Improving tree health assessment accuracy at low temperatures:considering the effect of trunk ice content on electrical resistance and stress wave tomography

Accurate decay detection and health assessment of trees at low temperatures is an important issue for forest management and ecology in cold areas.Low temperature ice formation on tree health assessment is unknown.Because electric resistance tomography and stress wave tomography are two widely used methods for the detection of tree decay,this study investigated the effect of ice content on trunk electrical resistance and stress wave velocity to improve tree health assessment accuracy.Moisture content,trunk electrical resistance and stress wave velocity using time domain reflectometry were carried out on Larix gmelinii and Populus simonii.Ice content is based on moisture content data.The ice content of both species showed a trend of increasing and then decreasing.This was opposite with ambient temperatures.With the decrease of temperatures,daily average ice content increased,but the range narrowed gradually and both electrical resistance and stress wave velocity increased.Both increased rapidly near 0℃,mainly caused by ice formation(phase change and freezing of free water)in live trees.In addition,both are positively correlated with ice content.The results suggest that ice content should be considered for improving the accuracy of tree decay detection and health evaluation using electric resistance tomography and stress wave velocity methods under low temperatures.

Thin Film Chip Resistors with High Resistance and Low Temperature Coefficient of Resistance

High resistance thin film chip resistors(0603 type) were studied,and the specifications are as follows:1 k? with tolerance about ±0.1% after laser trimming and temperature coefficient of resistance(TCR) less than ±15×10-6/℃.Cr-Si-Ta-Al films were prepared with Ar flow rate and sputtering power fixed at 20 standard-state cubic centimeter per minute(sccm) and 100 W,respectively.The experiment shows that the electrical properties of Cr-SiTa-Al deposition films can meet the specification requirements of 0603 ty...

Influence of the ambient air temperature on the electrical contact reliability of electromagnetic relay

The dynamic contact resistances of HH52P electromagnetic relays are measured under different ambient air tem- perature. Their diagnostic parameters are extracted and determined. It is found that the ambient air temperature obviously influ- ences some parameters. In order to research its influence on the electrical contact reliability of electromagnetic relay, the statistic analysis is applied to study the static contact resistance, the max of the dynamic contact resistance and the bounce time. It is found that the ambient air temperature regularly influences the three parameters. Thoroughly, the phenomenon is studied and analyzed in the point of material science so as to probe into the essential matter of it.

Fabrication and characterization of NiCr-based films with high resistivity and low temperature coefficient of resistance

As a metal alloy,NiCr films have a relatively high resistivity and low temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) and are widely used in electronic components and sensors.However,the resistivity of pure NiCr is insufficient for high-resistance and highly stable film resistors.In this study,a quaternary NiCrAlSi target (47:33:10:10,wt.%) was successfully used to prepare resistor films with resistivities ranging from 1000 to 10 000μΩcm and TCR within±100 ppm/K.An oxygen flow was introduced during the sputtering process.The films exhibit hightemperature stability at 450℃.The films were analyzed using Auger electron spectroscopy,x-ray diffraction,time-of-flight secondary-ion mass spectrometry,and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.The results show that the difference in the oxide proportion of the films caused the differences in resistivity.The near-zero TCR values were considered to be due to the competition between silicon and other metals.This study provides new insights into the electrical properties of NiCr-based films containing Si,which will drive the manufacturing of resistors with high resistivity and zero TCR.

Effect of Working Temperature on the Resistance Characteristic of a Pleated Stainless Steel Woven Filter

Effect of working temperature on the resistance characteristic including the permeability coefficient and the pressure drop evolution of a pleated stainless steel woven filter with a nominal pore size of 0.5 μm has been studied. The permeability coefficient was obtained based on the pressure drop data and the Darcy＇s law. In three filtration experiments, pure carbon dioxide at 283 K, nitrogen at 85 K and liquid helium at 18 K are adopted, respectively. It is found that the permeability coefficient decreases at the working temperature due to the cold shrink of the filter element at cryogenic temperature. Then, two kinds of feed slurries, mixture of liquid nitrogen and solid carbon dioxide at 85 K, and mixture of liquid helium and solid nitrogen at 18 K, flow into the filter cell. The solid particles are deposited on the filter surface to form a filter cake and the purified liquid flows through the filter. It is found that the pressure drop evolution shows the same trend on these two temperatures, which can be divided into three stages with high filtration efficiency, indicating the feasibility of the filter for cryogenic application. However, variant cake resistances are obtained, which is resulted from the different interactions between solid particles in the feed slurry at lower working temperature.

The effect of blending polypropylene on the electrical properties of polymeric insulation material Hifax

Extensive physical testing has suggested that polymeric material Hifax (Flexible Polypropylene)could be a promising candidate for the next generation of DC insulation. In the work presented in this paper,the DC conductivity and AC breakdown of this polymeric insulation material have been measured as a function of temperature. The results show that Hifax cable insulation has a higher AC breakdown strength than EPR and XLPE (crosslinked polyethylene), and the DC resistivity of Hifax is larger than that of XLPE and oil-impregnated paper insulations. The electrical stress coefficient of resistivity of Hifax wire insulation increases with temperature, which needs to be taken into account in calculating the electrical field distribution across DC cable insulation. It has been observed that there is an anomalous change in resistivity at high electrical field, suggesting charge trapping and detrapping processes are present in Hifax cable insulation. It is concluded that blending Hifax with 62% polypropylene decreases the breakdown strength significantly.

Evolution of the electrical contact of dynamic pantograph–catenary system

A good contact between the pantograph and catenary is critically important for the working reliability of electric trains, while the basic understanding on the electrical contact evolution during the pantograph--catenary system working is still ambiguous so far. In this paper, the evolution of electric contact was studied in respects of the contact resistance, temperature rise, and microstructure variation, based on a home-made pantograph-catenary simulation system. Pure carbon strips and copper alloy contact wires were used, and the experimental electrical current, sliding speed, and normal force were set as 80 A, 30 km/h, and 80 N, respectively. The contact resistance presented a fluctuation without obvious regularity, concentrating in the region of 25 and 50 mf~. Temperature rise of the contact point experienced a fast increase at the first several minutes and finally reached a steady state. The surface damage of carbon trips in microstructure analysis revealed a complicated interaction of the sliding friction, joule heating, and arc erosion.

Influence of sintering schedule on the electrical properties of Mn(NO_3)_2-doped Ba_(0.92)Ca_(0.08)TiO_3 PTCR ceramics

The relationship of electrical properties of Mn-doped Ba_(0.92)Ca_(0.08)TiO_3PTCR (positive temperature coefficient resistance) ceramics with two sintering schedules wasdiscussed. Using TEM (transmission electron microscope) combined with EDS (energy dispersive X-rayspectrometer), the Mn ions distributed at grain boundaries were analyzed. The results show that thePTCR effect of Mn-doped PTCR ceramics is more dependent on the sintering schedule than those of Mnfree. The phenomenon may be caused by the valence states variance of Mn ions segregated at the grainboundaries.

Temperature coefficient of resistivity of TiAlN films deposited by radio frequency magnetron sputtering

Titanium aluminum nitride （TiAlN） film, as a possible substitute for the conventional tantalum nitride （TAN） or tantalum-aluminum （TaAl） heater resistor in inkjet printheads, was deposited on a Si（100） substrate at 400 ℃ by radio frequency （RF） magnetron co-sputtering using titanium nitride （TIN） and aluminum nitride （AlN） as ceramic targets. The temperature coefficient of resistivity （TCR） and oxidation resistance, which are the most important properties of a heat resistor, were studied depending on the plasma power density applied during sputtering. With the increasing plasma power density, the crystallinity, grain size and surface roughness of the applied film increased, resulting in less grain boundaries with large grains. The Ti, Al and N binding energies obtained from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis disclosed the nitrogen deficit in the TiAlN stoichiometry that makes the films more electrically resistive. The highest oxidation resistance and the lowest TCR of-765.43×10^-6 K-l were obtained by applying the highest plasma power density.

Negative Temperature Coefficient of Resistivity in Bulk Nanostructured Ag

The change of the temperature coefficient of resistivity (a) with the particle size, dp, and the grain size, dc, in the nanostructured Ag bulk samples was investigated. dp and dc were controlled by heating the nano-Ag powders over the temperature range from 393 to 453 K. The electrical resistance measurements of the nanostructured Ag bulk samples obtained by compacting the Ag powders after heat treatments showed a change in the sign of a with dP and dc. When dp and dc are smaller or equal to 18 and 11 nm below room temperature or 20 and 12 nm above room temperature, respectively, the sign of the temperature coefficient of resistivity changes from positive to negative. The negative a arises mainly from the high resistivity induced by the particle interfaces with very lowly ordered or even disordered structure, a large volume fraction of interfaces and impurities existing in the interfaces, and the quantum size effect appearing in the nano-Ag grains.

Positive temperature coefficient of resistivity effects of semiconducting (Bi(1/2)Na(1/2)) TiO_3-CaTiO_3-BaTiO_3 ceramics sintered in air atmosphere

Y^3＋-doped （Bi 1/2 Na 1/2） TiO 3-CaTiO 3-BaTiO 3 （BNCBT） positive temperature coefficient of resistivity （PTCR） ceramics sintered in air atmosphere were investigated in this study. （Bi 1/2 Na 1/2） TiO 3 （BNT） component can remarkably increase the onset temperature T c of PTCR ceramics with the expense of the resistivity R 25 increase. CaTiO 3 （9–27 mol%） component can decrease the resistivity, and adjust the effects of BNT phase on the T c point. For the sample containing 3 mol% CaTiO 3 , T c raises from 122 ℃ to 153 ℃ when only 0.6 mol% BNT added, while for the ones with higher CaTiO 3 content （9–27 mol%）, T c is only increased by a rate of 8–9℃/1.0 mol% BNT. The effects of BNT and CaTiO 3 components on R25/Rmin （negative temperature coefficient effect） are also discussed.

Electrical Resistance Behavior of Vinylester Composites Filled with Glass-carbon Hybrid Fibers

Vinylester （bismethacryloxy derivative with glass-carbon hybrid fibers （CF-GF） weight fraction of a bisphenol-A type EP resin, VE） composites of 50%, were prepared by the compress molding method. The distribution of carbon fiber in the hybrids was observed by stereomicroscope. The electrical resistance behavior of the composites filled with different carbon fiber （CF） weight contents （0.5% to 20%） was studied. The experimental results show that the electrical resistance behaviors of CF-GF/VE composites are different with those of CF/VE composites because carbon fibers＇ conducting networks are broken by the glass fibers in the CF-GF/VE composites. The carbon fibers distribute uniformly in the networks of glass fibers （GF） like single silk and form the semi-continuous conducting networks. Composite filled with GF-CF hybrid has a higher percolation threshold than that filled with pure CF. At that time, the resistivity of CF-GF/VE composites varies little with the temperature increasing. The temperature coefficient of resistivity in GF-CF/VE composite is less than 317 ppm and the variation of the resistivity after ten thermal cycles from 20℃ to 240 ℃is less than 1.96%.

Temperature Dependence of Performance of 6H-SiC Unipolar Power Devices

The temperature dependence of some performance of 6H SiC unipolar power devices is analyzed theoretically.By employing the temperature dependent ionization coefficient and mobility of a silicon carbide,the analytical expressions of the temperature dependent performance,such as breakdown characteristics and on resistance of 6H SiC unipolar power devices are derived in a closed form.The analytical results are compared with the experimental results,with good accordance found in the breakdown characteristics.

Preparation and thermoelectric properties of ternary rare earth sulfide γ-Ce_(3–x)Eu_xS_4

The effect of Eu-substitution on the density and thermoelectric properties of ternary sulfide Ce3-xEuxS4 （0≤x≤0.8） compacts was investigated. Ce3-xEuxS4 powders were prepared via the sulfurization of the oxide using CS2 gas at 1473 K. The pressureless sintered Ce3-xEuxS4 compacts in the atmosphere were crystallized in the T-phase. The density of the Ce3-xEuxS4 compacts increased with the increasing of Eu-substitution. Eu-substitution yielded a higher Seebeck coefficient and lower electrical resistivity. The highest value of the thermoelectric power factor of 1.41×10^-4 W/K^2m was obtained for the Ce2.2Eu0.8S4 compact at 673 K. It indicated that Eu-substitution was effective for improving thermoelectric properties of Ce3-xEuxS4.

Determination of rock mass integrity coefficient using a non-invasive geophysical approach

Determination of rock mechanical parameters is the most important step in rock mass quality evaluation and has significant impacts on geotechnical engineering practice.Rock mass integrity coefficient(KV)is one of the most efficient parameters,which is conventionally determined from boreholes.Such approaches,however,are time-consuming and expensive,offer low data coverage of point measurements,require heavy equipment,and are hardly conducted in steep topographic sites.Hence,borehole approaches cannot assess the subsurface thoroughly for rock mass quality evaluation.Alternatively,use of geophysical methods is non-invasive,rapid and economical.The proposed geophysical approach makes useful empirical correlation between geophysical and geotechnical parameters.We evaluated the rock mass quality via integration between KV measured from the limited boreholes and inverted resistivity obtained from electrical resistivity tomography(ERT).The borehole-ERT correlation provided KV along various geophysical profiles for more detailed 2D/3D(two-/three-dimensional)mapping of rock mass quality.The subsurface was thoroughly evaluated for rock masses with different engineering qualities,including highly weathered rock,semi-weathered rock,and fresh rock.Furthermore,ERT was integrated with induced polarization(IP)to resolve the uncertainty caused by water/clay content.Our results show that the proposed method,compared with the conventional approaches,can reduce the ambiguities caused by inadequate data,and give more accurate insights into the subsurface for rock mass quality evaluation.

Influence of graphite content on sliding wear characteristics of CNTs-Ag-G electrical contact materials

CNTs-Ag-G electrical contact composite material was prepared by means of powder metallurgical method. The influence of the graphite content on sliding wear characteristics of electrical contact levels was examined. In experiments, CNTs content was retained as 1% (mass fraction), and graphite was added at content levels of 8%, 10%, 13%, 15% and 18%, respectively. The results indicate that with the increase of graphite content, the contact resistance of electrical contacts is enhanced to a certain level then remains constant. Friction coefficient decreases gradually with the increase of graphite content. Wear mass loss decreases to the minimum value then increases. With the small content of graphite, the adhesive wear is hindered, which leads to the decrease of wear mass loss, while excessive graphite brings much more worn debris, resulting in the increase of mass loss. It is concluded that wear mass loss reaches the minimum value when the graphite mass fraction is about 13%. Compared with conventional Ag-G contact material, the wear mass loss of CNTs-Ag-G composite is much less due to the obvious increase of hardness and electrical conductivity, decline of friction surface temperature and inhibition of adhesive wear between composites and slip rings.

Resistivity-temperature Characteristics of Conductive Asphalt Concrete

The changes of resistivity of conductive asphalt concrete at different temperatures were studied,and positive temperature coefficient（PTC）modelwas established to estimate the influence of temperature on the resistivity quantitatively,which eliminated the interference with conductivity evaluation brought by temperature variation.Finally,the analysis of temperature cycling test results proves that the changes of percolation network structure caused by temperature variation prompt the emergence of PTC of conductive asphalt concrete.

Resistivity-Temperature Behavior of CB-Filled HDPE Foaming Composites

High-density polyethylene/carbon black foaming conductive composites were prepared from acetylene black（ACEY） and super conductive carbon black（HG-1P） as conductive filler, low-density polyethylene（LDPE） as the second component, ethylene-vinyl acetate（EVA） and ethylene propylene rubber（EPR） as the third component, azobisformamide（AC） as foamer, and dicumyl peroxide（DCP） as cross-linker. The structure and resistivity-temperature behavior of high-density polyethylene（HDPE）/CB foaming conductive composites were investigated. Influences of carbon black, LDPE, EVA, EPR, AC, and DCP on the foaming performance and resistivity-temperature behavior of HDPE/CB foaming conductive composites were also studied. The results reveal that HDPE/CB foaming conductive composite exhibits better switching characteristic; ACET-filled HDPE foaming conductive composite displays better positive temperature coefficient（PYC） effect; whereas super conductive carbon black（HG-1P）-filled HDPE foaming conductive composite shows better negative temperature coefficient（NTC） effect.

3-D Modeling of Temperature Effect on a Polycrystalline Silicon Solar Cell under Intense Light Illumination

The efficiency of a silicon solar cell is directly linked to the quantity of carrier photogenerated in its base. It increases with the increase of the quantity of carrier in the base of the solar cell. The carrier density in the base of the solar cell increases with the increase of the flux of photons that crosses the solar cell. One of the methods used to increase the flux of photon on the illuminated side of the solar cell is the intensification of the illumination light. However, the intensification of the light come with the increase of the energy released by thermalization, the collision between carriers, their braking due to the carriers concentration gradient electric field which lead to increase the temperature in the base of the solar cell. This work presents a 3-D study, of the effect of the temperature on the electronic parameters of a polycrystalline silicon solar under intense light illumination. The electronic parameters on which we analyze the temperature effect are:?the mobility of solar cell carriers?(electrons and holes),?their diffusion coefficient, their diffusion length and their distribution in the bulk of the base. To study the effect of the temperature on electronic parameters, we take into account, the dependence of carriers (electrons and holes) mobility with the temperature (μn,(T)?μp(T)). Then, the resolution of the continuity equation,which is a function of the carriers gradient electric field and the carriers mobility,?leads to the expressions of?the diffusion coefficient, the diffusion length, and the density of carriers which are function of the temperature. Then, we studied the effects of the temperature on the diffusion parameters in order to explain their effect on the behavior the carriers distribution in intermediate, short circuit and open circuit operating modes at several positions in the base depth. It appears through this study that the diffusion coefficient and the diffusion length decrease with the increase of the temperature. We observe also that with the increase of the temperature, the density of carriers in the base of the solar cell in short circuit and open voltage operating modes increases. In intermediate operating mode, the density of carriers increases also with the temperature but it is function of the base depth.

The Research of Spin-Orbital Interaction in Intermetallic Compounds of System Gd-In on Paramagnetic Area

Normal,R0,and anomalous,RS,components of the Hall coefficient are determined from the results of experimental investigations of temperature dependences of the Hall coefficient,magnetic susceptibility,and specific electrical resistance for intermetallic Gd3In,Gd3In5 and GdIn3 compounds.Effective parameters of spin-orbital interactionλSO of intermetallic compounds are calculated from anomalous components RS of the Hall coefficient and specific electrical resistance.The results calculated for the band parameters and effective parameters of spin-orbital interactionλSO for Gd-In system intermetallides coincide by orders of magnitude with the results obtained from the optical spectra of pure REMs(rare-earth metals).