Experimental Study of the Influence of Intrinsic Parameters on the Thermal Reactivity of Sawdust, Polyethylene Terephthalate and Composite

Several works have been based on the study of thermal variations in biomass to derive more valuable products such as fuels capable of replacing oil in the event of a crisis or activated carbon used as an adsorbent material, widely used in industry for the elimination of unwanted materials, both in liquid and gaseous environments. A study of thermal parameters such as: heating speed, retention time, drying temperature, carbonization temperature, particle size, was carried out with the aim of determining the characteristic factors of the carbonization of Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), sawdust (SC) and sawdust/polyethylene terephthalate (CPS) mixture. The results of the immediate analysis revealed a very low level of ash in PET (0.013%) compared to the level of ash in sawdust (2.9%), as well as a high level of fixed carbon (82.960%), which suggests the presence of mineral oxides and a significant carbon matrix unlike PET, which indicates a very significant organic matrix (essentially made up of organic matter) with the absence of mineral oxides. The study of thermal parameters showed the water loss from Sawdust (SC) and the Sawdust/Polyethylene terephthalate (CPS) mixture, an increase with temperature, unlike that of PET whose variation is essentially zero. Without heat treatment, sawdust alone contains approximately 7% water. The optimal drying temperature for this study is 110˚C for a stay of 24 hours. It appears that the largest mass losses for the PET samples are between 87.19% and 96.05%, followed by that of the mixture, between 47.33% and 64.37%. And the lowest are observed, those of sawdust (from 24.02% to 62.6%). However, here we can say that the influence of the mass is not great, given the slight difference between the losses by temperature. The results of the study of the influence of grain size showed that the differences are insignificant, even if we vary the diameter of the grains from simple to triple. To better minimize physical constraints such as the intragranular diffusibility of the volatile matter and the homogeneity of the temperature in the grains, 75 μm particles are found to be optimal for our study. It can be noted when studying the heating rate that the mass loss at the end of the reaction is approximately the same depending on each precursor material. However, it has been demonstrated that the heating rate strongly influences the nature of the reaction products both for volatile materials and for the solid residue as well as on the kinetic parameters of the chemical reaction. Furthermore, the variation in apparent density shows a decrease as a function of the increase in the residence time of the materials in the reactor. As the carbonization time increases, the apparent density decreases. We note, for the lignocellulosic material, that the apparent density stabilizes after 60 minutes.

Preparation and properties of flame-sprayed Mo-FeB-Fe cermet coatings

The powders of Mo2FeB2 cermet were prepared with Mo powders, Fe-B alloy powders and Fe powders as raw materials. Mo2FeB2 cermet coatings were prepared on Q235 steel by reactive thermal spraying （RTS） method and heated at 1 000 ℃ in vacuum oven of 1 kPa for 5 h. The properties of coatings were investigated. The results indicate that Fe2B appears after milling for 15 h in the powder at room temperature, a part of ternary borides （Mo2FeB2） are generated in powder sintered at 900 ℃. The coatings are composed of the major phases Mo2FeB2 and a-Fe, a little of Fe203, FeO and some pores. The bonding strength between the substrate and the ceramic coating is 32.73 MPa, the thermal-shock times is about 43 and the wear resistance is enhanced by approximately 5.28 times compared with that of the substrate, respectively. The comprehensive properties of Mo2FeB2 cermet coatings can be imoroved further after vacuum heat-treatment at 1 000 ℃ for 5 h.

An experimental investigation of the thermal spalling of polypropylene-fibered reactive powder concrete exposed to elevated temperatures

Polypropylene fibers are embedded to prevent reactive powder concrete （RPC） from spalling failure under high temperatures. This paper probes the influence of embedded fibers at various volumetric dosages on the thermomechanical properties of polypropylene-fibered reactive powder concrete （PPRPC） exposed to high tem- peratures up to 350 ℃ and on the spalling performance and characteristics up to 600 ℃. The thermomechanical prop- erties include the characteristic temperature for spalling, and residual strengths, such as the compressive strength, split tensile strength, and flexural tensile strength. A high- definition charge-coupled device camera and scanning electron microscope technology were employed to capture the spalling processes and to detect the microstructural changes in the materials with various fiber dosages. To understand and characterize the mechanism by which polypropylene fibers influence the thermal spalling of RPC, a numerical model to determine the moisture migration and vapor pressure transmission during spalling was developed in this paper. It showed that there was an optimal volu- metric dosage of fibers to prevent PPRPC from explosive spalling. The relationships between the mechanical char- acteristics of PPRPC and the fiber dosages were derived based on experimental data.

Theoretical modeling and numerical simulations of plasmas generated by shock waves

Electromagnetic(EM) field is a consequence of the plasma generation induced by shock waves generated in impacts and explosions and is an important topic of study in aerospace and geophysics. Experimental research is frequently used to investigate the plasma generation in hypervelocity impacts and the EM wave emitted in chemical explosions. However, the basic plasma generation mechanism leading to the EM emission generated by the shock waves in chemical explosions is rarely studied.Therefore, a detailed investigation is performed to determine the state of the plasmas generated by the shock waves in air blast. In addition, a multi-component ionization model was improved to evaluate the ionization state of the generated plasmas. The proposed ionization model was combined with an AUSM+-up based finite volume method(FVM) to simulate the plasmas generated in the air blast. Two typical cases of simulation were carried out to investigate the relation between the shock waves and ionization, as well as the influence of ground reflection on the ionization state. It was found that the ionization zone was close behind the shock front in the air and propagates along with the shock waves. The interaction between the original shock waves and reflected shock waves was found to have a great impact of the order of 2–3 magnitudes, on the degree of ionization of the plasmas generated by the shock waves. This phenomenon explains the observation of additional EM pulses generated by ground reflection, as explored in the reference cited in this paper.

Preparation and characterization of urea-formaldehyde resin]reactive kaolinite composites

Novel urea-formaldehyde resin/reactive kaolinite composites containing 20-40wt%; kaolinite were prepared by in situ polymerization. The kaolinite was modified with tetraethoxysilane and a silane coupling agent to introduce reactive groups. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction confirmed preparation of the urea-formaldehyde resin/reactive kaolinite composites. The composite morphology was investigated using scanning electron microscopy; the composites consisted of uni- form spherical particles. The surface chemical components of the composites were determined using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The spectra showed that the reactive kaolinite was encapsulated by the urea-formaldehyde resin. The thermal properties of the composites were examined using dif- ferential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis. The results showed that their thermal stability was much better than that of pure urea-formaldehyde resin, Reactive kaolinite addition greatly decreased formaldehyde emissions and improved the water resistance of the composites. A mechanism for urea-formaldehyde resin/reactive kaolinite composite synthesis is proposed.