Vibration transmissibility reduction module with flexure mechanism for personal tools

In many mechanical operations, vibrations from personal tools may cause serious injuries to the human body. This is particularly true in the case of vibrations that are constantly and repeatedly transferred to humans. In fact, a serious physical problem, Raynaud’s phenomenon, may occur. In this paper, we propose a vibration transmissibility reduction module with a flexure mechanism for personal tools. First, a target personal tool, that is, a grass cutter is selected, and the level of vibration transmissibility to the hand is measured. Subsequently, we develop a concept design of the module with stiffness to reduce the vibration transmissibility by more than 20%. The vibration transmissibility is measured by an accelerometer. In addition, the vibration reduction is enhanced when the gap between the inner and outer bodies is filled with silicone gel. Finally, this is verified experimentally.     

Eco-friendly method of fabricating indium-tin-oxide thin films using pure aqueous sol-gel

An indium-tin-oxide (ITO) thin film with approximately 50 nm thickness was successfully synthesized on glass substrates by using a fully aqueous sol-gel process. The sol was prepared from indium nitrate hydrate and tin fluoride as a precursor. Thermogravimetric analysis confirmed that the sol converted into crystalline ITO at 286 °C. The optical band gap and transmittance of the thin film were observed to increase with annealing temperature and plasma treatment time. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and transmittance studies established that the number of oxygen vacancies in the thin film drastically increased with increasing temperature and plasma treatment. The annealing temperature and argon plasma treatment time appear to be key factors in reducing resistivity and increasing the transmittance of the thin film. A considerable decrease in the resistivity of the ITO thin film was observed after Ar plasma treatment. This eco-friendly sol-gel ITO thin film may find potential applications in n-type ohmic electrodes for ink-jet printable electronics.     

Solution-processed highly adhesive graphene coatings for corrosion inhibition of metals

Nano Research - The corrosion of metals can be induced by different environmental and operational conditions, and protecting metals from corrosion is a serious concern in many applications. The...