Study of solidification behavior and splat morphology of vacuum plasma sprayed Ti alloy by computational modeling and experimental results

The microstructure of Ti-6Al-4V alloy manufactured by vacuum plasma spraying consists of individual lamellae, inter-lamellae boundaries, and porosity. Mechanical properties of the as-sprayed structure depend mainly upon the solidification behavior and resultant microstructure and morphology of the individual splats and cohesion between splats. Using a three-dimensional numerical model, the cooling rate and solidification behavior of a single Ti-6Al-4V droplet (50 μm) impacting on a titanium substrate under vacuum plasma spray conditions were investigated. Results were verified with experimental observations in single splats and as-sprayed microstructures obtained by vacuum plasma sprayed form of Ti-6Al-4V alloy. The average cooling rate of a single splat obtained from the numerical simulation was on the order of 10⁸ °C/s and the solidification front velocity was approximately 63 cm/s which is in the range of the rapid solidification. The thickness of the splat was calculated to be around 3 μm and the deposition efficiency was approximately 70%. These results illustrated good agreements with those obtained from experiments.     

Effect of Substrate Concave Pattern on Splat Formation of Yttria-Stabilized Zirconia in Atmospheric Plasma Spraying

Splat morphology of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) on a microconcave-patterned substrate was investigated by both numerical and experimental approaches under a dc-rf hybrid-plasma spray condition. The spreading behavior of molten droplets on a microdimple pattern was numerically simulated in a three-dimensional form. For comparison, impact of a YSZ droplet onto a microdimple pattern of a quartz glass substrate was studied in situ utilizing thermal emissions from the droplet. Concave aspects of a substrate surface play an important role in fingering/splashing of a spreading droplet as well as convex patterns. The main mechanism that causes splashing is likely due to the slipping of a spreading droplet at the edge of concave patterns. The viscosity decrease of the spreading droplet enhances the droplet splash.     

Estimating the power and number of microturbines in small-scale combined heat and power systems

Utilizing the combined heat and power (CHP) systems to produce both electricity and heat is growing rapidly due to their high efficiency and low emissions in domestic, commercial, and industrial applications. In the first two categories among available drivers, due to the compact size and low weight, microturbines are attractive choice. In this paper, by using an energy–economic analysis the type and number of the required microturbines for the specific electricity and heat load curves during a year were selected. For performing this task an objective function annual profit (AP) was introduced and maximized. The operation strategy and the payback period of the chosen system was also determined in this study.     

Barium carbonate nanostructures: Biosynthesis and their biomedical applications

In recent years, nanostructures and nanoarchitectures have attracted much attention in the development of biomedicine and nanomedicine. The plant-mediated synthesis of barium carbonate nanoparticles (BACN) has been performed using barium chloride and aqueous extract of natural sweetener (Stevia). In this study, the biosynthesis of BACN has been selected due to the useful medicinal potentials and suitable obtained biocompatibility of produced nanoparticles as well as its simplicity, lesser production steps, and cost-effectiveness. Barium carbonate nanostructures were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscope. The toxicity of BACN on U87 brain cancer cells was evaluated based on MTT assay. According to the results, the prepared nanostructures can be employed for biomedical applications, especially cancer therapy.     

Multi-cycle bioregeneration of spent perchlorate-containing macroporous selective anion-exchange resin

Ion exchange using perchlorate-selective resin is possibly the most feasible technology for perchlorate removal from water. However, in current water treatment applications, selective resins are used once and then incinerated, making the ion-exchange process economically and environmentally unsustainable. A new concept has been developed involving the biological regeneration of resin-containing perchlorate. This concept involves directly contacting perchlorate-containing resins with a perchlorate-reducing microbial culture. In this research, the feasibility of multi-cycle loading and bioregeneration of a macroporous perchlorate-selective resin was investigated. Loading and bioregeneration cycles were performed, using a bench-scale fermenter and a fluidized bed reactor followed by fouling removal and disinfection of the resin. The results revealed that selective macroporous resin can be employed successfully in a consecutive loading-bioregeneration ion-exchange process. Loss of resin capacity stabilized after a few cycles of bioregeneration, indicating that the number of loading and bioregeneration cycles that can be performed is likely greater than the five cycles tested. The results also revealed that most of the capacity loss in the resin is due to perchlorate buildup from previous regeneration cycles. The results further indicated that as the bioregeneration progresses, clogging of the resin pores results in strong mass transfer limitation in the bioregeneration process.     

A volume-of-fluid interfacial flow solver with advected normals

We presented a new approach to calculating normal vectors to fluid interfaces in [JCP, 2007;226:774-97], by advecting unit normals along with an interface. In this paper, we introduce an implementation of the method in an interfacial flow solver. The advected normals are used to compute the interface curvature for calculating the surface tension force, and for reconstructing the interface in a volume-conserving volume-of-fluid (VOF) method. To improve the performance of the method in under-resolved regions of the flow, where normals vary sharply, a curvature-based criterion is used to detect and correct poorly defined normals. We present two-dimensional results of advection as well as actual flow problems and demonstrate that the new method is well suited for problems that involve large interface deformation and breakup (i.e. problems that involve substantial interface movement).     

Three-Dimensional Modelling of Density Variation Due to Phase Change in Complex Free Surface Flows

A three-dimensional model of droplet impact and solidification has been modified to include the effects of density variation during phase change. The governing equations for conservation of mass, momentum, and energy, and a volume-of-fluid (VOF) equation are derived by assuming different but constant solid and liquid densities. The equations are solved numerically using a control-volume approach. The model is validated against the Stefan and planar solidification problems. It is then applied to simulate the effects of density variation during solidification of molten tin in a mold and also of an impacting tin droplet on a substrate.     

Fractional-order sliding mode control for a novel magneto-electro-elastic microtube robot

In this paper, a tracking controller based on a non-integer sliding surface is proposed for a magneto-electro-elastic (MEE) fluid-conveying microtube robot. The smart/adaptive MEE material enables us to control the robot with no need for external sensors and actuators. The micro-robot lateral motion is modeled by Euler–Bernoulli beam equations. The governing equation of the robot is derived using the constitutive equations of MEE materials and Maxwell's principle followed by Hamilton's variational method. Based on the extracted dynamic model, a novel non-integer order sliding mode controller is introduced to suppress the microtube vibration and to provide robust path following for the robot tip. This control approach is compatible with the parameter-varying nature of the robot dynamics. Theoretical analyses, based on Lyapunov theory, are also conducted to verify the stability of the closed-loop system. Comparative simulations are finally performed to show the efficiency of the proposed system in comparison with the conventional micro tubes made of smart materials and with an integer order sliding mode controller (SMC). The results demonstrate that the proposed robot properly meets the performance requirements in terms of vibration suppression and trajectory tracking, even in the presence of disturbances.     

Spectral aliasing: a super zoom for 2D-NMR spectra. Principles and applications

The NMR methodology based on spectral aliasing developed at the University of Geneva is reviewed. Different approaches aimed at increasing the resolution in the indirect carbon dimension of 2D heteronuclear experiments are presented with their respective advantages. Applications to HSQC, HMBC and other 2D heteronuclear experiments to the study of natural products and synthesis intermediates are shown. HSQC-based experiments for diffusion measurements, kinetics studies and titrations experiments all take advantage of spectral aliasing to reduce the experimental time from unrealistically long acquisition times to overnight experiments. The roles of computational methods such as DFT/GIAO and Logic for Structure Determination (LSD) in structure determination are discussed.