Rod-like micelle templated synthesis of porous hydroxyapatite

Use of macromolecular templates for controlling nanostructures of inorganic materials is an active area of research. In particular, oriented growth of hydroxyapatite in organic matrix is of great relevance to understand biomineralisation of bone and its potential biomedical applications. Natural bone being a composite of hydroxyapatite and collagen fibers, crystallization of hydroxyapatite in fibrous assemblies could mimic such biomineralisation. This motivated us to investigate the role of long rod-like micelles in modulating the structure of hydroxyapatite particles. In this article, we report the preparation of porous hydroxyapatite nanorods using rod-like micelles made up of a cationic surfactant cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and anionic hydrotrope sodium salicylate (SS) as a templating agent. The successful formation of hydroxyapatite crystals is evident from XRD, FTIR, TGA, SEM and TEM analyses. It has been observed that large hydroxyapatite nanorods of diameter ～50 nm are formed in surfactant mediated synthesis, whereas irregular shaped nanoaggregates of hydroxyapatite are obtained in the absence of surfactant. A comparative study on the porosity of hydroxyapatite clearly shows that monomodal distribution of mesopores with a peak at ～30 nm in the absence of surfactant while bimodal distribution of mesopores having maxima at ～4 nm and ～45 nm appear in hydroxyapatite prepared in the presence of surfactant template.     

Two-fluid pressure-driven channel flow with wall deposition and ageing effects

Two-fluid, stratified pressure-driven channel flow is studied in the limit of small viscosity ratios. Cases are considered in which the core fluid undergoes phase separation that results in the ‘precipitation’ of a distinct phase and the formation of a wall layer; these situations are common in the oil industry where ‘fouling’ deposits are formed during the flow. The thickness of this layer increases as a result of continual deposition through Stefan-like fluxes, which are related to the phase behaviour of the core fluid through a chemical equilibria model that treats the fluid as a bi-component mixture. The deposit also undergoes an ‘ageing’ process whereby its viscosity increases due to the build-up of internal structure; the latter is modelled here via a Coussot-type relation. Lubrication theory is used in the wall layer and an integral balance in the core fluid wherein inertial effects are important. By choosing appropriate semi-parabolic velocity and temperatures closures for the laminar flow in the channel core, and a closure relation for the wall layer rheology, evolution equations are derived that describe the flow dynamics. In the presence of ageing but absence of deposition, it is demonstrated how the time-varying deposit rheology alters the wave dynamics; for certain parameter ranges, these effects can give rise to the formation of steep waves and what appears to be finite-time ‘blow-up’. With both ageing and deposition, the spatio-temporal evolution of the deposit is shown together with the increase in the deposition rate with increasing temperature difference between the wall and the inlet.     

Preparation of egg-shell type Al2O3-supported CdS photocatalysts for reduction of H2O to H2

Alumina-supported cadmium sulfide photocatalysts were prepared for the photocatalytic reduction of water to hydrogen using visible light. The activity depends on the nature of interaction between alumina and cadmium and also on the distribution of CdS on the support. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, nitrogen desorption and temperature-programmed oxidation. The impregnation of alumina hydrogel with an ammoniacal solution results into a chemical interaction between cadmium sulfide and alumina and also yields a preferential distribution of cadmium sulfide on the surface which give a better activity to the photocatalyst. The possible role of ammonia in causing the solute segregation to the surface during the drying stage of the catalyst preparation has been explained.     

High-pressure phase transition in Ho2O3

High-pressure X-ray diffraction and Raman studies on holmium sesquioxide (Ho₂O₃) have been carried out up to a pressure of ∼17 GPa in a diamond-anvil cell at room temperature. Holmium oxide, which has a cubic or bixbyite structure under ambient conditions, undergoes an irreversible structural phase transition at around 9.5 GPa. The high-pressure phase has been identified to be low symmetry monoclinic type. The two phases coexist to up to about 16 GPa, above which the parent phase disappears. The high-pressure laser-Raman studies have revealed that the prominent Raman band ∼370 cm⁻¹ disappears around the similar transition pressure. The bulk modulus of the parent phase is reported.     

A hybrid approach for multi-response optimization of non-conventional machining on AlSiCp MMC

In this study, investigation on machinability characteristic of aluminum silicon carbide composite on electrical discharge machine is carried out. The composites are prepared through powder metallurgy route. The influence of four machining parameters (discharge current, pulse duration, duty cycle, and flushing pressure) and two material parameters (weight fraction of silicon carbide in the composite and mesh size) on selected responses are studied. The responses considered, in this work, are material removal rate, tool wear rate, surface roughness and circularity. In actual machining application, it is desirable to find a parametric combination that leads to simultaneous optimization of all the responses. Classical Taguchi method can optimize a single response but not multiple responses. In order to simultaneously optimize multiple responses, a hybrid approach combining principal component analysis (PCA) and fuzzy inference system is coupled with Taguchi method. The influence of each parameter on the responses is established using analysis of variances (ANOVA) at 5% level of significance. It is found that pulse duration, duty cycle, discharge current and flushing pressure contribute significantly to the multiple performance characteristic index. The four responses at optimal parameter setting have been reported.     

An Improved I a S Relation Incorporating Antecedent Moisture in SCS-CN Methodology

Employing a large dataset of 84 small watersheds (area = 0.17 to 71.99 ha) of U.S.A., this paper investigates a number of initial abstraction (I _a )-potential maximum retention (S) relations incorporating antecedent moisture (M) as a function of antecedent precipitation (P ₅), and finally suggests an improved relation for use in the popular Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) methodology for determination of direct runoff from given rainfall. The improved performance of the incorporated M = α and I _a = λ S ²/(S + M) relations, where λ is the initial abstraction coefficient, in the SCS-CN methodology exhibits the dependence of I _a on M, which is close to reality; the larger the M, the lesser will be I _a , and vice versa. Such incorporation obviates sudden jumps in the curve number variation with antecedent moisture condition, an unreasonable and undesirable feature of the existing SCS-CN model.     

The Effect of a Blockage on Forced Convection Heat Transfer From a Heated Square Cylinder to Power-Law Fluids

Forced convection heat transfer characteristics of a long, heated square cylinder blocking the flow of a power-law fluid in a channel is numerically investigated in this study. In particular, the role of the power-law index n, Reynolds number Re, Prandtl number Pr, and blockage ratio β(=B/H) on the rate of heat transfer from a square cylinder in a channel has been studied over the following ranges of conditions: 0.5 ≤ n ≤ 1.8, 60 ≤ Re ≤ 160, β = 1/4, 1/2, and 0.7 ≤ Pr ≤ 50. A semi-explicit finite-volume method is used on a nonuniform collocated grid arrangement. The third-order QUICK and the second-order central difference schemes are used to discretize the convective and diffusive terms, respectively, in the momentum and energy equations. Irrespective of the type of behavior of fluid (different values of n), the average Nusselt number increases as the blockage ratio increases. Similar to the unconfined flow configuration, the average Nusselt number increases monotonically with Reynolds and Prandtl numbers for both values of the blockage ratio and for all values of power-law index considered here. Further insights into the heat transfer phenomenon are provided by presenting isotherm contours in the vicinity of the cylinder for a range of values of the Reynolds number, Prandtl number, and power-law index for the two values of β considered in this work.     

Understanding the hydrophobic characteristics of epoxy nanocomposites using wavelets and fractal technique

In the present study, the influence of water ageing on the surface characteristics of epoxy nanocomposites was analyzed through atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies. The hydrophobic properties of the epoxy nanocomposite material were analyzed through contact angle and diffusion coefficient measurements. Fractal dimension were calculated by adopting a multi resolution signal decomposition (MRSD) to the 1D-AFM signal through power spectral density calculations at each level of decomposition. 2D-MRSD studies were applied to AFM pictures to understand the surface characteristics of the material. The result of the study shows the presence of high and low frequency signals indicating characteristic variation in surface roughness of the material. The surface roughness parameter measured through the MRSD technique indicates that the surface roughness is lower for epoxy nanocomposites (upto 5Wt%) compared to pure epoxy resin. It is observed that the fractal dimension and the root mean square roughness values vary proportionately. Also it is realized that diffusion coefficient and surface roughness of the material shows an inverse relationship.