Engineering electrolyte additives for stable zinc-based aqueous batteries:Insights and prospects

Zn-based aqueous batteries(ZABs) are gaining widespread popularity due to their low cost and high safety profile. However, the application of ZABs faces significant challenges, such as dendrite growth and parasitic reactions of metallic Zn anodes. Therefore, achieving high-energy–density ZABs necessitates addressing the fundamental thermodynamics and kinetics of Zn anodes. Various strategies are available to mitigate these challenges, with electrolyte additive engineering emerging as one of the most efficient and promising approaches. Despite considerable research in this field, a comprehensive understanding of the intrinsic mechanisms behind the high performance of electrolyte additives remains limited. This review aims to provide a detailed introduction to functional electrolyte additives and thoroughly explore their underlying mechanisms. Additionally, it discusses potential directions and perspectives in additive engineering for ZABs, offering insights into future development and guidelines for achieving high-performance ZABs.

Impact of W alloying on microstructure, mechanical property and corrosion resistance of face-centered cubic high entropy alloys: A review

Face-centered cubic (f.c.c.) high entropy alloys (HEAs) are attracting more and more attention owing to their excellent strength and ductility synergy, irradiation resistance, etc. However, the yield strength of f.c.c. HEAs is generally low, significantly limiting their practical applications. Recently, the alloying of W has been evidenced to be able to remarkably improve the mechanical properties of f.c.c. HEAs and is becoming a hot topic in the community of HEAs. To date, when W is introduced, multiple strengthening mechanisms, including solid-solution strengthening, precipitation strengthening (μphase,σphase, and b.c.c. phase), and grain-refinement strengthening, have been discovered to be activated or enhanced. Apart from mechanical properties, the addition of W improves corrosion resistance as W helps to form a dense WO_(3) film on the alloy surface. Until now, despite the extensive studies in the literature, there is no available review paper focusing on the W doping of the f.c.c. HEAs. In that context, the effects of W doping on f.c.c. HEAs were reviewed in this work from three aspects, i.e., microstructure,mechanical property, and corrosion resistance. We expect this work can advance the application of the W alloying strategy in the f.c.c. HEAs.

Mechanical behavior of entangled metallic wire materials-polyurethane interpenetrating composites

Composite materials exhibit the impressive mechanical properties of high damping and stiffness,which cannot be attained by employing conventional single materials.Along these lines,a novel material architecture is presented in this work in order to fabricate composites with enhanced mechanical characteristics.More specifically,entangled metallic wire materials were used as the active matrix,whereas polyurethane was employed as the reinforcement elements.As a result,an entangled metallic wire material-polyurethane composite with high damping and stiffness was prepared by enforcing the vacuum infiltration method.On top of that,the mechanical properties(loss factor,energy consumption,and average stiffness)of the proposed composite materials were characterized by performing dynamic tests,and its fatigue characteristics were verified by the micro-interface bonding,as well as the macro-damage factor.The impact of the density,preloading spacing,loading amplitude,and exciting frequency on the mechanical properties of the composites were also thoroughly analyzed.The extracted results indicate that the mechanical properties of the composites were significantly enhanced than those of the pure materials due to the introduction of interface friction.Moreover,the average stiffness of the composites was about 10 times the respective value of the entangled metallic wire material.Interestingly,a rise in the loading period leads to some failure between the composite interfaces,which reduces the stiffness property but enhances the damping dissipation properties.Finally,a comprehensive dynamic mechanical model of the composites was established,while it was experimentally verified.The proposed composites possess higher damping features,i.e.,stiffness characteristics,and maintain better fatigue characteristics,which can broaden the application range of the composites.In addition,we provide a theoretical and experimental framework for the research and applications in the field of metal matrix composites.

Mechanism in Solidification of a Ternary Nickel Based Alloy

The experiment employed the use of melt purification and cyclic superheating technique to achieve maximum undercooling of Ni65Cu31Co4 alloy at 300K.Simultaneously,high-speed photography techniques were used to capture the process of alloy liquid phase interface migration,and analyzed the relationship between the shape characteristics of the front end of alloy solidification and undercooling.The microstructure of the alloy was observed through metallographic microscopy,and the micro-morphological characteristics and evolution of the rapidly solidified microstructure were systematically studied.It is found that the grain refinement mechanism of Ni-Cu-Co ternary alloy is similar to that of Ni-Cu binary alloy.Grain refinement at low undercooling is caused by intense dendritic remelting,while grain refinement at high undercooling is attributed to recrystallization,driven by the stress and plastic strain accumulated from the interaction of liquid flow and primary dendrites caused by rapid solidification.It also shows that the addition of the third element Co plays a significant role in solidification rate and re-ignition effect.

Multi-Physics Coupled Acoustic-Mechanics Analysis and Synergetic Optimization for a Twin-Fluid Atomization Nozzle

Fine particulate matter produced during the rapid industrialization over the past decades can cause significant harm to human health.Twin-fluid atomization technology is an effective means of controlling fine particulate matter pollution.In this paper,the influences of the main parameters on the droplet size,effective atomization range and sound pressure level(SPL)of a twin-fluid nozzle(TFN)are investigated,and in order to improve the atomization performance,a multi-objective synergetic optimization algorithm is presented.A multi-physics coupled acousticmechanics model based on the discrete phase model(DPM),large eddy simulation(LES)model,and Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings(FW-H)model is established,and the numerical simulation results of the multi-physics coupled acoustic-mechanics method are verified via experimental comparison.Based on the analysis of the multi-physics coupled acoustic-mechanics numerical simulation results,the effects of the water flow on the characteristics of the atomization flow distribution were obtained.A multi-physics coupled acoustic-mechanics numerical simulation result was employed to establish an orthogonal test database,and a multi-objective synergetic optimization algorithm was adopted to optimize the key parameters of the TFN.The optimal parameters are as follows:A gas flow of 0.94 m^(3)/h,water flow of 0.0237 m^(3)/h,orifice diameter of the self-excited vibrating cavity(SVC)of 1.19 mm,SVC orifice depth of 0.53 mm,distance between SVC and the outlet of nozzle of 5.11 mm,and a nozzle outlet diameter of 3.15 mm.The droplet particle size in the atomization flow field was significantly reduced,the spray distance improved by 71.56%,and the SPL data at each corresponding measurement point decreased by an average of 38.96%.The conclusions of this study offer a references for future TFN research.

Refinement Mechanism of Microstructure of Undercooled Nickel Based Alloys

Through the use of purification and recirculation superheating techniques on molten glass,the Ni65Cu33Co2 alloy was successfully undercooled to a maximum temperature of 292 K.High-speed photography was employed to capture the process of interface migration of the alloy liquid,allowing for an analysis of the relationship between the morphological characteristics of the alloy liquid solidification front and the degree of undercooling.Additionally,the microstructure of the alloy was examined using metallographic microscopy,leading to a systematic study of the microscopic morphological characteristics and evolution laws of the refined structure during rapid solidification.The research reveals that the grain refining mechanism of the Ni-Cu-Co ternary alloy is consistent with that of the binary alloy(Ni-Cu).Specifically,under low undercooling conditions,intense dendritic remelting was found to cause grain refinement,while under high undercooling conditions,recrystallization driven by accumulated stress and plastic strain resulting from the interaction between the liquid flow and the primary dendrites caused by rapid solidification was identified as the main factor contributing to grain refinement.Furthermore,the study highlights the significant role of the Co element in influencing the solidification rate and reheat effect of the alloy.The addition of Co was also found to facilitate the formation of non-segregated solidification structure,indicating its importance in the overall solidification process.

Quantitative analysis of the morphing wing mechanism of raptors:IMMU-based motion capture system and its application on gestures of a Falco peregrinus

This paper presented a novel tinny motion capture system for measuring bird posture based on inertial and magnetic measurement units that are made up of micromachined gyroscopes, accelerometers, and magnetometers. Multiple quaternion-based extended Kalman filters were implemented to estimate the absolute orientations to achieve high accuracy.Under the guidance of ornithology experts, the extending/contracting motions and flapping cycles were recorded using the developed motion capture system, and the orientation of each bone was also analyzed. The captured flapping gesture of the Falco peregrinus is crucial to the motion database of raptors as well as the bionic design.

Research on Automatic Test System of Engine Blade Natural Frequency

Blades are one of the important components on aircraft engines.If they break due to vibration failure,the normal operation of the entire engine will be offected.Therefore,it is necessary to measure their natural frequency before installing them on the engine to avoid resonance.At present,most blade vibration testing systems require manual operation by operators,which has high requirements for operators and the testing process is also very cumbersome.Therefore,the testing efficiency is low and cannot meet the needs of efficient testing.To solve the current problems of low testing efficiency and high operational requirements,a high-precision and high-efficiency automatic test system is designed.The testing accuracy of this system can reach ±1%,and the testing efficiency is improved by 37% compared to manual testing.Firstly,the influence of compression force and vibration exciter position on natural frequency test is analyzed by amplitude-frequency curve,so as to calibrate servo cylinder and fourdimensional motion platform.Secondly,the sine wave signal is used as the excitation to sweep the blade linearly,and the natural frequency is determined by the amplitude peak in the frequency domain.Finally,the accuracy experiment and efficiency experiment are carried out on the developed test system,whose results verify its high efficiency and high precision.

Theoretical insights into thermal transport and structural stability mechanisms of triaxial compressed methane hydrate

The heat transfer and stability of methane hydrate in reservoirs have a direct impact on the drilling and production efficiency of hydrate resources,especially in complex stress environments caused by formation subsidence.In this study,we investigated the thermal transport and structural stability of methane hydrate under triaxial compression using molecular dynamics simulations.The results suggest that the thermal conductivity of methane hydrate increases with increasing compression strain.Two phonon transport mechanisms were identified as factors enhancing thermal conductivity.At low compressive strains,a low-frequency phonon transport channel was established due to the overlap of phonon vibration peaks between methane and water molecules.At high compressive strains,the filling of larger phonon bandgaps facilitated the opening of more phonon transport channels.Additionally,we found that a strain of0.04 is a watershed point,where methane hydrate transitions from stable to unstable.Furthermore,a strain of0.06 marks the threshold at which the diffusion capacities of methane and water molecules are at their peaks.At a higher strain of0.08,the increased volume compression reduces the available space,limiting the diffusion ability of water and methane molecules within the hydrate.The synergistic effect of the strong diffusion ability and high probability of collision between atoms increases the thermal conductivity of hydrates during the unstable period compared to the stable period.Our findings offer valuable theoretical insights into the thermal conductivity and stability of methane hydrates in reservoir stress environments.

Dynamic Modeling and Experimental Verification of an RPR Type Compliant Paralle Mechanism with Low Orders

Efficiency of calculating a dynamic response is an important point of the compliant mechanism for posture adjustment.Dynamic modeling with low orders of a 2R1T compliant parallel mechanism is studied in the paper.The mechanism with two out-of-plane rotational and one lifting degrees of freedom(DoFs)plays an important role in posture adjustment.Based on elastic beam theory,the stiffness matrix and mass matrix of the beam element are established where the moment of inertia is considered.To improve solving efficiency,a dynamic model with low orders of the mechanism is established based on a modified modal synthesis method.Firstly,each branch of the RPR type mechanism is divided into a substructure.Subsequently,a set of hypothetical modes of each substructure is obtained based on the C-B method.Finally,dynamic equation of the whole mechanism is established by the substructure assembly.A dynamic experiment is conducted to verify the dynamic characteristics of the compliant mechanism.

Effect of post-weld heat treatment on microstructure and mechanical properties of welded joints of 6061-T6 aluminum alloy

6061 aluminum alloy T-joints were welded by double-pulsed MIG welding process. Then, the post-weld heat treatment was performed on the welded T-joints. The weld microstructure under different aging temperature and time was investigated by transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The mechanical properties were examined by hardness test and tensile test. The results showed that the micro-hardness was sensitive to heat treatment temperature and time. Increasing temperature was beneficial to the shortening of peak aging time. There were a large number of dislocations and few precipitates in the welded joints. With the increase of post-weld heat treatment temperature and time, the density of dislocation decreased. Meanwhile, the strengthening phase precipitated and grew up gradually. When the post-weld heat treatment temperature increased up to 200℃, large Q' phases were observed. And they were responsible for the peak value of the micro-hardness in the welded joints.

Novel Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization Based on Huge Value Penalty for Solving Engineering Problem

For the purpose of solving the engineering constrained discrete optimization problem, a novel discrete particle swarm optimization（DPSO） is proposed. The proposed novel DPSO is based on the idea of normal particle swarm optimization（PSO）, but deals with the variables as discrete type, the discrete optimum solution is found through updating the location of discrete variable. To avoid long calculation time and improve the efficiency of algorithm, scheme of constraint level and huge value penalty are proposed to deal with the constraints, the stratagem of reproducing the new particles and best keeping model of particle are employed to increase the diversity of particles. The validity of the proposed DPSO is examined by benchmark numerical examples, the results show that the novel DPSO has great advantages over current algorithm. The optimum designs of the 100-1 500 mm bellows under 0.25 MPa are fulfilled by DPSO. Comparing the optimization results with the bellows in-service, optimization results by discrete penalty particle swarm optimization（DPPSO） and theory solution, the comparison result shows that the global discrete optima of bellows are obtained by proposed DPSO, and confirms that the proposed novel DPSO and schemes can be used to solve the engineering constrained discrete problem successfully.

Influence of CaCO_3 Whisker Content on Mechanical and Tribological Properties of Polyetheretherketone Composites

The mechanical and tribological properties of polyetheretherketone （PEEK） composites filled with CaCO3 whisker in various content of 0～45% （wt pct） were investigated. The composite specimens were prepared by compression molding. Tribological testing of composites in dry wear mode against carbon steel ring was carried out on a MM200 block-on-ring apparatus. Data on neat PEEK were also included for comparison. It was observed that inclusion of CaCO3 whisker affected the most mechanical properties and the friction and wear in a beneficial way. With an increase in CaCO3 whisker content, friction coefficient continuously decreased but the trends in wear performance varied. The specific wear rate showed minima as 1.28×10^-6 mm^3/Nm for 25% CaCO3 whisker inclusion followed by a slow increase for further CaCO3 whisker addition. In terms of friction applications, when the tribological and mechanical properties are combined, the optimal content of CaCO3 whisker in the filled PEEK should be recommended as 15% to 20%. Fairly good correlations are observed in friction coefficient vs bending modulus and wear rate vs bending strength, confirming that the bending properties prove to be the most important tribology controlling parameters in the present work.

RIGID-PLASTIC MECHANICAL MODEL FOR THE FORGING METHOD WITH HORIZONTAL V-SHAPED ANVIL

In order to decrease the anisotropy of mechanical properties, the rigid-plastic mechanical model for the forging method with horizontal V-shaped anvil is presented. The forging method, through the change of anvils shape, is able to control fibrous tissue direction, to improve the anisotropy of mechanical properties of axial forgings, to realize uniform forging. Therefore, the forging method can overcome the defect that conventional forging methods produce. The mechanism of the forging method with horizontal V-shaped anvil and the process of metal deformation are analyzed. The agreement of theoretical analysis with experimental study verifies the fact that the forging method with horizontal V-shaped anvil can control effectively the mechanical properties of axial forgings.

Transformation mechanism and mechanical properties of commercially pure titanium

In order to establish the rolling process parameters of grade-2 commercially pure titanium （CP-Ti）, it is necessary to understand the transformation mechanism and mechanical properties of this material. The β→α transformation kinetics of the grade-2 CP-Ti during continuous cooling was measured and its hot compression behavior was investigated using Gleeble-1500 thermal mechanical simulator. Dynamic CCT diagram confirms that cooling rate has an obvious effect on the start and finishing transformation and microstructures at room temperature. The critical cooling rate for γ-phase transforms to a phase is about 15℃/s. When the cooling rate is higher than 15 ℃/s, some β phases with fine granular shape remain residually into plate-like structure. The plate-like a phase forms at cooling rate lower than 2 ℃/s, serrate a phase forms at medium cooling rates, about 5-15℃/s. The flow stress behavior of grade-2 CP-Ti was investigated in a temperature range of 700-900℃ and strain rate of 3.6-40 mm/min. The results show that dynamic recrystallization, dynamic recovery and work-hardening obviously occur during hot deformation. Constitutive equation of grade-2 CP-Ti was established by analyzing the relationship of the deformation temperature, strain rate, deformation degree and deformation resistance.

Effect of Mn content on microstructure and mechanical properties of modified ZA-27 alloy

ZA 27 alloys reinforced by Mn containing intermetallic compounds were prepared and the effect of Mn content on their mechanical properties were examined. By adding Mn, rare earth elements(RE) and Ti into ZA 27, experimental alloys were fabricated by sand casting. The volume fraction, grain size and morphology of the Mn containing intermetallic compound phases vary with the changing of Mn content. Mechanical properties of the reinforced ZA 27 alloys at elevated temperatures were measured. The results show that the hardness, compressive strength and compressibility of experimental alloys increase with increasing Mn content until they reach a maximum at 0.5% Mn. Excessive and coarse hard phases would act as crack origins instead of dispersion strengthening particles. Best tensile properties of these alloys at elevated temperature can be achieved at a Mn content of 0.18 %.

Mechanical properties of hydroxyapatite-zirconia coatings prepared by magnetron sputtering

Hydroxyapatite （HA）-zirconium （ZrO2） composite coating was produced by magnetic sputtering on Ti6Al4V titanium alloy substrate, the coatings of 50HA-50ZrO2 and 75HA-25ZrO2 （mass fraction, %） were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy disperse spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and scratch test, respectively, and the effects of HA contents in the coating on residual stress were analyzed. The experimental results show that the phases of HA-ZrO2 composite coatings are HA, ZrO2 and Y2O3, and the HA has a certain decomposition in the combination process, producing TCP and CaO impurity phases. The porous surface of coating is conducive to the growth of bone tissue, and the surface roughness values of 50HA-50ZrO2 and 75HA-25ZrO2 are 1.61 μm and 2.92 μm, respectively. The coating interface is of mechanical integration, the bonding strength values of 50HA-50ZrO2 and 75HA-25ZrO2 are 30 N and 17.5 N, respectively, showing a downward trend with the HA contents increasing. The residual stress values in the coating of 50HA-50ZrO2 and 75HA-25ZrO2 are （-399.1±3.0） MPa, （-343.2±20.3） MPa, respectively, as a result, the appropriate increase of HA contents in the coating will reduce its residual stress.

Study on inhomogeneous cooling behavior of extruded profile with unequal and large thicknesses during quenching using thermo-mechanical coupling model

The interfacial heat transfer coefficient between hot profile surface and cooling water was determined by using inverse heat conduction model combined with end quenching experiment. Then, a Deform-3 D thermo-mechanical coupling model for simulating the on-line water quenching of extruded profile with unequal and large thicknesses was developed. The temperature field, residual stress field and distortion of profile during quenching were investigated systematically. The results show that heat transfer coefficient increases as water flow rate increases. The peak heat transfer coefficient with higher water flow rates appears at lower interface temperatures. The temperature distribution across the cross-section of profile during quenching is severe nonuniform and the maximum temperature difference is 300 ℃ at quenching time of 3.49 s. The temperature difference through the thickness of different parts of profile first increases sharply to a maximum value, and then gradually decreases. The temperature gradient increases obviously with the increase of thickness of parts. After quenching, there exist large residual stresses on the inner side of joints of profile and the two ends of part with thickness of 10 mm. The profile presents a twisting-type distortion across the cross-section under non-uniform cooling and the maximum twisting angle during quenching is 2.78°.

Low-frequency and broadband vibration energy harvester driven by mechanical impact based on layer-separated piezoelectric beam

Vibration energy harvesting is to transform the ambient mechanical energy to electricity. How to reduce the resonance frequency and improve the conversion efficiency is very important. In this paper, a layer-separated piezoelectric cantilever beam is proposed for the vibration energy harvester(VEH) for low-frequency and wide-bandwidth operation, which can transform the mechanical impact energy to electric energy. First,the electromechanical coupling equation is obtained by the Euler-Bernoulli beam theory.Based on the average method, the approximate analytical solution is derived and the voltage response is obtained. Furthermore, the physical prototype is fabricated, and the vibration experiment is conducted to validate the theoretical principle. The experimental results show that the maximum power of 0.445 μW of the layer-separated VEH is about3.11 times higher than that of the non-impact harvester when the excitation acceleration is 0.2 g. The operating frequency bandwidth can be widened by increasing the stiffness of the fundamental layer and decreasing the gap distance of the system. But the increasing of operating frequency bandwidth comes at the cost of reducing peak voltage. The theoretical simulation and the experimental results demonstrate good agreement which indicates that the proposed impact-driving VEH device has advantages for low-frequency and wide-bandwidth. The high performance provides great prospect to scavenge the vibration energy in environment.

NUMERICAL SIMULATION OF THE THERMO-MECHANICAL PROCESS FOR BEAM BLANK CONTINUOUS CASTING

The aim of this study was to simulate the solidification process of beam blank continuous casting, and then find the reasons for the typical defects of the beam blank. A two-dimensional transient coupled finite element model has been developed to compute the temperature and stress profile in beam blank continuous casting. The enthalpy method was used in the heat conduction equation. The thermo-mechanical property in the mushy zone was taken into consideration in this calculation. It is shown that at the mold exit the thickness of the shell had its maximum value at the flange tip and its minimum value at the fillet. The temperature had a great fluctuation on the surface of the beam blank in the secondary cooling zone. At the unbending point, the surface temperature of the web was in the brittleness temperature range under the present condition. To ensure the quality, it is necessary to weaken the intensity of secondary cooling. At the mold exit the equivalent stress and strain have higher values at the flange tip and at the web. From the spray 1 to the unbending point, the maximum values of stress and strain gradually moved to the internal section of the flange tip and the web. However, whenever, there were bigger stress and strain values near the flange tip and the web than in the other parts, it must be very easy to generate cracks at those positions. Now, online verification of this simulation has been developed, which has proved to be very useful and efficient to instruct the practical production of beam blank continuous casting.