Investigating the self healing process on coated steel by SVET and EIS techniques

Microencapsule was incorporated into an interpenetrating polymer network and applied over steel surface. A scratch was made on the coated surface and its self healing ability was studied using scanning vibrating electrode technique (SVET) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Results of SVET studies show that the current density increases in the initial stage. After 24 h, the current density decreases, which indicating the formation of passive polymer film due to the diffusion of core polymer present in the microcapsules through the holidays. Increase in the resistance (10⁷ Ω/cm²) of the self healing coating was observed after 24 h in EIS studies confirming the formation of the passive film. The results of the studies are discussed in this article. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013     

Size-controlled synthesis of mesoporous silica nanoparticles using rice husk by microwave-assisted sol–gel method

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles with distinct characteristics like particle size, tunable pores, and high surface area have received much interest for environmental remediation, energy conversion, and biological applications. In this work, we synthesized spherical silica nanoparticles with tunable particle size and mesoporous properties using a low-cost silica source (rice husk) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) via microwave-assisted sol–gel synthesis. The formation of an amorphous silica structure was found using XRD and FTIR analysis. FESEM analysis showed that altering the PEG concentration from .01 to .005 M produced spherical silica nanoparticles with 100–500 nm in size. Nitrogen adsorption–desorption demonstrated that silica nanoparticles obtained with .005, .007, and .01 M of PEG had unique pore sizes and distributions, with specific surface areas of 51.475, 62.367, and 84.251 m²/g, respectively. These results might be due to PEG molecules’ capping effect, which acts as a soft template to regulate particle size, pore size, and dispersion by interacting with sodium silicate precursor. Hence, this approach can be a facile and cost-effective method to prepare mesoporous silica nanoparticles with controllable nanoscale characteristics for suitable applications.     

Sol–Gel Fabrication of Epitaxial and Oriented TiO2 Thin Films

Thin films of titania have been prepared by spin coating on fused silica, Si(100), and rutile(110), starting with a sol–gel process. The alkoxide solution was chelated with diisopropanolamine, and the resulting precursor solution was hydrolyzed prior to coating. Oriented rutile films were obtained on fused silica and Si(100), while epitaxially oriented film was formed on rutile (110). X-ray diffraction results indicated that the as-deposited films transformed to rutile via anatase with increasing temperature. The phase transformation temperature was found to be dependent on the substrate, and it was in general higher on the substrates than that observed for the gel powder. Microstructural studies revealed that these films consisted of finely dispersed grains of 0.05 to 0.15 μm in size.     

Preparation and characterization of thermally stable epoxy-titanate coatings

Epoxy-polyamide coatings are used to protect metallic substrates in corrosive atmosphere. Thermal stability of the coating can be improved by the addition of inorganic cross-linking agent. Epoxy resin is incorporated with small percentage of silicone resin and cured with two types of hardeners such as polyamide and butyl titanate. The physical properties, heat resistance properties and electrochemical impedance behaviour of these coatings on steel in 0.5 M NaCl solution have been studied. The result implies that the heat resistant character of the titanate-cured coating is increased from 260 to 370 °C. The impedance study has shown that the coating resistance exerted by both the systems is in the range of 10⁵ Ω cm² after 6 days of immersion in 0.5 M NaCl. FTIR and Raman spectroscopy analysis confirm the presence of titanate linkage in the cured polymer coating. Thermal stability data indicate that the epoxy silicone resin cured with titanate hardener possesses higher thermal stability than that cured by polyamide hardener.     

The structure and electronic characteristics of metallosilicates with ZSM-5 structure

We report here the result of a computer- assisted study of metallosilicates by applying molecular dynamics (MD) and quantum chemical (QC) methods. MD calculations are used to study the local relaxation in the T12 site of the ZSM-5 structure, when Si is substituted by different metals such as Ti⁴⁺, Al³⁺, Ga³⁺, and Fe³⁺. QC calculations by density functional theory have been performed on the cluster models generated from the structure obtained by MD calculations. The calculation indicates that the net charge on a MO₄ (where M = Ti, Al, Ga, and Fe) group and the molecular electrostatic potential values are good parameters to assess the acidic properties of metallosilicates, as shown by their correlations to the reported experimental acidity. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

In situ detection and removal of metal ion by porous gold electrode

A sensing electrode for the detection of heavy metal ions in aqueous solution selectively measured the concentrations of target materials on its functionalized surface, which has affinity to target metal ions. Target ions were adsorbed simultaneously on the functionalized electrode during the sensing process. Therefore, to understand this, experiments on the amperometric response and isotherms with an initial concentration of Hg²⁺ were tested. Detection current was dependent on the concentration of Hg²⁺, and the equilibrium concentration of Hg²⁺ adsorbed to the electrode showed a Langmuirian shape. Correlation between the detection current and removal capacity for Hg²⁺ revealed that it is possible to estimate the adsorbed concentration on the electrode during the sensing step. Although the macroporous gold electrode prepared herein showed relatively low adsorption performance compared to conventional adsorbents, when we prepare nanoporous gold electrodes with a uniform nanopore structure and large surface area, in situ detection and simultaneously removal of metal ions by nanoporous gold electrode will be possible.     

Thermal hydraulic investigations of intermediate heat exchanger in a pool-type fast breeder reactor

Intermediate heat exchanger (IHX) in a pool-type liquid metal cooled fast breeder reactor is an important heat exchanging component as it forms an intermediate boundary between the radioactive primary sodium in the pool and the non-radioactive secondary sodium in the steam generator (SG). The thermal loads during steady state and transient conditions impose thermal stresses on the heat exchanger tubes and on the shells which hold the tube bundle. Estimation of these thermal loads and achieving uniform temperature distribution in the tubes and shells by having uniform flow distributions are the major tasks of thermal hydraulic investigations of IHX. Through multi-dimensional thermal hydraulic investigations performed using commercially available computer codes such as PHOENICS, the flow and temperature distributions in the tubes and shells and in its secondary sodium inlet and outlet headers are obtained with and with out provisions of flow distribution devices. The effectiveness of these devices in achieving acceptably uniform flow and temperature distributions has been assessed and thermal loads on the tubes and shells for thermo mechanical analysis of the IHX have been defined. The predictions of the computational studies have been validated against simulated experiments.     

Delay‐dependent fault‐tolerant controller for time‐delay systems with randomly occurring uncertainties

This paper addresses the passivity‐based control problem for a class of time‐varying delay systems subject to nonlinear actuator faults and randomly occurring uncertainties via fault‐tolerant controller. More precisely, the uncertainties are described in terms of stochastic variables, which satisfies Bernoulli distribution, and the existence of actuator faults are assumed not only linear but also nonlinear, which is a more general one. The main objective of this paper is to design a state feedback‐reliable controller such that the resulting closed‐loop time‐delay system is stochastically stable under a prescribed mixed and passivity performance level γ>0 in the presence of all admissible uncertainties and actuator faults. Based on Lyapunov stability method and some integral inequality techniques, a new set of sufficient conditions is obtained in terms of linear matrix inequality (LMI) constraints to ensure the asymptotic stability of the considered system. Moreover, the control design parameters can be computed by solving a set of LMI constraints. Finally, two examples including a quarter‐car model are provided to show the efficiency and usefulness of the proposed control scheme. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.