The Effect of Inkjet Ink Composition on Rheology And Jetting Behaviour

This work presents recent results on the way linear and non linear viscoelastic properties of the fluids affect the jetting mechanism. Recent progress on quantitative characterising both high frequency linear (LVE) and non-linear (NLVE) viscoelasticity of fluids allows fluids to be assessed for their jettability before using such materials in a DoD print head. In term of linear viscoelastic measurements, the Piezo Axial Vibrator (PAV) was used to probe the rheology of the fluids on a frequency range between 10Hz and 10000Hz. A filament stretching apparatus, called the “Cambridge Trimaster”, was used in combination with high speed cinematography, to characterize the fluids high speed stretching and break-up behaviour. The series of fluids investigated here consist in dilutions of mono disperse polystyrene with different molecular weight (110, 210, 306 and 488 kg/mol respectively) diluted in diethyl phthalate. The choice of polymer weights and concentrations were chosen to match both the complex viscosity and the LVE. However, non linear rheological data experiments exhibit differences in the fluid relaxation time and filament break-up mechanism. Ultra-high speed cinematography of DoD jetting events were correlated with filament break-up experiments and demonstrated that fluid rheology provides valuable information on the jetting quality of the fluids

Langley Mach 4 scramjet test facility

An engine test facility was constructed at the NASA Langley Research Center in support of a supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) technology development program. Hydrogen combustion in air with oxygen replenishment provides simulated air at Mach 4 flight velocity, pressure, and true total temperature for an altitude range from 57,000 to 86,000 feet. A facility nozzle with a 13 in square exit produces a Mach 3.5 free jet flow for engine propulsion tests. The facility is described and calibration results are presented which demonstrate the suitability of the test flow for conducting scramjet engine research

Residence times and mixing of a novel continuous oscillatory flow meso reactor

A novel meso reactor based on oscillatory flow technology (Harvey et al., 2001) has been recently presented in Harvey et al. (2003) as a new technology for reaction engineering and particle suspension applications. Due to the demonstrated enhanced performances for fluid micro mixing and suspension of catalyst beads and to the small volume of the reactor, this novel miniature reactor is suitable for applications at specialist chemical manufacture and high throughput screening. Furthermore, a high control of environment conditions (e.g. mixing intensity, temperature) coupled with an online monitoring turns this reactor suitable for smallscale applications to the bioengineering field, such as for fast parallel bioprocessing tasks. This work concerns with the fluid dynamics characterisation of a novel miniature reactor. Experimental results using state-of-art fibre-optic technology is used in order to demonstrate that an accurate control of the residence time distribution (RTD) of liquid and solid phases can be achieved within this reactor as well as enhanced (oxygen) mass transfer rates. Furthermore, numerical simulations using Fluent ® software will be presented where simulated RTDs agrees with the experimental results. The meso reactor unit consists of 4.4 mm internal diameter and 35 cm long jacketed glass tubes, with a unit volume of 4.5 ml and provided with smooth periodic constrictions (SPCs), with an average baffle spacing of 13 mm. The internal diameter at the constricted zone (baffle internal diameter) is 1.6 mm, leading to a reduction of the baffle free are of 87 %. This unit is able to support batch or continuous operations mode, simply by configuring the tubes in parallel or in series, according to the intended application. Mixing is achieved by oscillating the fluid at the bottom or the top of the reactor by means of a piston pump, using oscillation amplitudes and frequencies ranging from 0 to 4 mm centre-to-peak and 0 to 25 Hz, respectively. Experimental studies using the Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) technique (Harvey et al., 2003) showed that different fluid mechanics are originated at different oscillation conditions (oscillation amplitudes and frequencies). A plug flow or a stirred tank behaviour can be obtained just by controlling the oscillation conditions. At low oscillatory Reynolds numbers (Reo), e.g. 10 to 100, the formation of axisymmetric eddies detached from the constrictions is coupled with low axial velocities and makes it possible to continuously operate the reactor in a plug flow mode. Increasing the Reo to values higher than 100, the eddy symmetry is broken and a complete mixing state is achieved inside the meso reactor. Low oscillation amplitudes must be used if axial dispersion is intended to be minimized, namely at plug flow setup. Through an overall oscillation cycle, changes of the location of the main flow stream from near the wall to the centre of each cavity and vice-versa was observed and is expected to lead to high mass and heat transfer rates (Perry, 2002). Due to the observed high radial velocities, narrow residence times distributions are expected to be obtained (Perry, 2002). Also high axial circulation rates were also observed at high Reos (above 100) and it was proved to lead to an enhanced performance on catalyst beads suspension. The relation of this fluid mechanics with the real performance of this novel meso reactor will be demonstrated. Tracer injection technique is applied to perform RTD studies inside a single SPC tube of the meso reactor. Spectroscopy UV/VIS technique is used to measure the concentration of a coloured tracer at the inlet and outlet (at continuous mode) or at the bottom and the top of the tube (at batch mode). A fibre optic apparatus is employed in order to obtain highly accurate online measurements of the UV/VIS absorbance. Mixing times are calculated for experiments at batch mode. Different flow rates are used to determine the effect of the flow rate over the RTD at continuous operation and axial dispersion is presented by the Bodenstein number, Bo. Determination of KL.a values is achieved by online measurement of the oxygen concentration using a special fibre optic probe. The working tip of the probe was dip-coated with a ruthenium complex immobilised in a sol-gel matrix. This complex is excited to fluorescence by a blue led (470 nm outpuk peak) and the level of the fluorescence is inversely related to the concentration of the oxygen through the Stern-Volmer equation (Wang et al., 1999), which is measured by the fibre-optic apparatus. Retention of solid phases (e.g. catalyst beads and yeast cells) inside the meso reactor will also be tested. Further studies using the Computation Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique will be presented where accurate prediction of the distribution of residence times is achieved. The use of the distributionfunctions permits to classify the flow behaviour inside this novel meso reactor patterns and to calculate mixing efficiencies and axial dispersion coefficients (expressed by the Bo number) at different oscillation conditions. A simple 2-D axisymmetric laminar model showed good agreement with flow patterns visualisations using PIV for Reo below 100 but a 3-D model with a very fine mesh was required to simulate breakage of axisymmetry. Consequently, 3-D models based on laminar and Large Eddy Simulations (LES) will be used to maximize the matching of RTD at higher oscillation conditions. Main intended application of CFDs to this novel meso reactor is the design of a meso reactor unit, which could operate at the best oscillation conditions and flow rate for cell cultures and biocatalyst applications

Application of NDT thermographic imaging of aerospace structures

This work aims to address the effectiveness and challenges of Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) inspection and improve the detection of defects without causing damage to the material or operator. It focuses on two types of NDT methods; pulsed thermography and vibrothermography. The paper also explores the possibility of performing automated aerial inspection using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) provided with a thermographic imaging system. The concept of active thermography is discussed for inspecting aircraft CFRP panels along with the proposal for performing aerial inspection using the UAV for real time inspection. Static NDT results and the further UAV research indicate that the UAV inspection approach could significantly reduce the inspection time, cost, and workload, whilst potentially increasing the probability of detection

Molecular physics of a polymer engineering instability: Experiments and computation

Entangled polymer melts exhibit a variety of flow instabilities that limit production rates in industrial applications. We present both experimental and computational findings, using flow of monodisperse linear polystyrenes in a contraction-expansion geometry, which illustrate the formation and development of one such flow instability. This viscoelastic disturbance is observed at the slit outlet and subsequently produces large-scale fluid motions upstream. A numerical linear stability study using the molecular structure based Rolie-Poly model confirms the instability and identifies important parameters within the model, which gives physical insight into the underlying mechanism. Chain stretch was found to play a critical role in the instability mechanism, which partially explains the effectiveness of introducing a low-molecular weight tail into a polymer blend to increase its processability

The fluid mechanics relating to a novel oscillatory flow micro reactor

Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - scholarship SFRH/BD/6954/2001

The matching of polymer solution fast filament stretching, relaxation, and break up experimental results with 1D and 2D numerical viscoelastic simulation

this work was supported by EPSRC grant number RG5560

The use of fibre optic probes for flow monitoring within a small-scale tube

This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of using fibre optic micro-probes for the measurement of dispersion and mixing in continuous flow within small-scale tubes under oscillatory flow conditions. The experimental data was modelled and compared either by three different well-known non-ideal models: a) tanks-inseries (with no backflow); b) differential backmixing; c) stagewise backmixing, and by one two-parameter flow model consisting of a plug flow and a stirred tank reactor in series. Model parameters were found by fitting the theoretical response with experimental data in both Laplace and time domains by different methods. In addition, specific results are presented relating to a small scale tube provided with smooth periodic constrictions (SPCs), the basic element of a novel screening reactor presented by Harvey et al. (Proceedings of the ECCE-4, Granada (2003) 0-6.4- 004). The unsteady tracer injection technique was used at different oscillation conditions, with oscillation frequencies from 0 to 20 Hz and amplitudes from 0 to 3 mm (centre-to-peak). An intermediate mixing behaviour (between plug flow and stirred tank reactor) was achieved in that range of oscillation frequencies and amplitudes. Dispersion was found to be dependent on the oscillation conditions (amplitude and frequencies) and related with the fluid backflow and with the breaking of flow symmetry. The discrete (stagewise) backmixing model was considered as the best model representing residence time behaviour in the small-scale tube.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT