Observation of notch effect in Al6061-T6 specimens under tensile loading using digital image correlation and finite element method

The fracture of ductile materials such as Al6061-T6 usually starts from void nucleation. In this study, we investigated strengthening effect and stress triaxiality behavior in notched Al alloy specimens. Various specimens, one un-notched and two with different U-types of notch, one with large diameter (L-notched) and another with small diameter (S-notched), having the same width were selected. The distribution of strain in the full-field was examined using the digital image correlation (DIC) method. Under the tensile test, S-notched specimens showed a more pronounced strengthening effect than the L-notched specimens. The results of DIC confirmed that the notch tip of the S-notched specimen experienced high strain, while the L-notched specimen experienced high strain at the center. The maximum stress triaxiality moved rapidly from the notch tip to the center with the increase in notch radius over 10 mm. The results of the stress triaxiality analysis by finite element method were in good agreement with the above DIC measurement results and predicted the void generation and fracture sites in L-notched and S-notched specimens.     

Performance comparison of parallel ILU preconditioners for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - In this paper, the performances of various ILU type parallel preconditioners for the finite element discretization of the incompressible Naiver-Stokes...     

Roles of anti- and pro-oxidant potential of cinnamic acid and phenylpropanoid derivatives in modulating growth of cultured cells

Food Science and Biotechnology - Cinnamic acid (CiA) and phenylpropanoid derivatives are widely distributed in plant foods. In this study, anti- and pro-oxidant properties of the derivatives and...     

Elastic gels based on flaxseed gum with konjac glucomannan and agar

Food Science and Biotechnology - In this study, we prepared hydrocolloid gels in which flaxseed gum (FSG), konjac glucomannan (KGM), and agar (AG) were blended in different ratios for use as a...     

Development of new energy management strategy for a household fuel cell/battery hybrid system

This work aims to construct an efficient and robust fuel cell/battery hybrid operating system for a household application. The ability to dispatch the power demands, sustain the state of charge (SOC) of battery, optimize the power consumption, and more importantly, ensure the durability as well as extend the lifetime of a fuel cell system is the basic requirements of the hybrid operating system. New power management strategy based on fuzzy logical combined state machine control is developed, and its effectiveness is compared with various strategies such as dynamic programming (DP), state machine control, and fuzzy logical control with simulation. Experimental results are also presented, except for DP because of difficulties in achieving real‐time implementation and much faster response to load variation. The given current from the energy management system (EMS) as a reference of the fuel cell output current is determined by filtering out various harmful signals. The new power management strategy is applied to a 1‐kW stationary fuel cell/battery hybrid system. Results show that the fuel cell hybrid system can run much smoothly with prolonged lifetime.     

Computational screening of anode materials for potassium‐ion batteries

Potassium ion batteries (PIBs) are promising alternatives to Li‐ion batteries due to the abundance of potassium. However, the development of PIBs is in its early stages, and only a few anode materials have been reported. Herein, we explored anode materials for PIBs using high‐throughput computational screening. The alloying and conversion reactions of prospective anode materials were investigated using the Materials Project database. Grand potential diagrams were obtained to examine the reaction potential and theoretical capacity of the anode materials. Calculation results indicated that P, As, Si, and Sb anodes exhibited high theoretical capacities. In addition, the screening results revealed that phosphides generally exhibit a lower reaction potential compared with those of sulfides and oxides. A total of 18 binary compounds that exhibited a high theoretical capacity and a low reaction potential (greater than 450 mAh/g and 0.7 V) were identified as promising anode materials for PIBs. In particular, ZnP₂, CuP₂, SiP, NiP₃, CoP₃, V₃S₄, Nb₃S₅, Bi₂O₃, and Ga₂O₃ exhibited high theoretical capacities.     

UAV path planning method for avoiding restricted areas

Intelligent Service Robotics - Recently, the industry of drone systems has come into the spotlight because a new potential market has been revealed. A considerable number of drones are deployed...