Effect of Seawater Environment on the Structure and Performance of Basalt Continuous Fiber

Basalt continuous fibers (BFs) have been widely applied in the construction industry including marine applications, however, the corrosion mechanism of BFs in a seawater environment is still not well understood. In this work, we explored the effect of the seawater environment on the weight loss, tensile strength, surface morphology, and microstructure structure of BFs via soaking the BFs in seawater solutions at different temperatures and durations. Results show that the weight loss ratio of BFs decreases at the first stage (around 18 h) of soaking at 80 °C, 85 °C, and 90 °C and then increases for longer soaking durations, while the tensile strength has the opposite change. This enhancement of tensile strength and chemical resistance (at the first stage of seawater soaking) is dominated by the ion-exchange induced ‘blunting’ mechanism, even though the results from a Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectrometer and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) revealed the damaging of the Si–O–Si tetrahedral structure during the corrosion process. This work revealed the full corrosion process and corresponding mechanism of BFs in a seawater environment.

The Impact of N2-Assisted High-Pressure Processing on the Microorganisms and Quality Indices of Fresh-Cut Bell Peppers

This work aimed to evaluate the effects of N2-assisted high-pressure processing (HPP, 400 MPa/7.5 min and 500 MPa/7.5 min) on the microorganisms and physicochemical, nutritional, and sensory characteristics of fresh-cut bell peppers (FCBP) during 25 days of storage at 4 °C. Yeasts and molds were not detected, and the counts of total aerobic bacteria were less than 4 log10 CFU/g during storage at 4 °C. The total soluble solids and L* values were maintained in HPP-treated FCBP during storage. After the HPP treatment, an 18.7–21.9% weight loss ratio and 54–60% loss of hardness were found, and the polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity was significantly inactivated (33.87–55.91% of its original activity). During storage, the weight loss ratio and PPO activity of the samples increased significantly, but the hardness of 500 MPa/7.5 min for treated FCBP showed no significant change (9.79–11.54 N). HPP also effectively improved the total phenol content and antioxidant capacity of FCBP to 106.69–108.79 mg GAE/100 g and 5.76–6.55 mmol Trolox/L; however, a non-negligible reduction in total phenols, ascorbic acid, and antioxidant capacity was found during storage. Overall, HPP treatments did not negatively impact the acceptability of all sensory attributes during storage, especially after the 500 MPa/7.5 min treatment. Therefore, N2-assisted HPP processing is a good choice for the preservation of FCBP.

Microstructure and Properties of Glass Fiber-Reinforced Polyamide/Nylon Microcellular Foamed Composites

The automobile and aerospace industries require lightweight and high-strength structural parts. Nylon-based microcellular foamed composites have the characteristics of high strength and the advantages of being lightweight as well as having a low production cost and high product dimensional accuracy. In this work, the glass fiber-reinforced nylon foams were prepared through microcellular injection molding with supercritical fluid as the blowing agent. The tensile strength and weight loss ratio of microcellular foaming composites with various injection rates, temperatures, and volumes were investigated through orthogonal experiments. Moreover, the correlations between dielectric constant and injection volume were also studied. The results showed that the “slow–fast” injection rate, increased temperature, and injection volume were beneficial to improving the tensile strength and strength/weight ratios. Meanwhile, the dielectric constant can be decreased by building the microcellular structure in nylon, which is associated with the weight loss ratio extent closely.

Comprehensive Evaluation of the Accelerated Aging Law of NEPE Propellants

In order to study the accelerated aging law of nitrate ester plasticized polyether (NEPE) propellants, the mechanical properties, weight loss, adhesive network structure fracture, and stability of NEPE propellants during storage were analyzed. The results show that the maximum tensile strength σm shows good change law with the increase of storage time, and the failure of NEPE propellants is mainly strength failure. The content of the stabilizer decreased with the increase of storage time. With the prolongation of storage time, the weight loss ratio increases gradually with good regularity. The decomposition of the components in the propellant leads to the degradation of the polyethylene glycol (PEG) network structure. The thermal decomposition of the nitrate plasticizer in NEPE propellants will occur, and the products will cause the adhesive network structure to decompose and break the chain, leading to the destruction of the matrix structure. The thermal decomposition of the propellant has temperature-increasing rate dependency.

Effects of Thiourea Stripping of 14 Karat White Gold Alloys With the Addition of SDS Surfactant

A stripping solution with thiourea, iron(III) sulfate, and sodium dodecyl sulfate(SDS) was employed to strip Ni-based 14 karat white gold alloys, and the formation of the NiS byproduct and elimination of passivation were investigated in the presence of 0.0-0.2 g/L SDS. White gold alloy samples with a flat shape were cast by gypsum investment and were stripped using the prepared stripping solution. Subsequently, the surface morphology, elimination of the passivation layer, weight loss, microstructure, elemental composition, and electrochemical properties of the samples were analyzed by optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, precision scale, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and linear sweep voltammetry, respectively. It was found that passivation layers of the as-cast samples were removed by the suggested stripping solution. Upon the addition of SDS, the stripped sample showed a bright silver color without NiS, while the sample showed a dark tarnished appearance due to NiS formation without SDS. The weight loss ratio decreased with increasing SDS content and stabilized at 0.2 % for SDS concentrations exceeding 0.15 g/L, and the sample showed a uniformly etched microstructure. EDS results showed that NiS was formed without SDS addition, while linear sweep voltammetry results indicated that NiS formation was restrained upon SDS addition because SDS suppresses the formation of formamidine disulfide from thiourea. Thus, the suggested thiourea stripping with SDS addition was successfully applied to Ni-based 14 karat white gold alloys.

Influence of sodium carbonate addition on weight loss of bagasse alkaline black liquor during pyrolysis

To understand the effects and the mechanism of sodium carbonate (Na2CO3) addition on the bagasse alkaline black liquor (BABL) pyrolysis, the reaction variables such as temperature, heating rate, and amount of Na2CO3 addition into BABL-solids were investigated under N2 atmosphere from 50 °C to 1000 °C by thermogravimetic analysis (TGA). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the Coats–Redfern method (CRM) were employed for surface microscopic morphology observations and kinetic analysis, respectively. The results showed that Na2CO3 plays an inhibiting and promoting role during devolatilization (200 °C to 650 °C) and the reduction stages (650 °C to 1000 °C), respectively. Adding Na2CO3 into BABL-solids tends to increase the thickness of the salt layer covering the BABL-solids surface, which increases the activation energy and reduces the weight loss ratio of BABL-solids pyrolysis within 200 °C to 650 °C. Adding Na2CO3 into the BABL-solids tends to increase the number of alkaline compounds or the active site of the reduction reaction, which reduces the activation energy and increases the weight loss ratio of BABL-solids pyrolysis within 650 °C to 1000 °C. The role of Na2CO3 as an additive could be well understood by studying the influence mechanism of Na2CO3 on BABL-solids pyrolysis.

Influence of unburned pulverized coal on gasification reaction of coke in blast furnace

In order to explore the influence of unburned pulverized coal on gasification reaction of coke in blast furnace, kinetic rules of gasification reaction between CO2 and coke powder adding pulverized coals with different volatiles were studied by thermogravimetric analysis. The results showed that weight-loss ratio of samples reacted with CO2 increased after adding pulverized coal, and the weight-loss ratio rose with the increase of coal’s addition. When the content of pulverized coal was up to 50%, the weight-loss ratio of the sample which adding pulverized coal with high volatile was higher under the same temperature. The activation energy about C-CO2 gasification reaction of samples reduced observably after adding pulverized coal. The activation energy of samples had a largest decrease with 83.408 kJ mol−1 at the range of 1223 K~1373 K and it was 28.97 kJ mol−1 at the range of 1373 K~1523 K. The addition of pulverized coal with high volatile can reduce the reaction activation energy of samples more effectively. In the soft melting zone, the gasification reaction model of coke blocks attached the unburned pulverized coal was up to unreacted core model and porous volume-reacted model jointly.

Using Polyurethane Coating of Concrete Pipes with Acid Attack Resistance in Sewer Lines

One of the most important challenges facing the designers of the sewerage system is the corrosion of sewers due to the influence of sewerage contaminates which lead to failure of the main lines of sewers. In this study, a reference mix of 1: 1.5: 3 was used and the 4% Flocrete PC200 by weight of cement was added to the same mixing ratio in the second mixture. Twenty-four samples were tested for each mixture, 12 of which were used to compression strength test in ages (7, 14 and 28) day and six samples were submerged after 28 days of wet treatment at (5 and 10) % concentrations of sulfuric acid. The other six samples were painted after 28 days of wet treatment with coating Polyurethane and after 24 hours were flooded with a concentration of (5 and 10) % of sulfuric acid. The results showed that the specimens coated with polyurethane paints, whether they were referenced or added 4% Flocrete PC200, were very high resistance to corrosion, where the weight loss ratio was 0%.

Oxidation Analyses of Massive Air Ingress Accident of HTR-PM

The double-ended guillotine break (DEGB) of the horizontal coaxial gas duct accident is a serious air ingress accident of the high temperature gas-cooled reactor pebble-bed module (HTR-PM). Because the graphite is widely used as the structure material and the fuel element matrix of HTR-PM, the oxidation analyses of this severe air ingress accident have got enough attention in the safety analyses of the HTR-PM. The DEGB of the horizontal coaxial gas duct accident is calculated by using the TINTE code in this paper. The results show that the maximum local oxidation of the matrix graphite of spherical fuel elements in the core will firstly reach3.75⁎104 mol/m3at about 120 h, which means that only the outer 5 mm fuel-free zone of matrix graphite will be oxidized out. Even at 150 h, the maximum local weight loss ratio of the nuclear grade graphite in the bottom reflectors is only 0.26. Besides, there is enough time to carry out some countermeasures to stop the air ingress during several days. Therefore, the nuclear grade graphite of the bottom reflectors will not be fractured in the DEGB of the horizontal coaxial gas duct accident and the integrity of the HTR-PM can be guaranteed.

Synthesis and thermal decomposition kinetics of poly(methyl methacrylate)-b-poly(styrene) block copolymers

Two diblock copolymers of poly(methyl methacrylate)- block-poly(styrene) with chlorine as terminal group (PMMA- b-PS-Cl) were synthesized via two-step atom transfer radical polymerization. The structures of the block copolymers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, proton nuclear magnetic resonance, and gel permeation chromatography. Thermal properties including glass transition temperature ( Tg) and thermal stability were studied by differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), respectively. The block copolymers of PMMA- b-PS-Cl exhibited two glass transitions, which were attributed to the Tgs of PMMA and PS segments, respectively. According to TGA, thermal decompositions of PMMA macro-initiator and PMMA- b-PS-Cl block copolymers had two stages. The weight loss ratio in the second stage was more significant than that in the first stage, which may be attributed to the separation of the halogen atom from the terminal group and the formation of a double bond. The breaking down of the backbone dominates in the second stage in which the weight loss ratio was more than 70%, represented the main stage of pyrolysis. It was found that the introduction of the PS chain remarkably enhanced the thermal stability of the copolymer, thus endowing the block copolymers high activation energy for thermal decomposition. On the other hand, the remaining two pyrolysis procedures further indicated that thermodynamic mechanism didn’t change due to the introduction of PS segments.