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In the current state of affairs, the demand for renewable energy is increasing dramatically because of the availability and pollution problems associated with non-renewable energy resources. Energy from bio is the foremost important renewable source, because bioenergy plays a dynamic role in environmental protection through waste to energy conversion thus encouraging agricultural and scale back the foreign exchange. Biodiesel is a gift fuel obtained from a biosource for diesel engines. But, the use of biodiesel in diesel engines has some problems, like lower brake thermal efficiency, higher fuel consumption, more emissions of nitrogen oxides, etc. To avoid these problems researchers are working to find a solution that helps to make pleasant use of biodiesel blends in diesel engines. The addition of fuel additives to the diesel–biodiesel blend is the most attractive solution to improve the performance, combustion and emission characteristics. Recent studies revealed that the introduction of nanotechnology into internal combustion engines is extensive as nanoparticles play a vital role in altering the physical and chemical properties of fuel, considered as coolant in internal combustion engines and acting as a combustion catalyst. Many researchers used different nanoparticles as fuel additives with diesel–biodiesel blends and claimed that the addition of nanoparticles to diesel–biodiesel blends tends to better thermal efficiency and a reduction in tailpipe emissions. This paper summarizes the role of various nanofuel additives with diesel–biodiesel blends on the performance, combustion and exhaust emission characteristics of diesel engines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease, progressively distinctive via cartilage destruction, auto-antibody production, severe joint pain, and synovial inflammation. Nanotechnology represents as one of the utmost promising scientific technologies of the 21st century. It exhibits remarkable potential in the field of medicine, including imaging techniques and diagnostic tools, drug delivery systems and providing advances in treatment of several diseases with nanosized structures (less than 100 nm)., Objective: Conventional drugs as a cornerstone of RA management including disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDS), Glucocorticosteroids, etc are under clinical practice. Nevertheless, their low solubility profile, poor pharmacokinetics behaviour, and non-targeted distribution not only hamper their effectiveness, but also give rise to severe adverse effects which leads to the need for the emergence of nanoscale drug delivery systems., Methods: Several types of nano-diagnostic agents and nanocarriers have been identified; including polymeric nanoparticles (NPs), liposomes, nanogels, metallic NPs, nanofibres, carbon nanotubes, nano fullerene etc. Various patents and clinical trial data have been reported in relevance to RA treatment., Results: Nanocarriers, unlike standard medications, encapsulate molecules with high drug loading efficacy and avoid drug leakage and burst release before reaching the inflamed sites. Because of its enhanced targeting specificity with the ability to solubilise hydrophobic drugs, it acts as an enhanced drug delivery system., Conclusion: This study explores nanoparticles potential role in RA as a carrier for site-specific delivery and its promising strategies to overcome the drawbacks. Hence, it concludes that nanomedicine is advantageous compared with conventional therapy to enhanced futuristic approach., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Conventional food supply chains are centralized in nature and possess challenges pertaining to a single point of failure, product irregularities, quality compromises, and loss of data. Numerous cases of food fraud, contamination, and adulteration are daily reported from multiple parts of India, suggesting the absolute need for an upgraded decentralized supply chain model. A country such as India, where its biggest strength is its demographic dividend, cannot afford to malnutrition a large population of its children by allowing them to consume contaminated and adulterated dairy products. In view of the gravity of the situation, we propose a blockchain-enabled supply chain platform for the dairy industry. With respect to the supply chain platform, the dairy products of choice include milk, cheese, and butter. Blockchain is one of the fastest growing technologies having widespread acceptance across multiple industry verticals. Blockchain possesses the power to transform traditional supply chains into decentralized, robust, transparent, tamper proof, and sustainable supply chains. The proposed supply chain platform goes beyond the aspect of food traceability and focuses on maintaining the nutritional values of dairy products, identification of adulteration and contamination in dairy products, the increasing economic viability of running a dairy farm, preventing counterfeit dairy products, and enhancing the revenue of the dairy company. The paper collates the mentioned functionalities into four distinct impact dimensions: social, economic, operations, and sustainability. The proposed blockchain-enabled dairy supply chain platform combines the use of smart contracts, quick response code (QR code) technology, and IoT and has the potential to redefine the dairy supply chains on socio-economic, operational, and sustainability parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alternate fuels are in great need as the world's natural resources are depleting with continuous consumption. Furthermore, with a continuous increase in the use of conventional fuel which emits a large number of harmful pollutants to the environment and thus increasing global warming, the need for alternative fuel is in great need. This investigation thus focused on the impact identification on the use of biodiesel from fish waste-based biodiesel [BDWFO (Bio-Diesel of Waste Fish Oil)] with Nanoparticles in single cylinder water cooled IC engine. The fish wastes in fish processing industries/fish markets are used to produce oil and its biodiesel is produced by the transesterification method. The individual BDWFO, Diesel, and blends of 20% of BDWFO were tested with the engine. Then another two combinations of fuel created 200 ppm of 40 nm Aluminium Oxide nanoparticles (AN) mixed with BDWFO, blends of 20% of BDWFO. These five fuels were considered to study the engine performance, combustion, and emissions from the exhaust. The experimental results confirmed the presence of aluminium oxide nanoparticles in BDWFO provides improved engine performance and reduced emissions from exhaust gas except for CO2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most popular additive manufacturing technique is the Fused Deposition Method (FDM), which is capable of producing components in a huge variety of geometries. For this reason, this technique is called the attention of engineers designing rotating machines, because it can be used to supply spare parts in a cheap and fast way. The adoption of the FDM is advantageous in the case of small and light rotors due to the reduced dynamic loads and the mechanical strength in the rotating parts during operation. If the rotor is manufactured by layers of a cylindrical material (filaments), one obtains a rotor with a cross-sectional area whose properties completely differ from those of a rotor composed of solid and homogeneous material. In this work, one presents the dynamic analysis of a rotor whose properties are those of a printed rotor using the FDM and ABS material. First, one shows the effect of the filament layers on the resultant second moment of the cross-sectional area of the shaft, which becomes orthotropic. This orthotropy leads to a time-varying system of equations, whose eigenvalues can be calculated by the Hill's infinite determinant in truncated form. Second, the numerical results show the presence of parametric resonances and instability regions in the unbalance response of the rotor. The vibration of the rotor in the parametric resonances is associated with backward motion caused by the super-synchronous 3 × Ω components. The instability regions increase in bandwidth as the orthotropy of the cross-sectional area increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The core of the present work concerns the analysis of the failure mode and the fracture process induced by the flexural load in Fibre Metal Laminates (FMLs). The influence of the connection layer placed between the composite ones and the metal sheets on the fracture mode was analysed. The considered FML was made of aluminium sheets interposed with carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) layers, joined with two different types of interface: by using a structural adhesive, or by relying on the bonding capacity of the prepreg resin. Then, the mechanical performances of the produced laminates were determined through the three-point bending test procedure, and the support span was varied to investigate different loading conditions. Finally, the fracture surface morphology was analysed by using both optical and scanning electron microscopes. The type of interface was found to influence the strength of the studied FML, and different fracture modes were observed, depending on the loading condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat exchanger plays a crucial role in the functioning of chemical industries, diary and food processing industries, and thermal plants. The enhancements in heat exchangers are mainly aimed at minimizing the energy consumption. An efficient heat exchanger is one that provides high heat transfer rate with minimum pumping power at low cost for energy saving. PHEs are used in various engineering fields due to their simplicity, flexibility, and maintainability related to others. In this paper, passive surface enhancement methods for single-phase and two-phase flow and application of nanofluids in different types of PHE are reviewed. The effect of geometrical parameters on hydraulic-thermal performance and occurrence of fouling deposits in PHE are also discussed. The chevron angle is found to be the most dominating geometrical parameter to change the flow properties. HTC, Nu, and ΔP increased with the increase in β, γ, and ϕ. For the two-phase flow, ΔP increased with the rise in vapor quality, mass flow rate and reduced with increase in saturation pressure. The optimum geometrical parameters for maximum heat transfer are β: 30°-60°, γ: 0.075–0.6, and φ: 1.18–1.3. The use of nanofluids in laminar flow condition is suggested by most of the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of new engineering materials is in demand for different kinds of manufacturing sectors. In this context, metal matrix composites have been focused by many industrialists and recent researchers because of their various attractive features. In the present attempt, an aluminium-based hybrid metal matrix composites have been fabricated using stir casting process. AA2024 has been chosen as the base metal and tungsten carbide (WC) and graphene nanoparticles have been used as reinforcements. The size and shape of the reinforcement particles have been confirmed by means of SEM micrographs. By reinforcing the WC particles at different wt% such as 0, 1, 2 and 3, and reinforcing the graphene nanoparticles at 0, 0.15 and 0.3 wt%, 9 different composite samples have been prepared. The tensile, compression, hardness and impact tests have been performed on the prepared composite samples by following respective ASTM standards. The maximum tensile strength of 242.77 MPa and the maximum compressive strength of 398.05 MPa have been noted with the test samples. The tensile failure mechanism has been observed from the SEM micrographs and explained. The characterization study results revealed that there was a significant influence of adding WC and graphene nanoparticles on the mechanical properties of the proposed MMC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the important research topics is protecting the host from threats by developing a reliable and accurate intrusion detection system. However, since the amount of data has grown fast due to the emergence of big data, the performance of traditional systems designed to identify breaches has suffered several flaws. One of them, for example, is known as single-point failure; low adaptability and a high false alarm rate are also typical. Hadoop is used to detect intrusions to tackle these difficulties. The Java system is used to create a framework with a significant data flow that detects intrusions when a distributed system is built. The proposed solution employs a distributed operating system for data collection, storage, and analysis. The results indicate that external distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are recognized quickly. The single-point failure issue is overcome, alleviating the bottleneck problem of data processing ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, fly ash (FA) was modified with a silane coupling agent for use as a filler (5–25% by weight) in an epoxy composite. An epoxy composite containing untreated FA was more brittle and less resistant to bending force compared with neat epoxy. Increasing the treated FA content resulted in a composite with greater tensile toughness and higher resistance to deformation under higher bending loads. The addition of silanized FA in the epoxy-based composites resulted in improved mechanical properties with respect to the unmodified composite. The epoxy composite containing 10 wt% treated FA had the best mechanical properties, with tensile strength, tensile modulus, flexural strength, and flexural modulus values of 45.15, 70.52, 824.71, and 4004.73 MPa, respectively. In particular, the transmittance of visible light through all epoxy composites containing treated FA was reduced to 10%. This study suggests that epoxy composites containing 10 wt% treated FA are suitable for interior light partition applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In some engineering applications, it is very desirable that the heat exchanger is as light as possible while maintaining the heat transfer rate at an acceptable level. In this context, the possibility of reducing the weight of the heat exchanger with the star-shaped fins by cutting off the thermally least efficient part of the fin was investigated. For this purpose, the rear part of the fins was trimmed to Ø28, Ø31 and Ø34 mm. Numerical analysis was used to determine the influence of each variant on the flow characteristics in the air–water heat exchanger and on heat transfer for the range of 2300 < Re < 16,000. The best results were obtained by trimming the rear part of the fin to Ø28 mm. With a 5.53% reduction in fin weight, heat transfer can be increased by up to 8.12% compared to the star-shaped fins without trimming. The pressure drop can be reduced by up to 0.92%. The trimmed fins were also compared with perforated star-shaped fins (perforation Ø2). At approximately the same weight, the trimmed fins increase the heat transfer coefficient by up to 5.75% with a reduction in pressure drop of up to 0.76% compared to the perforated fins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar energy is a major renewable energy resource used in power production, heating processes, and other applications such as domestic and industrial utilization. It is an abundant form of green energy. Different techniques have been made for energy conversion and one among them is solar photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) system. Unfortunately, the greatest cause of concern is the rise in temperature of solar PV cells, which will have a negative effect on electrical performance. Thereby, eliminating excess heat on PV cells with heat transfer fluids to lower the temperature of the cells can improve electrical efficiency. A nanofluid is a promising heat transfer fluid to effectively enhance the system efficacy compared with conventional fluids. As the nanoparticle size is very small, the surface area of the nanoparticle is large so it enhances the heat transfer rate. Thereby, recently it has taken on a new dimension for research studies to enhance its thermal behavior for engineering application. This review paper discusses about the importance of nanofluid in solar PV/T system and advantages of employing nanofluid in PV/T system which has high thermo-physical properties. Nanoparticle and nanofluid preparation methods were presented. The thermo-physical properties like thermal conductivity, viscosity, density, and specific heat capacity were also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this investigative research work, the surface characteristics of normal paint and multiwall carbon nanotube (MWCNT) paint-coated substrates are studied. The experiments are conducted using ABB IRB 1410 Robot and the end effector of the robot is retrofitted with a high-volume low-pressure atomizer paint spray gun. The nanopaint is prepared by ultrasonication by placing 1 gram of MWCNT in a polyurethane commercial base paint (500 ml). Taguchi design of experiments is used to identify the most efficient use of procedure parameters using the L9 orthogonal array table. Heat transfer of the substrate is found by temperature measurements of the convective heat transfer through extended surfaces. Surface morphology is studied by scanning electron microscope and upright microscopy. Analysis of variance technique is used to find the most influencing input parameters and contribution of values to maximizing surface finish and minimizing the heat transfer effect. The study shows that there is an enhancement in surface finish and minimization of heat transfer in the nanopaint coated substrate when compared with normal paint application using the ABB robot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dual fueling is a successful model in the engine combustion area which perks up the performance and emission fronts. The combined effect of using biodiesel and gas dual fueling shall address the problem associated with emissions and depletion of fossil fuels. Fuel derived from Annona squamosa seeds is a creditable biofuel, which is resulted from waste seeds. This paper characterizes the gaseous exhaust emission and performance model of a dual-fueled, direct injection diesel engine fueled with ethane as gaseous fuel and Annona squamosa biodiesel as the base and liquid fuel. Ethane is supplied with air in the intake manifold at different flow rates (five lpm and ten lpm). Ethane supply at ten lpm lowered HC emissions by seven ppm, CO by 0.4% and smoke emission by 0.2 BSU for biodiesel. In addition, ethane supply to biodiesel lowered the BSFC by 13 kg/kW-h and enhanced the efficiency by 0.4%. Hence, dual-fueling ethane is an effective technique for improving the usage of biofuels in diesel engine applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research focuses on the evaluation of the potential of conical strip inserts in absorber tube. Results of these experiment help in enhancing the heat transfer, friction, and thermal properties of parabolic trough collector. The novel design of conical strip insert produces swirl flows that boost the thermal properties of the parabolic trough collector. The heat transfer effect was found to be twist ratio dependent. Minimum enhancement in pressure drop due to the inclusion of inserts is observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A parallel flow heat exchanger containing conical sectional inserts with three different pitch ratio (i.e., 1, 2, and 3) in a different orientation to the flow direction of the working fluid had been fabricated. Al2O3 with different volume concentration, i.e., 0%, 2%, and 4% nanoparticles (90 nm size) were added to De-ionized water as the working fluid. The combined effect of the Nanofluid and the inserts in different orientations was studied. It was concluded that the insert, flow direction, and Nanofluid volume concentration provided most augmented heat transfer and enhanced the thermal properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Replacing high-strength frictional materials with lightweight composite alternatives is currently a global challenge for researchers. In this work, aluminum alloy (AA2900)-based metal-matrix composites reinforced with 6 wt.% α-alumina were fabricated then subjected to T6 heat treatment followed by case hardening. The resulting composite samples exhibited improved hardness, strength behavior, and stress–strain behavior along with good ductility and formability when microwave sintered. Good microstructural bonding was observed for all samples, which can be attributed to the finer α-Al2O3 particulates used as the reinforcement and the microwave sintering process. The mechanical and wear properties of the composites were compared with existing aerospace brake pad material. Data for wear characteristics versus the number of landings for the existing brake pad material were considered as the benchmark data, and the feasibility of replacing it with the developed composites was evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhanced thermal conductivity of nanofluids has proven importance in enhancing heat transfer for many application. In this study, thermal conductivity of graphite nanopowder dispersed in water at different temperatures was studied experimentally. Stable nanofluids of different concentrations (0.2 vol%, 0.5 vol%, 0.8 vol%, 1 vol% and 1.5 vol%) are prepared using ultrasonic cleaner by sonicating for 3 hour. Thermal conductivity was measured from temperature 25 to 55 ºC with an interval of 5 ºC using KD2 Pro thermal properties analyser. Experimental results showed that thermal conductivity increases with increase in temperature and volume concentration. Thermal conductivity of Water -- Graphite nanofluid showed enhancement of 5.6% to 20.42% for 0.2 vol% to 1.5 vol% of concentration at 25 ºC respectively. However, the maximum improvement of 39.72% was found at 1.5% of concentration at 55 ºC compared to water. A correlation was developed considering the effect of temperature and concentration using the regression method. The proposed correlation effectively predicts the thermal conductivity of Water -- Graphite nanofluids with an accuracy of ±2.8%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work aims to assess the joint behaviour of friction stir spot welded sandwich sheets by changing the quality of the epoxy core layer. Lab scale experiments and numerical simulations are conducted for the purpose. The core property is altered by varying hardener to resin (h/r) ratio within a suitable range. Joint mechanical performance and joint characterization are evaluated from experiments. Cohesive zone modelling has been incorporated in Abaqus to monitor the hook formation and interface delamination, which is not performed until now in literature. The core quality influences the behaviour of sandwich sheet and hook geometry significantly. Desired h/r ratio is also evaluated from such results, and FSSW is found advantageous at some h/r ratios. The failure mode is independent of h/r ratio and loading conditions. The final joint shape and hook geometry obtained from FE simulations agree well with that of from experiments. Cohesive zone modelling helped in accurate prediction of delamination, and without it, the hook geometry and plastic energy dissipation predictions are approximated. It has been suggested to incorporate cohesive zone model during FE simulations to have a realistic prediction of sandwich joint performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research work investigates the influence of hybrid particulate fillers, Mg–Al layered double hydroxide (LDH), and nanoclay (NC), on the mechanical properties and formability of glass laminate AA5052 epoxy composites (GLARE). The composite laminates were prepared by varying the weight percentage (i.e., 3, 4, and 5 wt%) of the hybrid fillers in the epoxy resin. The conventional hand layup technique was utilized for the fabrication of the laminates. The tensile test samples were prepared in different orientations with respect to the rolling direction (i.e., 0°, 45°, and 90°) to address their anisotropic nature. The flexural, impact, lap shear, and formability tests were conducted as per ASTM and IS standards. The Erichsen cupping test was performed to study the formability of the composite laminates. For each test, the results were compared with that of the laminates containing individual LDH filler, NC filler, and no filler material. The results showed that the composite laminate with 5 wt% of LDH + NC hybrid filler exhibited enhanced tensile properties, impact energy, and lap shear strength while the laminate of 4 wt% LDH + NC filler possessed better flexural properties. The formability of the composite laminates with hybrid LDH + NC fillers was observed to be lower than that of the laminates with individual filler materials and laminate without any filler. The variation observed in the test results was justified by investigating the failure mechanism of the composite laminates using a scanning electron microscope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ultrasonic-assisted stir-casting technique improves the uniform dispersion of nano-reinforcements in aluminum hybrid metal matrix composites. In the present study, the process parameters of the ultrasonic-assisted stir-casting method, such as ultrasonic vibration time, and depth of ultrasonic vibration along with the speed of mechanical stirrer, are optimized on A356 hybrid composite material optimally reinforced with aluminum nitride, multiwalled carbon nanotubes, graphite particles, and aluminum metal powder using the desirability function approach. The process parameters are optimized against the response factors such as porosity, ultimate tensile strength, and wear rate of the composites. The optimum combination of input factors is identified as stirring speed (600 r/min), ultrasonic vibration time (2 min), and depth of ultrasonic vibration (40 mm) among the selected range. The corresponding output response values are found to be porosity (1.4%), ultimate tensile strength (247 MPa), and wear rate (0.0013 mm3/min). The ANOVA results have revealed that depth of ultrasonic vibration showed significant contribution among the input factors. An artificial neural network model is developed and validated for the given set of experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Friction drilling is one of the most promising methods for hole making in thin sheets of conventional structural alloy materials (aluminum, steel, copper, titanium, etc.) and novel polymer composites. Despite almost a hundred year history of studying friction drilling, it is still highly relevant and is actively developed. The aim of the present review is to cover as fully as possible all aspects of this technology. The paper analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of friction drilling, discusses the influence of technological parameters on the drilled hole quality. The technological parameters considered are not only the feed rate and spindle speed, but also the tool configuration. The quality of the holes refers to their strength, inner surface hardness, hole geometry and roughness, bushing geometry, and so on; therefore, they are also analyzed. From a fundamental point of view, frictional drilling is interesting in that it causes structural changes in the material as a result of severe plastic deformation, which is discussed in a separate section. Approaches for the process modeling are considered which quite accurately predict the material behavior. A technically more advanced technology of a new generation is discussed, namely flow drill screwdriving. A general conclusion is that despite the widespread use of friction drilling, including by well-known engineering companies, the technology continues to develop with regard to the changing needs of the industry and the market and strengthens its position in the industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the development of an advanced adsorption desalination system (ADS) with heat and mass recovery. By means of internal heat and mass recovery, this adsorption desalination system (ADS), offers a significantly higher performance ratio compared to the conventional systems. After vapor desorption, the pressure difference in the hot bed is first transmitted to the cold bed using mass recovery. Then, the heat from the hot bed is transferred into the cold bed and, eventually, to the condenser and evaporator, by means of the cold water. Numerical simulations for this system are compared to a verified experimental model, and then developed to study the effect of the operating parameters. The level of SDWP or specific daily water production for this ADS was found to be 13.48 m^3/ton of silica gel/day at a hot water temperature of 92.5 (°C) and a cold water temperature of 30 (°C). Consequently, in these operating conditions, the SDWP of the advanced ADS was found to be 153% more than the conventional ADS. Also, at the same temperature conditions, the performance ratio of the ADS with heat and mass recovery was 35% higher than the ADS without heat and mass recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To extend the current understanding of the circumferential groove casing suction applied to a counter-rotating axial flow compressor, the impact of different axial locations of the circumferential suction groove on the characteristics of the tip leakage flow (TLF) and the corresponding physical mechanisms producing the stability enhancement have been studied based on validated numerical simulations. The results show that the optimal location for the suction groove is at around 20% axial chord, which demonstrated a high potential for reducing additional stall mass flow coefficient with about 8.4% increment in the stall margin. After the casing suction groove was applied, the interface between the incoming main flow and TLF was pushed significantly downstream in the second rotor. The blade loading in the region below the groove, the tip leakage flow angle and the reversed axial momentum flux injected into main flow passage through the tip gap were all reduced, which contributed to the stall margin improvement. Detailed analysis of the tip leakage flow structures showed that the TLF originating from different chord locations played different roles in the stall inception process. It was found to be more effective to improve stall margin and adiabatic efficiency by controlling the front part of the TLF, which was most sensitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigated the influence of incorporation of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) on quasi-static behavior of composite and fiber metal laminate (FML) panels. The unmodified and modified composite specimens and FML panels with 2/1 configuration were fabricated using a hand lay-up method and investigated through a quasi-static punch and indentation testing. The two sets of tests were conducted with a flat-ended indenter and the loading conditions were the same for all samples, except support spans which were varied. Following experimental testing, possible damages at the punch region were closely investigated and localized and global damages were observed. The results revealed that adding 0.2 wt% GNPs improved the strength and fracture toughness of specimens by delaying the failure modes. On the contrary, GNPs made the bonding between the aluminum and composite interface to weaken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, metal–matrix composite materials are some of the most promising types of materials, and they combine the advantages of a metal matrix and reinforcing particles/fibres. Within the framework of this article, the high-temperature synthesis of metal–matrix composite materials based on the (Ni-Ti)-TiB2 system was studied. The selected approaches make it possible to obtain composite materials of various compositions without contamination and with a high degree of energy efficiency during production processes. Combustion processes in the samples of a 63.5 wt.% NiB + 36.5 wt.% Ti mixture and the phase composition and structure of the synthesis products were researched. It has been established that the synthesis process in the samples proceeds via the spin combustion mechanism. It has been shown that self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS) powder particles have a composite structure and consist of a Ni-Ti matrix and TiB2 reinforcement inclusions that are uniformly distributed inside it. The inclusion size lies in the range between 0.1 and 4 µm, and the average particle size is 0.57 µm. The obtained metal-matrix composite materials can be used in additive manufacturing technologies as ligatures for heat-resistant alloys, as well as for the synthesis of composites using traditional methods of powder metallurgy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Structural integrity, fuel efficiency, and reduced emission of greenhouse gases are the topmost priorities of the modern-day aerospace and automobile industries. Fiber-metal laminates (FMLs) can reduce most of these concerns by reducing a significant amount of weight without compromising structural reliability. Although this material was invented a few decades ago, large scale production, especially the forming process of small and complex-shaped products, has not matured yet. The necessity of manual processing makes it more cost-intensive and time-consuming. The forming difficulty comes with the limited elongation of the fiber layers compared to the metallic layers. As a result, the conventional approaches to form FMLs parts are not very suitable. In this paper, an investigation has been conducted to improve the drawability of FMLs sheets in deep drawing of cylindrical cups, made of semi-cured Glare material. A variable blank holder force (VBHF) method was proposed, which means the variation of the friction force of the holder and the laminate on contact surfaces, as a function of the position of outer flange edge. Fracture and wrinkling limits have been determined, and a BHF control trajectory has been presented to improve the forming quality, increase the drawing depth, and eliminate defects. Both experimental and numerical results from the VBHF were compared with constant BHF results. It is evident that the proposed VBHF scheme helps to improve the drawing quality compared to the conventional constant BHF. As a result, this method can enhance the production rate as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although fiber metal laminates (FMLs) were invented a few decades ago, large-scale manufacturing, especially the forming process of small and complex-shaped products, has not been matured yet. The forming difficulty comes with the limited strain rate of the fiber layers compared to the metallic layers. As a result, the conventional approaches to form FML parts are not very suitable. Understanding the material behavior during the forming process is critical to find a new technique for relatively intricate and smaller FML parts. The blank holder gap (BHG) is one of the effective parameters to control the material flow in the deep drawing process, but in the case of the FMLs, the situation is completely different due to the laminate constituent. The compression of the fiberglass and thermo-plastique resin to the blank holder force (BHF) is not the same as the metals. The resin acts like a rubber, which decreases the thickness of the laminate and affects the friction between the laminate layers, especially when forming semi-cured laminates, which makes it hard to define an ideal BHF. This paper presents the results of numerical and experimental investigation of the effect of the BHG on the hydromechanical deep drawing (HDD) of a cylindrical cup made with 2/1 Glare sheets. It is found that the optimized BHF and cavity pressure (CP) with a BHG of 1.1 mm, smaller than the laminate's initial thickness of 1.2 mm, resulted in a good part with a significant depth improvement of 35 mm. Results also exhibited that FML parts manufactured by considering the BHG can enhance its applications and lead to a reduction of time and effort spent in mass production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is known that fiber metal laminates as one of hybrid materials with thin metal sheets and fiber/resin layers have limited formability in conventional forming methods. This paper presents an experimental and numerical study for drawability of glass fiber-reinforced aluminum laminates under hydromechanical drawing technique. Fiber metal laminates comprised of a layer of woven glass fiber-reinforced prepreg, sandwiched between two layers of aluminum alloy. In order to produce fiber metal laminates, the laminates were subjected to a sufficient squeezing pressure under a controlled heating time and temperature by using a hydraulic hot press. A hydromechanical tooling equipped with blank-holder force and fluid pressure control system was used to form the initial circular fiber metal laminate blank. Finally, the effect of parameters such as pre-bulging pressure, final chamber pressure, and drawing ratio on process variables was evaluated. Also, the characteristic curve of hydromechanical drawing of fiber metal laminate i.e. chamber pressure in terms of drawing ratio was achieved by means of experimental tests and numerical simulations. The results showed that the maximum drawing ratio of defect-free fiber metal laminates, namely without any tearing, wrinkling, and delamination was obtained at pre-bulging and chamber pressure of 35 and 80 bar, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Because of the targe increase in energy and water demand for agriculture, industry and human needs, and the increase in water pollution problems due to urbanization, industry and human activities, the demand for potable water has increased. Solar desalination is an alternative approach to save energy and converting saltwater into high-quality drinking water using solar energy. This work aims to design, manufacture, and test two types of solar still images (i.e. single slope and transparent tent) in order to improve their heat absorption and thereby improve efficiency under the prevailing hot climatic conditions of Al-Medina Al-Monawra. Accordingly, solar energy has been used for distillation purposes for saltwater purification to be used for drinking and irrigation in arid areas. Although solar devices are still simple in design, their values and advantages are very high. It also relies solely on renewable energy sources that are clean, free and unpolluted. In addition, economic analysis and comparisons of water productivity between the single slope solar still and the transparent tent have been presented. The results have indicated that the productivity of water per square meters per day for the transparent tent solar still is higher than the one of the single-slope solar still by about 6%. From economic analysis, the recovery period for both systems has been found to be about 3.5 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heat energy generated during machining has been found to have a greater influence on determining the machinability of the materials. In this work, magnesium-based silicon carbide composite, which has been identified as a suitable lightweight application material, is prepared with the weight ratio of 90:10 by a stir casting process. Conventionally available HSS drill tools with different diameters of 4, 6 and 8mm are used to perform the drilling operations with governing parameters of spindle speed, feed rate and constant depth of cut. Thermal image camera of the FLIR E60 series is used to measure the temperature variation in the cutting zone at different operating conditions. The influences of machining temperature on chip morphology, tool wear and surface profile of the machined samples are investigated. Spindle speed has been found to have a significant effect on machining temperature. When spindle speed increases, the diameter of drill tool increases the tool wear and surface profile, respectively. Both abrasion and adhesive type of wears are observed in the drill tool. Further, change from abrasion to adhesive wear is noticed with the increase of the diameter of the drill tool. Surface plots are drawn with respect to the interaction of governing parameters along with the working temperatures obtained under different machining conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Titanium and its alloys are widely used owing to their high strength-to-weight ratio, good tensile strength, and resistance to corrosion. The Ti6Al4V alloy is called the workhorse among the titanium alloys owing to its wide application. Even though the Ti6Al4V alloy is immune to corrosion, improper welding conditions lead to contamination, making the weldments prone to stress corrosion cracking (SCC). These weldments are susceptible to SCC if they show sensitivity to pitting. This study examines the effect of welding conditions on the pitting corrosion behavior of 3 mm thick plates of Ti6Al4V alloy. The Ti6Al4V weldments were fabricated using fusion welding methods, namely, the gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) and laser beam welding (LBW) techniques. The pitting corrosion studies were carried out by a potentiodynamic polarization technique, using non-deaerated 3.5% NaCl solution of pH 7, to create a marine corrosion environment. The pitting corrosion studies yielded good results as there was corrosion resistance in weldments fabricated under controlled conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The micro-sandwich sheets with metallic/polymer fibrous core have been pointed out as one of the most promising technological solutions to the automotive industry. However, due to the lack of understanding of certain fundamentals related with the mechanical behavior of micro-sandwich sheets during forming processes, the transfer and scale-up of this promising technology to industry has been limited. A challenging aspect in the experimental characterization of these materials is related with the unknow properties of the composition of the core which consist of metallic (polymer) fibers and adhesive. In general, the suppliers of monolithic metal sheets also make available the respective datasheets with the mechanical and chemical properties. These datasheets use to refer the minimum, maximum or a specific tolerance range (dependent of the grade material) to the mechanical properties. However, the micro-sandwich sheets are not provided with this mechanical and chemical data, at least, for all layers. Therefore, it is missing a simple and robust methodology to supply the mechanical properties of the total micro-sandwich sheet to the industry. Furthermore, there is no study about the different numerical approaches available in the commercial stamping softwares to modelling and simulate micro-sandwich materials. In this work, a strategy to deduce the unknown mechanical properties of the fibrous core from symmetric or asymmetric micro-sandwich sheets, i.e., with the same or different skin thickness, is presented. For true stress-strain curves and anisotropy purposes, uniaxial tensile tests in 3 different directions, according ISO 6892-1:2009 standard, were performed. Total micro-sandwich specimens and skin specimens were tested. The mechanical properties of the core were deduced from micro-sandwich and skin's mechanical properties. Based on this data, the constitutive model was established. Additionally, 6 different Nakazima geometries were punched according to ISO 12004 for formability assessment. Experimental Forming Limit Curves (FLC) and principal strains data were recorded during the tests thanks to a high-resolution cameras and software GOM ARAMIS. Finally, the experimental mechanical tests were virtually reproduced with both commercial codes AutoForm R5.2 and PAM-STAMP 2G 2015.1. Thus, different modelling strategies and Finite Element Method (FEM) approaches were compared. The excellent agreement between numerical and experimental results demonstrate the accuracy of the applied methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industry needs new materials that present very high structural characteristic, such as high strength, low weight and high damage tolerance. To obtain these characteristics a new class of materials has been introduced: Fibre Metal Laminate (FML); they consist in metal sheets alternated to composite material layers: in such manner, the good characteristics of each constituent material confer the utmost properties to the FMLs. However, the mechanical properties depend, among other factors, on the thickness and the numerousness of the layers constituting the FML, as well as the interface between metal and composite. Therefore, in this paper, the influence of the abovementioned factors on the material answer to flexural load was investigated. In particular, different kinds of laminates were produced varying the layers adhesion and the layers thickness, but maintaining unaltered the metal/composite volume ratio and the total laminate thickness. Then their structural behaviour was investigated through three-point bending test, and it was found that the flexural behaviour was affected by both the investigated factors; in fact, the maximum flexural load diminished incrementing the number of layers and inserting an adhesive layer at the metal/composite interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental friendly insulating oils are sought after as an alternative to polychlorinated biphenyls and mineral oil. The ester‐based insulating oils are the industry preferred choice as they are fire resistant and non‐toxic in nature. They also have moisture tolerance capability and oxidation stability are quite higher in synthetic ester due to its stable chemical structure than seed‐based natural ester oil. In this work, attempts were made to develop un‐inhibited synthetic‐ester‐based high dielectric permittivity CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) nanofluids. These nanofluids were investigated for the critical parameters such as AC breakdown voltage, dielectric permittivity, loss tangent, DC resistivity, interfacial tension, viscosity, flash point and acidity properties as per the procedure outlined in IEC and ASTM standards. It has been observed that the addition of nanopowder in un‐inhibited oil results decrement in overall critical properties. These results suggest that these un‐inhibited ester oils are well suitable for high‐voltage transformer application in the present form and the combination of oxidation inhibitor and nanoceramic in the ester oils would give rise to enhanced critical parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dedicated effort of conscientious and expert referees is central to the publication of high-value and impactful research for the benefit of academic as well as industrial readership of the journal. The Editorial Board and Editors of I Drying Technology i gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the following panel of referees from around the world as peer reviewers for archival publication in this journal. [Extracted from the article]

Classical swine fever (CSF) is a globally significant disease of swine caused by classical swine fever virus. The virus affects the wild boars and pigs of all age groups, leading to acute, chronic, late-onset or in-apparent course of the disease. The disease causes great economic loss to the piggery industry due to mortality, stunted growth, poor reproductive performance, and by impeding the international trade of pig and pig products. In India, CSF outbreaks are reported from most of the states wherever pig rearing is practiced and more frequently from northeast states. In spite of the highly devastating nature and frequent outbreaks, CSF remained underestimated and neglected for decades in India. The country requires rapid and sensitive diagnostic tests for an early detection of infection to limit the spread of the disease. Also, effective prophylactics are required to help in control and eradication of the disease for the development of the piggery industry. This review looks into the economic impact; epidemiology of CSF highlighting the temporal and spatial occurrence of outbreaks in the last two decades, circulation, and emergence of the virus genotypes in and around the country; and the constraints in the disease control, with the aim to update the knowledge of current status of the disease in India. The article also emphasizes the importance of the disease and the need to develop rapid specific diagnostics and effective measures to eradicate the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tricobalt tetraoxide (Co3O4), a spinel-structured nanoparticle which possesses mixed oxidation states, has been synthesized via a Punica granatum (P. granatum, pomegranate) seed extract-mediated green reaction and has been investigated for its superior catalytic activity in three applications, which include (i) photodegradation of textile dye effluents (TDE) collected from the dyeing industry, Tiruppur, Tamil Nadu, India, (ii) catalytic hydrogenation of nitro-aromatic pollutants such as 4-nitrophenol and 4-nitroaniline, and (iii) antibacterial potential in biomedical applications. Prior to the application studies, the synthesized Co3O4 spinel nanoparticles (Co3O4-NPs) were characterized by well-known established techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL), and Raman and FT-IR spectroscopies. We have also discussed the probable mechanism and kinetic studies of the catalytic activity of the Co3O4-NPs. Finally, we concluded that the design and development of novel, economic and green synthesis-mediated catalysts such as Co3O4-NPs can exhibit efficient catalytic activity in diverse fields, which is necessary for environmental remediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Efforts to reduce manufacturing cost and negative environmental impacts have seen the mixture of natural fibre with synthetic fibre in composite structures. However, there are limited studies on the notch effect and fibre orientation on mechanical properties of hybrid fibre metal laminate (FML). In this study, tensile properties of FML with notch and different fibre orientation were investigated. The hybrid FML incorporated with kenaf fibre at the middle layer was compared with FML with three layers of E-glass fibre. Kenaf fibre and E-glass fibre used were in plain woven form. The FML in 2/1 configuration was manufactured through hot press manufacturing method to bond layers of annealed aluminium 5052 to the composite. Tensile test was conducted in a quasi-static manner according to ASTM E8. The results showed FML with three layers of glass fibre exhibited higher tensile strength compared with hybrid FML. However, the introduction of kenaf fibre in hybrid FML reduces the notch and fibre orientation sensitivity compared with glass fibre reinforced FML. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fibre metal laminates are high strength materials made up of alternating layers of metal alloy and composite materials. Commercially available fibre metal laminates include CARALL, ARALL and GLARE. Other than the commercially available fibre metal laminates, number of researches have been performed with the alternate metal alloys such as stainless steel, Ti, Mg alloys and polymer matrices based on polypropylene, polyimide, polyester, etc. In this study, various factors affecting the mechanical properties of fibre metal laminates have been addressed along with the different types of failure modes observed by various researchers in their experiments. Hygrothermal conditioning which involves the subjection of fibre metal laminates to moisture and temperature (80℃ and 90% humidity as per ASTM standard 5229), their behaviour and influence on mechanical properties has also been reported in this study based on the results from the various researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]