Structure,properties, and applications of polyacrylonitrile/carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers at low CNT loading

Bi-component, polyacrylonitrile (PAN)/carbon nanotube (CNT) fibers were processed, at different core-sheath area ratios, by gel spinning. A percolated CNT network at 10 wt% CNT in the sheath enhanced electrical conductivity as compared to the neat PAN fiber, while PAN polymer in the core contributed to the good mechanical properties. Fibers with relatively thin sheath allowed overall CNT loading as low as 3.7 wt% to be made with good electrical conductivity, and PAN stabilization by Joule heating was demonstrated. Such fibers with combined good mechanical properties and electrical conductivity can also potentially be used for electrical heating of fabrics, for making smart textiles, and for electromagnetic interference shielding.     

A simple UV-Vis spectrophotometric method for determination of β-carotene content in raw carrot, sweet potato and supplemented chicken meat nuggets

A simple, rapid and low cost analytical method for the determination of β-carotene content in four different food categories is developed and validated. This method is based on solvent extraction followed by UV-Vis spectrometric detection. Target compound was extracted with four different solvents, in which acetone appears to be an excellent extractant as recovery of the analyte at 1 μg/g concentration in spiked samples was in the range of 67.8-98.8%, with relative standard deviation (RSD) ranging between 4.8 and 6.6%. Intra- and inter-day assay precisions of the method at 0.1, 1.0 and 5.0 μg/g concentrations ranged in between 3.4 and 8.9%. The linearities for β- carotene in the pure acetone, raw carrot, sweet potato, and fortified raw and cooked chicken meat nuggets were 0.994, 0.995, 0.990, 0.984 and 0.984, respectively. For robustness, the analytical method was applied to 24 samples of four different food categories namely carrot, sweet potato and carrot and sweet potato supplemented chicken meat nuggets.     

Theoretical performance of an adsorbed natural gas storage system subjected to variable charge–discharge conditions

A transient heat and mass transfer model is developed to simulate the performance of an adsorbed natural gas (ANG) storage system subjected to variable charge and discharge conditions. The obtained results are applicable for internal combustion engines with natural gas as the fuel. The ANG system performance is presented in terms of delivery capacity. Results are obtained for the cases of (i) constant pressure charging with a constant flow discharging and (ii) constant flow charging and discharging. Results show the importance of improving the heat transfer performance of the reactor, particularly at high specific gas flow rates. From the second law analysis of the system, it is seen that significant internal entropy generation occurs at high specific flow rate and low heating fluid temperatures. Based on the minimum specific entropy generation criterion, the optimum heating fluid temperatures for different ranges of specific flow rate of the adsorbate are found.     

Current efficiency in electro-winning of lanthanum and cerium metals from molten chloride electrolytes

The objective of this study is to prepare lanthanum and cerium metals by fused salt electrolysis of their anhydrous chloride in molten media such as LiCl-KCl, NaCl-KCl, KCl, NaCl, and LiCl and to characterize the metal deposit by X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence, and inductive coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy. Deposit metal of purity more than 99 % was obtained in each of the experiments. The entire process starting from preparation of anhydrous lanthanum/cerium chloride to electrolysis yielding of metal deposits has been described. The effect of process parameters such as temperature, electrolyte composition, and current density on the current efficiency was studied. All these parameters were varied to get the highest current efficiency and metal yield. The major non-rare earth impurities with the deposit are found to be Fe, Cr, and Ni along with ～1×10-3 of total gaseous impurities.     

Bed expansion and fluctuation in cylindrical gas solid fluidized beds with stirred promoters

A profound and fundamental understanding of bed dynamics such as bed expansion ratio and bed fluctuation ratio of irregular particles of binary mixtures has been made in a cylindrical fluidized column for gas solid systems, resulting in a predictive model for fluidized beds. In the present work attempt has been made to study the effect of various system parameters (viz. rotational speed of the promoter, initial static bed height, superficial velocity of the fluidizing medium, particle size and density) on the bed dynamics through experimentation. The correlations for the bed dynamics have been developed on the basis of dimensional analysis. It was observed that the calculated values of bed dynamics agree well with the experimental values in most of the cases.     

Influence of phosphate species on green rust I transformation and local structure and morphology of γ-FeOOH

To clarify the role of phosphate in the formation of corrosion products, the transformation of GRI(Cl⁻) with the addition of phosphate was characterized through XRD, TEM, and solution analysis. Electrochemical analysis showed that the transformation of GRI(Cl⁻) was delayed and the size of the final products, i.e., γ-FeOOH was reduced in the phosphate added case. X-ray absorption spectroscopy indicated that the neighboring Fe–Fe coordination number of FeO₆ octahedral unit in γ-FeOOH was decreased. These effects of phosphate are attributed to its adsorption on GRI(Cl⁻) and nucleated γ-FeOOH that prevented particle growth during oxidation process.     

Wave Interaction with a Flexible Porous Breakwater in a Two-Layer Fluid

An analysis has been carried out to study the performance of a flexible porous plate breakwater in a two-layer fluid where each fluid is assumed to be of finite depth and the breakwater is extended over the entire water depth. The problem is analyzed in two dimensions with the assumption of small amplitude wave theory and plate response. The effects of both surface and internal waves are taken into account in the present study. The associated mixed boundary value problem is reduced to a linear system of equations by utilizing a more general orthogonal relation along with least squares approximation method. The reflection and transmission coefficients for the surface and internal modes, wave load, and breakwater response are computed for various physical parameters of interest to analyze the efficiency of the flexible porous plate as a breakwater in the two-layer fluid.