Compressive characteristics of closed-cell aluminum foams with different percentages of Er element

In the present study, closed-cell aluminum foams with different percentages of erbium(Er) element were successfully prepared. The distribution and existence form of erbium(Er) element and its effect on the compressive properties of the foams were investigated. Results show that Er uniformly distributes in the cell walls in the forms of Al3 Er intermetallic compound and Al-Er solid solutions. Compared with commercially pure aluminum foam, Er-containing foams possess higher micro-hardness, compressive strength and energy absorption capacity due to solid solution strengthening and second phase strengthening effects. Additionally, the amount of Er element should be controlled in the range of 0.10 wt.%-0.50 wt.% in order to obtain a good combination of compressive strength and energy absorption properties.

Preparation of Magnesia Insulation Materials by Walnut Shell Powder Impregnated with Silica Sol

In order to reduce the thermal energy loss of high temperature kilns and furnaces and lower the surface temperature of the kiln body,magnesia insulation materials were prepared using self-made magnesia porous aggregates(using high purity magnesia powder as starting material and potassium oleate as the foaming agent),middle grade magnesia powder,calcium aluminate cement,and SiO_(2) micropowder as starting materials,introducing walnut shell powder impregnated with silica sol(short for Sws)as a pore-forming agent.The effects of the Sws addition(0,10%,15%,and 20%,by mass)and the sintering temperature(1300,1350,1400,and 1480℃)on the properties of magnesia insulation materials were studied.The results show that(1)for the specimens fired at 1480℃,when the Sws addition is 10%,the cold compressive strength is 22 MPa;when the Sws addition is 20%,the thermal conductivity is 0.368 W·m^(-1)·K^(-1)(350℃);(2)nano-silica in the silica sol reacts with MgO in the matrix to form forsterite,which encapsulates the pores volatilized from the walnut shell powder and forms closed pores.

Numerical Predictions of the Effective Thermal Conductivity of the Rigid Polyurethane Foam

A reconstruction method is proposed for the polyurethane foam and then a complete numerical method is developed to predict the effective thermal conductivity of the polyurethane foam. The finite volume method is applied to solve the 2D heterogeneous pure conduction. The lattice Boltzmann method is adopted to solve the 1D homogenous radiative transfer equation rather than Rosseland approximation equation. The lattice Boltzmann method is then adopted to solve 1D homogeneous conduction-radiation energy transport equation considering the combined effect of conduction and radiation. To validate the accuracy of the present method, the hot disk method is adopted to measure the effective thermal conductivity of the polyurethane foams at different temperature. The numerical results agree well with the experimental data. Then, the influences of temperature, porosity and cell size on the effective thermal conductivity of the polyurethane foam are investigated. The results show that the effective thermal conductivity of the polyurethane foams increases with temperature; and the effective thermal conductivity of the polyurethane foams decreases with increasing porosity while increases with the cell size.

Succession of aquatic microbial communities as a result of the water quality variations in continuous water

The changes of structural and functional parameters of aquatic microbial communities in continuous water on campus of Tsinghua University, China are investigated by polyurethane foam unit(PFU) method. The measured compositions of the communities include alga, protozoa, and some metazoa(such as rotifers). The measured indicators of water quality include water temperature, pH value, dissolved oxygen(DO), potassium permanganate index(COD Mn ), total nitrogen(TN), total phosphorus(TP) and chlorophyll-a(Chla). The trophic level, expressed by the trophic level indices(TLIc), is assessed with analytic hierarchy process and principal component analysis(AHP-PCA) method. The changing trends of the structural and functional parameters of aquatic microbial communities, such as Margalef index of diversity(D), Shannon-weaver index of diversity (H), Heterotropy index(HI), number of species when the colonization gets equilibrium(S eq ), colonizing speed constant(G) and time spent when 90 percent of S eq colonized in PFU(T 90% ), are also analyzed. The experimental results showed the succession of aquatic microbial communities along the water flow is consistent with the water quality changes, so the parameters of microbial community can reflect the changes of water quality from the ecological view.

Fabrication and Properties of Aluminabased Reticulated Porous Ceramics

The primary impregnation slurry was prepared using active alumina(56.25 mass%),kaolin(15 mass%),zirconia(3.75 mass%),deionized water(25 mass%),and extra adding FS(0.2 mass%)and CMC(0.4 mass%).The effects of the active alumina particle size(d50=5.043,2.934,and 1.629μm)on the rheology and the thixotropy of the slurry were researched.It was found that the bimodal activeα-Al2O3(AMA-10)with d50=1.629μm was optimum.The secondary impregnation slurry was prepared using AMA-10,kaolin and zirconia as the main raw materials.Then the alumina-based reticulated porous ceramics were fabricated by the organic foam impregnation method combined with a secondary vacuum impregnation process.The influence of the AMA-10 content on the properties of the ceramics was studied.The residual stress of the specimens was analyzed by finite element analysis.The results show that the smaller alumina particle size and multimodal distribution are beneficial to the thixotropy of the primary impregnation slurry.The secondary vacuum impregnation technique can significantly improve the mechanical properties,the thermal shock resistance and the residual strength of the alumina-based reticulated porous ceramics.With the decrease of alumina content in the secondary impregnation slurry,the residual stress of the external layer of ceramic reinforcement gradually changes from tensile stress to compressive stress,which effectively inhibits the expansion of the surface crack,and remarkably improves the crushing strength retention ratio of alumina reticulated porous ceramics.

Effect of Y_(2)O_(3 )Addition on Preparation and Properties of β-SiAlON Reticular Porous Ceramic Filters

β-Si Al ON reticular porous ceramics(Si_(6-Z)Al_(Z)O_(Z)N_(8-Z),Z=2)were prepared withα-Al_(2)O_(3),AlN and Si as raw materials and Y_(2)O_(3)as the sintering aid by the foam impregnation method.The influence of the Y_(2)O_(3)addition(0,3%,6%and 9%,by mass)on the microstructure and the properties of the samples was studied.The results show that the Y_(2)O_(3)addition is conductive to the sintering of samples and the growth of grains.The sample added with 6%Y_(2)O_(3)has the optimal properties:the apparent porosity of 82.9%,the bulk density of 0.53 g·cm^(-3),the cold compressive strength of 1.97 MPa,and the residual cold compressive strength of 1.68 MPa after oxidation,which can be used as porous ceramic filters.

Implementation and validation of a volume-of-fluid and discrete-element-method combined solver in OpenFOAM

Numerous gas-liquid-solid flows exist in chemical engineering and metallurgical processes. Numerical modeling is an important topic that can be used to improve the design and investigate the operating conditions of these processes. The complicated interphase interaction within such three-phase systems, which include free surfaces and discrete phases, poses challenges in the existing methods. We imple- mented a volume-of-fluid （VOF） and discrete-element-method （DEM） combined solver, which should be useful for modeling the gas-liquid-solid systems, within the OpenFOAM framework. The Du Plessis and Masliyah drag force, added mass force, and capillary force were considered for fluid-particle coupling. The VOF-DEM solver was tested in three different cases, namely, particles in pure gas, particle collision in water, and gas-liquid-solid three-phase dam break. The results were validated against previous experi- ments and good agreement was obtained between the simulations and the experiments, which indicates the accuracy and suitability of this VOF-DEM solver for gas-liquid-solid systems.