Effects of high power ultrasonic vibration on the cold compaction of titanium

Titanium has widely been used in chemical and aerospace industries. In order to overcome the drawbacks of cold compaction of titanium, the process was assisted by an ultrasonic vibration system. For this purpose, a uniaxial ultrasonic assisted cold powder compaction system was designed and fabricated. The process variables were powder size, compaction pressure and initial powder compact thickness. Density, friction force, ejection force and spring back of the fabricated samples were measured and studied. The density was observed to improve under the action of ultrasonic vibration. Fine size powders showed better results of consolidation while using ultrasonic vibration. Under the ultrasonic action, it is thought that the friction forces between the die walls and the particles and those friction forces among the powder particles are reduced. Spring back and ejection force didn’t considerably change when using ultrasonic vibration.     

Microstructure of nanocrystalline nonstoichiometric vanadium carbide VC0.875

A nanocrystalline powder of nonstoichiometric vanadium carbide VC_0.875 has been prepared by the high-energy ball milling method. The crystal structure, microstructure, morphology, and size distribution of particles of the initial and milled powders have been investigated using X-ray diffraction, laser diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. For vanadium carbide, the model calculation of the particle size of a VC_0.875 nanopowder as a function of the milling duration has been performed for the first time. A comparison of the experimental and theoretical results has demonstrated that a nanopowder with an average particle size of 40–80 nm can be obtained by a 10-h high-energy ball milling of the initial vanadium carbide powder with an average particle size of ～6 μm.     

Production of fibroin nanopowder through electrospraying

Fibroin is a biomaterial and in the powder form, has found applications such as food and cosmetic additive as well as drug delivery. Various methods have been employed to produce fibroin powder with different particle size range. In this study, a novel and original application of electrospraying technique capable of producing fibroin nanopowder is presented. Our technique is based on electrospraying of dilute fibroin solution in formic acid. Moreover, the effect of variables in electrospraying, namely, concentration of fibroin solution, voltage, feed rate, and needle–collector distance, on average particle size of fibroin nanopowder has been studied. The result of this study showed that electrospraying is capable of producing fibroin nanopowder with average particle size as low as 80 nm. In fact in comparison to other methods reported in the literature, electrospraying alongside with the precipitation method produce fibroin nanopowder with the lowest particle size. However, nanopowder obtained through electrospraying technique enjoys a more uniform spherical shape and size. As far as the variables are concerned, it was ascertained that lower concentrations, lower feed rates and longer needle–collector distances lead to a decrease in the average particle size of fibroin nanopowder. Increasing voltage up to 20 kV decreases the particle size; but with higher voltages the average particle size increases. FT-IR and XRD studies showed that the fibroin nanopowder has a β-sheets structure, similar to fibroin filaments but with a lower crystallinity index.     

激光熔覆中金属粉末粒子与激光相互作用模型

为了对同轴激光熔覆过程中运动的金属粉末粒子的速度和温度进行理论分析,并研究各工艺参量的影响,建立了运动中金属粉末粒子的运动模型和热模型.模拟结果表明,粉嘴几何尺寸、粒子直径以及气/粉两相流初始速度是影响粒子运动行为的重要因素;粉嘴几何尺寸、激光焦点位置、激光发散角、激光功率、粒子直径以及气/粉两相流初始速度是影响粒子热行为的重要因素.在相同的工艺参量下(粉嘴出口内径r=2 mm,粉嘴倾角α=60°,初始气流速度v0=0.8 m/s),基于数字粒子图像测速(DPIV)技术,对316L不锈钢粉末粒子运动模型进行了实验验证.结果表明,运动理论模型是可靠的.该模型是掌握同轴激光熔覆过程中金属粉末粒子运动行为的有效工具;同时,热模型也是分析粉末粒子温度随不同参量变化的重要工具.     

Numerical simulation of the electrostatic powder coating process with a corona spray gun

In this paper results of investigations are described aiming to numerically simulate the electrostatic powder coating process using an extended commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. The fully three-dimensional turbulent flow was calculated. Based on the Lagrangian approach the trajectories of the powder particles were modelled considering electric and aerodynamic forces. In the calculations of the particle propagation both the particle size distribution and the particle charge distribution obtained through experiments have been applied. The model accounts for the space charge effect of the charged particles and the turbulence dispersion on the particle trajectories. It was found that the space charge plays an important role for the final spray pattern shape, also increasing the transfer efficiency. The numerical results, such as velocity profiles, static and dynamic film thickness on the target were in good agreement with experiment.     

Temperature dependence of the lowest frequency <Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">E</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Bold">g</Emphasis></Subscript> Raman mode in laser-synthesized anatase TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> nanopowder

Nanosized titanium dioxide (TiO₂) powder was prepared by a laser-induced pyrolysis. Specific surface area of the as-grown powder measured by BET method was 109 m²/g. The grain size (14.5 nm) estimated from these data coincides well with the crystallite size (12.3 nm) determined by XRD measurements. The average grain size (∼35 nm) obtained from the subsequent SEM measurements refers to considerable agglomeration of nanoparticles. Raman spectroscopy has been used to investigate the structural properties of TiO₂ nanopowder and its anatase structure is confirmed. The blueshift and broadening of the lowest frequency E_g Raman mode at temperature range ∼25–550 K have been analyzed using a phonon-confinement model. Dominant influence of the strong anharmonic effect at higher temperatures was demonstrated. PACS 81.07.Wx; 78.30.-j; 63.22.+m     

Ultrasound assisted dispersal of a copper nanopowder for electroless copper activation

This paper describes the ultrasound assisted dispersal of a low wt./vol.% copper nanopowder mixture and determines the optimum conditions for de-agglomeration. A commercially available powder was added to propan-2-ol and dispersed using a magnetic stirrer, a high frequency 850 kHz ultrasonic cell, a standard 40 kHz bath and a 20 kHz ultrasonic probe. The particle size of the powder was characterized using dynamic light scattering (DLS). Z-Average diameters (mean cluster size based on the intensity of scattered light) and intensity, volume and number size distributions were monitored as a function of time and energy input. Low frequency ultrasound was found to be more effective than high frequency ultrasound at de-agglomerating the powder and dispersion with a 20 kHz ultrasonic probe was found to be very effective at breaking apart large agglomerates containing weakly bound clusters of nanoparticles. In general, the breakage of nanoclusters was found to be a factor of ultrasonic intensity, the higher the intensity the greater the de-agglomeration and typically micron sized clusters were reduced to sub 100 nm particles in less than 30 min using optimum conditions. However, there came a point at which the forces generated by ultrasonic cavitation were either insufficient to overcome the cohesive bonds between smaller aggregates or at very high intensities decoupling between the tip and solution occurred. Absorption spectroscopy indicated a copper core structure with a thin oxide shell and the catalytic performance of this dispersion was demonstrated by drop coating onto substrates and subsequent electroless copper metallization. This relatively inexpensive catalytic suspension has the potential to replace precious metal based colloids used in electronics manufacturing.     

Pinning effect of different shape second-phase particles on grain growth in polycrystalline: numerical and analytical investigations

The pinning effect of different shape second-phase particles on the grain growth in polycrystalline structures is numerical simulated by the phase-field method. Simulation results indicate that the average grain size is highly dependent on the shape and distribution of the second-phase particles, and the shape effect of particles on grain growth restraining is enhanced with increasing numbers of particles. In order to discuss the relation between the constraint grain growth and the second-phase particles, pinning forces induced by different shape particles are theoretically calculated via the Zener pinning theory. The calculated pining forces indicate that the maximum pinning force is highly dependent on the contact mode between grains and particles, and the distance between particles has a significantly influence on the pinning forces. Therefore, controlling the shape and distributions of second-phase particles in polycrystalline metals or ceramics might be an efficient way to achieve materials with specified microstructures.     

Model for milling of powders

A model is proposed for mechanical milling of powders that relates the applied energy to average particle size D in the powders. It is shown that the milling energy is consumed for the rupture of interatomic bonds in crystalline particles and for the creation of an additional surface during powder fragmentation. The appearance of microstrains ɛ retards powder fragmentation. Average particle size D after milling decreases with increasing milling time t and decreasing particle size in the initial powder or its mass M. The calculated results are compared to the experimental data obtained on a tungsten carbide WC powder.     

Kinetics of the oxidation of an electroexplosion iron nanopowder during heating in air

The regularities of the oxidation of electroexplosion iron nanopowder, produced by the wire electric explosion, heated in air under conditions of linearly increasing temperature and in the isothermal mode are examined. The oxidation process under conditions of linear heating is demonstrated to occur stepwise due to the combined influence of the fractional composition of the powder, its phase composition, and the structure of the oxide layer formed on the surface of the particles. It is shown that, under isothermal conditions (250–600°C), the oxidation of the nanopowder, as opposed to micron-sized powders, obeys a linear law and proceeds in the kinetic regime with E _a = 100 ± 7 kJ/mol. The conditions of thermogravimetry analysis at which the thermal self-ignition of the nanopowder occurs are determined. Based on the numerical evaluation of the sample surface heating parameter, the experimentally measured critical temperature is verified.     

Fractal substructure of a nanopowder

The structural evolution of a nanopowder by repeated dispersion and settling can lead to characteristic fractal substructures. This is shown by numerical simulations of a two-dimensional model agglomerate of adhesive rigid particles. The agglomerate is cut into fragments of a characteristic size l, which then are settling under gravity. Repeating this procedure converges to a loosely packed structure, the properties of which are investigated: (a) The final packing density is independent of the initialization, (b) the short-range correlation function is independent of the fragment size, (c) the structure is fractal up to the fragmentation scale l with a fractal dimension close to 1.7, and (d) the relaxation time increases linearly with l.     

Simulation of radial pulsed magnetic compaction of a granulated medium in a quasi-static approximation

Compression adiabats for alumina-based nanopowders are obtained experimentally, various conditions of pulsed magnetic cylindrically symmetric radial compaction of the nanopowders are tested, and the density distribution in the compacted powders are measured. Using the compression adiabats obtained, quasi-static compaction of a granulated (porous) medium, which is considered to be compact, is simulated. The conditions of uniform and equilibrium compaction on a rigid rod are analyzed. The voidage distribution, stress tensor, and amount of accumulated deformation are calculated. The features of nanopowder compaction, specifically, the presence (absence) of voidage nonuniform radial distribution, are explained.     

Formation of two-dimensional ordered magnetic nanolattices in opal structures

A method of forming a two-dimensional ordered superlattice of magnetic nanoparticles in close-packed opal structures of silica (SiO₂) spheres has been developed. Nickel nanopowder with an average particle size of about 70 nm is used as a source of magnetic particles. Atomic-force and magnetic-force microscopy studies show that all magnetic particles are located in the interstices of the opal lattice, while the magnetization vectors of neighboring nickel particles can have different magnitudes and directions.     

On turbulent chemical explosions into dilute aluminum particle clouds

We use a hybrid two-phase numerical methodology to investigate the flow-field subsequent to the detonation of a spherical charge of TNT with an ambient distribution of a dilute cloud of aluminum particles. Rayleigh–Taylor instability ensues on the contact surface that separates the inner detonation products and the outer shock-compressed air due to interphase interaction, which grows in time and results in a mixing layer where the detonation products afterburn with the air. At early times, the ambient particles are completely engulfed into the detonation products, where they pick up heat and ignite, pick up momentum and disperse. Subsequently, as they disperse radially outwards, they interact with the temporally growing Rayleigh–Taylor structures, and the vortex rings around the hydrodynamic structures results in the clustering of the particles by also introducing local transverse dispersion. Then the particles leave the mixing layer and quench, yet preserve their hydrodynamic ‘footprint’ even until much later; due to this clustering, preferential heating and combustion of particles is observed. With a higher initial mass loading in the ambient cloud, larger clusters are observed due to stronger/larger hydrodynamic structures in the mixing layer – a direct consequence of more particles available to perturb the contact surface initially. With a larger particle size in the initial cloud, clustering is not observed, but when the initial cloud is wider, fewer and degenerate clusters are observed. We identify five different phases in the dispersion of the particles: (1) engulfment phase; (2) hydrodynamic instability-interaction phase; (3) first vortex-free dispersion phase; (4) reshock phase; and (5) second vortex-free dispersion phase. Finally, a theoretical Buoyancy-Drag model is used to predict the growth pattern of the ‘bubbles’ and is in agreement with the simulation results. Overall, this study has provided some useful insights on the post-detonation explosive dispersal of dilute aluminum particle clouds.     

水热合成ZnTe纳米粉的发光性能

利用Zn粉和Te粉为原材料,通过水热法在160℃下合成了ZnTe纳米粉,并用X射线衍射仪、x射线能谱仪、透射电子显微镜和显微Raman光谱对其进行了表征.X射线衍射谱表明合成的ZnTe具有闪锌矿结构.X射线能谱给出的结果表明合成的ZnTe中主要元素是Zn和Te,并含有杂质O.透射电子显微镜照片显示出合成的ZnTe纳米粉...     

Numerical models for ionic conduction in CuBr-TiO2 composites and for electrolysis of CuBr films

The influence of size dispersion of CuBr grains on the experimentally observed conductivity enhancement in CuBr-TiO₂ composites is investigated. Using an extension of a random resistor network model recently introduced, we show that a bimodal size distribution can be simulated using a mean size value. Furthermore, we develop an electric breakdown model to simulate dendritic decomposition structures observed near the copper electrodes when a certain voltage is applied to thin CuBr films. Preliminary results for homogeneous systems without conductivity gradient are presented. Paper presented at the 6th Euroconference on Solid State Ionics, Cetraro, Calabria, Italy, Sept. 12–19, 1999.     

Correlation mechanism between force chains and friction mechanism during powder compaction

The relation between friction mechanism and force chains characteristics has not yet been fully studied in the powder metallurgy research area.In this work,a uniaxial compression discrete element model is established based on the compaction process of ferrous powder.Furthermore,the correlation mechanism between force chains and the friction mechanism during powder compaction is investigated.The simulation results reveal a strong correlation between the variation of the friction coefficient and the evolution of force chains.During the powder compaction,the friction coefficient would eventually tend to be stable,a feature which is also closely related to the slip ratio between particles.The side wall friction and the friction between particles would have an important effect on the direction of force chain growth in about one-third of the area near the side wall.The research results provide theoretical guidance for improving the densification process of the powder according to the force chain and friction.     

Analytical theory for the description of powder systems under compression

In this work, a new theoretical approach to modelling some properties of powder systems under compression is presented. This new theoretical route consists of modelling an actual powder system (with particles of unequal size and irregular form) by means of a system of deforming spheres in a simple cubic arrangement and with a certain global porosity that, in some way, makes it equivalent to the actual one. The study of the evolution of the effective contact area between particles and the effective path of the electric or thermal flow through the powder aggregate is the starting point for establishing the equivalence relationship between the actual system and the simple cubic one. In order to exemplify the utility of this new theoretical tool, two classic problems of practical interest have been studied: the electrical conduction in sintered powders and the law governing the powders’ cold die compaction. The proposed solutions to these problems, as well as the equations allowing one to obtain the equivalence relationship, are validated by experiments carried out in actual powder systems.     

Dynamic forces on agglomerated particles caused by high-intensity ultrasound

In this paper the acoustic forces on particles and agglomerates caused by high-intensity ultrasound in gaseous atmosphere are derived by means of computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Sound induced forces cause an oscillating stress scenario where the primary particles of an agglomerate are alternatingly pressed together and torn apart with the frequency of the applied wave. A comparison of the calculated acoustic forces with respect to the inter particle adhesion forces from Van-der-Waals and liquid bridge interactions reveals that the separation forces may reach the same order of magnitude for 80 μm sized SiO₂-particles. Hence, with finite probability acoustically agitated gases may de-agglomerate/disperse solid agglomerate structures. This effect is confirmed by dispersion experiments in an acoustic particle levitation setup.     

颗粒介质尺度效应的抗剪试验及物理机理分析

针对颗粒介质力学特性的颗粒尺度效应研究,选用土矿物颗粒制备不同颗粒尺度的抗剪试样,进行一系列直剪快剪和三轴抗剪试验,测得了不同颗粒粒径和体分比试样的变形曲线及剪应力强度;基于颗粒间微观作用力与重力比值和胞元体模型,首次从微观和细观角度解释颗粒尺度效应的物理机理.结果表明,随着介质中粗颗粒的比例增加和粒径减小,介质变形特性增强,剪应力强度也随之提高;体分比对变形和强度特性的影响比粒径的影响更加显著.基于介质特性尺度效应物理机理分析,提出衡量介质颗粒聚集和摩擦效应的微重比判别参数以及应变梯度和变形协调微裂纹引起颗粒尺度效应的细观机理解释;文中提出的胞元体模型大大减少了颗粒物质体系的计算自由度,为工业和工程设计的计算建模提供一种可行途径.