Preparation and Evaluation of the Morphology,Flammability, and Mechanical Properties of the Acrylonitrile‐Butadiene‐Styrene/Poly (vinyl chloride) Blends

Blends of two grades of acrylonitrile‐butadiene‐styrene (ABS) with three different compounds of poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC) were prepared via melt processing and their morphology, flammability, and physical and mechanical properties were investigated. SEM results showed that the ABS/PVC blend is a compatible system. Also, it can be inferred from fracture surface images that ABS/PVC blends are tough, even at low temperatures. It was found that properties of these blends significantly depend on blend composition and PVC compound type; however, the ABS types have only a small effect on blend properties. On blending of ABS with a soft PVC compound, impact strength, and melt flow index (MFI) increased, but tensile and flexural strength decreased. In contrast, blending of ABS with a rigid PVC compound improved fire retardancy and some mechanical properties and decreased MFI and impact strength.     

A micropump controlled by EWOD: wetting line energy and velocity effects

A Laplace pressure gradient between a droplet and a liquid meniscus was utilized to create an on-demand constant flow rate capillary pump. Electrowetting on dielectric was implemented to induce the pressure gradient in the microchannel. For an initial droplet volume of 0.3 μL and a power of 12 nW a constant flow rate of 0.02 μL s(-1) was demonstrated. The effects of the wetting line energy on the static contact angle and the wetting line velocity on the dynamic contact angle in the pump operation were studied. Sample loading on-demand could be achieved by regulating an electric potential.     

The ANN application in FEM modeling of mechanical properties of Al–Si alloy

Artificial neural network (ANN) is a nonlinear dynamic computational system suitable for simulations which are hard to be described by physical models where, rather than relying on a number of predetermined assumptions, data is used to form the model. In order to predict the mechanical properties of A356 including yield stress, ultimate tensile strength and elongation percentage, a relatively new approach that uses artificial neural network and finite element technique is presented which combines mechanical properties data in the form of experimental and simulated solidification conditions. It was observed that predictions of this study are consistent with experimental measurements for A356 alloy. The results of this research were also used for solidification codes of SUT CAST software.     

Vibration of submerged floating tunnels due to moving loads

The concept of submerged floating tunnel (SFT) has become an increasingly attractive idea to cross the straits. The structural solution in this scheme includes buoyancy force on tunnel body plus tension in mooring tethers. This paper investigates the effect of submergence on the dynamic response of SFT due to moving load. The inertial effect of the fluid is accounted for by evaluating the added mass of tunnel using two and three dimensional models. It is found that fluid–structure interaction increases dynamic amplification of the tunnel deflection (in some cases very significantly). The results show that although the 3D model predicts lesser inertial contribution for surrounding fluid, it is not always possible to associate the larger response with the 2D or 3D models. The discrepancy between the results of the two models decreases as the tether stiffness increases. This indicates that the adoption of Morison’s equation for evaluating the fluid loading on the tunnel is a reasonable assumption when the tether stiffness is high. It is also found that by increasing the tether stiffness, it is possible to introduce a major reduction in the dynamic amplification of the response and by this way control the dynamic response of the SFT.     

EFFECT OF THE OPEN CRACK ON THE PULL-IN INSTABILITY OF AN ELECTROSTATICALLY ACTUATED MICRO-BEAM

In this paper, the effects of the open crack on the static and dynamic pull-in voltages of an electrostatically actuated fixed-fixed and cantilever micro-beam are investigated. By presenting a mathematical modeling, the governing static and dynamic equations are solved by SSLM and Galerkin-based Reduced Order Model, respectively. Then, each single-side open crack in the micro-beam is modeled by a massless rotational spring and the cracked mode shapes and corresponding natural frequencies are calculated by considering the boundary and patching conditions and using transfer matrix methods. Finally, the effects of the crack depth ratio, crack position and crack number on the pull-in voltage of the micro-beams are studied. It is shown that beside the residual stresses created in the machining process, the crack(s) can be initiated, growth and consequently change the pull-in voltage of the system by decreasing the natural frequencies. The results show that the crack position is effective beside the crack depth ratio in decreasing the pull-in voltage. Also it is shown that in the fixed-fixed micro-beam there are several points for the crack location in which, the pull-in voltage is extremum.     

Application of a new equation of state to energy carriers

A new equation of state (IR EOS) recently reported for liquids and gases has been utilized to predict the densities of some energy carriers at different temperatures, pressures. The ability of IR EOS is examined by comparing its results with experimental data for some energy carriers in homogeneous gas, homogeneous liquid and gas–liquid transition region from low to very high pressures. The IR EOS gives excellent results in homogenous gas and homogeneous liquid region while its predictions in gas–liquid transition have more deviations. The average absolute deviation between calculated and experimental densities for 968 data points of 12 energy carriers is 0.33% over the entire range of data with a maximum pressure of 1000 MPa.     

Co-microprecipitation/flotation of trace amounts of cadmium from environmental samples through its complexation with iodide and neutralization with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide in the presence of perchlorate ions

ABSTRACT

A fast, cost-effective and reliable method is presented for separation and preconcentration of trace amounts of cadmium based on co-precipitation and flotation prior to its flame atomic absorption (AAS) spectrometric determination. Cadmium (II) was complexed with iodide and neutralized with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in the presence of perchlorate ions. This resulted in the formation of a bulky precipitate containing the ternary complex of CdI₄(CTA)₂, floating on the top of the solution. The aqueous layer was then simply drained out, the floated layer was dissolved in 1.0 mL of acetonitrile, and its Cd content was determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The parameters affecting the designed separation method such as KI, CTAB, and ClO₄^? concentration, pH, ionic strength, volumes of sample and dissolving solvent, and extraction time were studied and optimized. For preconcentration of 200 mL of the sample, the calibration graph was linear in the range of 1–30 μg L^?1 of cadmium with a correlation coefficient of 0.9997, enhancement factor of 194 and a limit of detection of 0.18 μg L^?1. The relative standard deviation for seven replicate determinations at 20 μg L^?1 levels of cadmium was found to be 2.1%. The effect of the presence of different common cations and anions on the separation and determination of Cd(II) by the developed method was studied. The method was successfully applied to the determination of trace amounts of Cd(II) ions in different types of real samples including tap water, polluted industrial wastewater, dust, and soil with the recoveries in the range of 95.3 to 103.4.     

An electrostatically actuated microsensor for determination of micropolar fluid physical properties

Meccanica - Micropolar fluids as complex non-Newtonian fluids admittedly have numerous applications in various fields, especially in medicine. Blood as a micropolar fluid plays an important role in...     

A necessary condition for non-abelian finite <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>-groups with second centre of order <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis><Superscript>2</Superscript>

Let G be a non-abelian finite p-group such that |Z ₂(G)| = p ². In this paper we prove that each maximal subgroup M ≠ C _G (Z ₂(G)) is non-abelian and has cyclic centre.