Phase transformations in Mn-Al permanent magnet alloys

Phase transformation studies have been made of the Mn-Al alloys with compositions near the equiatomic range with or without small amounts of carbon, copper and nickel, using differential thermal analysis, X-ray diffraction and optical and electron microscopy. The high temperature hexagonal phase obtained by quenching, transforms to the ferromagnetic phase between 500 and 550° C and on further heating transforms back to the hexagonal phase between 750 and 950° C. Also, on controlled cooling of the phase from about 900° C, the ferromagnetic phase is formed between 800 and 670° C. TEM studies have shown the presence of the B19 ordered phase, ferromagnetic phase and Mn₅Al₈ precipitates even in quenched alloys.     

Dual-Metal Double-Gate with Low-k/High-k Oxide Stack Junctionless MOSFET for a Wide Range of Protein Detection: a Fully Electrostatic Based Numerical Approach

Silicon - We investigate the performance of a dielectric modulated dual-metal double-gate with low-k/high-k oxide stack junctionless MOSFET (DM-DG-LK/HK-S JL-MOSFET) based sensor device for...     

Policy-based Diffserv on Internet servers: the AIX approach

The Internet infrastructure must evolve from best-effort service to meet the needs of different customers and applications. With Internet traffic differentiation, service providers can support a range of offerings, such as loss or delay bounds and network bandwidth allocation, to meet different performance requirements. The differentiated services (Diffserv) architecture provides a scalable approach, in which network access (or edge) devices aggregate traffic flows onto provisioned pipes that traverse a streamlined network core. We have identified the key requirements for provisioning Diffserv functions on Internet servers. Based on these requirements, we have implemented, and deployed, a policy-based architecture on IBM's AIX operating system that provides Diffserv services to both QoS-aware and -unaware applications     

Catalytic properties of dispersed iron oxides Fe2O3/MO2 (M = Zr,Ce, Ti and Si) for sulfuric acid decomposition reaction: Role of support

Supported iron oxides have been established as an important class of catalyst for high temperature sulfuric acid decomposition. With an objective to elucidate the role of support in modifying the overall catalytic properties of dispersed iron oxide catalysts, a series of supported iron oxide based catalysts, Fe₂O₃ (15 wt%)/MO₂ (M = Zr, Ce, Ti and Si), synthesized by adsorption-equilibrium method, is investigated for sulfuric acid decomposition reaction. The structure of dispersed iron oxide phases largely depended on the nature of the support oxide as revealed by the XRD and Mössbauer studies. α-Fe₂O₃ is found to be present as a major phase on ZrO₂ and CeO₂ support while ε-Fe₂O₃ was the major phase on silica supported iron oxide. On the other hand, presence of mixed oxide Fe₂TiO₅ was revealed over TiO₂ support. Strong dispersed metal oxide-support interactions inhibited the total reduction of the dispersed phase on SiO₂ and TiO₂ as compared to complete reduction of dispersed iron oxide on CeO₂ and ZrO₂ supports during temperature programmed reduction upto 1000 °C. The order of catalytic activity at a temperature of ～750 °C is observed as Fe₂O₃/SiO₂ > Fe₂TiO₅/TiO₂ > Fe₂O₃/ZrO₂ > Fe₂O₃/CeO₂, while at higher temperatures of ～900 °C the SO₂ yield is found to be comparable for all catalysts. A relationship between the rate of sulfate decomposition and catalytic activity is established through detailed TG-DTA investigations of sulfated catalyst and support. Considerable influence of the support oxide on the composition, structure, redox properties, morphology and catalytic activities of the active iron oxide dispersed phase has been observed. Thus, the support oxides operate as a critical component in the complex supported metal oxide catalysts and these findings might influence the design and development of future high temperature sulfuric acid decomposition catalysts.     

Synthesis,characterization and corrosion performance evaluation of DDR membrane for H2 separation from HI decomposition reaction

An all silica DDR (deca dodecasil rhombohedral) zeolite membrane with dense, interlocked structure has been developed for separation of H₂ from HI/I₂ mixture of HI decomposition reaction. In this work, the DDR zeolite membrane was synthesized on the seeded clay-alumina substrate within 5 days. The seeds were synthesized by sonication mediated hydrothermal process within short crystallization time which enhanced the nucleation for the membrane growth. The synthesized membranes along with seed crystals were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX). The selectivity of hydrogen with respect to CO₂ and Ar was evaluated by single gas permeation studies at room temperature. The tests for corrosion resistance were carried out upto 120 h with both support and DDR membrane at 130 °C which confirmed the stability of membrane under the harsh HI/I₂ environment.     

Wear characteristics of some internally lubricated and reinforced engineering polymer composites

An interesting characteristic of abrasion is the dependence of the wear rate on the particle size of the abrasive grits used to lubricate the abrasive papers. Three types of polymers, PTFE, PA, PI, several of their composites, and three metals were selected for studying the effect of particle size on wear rate. The pins were abraded against Sic abrasive papers of various mesh sizes under constant loading in multi-pass conditions. For some of the polymers and their composites (PA and PEI) the size effect on wear rate was similar to that for the metals. Beyond a critical particle size, no increase in wear was found with increasing particle size. On the other hand, PTFE, PI, and their composites showed the opposite effect. SEM and EDAX were used to investigate the related mechanisms.     

Life cycle assessment of Jatropha biodiesel as transportation fuel in rural India

Since 2003 India has been actively promoting the cultivation of Jatropha on unproductive and degraded lands (wastelands) for the production of biodiesel suitable as transportation fuel. In this paper the life cycle energy balance, global warming potential, acidification potential, eutrophication potential and land use impact on ecosystem quality is evaluated for a small scale, low-input Jatropha biodiesel system established on wasteland in rural India. In addition to the life cycle assessment of the case at hand, the environmental performance of the same system expanded with a biogas installation digesting seed cake was quantified. The environmental impacts were compared to the life cycle impacts of a fossil fuel reference system delivering the same amount of products and functions as the Jatropha biodiesel system under research. The results show that the production and use of Jatropha biodiesel triggers an 82% decrease in non-renewable energy requirement (Net Energy Ratio, NER = 1.85) and a 55% reduction in global warming potential (GWP) compared to the reference fossil-fuel based system. However, there is an increase in acidification (49%) and eutrophication (430%) from the Jatropha system relative to the reference case. Although adding biogas production to the system boosts the energy efficiency of the system (NER = 3.40), the GWP reduction would not increase (51%) due to additional CH₄ emissions. For the land use impact, Jatropha improved the structural ecosystem quality when planted on wasteland, but reduced the functional ecosystem quality. Fertilizer application (mainly N) is an important contributor to most negative impact categories. Optimizing fertilization, agronomic practices and genetics are the major system improvement options.     

Molecular interaction of quinoline with coal-liquid fractions

A direct calorimetric method has been used to determine simultaneously the molar enthalpy, ΔH^o, and equilibrium constant, K, for the interaction of quinoline (Qu) with coal-derived asphaltenes (A), acid/neutral (AA) and base (BA) components of A, silylated asphaltenes (A(TMS)) and heavy oil (HO) fractions in solvent C₆H₆. Solvent fractionated A and HO fractions were from three centrifuged-liquid product (CLP) samples prepared in the 450 kg ($\text{≈}\text{1}\text{2}$ U.S. ton) per day Process Development Unit at Pittsburgh Energy Research Center, at different process conditions from the same feed coal, Kentucky hvAb. For a given system, Qu-A (AA or BA), Qu-HO, the almost constant value of K and rectilinear variation of ΔH^o with the phenolic oxygen content of coal-liquid fractions have been attributed to the dominance of hydrogen-bonding effects, involving phenolic OH, over other types of molecular interactions in solution. In the Qu-A(TMS) system, ?ΔH^o values increase with decrease in molecular weight of A(TMS), while ?ΔS^o values increase with increase in aromaticity of the A fraction. The degree of complexation, in absence of OH groups, is much smaller than with the Qu-A system.     

Dual Critical Points and Related Phenomena in Simple Fluids from the Perspective of (Approximate) Renormalization Theory

It is known that some single component fluids can have coexisting low-density and high-density liquid phases with two, separate, gas–liquid and liquid–liquid, critical points. Such behavior is found both by experiments and in recent molecular-dynamics simulations performed for certain simple isotropic attractive pair potentials with softened repulsive cores. In the present investigation, a global renormalization group theory that was employed previously to make predictions for simple Lennard–Jones and square-well fluids over wide ranges of density and temperature, including the critical point, in reasonably good agreement with molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations, is applied to simple shoulder potentials and to square-well potentials with softened repulsive cores. Results using this renormalization approach are compared with some previously reported results for a shoulder potential and expectations regarding dual critical points for water.