A New Route for the Synthesis of Tungsten Carbide–Cobalt Nanocomposites

Synthesis of WC–Co nanocomposites generally involves gas-phase carburization. A novel approach in which a polymer precursor such as polyacrylonitrile serves as an in situ carbon source has been developed. The WC–Co nanocomposites formed are characterized by X-ray powder diffraction and electron microscopy. Nearly phase pure WC–Co nanocomposites with a particle size of 50–80 nm have been obtained. The phase purity of the products is strongly influenced by the synthesis and processing conditions such as the firing temperature, time, and atmosphere.     

Rechargeable Aluminum‐Ion Batteries Based on an Open‐Tunnel Framework

Rechargeable batteries based on an abundant metal such as aluminum with a three‐electron transfer per atom are promising for large‐scale electrochemical energy storage. Aluminum can be handled in air, thus offering superior safety, easy fabrication, and low cost. However, the development of Al‐ion batteries has been challenging due to the difficulties in identifying suitable cathode materials. This study presents the use of a highly open framework Mo_{2.5 + y} VO_{9 + z} as a cathode for Al‐ion batteries. The open‐tunnel oxide allows a facile diffusion of the guest species and provides sufficient redox centers to help redistribute the charge within the local host lattice during the multivalent‐ion insertion, thus leading to good rate capability with a specific capacity among the highest reported in the literature for Al‐based batteries. This study also presents the use of Mo_{2.5 + y} VO_{9 + z} as a model host to develop a novel ultrafast technique for chemical insertion of Al ions into host structures. The microwave‐assisted method employing diethylene glycol and aluminum diacetate (Al(OH)(C₂H₃O₂)₂) can be performed in air in as little as 30 min, which is far superior to the traditional chemical insertion techniques involving moisture‐sensitive organometallic reagents. The Al‐inserted Al _x Mo_{2.5 + y} VO_{9 + z} obtained by the microwave‐assisted chemical insertion can be used in Al‐based rechargeable batteries.     

Integration of product design,process planning,scheduling, and FMS control using XML data representation

An efficient model for communications between CAD, CAPP, and CAM applications in distributed manufacturing planning environment has been seen as key ingredient for CIM. Integration of design model with process and scheduling information in real-time is necessary in order to increase product quality, reduce the cost, and shorten the product manufacturing cycle. This paper describes an approach to integrate key product realization activities using neutral data representation. The representation is based on established standards for product data exchange and serves as a prototype implementation of these standards. The product and process models are based on object-oriented representation of geometry, features, and resulting manufacturing processes. Relationships between objects are explicitly represented in the model (for example, feature precedence relations, process sequences, etc.). The product model is developed using XML-based representation for product data required for process planning and the process model also uses XML representation of data required for scheduling and FMS control. The procedures for writing and parsing XML representations have been developed in object-oriented approach, in such a way that each object from object-oriented model is responsible for storing its own data into XML format. Similar approach is adopted for reading and parsing of the XML model. Parsing is performed by a stack of XML handlers, each corresponding to a particular object in XML hierarchical model. This approach allows for very flexible representation, in such a way that only a portion of the model (for example, only feature data, or only the part of process plan for a single machine) may be stored and successfully parsed into another application. This is very useful approach for direct distributed applications, in which data are passed in the form of XML streams to allow real-time on-line communication. The feasibility of the proposed model is verified in a couple of scenarios for distributed manufacturing planning that involves feature mapping from CAD file, process selection for several part designs integrated with scheduling and simulation of the FMS model using alternative routings.     

“Wiring” Fe‐Nx‐Embedded Porous Carbon Framework onto 1D Nanotubes for Efficient Oxygen Reduction Reaction in Alkaline and Acidic Media

This study presents a novel metal‐organic‐framework‐engaged synthesis route based on porous tellurium nanotubes as a sacrificial template for hierarchically porous 1D carbon nanotubes. Furthermore, an ultrathin Fe‐ion‐containing polydopamine layer has been introduced to generate highly effective FeN_xC active sites into the carbon framework and to induce a high degree of graphitization. The synergistic effects between the hierarchically porous 1D carbon structure and the embedded FeN_xC active sites in the carbon framework manifest in superior catalytic activity toward oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) compared to Pt/C catalyst in both alkaline and acidic media. A rechargeable zinc‐air battery assembled in a decoupled configuration with the nonprecious pCNT@Fe@GL/CNF ORR electrode and Ni‐Fe LDH/NiF oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrode exhibits charge–discharge overpotentials similar to the counterparts of Pt/C ORR electrode and IrO₂ OER electrode.     

Fabrication of corrosion resistant, bioactive and antibacterial silver substituted hydroxyapatite/titania composite coating on Cp Ti

The present work is aimed at developing a bioactive, corrosion resistant and anti bacterial nanostructured silver substituted hydroxyapatite/titania (AgHA/TiO₂) composite coating in a single step on commercially pure titanium (Cp Ti) by plasma electrolytic processing (PEP) technique. For this purpose 2.5 wt% silver substituted hydroxyapatite (AgHA) nanoparticles were prepared by microwave processing technique and were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) methods. The as-synthesized AgHA particles with particle length ranging from 60 to 70 nm and width ranging from 15 to 20 nm were used for the subsequent development of coating on Cp Ti. The PEP treated Cp Ti showed both titania and AgHA in its coating and exhibited an improved corrosion resistance in 7.4 pH simulated body fluid (SBF) and 4.5 pH osteoclast bioresorbable conditions compared to untreated Cp Ti. The in vitro bioactivity test conducted under Kokubo SBF conditions indicated an enhanced apatite forming ability of PEP treated Cp Ti surface compared to that of the untreated Cp Ti. The Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method or antibiotic sensitivity test conducted with the test organisms of Escherichia coli (E. coli) for 24 h showed a significant zone of inhibition for PEP treated Cp Ti compared to untreated Cp Ti.     

Improved phase stability and electrochemical performance of (Y,In,Ca)BaCo3ZnO7+δ cathodes for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells

With an aim to combine the performance-enhancing properties of Ca with the stability-promoting properties of In in the swedenborgite YBaCo₄O_7+δ-based cathodes for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), cation-substituted Y_1−x−yIn_xCa_yBaCo₃ZnO_7+δ (0.2 ≤ (x + y) ≤ 0.5) oxides have been explored. All samples presented in this work are stable in air after 120 h exposure to 600, 700, and 800 °C. Increasing In content shows a negligible impact on polarization resistances (R_p), but causes an increase in the activation energies (E_a) of (Y,In,Ca)BaCo₃ZnO_7+δ + Gd_0.2Ce_0.8O_1.9 (GDC) composite cathodes on 8 mol% yttria-stabilized zirconia (8YSZ) electrolyte supported symmetric cells. Increasing Ca content shows a decrease in R_p and an increase in E_a on similar electrochemical cells. All (Y,In,Ca)BaCo₃ZnO_7+δ samples investigated here show superior performance compared to the unsubstituted YBaCo₃ZnO_7+δ + GDC cathode in the range of 400–800 °C. Especially, the Y_0.5In_0.1Ca_0.4BaCo₃ZnO_7+δ + GDC composite cathode exhibits good performance on GDC electrolytes in the range of 400–600 °C. With superior phase stability and electrochemical performance, the (Y,In,Ca)BaCo₃ZnO_7+δ series of oxides are attractive cathode candidates for intermediate temperature SOFCs.     

Study on the viscoelastic response of silk

Simple stress-strain characteristics of silk do not give sufficient information on the influence of the rate of testing in silk. A methodology is described to quantify individual components of viscoelasticity which clearly brings out the influence of the strain rate on the viscous component of the system. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Multiferroic Consequence of Porous (BiFeO_3)_x–(BiCrO_3)_(1-x) Composite Thin Films by Novel Sol–Gel Method

In this work, we have presented a spin-coating method to produce thin films started with pure BiCrO_3(BCO) and ended up with BiFeO_3(BFO) by increasing x values in the(BiFeO_3)_x–(BiCrO_3)_(1-x)composites. All the produced thin films have been crystallized at the annealing temperatures of 400 °C for 0.5 h. The XRD and EDAX spectrums give insight that the two crystal phases related to BCO and BFO stayed together within the thin film matrices. SEM analysis showed that the prepared composite had macroporous morphology with interconnected pores and its width(size) decreased with increasing x values. The strong correlations are observed among the microstructure, dielectric, ferroelectric, ferromagnetic properties and Fe concentration. Among all composites, the composition of 0.75 shows an attractive magnetization, polarization, switching and improved dielectric behaviors at room temperature. Significant increase in the multiferroic characteristics of 0.75 composition is due to arise of lower leakage current by causing reduction in oxygen vacancy density, and enhancement of super-exchange magnetic interaction between Fe~(3+) and Cr~(3+) at BFO/BCO interface layers. Our result shows that the thin layer on Pt(111)/Ti/SiO_2/Si substrate possesses simultaneously improved ferroelectric and ferromagnetic properties which make an inaccessible potential application for nonvolatile ferroelectric memories.     

Simple method for quantifying microbiologically assisted chloramine decay in drinking water

In a chloraminated drinking water distribution system, monochloramine decays due to chemical and microbiological reactions. For modeling and operational control purposes, it is necessary to know the relative contribution of each type of reaction, but there was no method to quantify these contributions separately. A simple method was developed to do so. It compares monochloramine decay rates of processed (0.2 microm filtered or microbiologically inhibited by adding 100 microg of silver/L as silver nitrate) and unprocessed samples under controlled temperature conditions. The term microbial decay factor (Fm) was defined and derived from this method, to characterize the relative contribution of microbiologically assisted monochloramine decay to the total monochloramine decay observed in bulk water. Fm is the ratio between microbiologically assisted monochloramine decay and chemical decay of a given water sample measured at 20 degrees C. One possible use of the method is illustrated, where a service reservoir's bulk and inlet waters were sampled twice and analyzed for both the traditional indicators and the microbial decay factor. The microbial decay factor values alone indicated that more microbiologically assisted monochloramine decay was occurring in one bulk water than the other. In contrast, traditional nitrification indicators failed to show any difference. Further analysis showed that the microbial decay factor is more sensitive and that it alone can provide an early warning.