Thermoforming carbon fibre-reinforced thermoplastic composites

The use of carbon fibre composites is growing in many sectors but their use remains stronger in very high value industries such as aerospace where the demands of the application more easily justify the high energy input needed and the corresponding costs incurred. This energy and cost input is returned through gains over the whole life of the product, with for example, longer maintenance intervals for an aircraft and lower fuel burn. Thermoplastic composites however have a different energy and cost profile compared to traditional thermosets with notable differences in recyclability, but this profile is not well quantified or documented. This study considers the key process control parameters and identifies an optimal window for processing, along with the effect this has on the final characteristics of the manufactured parts. Interactions between parameters and corresponding sensitivities are extracted from the results.

Low pressure carbon dioxide solubility in pure electrolyte solvents for lithium-ion batteries as a function of temperature. Measurement and prediction

Experimental values for the carbon dioxide solubility in eight pure electrolyte solvents for lithium ion batteries – such as ethylene carbonate (EC), propylene carbonate (PC), dimethyl carbonate (DMC), ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC), diethyl carbonate (DEC), ?-butyrolactone (?BL), ethyl acetate (EA) and methyl propionate (MP) – are reported as a function of temperature from (283 to 353) K and atmospheric pressure. Based on experimental solubility data, the Henry’s law constant of the carbon dioxide in these solvents was then deduced and compared with reported values from the literature, as well as with those predicted by using COSMO-RS methodology within COSMOthermX software and those calculated by the Peng–Robinson equation of state implemented into Aspen plus. From this work, it appears that the CO2 solubility is higher in linear carbonates (such as DMC, EMC, DEC) than in cyclic ones (EC, PC, ?BL). Furthermore, the highest CO2 solubility was obtained in MP and EA solvents, which are comparable to the solubility values reported in classical ionicliquids. The precision and accuracy of the experimental values, considered as the per cent of the relative average absolute deviations of the Henry’s law constants from appropriate smoothing equations and from literature values, are close to (1% and 15%), respectively. From the variation of the Henry’s law constants with temperature, the partial molar thermodynamic functions of dissolution such as the standard Gibbs free energy, the enthalpy, and the entropy are calculated, as well as the mixing enthalpy of the solvent with CO2 in its hypothetical liquid state.

Effect of a biofilm on the adsorption of 4-chlorophenol on activated carbon

The adsorption of 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) on activated carbon was studied experimentally both in the presence and in the absence of an inactivated anaerobic biofilm on the surface of carbon pellets. The presence of the biofilm markedly decreased the rate of 4-CP adsorption. However, the final near-equilibrium state (at 27 h) was not affected, and the incremental amount of material adsorbed on the pellets was similar both in the presence and in the absence of the biofilm. The biosorption of 4-CP by a biofilm coating non-adsorbing pellets was also determined. It appears that the biofilm also has some adsorption capability. Freundlich-type equations were used to correlate all data, and transient and near-equilibrium isotherms were obtained for 4-CP adsorption on different adsorbing materials at different times.

Effect of Carbon Reduction on the Toughness of 9CrWVTaN Steels

Nitride-strengthened, reduced activation, martensitic steel is anticipated to have higher creep strength because of the remarkable thermal stability of nitrides. Two nitride-strengthened, reduced activation martensitic steels with different carbon contents were prepared to investigate the microstructure and mechanical property changes with decreasing carbon content. It has been found that both steels had the microstructure of full martensite with fine nitrides dispersed homogeneously in the matrix and displayed extremely high strength but poor toughness. Compared with the steel with low carbon content (0.005 pct in wt pct), the steel with high carbon content (0.012 pct in wt pct) had not only the higher strength but also the higher impact toughness and grain coarsening temperature, which was related to the carbon content. On the one hand, carbon reduction led to Ta-rich inclusions; on the other hand, the grain grew larger when normalized at high temperature because of the absence of Ta carbonitrides, which would decrease impact toughness. The complicated Al2O3 inclusions in the two steels have been revealed to be responsible for the initiated cleavage fracture by acting as the critical cracks.

Postbuckling Behaviour of Hat Stiffened Thin Skinned Carbon Fibre Composite Panels

The results of a combined experimental and numerical study of hat-stiffened co-cured carbon-fibre composite panels loaded in uniaxial compression are presented. All panels consisted of two integrated stiffeners separated by an eight-ply thick skin bay of lay-up [*45/0190], . The effects of a 100 mm circular cutout in the skin was also investigated. The ultimate strength of all panels was governed by the load carrying capacity of the stiffeners. A change in the skin's buckling mode-shape was also observed for all panels loaded deep in the postbuckling region. The strains induced at the interior free-edge were not found to be critical. Non-linear finite element results correlated well with the prebuckling and initial postbuckling strain and displacements results obtained by experiment.

Low pressure carbon dioxide solubility in lithium-ion batteries based electrolytes as a function of temperature. Measurement and prediction

We present in this study the effect of nature and concentration of lithium salt, such as the lithium hexafluorophosphate, LiPF6; lithium tris(pentafluoroethane)-trifluorurophosphate LiFAP; lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, LiTFSI, on the CO2 solubility in four electrolytes for lithium ion batteries based on pure solvent that include ethylene carbonate (EC), dimethyl carbonate (DMC), ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC), diethyl carbonate (DEC), as well as, in the EC:DMC, EC:EMC and EC:DEC (50:50) wt.% binary mixtures as a function of temperature from (283 to 353) K and atmospheric pressure. Based on experimental solubility values, the Henry’s law constant of the carbon dioxide in these solutions with the presence or absence of lithium salt was then deduced and compared with reported values from the literature, as well as with those predicted by using COSMO-RS methodology within COSMOThermX software. From this study, it appears that the addition of 1 mol · dm-3 LiPF6 salt in alkylcarbonate solvents decreases their CO2 capture capacity. By using the same experimental conditions, an opposite CO2 solubility trend was generally observed in the case of the addition of LiFAP or LiTFSI salts in these solutions. Additionally, in all solutions investigated during this work, the CO2 solubility is greater in electrolytes containing the LiFAP salt, followed by those based on the LiTFSI case. The precision and accuracy of the experimental data reported therein, which are close to (1 and 15)%, respectively. From the variation of the Henry’s law constant with temperature, the partial molar thermodynamic functions of dissolution such as the standard Gibbs energy, the enthalpy, and the entropy, as well as the mixing enthalpy of the solvent with CO2 in its hypothetical liquid state were calculated. Finally, a quantitative analysis of the CO2 solubility evolution was carried out in the EC:DMC (50:50) wt.% binary mixture as the function of the LiPF6 or LiTFSI concentration in solution to elucidate how ionic species modify the CO2 solubility in alkylcarbonates-based Li-ion electrolytes by investigating the salting effects at T = 298.15 K and atmospheric pressure.

Exciton-Plasmon States in Nanoscale Materials: Breakdown of the Tamm-Dancoff Approximation

Within the Tamm-Dancoff approximation, ab initio approaches describe excitons as packets of electron-hole pairs propagating only forward in time. However, we show that in nanoscale materials excitons and plasmons hybridize, creating exciton-plasmon states where the electron-hole pairs oscillate back and forth in time. Then, as exemplified by the trans-azobenzene molecule and the carbon nanotubes, the Tamm-Dancoff approximation yields errors larger than the accuracy claimed in ab initio calculations. Instead, we propose a general and efficient approach that avoids the Tamm-Dancoff approximation, correctly describes excitons, plasmons, and exciton-plasmon states, and provides a good agreement with experimental results.

Nanoporous metal organic framework materials for hydrogen storage

Hydrogen is expected to play an important role in future transportation as a promising alternative clean energy source to carbon-based fuels. One of the key challenges to commercialize hydrogen energy is to develop appropriate onboard hydrogen storage systems, capable of charging and discharging large quantities of hydrogen with fast enough kinetics to meet commercial requirements. Metal organic framework (MOF) is a new type of inorganic and organic hybrid nanoporous particulate materials. Its diverse networks can enhance hydrogen storage through tuning the structure and property of MOFs. The MOF materials so far developed adsorb hydrogen through weak dispersion interactions, which allow significant quantity of hydrogen to be stored at cryogenic temperatures with fast kinetics. Novel MOFs are being developed to strengthen the interactions between hydrogen and MOFs in order to store hydrogen under ambient conditions. This review surveys the development of such candidate materials, their performance and future research needs. (C) 2009 Chinese Society of Particuology and Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.