₃, 13.6 wt% MgO) and two types of starch (corn or potato) are investigated. Rotational viscometry of suspensions with solids loading 50, 60, and 70 wt% without starch showed that all tend to be shear‐thinning with a small degree of thixotropy. Suspensions with a total solids loading of 60 wt% with 25 wt% replaced by starch exhibited higher viscosity and thixotropy, but the viscometric behavior is almost identical for the two starch types (apparent viscosities 130–50 mPa ·s). Oscillatory rheometry shows that for suspensions with potato starch the onset temperature for gelatinization is 61°C–63°C, that is, lower than for corn starch (72°C–73°C). Maximum storage moduli and phase shift values after gelatinization are similar for both systems. The mechanical properties of green disks, measured via diametral compression tests, reveal clear differences between materials prepared with corn and potato starch, with the latter showing higher elastic modulus, higher strength, and higher deformation at fracture, obviously because of incompletely gelatinized starch granules in the green bodies prepared with corn starch .