Numerical analysis of the manipulated high performance catalyst layer design for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

A two‐dimensional, multiphase, non‐isothermal numerical model was used to investigate the effect of the high performance catalyst layer (CL) design. Microstructure‐related parameters were studied on the basis of the agglomerate model assumption. A conventional CL design (uniform Pt/C composition, e.g., 40 wt%) was modified into two sub‐layers with two different Pt/C compositions (in this study, 40 and 80 wt%). The performance of sub‐layers with different CL designs is shown to be different. Simulation results show that substituting part of the Pt/C 40 wt% with Pt/C 80 wt% increases the cell performance. It was found that factors including proton conductivity, open circuit voltage, and sub‐layer thickness have a significant impact on overall cell performance. Different water distribution for different membrane electrode assembly designs was also observed in the simulation results. More liquid water accumulation inside the membrane electrode assembly is seen when the Pt/C 80 wt% sub‐layer is next to the gas diffusion layer. Finally, several key design parameters for the proposed high performance CL design including agglomerate radius, Nafion thin film thickness, and the Nafion volume fraction within the agglomerate in terms of CL fabrication were identified on the basis of our simulation results. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Processing and characterization of recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate) blends with chain extenders,thermoplastic elastomer,and/or poly(butylene adipate‐co‐terephthalate)

Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) resin is one of the most widely used thermoplastics, especially in packaging. Because thermal and hydrolytic degradations, recycled PET (RPET) exhibits poor mechanical properties and lacks moldability. The effects of adding elastomeric modifiers, chain extenders (CE), and poly(butylene adipate‐co‐terephthalate), PBAT, as a toughener to RPET on its moldability and mechanical property were investigated. Melt blending of RPET with CE, thermoplastic elastomer (TPE), and/or PBAT was performed in a thermokinetic mixer (K‐mixer). The blended materials were then injection molded to produce tensile specimens. Various techniques were used to study the mechanical properties, rheological properties, compatibility, and crystallization behavior of the RPET blends. By melt blending with proper additives, recycled PET regained its moldability, thereby enabling the recycling of RPET. Furthermore, the addition of CE greatly enhanced the mechanical properties of RPET. While the RPET and TPE blends also showed improved mechanical properties, the improvement was less significant and the blends were often immiscible due to the difference in polarities between RPET and TPE. Finally, it was found that the mechanical properties of RPET blends depended on the prior thermal history of the material and could be improved with an extra annealing step that increased the degree of crystallinity. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2011. © 2011 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Crystallization and thermal behavior of microcellular injection‐molded polyamide‐6 nanocomposites

This article presents the effects of nanoclay and supercritical nitrogen on the crystallization and thermal behavior of microcellular injection‐molded polyamide‐6 (PA6) nanocomposites with 5 and 7.5 wt% nanoclay. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), X‐ray diffractometry (XRD), and polarized optical microscopy (POM) were used to characterize the thermal behavior and crystalline structure. The isothermal and nonisothermal crystallization kinetics of neat resin and its corresponding nanocomposite samples were analyzed using the Avrami and Ozawa equations, respectively. The activation energies determined using the Arrhenius equation for isothermal crystallization and the Kissinger equation for nonisothermal crystallization were comparable. The specimen thickness had a significant influence on the nonisothermal crystallization especially at high scanning rates. Nanocomposites with an optimal amount of nanoclay possessed the highest crystallization rate and a higher level of nucleation activity. The nanoclay increased the magnitude of the activation energy but decreased the overall crystallinity. The dissolved SCF did not alter the crystalline structure significantly. In contrast with conventionally injection‐molded solid counterparts, microcellular neat resin parts and microcellular nanocomposite parts were found to have lower crystallinity in the core and higher crystallinity near the skin. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 46:904–918, 2006. © 2006 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Three‐dimensional numerical simulation of injection molding filling of optical lens and multiscale geometry using finite element method

This article presents the development, verification, and validation of three‐dimensional (3‐D) numerical simulation for injection molding filling of 3‐D parts and parts with microsurface features. For purpose of verification and comparison, two numerical models, the mixed model and the equal‐order model, were used to solve the Stokes equations with three different tetrahedral elements (Taylor‐Hood, MINI, and equal‐order). The control volume scheme with tetrahedral finite element mesh was used for tracking advancing melt fronts and the operator splitting method was selected to solve the energy equation. A new, simple memory management procedure was introduced to deal with the large sparse matrix system without using a huge amount of storage space. The numerical simulation was validated for mold filling of a 3‐D optical lens. The numerical simulation agreed very well with the experimental results and was useful in suggesting a better processing condition. As a new application area, a two‐step macro–micro filling approach was adopted for the filling analysis of a part with a micro‐surface feature to handle both macro and micro dimensions while avoiding an excessive number of elements. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 46:1263–1274, 2006. © 2006 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Polylactide,nanoclay, and core–shell rubber composites

Three types of composites, namely, polylactide (PLA)/nanoclay, PLA/core–shell rubber, and PLA/nanoclay/core–shell rubber, were melt compounded via a corotating twin‐screw extruder. The effects of two types of organically modified montmorillonite nanoclays (i.e., Cloisite®30B and 20A), two types of core (polybutylacrylate)–shell (polymethylmethacrylate) rubbers (i.e., Paraloid EXL2330 and EXL2314), and the combination of nanoclay and rubber on the mechanical and thermal properties of the composites were investigated. According to X‐ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy analyses, both types of PLA/5 wt% nanoclay composites had an intercalated morphology. In comparison with pure PLA, both types of PLA/5 wt% nanoclay composites had an increased modulus, similar impact strength, slightly reduced tensile strength, and significantly reduced strain at break. On the other hand, PLA/EXL2330 composites with a rubber loading level of 10 wt% or higher had a much higher impact strength and strain at break, but a lower modulus and strength when compared with pure PLA. The simultaneous addition of 5 wt% nanoclay (Cloisite®30B) and 20 wt% EXL2330 resulted in a PLA composite with a 134% increase in impact strength, a 6% increase in strain at break, a similar modulus, and a 28% reduction in tensile strength in comparison with pure PLA. POLYM. ENG. SCI. 46:1419–1427, 2006. © 2006 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Microcellular injection molding of in situ modified poly(ethylene terephthalate) with supercritical nitrogen

The microcellular injection molding (commercially known as MuCell) of in situ polymerization‐modified PET (m‐PET) was performed using supercritical nitrogen as the physical blowing agent. Based on the design of experiment matrices, the influence of operating conditions on the mechanical properties of molded samples was studied systematically for two kinds of m‐PETs, namely, n‐m‐PET and m‐m‐PET synthesized using pentaerythritol and pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA) as modifying monomers, respectively. Optimal conditions for injection molding were obtained by analyzing the signal‐to‐noise (S/N) ratio of the tensile strength of the molded samples. The specific mechanical properties, especially the impact strength, of the microcellular samples under those optimal conditions increased significantly. Scanning electron microscope analyses showed a uniform cell structure in the molded specimens with an average cell size of around 35 µm. The m‐m‐PET modified with PMDA generated a slightly finer cell structure and a higher cell density than the n‐m‐PET. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:2739–2745, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Adaptive online quality control for injection‐molding by monitoring and controlling mold separation

This paper presents a unique method that makes use of a small signal (of the magnitude of microns) measured by a precision linear displacement transducer mounted on the outside of mold plates to monitor the momentary separation of the core and cavity plates. The maximum value of the separation is found to be highly correlated with part weight, one of the important quality indices. The whole profile of the mold separation (MS) is monitored and used in order to control the process adaptively and to keep the part quality consistent. Adaptive algorithms are developed to control the switchover point from filling to packing in terms of hydraulic pressure from shot to shot. Within a shot, the hydraulic pressure during the holding stage is manipulated to control the MS profile. The experimental results with different resins and mold geometries show that the variation of part weight is reduced significantly as compared to the conventional hydraulic pressure control. POLYM. ENG. SCI. 46:569–580, 2006. © 2006 Society of Plastics Engineers     

A novel electron‐transport material for organic light‐emitting devices

Abstract— A nanocrystalline electron‐transport material [ET68] was introduced into organic light‐emitting devices (OLEDs). By integrating a p‐doped transport system and phosphorescent emitters, a very bright and stable device could be obtained. Furthermore, 40% saving in power consumption can be achieved when the efficient pixels with ET68 were applied to AMOLEDs.     

Plasma transferred arc repair welding of the nickel-base superalloy IN-738LC

Plasma transferred arc welding (PTA) has been considered a promising process to restore worn areas of land-based gas turbine blades and vanes. The objective of this investigation was to study the effect of PTA welding on the repairing of IN-738LC superalloy components. Tensile tests were conducted on specimens welded with various combinations of parameters. Room temperature, 760 °C, and 980 °C were selected as tensile test temperatures. High-temperature phase transformed, during solidification, were identified by differential thermal analysis (DTA). The weld-pool shapes and microstructures of welded specimens prepared by various welding parameters were evaluated by optical metallography (OM), a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive x-ray spectrometer (EDS), and microhardness testing. Results of this study showed that PTA welded specimens exhibited 96% nominal tensile strength of IN738LC base materials. Specimen failure was observed predominantly in the base materials instead of in the heat-affected zone (HAZ) for gas tungsten arc weld (GTAW) repair weldments. IN-738LC is considered susceptible to weld cracking during fusion welding; however, using a low-input heat repair welding process (PTA), cracking susceptibility could be minimized by the optimized welding parameters.