AHFO-based soil water content sensing technology considering soile sensor thermal contact resistance

The actively heated fiber-optic(AHFO)technology has become emerged as a research focus due to its advantages of distributed,real-time measurement and good durability.These attributes have led to the gradual application of AHFO technology to the water content measurement of in situ soil.However,all existing in situ applications of AHFO technology fail to consider the effect of soilesensor contact quality on water content measurements,limiting potential for the wider application of AHFO technology.To address this issue,the authors propose a method for determining the soilesensor thermal contact resistance based on the principle of an infinite cylindrical heat source.This is then used to establish an AHFO water content measurement technology that considers the thermal contact resistance.The reliability and validity of the new measurement technology are explored through a laboratory test and a field case study,and the spatial-temporal evolution of the soil water content in the case is revealed.The results demonstrate that method for determining the soilesensor thermal contact resistance is highly effective and applicable to all types of soils.This method requires only the moisture content,dry density,and thermal response of the in situ soil to be obtained.In the field case,the measurement error of soil water content between the AHFO method,which takes into account the thermal contact resistance,and the neutron scattering method is only 0.011.The water content of in situ soil exhibits a seasonal variation,with an increase in spring and autumn and a decrease in summer and winter.Furthermore,the response of shallow soils to precipitation and evaporation is significant.These findings contribute to the enhancement of the accuracy of the AHFO technology in the measurement of the water content of in situ soils,thereby facilitating the dissemination and utilization of this technology.

Polyarylene Ether Nitrile and Titanium Dioxide Hybrids as Thermal Resistant Dielectrics

With the expanding application of capacitors,thermal resistant dielectric materials are in high demand due to the increasing harsh environments where the capacitors are needed and the heat generated by the capacitors.Herein,we present polyarylene ether nitrile and titanium dioxide hybrids which can be used as thermal resistant dielectrics for these capacitors.Phthalonitrile modified titanium dioxide(TiO_(2)-CN)and phthalonitrile end-capped polyarylene ether nitrile(PEN-Ph)are firstly prepared.After being cast into TiO_(2)-CN/PEN nanocomposite films,these composites self-crosslink upon heating at 320℃for 4 h,forming the polyarylene ether nitrile and titanium dioxide hybrids(TiO_(2)-PEN).Improved dielectric constants which are stable from room temperature to 200℃of these hybrids are observed,indicating the potential application of the hybrids as thermal resistant dielectrics.

Self-Modifying Nanointerface Driving Ultrahigh Bidirectional Thermal Conductivity Boron Nitride-Based Composite Flexible Films

While boron nitride(BN) is widely recognized as the most promising thermally conductive filler for rapidly developing high-power electronic devices due to its excellent thermal conductivity and dielectric properties,a great challenge is the poor vertical thermal conductivity when embedded in composites owing to the poor interracial interaction causing severe phonon scattering.Here,we report a novel surface modification strategy called the "self-modified nanointerface" using BN nanocrystals(BNNCs) to efficiently link the interface between BN and the polymer matrix.Combining with ice-press assembly method,an only 25 wt% BNembedded composite film can not only possess an in-plane thermal conductivity of 20.3 W m-1K-1but also,more importantly,achieve a through-plane thermal conductivity as high as 21.3 W m-1K-1,which is more than twice the reported maximum due to the ideal phonon spectrum matching between BNNCs and BN fillers,the strong interaction between the self-modified fillers and polymer matrix,as well as ladder-structured BN skeleton.The excellent thermal conductivity has been verified by theoretical calculations and the heat dissipation of a CPU.This study provides an innovative design principle to tailor composite interfaces and opens up a new path to develop high-performance composites.

Analysis of influence of heat exchangerfouling on heat transfer performancebased on thermal fluid coupling

A study on heat transfer performance by thermal fluid coupling simulation for the fouling in a shell-tube heat exchanger used in engineering was presented. The coupling simulation was performed in a fluid and solid domains under three different fouling conditions: fouling inside the tube, fouling outside the tube, and fouling inside the shell. The flow field, temperature, and pressure distributions in the heat exchanger were solved numerically to analyze the heat transfer performance parameters, such as thermal resistance. It is found that the pressure drop of the heat exchanger and the thermal resistance of the tube wall increase by nearly 30% and 20%, respectively, when the relative fouling thickness reaches 10%. The fouling inside the tube has more impact on the heat transfer performance of the heat exchanger, and the fouling inside the shell has less impact.

Preparation and Thermal Shock Resistance of Mullite Ceramics for High Temperature Solar Thermal Storage

Mullite thermal storage ceramics were prepared by low-cost calcined bauxite and kaolin.The phase composition,microstructure,high temperature resistance and thermophysical properties were characterized by modern testing techniques.The experimental results indicate that sample A3(bauxite/kaolin ratio of 5:5)sintered at 1620℃has the optimum comprehensive properties,with bulk density of 2.83 g·cm^(-3)and bending strength of 155.44 MPa.After 30 thermal shocks(1000℃-room temperature,air cooling),the bending strength of sample A3 increases to 166.15 MPa with an enhancement rate of 6.89%,the corresponding thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity are 3.54 W·(m·K)^(-1)and 1.39 kJ·(kg·K)^(-1)at 800℃,and the thermal storage density is 1096 kJ·kg^(-1)(25-800 mullite ceramics;sintering properties;high-temperature thermal storage;thermal shock resistance).Mullite forms a dense and continuous interlaced network microstructure,which endows the samples high thermal storage density and high bending strength,but the decrease of bauxite/kaolin ratio leads to the decrease of mullite content,which reduces the properties of the samples.

Development of Thermal Shock Resistant and Low Creep Bricks for Hot Blast Stove

The paper describes the ries with high thermal shock development of brick seresistance and low creep rate for hot blast stove, including research target and research plan on the basis of analysis on how to enhance the thermal shock resistance and to lower creep rate of the bricks. Efforts have been made on the selection of starting materials such as corundum, mullite, andalusite and sillimanite etc., together with some measures taken on multi-grade formulation, homogenizing of the matrix of bricks and addition of some special additives. The results indicated that the bricks were with characteristics such as higher thermal shock resistance of 〉 30 cycles under quenching in water from 1000℃, and creep rate of 0. 2 under 1400℃ for 20 -50hrs with load of 0.2 MPa. Now a series of products of this kind have been developed and produced. The application of the products in Wuhan Iron and Steel Co. showed very prospective results. Now most of domestic large sized blast furnaces say ≥- 1000m^3, including those of Baoshan Iron and Steel Co. , have selected the series products made by Gongyi No. 5 Refractories Head Factory（GYWN） for their hot blast stoves.

Numerical and experimental evaluation for density-related thermal insulation capability of entangled porous metallic wire material

Entangled porous metallic wire material(EPMWM)has the potential as a thermal insulation material in defence and engineering.In order to optimize its thermophysical properties at the design stage,it is of great significance to reveal the thermal response mechanism of EPMWM based on its complex structural effects.In the present work,virtual manufacturing technology(VMT)was developed to restore the physics-based 3D model of EPMWM.On this basis,the transient thermal analysis is carried out to explore the contact-relevant thermal behavior of EPMWM,and then the spiral unit containing unique structural information are further extracted and counted.In particular,the thermal resistance network is numerically constructed based on the spiral unit through the thermoelectric analogy method to accurately predict the effective thermal conductivity(ETC)of EPMWM.Finally,the thermal diffusivity and specific heat of the samples were obtained by the laser thermal analyzer to calculate the ETC and thermal insulation factor of interest.The results show that the ETC of EPMWM increases with increasing temperature or reducing density under the experimental conditions.The numerical prediction is consistent with the experimental result and the average error is less than 4%.

Thermal rectification induced by Wenzel–Cassie wetting state transition on nano-structured solid–liquid interfaces

Thermal rectification refers to the phenomenon by which the magnitude of the heat flux in one direction is much larger than that in the opposite direction.In this study,we propose to implement the thermal rectification phenomenon in an asymmetric solid–liquid–solid sandwiched system with a nano-structured interface.By using the non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations,the thermal transport through the solid–liquid–solid system is examined,and the thermal rectification phenomenon can be observed.It is revealed that the thermal rectification effect can be attributed to the significant difference in the interfacial thermal resistance between Cassie and Wenzel states when reversing the temperature bias.In addition,effects of the liquid density,solid–liquid bonding strength and nanostructure size on the thermal rectification are examined.The findings may provide a new way for designs of certain thermal devices.

Modeling of thermal conductivity for disordered carbon nanotube networks

Several theoretical models have been developed so far to predict the thermal conductivities of carbon nanotube(CNT)networks.However,these models overestimated the thermal conductivity significantly.In this paper,we claimed that a CNT network can be considered as a contact thermal resistance network.In the contact thermal resistance network,the temperature of an individual CNT is nonuniform and the intrinsic thermal resistance of CNTs can be ignored.Compared with the previous models,the model we proposed agrees well with the experimental results of single-walled CNT networks.

Study on Chrome-free Purging Plugs for Steel Ladles

Purging plug refractories in China typically contain around 3 mass% of super-fine chromium oxide in the matrix in order to improve the performance of the purging plugs, primarily, slag corrosion and wear resistance. Alternatives to chromium oxide containing refractories have gained interest due to health concerns related to the formation of soluble chromium compounds over long storage periods of refractory wastes. Super-ground reactive alumina can replace chromium oxide in purging plug refractories and this paper discussed the new reactive alumina E-SY 88 in comparison to chromium oxide in a typical purging plug castable. The mixing behaviour, wet castable properties, as well as cured, dried, and fired properties at different temperatures up to 1 600 ℃ were compared. In addition, the hot modulus of rupture, creep behaviour, thermal shock resistance and slag corrosion resistance were tested. The microstructure after slag corrosion was investigated by SEM. The results prove that E-SY 88 is an economically viable technical alternative to chromium oxide in purging plug refractories.

Breaking Through Bottlenecks for Thermally Conductive Polymer Composites:A Perspective for Intrinsic Thermal Conductivity,Interfacial Thermal Resistance and Theoretics

Rapid development of energy,electrical and electronic technologies has put forward higher requirements for the thermal conductivities of polymers and their composites.However,the thermal conductivity coefficient(λ)values of prepared thermally conductive polymer composites are still difficult to achieve expectations,which has become the bottleneck in the fields of thermally conductive polymer composites.Aimed at that,based on the accumulation of the previous research works by related researchers and our research group,this paper proposes three possible directions for breaking through the bottlenecks:(1)preparing and synthesizing intrinsically thermally conductive polymers,(2)reducing the interfacial thermal resistance in thermally conductive polymer composites,and(3)establishing suitable thermal conduction models and studying inner thermal conduction mechanism to guide experimental optimization.Also,the future development trends of the three above-mentioned directions are foreseen,hoping to provide certain basis and guidance for the preparation,researches and development of thermally conductive polymers and their composites.

Effect of rare earth elements addition on thermal fatigue behaviors of AZ91 magnesium alloy

Influences of rare earth （RE） elements addition on thermal fatigue behaviors of AZ91 alloy were studied. Repeated heating and cooling cycles were applied on the samples at 170 and 210℃ to develop thermal fatigue cracks. Crack growth mechanisms and microstructural influences were investigated by optical and scanning electron microscopy （SEM） as well as energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy （EDS）. Thermal fatigue behaviors were observed to improve successively by addition of the RE up to 2wt.%. This improvement was attributed to the consummation of aluminum in melt by precipitation of the needle shaped AII1RE3 phases. This process was attributed to the reduction of MglTAl12 phase volume fraction and consequent decrease of the brittle Mg/MglTAl12 interface which was the main reason for weak thermal properties of the alloy at rather high temperatures. Further additions of RE, however, reduced the thermal shock resistance of the samples by increasing the mean length of the brittle needle shaped phases.

Emerging Flexible Thermally Conductive Films:Mechanism,Fabrication,Application

Effective thermal management is quite urgent for electronics owing to their ever-growing integration degree,operation frequency and power density,and the main strategy of thermal management is to remove excess energy from electronics to outside by thermal conductive materials.Compared to the conventional thermal management materials,flexible thermally conductive films with high in-plane thermal conductivity,as emerging candidates,have aroused greater interest in the last decade,which show great potential in thermal management applications of next-generation devices.However,a comprehensive review of flexible thermally conductive films is rarely reported.Thus,we review recent advances of both intrinsic polymer films and polymer-based composite films with ultrahigh in-plane thermal conductivity,with deep understandings of heat transfer mechanism,processing methods to enhance thermal conductivity,optimization strategies to reduce interface thermal resistance and their potential applications.Lastly,challenges and opportunities for the future development of flexible thermally conductive films are also discussed.

Preparation of micro-arc oxidation coatings on magnesium alloy and its thermal shock resistance property

In the NaAlO2-Na2SiO3 compound system, the ceramic coatings were prepared on magnesium alloy by micro-arc oxidation. The morphology, phase composition, and thermal shock resistance of the ceramic coatings were studied by scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction and thermal shock tests, respectively. The results showed that the ceramic coating contains MgO, MgAl2O4, as well as a little amount of MgESiO4. The thickness of the ceramic coatings increases with the current density increasing, when the current density is 12 A·dm^-2, the thermal shock resistance of the produced ceramic coating is the best. The hardness of the ceramic coating is up to 10 GPa or so.

Thermal Resistance of Common Rice Maintainer and Restorer Lines to High Temperature During Flowering and Early Grain Filling Stages

Fifteen common rice maintainer lines and 26 high-yielding restorer lines were used to evaluate their thermal resistance and fertility during flowering and early grain filling stages. The rice plants were subjected to high temperature stress （39-43 ℃） for 1-15 d from main stem flowering. Based on the heat stress index, they were divided into thermal resistant lines, semi-thermal resistant lines, semi-thermal sensitive lines and thermal sensitive lines. Therefore, the maintainer lines K22B, Bobai B and V20B belonged to thermal resistant lines, whereas 11-32B, Zhongzhe B and Zhong 9B belonged to thermal sensitive lines. For rice restorer lines, Minghui 63 had the highest thermal resistance, followed by R207, P32, P929, and the lowest thermal resistant lines P62-2-2, R8006 and P51. The correlation analysis indicated that the heat stress index was significantly correlated with seed-setting rate and abortive grain rate under heat stress, but not under natural conditions. This indicated that heat stress occurred during flowering and early grain filling stages mainly decreased the seed- setting rate and significantly increased the abortive grain rate in both rice maintainer and restorer lines.

Relationship Between Thermal Shock Behavior and Cutting Performance of a Functionally Gradient Ceramic Tool

Based on the deep understanding of the requirements of cutting conditions on ceramic tools, a design model for functionally gradient ceramic tool materials with symmetrical composition distribution was presented in this paper, according to which an Al 2O 3-TiC functionally gradient ceramic tool material FG-1 was synthesized by powder-laminating and uniaxially hot-pressing technique. The thermal shock resistance of the Al 2O 3-TiC functionally gradient ceramics FG-1 was evaluated by water quenching and subsequent three-point bending tests of flexural strength diminution. Comparisons were made with results from parallel experiments conducted using a homogeneous Al 2O 3-TiC ceramics. Functionally gradient ceramics exhibited higher retained strength under all thermal shock temperature differences compared to homogeneous ceramics, indicating the higher thermal shock resistance. The experimental results were supported by the calculation of transient thermal stress field. The cutting performance of the Al 2O 3-TiC functionally gradient ceramic tool FG-1 was also investigated in rough turning the cylindrical surface of exhaust valve of diesel engine in comparison with that of a common Al 2O 3-TiC ceramic tool LT55. The results indicated that the tool life of FG-1 increased by 50 percent over that of LT55. Tool life of LT55 was mainly controlled by thermal shock cracking which was accompanied by mechanical shock. While tool life of FG-1 was mainly controlled by mechanical fatigue crack extension rather than thermal shock cracking, revealing the less thermal shock susceptibility of functionally gradient ceramics than that of common ceramics.

Thermal Analysis of Vehicular Twin-Tube Hydraulic Gas-Precharged Shock Absorbers

In this study of temperature rising in vehicular twin-tube hydraulic gas-precharged shock absorbers,thermodynamic analyses were conducted via simulations.Equations on heat conduction,heat convection as well as radiation were derived by applying certain laws governing heat transfer;an equivalent thermal resistance network model of a shock absorber undergoing heat transfer was established innovatively;moreover,the shock absorber’s thermodynamic model of control volume system was built by using the first law of thermodynamics;and finally,time required for shock absorber to reach thermal equilibrium and corresponding value of steady temperature were calculated by programming.In this way,a lower thermal equilibrium temperature will be achieved,hence help to improve reliability of shock absorbers in work by offering low ambient temperature,by reducing amplitudes and frequencies of external incentives exerted on them and by increasing flow rate of ambient air passing around them.

Effect of contact thermal resistance on temperature distributions of concrete-filled steel tubes in fire

To predicate the temperature distribution of concrete-filled steel tubes(CFSTs) being exposure to fire,a finite element analysis model was developed using a finite element package,ANSYS.A suggested value of contact thermal resistance was therefore proposed with the supporting of massive numbers of collected test data.Parametric analysis was conducted subsequently towards the cross-sectional temperature distribution of CFST columns in four-side fire,in which the exposure time,width of the cross section,steel ratio were taken into account with considering contact thermal resistance.It was found that contact thermal resistance has little effect on the overall temperature regulation with the exposure time,the width of cross-section or the change of steel ratio.However,great temperature dropping at the concrete adjacent to the contact interface,and gentle temperature increase at steel tube,exist if considering contact thermal resistance.The results of the study are expected to provide theoretical basis for the fire resistance behavior and design of the CFST columns being exposure to fire.

Phase thermal stability and mechanical properties analyses of(Cr,Fe,V)–(Ta,W)multiple-based elemental system using a compositional gradient film

High-entropy alloys(HEAs)generally possess complex component combinations and abnormal properties.The traditional methods of investigating these alloys are becoming increasingly inefficient because of the unpredictable phase transformation and the combination of many constituents.The development of compositionally complex materials such as HEAs requires high-throughput experimental methods,which involves preparing many samples in a short time.Here we apply the high-throughput method to investigate the phase evolution and mechanical properties of novel HEA film with the compositional gradient of(Cr,Fe,V)-(Ta,W).First,we deposited the compositional gradient film by co-sputtering.Second,the mechanical properties and thermal stability of the(Cr0.33Fe0.33V0.33)x(Ta0.5W0.5)100−x(x=13-82)multiplebased-elemental(MBE)alloys were investigated.After the deposited wafer was annealed at 600℃for 0.5 h,the initial amorphous phase was transformed into a body-centered cubic(bcc)structure phase when x=33.Oxides were observed on the film surface when x was 72 and 82.Finally,the highest hardness of as-deposited films was found when x=18,and the maximum hardness of annealed films was found when x=33.

Effect of microstructure of Au80Sn20 solder on the thermal resistance TO56 packaged GaN-based laser diodes

Au80Sn20 alloy is a widely used solder for laser diode packaging.In this paper,the thermal resistance of Ga N-based blue laser diodes packaged in TO56 cans were measured by the forward voltage method.The microstructures of Au80Sn20 solder were then investigated to understand the reason for the difference in thermal resistance.It was found that the microstructure with a higher content of Au-rich phase in the center of the solder and a lower content of(Au,Ni)Sn phase at the interface of the solder/heat sink resulted in lower thermal resistance.This is attributed to the lower thermal resistance of Au-rich phase and higher thermal resistance of(Au,Ni)Sn phase.