LCD-SLA 3D printing of BaTiO3 piezoelectric ceramics

Stereolithography-based 3D printing is a promising method to produce complex shapes from piezoceramic materials. In this study, LCD-SLA 3D printing was used to create lead-free piezoceramics based on barium titanate (BaTiO₃, BT). Three types of BT powders (micron, submicron and nanoscale) were tested in LCD-SLA 3D printing, and a technique for the preparation of a ceramic slurry suitable for LCD-SLA printing has been developed. Using TGA-DSC analysis, the thermal debinding parameters to obtain crack-free samples were determined, followed by further sintering and the study of the piezoelectric properties (ε_r = 1965, d₃₃ = 200 pC/N, tan = 1,7 %). The results of the study demonstrate high potential for the production of complex piezoceramic elements that can be used in aviation, in particular, aviation radio equipment; in the marine industry for transceiver modules of hydroacoustic antennas; and in the nuclear industry for pressure control sensors in the steam–water path.     

Deacetylated Cellulose Acetate/Polyurethane Composite Nanofiber Membranes with Highly Efficient Oil/Water Separation and Excellent Mechanical Properties

Nowadays, oil pollution has become more serious, which causes great threats both to the ecological environment and human life. In this study, a novel type of multifunctional deacetylated cellulose acetate/polyurethane (d-M_CA:M_TPU) composite nanofiber membranes for oil/water separation are successfully fabricated by electrospinning, which show super-amphiphilicity in air, super-hydrophilicity in oil, and oleophobicity in water. All the d-M_CA:M_TPU composite nanofiber membranes with different mass ratios can be used as water-removing, oil-removing, and emulsion separation substance only by gravity driving force. The highest separation flux for water and oil reaches up to 37 000 and 74 000 L m⁻² h⁻¹, respectively, and all the separation efficiencies are more than 99%. They have outstanding comprehensive mechanics performance, which can be controlled by simply adjusting the mass ratios. They show excellent antifouling and self-cleaning ability, endowing powerful cyclic stability and reusability. Those results show that d-M_CA:M_TPU composite nanofiber membranes have great application prospects in oil/water separation.     

Influence of accelerated curing on the compressive strength of polymer-modified concrete

In recent building practice, rapid construction is one of the principal requisites. Furthermore, in designing concrete structures, compressive strength is the most significant of all parameters. While 3-d and 7-d compressive strength reflects the strengths at early phases, the ultimate strength is paramount. An effort has been made in this study to develop mathematical models for predicting compressive strength of concrete incorporating ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) at the later phases. Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) goodness-of-fit test was used to examine distribution of the data. The compressive strength of EVA-modified concrete was studied by incorporating various concentrations of EVA as an admixture and by testing at ages of 28, 56, 90, 120, 210, and 365 d. An accelerated compressive strength at 3.5 hours was considered as a reference strength on the basis of which all the specified strengths were predicted by means of linear regression fit. Based on the results of KS goodness-of-fit test, it was concluded that KS test statistics value (D) in each case was lower than the critical value 0.521 for a significance level of 0.05, which demonstrated that the data was normally distributed. Based on the results of compressive strength test, it was concluded that the strength of EVA-modified specimens increased at all ages and the optimum dosage of EVA was achieved at 16% concentration. Furthermore, it was concluded that predicted compressive strength values lies within a 6% difference from the actual strength values for all the mixes, which indicates the practicability of the regression equations. This research work may help in understanding the role of EVA as a viable material in polymer-based cement composites.     

Performance of BaZrO3/Y2O3 dual-phase refractory applied to TiAl alloy melting

Vacuum induction melting is a potential process for the preparation of TiAl alloys with good homogeneity and low cost. But the crucial problem is a selection of high stability refractory. In this study, a BaZrO₃/Y₂O₃ dual-phase refractory was prepared and its performance for melting TiAl alloys was studied and compared with that of a Y₂O₃ refractory. The results showed the dual-phase refractory consisted of BaZr_1-xY_xO_3-δ and Y₂O₃(ZrO₂), exhibited a thinner interaction layer (30 μm) than the Y₂O₃ refractory (90 μm) after melting the TiAl alloy. Although the TiAl alloys melted in the dual-phase and Y₂O₃ refractory exhibited similar oxygen contamination (<0.1 wt%), the alloy melted in the dual-phase refractory had smaller Y₂O₃ inclusion content and size than that in the Y₂O₃ refractory, indicating that the dual-phase refractory exhibited a better melting performance than the Y₂O₃ refractory. This study provides insights into the process of designing highly stable refractory for melting TiAl alloys.     

Fabrication of barium titanate ceramics via digital light processing 3D printing by using high refractive index monomer

A digital light processing (DLP) technology has been developed for 3D printing lead-free barium titanate (BTO) piezoelectric ceramics. By comparing the curing and rheological properties of slurries with different photosensitive monomer, a high refractive index monomer acryloyl morpholine (ACMO) was chosen, and a design and preparation method of BTO slurry with high solid content, low viscosity and high curing ability was proposed. By further selecting the printing parameters, the single-layer exposure time was reduced and the forming efficiency has been greatly improved. Sintered specimens were obtained after a nitrogen-air double-step debinding and furnace sintering process, and the BTO ceramics fabricated with 80 wt% slurry shows the highest relative density (95.32 %) and piezoelectric constant (168.1 pC/N). Furthermore, complex-structured BTO ceramics were prepared, impregnated by epoxy resin and finally assembly made into hydrophones, which has significance for the future design and manufacture of piezoelectric ceramic-based composites that used in functional devices.     

Optical properties of multi-stacked BaTiO3/SrTiO3 thin films synthesized via chemical method

In this work, the BaTiO₃ and SrTiO₃ thin films as well as BaTiO₃/SrTiO₃ lamellar composites are synthesized via sol-gel spin-coating method. The formation of corresponding phases from their sols is investigated by virtue of X-ray diffraction on their powders, which confirms the formation of tetragonal structure for BaTiO₃, but cubic structure for SrTiO₃. The field emission scanning electron microscopy images show that crack-free films with different morphologies are formed in each sample. Likewise, by changing periodicity of the samples, the morphology of the composite samples is changed. As the number of layers increases from 1 to 20, the band gap reduces from 4.38 eV to 4.10 eV for BaTiO₃ samples and from 4.13 eV to 3.80 eV for SrTiO₃ samples confirmed by UV–Vis spectra. The band gap of periodicity = 1 sample is higher than that of BaTiO₃, while band gaps of periodicity = 2 and 5 composites mount between those of BaTiO₃ and SrTiO₃. In addition, the refractive indices of multi-stacked composites are about 0.2 lesser than refractive indices of BaTiO₃ sample in high wavelengths. The periodicity dependence of optical frequency dielectric constant, dielectric loss, impedance, Urbach tail, extinction coefficient, and electric modulus of multi-stacked composites are also studied.     

Nucleation and crystallization of Ba2Si3O8 spherulites in a barium aluminum silicate glass,and mechanical properties of the obtained glass-ceramics

The effect of spherulitic crystallization on the elastic moduli and fracture toughness of a barium aluminum silicate glass was investigated. The crystallization process results in Ba₂Si₃O₈ phase and is initiated from Ba rich nuclei. Nucleation is optimal in the 690-720 °C interval. Young’s modulus is increased by 12.5% when the glass-ceramic conversion is nearly complete. Nevertheless, as the size and the volume fraction of crystals are increased, some microcracking shows up upon cooling from the crystallization temperature. An optimal improvement of the fracture toughness (SEPB method) by 27 % is observed for a 49 % volume fraction of 5 to 10 μm large spherulites.     

Magnetodielectric coupling in barium titanate–cobalt ferrite composites obtained via thermally-assisted high-energy ball milling

In this work, a magnetodielectric coupling observed in barium titanate–cobalt ferrite composites synthesized using high-energy ball milling assisted via a thermal treatment is discussed. Vibrating sample magnetometry and dielectric spectroscopy showed that multiferroic composites possess both ferromagnetic and dielectric behaviors inherited from the parent ferromagnetic cobalt ferrite and ferroelectric barium titanate phases. The magnetocapacitance (up to 35%) recorded for x = 0.3, (1-x)BaTiO₃–xCoFe₂O₄, can be attributed to the spin-dependent filtering mechanism. The composite with the aforementioned composition exhibited a homogeneous matrix–particle composite microstructure, which was achieved via high-energy ball milling during the mixing stage.     

高性能三水醋酸钠-尿素-膨胀石墨混合相变材料的制备及其在电地暖中的应用性能

采用尿素调节三水醋酸钠的相变温度到合适范围再添加膨胀石墨来降低过冷度，研制了高性能的三水醋酸钠-尿素-膨胀石墨混合相变材料，并对其在电地暖中的应用性能进行了研究。结果表明，当尿素质量分数为36.5%、膨胀石墨添加量为4%(质量)时，所得混合相变材料的熔化焓高达209.1 J/g，熔点在31.98℃，过冷度仅为2.04℃，热导率为2.349 W/(m·K)，热可靠性良好；将用该混合相变材料制成的相变板安装在实验房的电地暖中时，实验房的热舒适度随着相变材料层厚度的增加而增加，但也带来加热时间和用电量的增加；当相变材料层厚度为10 mm时，电加热温度适宜设置在45℃；在热舒适度相当的条件下，有相变板的实验房与无相变板的参比房相比具有用电量小及电费低的优势。     

Enhanced dielectric properties of three phase dielectric MWCNTs/BaTiO3/PVDF nanocomposites for energy storage using fused deposition modeling 3D printing

This research studied the effect of fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printing on three phase dielectric nanocomposites using poly(vinylidene) fluoride (PVDF), BaTiO₃ (BT), and multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNTs). PVDF polymer and BT ceramics are piezo-, pyro- and di-electric materials extensively used for sensor and energy storage/harvesting applications due to their unique characteristic of dipole polarization. To increase dielectric property, CNTs have been recently utilized for uniform dispersion of BT nanoparticles, ultrahigh polarization density, and local micro-capacitor among matrix. It was proved that 3D printing process provides homogeneous dispersion of nanoparticles, alleviating agglomeration of nanoparticles and reducing micro-crack/voids in matrix which can potentially enhance their dielectric property than traditional methods. In this research, these three-phase nanocomposites are fabricated through FDM 3D printing process and characterized for dielectric property. Increasing both BT and CNT nanoparticles improves dielectric properties, while CNTs have a percolation threshold near 1.7?wt%. The most desirable combination of dielectric constant and loss properties (118 and 0.11 at 1?kHz) is achieved with nanocomposites containing 1.7?wt%-CNT/45?wt%-BT/PVDF. These results provide not only a technique to 3D print dielectric nanocomposites with improved dielectric property but also large-scale electronic device manufacturing possibility with freedom of design, low cost, and faster process.