Pitting of carbon steel in the synthetic concrete pore solution

Pitting corrosion is a possible mode of failure of the carbon steel overpack of the Belgian supercontainer concept for the isolation of high-level nuclear waste (HLNW). However, no firm experimental data are currently available to estimate the probability of failure over the extended storage time (100,000 years). Extensive work shows that passivity breakdown results from the condensation of cation vacancies (CVs) at the metal/barrier layer (m/bl) interface, in response to the absorption of Cl⁻ into oxygen vacancies at the surface of the barrier oxide layer. The CVs migrate across the bl to the m/bl interface where they condense, leading to the separation of the bl from the metal. The resulting blister prevents the growth of bl into the metal and dissolution results in blister rupture, marking a passivity breakdown event. Stabilization via differential aeration produces a potentially damaging, stable pit. We review our work on passivity breakdown and the nucleation of pits on P355 QL2 carbon steel in high-pH aqueous media typical of concrete pore solution, with emphasis on the mechanistic aspects. We conclude that failure of the carbon steel overpack containing the HLNW over a storage horizon of 100,000 years is improbable.     

Preparation and photocatalytic study of CoFe2O4/TiO2/Au nanocomposites and their applications in organic pollutant degradation and modeling by an artificial neural network (ANN)

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - Due to the increase of environmental pollution by various industries in recent decades, preparing drinking water has become one of the most...     

Mechanical behavior and interphase structure in a silica-polystyrene nanocomposite under uniaxial deformation

The mechanical behavior of polystyrene and a silica-polystyrene nanocomposite under uniaxial elongation has been studied using a coarse-grained molecular dynamics technique. The Young's modulus, the Poisson ratio and the stress-strain curve of polystyrene have been computed for a range of temperatures, below and above the glass transition temperature. The predicted temperature dependence of the Young's modulus of polystyrene is compared to experimental data and predictions from atomistic simulations. The observed mechanical behavior of the nanocomposite is related to the local structure of the polymer matrix around the nanoparticles. Local segmental orientational and structural parameters of the deforming matrix have been calculated as a function of distance from nanoparticle's surface. A thorough analysis of these parameters reveals that the segments close to the silica nanoparticle's surface are stiffer than those in the bulk. The thickness of the nanoparticle-matrix interphase layer is estimated. The Young's modulus of the nanocomposite has been obtained for several nanoparticle volume fractions. The addition of nanoparticles results in an enhanced Young's modulus. A linear relation describes adequately the dependence of Young's modulus on the nanoparticle volume fraction.     

A new metric for L–R fuzzy numbers and its application in fuzzy linear systems

In this paper, a metric based on modified Euclidean metric on interval numbers, for L–R fuzzy numbers with fixed $L(\cdot)$ and $R(\cdot)$ is introduced. Then, it is applied for solving L–R fuzzy linear system (L–R-FLS) with fuzzy right-hand side, so that L–R-FLS is transformed to the minimization problem. The solution of the mentioned non-linear programming problem is our favorite fuzzy number vector solution. Two constructive Algorithms are proposed in detail and the method is illustrated by solving several numerical examples.