Advanced Friction–Wear Behavior of Organic Brake Pads Using a Newly Developed System

The objective of this study was to investigate the influence of an advanced performance system on the tribological behavior of brake pad material using a specially designed brake pad tester system following standard SAE J-661. The tribological behavior and friction and wear characteristics of the organic brake pad samples were evaluated. During braking tests, the samples, in contact with a cast iron disk, were studied at different disc speeds, temperatures, and braking cycles under a constant pressure. In order to understand the friction and wear behavior, the unworn surfaces, worn surfaces, and wear debris were characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX). Furthermore, the surface characteristics and differences in the wear modes of the brake pad samples were examined. Wear debris was permitted to deform the brake pad surfaces, leading to friction layers and enabling the estimation of the friction behavior of the brake pads. The results showed that the best friction–wear behavior was obtained with lower braking cycles at low speeds and temperature. Thus, the newly developed brake pad tester system proved very effective in evaluating the performance of the brake pad samples.     

A two-dimensional material for high capacity supercapacitors: S-doped graphene

In this work, sulfur-doped graphene-coated electrodes are prepared by cyclic voltammetry in different potential ranges and different cycles (from 10 to 50) for selective modification of electrodes by different functional groups. The prepared electrodes are characterized by spectroscopic, microscopic and electrochemical methods. In scanning electron microscopic analysis, formation of graphene layers and their porous structure have been determined. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopic and cyclic voltammetric analyses are also used in electrochemical characterization of the electrodes. Then, the prepared sulfur-doped graphene-coated electrodes by using cyclic voltammetry in one-step and low cost are used as electrode materials of supercapacitor for the first time in the literature. Since the mesoporous structure of the electrodes prepared in lower potential ranges increases, specific capacitance of the electrodes increases from 74 to 1833 mF cm⁻² with 10 mA cm⁻² current density. This result shows that specific capacitances of prepared electrodes are higher than those of the electrodes prepared with metal-doped in the literature.     

Suppression of asymmetric flow behavior downstream of two side-by-side circular cylinders with a splitter plate in shallow water

The flow downstream of a pair of circular cylinder in a side-by-side arrangement normal to the free stream is known to exhibit intermittently bistable structure for the range of G/D = 1.2–2.2 where G is the center-to-center distance between the cylinders and D is the diameter of the cylinder. Eventually, the wake downstream of one of the two cylinders can be wider or narrower than the one downstream of the other cylinder depending on the direction of gap-flow deflection. In the present study, such an asymmetric flow behavior downstream of two side-by-side cylinders, which were vertically located in shallow water, was passively controlled with a splitter plate with a length of L   (1?L/D?5$1?L/D?5$). The center of splitter plate was just coincided with the mid-height of the gap between centers of the cylinders. The investigations were carried out in a water channel using dye visualization and particle image velocimetry, PIV for qualitative and quantitative measurements, respectively. The diameter of the cylinder, D was 40 mm while the depth of water was 20 mm so that the shallow flow condition was provided through the experiments. The Reynolds number, Re based on D was 5000 and the cylinder’s center to center spacing to the cylinder diameter ratio (G/D  ) was equal to 1.25. The results demonstrated that the deflection of the wake and thereby the bistability of the wake was considerably prevented with the presence of the splitter plate for L/D?3$L/D?3$ which resulted in two well symmetric, stable wakes having approximately the same order of magnitudes of vortex shedding frequencies around the cylinders.     

Exact Analysis of Non-Linear Fractionalized Jeffrey Fluid. A Novel Approach of Atangana-Baleanu Fractional Model

It is a very difficult task for the researchers to find the exact solutions to mathematical problems that contain non-linear terms in the equation. Therefore, this article aims to investigate the viscous dissipation (VD) effect on the fractional model of Jeffrey fluid over a heated vertical flat plate that suddenly moves in its own plane. Based on the Atangana-Baleanu operator, the fractional model is developed from the fractional constitutive equations. VD is responsible for the non-linear behavior in the problem. Upon taking the Laplace and Fourier sine transforms, exact expressions have been obtained for momentum and energy equations. The influence of relative parameters on fluid flow and temperature distribution is shown graphically. As special cases, and for the sake of correctness, the corresponding results for second-grade fluid and Newtonian viscous fluid are also obtained. It is interesting to note that fractional parameter α provides more than one line as compared to the classical model. This effect represents the memory effect in the fluid which is not possible to elaborate by the classical model. It is also worth noting that the temperature profile of the generalized Jeffrey fluid rises for higher values of Eckert number which is due to the enthalpy difference of the boundary layer.     

The news-vendor problem with drop-shipping and resalable returns

As e-commerce expands, more and more products are offered online to attract internet consumers’ interest. These products are then shipped to consumers’ home by a drop-shipper. Drop-shipping seems to be a good option to sell products in addition to physical stores. Furthermore, both types of products, either sold in store or on Internet can be returned by consumers, with often a higher return ratio for those purchased on Internet. To model these two sales channel and the interactions between them, we consider a News-Vendor (NV) managing both a physical store and an online sale channel that can be fulfilled by a drop-shipping option. We also consider the possibility of reselling products that are returned by consumers during the selling season. The concavity of the expected profit is proven and the optimality condition is obtained. Promising results are obtained from a numerical analysis. In particular, we show that the expected profit can be 14.4% less than the optimal expected profit if the return effect is ignored. Using drop-shipping option can reduce the optimal store inventory by 31.2% and if the NV has no drop-shipping option, the expected profit can be 9% less.     

Dry powders for the inhalation of ciprofloxacin or levofloxacin combined with a mucolytic agent for cystic fibrosis patients

Objective: This study aimed to design and characterize an inhalable dry powder of ciprofloxacin or levofloxacin combined with the mucolytics acetylcysteine and dornase alfa for the management of pulmonary infections in patients with cystic fibrosis.

Methods: Ball milling, homogenization in isopropyl alcohol and spray drying processes were used to prepare dry powders for inhalation. Physico-chemical characteristics of the dry powders were assessed via thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffractometry and scanning electron microscopy. The particle size distribution, dissolution rate and permeability across Calu-3 cell monolayers were analyzed. The aerodynamic parameters of dry powders were determined using the Andersen cascade impactor (ACI).

Results: After the micronization process, the particle sizes of the raw materials significantly decreased. X-ray and DSC results indicated that although ciprofloxacin showed no changes in its crystal structure, the structure of levofloxacin became amorphous after the micronization process. FT-IR spectra exhibited the characteristic peaks for ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin in all formulations. The dissolution rates of micro-homogenized and spray-dried ciprofloxacin were higher than that of untreated ciprofloxacin. ACI results showed that all formulations had a mass median aerodynamic diameter less than 5?μm; however, levofloxacin microparticles showed higher respirability than ciprofloxacin powders did. The permeability of levofloxacin was higher than those of the ciprofloxacin formulations.

Conclusion: Together, our study showed that these methods could suitably characterize antibiotic and mucolytic-containing dry powder inhalers.     

Novel Analytical Thermal Performance Rate Analysis in ZnO-SAE50 Nanolubricant: Nonlinear Mathematical Model

The investigation of local thermal transport rate in the nanolubricants is significant. These lubricants are broadly used in environmental pollution, mechanical engineering and in the paint industry due to high thermal performance rate. Therefore, thermal transport in ZnO-SAE50 nanolubricant under the impacts of heat generation/absorption is conducted. The colloidal suspension is flowing between parallel stretching disks in which the lower disk is positioned at z = 0 and upper disk apart from distance d. The problem is transformed in dimensionless version via described similarity transforms. In the next stage, an analytical technique (VPM) is implemented for the solution purpose. The graphical results against multiple flow parameters were furnished over the region of interest and explained comprehensively. It is imperative to mention that the results are plotted for ZnO-SAE50 and conventional liquid as well. Further, rapid motion of the fluid is perceived against high Reynolds and γ parameters. The wall shear stresses at the upper end rises for multiple Reynolds and γ while; decrement is detected at the lower end. The significant contribution of an internal heat source is noted for thermal performance rate at the upper end. Foremost, the local heat transport rate declines at the lower disk. By altering Reynolds number, prompt heat transfer rate is gained at the upper disk and increasing behavior of the local heat transport rate is slow at the lower disk. From the study, it is concluded that the nanolubricants have high thermal characteristics. Therefore, such fluids are reliable to use in above stated areas.     

Analysis of Silver Nanoparticles in Engine Oil: Atangana–Baleanu Fractional Model

The present article aims to examine the heat and mass distribution in a free convection flow of electrically conducted, generalized Jeffrey nanofluid in a heated rotatory system. The flow analysis is considered in the presence of thermal radiation and the transverse magnetic field of strength B₀. The medium is porous accepting generalized Darcy’s law. The motion of the fluid is due to the cosine oscillations of the plate. Nanofluid has been formed by the uniform dispersing of the Silver nanoparticles in regular engine oil. The problem has been modeled in the form of classical partial differential equations and then generalized by replacing time derivative with Atangana–Baleanu (AB) time-fractional derivative. Upon taking the Laplace transform technique (LTT) and using physical boundary conditions, exact expressions have been obtained for momentum, energy, and concentration distributions. The impact of a number of parameters on fluid flow is shown graphically. The numerical tables have been computed for variation in the rate of heat and mass transfer with respect to rooted parameters. Finally, the classical solution is recovered by taking the fractional parameter approaching unity. It is worth noting that by adding silver nanoparticles in regular engine oil, its heat transfer rate increased by 14.59%, which will improve the life and workability of the engine.     

Al₂O₃ and γAl₂O₃ Nanomaterials Based Nanofluid Models with Surface Diffusion: Applications for Thermal Performance in Multiple Engineering Systems and Industries

Thermal transport investigation in colloidal suspensions is taking a significant research direction. The applications of these fluids are found in various industries, engineering, aerodynamics, mechanical engineering and medical sciences etc. A huge amount of thermal transport is essential in the operation of various industrial production processes. It is a fact that conventional liquids have lower thermal transport characteristics as compared to colloidal suspensions. The colloidal suspensions have high thermal performance due to the thermophysical attributes of the nanoparticles and the host liquid. Therefore, researchers focused on the analysis of the heat transport in nanofluids under diverse circumstances. As such, the colloidal analysis of H₂O composed by γAl₂O₃ and Al₂O₃ is conducted over an elastic cylinder. The governing flow models of γAl₂O₃/H₂O and Al₂O₃/H₂O is reduced in the dimensionless form by adopting the described similarity transforms. The colloidal models are handled by implementing the suitable numerical technique and provided the results for the velocity, temperature and local thermal performance rate against the multiple flow parameters. From the presented results, it is shown that the velocity of Al₂O₃–H₂O increases promptly against a high Reynolds number and it decreases for high-volume fraction. The significant contribution of the volumetric fraction is examined for thermal enhancement of nanofluids. The temperature of Al₂O₃–H₂O and γAl₂O₃–H₂O significantly increases against a higher ϕ. Most importantly, the analysis shows that γAl₂O₃–H₂O has a high local thermal performance rate compared to Al₂O₃–H₂O. Therefore, it is concluded that γAl₂O₃–H₂O is a better heat transfer fluid and is suitable for industrial and technological uses.     

Dual Branches of MHD Three-Dimensional Rotating Flow of Hybrid Nanofluid on Nonlinear Shrinking Sheet

In this study, magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) three-dimensional (3D) flow of alumina (Al₂O₃) and copper (Cu) nanoparticles of an electrically conducting incompressible fluid in a rotating frame has been investigated. The shrinking surface generates the flow that also has been examined. The single-phase (i.e., Tiwari and Das) model is implemented for the hybrid nanofluid transport phenomena. Results for alumina and copper nanomaterials in the water base fluid are achieved. Boundary layer approximations are used to reduce governing partial differential (PDEs) system into the system of the ordinary differential equations (ODEs). The three-stage Lobatto IIIa method in bvp4c solver is applied for solutions of the governing model. Graphical results have been shown to examine how velocity and temperature fields are influenced by various applied parameters. It has been found that there are two branches for certain values of the suction/injection parameter b: The rise in copper volumetric concentration improved the velocity of hybrid nanofluid in the upper branch. The heat transfer rate improved for the case of hybrid nanofluid as compared to the viscous fluid and simple nanofluid.