Modelling the electromagnetic separation of non-metallic particles from liquid metal flowing through a two-stage multichannel

A two-stage multichannel was designed to increase the efficiency of separating non-metallic particles from liquid metal flowing through an alternating magnetic field. Numerical method was developed to calculate the particle concentration and separation efficiency of a zinc melt containing dross particles and verified by the experimental results. The distribution of particle concentration and axial fluid velocity changed significantly due to the added walls in the sub-channel, resulting in an abrupt increase in the residence time of the inner bulk melt with high particle concentrations and a remarkable increase in particle separation efficiency when flowing through the single-channel to sub-channels. A multistage and multichannel arrangement is hence recommended for further increase in the separation efficiency of an electromagnetic separator

Ultrasound cavitation induced nucleation in metal solidification: an analytical model and validation by real-time experiments

Microstructural refinement of metallic alloys via ultrasonic melt processing (USMP) is an environmentally friendly and promising method. However, so far there has been no report in open literature on how to predict the solidified microstructures and grain size based on the ultrasound processing parameters.In this paper, an analytical model is developed to calculate the cavitation enhanced undercooling and the USMP refined solidification microstructure and grain size for Al-Cu alloys. Ultrafast synchrotron X-ray imaging and tomography techniques were used to collect the real-time experimental data for validating the model and the calculated results. The comparison between modeling and experiments reveal that there exists an effective ultrasound input power intensity for maximizing the grain refinement effects for the Al-Cu alloys, which is in the range of 20-45 MW/m2. In addition, a monotonous increase in temperature during USMP has negative effect on producing new nuclei, deteriorating the benefit of microstructure refinement due to the application of ultrasound

Tailoring hierarchical microstructures and nanoprecipitates in additive-manufactured Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Nb alloys for simultaneously enhancing strength and ductility

Additive manufacturing provides an efficient way of producing metallic components with complex geometries. Their microstructure is substantially different to those from conventional processing, creating opportunities for manipulating the final microstructure and properties via heat treatment. Here, we demonstrate that as-built heterostructures in an Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Nb alloy produced during the solidification of molten pools provide a driving force and additional Zener pinning sources for recrystallization. This creates a bimodal grain structure after solution treatment, causing additional hetero-deformation-induced strengthening and hardening. Coarse grains are found to promote work hardening and blunt the propagate of cracks during deformation, increasing ductility. Together with precipitation strengthening from a high number density nanoprecipitates, the simultaneous improvement of strength and ductility in a highly alloyed Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Nb alloy is achieved. These results provide a simple strategy for the development of additively manufactured age-hardening alloys with improved strength and ductility for high performance structural applications

The impacts of increased heat stress events on wheat yield under climate change in China

China is the largest wheat producing country in the world. Wheat is one of the two major staple cereals consumed in the country and about 60% of Chinese population eats the grain daily. To safeguard the production of this important crop, about 85% of wheat areas in the country are under irrigation or high rainfall conditions. However, wheat production in the future will be challenged by the increasing occurrence and magnitude of adverse and extreme weather events. In this paper, we present an analysis that combines outputs from a wide range of General Circulation Models (GCMs) with observational data to produce more detailed projections of local climate suitable for assessing the impact of increasing heat stress events on wheat yield. We run the assessment at 36 representative sites in China using the crop growth model CSM-CropSim Wheat of DSSAT 4.5. The simulations based on historical data show that this model is suitable for quantifying yield damages caused by heat stress. In comparison with the observations of baseline 1996-2005, our simulations for the future indicate that by 2100, the projected increases in heat stress would lead to an ensemble-mean yield reduction of –7.1% (with a probability of 80%) and –17.5% (with a probability of 96%) for winter wheat and spring wheat, respectively, under the irrigated condition. Although such losses can be fully compensated by CO2 fertilization effect as parameterized in DSSAT 4.5, a great caution is needed in interpreting this fertilization effect because existing crop dynamic models are unable to incorporate the effect of CO2 acclimation (the growth enhancing effect decreases over time) and other offsetting forces

Study of High Efficiency Flow Regulation of VIGV in Centrifugal Compressor

Variable inlet guide vane (VIGV) is used to control the mass flow and generate prewhirl in centrifugal compressors. Due to the tip clearance of the guide vanes and the defect of the traditional guide vane profiles, the mass flow regulation of VIGV is limited, resulting in a large waste of compressed gas. Two kinds of inlet flow channels were proposed to eliminate the influence of tip clearance. These structures were numerically investigated at different setting angles. The results show that the improved channels not only expand the range of mass flow regulation, but also reduce the power and increase the efficiency of the compressor. Ten kinds of guide vane profiles, including different thickness distribution, camber line profile, were selected to compare with the original one and with each other. In the premise of ensuring the performance of compressor, the best guide vane profile was selected. The results show that reducing the guide vane thickness, increasing the guide vane camber angle, and increasing the distance between the maximum camber position and the leading edge of guide vane can help expand the range of mass flow regulation. The achievement of this research can effectively improve the flow regulation ability of VIGV and the performance of compressor

3D local atomic structure evolution in a solidifying Al-0.4Sc dilute alloy melt revealed in operando by synchrotron X-ray total scattering and modelling

Using synchrotron X-ray total scattering and empirical potential structure refinement modelling, we studied systematically in operando condition the disorder-to-order local atomic structure transition in a pure Al and a dilute Al-0.4Sc alloy melt in the temperature range from 690 °C to 657 °C. In the liquid state, icosahedral short-range ordered Sc-centred Al polyhedrons form and most of them with Al coordination number of 10–12. As the melt is cooled to the semisolid state, the most Sc-centred polyhedrons become more connected atom clusters via vertex, edge and face-sharing. These polyhedrons exhibit partially icosahedral and partially face-centred-cubic symmetry. The medium-range ordered Sc-centred clusters with face-sharing are proved to be the “precursors” of the L12 Al3Sc primary phases in the liquid-solid coexisting state

Cost-effective downstream processing of recombinantly produced pexiganan peptide and its antimicrobial activity

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have significant potential as alternatives to classical antibiotics. However, AMPs are currently prepared using processes which are often laborious, expensive and of low-yield, thus hindering their research and application. Large-scale methods for production of AMPs using a cost-effective approach is urgently required. In this study, we report a scalable, chromatography-free downstream processing method for producing an antimicrobial peptide, pexiganan, using recombinant Escherichia coli (E. coli). The four helix bundle structure of the unique carrier protein DAMP4 was used to facilitate a simple and cheap purification process based on a selective thermochemical precipitation. Highly pure fusion protein DAMP4var-pexiganan was obtained at high yield (around 24 mg per 800 mL cell culture with a final cultivation OD600 ~ 2). The purification yield of DAMP4var-pexiganan protein is increased twofold with a 72.9% of the protein recovery in this study as compared to the previous purification processes (Dwyer in Chem Eng Sci 105:12-21, 2014). The antimicrobial peptide pexiganan was released and activated from the fusion protein by a simple acid-cleavage. Isoelectric precipitation was then applied to separate the pexiganan peptide from the DAMP4var protein carrier. The final yield of pure bio-produced pexiganan was 1.6 mg from 800 mL of bacterial cell culture (final cultivation OD600 ~ 2). The minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) test demonstrated that the bio-produced pexiganan has the same antimicrobial activity as chemically synthesized counterpart. This novel downstream process provides a new strategy for simple and probable economic production of antimicrobial peptides.Baode Sun, David Wibowo, Anton P.J. Middelberg and Chun‑Xia Zha

A novel steady-state maintenance simulation framework for multi- information disseminations in crowd network

Purpose The era of crowd network is coming and the research of its steady-state is of great importance. This paper aims to establish a crowd network simulation platform and maintaining the relative stability of multi-source dissemination systems. Design/methodology/approach With this simulation platform, this paper studies the characteristics of “emergence,” monitors the state of the system and according to the fixed point judges the system of steady-state conditions, then uses three control conditions and control methods to control the system status to acquire general rules for maintain the stability of multi-source information dissemination systems. Findings This paper establishes a novel steady-state maintenance simulation framework. It will be useful for achieving controllability to the evolution of information dissemination and simulating the effectiveness of control conditions for multi-source information dissemination systems. Originality/value This paper will help researchers to solve problems of public opinion control in multi-source information dissemination in crowd network. </jats:sec