Li+, Na+, or K+ co-doped CaO: Eu3+ phosphors were prepared by the combustion synthesis method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence and photoluminescence excitation (PL-PLE) spectra. The experimental results show that, upon excitation with 250 nm xenon light, the emission spectrum of the CaO: Eu3+ consists of 4f-4f emission transitions from the 5 D 0 excited level to the 7 F J (J=1, 2, 3) levels with the mainly electric dipole transition 5 D 0→7 F 2 of Eu3+, indicating that the Eu3+ occupies a low symmetry. The charge-transfer band (CTB) shows somewhat red shift with the decreasing ionic radii of co-doped alkali metal ions. The PL and PLE intensities are significantly enhanced, especially the strongest intensity of luminescent is CaO: Eu3+, Li+ phosphor, when alkali metal ions are incorporated. The strongest peak of emission is slightly shifted from 614 to 593 nm, indicating that the Eu3+ ion locates in a symmetric position (O h) when alkali metal ions are incorporated.
Monooctadecyl maleate, as a polymerizable surfactant, was synthesized by the mono-esterification of maleic anhydride and octadecanol, and was utilized to surface-modify nano-Fe3O4 particles. A polymerizable magnetic fluid was obtained by directly dispersing modified nano-Fe3O4 particles into styrene monomer, and the polystyrene/nano-Fe3O4 composite was prepared through free radical polymerization of polymerizable magnetic fluid. The structure and dispersion status in different dispersion phases of modified nano-Fe3O4 particles were studied by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometry, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), respectively. The experimental results show that the nano-Fe3O4 particles modified by monooctadecyl maleate with the size of about 7–10 nm can be uniformly dispersed into styrene and fixed in the composite during the procedure of polymerization. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) indicate that the thermal stability of polystyrene/nano-Fe3O4 composite is improved compared to that of pure polystyrene, and the composite is a sort of superparamagnetic materials.
A new thermal ring-opening polymerization technique for 1, 1, 3, 3-tetra-ph enyl-1, 3-disilacyclobutane (TPDC) based on the use of metal nanoparticles produced by pulsed laser ablation was investigated. This method facilitates the synthesis of polydiphenysilylenemethyle (PDPhSM) thin film, which is difficult to make by conventional methods because of its insolubility and high melting point. TPDC was first evaporated on silicon substrates and then exposed to metal nanoparticles deposition by pulsed laser ablation prior to heat treatment. The TPDC films with metal nanoparticles were heated in an electric furnace in air atmosphere to induce ring-opening polymerization of TPDC. The film thicknesses before and after polymerization were measured by a stylus profilometer. Since the polymerization process competes with re-evaporation of TPDC during the heating, the thickness ratio of the polymer to the monomer was defined as the polymerization efficiency, which depends greatly on the technology conditions. Therefore, a well trained radial base function neural network model was constructed to approach the complex nonlinear relationship. Moreover, a particle swarm algorithm was firstly introduced to search for an optimum technology directly from RBF neural network model. This ensures that the fabrication of thin film with appropriate properties using pulsed laser ablation requires no in-depth understanding of the entire behavior of the technology conditions.
With charcoal as carbon source and FeS (20wt%) as catalyst, single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) were successfully produced by dc arc-discharge method. The analysis by scanning electron microscopy, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy clearly demonstrated that the SWNTs developed from charcoal achieved a high purity with diameter about 1.2 nm, and FTIR measurement showed the inner structural transformation of carbon source, in which functional groups and grapheme sheets were decomposed and then ordered into nanotubes. By this easy-get and relatively low cost material, the experimenal results clearly indicate that charcoal has the opportunity of reducing the cost of SWNTs production.
The potentials of Pt-black electrode using a copper conducting wire instead of the salt bridge in acid and alkaline solutions without the use of H2 evolution reactions were measured. There were three nonlinear portions in the calibration curve. Unusually, the potential slopes at pH 3–5 and 8–10 indicated 200 mV and 70 mV per pH, respectively. Such high sensitivity for pH slope, more than 4 times of usual 59 mV per pH, may be credited to the special properties of the Pt-black surface. SEM (scanning electronical microscopy) was applied to characterize the surface of the Pt-black electrode. Its working mechanism is well explained in the theory of capacitance potentials rather than Nernst’s redox potentials.
The evolvement of microstructure and properties of nascent fibers during coagulation process in the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) wet-spinning and the effect of coagulation bath conditions on the structure and properties of the nascent fibers were investigated by the means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), fiber fineness machine, fiber tensile strength machine, etc. The experimental results indicate that the nascent fibers become denser and have fewer inner defects, the diameter of nascent fibers shrink and the crystallization degree of nascent fibers gradually increases with the increasing of coagulation time. Too large spinning tension leads to grooves occurring on surface of fibers. To obtain circular cross-section of nascent fibers the optimal coagulation conditions are 50 °C, 65% (concentration) and 0.9 (draw ratio).
Fe2O3/SiO2 nano-composite films were prepared by sol-gel technique combining heat treatment in the range of 100–900 °C. The particle size was observed by FE-SEM. Optical properties of the films were investigated by UV-visible spectra. Structural and magnetic characteristics were investigated through FT-IR and VSM. The transparency of the Fe2O3/SiO2 nano-composite films decreased with the content of the Fe2O3. Water and organic solvent in the films were evaporated with heat treatment, so the transparency of the films was enhanced under high temperature. It is also found that the saturation magnetization (M s) of the films increases with the temperature. As the content of the Fe2O3 increases, when the content of the Fe2O3 is around 30wt%, the M s of the films has a maximum value.
PTA sol was prepared using titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and ammonia (NH3·H2O), and then stable anatase-TiO2 hydrosol was synthesized by refluxing the PTA sol at 100 °C. It was found that TiO2 hydrosol can efficiently photo-degrade methyl orange (MO) under UV-vis light irradiation. Photocatalytic reactions at the temperature of 38 to 100 °C all followed pseudo-first-order rate law, and the temperature had a great effect on the reaction rate. The rate constants increased by about 6 times from 3.52×10−4 to 2.17×10−3 min−1 when the temperature was adjusted from 38 to 100 °C. Consequently, this photocatalytic course can be accelerated by using the infrared light of solar energy to increase the temperature of the photo-catalytic reaction, it should be a potential way to make full use of solar light in photocatalysis in practice.
The status and the variation of electrical resistance of impacted carbon fiber/epoxy-matrix composites were studied by ultrasonic F-scan and electrical resistance measurement. The experimental results shows that impact damage energy threshold value of carbon fabric/epoxy-matrix composites can determine by using ultrasonic F-scan. When the impact energy exceeds the threshold value, damage is generated in composites. Electrical resistance of impacted composites is changed owing to the contact of each carbon fiber unit in composites, which cause a change of the series-parallel in conductors. The veracity of detecting impact damage in composites can be improved in this case.
Quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) were prepared using gel electrolyte gelated by poly(ethylene-oxide) (PEO) with different molecular weight. With the increase in PEO molecular weight, the short circuit current densities (J sc) increase significantly, which is related to the increase in I− diffusion due to the increase in free volume of gel electrolyte. However, only a slight increase in open voltage (V oc) is observed, which is explained by the decrease in dark current arising from the reduction of triiodide (I3 −) by conduction band electrons.
The microstructural evolution characteristics of the thermomechanically affected zone (TMAZ) alloy during friction stir processing (FSP) of thixoformed (TF) AZ91D alloy were investigated. Simultaneously, a surface composite layer reinforced by SiC particles (SiCps) was prepared on the alloy by FSP and the corresponding tribological properties were examined. The experimental results indicate that dynamic recrystallization and mechanical separation (including splitting and fracture of the primary grains) are the main mechanisms of grain refinement for the TMAZ. A composite surface reinforced by uniformly distributed SiCps was prepared on the alloy. Compared with the corresponding permanent mould casting alloy and the TF alloy without composite surface, the TF alloy with composite surface has the highest wear resistance and lowest friction coefficient.
MnS, MnS+V(C, N) complex precipitates in micro-alloyed ultra-fine grained steels were precisely analyzed to investigate the grain refining mechanism. The experimental results shows that MnS, MnS+V(C, N) precipitates provide nucleation center for Intra-granular ferrite (IGF), so that refined grain remarkably. Moreover, substructures such as grain boundary, sub-boundary, distortion band, dislocation and dislocation cell in austenite increased as the deformation energy led by heavy deformation at low temperature (deformation temperature⩽800°C, deformation quantity⩾50%). As a result, V(C, N) nanophase precipitated at these substructures, which pinned and stabilized substructures. The substructures rotated and transformed into ultra-fine ferrite. 20 nm-50 nm were the best grain size range of V(C, N) as it provided nucleating center for intragranular ferrite. The grain size of V(C, N) were less than 30 nm in the microalloyed steels that with volume ratio of ultra-fine ferrite more than 80% and grain size less than 4 μm.
Equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) processing and annealing were applied to the AZ31 magnesium alloy sheets to evaluate the potential improvement in the mechanical properties and formability. The ECAP experiment was conducted at 300 °C in a die having an included angle of 90° between two channels by the BCZ route with the sheets rotated by 90° about the normal axis of plate plane. The tensile tests and conical cup tests were conducted at various temperatures from 20 to 250 °C. The experimental results indicated that improving the working temperatures could lead to the soft in the material and the enhancement of ductility. Comparatively, the ECAPed AZ31 alloy sheets showed the lower yield strength and smaller conical cup value (CCV) than the unECAPed counterpart in the room temperature. The difference in yield strength between them became small in the elevated temperature, but the ECAPed samples still had the smaller CCV value, implying the improved formability. The texture of the AZ31 alloy sheets could be modified by ECAP and the decrease in the yield strength and more uniform deformation realized in the material, so the formability of AZ31 alloy sheets was improved.
An as-cast magnesium alloy with high Al content Mg15Al was subjected to equal-channel angular pressing (ECAP) through a die with an angle of ϕ=90° at 553 K following route Bc. It is found that the network β-Mg17Al12 phases in the as-cast Mg15Al alloy are broken into small blocks and dispersed uniformly with increasing numbers of pressing passes. Moreover, many nano-sized Mg17Al12 particles precipitate in the ultra-fine α-Mg matrix. The grains are obviously refined. However, the grain structure is inhomogeneous in different areas of the alloy. The average size of the primary phase α-Mg is reduced to about 1 μm while grains of around 0.1–0.2 μm are obtained in some two-phase areas. With additional ECAP passes (up to 8), coarsening of the grains occurs by dynamic recovery. Room temperature tensile tests show that the mechanical properties of Mg15Al alloys are markedly improved after 4 ECAP passes. The ultimate tensile strength and elongation to failure increase from 150 MPa to 269.3 MPa and from 0.05% to 7.4%, respectively. Compared with that after 4 passes, the elongation to failure of the alloy increases but the strength of the alloy slightly decreases after 8 ECAP passes. Fracture morphology of the ECAP-processed alloy exhibits dimple-like fracture characteristics while the as-cast alloy shows quasi-cleavage fractures.
Arc spraying with the cored wires was applied to deposit FeMnCr/Cr3C2 coatings on low carbon steel substrates, namely FM1, FM2 and FM3. Thermal shock resistances of the coatings were investigated to assess the influence of Cr3C2 content on thermal shock resistance. Characteristics of the coatings under thermal cycling test were studied by optical microscopy, field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and energy dispersion spectrum (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD). The experimental results show that hardness of the coatings increases, bonding strength decreases slightly with increase of the Cr3C2 content of the coatings. As a result, FM2 coating possesses the best thermal shock resistance, attributing to its better thermal expansion matches and wettability than those of FM3 coating, less oxide rate than that of FM1 coating restraining from cracks formation and propagation in coatings.
A series of cross-linked hydrogels for colon-specific drug delivery were synthesized by graft copolymerization of Chitosan and acrylic acid using N, N′-methylene-bis-(acrylamide) as a cross-linker. Their swelling behavior in different pH buffer solutions and colonic enzymatic degradability were studied. The obtained results show that these hydrogels have good pH sensitivity which can avoid drug release in stomach, and their swelling kinetics in stimulant intestinal environment follow second-order swelling kinetics equation. The factors influencing the swelling kinetics include the degree of cross-linking and the composition, which may control no release or a little amount release of drug inside the hydrogels in the small intestine by tailoring these factors. The gels are degradable by colonic enzymes and there is a correlativity between the degradation of networks and the swelling degree of the gels, which may trigger the release of drug in the colon. The hydrogels show a great potential for their application in oral colon-specific drug delivery system.
Novel core-shell hydroxyapatite/chitosan biocomposite nanospheres were synthesized in a multiple emulsion. The multiple emulsion was a w/o/w emulsion, made of diammonium phosphate solution as an inner aqueous phase, cyclohexane as an oil phase, and calcium nitrate solution and chitosan solution as an outer aqueous. The forming mechanism of core-shell spheres and the influence of temperature on the morphology of the nanospheres were investigated. The diameter of the resulting core-shell nanospheres was 100–200 nm and the thickness of the chitosan shell was about 10 nm. And it concluded that at different reaction temperature the morphologies of the products would be changed. The core-shell nanospheres have potential applications for the development of new biomedical materials.
A new Quantum Dots(Qdots) nanocrystal composed of semiconductor core and zinc sulfide shell, and its feasibility as labels in immunofluorescence analysis for the imaging of tumor biomarkers by laser scanning confocal microscope(LSCM) was investigated. Qdots taged by mercaptoacetic acid were conjugated with second antibody, then imaging differences of Heat Shock Proteins 70(HSP70) in renal carcinoma tissure sections with immunofluorescence analysis method using Qdots bioconjugates and conventional organic dye FITC were observed by LSCM to assess the brightness and opticalstability of Qdots. The experimental results showed Qdots bioconjugates achieved the better results in demonstrating HSP70 with more brighter color and more clear picture than FITC labels. Moreover, the label signals of Qdots did not fade clearly after continued exposure to a 488 nm laser for 1 h. The Qdots bioconjugates have good feasibility in immunofluorescence analysis for the bioimaging by LSCM.
Bis (4-(4-amino-3, 5-diethylbenzyl)-2, 6-diethylphenylimino) acenaphthene] dichloronickel (NiLCl2) was prepared and supported on SiO2 modified by methyl trichlorsilane(S-1) and on SiO2-MgCl2/TiCl4 (S-2) respectively. Two supported catalysts S-1 and S-2 used as catalysts for ethylene polymerization were studied and the influences of various polymerization conditions, including the polymerization temperature, cocatalysts, Al/Ni molar ratio on the catalytic activity, branching degree and branch length of PE were also investigated. The experimental results show that the supported catalysts exhibit higher catalytic activity for ethylene polymerization, the highest catalytic activity of S-1 using AlEt2Cl as cocatalyst at 50°C, reaching 5.8×105gPE/molNi··h, and needed lower Al/Ni molar ratio compared to homogeneous analogue.
The rules of diffusion wear and oxidation wear for PCBN cutting tools were analyzed based on thermodynamics theory. Dissolution concentrations in typical normal workpice materials of PCBN tool material at different temperature were then calculated. Diffusion reaction rules in high temperature were developed and analyzed using the Gibbs free energy criterion. The machining tests were conducted using the PCBN tools at different cutting speeds of 50, 95,100 and 180 m/min, feed of 0.1, 0.2 and depth of cut of 0.1, 0.8, 1, and 1.5 mm respectively on a PUMA300LM numerically-controlled lathe. It was found that the theoretical results were uniform with the experimental data, and the results will provide useful references for tool material design and selection.
According to the configuration and absorption theory of polymer macromolecule materials, a kind of IPN with wider temperature range and higher damping property was designed and synthesized. By using the spectrum of dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and acoustic pulse tube device, the microstructure, phase separation degree, phase size and phase continuity of IPN with different components were analyzed. The experimental results show that the nano size grade of phase, the continuous and homogeneous IPN phase can provide higher absorption coefficient. The absorption coefficient of optimized sample I09 is 0.7 in 2 kHz, and the absorption peak is 0.9 in 4 kHz. Then the underwater acoustic properties of modified IPN filled with mica, micro-balloon and nano-SiO2 were discussed respectively to indicate that the inhomogeneous property of filler-modified IPN can improve the underwater acoustic stealth performance effectively, and the micro size grade of these filler-modified IPN can work well in low frequency acoustic stealth.
An ultraviolet(UV) curable support material pre-polymer for three dimensional printing was prepared based on the synergistic effect between PEO-PPO-PEO tri-block copolymer( F127) and polyethylene glycol (400) di-acrylate(SR344). The effects of jetting conditions, thermal stability, curing time, mechanical properties and shrinking rate on printing models were studied. The situation of removing support material from build model was investigated after building progress was completed. The experimental result shows that when F127 is 6.0wt%, SR344 is 20.0wt%, 4-Methoxy phenol is 0.15wt% and Irgacure 2959 is 1.5wt%, the support material pre-polymer could be jetted out from the nozzles smoothly during building up of three dimensional printing models at 50–55 °C. In addition, the support material could be removed easily from building model without spoiling the model; furthermore, the forming precision of building model is improved.
An effective method to design structural Left-handed material(LHM) was proposed. A commercial finite element software HFSS and S-parameter retrieval method were used to determine the effective constitutive parameters of the metamaterials, and topology optimization technique was introduced to design the microstructure configurations of the materials with desired electromagnetic characteristics. The material considered was a periodic array of dielectric substrates attached with metal film pieces. By controlling the arrangements of the metal film pieces in the design domain, the potential microstructure with desired electromagnetic characteristics can be obtained finally. Two different LHMs were obtained with maximum bandwidth of negative refraction, and the experimental results show that negative refractive indices appear while the metamaterials have simultaneously negative permittivity and negative permeability. Topology optimization technique is found to be an effective tool for configuration design of LHMs.
Ca3Co4O9 ceramics were prepared using the sol-gel process with ordinary pressing sintering and their thermoelectric properties were measured from room temperature to 673 K. The experimental results show that single phase Ca3Co4O9 can be fabricated at 750–900 °C in different citrate acid molar proportions for 0.2–1.0. For all the oxides, both the Seebeck coefficients S and the electrical conductivities κ increase with the increasing temperature. The Seebeck coefficients S are all positive. The thermal conductivities k increase with the increasing temperature also and the lattice thermal conductivity κ l plays an important role to the thermal conductivity κ. The citrate acid molar proportions have a large influence on the particle sizes, which influences the thermoelectric properties of the ceramics. The figure of merit increases with the increasing temperature and reaches 4.5×10−5 K−1 at 573 K for the sample in the citrate acid molar proportion of 0.46.
Polycrystalline samples of Sr5PrTi3Ta7O30 (SPTT) and Sr5EuTi3Ta7O30 (SETT) compounds were prepared by high-temperature solid-state reaction method and their formation, structure and dielectric properties were studied. They are found to be ferroelectric phase of filled tetragonal tungsten bronze (TB) structure at room temperature and undergoes diffuse type of ferroelectric-paraelectric phase transition around 34 °C and 31 °C, respectively. At 1 MHz SPTT exhibits high dielectric constants of 177 and low dielectric losses of 3.5×10−4 and SETT has high dielectric constants of 125 and low dielectric losses of 2.4×10−3.
Using carbide slag as the calcareous materials, xonotlite thermal insulation material was successfully prepared via dynamic hydrothermal synthesis. The experimental results show that the xonotlite thermal insulation material is made up of large numbers of “chestnut bur shape” particles. Optimum conditions of calcination temperature of carbide slag, synthesis reaction temperature and time, stirring rate, CaO/SiO2 mol ratio, water/solid weight ratio, amount of fiberglass, molding pressures, dryness temperatures and the presence of dispersant (glycol and polyvinyl alcohol) favor the preparation of xonotlite thermal insulation material. The evaluation of xonotlite thermal insulation material reveals that the product is ultra-light and excellent in physical performances. Such a little amount of impurities in carbide slag has no effect on the phase, morphology, stability at high temperature and physical performances of products.
The effects of water/binder ratio (w/b) on the toughness behavior, compressive strength and flexural strength of engineered cementitious composites (ECC) were investigated. The w/b ratios of 0.25, 0.31, 0.33 and 0.37 were selected and the specimens were tested at the ages of 7 d and 28 d. The experimental results showed that there was a corresponding increase in first cracking strength, modulus of rupture, compressive strength and flexural strength with the decrease of w/b. Within the w/b range of 0.25–0.37, higher w/b was found to have improved effects on deflection, strain hardening index and toughness index of ECC. In the permission of meeting the requirement of compressive strength grade, selecting higher w/b in mix design will help to obtain robust ECC.
The prism specimens of corroded concrete were subjected to uniaxial compressive load to develop the stress-strain model. Compared to the un-corroded concrete, the mechanical properties of corroded concrete, such as peak strength, Young’s modulus, and residual deformation, et al are degraded. The concrete, which were subjected to the aggressive media in the environment, were resulted in randomly distributed pre-loading flaws and defects. The propagation of these corrosion flaws during the procedure of loading was the main reason of degradation of corroded concrete properties. By the application of the statistic theory of continuum damage, the compressive stress-strain curve of corroded concrete was simulated. The initial damage factor was introduced to represent the corrosive effects of different media. The present damage constitutive model agreed well with the test results.
The prediction model for inhibition effect of reinforced concrete was presented based on the Magge’s model when the concrete surface was brushed with nitrite solution. The influence of the amount of nitrite solution on inhibiting duration was also discussed through a simulation analysis when the amount of solution were 250 g/m2, 500 g/m2, 1000 g/m2 and 1500 g/m2, respectively. The experimental results confirm that nitrite ion can diffuse well in concrete to reach an effective mol ratio from the surface of the concrete to the surface of the reinforcement, and has an effective protection for the bars against corrosion. The higher the amount of solution, the better it will accelerate getting the threshold value of mol ratio on the surface of rebar, and retarding the time for loosing the effective threshold value of mol ratio. It helps to increase the tendency of inhibiting duration and prolong the life of reinforced concrete. The nitrite solution amount is used to predict the corrosion inhibiting duration of concrete that contains chloride salt.
The activities of municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly ash and incineration residues were studied contrastively, through the component analysis and the activity ratio tests. The mechanical properties, hydration mechanism and leaching toxicity of the hardened cement paste mixing with MSWI fly ash and incineration residues were investigated. The experimental results indicated that the active constituents (CaO+Al2O3+Fe2O3) in MSWI fly ash were higher than those in incineration residues. Therefore the activity ratio of MSWI fly ash was 43.58%, twice as much as that of incineration residues. Meanwhile, the hydration of cement was delayed by mixing with MSWI fly ash and incineration residues, which also reduced the cement strength markedly. By adding with exceeding 20% MSWI fly ash, the specimens expanded and microcracks appeared. The leaching toxicities of cement pasted mixed with MSWI fly ash and incineration residues were lower than the Chinese national standard. Accordingly the cement mixed by MSWI fly ash and incineration residues can be considered as the environment-friendly materials.
Concrete specimens made with ordinary portland cement or ordinary portland cement incorporating fly ash with the replacement of 10% or 20%, ground blast furnace slag with the replacement of 15% or 30%, or 15% fly ash and 15% ground blast furnace slag were made and exposed to a cyclic sulfate environment. Concrete properties including relative dynamic elastic modulus, chloride ion diffusion coefficient, compressive strength and flexural strength were measured. Effect of mineral admixtures on the cyclic sulfate resistance of concrete was assessed based on the grey clustering theory. The experimental results indicate that the cyclic sulfate resistance of concrete incorporating ground blast furnace slag belongs to the higher grey grade, which exhibits that it possesses excellent cyclic sulfate resistance. With increasing addition of fly ash, the cyclic sulfate resistance of concrete changes from the medium grey grade to the lower grey grade, which shows that incorporation of fly ash is disadvantageous for the cyclic sulfate resistance of concrete.
The seepage theory was used to explain the variation between the specific resistance of the carbon fiber reinforced cement concrete and the carbon fiber volume ratio. The electro-dynamic seepage was observed in the cement. The longer the carbon fiber is, the smaller the critical volume to produce the electro-dynamic seepage phenomenon will be. However, the forming and stirring process is harder. In general, the average length of carbon fiber is 5 mm. Under the condition of three-point bending load, the specific resistance changes with the loading process, and a good correlation could be obtained according to the load-deflection relationship. The experimental results reveal that the carbon fiber reinforced cement based composites can be used as sensors to self-diagnoses of the damage.
Coal fly ashes WSRA and BQRA were ball milled for 5 h to produce their ultrafine coal fly ashes WSUA and BQUA, respectively. Batch kinetic, isotherm and pH effect on adsorption were studied to evaluate removal of Cr (VI) from aqueous solutions by ultrafine coal fly ashes comparing with raw coal fly ashes. The kinetics of adsorption indicates the process to be intraparticle diffusion controlled and follows the Lagergren first-order kinetics for all coal fly ashes. The first-order rate constants (k 1) of Cr (VI) adsorption onto WSRA, WSUA, BQRA and BQUA are 1.981, 1.497, 2.119 and 1.500 (×10−2) min−1, respectively. The adsorption capacities of WSUA and BQUA are much better than those of WSRA and BQRA. Equilibrium adsorption data of all coal fly ashes well satisfy the Langmuir isotherm. The adsorbed amounts of Cr (VI) onto WSUA and BQUA decrease from pH 2 to pH 6 and then increase up to pH 12.
The effect of limestone powder on microstructure of concrete was studied by using mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP), backscattering scanning electron(BSE), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques. The experimental results show that the compressive strength of concrete containing 100 kg/m3 limestone powder can meet the strength requirement. Limestone powder has not pozzolanic activity; it is still unhydrated at the age of 28 days. But its filling effect can make the paste matrix and the interfacial transition zone between matrix and aggregate denser, which will improve the performance of concrete.
Three different methods were applied to study the alkali content of gelpores in cement. In the closed system, the concentration of K+, Na+ and OH− have not reduced with the increase of age. In the open system, the diffusion and transferring of K+ and Na+ towards free space leads to the decrease of total alkali content. In the micro-analysis system, the contents of K+ and Na+ in the first hydrated layer of ground granulated blastfurnace slag (GBFS) are very low, while the contents of calcium and magnesium are relatively high. This phenomenon shows that the mechanism of GBFS preventing alkali aggregate reaction (AAR) is: when GBFS is dissolved by alkali medium, SiO2 and Al2O3 are dissolved into the cement matrix, then around GBFS particles form reaction rings rich in Ca2+ and Mg2+, and the C-S-H gel of positive charges formed in the area repulses K+ and Na+, which are forced to transfer to the mortar’s matrix, pore or mortar sample surface. The transferred K+ and Na+ form alkali gel products with other dissolved ions, then become evenly distributed in the mortar sample and react with Ca(OH)2 in pore solutions to form (Na,K) x−2z·zCa·(SiO2)y·(OH)x gel products; and thus changes the AAR gel products’ structure. The gel products will not expand, and so they can delay expansion destruction.
The effect of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) amount on phosphogypsum based cement was investigated. The mechanical performances and hydration mechanism of the phosphogypsum-based cement with different proportions of NaOH and steel slag were analyzed based on setting time, volume stability, strength test, XRD and SEM analyses. The experimental results show that, NaOH as an alkali activator significantly reduces the cement setting time and improves the cement early strength. But the acceleration of hydration proces produces coarse crystalline hydration products and the osteoporosis structure of hardened paste, which has a negative effect on later age strength. The combination of 1% NaOH and 5% steel slag as alkali activating agents is optimal with respect to early and later age strengths. Overdose of NaOH not only decreases the cement strength at later age, but also may cause problem of volume stability.
Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate (EVA) redispersible powder and latex were used to modify mortar. Three kinds of curing regimes: standard curing, high temperature curing and freeze-thaw circle curing were adopted to cure the bonded samples. Bonding strength of EVA modified mortar was tested at 28 days. The development of bonding strengths under all three curing regimes were discussed and compared. The experimental results show that bonding strength increases with the increase of EVA content in mortar. The curing regime used within 28 days is critical according to the bonding strengths values under three curing regimes for different ages. The reasons of that the EVA can improve the bonding strength were analyzed.
To decrease the cement and SF content of RPC by using ultra-fine fly ash (UFFA) and steel slag powder (SS), the effect of these mineral admixtures on compressive strength of RPC were investigated. The experimental results indicate that the utilization of UFFA and SS in RPC is feasible and has prominent mechanical performance. The microstructure analysis (SEM and TG-DTG-DSC) demonstrated that the excellent mechanical properties of RPC containing SS and UFFA were mainly attributed to the sequential hydration filling effect of the compound system.
By micro- and macro-observations, the deterioration mechanisms of concrete under alternate action between repeated sub-high temperature/cooling by water and sodium sulfate solution attack (TW-SA) were studied; meanwhile, the single sodium sulfate solution attack (SA) was also done as comparison. Micro-observations included the analysis of attack products by thermal analysis method and the determination of sulfate-ion content from surface to interior by chemical titrating method (modified barium sulfate gravimetric method). Macro-observations mainly included the mechanical behaviors such as compressive strength, splitting strength. The experimental results indicate, in both cases, the main attack product is ettringite, only in the first layer of case SA some gypsum is checked; in case SA, the sulfate ions mainly concentrate in the surface layer, so the attack is relatively mild; but in case TW-SA, the repeated sub-high temperature/cooling by water promotes the sulfate ions diffusing inwards, which leads to obvious strength degradation.