钢包包衬侵蚀对内衬温度和钢水温降的影响

为了研究包衬侵蚀对钢水温降的影响规律,通过ANSYS有限元软件以及ParaMesh网格随移技术建立了考虑包衬侵蚀的钢包传热计算模型,研究并分析了包衬侵蚀对包衬及钢水温度的影响规律。结果表明,包衬侵蚀对包衬温度影响较大,在相邻两个修包周期内,包衬侵蚀造成渣线和包壁的包衬内部(工作层与永久层交界处)温差为14～114 K;包衬侵蚀导致包壳外表面温度升高,包壳向外散热增加,与此同时,包衬受侵蚀变薄,蓄热减少,两者同时作用导致包衬侵蚀对钢水温降影响不大,最高不超过1 K,在实际生产中可以适当地忽略钢包侵蚀对钢水温降的影响。     

Piezoelectricity of the Transmembrane Protein ba3 Cytochrome c Oxidase

Controlling the electromechanical response of piezoelectric biological structures including tissues, peptides, and amino acids provides new applications for biocompatible, sustainable materials in electronics and medicine. Here, the piezoelectric effect is revealed in another class of biological materials, with robust longitudinal and shear piezoelectricity measured in single crystals of the transmembrane protein ba₃ cytochrome c oxidase from Thermus thermophilus. The experimental findings from piezoresponse force microscopy are substantiated using a range of control measurements and molecular models. The observed longitudinal and shear piezoelectric responses of ≈ 2 and 8 pm V⁻¹, respectively, are comparable to or exceed the performance of commonly used inorganic piezoelectric materials including quartz, aluminum nitride, and zinc oxide. This suggests that transmembrane proteins may provide, in addition to physiological energy transduction, technologically useful piezoelectric material derived entirely from nature. Membrane proteins could extend the range of rationally designed biopiezoelectric materials far beyond the minimalistic peptide motifs currently used in miniaturized energy harvesters, and the finding of robust piezoelectric response in a transmembrane protein also raises fundamental questions regarding the molecular evolution, activation, and role of regulatory proteins in the cellular nanomachinery, indicating that piezoelectricity might be important for fundamental physiological processes.     

用于疏浚工程泥浆密度测量的电阻层析成像技术

江河湖海疏浚工程对于拓展和保障航运安全、促进生态恢复、维护/改善远海岛礁环境具有不可或缺的作用.目前,在绞吸和耙吸疏浚船上,多采用射线密度计及电磁流量计对输泥密度、产量等进行在线计量,并作为实现疏浚系统自动控制的重要参量.由于射线密度计潜在的人员健康、公共安全和环保风险,在一些国家和地区已建立了放射源的有序退出机制.电阻层析成像使用安装于管壁的电极阵列获得管道内流体的电导率分布,进而推导出管道内的泥浆密度,具有无辐射、全场测量及实时可视化的优点.电阻层析成像测量系统经过特殊设计,可适应从内陆淡水到海水的巨大电导率变化.初步测试表明,电阻层析成像测量数据与射线密度计具有良好一致性,具备了作为在线泥浆密度测量的可行性.此外,ERT可提供实时的流动成像,对于提高对疏浚管道监测能力和降低堵管概率具有重要意义.     

天基跟踪层星座性能建模与仿真

随着高超声速武器技术的快速发展和实战化部署，美国有针对性地提出了建设国防太空架构跟踪层计划的设想。首先，介绍了跟踪层卫星主要设计性能参数；其次，建立了跟踪层星座覆盖性能分析模型、探测能力分析模型和跟踪性能分析模型；最后，通过仿真计算对跟踪层系统性能进行了分析，并推断了系统全星座最小卫星数量、探测灵敏度和全球目标最优跟踪精度等核心能力。分析结果对相关系统信息处理算法研究、载荷与星座方案设计具有重要参考价值。     

Room-temperature multiferroic characteristics and unique vortex domain structures of h-Yb1−xInxFeO3 solid solutions

Hexagonal rare-earth ferrites (h-RFeO₃) have attracted much scientific attention due to their room-temperature multiferroicity. However, it is still a hard job to obtain h-RFeO₃ bulk materials because of the meta-stability of such hexagonal phase, and the evaluation of room-temperature ferroelectric and magnetoelectric characteristics in such materials is also a challengeable issue. In the present work, Yb_1−xIn_xFeO₃ ceramics with the stable hexagonal structure were obtained by introducing chemical pressure, where the unique ferroelectric domain structures of sixfold vortex combined with tenfold vortex with a typical size of ~400 nm were determined. Symmetry of the present system evolved from centrosymmetric orthorhombic Pbnm (x = 0–0.4) to non-centrosymmetric hexagonal P6₃cm (x = 0.5 and 0.6) with a ferroelectric polarization up to 3.2 μC/cm², and finally to centrosymmetric hexagonal P6₃/mmc (x = 0.7 and 0.8). The Curie point decreased monotonically from 723 K to a temperature below room temperature with increasing x, and the antiferromagnetic phase transition above room temperature was determined for all compositions. Meanwhile, a large linear magnetoelectric coefficient (α_ME) up to 0.96 mV/cm Oe was obtained at room temperature, and this indicated the great application potential for magnetoelectric devices.     

Dual-phase rare-earth-zirconate high-entropy ceramics with glass-like thermal conductivity

A series of rare earth zirconates (RE₂Zr₂O₇) high-entropy ceramics with single- and dual-phase structure were prepared. Compared with La₂Zr₂O₇ and Yb₂Zr₂O₇, the smaller “rattling” ions (Yb³⁺, Er³⁺, Y³⁺) have been incorporated into pyrochlore lattice in (La_0.2Nd_0.2Y_0.2Er_0.2Yb_0.2)₂Zr₂O₇ (LNYEY) while larger ions (La³⁺, Nd³⁺, Sm³⁺, Eu³⁺) incorporated into fluorite lattice in (La_0.2Nd_0.2Sm_0.2Gd_0.2Yb_0.2)₂Zr₂O₇ (LNSGY). Due to high-entropy lattice distortion and resonant scattering derived from smaller ions Yb³⁺, Er³⁺, and Y³⁺, LNYEY shows a lower glass-like thermal conductivity (1.62-1.59 W m^-1 K^-1, 100-600℃) than LNSGY (1.74-1.75 W m^-1 K^-1, 100-600℃). Moreover, LNYEY and LNSGY exhibit enhanced Vickers’ hardness (LNYEY, H_v = 11.47 ± 0.41 GPa; LNSGY, H_v = 10.96 ± 0.26 GPa) and thermal expansion coefficients (LNYEY, 10.45 × 10^-6 K^-1, 1000℃; LNSGY, 11.02 × 10^-6 K^-1, 1000℃). These results indicate that dual-phase rare-earth-zirconate high-entropy ceramics could be desirable for thermal barrier coatings.     

Enhanced electrochemical performance of LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 via titanium and boron co-doping

Titanium and boron are simultaneously introduced into LiNi_0.8Co_0.1Mn_0.1O₂ to improve the structural stability and electrochemical performance of the material. X-ray diffraction studies reveal that Ti⁴⁺ ion replaces Li⁺ ion and reduces the cation mixing; B³⁺ ion enters the tetrahedron of the transition metal layers and enlarges the distance of the [LiO₆] layers. The co-doped sample has spherical secondary particles with elongated and enlarged primary particles, in which Ti and B elements distribute uniformly. Electrochemical studies reveal the co-doped sample has improved rate performance (183.1 mAh·g^-1 at 1 C and 155.5 mAh·g^-1 at 10 C) and cycle stability (capacity retention of 94.7% after 100 cycles at 1 C). EIS and CV disclose that Ti and B co-doping reduces charge transfer impedance and suppresses phase change of LiNi_0.8Co_0.1Mn_0.1O_2.     

Nacre-Inspired,Liquid Metal-Based Ultrasensitive Electronic Skin by Spatially Regulated Cracking Strategy

The realization of liquid metal-based wearable systems will be a milestone toward high-performance, integrated electronic skin. However, despite the revolutionary progress achieved in many other components of electronic skin, liquid metal-based flexible sensors still suffer from poor sensitivity due to the insufficient resistance change of liquid metal to deformation. Herein, a nacre-inspired architecture composed of a biphasic pattern (liquid metal with Cr/Cu underlayer) as “bricks” and strain-sensitive Ag film as “mortar” is developed, which breaks the long-standing sensitivity bottleneck of liquid metal-based electronic skin. With 2 orders of magnitude of sensitivity amplification while maintaining wide (>85%) working range, for the first time, liquid metal-based strain sensors rival the state-of-art counterparts. This liquid metal composite features spatially regulated cracking behavior. On the one hand, hard Cr cells locally modulate the strain distribution, which avoids premature cut-through cracks and prolongs the defect propagation in the adjacent Ag film. On the other hand, the separated liquid metal cells prevent unfavorable continuous liquid-metal paths and create crack-free regions during strain. Demonstrated in diverse scenarios, the proposed design concept may spark more applications of ultrasensitive liquid metal-based electronic skins, and reveals a pathway for sensor development via crack engineering.     

Visual Detection of Adenosine Triphosphate by Taylor Rising: A Simple Point-of-Care Testing Method Based on Rolling Circle Amplification

Rapid and sensitive point-of-care testing (POCT) is an extremely critical mission in practical applications, especially for rigorous military medicine, home health care, and in the third world. Here, we report a visual POCT method for adenosine triphosphate (ATP) detection based on Taylor rising in the corner of quadratic geometries between two rod surfaces. We discuss the principle of Taylor rising, demonstrating that it is significantly influenced by contact angle, surface tension, and density of the sample, which are controlled by ATP-dependent rolling circle amplification (RCA). In the presence of ATP, RCA reaction effectively suppresses Taylor-rising behavior, due to the increased contact angle, density, and decreased surface tension. Without addition of ATP, untriggered RCA reaction is favorable for Taylor rising, resulting in a significant height. With this proposed method, visual sensitive detection of ATP without the aid of other instruments is realized with only a 5 μL droplet, which has good selectivity and a low detection limit (17 nM). Importantly, this visual method provides a promising POCT tool for user-friendly molecular diagnostics.     

Methanol Synthesis with Steel Mill Gases: Performance Investigations in an On-Site Technical Center

An on-site laboratory with direct access to cleaned and conditioned steel mill gases was recently put into operation. The long-term performance and stability of Clariant's MegaMax®800 methanol synthesis catalyst utilizing steel mill gases is currently being investigated. First test results revealed that in order to investigate deactivation mechanisms arising from particular properties of the cleaned steel mill gases, the overlaying effect of thermal deactivation of the catalyst has to be minimized.