Creep life evaluation of aluminum conductor composite core utilized in high voltage electric transmission

The creep life of aluminum conductor composite core (ACCC) utilized in high voltage electric transmission was investigated using an experimental method based on the equivalence relationship. First, the time-temperature-stress equivalence relationship was developed using the time-temperature and the time-stress equivalence relationships. Then, tensile creep experiments were conducted under different temperatures and different stress levels to obtain the strain-time curves of the ACCC. Finally, the creep strain master curve was obtained using the experimental data based on the time-temperature-stress equivalence relationship, allowing prediction of ACCC creep life. The results will play an important role in evaluation of the long-term characteristics of the ACCC for engineering applications.     

Effect of water on the retention on diol and amide columns in hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography

The amount of water adsorbed on polar columns plays important role in hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography. It may strongly differ for the individual types of polar columns used in this separation mode. We measured adsorption isotherms of water on an amide and three diol‐bonded stationary phases that differ in the chemistry of the bonded ligands and properties of the silica gel support. We studied the effects of the adsorbed water on the retention of aromatic carboxylic acids, flavonoids, benzoic acid derivatives, nucleic bases, and nucleosides in aqueous‐acetonitrile mobile phases over the full composition range. The graphs of the retention factors versus the volume fraction of water in mobile phase show “U‐profile” characteristic of a dual hydrophilic interaction–reversed phase retention mechanism. The minimum on the graph that marks the changing retention mechanism depends on the amount of adsorbed water. The linear solvation energy relationship model suggests that the retention in the hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography mode is controlled mainly by proton–donor interactions in the stationary phase, depending on the column type. Finally, the accuracy of hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography gradient prediction improves for columns that show a high water adsorption.     

Open tubular capillary column of 50 μm internal diameter with a very high separation efficiency for the separation of peptides in CEC and LC

A specially designed long open tubular capillary column (50 μm internal diameter and 112 cm effective length) was prepared by fabrication of a thin three‐component co‐polymer layer on the inner surface of silica capillary. A pretreated silica capillary was reacted with 4‐(chloromethyl)phenyl isocyanate in the presence of dibutyltin dichloride as catalyst followed by sodium diethyl dithiocarbamate. Then a thin polymer layer was made on the inner surface of capillary by reversible addition‐fragmentation transfer polymerization of styrene, N‐phenylacrylamide, and methacrylic acid. A carefully adjusted formulation of reaction mixture and elaborated procedures were adopted to secure formation of the co‐polymer layer of enhanced separation performance. The co‐polymer immobilized open tubular capillary column was used for the separation of a synthetic mixture of five peptides and excellent separation efficiency (over 1.7 million per column) was obtained in the capillary electrochromatography mode. Such excellent separation efficiencies of ca. 1 m column have not been obtained in the isocratic elution mode so far. The column was also used for separation of the peptides in the liquid chromatography mode to show very good separation efficiency (average 286 700 per column).     

High‐performance liquid chromatography thermodynamic study of new potential antiepileptic compounds on a cholesterol column using isocratic elution with methanol/water and acetonitrile/water eluent systems

Basic thermodynamic functions responsible for retention of new 1,2,4‐triazole derivatives exhibiting varied antiepileptic activity on cholesterol‐based stationary phase were determined. Evaluation of the Gibbs energy change, the change in enthalpy and the change in entropy was based on the van't Hoff relationship representing lnk versus 1/T . A detailed discussion of the van't Hoff equation, exploring the influence of the phase ratio on deviations from linearity in a van't Hoff plot is presented. We show chromatographic evidence to the question of how a varied mobile phase composition may cause different thermodynamic phase ratios. The analysis of data from a differential scanning calorimetry excluded any phase transitions of either the individual solutes or cholesterol stationary phase suspended in the mobile phase components within the studied temperature range.     

Well-dispersed sulfur anchored on interconnected polypyrrole nanofiber network as high performance cathode for lithium-sulfur batteries

Preparation of novel sulfur/polypyrrole (S/PPy) composite consisting well-dispersed sulfur particles anchored on interconnected PPy nanowire network was demonstrated. In such hybrid structure, the as-prepared PPy clearly displays a three-dimensionally cross-linked and hierarchical porous structure, which was utilized in the composite cathode as a conductive network trapping soluble polysulfide intermediates and enhancing the overall electrochemical performance of the system. Benefiting from this unique structure, the S/PPy composite demonstrated excellent cycling stability, resulting in a discharge capacity of 931 mAh g⁻¹ at the second cycle and retained about 54% of this value over 100 cycles at 0.1 C. Furthermore, the S/PPy composite cathode exhibits a good rate capability with a discharge capacity of 584 mAh g⁻¹ at 1  C.     

Composite generalized Laguerre spectral method for nonlinear Fokker–Planck equations on the whole line

In this paper, we propose a composite Laguerre spectral method for the nonlinear Fokker–Planck equations modelling the relaxation of fermion and boson gases. A composite Laguerre spectral scheme is constructed. Its convergence is proved. Numerical results show the efficiency of this approach and coincide well with theoretical analysis. Some results on the Laguerre approximation and techniques used in this paper are also applicable to other nonlinear problems on the whole line. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Well‐posedness of initial boundary value problems on longitudinal impact on a composite linear viscoelastic bar

We investigate the correctness of the initial boundary value problem of longitudinal impact on a piecewise‐homogeneous semi‐infinite bar consisting of a semi‐infinite elastic part and finite length visco‐elastic part whose hereditary properties are described by linear integral relations with an arbitrary difference kernel. Introducing nonstationary regularization in boundary conditions and in the contact conditions, the well‐posedness of the considered problem is proved. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Asymptotic nonlinear stability of a composite wave of two traveling waves to a chemotaxis model

In this paper, we investigate the asymptotic stability of a composite wave consisting of two traveling waves to a Keller–Segel chemotaxis model with logarithmic sensitivity and nonzero chemical diffusion. We show that the composite wave is asymptotically stable under general initial perturbation, which only be needed small in H¹‐norm. This improves previous results. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Enhanced Physical and Mechanical Properties of Nitrile-Butadiene Rubber Composites with N-Cetylpyridinium Bromide-Carbon Black

The physical and mechanical properties of nitrile–butadiene rubber (NBR) composites with N-cetylpyridinium bromide-carbon black (CPB-CB) were investigated. Addition of 5 parts per hundred rubber (phr) of CPB-CB into NBR improved the tensile strength by 124%, vulcanization rate by 41%, shore hardness by 15%, and decreased the volumetric wear by 7% compared to those of the base rubber-CB composite.     

Composite Polybenzimidazole Membrane with High Capacity Retention for Vanadium Redox Flow Batteries

Currently, energy storage technologies are becoming essential in the transition of replacing fossil fuels with more renewable electricity production means. Among storage technologies, redox flow batteries (RFBs) can represent a valid option due to their unique characteristic of decoupling energy storage from power output. To push RFBs further into the market, it is essential to include low-cost materials such as new generation membranes with low ohmic resistance, high transport selectivity, and long durability. This work proposes a composite membrane for vanadium RFBs and a method of preparation. The membrane was prepared starting from two polymers, meta-polybenzimidazole (6 μm) and porous polypropylene (30 μm), through a gluing approach by hot-pressing. In a vanadium RFB, the composite membrane exhibited a high energy efficiency (~84%) and discharge capacity (~90%) with a 99% capacity retention over 90 cycles at 120 mA·cm⁻², exceeding commercial Nafion^® NR212 (~82% efficiency, capacity drop from 90% to 40%) and Fumasep^® FAP-450 (~76% efficiency, capacity drop from 80 to 65%).