Thermal stability and high-temperature wear of Ti–TiN and TiN–CrN nanomultilayer coatings under self-mated conditions

Ti–TiN and TiN–CrN nanomultilayers were thermally stable retaining uniform and sharp layer interfaces up to 24 h at 773 K, without any oxidation or phase transformation accompanying each individual layer. Decreasing the multilayer spacing resulted in an increase in the hardness in both cases. The coating hardness was found to be independent of the substrate type, when applied on HS718, Ti64 and HCHCr substrates. In scratch testing, the multilayers displayed a better resistance to the onset of failure, as compared to the monolayer TiN. The substrate plasticity played an important role in determining the coating failure mode. Self-mated wear tests revealed the CrN–TiN system to exhibit the best wear behaviour, both at room temperature and at 773 K. The Ti–TiN coatings are more accommodative with all three substrates, as compared to TiN–CrN and TiN.     

A comparison of the dissolution of model compounds and the kerogen of Green River oil shale by oxidation with perchloric acid — A model for the kerogen of Green River oil shale

A stepwise degradation of a kerogen concentrate of Green River oil shale was effected by oxidation with perchloric acid of varying boiling point and concentration. Dissolution of the kerogen concentrate occurred between 160 and 170°C. Several model compounds were also oxidized with perchloric acid. The model compounds were polyethylene, graphite, nylon, and polyethylene oxide. The results indicated that the kerogen was similar to polyethylene oxide. The results of this study and previous work were used to present a model for the structure of the kerogen of Green River oil shale.     

A simplified cascade current‐source inverter interconnected to a single‐phase three‐wire distribution system and its application to electric energy storage systems with batteries

A novel current source inverter system interconnected to the single‐phase grid is proposed. It has the same construction as the conventional three‐phase current source inverter that is interconnected to the single‐phase three‐wire distribution system. Though the proposed circuit has no output transformer, it can be equivalently performed as the single‐phase double cascade inverter by diverting the pole transformer in the utility system. By controlling the appropriate scheme, the output currents can be obtained as the five‐level waveforms and their distortions can be decreased sufficiently. It is applied to the interactive electric energy storage system with batteries and the basic discharging characteristics are discussed experimentally. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 150(2): 50–61, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10380     

Dewpoints of flue gases for energy-recovery system design and operation

Low temperature corrosion from flue gases is a common problem in energy recovery systems. We present a simple computation procedure to estimate the dewpoint of combustion gases, which is the limiting design temperature to prevent corrosion. If the composition of fuel oil and the percentage of CO₂ or O₂ in the flue gases are known, the air ratio, percentage of H₂O, p.p.m. of SO₃ in the flue gas, and the dewpoint can be estimated with an error of 1.9%. The results indicate that the dewpoint is high because the combustion conditions are not appropriately adjusted, even if low sulfur fuel oil is used. We conclude that both the fuel quality and the combustion conditions are controlling variables in the design and operation of energy recovery systems.     

一个高电阻值测量电路

介绍一种新的高阻测试方法，可满足对高达１×１０＾１６Ω的测试要求。测试结果显示，对于１×１０＾１３Ω重复误差优于±２％。高阻测试电路通过接口与６８０９微机配套使用，操作简便，读数直观，便于长时间重复测量。     

辐射化学基础理论研究现状 Ⅰ.初级辐解产物

本文着重于辐射作用于物质最初生成的产物,包括激发态的离子与分子,能量超过热能的次级电子等的反应以及电荷和激发能的转移,并试图论述它们的最新发展。     

Transformation of β-Ni(OH)2 to NiO nano-sheets via surface nanocrystalline zirconia coating: Shape and size retention

Shape and size of the synthesized NiO nano-sheets were retained during transformation of sheet-like β-Ni(OH)₂ to NiO at elevated temperatures via nano-sized zirconia coating on the surface of β-Ni(OH)₂. The average grain size was 6.42 nm after 600 °C treatment and slightly increased to 10 nm after 1000 °C treatment, showing effective sintering retardation between NiO nano-sheets. The excellent thermal stability revealed potential application at elevated temperatures, especially for high temperature catalysts and solid-state electrochemical devices.     

Automated procedure to determine the thermodynamic stability of a material and the range of chemical potentials necessary for its formation relative to competing phases and compounds

We present a simple and fast algorithm to test the thermodynamic stability and determine the necessary chemical environment for the production of a multiternary material, relative to competing phases and compounds formed from the constituent elements. If the material is found to be stable, the region of stability, in terms of the constituent elemental chemical potentials, is determined from the intersection points of hypersurfaces in an (n−1)$(n-1)$-dimensional chemical potential space, where n$n$ is the number of atomic species in the material. The input required is the free energy of formation of the material itself, and that of all competing phases. Output consists of the result of the test of stability, the intersection points in the chemical potential space and the competing phase to which they relate, and, for two- and three-dimensional spaces, a file which may be used for visualization of the stability region. We specify the use of the program by applying it both to a ternary system and to a quaternary system. The algorithm automates essential analysis of the thermodynamic stability of a material. This analysis consists of a process which is lengthy for ternary materials, and becomes much more complicated when studying materials of four or more constituent elements, which have become of increased interest in recent years for technological applications such as energy harvesting and optoelectronics. The algorithm will therefore be of great benefit to the theoretical and computational study of such materials.     

Rectification of process measurement data in the presence of gross errors

A systematic strategy is developed for the location of the source and the rectification of gross, biased measurement errors in a chemical process. The proposed strategy proceeds in three levels: (a) A structural analysis of the balance equations identifies subsets of balances with measurements which are suspected to possess gross errors. (b) A sequential analysis of the balance equations with suspect measurements further reduces the size of the problem. Statistical criteria are used in this step. (c) Finally, a sequential analysis of the suspect measurements appearing in the reduced set of balances leads to the identification of the source of the gross errors.The proposed strategy: (i) reduces the size of the data reconciliation problem significantly, even for large-scale chemical processes, (ii) is computationally simple and (iii) it conforms with the general process of variable monitoring in a chemical plant.Numerical examples are presented to clarify the elements of the procedure involved and demonstrate their value and effectiveness in dealing with realistic situations.     

A kinetic study of methane hydrate formation

The kinetics of methane hydrate formation, after commencement of nucleation, were studied using a semibatch stirred tank reactor. The temperatures studied in the experiments were from 274 to 284 K over a pressure range of 3–10 MPa. The results of the experiments revealed that the formation kinetics were dependent on the interfacial area, pressure, temperature and degree of supercooling. The history of water sample affected the induction delay times for nuclei formation, but it had no observable effects on the overall kinetics of hydrate formation after the nucleation had commenced. A consistent semi-empirical model was formulated to correlate the experimental kinetic data.