A model for crack formation during active solid pyrolysis of a char-forming solid: crack patterns; surface area generation; volatile mass efflux

A model is developed for the formation and propagation of cracks in a material sample that is heated at its top surface, pyrolyses, and then thermally degrades to form char. In this work the sample is heated uniformly over its entire top surface by a hypothetical flame (a heat source). The pyrolysis mechanism is described by a one-step overall reaction that is dependent nonlinearly on the temperature (Arrhenius form). Stresses develop in response to the thermal degradation of the material by means of a shrinkage strain caused by local mass loss during pyrolysis. When the principal stress exceeds a prescribed threshold value, the material forms a local crack. Cracks are found to generally originate at the surface in response to heating, but occasionally they form in the bulk, away from ever-changing material boundaries. The resulting cracks evolve and form patterns whose characteristics are described. Quantities examined in detail are: the crack spacing in the pyrolysis zone; the crack length evolution; the formation and nature of crack loops which are defined as individual cracks that have joined to form loops that are disconnected from the remaining material; the formation of enhanced pyrolysis area; and the impact of all of the former quantities on mass flux. It is determined that the mass flux from the sample can be greatly enhanced over its nominal (non-cracking) counterpart. The mass efflux profile qualitatively resembles those observed in Cone Calorimeter tests.     

Physical aging in amorphous poly(ethylene furanoate): Enthalpic recovery,density, and oxygen transport considerations

The current work utilizes three separate techniques to study the physical aging process in amorphous poly(ethylene furanoate) (PEF), which is a recently introduced engineering thermoplastic with enhanced properties compared to petroleum‐sourced poly(ethylene terephthalate). Differential scanning calorimetry aging experiments were conducted at multiple aging temperatures and times, and the resultant enthalpic recovery values compared to the theoretical maximum enthalpy loss evaluated from calculations involving extrapolation of the equilibrium liquid line. Density measurements reveal densification of the matrix for the aged versus unaged samples, and provide an estimate for the reduction in free volume for the aged samples. Complementary oxygen permeation and pressure‐decay sorption experiments provide independent verification of the free volume reduction mechanism for physical aging in glassy polymers. The current work provides the first detailed aging study for PEF. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2015 , 53, 389–399     

Character of the thermal motion of water molecules according to the data on quasielastic incoherent scattering of slow neutrons

The paper discusses the applicability of quasi-crystalline approximation to describing the thermal motion of water molecules in their normal and supercooled states. The problem is subjected to the critical analysis of experimental data on incoherent scattering of slow neutrons based on theories developed by Singwi-Sjolander [1] and Oskotsky [2] modified to duly take into account the limited applicability range of diffusion approximation. The applicability conditions of quasi-crystalline approximation are shown to be consistently satisfied only when water is in supercooled state and within a narrow temperature range above the melting temperature.     

Influence of the sulfonate countercation on the thermal stability of nafion perfluorosulfonate membranes

We report a strong dependence of the thermal stability of Nafion® perfluorosulfonate ionomer on the nature of the counterion associated with the fixed sulfonate site. These results were obtained using thermal gravimetric analysis on a series of alkali metal and alkyl ammonium cation-exchanged Nafion films. We have found that the temperature of decomposition of Nafion is inversely dependent on the size of the exchanged cation; i.e., Nafion films show improved thermal stability as the size of the counter cation decreases. We attribute this inverse relationship of thermal stability with counterion size to an initial decomposition reaction which is strongly influenced by the strength of the sulfonate-coun-terion interaction. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Effect of absorbed pump power on the quality of output beam from monolithic microchip lasers

The dependence of the beam propagation factor (M ² parameter) with the absorbed pump power in the case of monolithic microchip laser under face-cooled configuration is extensively studied. Our investigations show that the M ₂ parameter is related to the absorbed pump power through two parameters (α and β) whose values depend on the laser material properties and laser configuration. We have shown that one parameter arises due to the oscillation of higher order modes in the microchip cavity and the other parameter accounts for the spherical aberration associated with the thermal lens induced by the pump beam. Such dependency of M ² parameter with the absorbed pump power is experimentally verified for a face-cooled monolithic microchip laser based on Nd³⁺ -doped GdVO₄ crystal and the values of α and β parameters were estimated from the experimentally measured data points.     

空气/水界面水分子的取向和运动

对四种不同的实验构型下空气／水界面自由O-H键在3700cm~(-1)的和频振动光谱的分析表明,水分子在空气／水界面的取向运动只可能是在平衡位置附近有限角度之内的受限转动。界面水分子的自由O-H键取向距界面法线约33°,而取向分布或运动的宽度不超过15°。这一图像显著地不同于Wei等人(Phys. Rev. Lett.86,4799(2001))只通过单一的SFG实验构型所得出结论,即：空气／水界面的水分子在超快的振动弛豫时间内在很大的角度范围内运动。     

声诱饵仿真试验系统

文章介绍了声诱饵仿真试验系统中的有关问题，包括：系统的组成、工作原理、对接装置结构等。建立了对接装置声耦合状态下的数学模型，对近场声压分布进行了仿真计算，得出了匹配材料厚度、发射和接收换能器的选取原则。     

Stress concentration and effective stiffness of aligned fiber reinforced composite with anisotropic constituents

The paper addresses the problem of calculation of the local stress field and effective elastic properties of a unidirectional fiber reinforced composite with anisotropic constituents. For this aim, the representative unit cell approach has been utilized. The micro geometry of the composite is modeled by a periodic structure with a unit cell containing multiple circular fibers. The number of fibers is sufficient to account for the micro structure statistics of composite. A new method based on the multipole expansion technique is developed to obtain the exact series solution for the micro stress field. The method combines the principle of superposition, technique of complex potentials and some new results in the theory of special functions. A proper choice of potentials and new results for their series expansions allow one to reduce the boundary-value problem for the multiple-connected domain to an ordinary, well-posed set of linear algebraic equations. This reduction provides high numerical efficiency of the developed method. Exact expressions for the components of the effective stiffness tensor have been obtained by analytical averaging of the strain and stress fields.     

γ-辐照对纯Y_2SiO_5和Eu~(3+)∶Y_2SiO_5晶体光谱性能的影响

研究了γ-辐照前后纯Y2SiO5和Eu3+掺杂的Y2SiO5晶体吸收光谱的变化,辐照后,未退火和氢气退火的纯Y2SiO5晶体在260~270 nm和320 nm波段产生了附加吸收峰,分别是由F心和O-心的吸收引起的;经过空气退火的纯YSO晶体中,由于消除了氧空位,因此辐照后没有出现色心吸收峰。在Eu3+∶Y2SiO5晶体中,不但有相同的F心和O-心吸收峰,而且还有Eu2+离子在300 nm和390 nm的吸收峰。随着辐照剂量的增加,色心附加吸收峰增强。空气退火能减少Eu3+∶Y2SiO5晶体中的色心,而氢气退火能增加色心。