An experimental investigation on the effects of exponential window and impact force level on harmonic reduction in impact-synchronous modal analysis

A novel method called Impact-synchronous modal analysis (ISMA) was proposed previously which allows modal testing to be performed during operation. This technique focuses on signal processing of the upstream data to provide cleaner Frequency response function (FRF) estimation prior to modal extraction. Two important parameters, i.e., windowing function and impact force level were identified and their effect on the effectiveness of this technique were experimentally investigated. When performing modal testing during running condition, the cyclic loads signals are dominant in the measured response for the entire time history. Exponential window is effectively in minimizing leakage and attenuating signals of non-synchronous running speed, its harmonics and noises to zero at the end of each time record window block. Besides, with the information of the calculated cyclic force, suitable amount of impact force to be applied on the system could be decided prior to performing ISMA. Maximum allowable impact force could be determined from nonlinearity test using coherence function. By applying higher impact forces than the cyclic loads along with an ideal decay rate in ISMA, harmonic reduction is significantly achieved in FRF estimation. Subsequently, the dynamic characteristics of the system are successfully extracted from a cleaner FRF and the results obtained are comparable with Experimental modal analysis (EMA).     

Effects of the Addition of Different Types of Fillers on the Properties of BaO–ZnO–B2O3–SiO2 Glass Composites for Application to Barrier Ribs of Plasma Display Panels

Various types of crystalline ceramic fillers (TiO₂, ZrO₂, Al₂O₃, MgO, and cordierite) were added to BaO–ZnO–B₂O₃–SiO₂ (BZBS) glass (5–20 wt%), and the resultant dielectric constant, coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE), and optical reflectance were investigated for the application of the composites to the barrier ribs in plasma display panels. All the investigated fillers were partially dissolved into the glass at the fabrication temperature (575°C), and the residual fillers were aligned along the boundaries of sintered glass frits. By considering all aspects of the properties, the addition of TiO₂ fillers of about 10 wt% to BZBS glass was the most desirable of the types of fillers investigated. The addition of TiO₂ filler (10 wt%) yielded 61% in optical reflectance, 8.3 × 10⁻⁶ K^–1 in coefficient of thermal expansion, and 15.5 in dielectric constant, which were properties comparable with the currently used Pb-based barrier ribs.     

Manufacturing and foaming of high melt viscosity of polypropylene by using electron beam radiation technology

The high melt viscosity of polypropylene was studied by grafting bifunctional monomers, 1,6‐hexanediol diacrylate (HDDA) and tripropylene glycol diacrylate (TPGDA), onto homopolypropylene (HPP) and random ter‐polypropylene (RTPP) under electron‐beam irradiation. Creation of the high‐melt‐viscosity polypropylene was possible at low radiation dosage and low monomer content, under a prohibition of both radiation degradation and homopolymerization. TPGDA monomer was more effective in increasing the melt viscosity of HPP compared with RTPP, whereas HDDA monomer was more effective for enhancing the melt viscosity of RTPP. Such different effects of monomers on melt viscosity may arise from different monomer structures, namely, TPGDA has additional three methyl groups, but HDDA has no methyl groups. Electron‐beam radiation technology, on an increase of the melt viscosity, was much more effective in HPP than RTPP, when compared with virgin polymers. Modified RTPP and HPP with high melt viscosity were capable of foaming with numerous fine cells, of which the modified HPP with 1.5 mmol TPGDA and 0.5 kGy could create more spherical foam cells and its bending strength was 1.5 times more than that of the foamed RTPP. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 46:431–437, 2006. © 2006 Society of Plastics Engineers.     

Characterization of New Bimetallic Oxycarbide (MoWC0.5O0.6) for Bifunctional Isomerization of n-Heptane

A new bimetallic oxycarbide was synthesized and characterized by XRD, TEM, EDS, XPS and adsorption–desorption of probe molecules. All the molybdenum was reduced and 35% of tungsten was present as WO_x. The number of metallic sites, Lewis and Br?nsted acid sites were estimated. A turnover rate of 0.1 s⁻¹ was measured at 300 °C for the first order n-heptane isomerization.     

A multi-fluid nonrandom lattice fluid model: General derivation and application to pure fluids

A multi-fluid nonrandom lattice fluid model with no temperature dependence of close packed volumes of a mer, segment numbers and energy parameters of pure systems is presented. The multi-fluid nonrandom lattice fluid (MF-NLF) model with the local composition concept was capable of describing properties for complex systems. However, the MF-NLF model has strong temperature dependence of energy parameters and segment numbers of pure systems; thus empirical correlations as functions of temperature were represented for reliable and convenient use in engineering practices. The MF-NLF model without temperature dependence of pure parameters could not predict thermodynamic properties accurately. It was found that the present model with three parameters describes quantitatively the vapor pressure and the saturated density for the pure fluid.     

Mechanical, thermal and ablative properties of interply continuous/spun hybrid carbon composites

The mechanical and thermal properties of interply hybrid carbon fiber (continuous and spun fabric)/phenolic composite materials have been studied. Hybrid carbon/phenolic composites (hybrid CP) with continuous carbon fabric of high tensile, flexural strength and spun carbon fabric of better interlaminar shear strength and lower thermal conductivity are investigated in terms of mechanical properties as well as thermal properties.Through hybridization, tensile strength and modulus of spun type carbon fabric reinforced phenolic composites (spun CP) increased by approximately 28% and 20%, respectively. Hybrid CP also exhibits better interlaminar shear strength than continuous carbon fabric/phenolic composites (continuous CP).The in-plane thermal conductivity of hybrid CP is 4-8% lower than that of continuous CP. As continuous filament type carbon fiber volume fraction increases, the transversal thermal conductivity of hybrid CP decreases.The erosion rate and insulation index were examined using torch test. Spun CP has a higher insulation index than continuous CP and hybrid CP over the entire temperature range. Hybrid CP with higher content of spun fabric exhibits higher insulation index as well as lower erosion rate.     

A near-infrared study of thermally induced structural changes in polyethylene crystal

Thermally induced structural changes of polyethylene (PE) have been studied by means of near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy in the course of heating up to the melting temperature. NIR bands characteristic of the regular orthorhombic phase, the conformationally disordered hexagonal phase, and the amorphous phase have been successfully identified. It has been found that for the unoriented PE sample, the disordering process of orthorhombic lattice starts above room temperature and that it mostly occurs above 100 °C for the uniaxially oriented PE sample. In the latter case, the enhancement of crystallinity has clearly been detected just below T_m due to the reorganization of crystalline lattice. For the geometrically constrained ultradrawn PE sample, the phase transition from orthorhombic to hexagonal phase has been detected immediately below the melting point. The NIR bands characteristic of the hexagonal phase have been confirmed definitely. Usefulness of NIR spectroscopy has been demonstrated successfully in such a study of thermally induced phase transition behavior of PE samples with appreciable thickness, for which mid-IR spectroscopy is difficult to apply because of the intensity saturation of various key bands.     

Low-bandgap copolymers consisting of 2,1,3-benzoselenadiazole and carbazole derivatives with thiophene or selenophene π-bridges

Two donor–acceptor-type alternating copolymers consisting of 2,1,3-benzoselenadiazole and carbazole derivatives with thiophene or selenophene π-bridges were synthesized by Suzuki cross-coupling polymerization, and their optical, electrochemical, and photovoltaic properties were compared. The selenophene π-bridged copolymer (PCz-DSeBSe) exhibited a smaller band-gap (1.82 eV) than the thiophene-bridged polymer (PCz-DTBSe; 1.89 eV). PCz-DSeBSe also showed a deeper highest occupied molecular orbital energy level (−5.36 eV) than PCz-DTBSe (−5.20 eV). Moreover, the PCz-DSeBSe thin film showed higher crystallinity and hole mobility than the PCz-DTBSe thin film. Organic photovoltaic devices were fabricated using the polymers as the donors and [6,6]-phenyl-C₇₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₇₁BM) as the acceptor. The device using PCz-DSeBSe showed a higher open circuit voltage (V_oc), short circuit current density (J_sc), and power conversion efficiency (PCE) than that using PCz-DTBSe. The fabricated indium tin oxide/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate)/PCz-DSeBSe:PC₇₁BM/LiF/Al device showed the maximum PCE of 2.88% with a J_sc of 7.87 mA/cm², an V_oc of 0.80 V, and a fill factor of 0.50 under AM 1.5G irradiation (100 mW/cm²).     

Hexafunctional poly(propylene glycol) based hydrogels for the removal of heavy metal ions

Two types of degradable poly(propylene glycol) (PPG) hydrogels that are suitable for the absorption of heavy metals have been presented. The PPG‐O‐P(O)Cl₂ fragments obtained by treating hexafunctional PPG with phosphorous oxychloride (POCl₃) react with 1,3‐propanediamine (PDA; Gel‐1 ) or PDA together with 1,2‐ethanedithiol ( Gel‐2 ), to yield cross‐linked and water‐swellable hydrogels in a one‐pot method. This protocol for the fabrication of PPG hydrogels exhibits promising advantages over prior methods including a short reaction time, mass‐production, easy separation, and high yield. A series of heavy metal ions were employed to test the adsorptive properties of the hydrogels. Gel‐2 shows better adsorption capacity than Gel‐1 for all the metal ions and the metal ions adsorption efficiency of the two types of hydrogels is in the order of Fe(III) > Pb(II) > Cd(II) > Zn(II) > Cu(II) > Ni(II) > Co(II) > Hg(II). The amounts of metal ions adsorbed increases with metal ion concentration and hydrogel dosage, but decreases with temperature. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40610.