Multiple-toughening behaviour in SiC platelet-reinforced TZP/Al2O3 ceramic composites

Abstracts are not published in this journal     

On the improvement of a scalable sparse direct solver for unsymmetrical linear equations

This paper focuses on the application level improvements in a sparse direct solver specifically used for large-scale unsymmetrical linear equations resulting from unstructured mesh discretization of coupled elliptic/hyperbolic PDEs. Existing sparse direct solvers are designed for distributed server systems taking advantage of both distributed memory and processing units. We conducted extensive numerical experiments with three state-of-the-art direct linear solvers that can work on distributed-memory parallel architectures; namely, MUMPS (MUMPS solver website, http://graal.ens-lyon.fr/MUMPS), WSMP (Technical Report TR RC-21886, IBM, Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, 2000), and SUPERLU_DIST (ACM Trans Math Softw 29(2):110–140, 2003). The performance of these solvers was analyzed in detail, using advanced analysis tools such as Tuning and Analysis Utilities (TAU) and Performance Application Programming Interface (PAPI). The performance is evaluated with respect to robustness, speed, scalability, and efficiency in CPU and memory usage. We have determined application level issues that we believe they can improve the performance of a distributed-shared memory hybrid variant of this solver, which is proposed as an alternative solver [SuperLU_MCDT (Many-Core Distributed)] in this paper. The new solver utilizing the MPI/OpenMP hybrid programming is specifically tuned to handle large unsymmetrical systems arising in reservoir simulations so that higher performance and better scalability can be achieved for a large distributed computing system with many nodes of multicore processors. Two main tasks are accomplished during this study: (i) comparisons of public domain solver algorithms; existing state-of-the-art direct sparse linear system solvers are investigated and their performance and weaknesses based on test cases are analyzed, (ii) improvement of direct sparse solver algorithm (SuperLU_MCDT) for many-core distributed systems is achieved. We provided results of numerical tests that were run on up to 16,384 cores, and used many sets of test matrices for reservoir simulations with unstructured meshes. The numerical results showed that SuperLU_MCDT can outperform SuperLU_DIST 3.3 in terms of both speed and robustness.     

Photocatalytic properties of ZnO nanoparticle coating on porous ceramic substrates with varying porosities produced from fly ash and red mud

In order to improve filtering efficacy, nanoparticles are often deposited as photocatalytic degrading agents onto porous ceramics. This study aimed to deposit ZnO nanoparticles on ceramic substrates produced from fly ash and red mud with adjustable porosity and investigate their photocatalytic properties. To achieve this goal, at first porous ceramics were produced and sintered at various temperature/time intervals. It was observed that sintering at 800°C for 120 min provided a proper structure and porosity. In addition, MgO replacement with MgCO₃ lowered the water absorption of the samples from 25.63% to 11.45%. The samples were then coated with ZnO nanoparticles using the sol–gel method and the ZnO structures obtained were micron-sized plates. It was observed that increasing porosity increased the ZnO amount and accordingly the photocatalytic properties of the products. During the adsorption tests conducted in the dark, the coated ceramic samples were stained with MB with a maximum MB adsorption ratio of ∼14%. On the other hand, no visible MB stain was observed on the samples that were exposed to UV irradiation, and the MB removal after the UV irradiation was 93.6%; therefore, it was concluded that the dominant MB removal mechanism was photocatalytic.     

Fluidized tube heat exchanger

The presence of solid particles in a heat exchanger is important in keeping the surface clean, thus having a beneficial effect on heat transfer. Solids circulation in the system can be provided by means of a recycle tube mounted in the central core of the heat exchanger. In this study a pilot scale fluidized tube heat exchanger system which consists of six fluidization tubes together with the centrally located recycling tube was constructed and pressure drop, liquid–wall and solid–wall friction forces and the effects of the amount of solids introduced to the system on heat transfer were investigated. Experimental results indicate that although the recycle tube causes an approximately 35% decrease in the heat transfer coefficient when no solid is used, the presence of the solids in the system increases the heat transfer coefficient by about 45% above that of the solids‐free system. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry     

Synthesis and electrophoretic deposition of hydrothermally synthesized multilayer TiO2 nanotubes on conductive filters

TiO₂ nanotubes were synthesized by the decomposition of titanium isopropoxide in water and the calcination at 450 °C for 2 h to form TiO₂ nanoparticles. The synthesized TiO₂ in anatase form nanoparticles were processed hydrothermally in 10 M NaOH solution at 130 °C for 24 h to obtain multilayer TiO₂ nanotubes. TEM analysis revealed that the diameters of the tubes were around 10 nm and they are in the length of 100 nm. Subsequently, colloidal suspensions containing 1% wt. Of TiO2 nanotubes were prepared with TEA and butanol and electrophoretic deposition (EPD) experiments were conducted in order to obtain coatings on Ni and carbon filters using a deposition time of 10 min. and an applied voltage of 65 V. It is also shown that multilayer TiO₂ nanotubes having outer diameter around 10 nm and inner diameters of 4.3 nm can be produced using the described technique. EPD is also shown to be an effective technique to coat three dimensional components, such as Ni and C filters for various applications including water and air purification systems.     

Microwave assisted green chemistry approach of sodium metaborate dihydrate (NaBO2·2H2O) synthesis and use as raw material for sodium borohydride (NaBH4) thermochemical production

In the present study, a novel microwave assisted method has been developed for sodium metaborate dihydrate (NaBO₂·2H₂O) synthesis. Anhydrous NaBO₂, a derivative of borax, is an industrially and technologically important boron compound used as a raw material for the thermochemical production of sodium borohydride (NaBH₄). The effects of different microwave treatment conditions such as microwave power (90, 270 and 360 W) and irradiation time (1, 2, and 5 min) on the synthesis of NaBO₂·2H₂O were examined. After microwave irradiation at 270 W for 1 min, NaBO₂ crystals with 2 molar equivalents of water were formed. Anhydrous NaBO₂ was obtained following incubation at 400 °C for 33 min under calcination conditions. Then the resulting anhydrous NaBO₂ powder was reacted with MgH₂ under 60 bar hydrogen atmosphere at 470 °C, leading to successful production of NaBH₄ with 93% yield.     

Microleakage in class V cavities prepared using conventional method versus Er:YAG laser restored with glass ionomer cement or resin composite

This study evaluated the effect of tooth preparation method (diamond bur vs. Er:YAG laser) on the microleakage levels of glass ionomers and resin composite. Human permanent premolars (N = 80) were randomly divided into two groups (n = 40). Cavities on half of the teeth were prepared using diamond bur for enamel and carbide bur for dentin and the other half using Er:YAG laser. The teeth were randomly divided into four groups according to the restoration materials, namely (a) ChemFil Rock (CFR), (b) IonoluxAC (IAC), (c) EQUIA system (EQA) and one resin composite (d) AeliteLS (ALS) (n = 10 per group). Microleakage (μm) was assessed at the occlusal and gingival margins after dye penetration (0.5% basic fuchsine for 24 h). On the occlusal aspect, while the cavity preparation types significantly affected the microleakage for CFR (p = 0.015), IAC (p = 0.001) glass ionomer restorations, it did not show significant effect for glass ionomer EQA (p = 0.09) and resin composite ALS (p = 0.2). Er:YAG laser presented less microleakage compared to bur preparation in all groups except for EQA. On the gingival aspect, microleakage decreased significantly for CFR (p = 0.02), IAC (p = 0.001), except for EQA where significant increase was observed (p = 0.001) with the use of Er:YAG laser. Microleakage decrease was not significant at the gingival region between diamond bur and Er:YAG laser for ALS (p = 0.663). At the occlusal and gingival sites in all groups within each preparation method, microleakage level was not significant.     

Ultrahigh Efficiency Fluorescent Single and Bi‐Layer Organic Light Emitting Diodes: The Key Role of Triplet Fusion

A new family of anthracene core, highly fluorescent emitters is synthesized which include diphenylamine hole transport end groups. Using a very simple one or two layer organic light emitting diode (OLED) structure, devices without outcoupling achieve an external quantum efficiency of 6% and photonic efficiencies of 20 cd/A. The theoretical maximum efficiency of such devices should not exceed 3.55%. Detailed photophysical characterization shows that for these anthracene based emitters 2T₁≤T_n and so in this special case, triplet fusion can achieve a singlet production yield of 0.5. Indeed, delayed electroluminescence measurements show that triplet fusion contributes 59% of all singlets produced in these devices. This demonstrates that when triplet fusion becomes very efficient, fluorescent OLEDs even with very simple structures can approach an internal singlet production yield close to the theoretical absolute maximum of 62.5% and rival phosphorescent‐based OLEDs with the added advantage of much improved stability.     

Effect of fuel type on the optimum thickness of selected insulation materials for the four different climatic regions of Turkey

The optimum insulation thickness of the external wall for four various cities from four climate zones of Turkey, energy savings over a lifetime of 10 years and payback periods are calculated for the five different energy types and four different insulation materials. Foamboard 3500, Foamboard 1500, extruded polystyrene and fiberglass as insulation material are selected. In this study, it is calculated the value of the amount of the net energy savings using the P₁–P₂ method. The results show that optimum insulation thicknesses vary between 1.06 and 7.64 cm, energy savings vary between 19 $/m² and 47 $/m², and payback periods vary between 1.8 and 3.7 years depending on the city and the type of fuel. The highest value of energy savings is reached in A?r? for LPG fuel type, while the lowest value is obtained in Ayd?n for natural gas.