Synthesis and characterization of nanocrystalline α-Al2O3 using Al and Fe2O3 (hematite) through mechanical alloying

In this present work, the synthesis of nanocrystalline α-Al₂O₃ using pure aluminum (Al) and Fe₂O₃ (hematite) as the precursors by mechanical alloying technique has been studied. The formation of α-Al₂O₃ nanocrystallites occurs during the solid-state reaction and through the reduction treatment. Also in this paper, effects of milling time on particle size and the lattice strain nanocrystalline α-Al₂O₃ have been investigated. Obtained powders were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), differential thermal analysis (DTA), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The obtained results indicated that a reduction reaction was completed after 2 h milling in a planetary mill. The crystallite size of obtained α-alumina (α-Al₂O₃) was in general about 12 nm. Finally, the results showed appropriate homogeneity and dispersion of related nanocrystalline.     

Transitivity of generic semigroups of area-preserving surface diffeomorphisms

We prove that the action of the semigroup generated by a C ^r generic pair of area-preserving diffeomorphisms of a compact orientable surface is transitive.     

Altermatic number of categorical product of graphs

In this paper, we prove some relaxations of Hedetniemi’s conjecture in terms of altermatic number and strong altermatic number of graphs, two combinatorial parameters introduced by the present authors Alishahi and Hajiabolhassan (2015) providing two sharp lower bounds for the chromatic number of graphs. In terms of these parameters, we also introduce some sharp lower bounds for the chromatic number of the categorical product of two graphs. Using these lower bounds, we present some new families of graphs supporting Hedetniemi’s conjecture.     

F,Cl, Br Doped Ge44 and Al22P22 Nanocages As Anode Electrode Materials of Li,Na, and K ion Batteries

Russian Journal of Physical Chemistry A - In this study, the potential of Ge44 and Al22P22 as anode electrodes of Li-ion, Na-ion, and K-ion batteries were investigated via density functional...     

Efficient simulation of wave propagation in heterogeneous materials

In this contribution we explain the core idea of the recently proposed spectral cell method, which combines a fictitious domain approach with finite elements of high order and noticeably relieves the burden of mesh generation. Moreover, it employs mass lumping techniques and significantly reduces the computational expenditure. Our studies show that the spectral cell method leads to similar results yet with less computational effort as compared to standard techniques. These properties turn the method to a viable tool for the wave propagation analysis of structures that obey a complicated geometry. (© 2014 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

A high-order enrichment strategy for the finite cell method

Thanks to the application of the immersed boundary approach in the finite cell method, the mesh can be defined independently from the geometry. Although this leads to a significant simplification of the mesh generation, it might cause difficulties in the solution. One of the possible difficulties will occur if the exact solution of the underlying problem exhibits a kink inside an element, for instance at material interfaces. In such a case, the solution turns out less smooth – and the convergence rate is deteriorated if no further measures are taken into account. In this paper, we explore a remedy by considering the partition of unity method. The proposed approach allows to define enrichment functions with the help of a high-order implicit representation of the material interface. (© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Speciation of chromium in environmental samples by dual electromembrane extraction system followed by high performance liquid chromatography

This study proposes the dual electromembrane extraction followed by high performance liquid chromatography for selective separation-preconcentration of Cr(VI) and Cr(III) in different environmental samples. The method was based on the electrokinetic migration of chromium species toward the electrodes with opposite charge into the two different hollow fibers. The extractant was then complexed with ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate for HPLC analysis. The effects of analytical parameters including pH, type of organic solvent, sample volume, stirring rate, time of extraction and applied voltage were investigated. The results showed that Cr(III) and Cr(VI) could be simultaneously extracted into the two different hollow fibers. Under optimized conditions, the analytes were quantified by HPLC instrument, with acceptable linearity ranging from 20 to 500 μg L⁻¹ (R² values ≥ 0.9979), and repeatability (RSD) ranging between 9.8% and 13.7% (n = 5). Also, preconcentration factors of 21.8–33 that corresponded to recoveries ranging from 31.1% to 47.2% were achieved for Cr(III) and Cr(VI), respectively. The estimated detection limits (S/N ratio of 3:1) were less than 5.4 μg L⁻¹. Finally, the proposed method was successfully applied to determine Cr(III) and Cr(VI) species in some real water samples.