Three-Dimensional Isogeometric Analysis of Flexoelectricity with MATLAB Implementation

Flexoelectricity is a general electromechanical phenomenon where the electric polarization exhibits a linear dependency to the gradient of mechanical strain and vice versa. The truncated pyramid compression test is among the most common setups to estimate the flexoelectric effect. We present a three-dimensional isogeometric formulation of flexoelectricity with its MATLAB implementation for a truncated pyramid setup. Besides educational purposes, this paper presents a precise computational model to illustrate how the localization of strain gradients around pyramidal boundary shapes contributes in generation of electrical energy. The MATLAB code is supposed to help learners in the Isogeometric Analysis and Finite Elements Methods community to learn how to solve a fully coupled problem, which requires higher order approximations, numerically. The complete MATLAB code which is available as source code distributed under a BSD-style license, is provided in the part of Supplementary Materials of the paper.     

Effect of Ti interlayer on corrosion behavior of nanostructured Ti/TiN multilayer coating deposited on TiAl6V4

To improve the corrosion properties of TiAl₆V₄ alloy, TiN monolayer and Ti/TiN multilayer coatings are deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering. The phase, structure, and morphology properties are investigated by grazing‐incidence X‐ray diffraction, field‐emission scanning electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy, respectively, and the corrosion behavior is evaluated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and potentiodynamic polarization. The TiN monolayer and Ti/TiN multilayer with thickness of 1,350 and 1,410 nm have the (111) and (002) preferred orientation and crystallite size of 42.5 and 24.3 nm, respectively. Columnar growth in TiN is hindered by the Ti interlayers and no cracking is observed between the layers indicating strong adhesion. The nanostructured Ti/TiN coating forms stable surface titanium oxide which improves the corrosion resistance by approximately 80 and four times compared with TiAl₆V₄ alloy and TiN coating, respectively. Hindrance of the columnar structure in TiN by the Ti interlayer decreases the local corrosion rate and enhances the galvanic corrosion resistance by forming a layer on the β‐phase enriched with vanadium as well as a TiO₂ stable layer. The nanostructured Ti/TiN coating demonstrates capacitive behavior with phase angles approximately ?50° and high impedance values at low frequency to be the corrosion resistance mechanism.     

Study on the chemical stability of the synthesized TiCx in Ti-Al-C system after immersion in the HF + H2O2 solution

The aim of this study is to investigate the phase stability of the prepared TiC_x in Ti-Al-C system after immersion in the mixture of hydrofluoric acid (HF) and H₂O₂. The powders were immersed in the solution for different period times of 24, 48 and 96?h. The phase change of powders after different immersion times was studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The morphology evolution was detected by the field-emission scanning electron (FESEM). Moreover, atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) analysis was employed to study the changes in the chemical composition of solutions. The XRD results showed that by increasing the immersion time, gradually, the TiC_x decomposed. It was also found that the selection oxidation aluminum occurred and the Al₂O₃ was the main final product of treatments. The FESEM images also confirmed the XRD results and after immersion of the powders into the solutions the rod-like and sheet-like morphology of the Al₂O₃ particles were obtained.     

Numerical simulation of the magnetic field and Joule heating effects on force convection flow through parallel-plate microchannel in the presence of viscous dissipation effect

The effects of Joule heating, Hartman, Brinkman, and Reynolds numbers on the flow pattern and thermal characteristics of force convection flow through a parallel-plate microchannel are investigated in various nanoparticles volume fraction. Water–Al₂O₃ is considered as the working nanofluid while taking viscous dissipation effect (VDE) into account. The mid-section of the microchannel is heated with a constant uniform heat flux and influenced by a magnetic field with a uniform strength. The effective thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluid are calculated through a new correlation in which the influence of Brownian motion is considered. A control volume finite different scheme, along with the SIMPLE algorithm, is adopted to conduct the numerical analyses and solve the discrete equations. Contour plots of streamlines and isotherms are presented to graphically display the impact of the investigated variables. Furthermore, the values of the Nusselt number for the minimum temperature and maximum velocity are calculated and presented through figures. The results show that all of the Brinkman, Joule, nanofluid concentration, and Hartmann numbers have decreasing effect on the heat transfer. The conclusion is supported by the fact that all the aforementioned factors increase the temperature throughout the flow field. The higher the flow field temperature, the lower the heat transfer from the wall. Higher Brinkman number leads to the friction intensification between flow layers due to considering VDE. It can be said about the Joule heating that, since this term has an inverse relation with the squared velocity, increase in Joule number is followed by a reduction of heat transfer from the walls. Also, an increase in the nanofluid concentration increases the temperature throughout the microchannel leading to heat transfer deterioration.     

Substrate temperature effect on transparent heat reflecting nanocrystalline ITO films prepared by electron beam evaporation

In this study, indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films were preparedon glass substrate by electron beam evaporation technique and then were annealed in air atmosphere at 350 °C for 30 min. Increasing substrate temperature (T_s) from 25 to 380°°C reduced sheet resistance of ITO thin films from 150(Ω/□) to 14(Ω/□). The UV-visible-near IR transmittance and reflectance spectra were also confirmed that the substrate temperature has significant effect on the properties of heat reflecting thin films. High transparency (83%) over the visible wavelength region of spectrum and (over 90%) reflectance in near-IR region were obtained at T_s = 300° C. Plasma wavelength, carrier concentrations (n_e) and refractive index of the layer were also calculated. The allowed direct band gap at the temperature range 100–300° C was estimated to be in the range 3.71–3.89 eV. Band gap widening due to increase in substrate temperature was observed and is explained on the basis of Burstein-Moss shift. XRD patterns showed that the films were polycrystalline. High quality crystalline thin films with grain size of about 40 nm were obtained.     

Microwave-assisted sol–gel synthesis of alpha alumina nanopowder and study of the rheological behavior

In the present work, alpha alumina nanopowder was synthesized via a sol–gel route. After preparation of bohemite (AlOOH) sol, carbon black was added and the resultant sol was dried and calcined in microwave furnace for 10 min. XRD results showed that alpha alumina was the only crystalline phase with specific surface area, mean diameter and crystallite size of 51 m² g^?1, 100 and 25 nm, respectively. Rheological measurements revealed that the optimal content of Tiron at pH=10 is 1 and 0.1 g per 100 g nano- and micron-alumina (1.5 m² g^?1), respectively. Furthermore, the optimum solid content of the slips was determined as 35–45 and 70 wt.% for nano- and micron-alumina, respectively.