Solid polymer electrolytes. XI. Preparation,characterization and ionic conductivity of new plasticized polymer electrolytes based on chemical‐covalent polyether–siloxane hybrids

A new hybrid polymer electrolyte system based on chemical‐covalent polyether and siloxane phases is designed and prepared via the sol–gel approach and epoxide crosslinking. FT‐IR, ¹³C solid‐state NMR, and thermal analysis (differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and TGA) are used to characterize the structure of these hybrids. These hybrid films are immersed into the liquid electrolyte (1M LiClO₄/propylene carbonate) to form plasticized polymer electrolytes. The effects of hybrid composition, liquid electrolyte content, and temperature on the ionic conductivity of hybrid electrolytes are investigated and discussed. DSC traces demonstrate the presence of two second‐order transitions for all the samples and show a significant change in the thermal events with the amount of absorbed LiClO₄/PC content. TGA results indicate these hybrid networks with excellent thermal stability. The EDS‐0.5 sample with a 75 wt % liquid electrolyte exhibits the ionic conductivity of 5.3 × 10^?3 S cm^?1 at 95°C and 1.4 × 10^?3 S cm^?1 at 15°C, in which the film shows homogenous and good mechanical strength as well as good chemical stability. In the plot of ionic conductivity and composition for these hybrids containing 45 wt % liquid electrolyte, the conductivity shows a maximum value corresponding to the sample with the weight ratio of GPTMS/PEGDE of 0.1. These obtained results are correlated and used to interpret the ion conduction behavior within the hybrid networks. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 1000–1007, 2006     

Ozonation of Humic Substances: Effects on Molecular Weight Distributions of Organic Carbon and Trihalomethane Formation Potential

Four different sources of humic substances were studied to determine the effects of ozonation on molecular weight-distributions, based on dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and trihalomethane formation potential (THMFP). Solutions of two soil-derived fulvic acids and a one soil-derived humic acid, as well as dissolved organic matter (DOM) associated with a natural water source were studied. Both gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and ultrafiltration (UF) were employed to define apparent molecular weight (AMW). Applied ozone doses ranged from 2.0 to 2.5 mg O₃/mg DOC. Overall samples of untreated and ozonated waters, as well as individual molecular weight fractions, were characterized according to DOC, UV absorbance, and THMFP. Ozonation resulted in a significant disappearance of higher AMW material with a corresponding increase in lower AMW material. Although little overall reduction in DOC concentration was observed, significant overall reductions in UV absorbance and THMFP levels were observed.     

基于曝光适度评价的多曝光图像融合方法

针对数字相机在拍摄宽亮度范围场景时动态范围不足的问题,提出一种高效的多曝光图像融合方法.该方法通过场景的多次采样曝光,分析不同像素的亮暗变化,利用高斯数学模型计算评价数值.将结合图像亮度信息的曝光适度评价方法应用于图像分块区域,并计算每个像素的权重值,消除图像块效应.将不同曝光度下成像的图像序列融合为一幅局部自适应曝光的高动态范围(HDR)图像,实现动态范围扩展.与另外3种方法进行对比分析,结果表明:该方法简便有效,细节纹理与颜色信息具有更强的表现能力,且熵值更高.     

Microstructure and mechanical properties of pulsed DC magnetron sputtered nanocomposite Cr-Cu-N thin films

The nanocomposite Cr-Cu-N thin films have been deposited at a substrate temperature of 250 °C by a bipolar asymmetric pulsed DC reactive magnetron sputtering process. Different Cu contents ranging from 0.4 to 14.9 at.% were achieved. The structures of Cr-Cu-N thin films were analyzed by XRD. The surface and cross sectional morphologies of thin films were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The nanoindentation and scratch tests were adopted to evaluate the mechanical and tribological properties of Cr-Cu-N coatings. The influences of Cu content on the structure, mechanical and tribological properties of Cr-Cu-N coatings were explored. It is observed that the columnar structure no longer exists when the Cu content exceeds 10.9 at.%. The stability of CrN phase in the coating is influenced by the Cu content. The scratching coefficient of thin films decreases with increasing Cu content. Sufficient adhesion and tribological properties of Cr-Cu-N coatings are achieved. The maximum average hardness around 20 GPa and scratching coefficient around 0.1 are found in the coatings with around 2.1 to 2.6 at.% Cu in this work.     

Hole flanging with cold extrusion on sheet metals by FE simulation

Flange height and lip thickness are generally restricted by the formability of sheet metals in the conventional hole flanging operation. In the current work, cold extrusion was applied and a special forming die set was designed with a stripper subjected to counter-pressure with an aim to obtain a more substantial flange. FEM software DEFORM was utilized to simulate this flange extrusion process with two forming conditions: forming with a fixed die cavity and forming with the stripper subjected to counter-pressure. The results showed the cup preform tended to buckle on its bottom with insufficient counter-pressure. The cup preform would start extruding a flange when critical counter-pressure was reached. The magnitude of the critical counter-pressure increased in flange extrusion of smaller inner diameters. The corresponding overall forming load was greatly reduced as compared to flange extrusion with a fixed die cavity.     

Effects of temperature and current density on the surface hardness and tribological properties of Ti-6Al-4V alloy by molten salt carburization

Surface hardening of Ti-6Al-4V alloy was achieved by carburization in a molten salt bath containing BaCO₃ as the carbon-yielding agent with electrolysis within the temperature range 790–930°C. The hardness of the total carburizing layer (TCD) is influenced by the bath temperature, the applied current density and the carburizing period. The major hardening effect is considered to be the formation of a solid solution of carbon in -Ti. The oxide film wrapping at the outermost surface of cathodically charged specimens, identified to be mainly BaTiO₃, was formed irrespective of the bath temperature during the quenching process and has no effect on the surface hardening. The optimal carburizing parameters obtained in this study for surface hardening are carburizing at 930±10°C (bath temperature) and 0.3 A/Cm² (applied current density) for 90 min (carburizing period), while those for tribological properties improvement are carburizing at 860±5°C and 0.3 A/Cm² for 90 min.     

An investigation on the hot extrusion process of magnesium alloy sheet

This study investigates the hot extrusion of magnesium alloy sheets at various temperatures, material, speed and lubricant. A multi-speed method is applied to extrude a magnesium alloy sheet at a high extrusion ratio. The experimental results are analyzed to optimize the processing conditions, increase the tensile strength and reduce the extrusion load on the magnesium alloy thin sheet. Nowadays, most magnesium alloy products are manufactured by industrial die casting. Hot extrusion is seldom used to finish magnesium products because the extrusion speed, temperature and extrusion load significantly effect the properties of the product. In this study, the Taguchi experimental method with the orthogonal array is applied. ANOVA is used to investigate how parameters affect the extrusion process. All possible mechanical properties of the product are analyzed to obtain the optimal process parameters. In addition, magnesium alloys with different compositions are experimentally tested to determine the mechanical properties of the extruded product and obtain the relationship between the process parameters and the properties of the material.     

Easy-to-attach vacuum modules with biochips for droplets generation from small sample volumes

This study developed a droplet biochip driven with a single vacuum module to produce droplets from small sample volumes. The vacuum module is composed of a shape memory polymer, which releases prestored energy for shape recovery when subjected to heat trigger, and works as an easy-to-attach vacuum source. The three-layer Teflon mold is designed to manufacture a vacuum module with a favorable yield (>95%). The water-in-oil emulsion droplets can be produced by attaching a single vacuum module with a microfluidic chip. The diameter of the vacuum module has been successfully reduced to 6 mm. The maximum driving pressure provided by the 15-mm diameter vacuum module attached with a 2 μL chip is approximately 9653 Pa. The produced flow rate varies with the deformation rate of the vacuum module and becomes stable at 2.4 µL/min during the droplet generation. The droplet diameters range from 180 to 240 µm. The developed disposable vacuum module is easy to attach, easy to use, easy to make, cost-effective, and automatically controllable for driving fluids on a chip for handling small sample volumes.     

An elastic net-based hybrid hypothesis method for compressed video sensing

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Compressed Sensing, an emerging framework for signal processing, can be used in image and video application, especially when available resources at the...