SANS investigation on evolution of pore morphology for varying sintering time in porous ceria

Precipitates of ceria were synthesized by homogeneous precipitation method using cerium nitrate and hexamethylenetetramine at 80°C. The precipitates were ground to fine particles of average size ∼0.7 μm. Circular disks with 10 mm diameter, 2 and 3 mm thickness were prepared from the green compacts by sintering at 1300° C for three different sintering times. Evolution of the pore structures in these specimens with sintering time was investigated by small-angle neutron scattering (SANS). The results show that the peak of the pore size distribution shifts towards the larger size with increasing sintering time although the extent of porosity decreases. This indicates that finer pores are eliminated from the system at a faster rate than the coarser ones as sintering proceeds and some of the finer pores coalesce to form bigger ones.     

Kinetically Controlled Layer-by-Layer Stacking of Metal Oxide 2D Nanosheets

An efficient chemical way to finely control the layer-by-layer stacking of inorganic nanosheets (NS) is developed by tuning the type and composition of intercalant ion, and the reaction temperature for restacking process. The finely controlled stacking of NS relies on a kinetic control of the self-assembly of NS in the presence of coordinating organic cations. A critical role of organic cations in this assembly highlights the importance of the appropriate activation energy. Of prime importance is that a fine-control of the interstratification of 2D NS is highly effective not only in tailoring its pore structure but also in enhancing its electrode activity. The present study clearly demonstrates that the kinetically controlled restacking of NS provides a facile and powerful method to tailor their stacking number and functionality.     

Numerical Solution and Sensitivity Analysis of Pore Liquid Pressure and Cake Porosity to Model Parameters

Filter cake formation is important in groundwater and oil wells where drilling contains suspended mud particles. The accumulation of these mud particles on the borehole wall creates a pressure drop in the well. Furthermore, the migration of colloidal particles into adjacent porous rock could damage the formation and cause productivity decline. In this study, numerical solutions for pore liquid pressure variation across the cake with variable total stress and associated porosity variation are obtained. Mass equations for captured and suspended particles are averaged along the mud cake thickness, taking into account conditions on the cake surface and at the filter septum. The variability of total stress in soil consolidations problem is considered to determine the pore liquid pressure along the mud cake thickness. Then, the relation between porosity and pressure is studied to determine the mud cake porosity. Experimental data obtained by various researchers is used to compare and test the validity of numerical solutions to develop guidelines for model applications. Results show that the pore liquid pressure increases with the decrease of membrane impedance value (i.e. less pervious membrane). Also, the pressure profile has a cubic function of dimensionless cake thickness. The conclusions from the sensitivity analysis conducted in this study agree with earlier conclusions.     

Mean field calculation of effective permeability based on fractal pore space

Effective permeability for porous rocks is calculated using mean field theory. We make two simplifying assumptions about the internal conductances in a network representation of the porous rock: (i) Pore space is characterized by a uniform fractal scaling; (ii) the internal conductances depend only on the characteristic pore sizes. Within these approximations, it is possible to derive a simple probability density for the internal conductances which is used for calculating effective permeability. Good agreement between calculations and experimental data of permeability vs. porosity is achieved.     

Non-gaussian diffusion modeling in composite porous media by homogenization: Tail effect

In the paper anomalous diffusion appearing in a porous medium composed of two porous components of considerably different diffusion characteristics is examined. The differences in diffusivities are supposed to result either from two medium types being present or from variations in pore size (double porosity media). The long-tail effect is predicted using the homogenization approach based on the application of multiple scale asymptotic developments. It is shown that, if the ratio of effective diffusion coefficients of two porous media is of the order of magnitude smaller or equal O( ²), where is a homogenization parameter, then the macroscopic behaviour of the composite may be affected by the presence of tail-effect. The results of the theoretical analysis were applied to a problem of diffusion in a bilaminate composite. Analytical calculations were performed to show the presence of the long-tail effect in two particular cases.Notations c _i the concentration of chemical species in water within the medium i - D _i the effective diffusion coefficient for the medium i - D _ij ^eff the macroscopic (or effective) diffusion tensor in the composite - ERV the elementary representative volume - h the thickness of the period - l a chracteristic length of the ERV or the periodic cell - L a characteristic macroscopic length - n the volumetric fraction of the material 2 - 1–n the volumetric fraction of the material 1 - N the unit vector normal to - t the time variable - x the macroscopic (or slow) space variable - y the microscopic (or fast) space variable - c _1c ,C _2c ,D _1c ,D _2c the characteristic quantities - T,T _1L ,T _2L ,T _1l ,T _2l the characteristic times - c ₁ ^* ,c ₂ ^* ,D ₁ ^* ,D ₂ ^* ,t ^* the non-dimensional variables - the homogenization parameter - ₁ the domain occupied by the material 1 - ₂ the domain occupied by the material 2 - the interface between the domains 1 and 2 - the total volume of the periodic cell - /x_i the gradient operator - the gradient operator     

Structural dynamics and stability analysis of 2D-FG microbeams with two-directional porosity distribution and variable material length scale parameter

Abstract

Since the two-directional functionally graded (2D-FG) materials can satisfy the new requirements raised based on the elimination of the stress concentration, delamination and cracking problems accompanying with the low cost and lightweight on the structures without sacrificing the stiffness and strength, the structural analyses of these structures become more important than ever. Moreover, the usage of the micro-electromechanical systems composed of 2D-FG materials has been increasing in automotive, military, space, biomedical, and nuclear energy industries. Within this study, the free vibration and buckling behaviors of 2D-FG porous microbeams are investigated based on the modified couple stress theory by employing a transverse shear-normal deformation beam theory and using finite element method. The effects of the thickness to material length scale parameter (MLSP) accompanying with the micro-porosity volume fraction ratio, boundary condition, aspect ratio, and gradient index on the dimensionless fundamental frequencies and dimensionless critical buckling loads of the 2D-FG porous microbeams are investigated. Moreover, with assumption of the variable material length scale parameters (VMLSP), the computed results are compared with ones obtained by employing constant MLSP. It is found that VMLSP increases the stiffness of the 2D-FG porous microbeams and effects the free vibration and buckling responses of these structures.     

EFFECT OF DAMAGE EVOLUTION ON POISSON’S RATIO OF CONCRETE UNDER SULFATE ATTACK

Experimental results about concrete under sulfate attack are summarized,which include the variation of mass density of samples and velocity of ultrasonic wave propagating in samples.The evolution damage is analyzed in terms of the experimental results,and close attention is paid to the effect of damage evolution on Poisson’s ratio.This study shows that Poisson’s ratio is significantly affected by the concentration of solution and water-cement ratio.Poisson’s ratio of concrete changes very little when the water-cement ratio is selected as 0.6 or 0.8,so that such change may be neglected.If water-cement is 0.4,however,the Poisson’s ratio of the sample significantly changes.When the concrete sample of 0.4 water-cement ratio is immersed in sodium sulfate solution of 8% concentration for 285 days,Poisson’s ratio increase 10.14% compared with its initial value.There exist a sensitive region and a non-sensitive region for the change rate of Poisson’s ratio with respect to corrosion time.The change rate of Poisson’s ratio monotonously decreases with corrosion time in the sensitive region;in the non-sensitive region,the change rate of Poisson’s ratio is almost equal to zero.     

One-pot Synthesis of a Truncated Cone-shaped Porphyrin Macrocycle and Its Self-assembly into Permanent Porous Material

Here, we report the synthesis of a truncated cone-shaped triangular porphyrinic macrocycle, P₃L₃ , via a single step imine condensation of a cis-diaminophenylporphyrin and a bent dialdehyde-based linker as building units. X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that the truncated cone-shaped P₃L₃ molecules are stacked on top of each other by π⋯π and CH⋯π interactions, to form 1.7 nm wide hollow columns in the solid state. The formation of the triangular macrocycle is corroborated by quantum chemical calculations. The permanent porosity of the P₃L₃ crystals is demonstrated by several gas sorption experiments and powder X-ray diffraction analysis.     

Reducing Occupational Noise Propagated from Centrifugal Fan through Dissipative Silencers: A Field Study

Acoustic performance of dissipative silencer was evaluated to determine the effectiveness of perforated duct porosity and absorbent material density in reducing occupational noise exposure propagated from centrifugal fan. Design charts were applied to predict noise reduction and length of a dissipative silencer. Dissipative silencers with various punched duct porosity (14%, 30% and 40%) and sound absorbent density (80 Kg/m³, 120 Kg/m³, and 140 Kg/m³) were designed and fabricated. According to ISO9612 and ISO11820, noise level was measured before and after installing all nine test silencers at fixed workstations around the discharge side of a centrifugal fan in a manufacturing plant. On average, the noise level at the discharge side of a fan without silencer was measured to be 93.6 dBA, whereas it was significantly mitigated by 67.4 dBA to 70.1 dBA after installing all silencers. Dynamic insertion loss for a dissipative silencer with 100 cm length was predicted to be 27.9 dB, which was in agreement with experimental ones. Although, there was no significant differences between insertion loss of silencers, the one with 30% porosity and 120 Kg/m³ rock wool density had the highest insertion loss of 26.2 dBA. Dissipative silencers noticeably reduced centrifugal fan noise exposures. Increasing sound absorbent density and duct porosity up to a certain limit could probably be effective in noise reduction of dissipative silencers.