Improving the time-resolution and signal-to-noise ratio of ultrasonic NDE signals

Ultrasonic testing signals are sometimes hard to interpret because of low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) or overlapping echoes. The combination of Wiener filtering and autoregressive spectral extrapolation has proven to be capable of improving the SNR and time resolution. However, these signal processing techniques are not sufficiently robust to be used in industrial non-destructive testing applications. This is mostly due to arbitrary manner of selection of the signal processing parameters associated with these techniques. In this paper, a new approach, which eliminates the need for arbitrary assignment of some of the parameters is described. This new approach is more robust and suitable for practical applications, and is demonstrated by considering both simulated and experimental signals.     

Substituent effects on cyclonona‐3,5,7‐trienylidenes: a quest for stable carbenes at density functional theory level

Nine boat‐shaped cyclonona‐3,5,7‐trienylidenes are compared and contrasted with respect to their multiplicity, nucleophilicity, electrophilicity, band gap (ΔE_{HOMO ? LUMO}), Natural bond orbital (NBO) atomic charge, force constant, as well as the aptitude for dimerization, and rearrangement through proper isodesmic reactions at B3LYP/AUG‐cc‐pVTZ and B3LYP/6‐311++G**//B3LYP/6‐31+G* levels of theory. The nine cyclic carbenes include unsubstituted (1_CH2) plus eight α‐cyclopropylcyclonona‐3,5,7‐trienylidenes, which are substituted with ?‐SiMe₂, ?‐NMe, ?‐PMe, ?‐O, ?‐S, ?‐CH₂, ?‐cyclopropyl, and ?‐CMe₂ (2_SiMe2, 2_NMe, 2_PMe, 2_O, 2_S, 2_CH2, 2_cyclopropyl, and 2_CMe2, respectively). The latter eight species enjoy the stabilizing interaction of the occupied Walsh orbital of cyclopropyl with the vacant p_π orbital of the carbene center (Walsh_cyclopropyl → p_{π carbene}). Among them, the singlet closed shell 2_NMe appears the most promising for exhibiting the highest relative singlet–triplet energy gap (ΔE_{s ? t} = 27.1 kcal mol^?1). In contrast, the least stable derivative is triplet 2_SiMe2, which exhibits the lowest relative ΔE_{s ? t} of ?5.5 kcal mol^?1. The overall trend of ΔE_s‐t is 2_NMe > 2_PMe > 2_S > 2_O > 2_cyclopropyl > 2_CMe2 > 2_CH2 > 1_CH2 > 2_SiMe2. With one negative force constant, the unsubstituted 1_CH2 turns out to be a transition state, whereas the rest emerge as minima. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An effective computational algorithm for rate-independent crystal plasticity based on a single crystal yield surface with an application to tube hydroforming

Up to now, several computational methods have been proposed for crystal plasticity models. The main objective of these computational methods has been to overcome the problem with the non-uniqueness of active slip systems during the plastic deformation of a single crystal. Crystal plasticity models based on a single crystal yield function have been proposed as alternative algorithms to overcome this problem. But the problem with these models is that they use a highly non-linear yield function for the crystal, which makes them computationally expensive. In this paper, a computational method is proposed that would modify a single crystal yield function in order to make it computationally efficient. Also to better capture experimental data, a new parameter is introduced into the single crystal yield function to make it more flexible. For verification, this crystal plasticity model was directly applied for the simulation of hydroforming of an extruded aluminum tube under complex strain paths. It was found that the current model is considerably faster than the previous crystal plasticity model based on a power-law type single crystal yield surface. Due to its computational efficiency, the current crystal plasticity model can also be used to calculate the anisotropy coefficients of phenomenological yield functions.     

Finite element modeling of tube hydroforming of polycrystalline aluminum alloy extrusions

Finite element modeling of tube hydroforming requires information about the anisotropy of the extruded aluminum tube. Unlike sheet metals, the complex geometry of extruded tubes makes it difficult, except in extrusion direction, to directly measure material properties. Therefore, polycrystalline models provide a good alternative for calculating the anisotropy of the tube in all directions and under various loading conditions. Using a rate-independent single crystal yield surface and rigid plasticity, a Taylor-type polycrystalline model was developed and implemented into ABAQUS/Explicit finite element (FE) code using VUMAT. The constitutive model was then used to calculate the crystallographic texture evolution during the hydroforming of an extruded aluminum tube. Initial crystallographic texture measured using orientation imaging microscopy (OIM) and uniaxial tensile test data obtained along the extrusion direction were input to this FEA model. In order to efficiently and practically simulate the tube hydroforming process using the polycrystalline model, sensitivity to the number of grain orientation, total simulation time, and number of finite elements were studied. Predicted results agreed very well with experimentally measured strain obtained from tube hydroforming process.     

Synthesis, spectral characterization, and structural investigation of mononuclear salen-type Cu(II) and Zn(II) complexes of a potentially octadentate N2O6 Schiff base ligand derived from binaphthol

A new potentially octadentate N₂O₆ Schiff base ligand, H₂L derived from the condensation of 2,2′-(1,1′-binaphthyl-2,2′-diylbis(oxy))dianiline and o-vanillin, along with its copper(II) and zinc(II) complexes, is synthesized and has been characterized by elemental analyses, IR, UV–vis, ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectra, as well as conductivity measurements. H₂L forms mononuclear complexes of 1:1 (metal:ligand) stoichiometry with Cu(II) and Zn(II), and conductivity data confirm the non-electrolyte nature of these complexes. The [ZnL] and [CuL] complexes display very different solid-state structures, as determined by X-ray crystallography. While the [ZnL] complex has a distorted octahedral geometry about the metal, the [CuL] complex displays a distorted square planar geometry about the copper, with long Cu–O(ether) distances of 2.667 Å.     

Carbon Doping of Defect Sites in Stone–Wales Defective Boron-nitride Nanotubes: A Density Functional Theory Study

We have performed a density functional theory study to investigate the effect of carbon doping on Stone–Wales (SW) defective sites in the armchair (4, 4), (5, 5) and (6, 6) BNNTs, in order to remove structural instability induced by homonuclear N–N and B–B bonds. Two different orientations of SW defect are considered, parallel and diagonal, and then C atoms are doped at different positions of the defect sites. In general, it seems that among the considered arrangements, C atoms prefer to be substituted for the homonuclear B–B bond. The larger HOMO–LUMO band gaps for the most stable configurations indicate that C doping at B–B sites is kinetically more favorable than the other ones. According to calculated nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) parameters as a result of C-doping on SW defective sites, the quadrupole coupling constants (C _Q ) of boron nuclei at defective sites decrease by about 0.508–1.406 MHz while ¹⁴N C _Q of the defective sites, except for N₈, increases. Interestingly, C _Q of the N sites directly connected to dopant sites has maximum increment (0.612–2.596 MHz) while C _Q of the N sites belonging to the B₂N₃ pentagon is undergone to some minor changes.     

One-Step Synthesis of Electron-Poor Alkenes from Triphenylphosphine,Acetylenic Esters, 2,2,2-Trichloroethanol,and Ninhydrin

Protonation of the highly reactive 1:1 intermediates, produced in the reaction between triphenylphosphine and dialkyl acetylenedicarboxylates, by 2,2,2-trichloroethanol leads to vinyltriphenylphosphonium salts, which undergo a Michael addition reaction with a conjugate base to produce the corresponding chlorine-containing stabilized phosphorus ylides. An intermolecular Wittig reaction of the chlorine-containing stabilized phosphorus ylides with ninhydrin leads to the corresponding highly electron-poor chlorine-containing alkenes.     

Dmap-Catalyzed Synthesis of Novel Pyrrolo[2,3-D]Pyrimidine Derivatives Bearing an Aromatic Sulfonamide Moiety

4-(N,N-Dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP), with a dual role as a basic nucleophilic catalyst, was shown to be a highly efficient catalyst for the synthesis of some new N-(2-aryl-7-benzyl-5,6-diphenyl-7H-pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidin-4-yl)benzenesulfonamides through the reaction of 2-aryl-7-benzyl-5,6-diphenyl-7H-pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidin-4-amines (7-deazaadenines) with benzenesulfonyl chlorides. It was also found that the use of DMAP under solvent-free conditions is much more effective than other catalytic systems such as pyridine as both the catalyst and solvent, t-BuOK in t-BuOH, Et₃N in ethanol (EtOH), and even DMAP in dimethylformamide (DMF). The influences of the reaction parameters, temperature, and the catalyst amount, on the catalytic performance have been studied. All synthetic compounds were characterized on the basis of their full spectral data.     

Antibiotic enhanced dopamine polymerization for engineering antifouling and antimicrobial membranes

In this work,we adopt a new tobramycin(TOB)-dopamine coating system to endow thin film composite membranes with excellent antifouling and antimicrobial properties.Combining the hydrophilic and antibiofouling properties of both TOB and polydopamine,the TOB-dopamine modified membrane exhibits improved antifouling and antimicrobial properties compared with the conventional dopamine modified and unmodified membranes.The TOB-dopamine system has two advantages over the conventional modification with dopamine and tris buffer solution.First,TOB-dopamine modification is more efficient than the conventional dopamine modification due to the accelerating effect of TOB on dopamine polymerization.Second,the TOB-dopamine modified membranes exhibit better hydrophilicity,and enhanced antifouling and antimicrobial properties than the conventional dopamine modified membrane.Beyond engineering membranes,the proposed TOB-dopamine system can also be extended for wider surface hydrophilic and antimicrobial modifications.