Application of Ni and Cu nanoparticles in transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding of Ti-6Al-4V and Mg-AZ31 alloys

The transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding of Ti-6Al-4V alloy to a Mg-AZ31 alloy was performed using an electrodeposited Ni coating containing a dispersion of Ni and Cu nanoparticles. Bond formation was attributed to two mechanisms; first, solid-state diffusion of Ni and Mg, followed by liquid eutectic formation at the Mg-AZ31 interface. Second, the solid-state diffusion of Ni and Ti at the Ti-6Al-4V interface resulted in a metallurgical joint. The joint interface was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction analysis. Microhardness and shear strength tests were used to investigate the mechanical properties of the bonds. The use of Cu nanoparticles as a dispersion produced the maximum joint shear strength of 69 MPa. This shear strength value corresponded to a 15 % enhancement in joint strength compared to TLP bonds made without the use of nanoparticles dispersion.     

Crack growth in cylindrical aluminum shells with inner reinforcing foam layer

The occurrence of cracks in aging aircraft fuselage is major problem in the airline industry. The remaining life of the aircraft is strongly dependent on the residual strength of its structure. Residual strength is affected by crack sizes and their growth rates. In the case of a longitudinal crack in a pressurized cylinder (as in the case of an aircraft fuselage), the geometry and loading conditions cause the edges of the crack to bulge out generating a complex stress field around the crack tips; this is known as the ‘bulging effect’. The geometry of the shell, crack size and pressure contribute to this phenomenon. A proposed solution to reduce the effect of bulging for this type of crack is to apply a layer of polyisocyanurate (PIR) foam to the inner side of the fuselage near the crack site. This layer will bond to the shell and has the effect of reducing the bulge and consequently, the Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) at the crack tips. PIR foam is a lightweight material that adheres well to the shell and provides additional stiffness around the crack area. In the present study the effect of applying a PIR foam layer to a longitudinal crack in a pressurized cylindrical shell is assessed. Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis (FEA) is used in conjunction with the Modified Crack Closure Integral technique (MCCI) in order to evaluate the effect of bulging on the crack’s SIF. Parameters considered in this study include shell radius, shell thickness, crack length, foam thickness and pressure. Numerical results are compared with existing experimental data and the effect of foam thickness for several shell configurations is presented. Results indicate that the bulge factor (BF) could be reduced by as much as 45% depending on shell configuration, foam thickness and pressure.     

Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotubes/Styrene Butadiene Rubber (SBR) Nanocomposite

A floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition (FC-CVD) method was designed and fabricated to produce high-quality and -quantity carbon nanotubes. The design parameters like the hydrogen flow rate; reaction time and reaction temperature were optimized to produce high yield and purity of Multi-Wall Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs). Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWNTs) were used to prepare natural rubber (NR) nanocomposites. Our first efforts to achieve nanostructures in MWNTs/styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) nanocomposites were formed by incorporating carbon nanotubes in a polymer solution and subsequently evaporating the solvent. Using this technique, nanotubes can be dispersed homogeneously in the NR matrix in an attempt to increase the mechanical properties of these nanocomposites. The properties of the nanocomposites such as tensile strength, tensile modulus, elongation at break and hardness were studied. Using different percentages of carbon nanotubes from 1 wt% to 10 wt%, several nanocomposites samples were fabricated. Significant improvements in the mechanical properties of the resulting nanocomposites showed almost 10% increase in the Young's modulus for 1 wt% of CNTs and up to around 200% increase for 10 wt% of CNTs.     

Low-voltage low-power Gm-C filters: a modified configuration for improving performance

In this paper, after addressing the effect of finite output impedance of Gm cells on the performance of Gm-C filters, a modified configuration suitable for low-voltage operation is presented. In the proposed architecture, to efficiently increase the output impedance, body-driven impedance boosting is employed. The circuit-level topology of Gm cells is modified in order to increase the output impedance with minimized power consumption. To show the effectiveness of the proposed scheme, a 0.9-V 5-th order Butterworth low-pass filter with 8 MHz cutoff frequency is designed and simulated in 90-nm CMOS technology. Employing the proposed technique, power consumption is reduced from 0.7 mW to 0.5 mW.     

Transient liquid phase (TLP) brazing of Mg–AZ31 and Ti–6Al–4V using Ni and Cu sandwich foils

Transient liquid phase (TLP) brazing of Mg–AZ31 alloy and Ti–6Al–4V alloy was performed using double Ni and Cu sandwich foils. Two configurations were tested; first, Mg–AZ31/Cu–Ni/Ti–6Al–4V and second, Mg–AZ31/Ni–Cu/Ti–6Al–4V. The effect of set-up configuration of the foils on microstructural developments, mechanical properties and mechanism of joint formation was examined. The results showed that different reaction layers formed inside the joint region depending on the configuration chosen. The formation of ? phase (Mg), ρ (CuMg₂), δ (Mg₂Ni) and Mg₃AlNi₂ was observed in both configurations. Maximum shear strength obtained was 57 MPa for Mg–AZ31/Ni–Cu/Ti–6Al–4V configuration and in both configurations, the increase in bonding time resulted in a decrease in joint strength to 13 MPa. The mechanism of joint formation includes three stages; solid state diffusion, dissolution and widening of the joint, and isothermal solidification.     

Low cost and high efficiency of single phase photovoltaic system based on microcontroller

This paper presents a theoretical and practical study of a single phase photovoltaic conversion system. It consists of a step down converter to charge a battery with the maximum power available from photovoltaic generator (PVG) and a single phase voltage source inverter (VSI) to produce a stable AC voltage (220 V/50 Hz) with lower total harmonic distortion (THD). A new perturb and observe algorithm is designed and implemented in a cheaper microcontroller PIC 16F876 where the duty cycle perturbation and the sampling period are selected to insure the stability of the PV system around the maximum power. The control strategy adopted for the inverter is the Selective Harmonic Eliminated Pulse Width Modulation (SHE PWM). The pulses are calculated and transferred on the PIC 16F876 memory. With this technique, inverter losses are decreased and the output voltage is easily filtered with a simple low pass filter producing a perfectly sine wave form voltage. The battery is sized to supply loads in non-sunny times.With optimization of its various components, the conventional single phase PV system has a low cost, high efficiency but also good power quality which represents a good opportunity to use it in many stand alone photovoltaic applications such as houses lighting. An experimental system has been made to demonstrate the efficiency of the photovoltaic system and to validate simulations done by Matlab–Simulink environment.     

A new method for grafting functional groups onto mesoporous silica: an electrochemical approach

A novel method for the modification of mesoporous silica, MCM-41, using an electrochemical approach has been developed, and the process was monitored by cyclic voltammetery and spectrometric methods. The method was applied to the modification of mesoporous silica with new functional groups which are not accessible by conventional methods. Malononitrile-functionalized MCM-41 mesoporous silica was characterized by low-angle X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, thermal analysis, elemental analysis, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, and surface area measurement (S _BET). In addition, the application of malononitrile-functionalized MCM-41 as a sorbent for gold ions was demonstrated.     

Parallel social behavior-based algorithm for identification of influential users in social network

Applied Intelligence - Influence maximization in social networks refers to the process of finding influential users who make the most of information or product adoption. The social networks is...     

Multi-objective energy management approach in distribution grid integrated with energy storage units considering the demand response program

The penetration of renewable energy sources and energy storage (ES) units into the distribution system has increased, and it is important to examine their effect on the systems' operation scheme and security. Voltage stability index is defined as a security objective function, and its improvement by energy management in the distribution network is a major challenge in this study. The dynamic distribution feeder reconfiguration (DDFR) is introduced as an efficient approach for energy management in the distribution network, considering energy loss, voltage stability index, and operational cost as objective functions in the presence of distributed generators, solar PV panels, ES units, and capacitors. The demand response program, including interruptible/curtailable service, is proposed to enable energy consumers to rethink their energy consumption patterns based on incentive and punitive policies. A modified particle swarm optimization algorithm is presented to solve the considered optimization problem. The suggested approach is tested on the 95-node test system and its superiorities are shown through comparison with other evolutionary algorithms. Based on the obtained results, after presenting a new model based on DDFR for energy management in the distribution system, energy loss and voltage stability are reduced by 25% and 2.8%, respectively. After applying the demand response program in the proposed model, energy loss and operational cost are reduced by 26% and 5.9%, respectively.