Inhalation risk of indoor aerosol spray products commercially available in Bangladesh

Today, urbanised people spend most of their time in indoor environments, and the risk of exposure to toxic materials in an indoor environment is of great concern. This paper considers sources for the inhalation risk of aerosol sprays by measuring the particle size distributions of some of the most popular products that are commercially available in Bangladesh, and examines the degree of toxicity and the health risk via the respirability of the products. Results show that thoracic and respirable fractions of the suspended particulate matter are present in the tested samples and hence the spray products may pose a significant health risk.     

Effect of Prior Oxidation on Tensile Properties of Bare and Al3Ti Diffusion Aluminide Coated Near α Titanium Alloy Titan 29A

The effect of prior oxidation, for various durations up to 2,000 h in air at 650 °C, on the room temperature tensile properties of uncoated and Al₃Ti diffusion aluminide coated near α Ti alloy, Titan 29A, has been evaluated. The tensile properties of the uncoated alloy deteriorated with oxidation. Oxidation for just 100 h caused 11–13 % decrease in yield strength (YS) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of the alloy. The uncoated alloy exhibited brittle fracture within the elastic regime at significantly lower stress after oxidation for 2,000 h. On the other hand, the strength of the coated alloy remained unaffected even after 2,000 h of oxidation and the YS and UTS was similar to that of the un-oxidized alloy. The ductility of the coated alloy, however, decreased with the increase in oxidation duration. Such differences in the tensile behavior of the uncoated and coated alloy can be ascribed to the beneficial effect of the Al₃Ti diffusion aluminide coating in preventing surface embrittlement in the alloy during oxidation.     

A comprehensive review on theoretical framework‐based electric vehicle consumer adoption research

Green vehicles, such as electric vehicles (EVs), are getting noteworthy popularity among consumers worldwide. The purpose of this paper is to establish EVs as a feasible long‐term solution for the future of technology in the vehicle industry, which can decrease the current dependency on fossil fuels and also decrease greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As a part of long‐term benefits, the adoption of EVs gives environmentally friendly innovation to society. Despite positive environmental implications, the total number of EVs in usage is still inadequate. One of the major causes of this insubstantial adoption of EVs is largely dependent on the perceptions of consumers regarding EVs. However, this particular research study offers an inclusive outline on the existing hurdles for consumer adoption of EVs as well as a framework of the theoretical standpoints that were developed for the adoption behaviour, in addition to considering consumer intentions in the direction of EVs. In this particular study, the researcher found that the literature regarding EV adoption tried to address only the diffusion method of EVs. Whereas this study highlights consumer innovations, which provides a wide insight on consumer emotions to overlook the major aspect in consumer EVs' adoption research. The theme of this particular literature can be implemented in order to better understand the consumers' emotions and behaviour towards the adoption of EVs. The scholars further stated that there is a possible cause for more recent developments within the technological adoption part that can assist to be a standard for upcoming developments. For the last few years, knowledge regarding the problems surrounding the adoption and diffusion of EVs has gained less attention. This study expands this line of research by focusing on making a chance for developing the theoretical frameworks in terms of adding emotions in a psychological perspective where consumer behaviour and ethics are considered. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Recovery of metals and other beneficial products from coal fly ash: a sustainable approach for fly ash management

International Journal of Coal Science & Technology - Increasing production and disposal of coal fly ash (CFA) is a matter of serious environment concern. However, CFA contains various...     

Physicochemical properties of liquid natural rubber bearing fluoro groups for hydrophobic surfaces

The modification of liquid natural rubber (LNR) has attracted interests among chemists as it brings improvements to several of its properties and widens its application to various fields. LNR can be modified into fluorinated LNR (F-LNR) which is of interest to industries due to its remarkable properties, including low surface energies, high thermal stabilities, together with its significant hydrophobic characters. In this work, a new route to prepare fluorinated rubber was presented. Hydroxylated LNR (OH-LNR) was initially synthesized in good yield via oxidation in the presence of tungsten complex catalyst and acetic acid with hydrogen peroxide as an oxidant. The optimum hydroxyl content of 57.0% was obtained within 6 h reaction time at 90 °C. In the second step, the esterification of OH-LNR using pentadecafluorooctanoyl chloride (PDFOC) under mild conditions was conducted, leading to LNR bearing fluoro groups in the side chain of LNR (F-LNR). ATR-FTIR spectroscopy was used to elucidate the structure and determine any changes in the functional groups that may have been induced during the reaction. ¹H NMR spectroscopy was employed to reveal that a high fluorine content of 48.6% was obtained using 3:1 molar ratio of OH-LNR:PDFOC for 8 h at 50 °C. The microstructure of F-LNR was further analyzed using ¹⁹F NMR and ¹³C NMR spectroscopies, and the results confirmed the presence of fluorine in LNR. Thermogravimetric analyses also indicated that the modification improved thermal stability of the LNR. Contact angle measurements were also conducted to verify the hydrophobicity of the fluorinated rubber and the results obtained showed that F-LNR exhibited higher hydrophobicity than LNR.     

Determination of best possible correlation for gas compressibility factor to accurately predict the initial gas reserves in gas-hydrocarbon reservoirs

Gas compressibility factor or z-factor plays an important role in many engineering applications related to oil and gas exploration and production, such as gas production, gas metering, pipeline design, estimation of gas initially in place (GIIP), and ultimate recovery (UR) of gas from a reservoir. There are many z-factor correlations which are either derived from Equation of State or empirically based on certain observation through regression analysis. However, the results of the z-factor obtained from different correlations have high level of variance for the same gas sample under the same pressure and temperature. It is quite challenging to determine the most accurate correlation which provides accurate estimate for a range of pressures, temperatures, and gas compositions. This paper presents a novel method to accurately estimate GIIP of an Australian tight gas field through identification of the most appropriate z-factor correlations, which can accurately determine the z-factor and other PVT properties for a wide range of gas compositions, temperatures, and pressures. The sensitivity study results demonstrated that a single correlation cannot work across the range of pressures and temperatures for a certain gas sample necessary to calculate z-factor during simulation process and/or other analysis, such as material balance and volumetric estimate.     

Three dimensional modeling and finite element simulation of a generic end mill

The geometry of cutting flutes and the surfaces of end mills is one of the crucial parameters affecting the quality of the machining in the case of end milling. These are usually represented by two-dimensional models. This paper describes in detail the methodology to model the geometry of a flat end mill in terms of three-dimensional parameters. The geometric definition of the end mill is developed in terms of surface patches; flutes as helicoidal surfaces, the shank as a surface of revolution and the blending surfaces as bicubic Bezier and biparametric sweep surfaces. The proposed model defines the end mill in terms of three-dimensional rotational angles rather than the conventional two dimensional angles. To validate the methodology, the flat end milling cutter is directly rendered in OpenGL environment in terms of three-dimensional parameters. Further, an interface is developed that directly pulls the proposed three-dimensional model defined with the help of parametric equations into a commercial CAD modeling environment. This facilitates a wide range of downstream technological applications. The modeled tool is used for finite element simulations to study the cutting flutes under static and transient dynamic load conditions. The results of stress distribution (von mises stress), translational displacement and deformation are presented for static and transient dynamic analysis for the end mill cutter flute and its body. The method described in this paper offers a simple and intuitive way of generating high-quality end mill models for use in machining process simulations. It can be easily extended to generate other tools without relying on analytical or numerical formulations.     

Potential and viability of grid-connected solar PV system in Bangladesh

The potential of grid-connected solar PV system in Bangladesh was estimated utilizing GeoSpatial toolkit, NASA SSE solar radiation data and HOMER optimization software. Financial viability of solar photovoltaic as an electricity generation source for Bangladesh was also assessed utilizing a proposed 1-MW grid-connected solar PV system using RETScreen simulation software for 14 widespread locations in Bangladesh. The technical potential of gird-connected solar PV in Bangladesh was calculated as about 50174 MW. The annual electricity generation of the proposed system varied depending on the location between 1653 MWh and 1854 MWh, with a mean value of 1729 MWh. Several different economic and financial indicators were calculated, such as the internal rate of return, net present value, benefit-cost ratio, cost of energy production and simple payback. All indicators – for all sites – showed favorable condition for development of the proposed solar PV system in Bangladesh. The results also showed that a minimum of 1423 tons of greenhouse gas emissions can be avoided annually utilizing the proposed system at any part of the country.     

An investigation of sound absorption coefficient on sisal fiber poly lactic acid bio‐composites

In this research, the mechanical, acoustical, thermal, morphological, and infrared spectral properties of untreated, heat and alkaline‐treated sisal fiber‐reinforced poly‐lactic‐acid bio‐composites were analyzed. The bio‐composite samples were fabricated using a hot press molding machine. The properties mentioned above were evaluated and compared with heat‐treated and alkaline‐treated sisal fibers. Composites with heat‐treated sisal fibers were found to exhibit the best mechanical properties. Thermo‐gravimetric analysis (TGA) was conducted to study the thermal degradation of the bio‐composite samples. It was discovered that the PLA‐sisal composites with optimal heat‐treated at 160°C and alkaline‐treated fibers possess good thermal stability as compared with untreated fiber. The results indicated that the composites prepared with 30wt % of sisal had the highest sound absorption as compared with other composites. Evidence of the successful reaction of sodium hydroxide and heat treatment of the sisal fibers was provided by the infrared spectrum and implied by decreased bands at certain wavenumbers. Observations based on scanning electron microscopy of the fracture surface of the composites showed the effect of alkaline and heat treatment on the fiber surface and improved fiber‐matrix adhesion. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42470.