Search

International audience; The aim of this work is an extensive experimental mechanical and microstructural characterization of flowing weld lines (WLs) in injection-molded short glass fiber-reinforced polybutylenterephthalate (PBT) using X-ray computed tomography and digital image correlation (DIC). It was found that the induced fiber orientation (FO) in a flowing WL is similar to that induced by flow along a wall. In this test case, the impact of the flowing WL on the FO did not vanish after a flow length of 70 mm. The shape of the inserts, which originated the flowing WLs, only had a marginal effect on the induced FO gradient. By reducing part thickness, the erasing of the FO gradient induced by the WL is reached at shorter flow distances. At the WLs, there is a reduction of the fiber volume fraction in comparison to the regions far from the WL plane. DIC results show a pronounced strain localization at the WL, which can be explained by the FO gradient induced by the WL.

International audience; We report the results of a Versailles Project on Advanced Materials and Standards interlaboratory study on the intensity scale calibration of x-ray photoelectron spectrometers using low-density polyethylene (LDPE) as an alternative material to gold, silver, and copper. An improved set of LDPE reference spectra, corrected for different instrument geometries using a quartz-monochromated Al Kα x-ray source, was developed using data provided by participants in this study. Using these new reference spectra, a transmission function was calculated for each dataset that participants provided. When compared to a similar calibration procedure using the NPL reference spectra for gold, the LDPE intensity calibration method achieves an absolute offset of ∼3.0% and a systematic deviation of ±6.5% on average across all participants. For spectra recorded at high pass energies (≥90 eV), values of absolute offset and systematic deviation are ∼5.8% and ±5.7%, respectively, whereas for spectra collected at lower pass energies (

A novel reactor of a natural gas (NG) fueled, 1 kW net power solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system with anode off-gas recirculation (AOGR) is experimentally investigated. The reactor operates as pre-reformer, is of the type radial reactor with centrifugal z-flow, has the shape of a hollow cylinder with a volume of approximately 1 L and is equipped with two different precious metal wire-mesh catalyst packages as well as with an internal electric heater. Reforming investigations of the reactor are done stand-alone but as if the reactor would operate within the total SOFC system with AOGR. For the tests presented here it is assumed that the SOFC system runs on pure CH 4 instead of NG. The manuscript focuses on the various phases of reactor operation during the startup process of the SOFC system. Startup process reforming experiments cover reactor operation points at which it runs on an oxygen to carbon ratio at the reactor inlet ( ϕ RI ) of 1.2 with air supplied, up to a ϕ RI of 2.4 without air supplied. As confirmed by a Monte Carlo simulation, most of the measured outlet gas concentrations are in or close to equilibrium.

International audience; Different factors contribute to the weakness of weld lines (WLs) induced by injection molding such as unsuitable fiber orientation (FO), incomplete polymer matrix diffusion, voids and V-notches. This study aims to characterize the contribution of each factor on the weakness of frontal WLs in a short glass fiber-reinforced polybutylene-terephthalate characterized by extensive X-ray computed tomography and mechanical tensile testing assisted with digital image correlation. A reduction of 50% of the stress at break and almost 40% of the strain at break is observed despite the complete matrix healing at the WL interface and the absence of V-notches. Frontal WLs induce a FO gradient starting 2 to 3 mm before the WL plane. The fibers in the WL region mainly orient in transverse-to-flow and thickness direction. This FO gradient localizes the deformations, which leads to failure at a strength near to the one of the unreinforced variant. Voids formation in frontal WLs seems to be driven by large gradients of FO and subsequent anisotropic shrinkage. In addition, this shrinkage behavior at the WL causes an increase of thickness. By applying higher packing pressures, the fibers orient more in flow direction at the core of the WL, leading to a higher tensile strength and a lower content of voids. Finally, we can conclude that the FO is the dominant factor controlling the mechanical performance in frontal WLs.

this paper proposes a robust closed-loop control strategy for optimal charging of batteries. Model-based design of the charging controller is performed based on a coupled electro-thermal aging battery model. For developing an optimal charging strategy, besides minimization of charging time, prolonging the lifetime of the battery is of great importance. As the first step towards implementing a health-conscious charging controller, trajectory planning is carried out by solving a nonlinear optimization problem. The aim is to obtain optimal charging profiles while minimizing the aging. By linearization of the nonlinear battery model, a large uncertainty is observed in the behavior of the linear battery model under different operating conditions. In order to address this problem, CRONE control methodology is used. CRONE control scheme is a robust non-conservative control methodology that shows to be a good candidate for achieving the control targets for our case of study. Subsequently, the design and parametrization of the controller is explained. The simulation results are provided to prove the effectiveness of the CRONE controller. Simulation tests show that the developed controller meets the design requirements while tracking the reference signals in presence of model uncertainties.

Generally speaking, the behaviour of viscoelastic material is more complicated than the behaviour proposed by classical models as Voigt, Maxwell or Zener. The stiffness of such materials is a frequency dependent complex function. Above 1000Hz, classical measurements techniques are unable to achieve accurate measurements of the stiffness. In this paper, a new Dynamical Mechanical Analysis (DMA) tester is presented. It allows the characterization of the shear stiffness of preloaded viscoelastic materials between 200 and 3500Hz and without using frequency-temperature equivalences. Then the Generalized Maxwell model is used to describe behaviours measured with the DMA tester. A new iterative identification method of the parameter of the Generalized Maxwell model is described. This identification method is based on the asymptotes of the model.Copyright © 2011 by ASME