Dyeing wastewater has caused serious environmental problems nowadays. In this work, nickel–phosphorus plating–titanium dioxide (Ni-P-TiO2) electroless plating polyimide (PI) fabric was fabricated as an excellent visible light response composite. First, polyaniline (PANI) was in situ polymerized on the surface of the PI fabric. Second, PANI reduced palladium ions to be active seeds for initiating electroless plating of Ni-P-TiO2 layer. Finally, the Ni-P-TiO2/PANI/PI fabric with all-in-one structure was prepared, which can effectively overcome the drawbacks of poor loading fastness and insensitivity to visible light response. It was characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by degrading reactive blue 19, methylene blue, and reactive red (M-3BE) under visible light irradiation. The results show that the degradation rates of the all three dyes were over 91% with robust cycle stability for repeated 5 cycles of use. The possible photocatalytic degradation mechanism of fabrics was also proposed based on free radical and hole removal experiments.

Residual strain often occurs in metal when it was subjected to the tension load, random vibration, or high impact. The mild steel was selected as the research object, and the feasibility of using nonlinear ultrasonic technique to characterize the residual strain was investigated in this paper. First, the mild steel specimens were stretched to several different kinds of stress, then the nonlinear effect as well as the microstrain of each sample was measured. The results indicate that the microstrain increases with increasing applied stress and reaches a maximum value of about 0.036% as the tensile stress increases to the elastic limit. Compared with the original specimen, the nonlinear parameter of tensile specimen gradually increased within the elastic limit. This result reveals that the variation of nonlinear parameter was related to microstrain in mild steel, because the microstructure observation demonstrated that the dislocation structure was basically unchanged within the elastic limit. This research indicates that the nonlinear ultrasonic method has the promising potential to characterize the microstrain in metals.

In this study, a thermal–elastic–plastic finite element model is proposed to investigate the effect of volume energy density on the temperature field, molten pool size, and residual stress distribution in the selective laser melting (SLM) process of Inconel 718 alloy. A temperature-dependent thermal–mechanical property of materials is considered, as well as the properties conversion between powder layer and solidified alloy. Within the scope of the study parameters, the simulated molten pool size increases with increasing volume energy density and exhibits linear growth relationship, which are validated by the experimental results and show a good agreement. In addition, five scanning strategies are adopted to study the effect of these scanning strategies on the residual stress distribution in this research. The results show that the residual stress distribution of SLM Inconel 718 specimen largely depends on the scanning strategy. Finally, to reveal the mechanism of residual stress formation, the restraint bar model is used to further analyze the formation mechanism of residual stress during the SLM process.

In this study, cast tungsten carbide particle/steel matrix surface composites were fabricated using a vacuum evaporative pattern casting (V-EPC) infiltration process. Through thermal shock tests at 500 °C, the initiation and propagation of cracks at the interface of the composites were investigated. Owing to the mismatch in the coefficients of thermal expansion (CTE), cracks tended to appear at the interface reaction zone (IRZ) between the particles and the matrix. Because there was also a difference in the CTE between the composite and the substrate, the cracks propagated rapidly along the transition layer (TL) between the composite and the substrate, and finally connected to form macro-cracks. Based on the stress analysis and calculation, the maximum thermal stress at the TL was 63.4 MPa, while the maximum thermal stress at the IRZ was 38 MPa. It could thus be inferred that the TL is the weak link under thermal fatigue. In addition, the experimental results were verified and found to be in good agreement with the calculations.

Dislocation-mediated plasticity in stable nanocrystalline metals, where grain boundary motion is suppressed, is revisited in the context of dislocation elastodynamics. The effect of transient waves that emanate from the generation and motion of dislocations is quantified for an idealized Cu–10 at.% Ta system with grain sizes on the order of 50 nanometers. Simulations indicate that for this material, as dislocation velocities approach 0.6–0.8 times the shear wave speed, grains several grain diameters away from the initial glide event experience a large transient shear stress for a finite duration. These transient shear stresses increase with increasing glide velocity and can activate nucleation sites far from the original nucleation event. These considerations are used to explain recent experimental observations of a lack of increase in flow stress with increasing loading rate, as well as localization resistance, in this class of stable nanocrystalline metals.

Kevlar (polyparaphenylene terephthalamide) and PBDT (poly(2,2′-disulfonyl-4,4′-benzidine terephthalamide))-derivatives have very similar chemical structures with aromatic rings. In this study, thermal conductivities of their single chains were calculated using molecular dynamics simulations. Chain rotation was found to be the key to reducing the thermal conductivity. By introducing a new chain rotation factor (CRF), we can easily quantify chain rotation level of single-chain polymers. We demonstrated that thermal conductivity decreases as the CRF increases. We performed further calculations on phonon properties and unveiled that the small thermal conductivity led by large chain rotation can be attributed to reduced phonon group velocities and shortened phonon mean free paths. Insights obtained in this study can be used for tuning thermal conductivity of various polymers and facilitating their various applications including thermal energy conversion and management.

The effect of SiCp on the aging behavior of the extruded SiCp/AZ91 composite fabricated by stir casting was investigated in detail. The necklace-type distribution of the particles in the cast SiCp/AZ91 composite was destroyed, and the extrusion bands consisting of SiCp and small dynamic recrystallized grains formed aligning along the extrusion direction. Addition of SiCp could accelerate the aging kinetics of the AZ91 matrix because of the overlapped particle plastic zone. The improved particle distribution and refined grains caused by the recrystallization could affect the aging behavior of the SiCp/AZ91 composite. The Mg17A112 discontinuous precipitates preferred to nucleate at the SiC/Mg interfaces and the grain boundaries within the extrusion bands and then expanded into the particle-free region. Moreover, the promoted discontinuous precipitates would suppress the continuous intragranular precipitates with respect to the unreinforced AZ91 alloy.

Interfaces can influence the mechanical properties of metallic multilayers, even between different combinations of face-centered cubic (FCC)/body-centered cubic (BCC) constituents, as reported from many experiments. Recent literature has shown promise for fracture being delayed or even stopped at these interfaces. However, no studies have investigated the influence of their constituents on the subsequent mechanisms of fracture leading to failure. We performed in situ microfracture bending tests of the notched clamped beams made from physical vapor deposited Cu/Nb and Al/Nb multilayers. A catastrophic, linear elastic, brittle fracture was observed for the Cu/Nb beams, whereas a more delayed fracture with a gradual crack propagation was observed for the Al/Nb beams. These observations reveal differences in mechanisms because of the FCC element, interface/boundary blocking of dislocation motion, and effect of grain boundaries in the multilayers. Through this study, FCC/BCC metallic multilayers can be designed with enhanced fracture resistance and mechanical strength.

A novel high-power impulse plasma source (HiPIPS) technology that combines atmospheric pressure plasma jets with high-power pulsed direct current generators is described. Pulsed power is applied in microsecond pulses (20 µs) at low duty cycle (10%) and low frequency (0.5 kHz) leading to high peak power densities (10–75 kW) and high peak currents (100–250 A) while maintaining low average power (<40 W) and low processing temperatures (<50 °C). These conditions result in the generation of a highly dense plasma discharge (ne = 6.23 × 1016 cm−3) for surface modification and deposition of coatings. Using HiPIPS, Ar-initiated metallic Ti, CoCr, or Ti–6Al–4V plasma was generated, and the plasma properties were characterized by measuring current–voltage characteristics, electron densities (Langmuir probe), and optical emission spectra. HiPIPS CoCr and Ti–6Al–4V coatings were deposited for proof of concept of the technique. The resulting coatings were examined with scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and nanoindentation.

In this report, bulk graphene–reinforced titanium (Ti–Gr) nanocomposite with millimeter thickness was fabricated by selective laser melting process. Demonstrated by the characterizations of scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Raman spectra, graphene nanoplatelets were successfully embedded into the titanium matrix with a uniform dispersion due to a fast heating–cooling process. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy was used to investigate the interface between titanium and graphene, where a certain amount of carbide was formed attribute to the chemical reaction between them during multilayer laser melting. A high density of dislocations was observed surrounding the graphene nanoplatelets in titanium matrix. The strength and elastic modulus of the nanocomposites were significantly improved, which has been demonstrated by nano-indentation tests. The hardness of the bulk Ti–Gr nanocomposites was approximately 1.27 times higher than pristine Ti counterpart. The strengthening mechanisms were discussed in detail.

In this work, a new phenylethylene derivative, named 2-((3,5-di(9H-carbazol-9-yl)phenyl)(p-tolyl)methylene)malononitrile (DCPTMM), is synthesized and characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR spectroscopies, mass spectrum, and X-ray crystallography. Its photophysical properties are systematically studied and the result illustrates that DCPTMM shows aggregation-induced emission (AIE). The X-ray single crystal diffraction shows that the individual structure of crystals is monoclinic system with space group symbol P21/c and presents a twisted propeller-type structure as well as the packing structure of crystals has multiple types of hydrogen bonds (C–H⋯π and C–H⋯N) formed between adjacent molecules, and there is no π–π interaction between the aromatic rings, which is the main reason for the formation of AIE. Nondoped OLED fabricated with DCPTMM as light emitting layer emits greenish yellow light with a maximum emission peak of 554 nm and has relatively good performance with a maximum current efficiency of 5.53 cd/A and a maximum brightness of 6936 cd/m2.

High-entropy composites (HECs) were subjected to severe straining by high-pressure torsion (HPT) to evaluate their influence on the evolution of microstructure and deformation behavior. Severe straining leads to a homogeneously strained microstructure and inhomogeneous micro-shear bands in these HECs. Nb addition in HECs varies the microstructure from single phase to eutectic, and the Vickers microhardness in HPT HECs increases to 7.45 GPa. Nb addition up to x = 0.80 in as-cast HECs improves the strength of these materials at the expense of its plasticity. Nevertheless, severe straining provides a better combination of strength and ductility without sacrificing its plasticity. Such improvement in properties is attributed to the evolved microstructural features, formation of “transformation-shear bands (T-SBs)” and “deformation-shear bands (D-SBs)” at severe straining. This assures the homogeneous deformation by shear banding and suggests that shear banding is the dominant deformation mechanism when the lamellar spacing becomes saturated upon severe straining.

Transport properties, performance, and durability of a proton exchange fuel cell (PEMFC) highly depend on microstructure and spatial distribution of components in the gas diffusion layer (GDL), microporous layer (MPL), and catalyst layers (CLs) of the fuel cell. Modeling of transport properties and understanding of these effects are challenging due to limited understanding of actual three-dimensional (3D) structure of the components, especially over a wide range of length scales. In this work, 3D imaging on multiple scales, namely electron tomography on a nanoscale, focused ion beam–scanning electron microscopy on a microscale, and 3D X-ray microscopy on a macroscale, was applied to obtain 3D reconstructions of the actual CL, MPL, and GDL microstructure. Direct numerical simulations on 3D data sets with an upscaling approach were applied to demonstrate the capability to simulate overall electrical conductivity of the system. Details of the process, challenges, and results are described.

Nano-forms of copper oxides (CuO and Cu2O) are potential candidates in the field of energy conversion and storage. Low temperature and controlled growth of three-dimensional nanostructured hierarchical assembly of CuO over Cu2O is reported here with demonstrated advantage in energy conversion and storage applications. Electrodeposited Cu2O is partially oxidized in an alkali bath to two different forms of hierarchical nanostructures (HNS): CuO/Cu2O and CuO:Cu(OH)2/Cu2O. Randomly oriented nanorods and nanoflakes with high surface area tussock-like nanostructure are formed during oxidation at room and at elevated temperatures, respectively. The nanoflake morphology exhibits a high surface area of 85.82 m2/g and sufficient ion percolation pathways, leading to an efficient electrode–electrolyte interface for electrochemical energy devices. A favorable conduction and valence band alignment in the HNS with respect to water redox level along with fast electron diffusion time of 0.8 μs make it an ideal photocathode.

Using the data obtained by Knudsen effusion mass spectrometry, the standard formation thermodynamic properties of La2Hf2O7, Nd2Hf2O7, and Gd2Hf2O7 were calculated in the present study at high temperatures. Based on the results obtained, it was shown that the standard formation Gibbs energies of La2Hf2O7, Nd2Hf2O7, and Gd2Hf2O7 from the elements at the temperature 2445 K were consistent with the empirical rule concerning decrease of stability of pyrochlore hafnate phase with decrease in lanthanoid ionic radius. The La2Hf2O7 and Gd2Hf2O7 heat capacities were obtained in the present study by differential scanning calorimetry. These data were used along with those found earlier to evaluate the standard formation Gibbs energies of La2Hf2O7 and Gd2Hf2O7 from the elements at the temperature 298 K, which equal (−3937 ± 10) kJ/mol and (−3895 ± 10) kJ/mol, respectively. The thermodynamic properties of La2Hf2O7, Nd2Hf2O7, and Gd2Hf2O7 estimated in a wide temperature range allowed consideration of reliability of data available in the literature.

Electrospun coaxial fibers are used to create core/sheath fiber structures to act as growth-promoting scaffolds for in vitro dorsal root ganglia (DRG) cell cultures. The core was a conducting polymer, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), and the sheath was poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA), which created coaxial fibers with a conductive core and an insulating sheath. SEM analysis confirmed the conductivity of the core and insulation of the sheath. Several coaxial spinneret designs were tested with the best results obtained by using various annular spinning needle combinations. Using a 22G/16G and 22G/17G combination, fibers with diameters of 6.1 ± 2.4 µm and 3.3 ± 0.9 µm were spun, respectively. The fibers showed a Young’s modulus and hardness of 0.16 ± 0.13 and 0.02 ± 0.01 GPa for the larger diameters, and 0.7 ± 0.4 and 0.03 ± 0.03 GPa for the smaller diameter fibers. In vitro test cultures showed the fibers successfully directed chick DRG axonal outgrowth with low biotoxicity.

Effects of adding different amounts of SiCp on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the as-cast and as-extruded Mg–7% Zn–1.5% Cu (ZC71) alloys were studied. The as-cast ZC71 alloy consisted of α-Mg phase that encircled with the MgZnCu and Mg(Zn,Cu)2 intermetallics. Hot extrusion has led to a grain-refined structure with distributed intermetallics along the extrusion direction. Adding SiCp decreased the grain size values for the as-extruded composites. The Vickers hardness values increased with SiCp addition for both conditions. The ultimate tensile strength and tensile elongation (El%) values reached the optimum level with 5 wt% SiCp addition. More SiCp additions led to more agglomerations and decrement in strength and elongation. The yield tensile strength also increased with SiC additions. Adding 5 wt% SiCp changed the brittle fracture to the more quasi-cleavage. Hot extrusion altered the fracture mode to more ductile for all composites.

AlCoCrFeNi is among the promising high-entropy alloys (HEAs) that possess high strength with considerable ductility. Powder sintering is one of the competitive routes for the production of HEA powders. However, sintering of HEA powders under a pressureless condition is difficult. The present work aims to produce high-density components from mechanically alloyed AlCoCrFeNi HEA powders through the pressureless sintering method. Nearly full density was achieved at 1275 °C. Sintering was performed in the presence of a viscous phase in the temperature range of 1200–1250 °C, which was confirmed through differential scanning calorimetry and dilatometric measurements. This viscous phase was found have a Cr-rich composition, detected by interrupting the sintering and quenching of the sample. The powder initially contained the BCC phase with a small fraction of FCC and other phases. During sintering, a significant fraction of the FCC phase and nanosized B2 phase were formed. Sintered sample had a hardness of 679 ± 20 Hv.

Thermal cycling of planar solid oxide cell (SOC) stacks can lead to failure due to thermal stresses arising from differences in thermal expansion of the stack’s materials. The interfaces between the cell, interconnect, and sealing are particularly critical. Hence, understanding possible failure mechanisms at the interfaces and developing robust sealing concepts are important for stack reliability. In this work, the mechanical performance of interfaces in the sealing region of SOC stacks is studied. Joints comprising Crofer22APU (preoxidized or coated with MnCo2O4 or Al2O3) are sealed using V11 glass. The fracture energy of the joints is measured, and the fractured interfaces are analyzed using microscopy. The results show that choosing the right coating solution would increase the fracture energy of the sealing area by more than 70%. We demonstrate that the test methodology could also be used to test the adhesion of thin coatings on metallic substrates.