Influence of α′‐/α‐crystal polymorphism on properties of poly(l‐lactic acid)

Poly(l ‐lactic acid) (PLLA) is a biodegradable and biocompatible thermoplastic polyester produced from renewable sources, widely used for biomedical devices, in food packaging and in agriculture. It is a semicrystalline polymer, and as such its properties are strongly affected by the developed semicrystalline morphology. As a function of the crystallization temperature, PLLA can form different crystal modifications, namely α′‐crystals below about 120 °C and α‐crystals at higher temperatures. The α′ modification is therefore of special importance as it may be the preferred polymorph developing at processing‐relevant conditions. It is a metastable modification which typically transforms into the more stable α‐crystals on annealing at elevated temperature. The structure, kinetics of formation and thermodynamics of α′‐ and α‐crystals of PLLA are reviewed in this contribution, together with the effect of α′‐/α‐crystal polymorphism on the properties of PLLA. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry     

Nanotechnology‐based wastewater treatment

Water contamination is a global challenge impacting both the environment and human health with significant economic and social costs. The growing scarcity of usable water resources requires effective treatment of wastewater. In this context, developing cheaper, safer and more efficient wastewater treatment technologies are the need of the hour. One promising approach that several studies have reported success has been the usage of nanomaterials in water and waste water management. The rapid progress of research in nanomaterial sciences has shown their growing potential; however, there has not been a great amount of information available on their implementation. This review focuses on developments in nanotechnology that hold strong potential for wastewater treatment. The review covers key techniques in nanomaterial‐based water treatments including adsorption, filtration and photocatalysis with recent examples showing how to improve their properties and efficiencies according to the need.     

Effects of upholstery materials on the burning behavior of real‐scale residential upholstered furniture mock‐ups

Fire spread and growth on real‐scale four cushion mock‐ups of residential upholstered furniture (RUF) were investigated with the goal of identifying whether changes in five classes of materials (barrier, flexible polyurethane foam, polyester fiber wrap, upholstery fabric, and sewing thread), referred to as factors, resulted in statistically significant changes in burning behavior. A fractional factorial experimental design plus practical considerations yielded a test matrix with 20 material combinations. Experiments were repeated a minimum of two times. Measurements included fire spread rates derived from video recordings and heat release rates (HRRs). A total of 13 experimental parameters (3 based on the videos and 10 on the HRR results), referred to as responses, characterized the measurements. Statistical analyses based on Main Effects Plots (main effects) and Block Plots (main effects and factor interactions) were used. The results showed that three of the factors resulted in statistically significant effects on varying numbers of the 13 responses. The Barrier and Fabric factors had the strongest main effects with roughly comparable magnitudes. Foam was statistically significant for fewer of the responses and its overall strength was weaker than for Barrier and Fabric. No statistically significant main effects were identified for Wrap or Thread. Multiple two‐term interactions between factors were identified as being statistically significant. The Barrier*Fabric interaction resulted in the highest number of and strongest statistically significant effects. The existence of two‐term interactions means that it will be necessary to consider their effects in approaches designed to predict the burning behavior of RUF.     

印刷电路板缺陷检测的实际应用

电路板在我们的日常生活中非常常见,这就使得印刷电路板的缺陷检测显得尤为重要。AOI作为新兴的检测PCB板缺陷的系统,在生产实际中正在被大家熟知并且应用。相较于传统的检测方式,AOI系统比较灵活,无论是在检测时间还是系统运算上,或者是对相关技术人员的要求相较于传统方式都比较有优势,本文就AOI系统在实际中的应用展开讨论,分析并且介绍了在实际应用中的具体细则。     

裸眼井中扩张式封隔器力学行为研究

封隔器在石油天然气开采中起着非常重要的作用,而扩张式封隔器在裸眼井中广泛应用。本文采用有限元软件建立了裸眼封隔器与地层的模型,对胶筒在坐封过程中与井壁接触应力的变化进行了研究,并研究了在不同摩擦系数下接触压力的变化,结果表明,建立粗糙井壁面能够更加符合实际情况,胶筒肩部为应力集中的区域,地层与胶筒的接触应力会随着摩擦系数的增加而减小。研究结果为裸眼扩张式封隔器的设计和改进提供了理论依据。     

Off‐grid DoA estimation method of wideband signals

In this paper, an off‐grid direction of arrival (DoA) estimation method is proposed for wideband signals. This method is based on the sparse representation (SR) of the array covariance matrix. Similar to the time domain DoA estimation methods, the correlation function of the sources was assumed to be the same and known. A new measurement vector is obtained using the lower‐left triangular elements of the covariance matrix. The DoAs are estimated by quantizing the entire range of continuous angle space into discrete grid points. However, the exact DoAs may be located between two grid points; therefore, this estimation has errors. The accuracy of DoA estimation is improved by the minimization of the difference between the new measurement vector and its estimated values. Simulation results revealed that the proposed method can enhance the DoA estimation accuracy of wideband signals.     

A knowledge-based archive multi-objective simulated annealing algorithm to optimize series–parallel system with choice of redundancy strategies

Redundancy allocation problem (RAP) is one of the best-developed problems in reliability engineering studies. This problem follows to optimize the reliability of a system containing s sub-systems under different constraints, including cost, weight, and volume restrictions using redundant components for each sub-system. Various solving methodologies have been used to optimize this problem, including exact, heuristic, and meta-heuristic algorithms. In this paper, an efficient multi-objective meta-heuristic algorithm based on simulated annealing (SA) is developed to solve multi-objective RAP (MORAP). This algorithm is knowledge-based archive multi-objective simulated annealing (KBAMOSA). KBAMOSA applies a memory matrix to reinforce the neighborhood structure to achieve better quality solutions. The results analysis and comparisons demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm for solving MORAP.