AlN production in co-flow filtration mode at low pressures

In this work, the process for obtaining aluminum nitride in the combustion mode of co-flow filtration of a nitrogen–argon mixture was investigated. The combustion of granules consisting of aluminum and aluminum nitride as an inert diluent was studied under conditions of co-current filtration in a flow of nitrogen and a nitrogen–argon mixture in the range of a specific flow rate of 1.5–5.0 cm3/(scm2). It was found that the specific flow rate of the gas mixture and the amount of argon in the nitrogen–argon mixture had a significant effect on the rate and the temperature of combustion. The structure and phase composition of the synthesis products were studied. The maximum achieved yield of the AlN phase was 95 wt.%. Moreover, this method is energy efficient and allows the production of metal nitrides without the use of high-pressure reactors

A theoretical and experimental investigation on the SHS synthesis of (HfTiCN)-TiB2 high-entropy composite

In this work, a fundamental possibility of obtaining a high-entropy ceramic (HfTiCN)-TiB2 composite material by the coupled self-propagating high-temperature synthesis is shown. To search for a stable fixed composition of the HfTiCN compound, the USPEX code was used with the CASTEP interface at 0K. According to the XRD analysis, the obtained SHS product is represented by HfTiCN phase (60 wt%) and TiB2 phase (40 wt%). Based on the results of XRD, elemental analysis, and the heat pattern of combustion of the Hf-Ti-C-N-B powder mixture, a probable mechanism for the formation of the (HfTiCN)-TiB2 composite material during the coupled self-propagating high-temperature synthesis was proposed

Modeling of a two-phase swirling turbulent flow in the separation chamber of the centrifugal apparatus

In this paper a two-phase (gas – solid particles) swirling turbulent flow in the separation chamber of a centrifugal apparatus is considered. The results of mathematical modeling of flow at different settings are shown

Density Functional Hydrodynamics in Multiscale Pore Systems: Chemical Potential Drive

We use the method of density functional hydrodynamics (DFH) to model compositional multiphase flows in natural cores at the pore-scale. In previous publications the authors demonstrated that DFH covers many diverse pore-scale phenomena, starting from those inherent in RCA and SCAL measurements, and extending to much more complex EOR processes. We perform the pore-scale modelling of multiphase flow scenarios by means of the direct hydrodynamic (DHD) simulator, which is a numerical implementation of the DFH. In the present work, we consider the problem of numerical modelling of fluid transport in pore systems with voids and channels when the range of pore sizes exceed several orders of magnitude. Such situations are well known for carbonate reservoirs, where narrow pore channels of micrometer range can coexist and interconnect with vugs of millimeter or centimeter range. In such multiscale systems one cannot use the standard DFH approach for pore-scale modeling, primarily because the needed increase in scanning resolution that is required to resolve small pores adequately, leads to a field of view reduction that compromises the representation of large pores. In order to address this challenge, we suggest a novel approach, in which transport in small-size pores is described by an upscaled effective model, while the transport in large pores is still described by the DFH. The upscaled effective model is derived from the exact DFH equations using asymptotic expansion in respect to small-size characterization parameter. This effective model retains the properties of DFH like chemical and multiphase transport, thus making it applicable to the same range of phenomena as DFH itself. The model is based on the concept that the transport is driven by gradients of chemical potentials of the components present in the mixture. This is a significant generalization of the Darcy transport model since the proposed new model incorporates diffusion transport in addition to the usual pressure-driven transport. In the present work we provide several multiphase transport numerical examples including: a) upscaling to chemical potential drive (CPD) model, b) combined modeling of large pores by DFH and small pores by CPD

The Problem of Stability of Gas-Condensate Mixture at Pore-Scale: The Study by Density Functional Hydrodynamics

The method of the density functional hydrodynamics (DFH) is used to model compositional gas-condensate systems in natural cores at pore-scale. In previous publications, it has been demonstrated by the authors that DFH covers many diverse multiphase pore-scale phenomena, including fluid transport in RCA and SCAL measurements and complex EOR processes. The pore-scale modeling of multiphase flow scenarios is performed by means of the direct hydrodynamic (DHD) simulator, which is a numerical implementation of the DFH. In the present work, we consider the problem of pore-scale numerical modeling of three-phase system: residual water, hydrocarbon gas and hydrocarbon liquid with phase transitions between the two latter phases. Such situations happen in case of gas-condensate or volatile oil deposits, in oil deposits with gas caps or in EOR methods with gas injection. The corresponding field development modeling by the conventional reservoir simulators rely on phase permeabilities and capillary pressures, which are provided by laboratory core analysis experiments. But the problem with gas-liquid hydrocarbon mixtures is that in laboratory procedures it may be difficult or even impossible to achieve full thermodynamic equilibrium between phases as it must be under the reservoir conditions of the initial reservoir state. However, reaching the said equilibrium is quite possible in numerical simulation. In this work, the gas-liquid mixture, after being injected into core sample, would slowly undergo the rearrangement of the phases and chemical components in pores converging to the minimum of the Helmholtz energy functional. This process is adequately described by DFH with consequent impact on phase permeabilities and capillary pressure. We give pore-scale numerical examples of the described phenomena in a micro-CT porous rock model for a realistic gas-condensate mixture with quantitative characterization of phase transition kinetic effects

Synthesis, structure, and phase composition of high-entropy ceramics (HfTiCN)-TiB2

The phase composition and structure of the composite ceramic material (HfTiCN)-TiB2 obtained from the high-entropy system Hf-Ti-C-N-B in the mode of conjugated self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS, combustion) has been studied. Quantification using the Rietveld method has shown that the content of the HfTiCN phase in the combustion products is 40 wt %, and the content of the TiB2 phase is 60 wt %. It has been established that the structure of SHS materials consists of HfTiCN particles and agglomerates, which are distributed in the TiB2 matrix. The average particle size of TiB2 and HfTiCN is 6.1 and 3.3 mu m, respectively. A probable mechanism for the formation of a composite material (HfTiCN)-TiB2 in the mode of coupled self-propagating high-temperature synthesis of the Hf-Ti-C-N-B system is proposed. The results presented indicate the fundamental possibility of obtaining a composite ceramic material (HfTiCN)-TiB2 by the method of self-propagating high-temperature synthesis

Process of Obtaining Chromium Nitride in the Combustion Mode under Conditions of Co-Flow Filtration

In this work, the combustion process of chromium powder in the co-flow filtration mode was studied. The effect of nitrogen-containing gas flow rate on the nitridation of combustion products is shown. The effect of the amount of argon in the nitrogen–argon mixture on the burning rate and the burning temperature of the chromium powder is shown. It was found that an increase in the percentage of argon in the nitrogen–argon mixture can lead to the formation of an inverse combustion wave. The actual burning temperature is higher than adiabatic burning temperature in the co-flow filtration mode, thus the phenomenon of superadiabatic heating is observed. The phase composition of the obtained combustion products was studied. It was shown that the forced filtration mode allows for synthesizing non-stoichiometric Cr2N nitride

Self-propagating high-temperature synthesis of high-entropy ceramic composition (Hf0.25Ti0.25Cr0.25(FeV)0.25)N

The paper studies the structure and phase composition of the ceramic material obtained from the high-entropy Hf-Ti-FeV-Cr-N system with the use of the mechanical activation of the initial powder mixture with the addition of nonmetal (nitrogen) during the self-propagating high-temperature synthesis. As a result, the high-entropy ceramic (Hf0.25Ti0.25Cr0.25(FeV)0.25)N composition is obtained

Capsule-Targeting Depolymerases Derived from <i>Acinetobacter baumannii</i> Prophage Regions

In this study, several different depolymerases encoded in the prophage regions of Acinetobacter baumannii genomes have been bioinformatically predicted and recombinantly produced. The identified depolymerases possessed multi-domain structures and were identical or closely homologous to various proteins encoded in other A. baumannii genomes. This means that prophage-derived depolymerases are widespread, and different bacterial genomes can be the source of proteins with polysaccharide-degrading activities. For two depolymerases, the specificity to capsular polysaccharides (CPSs) of A. baumannii belonging to K1 and K92 capsular types (K types) was determined. The data obtained showed that the prophage-derived depolymerases were glycosidases that cleaved the A. baumannii CPSs by the hydrolytic mechanism to yield monomers and oligomers of the K units. The recombinant proteins with established enzymatic activity significantly reduced the mortality of Galleria mellonella larvae infected with A. baumannii of K1 and K92 capsular types. Therefore, these enzymes can be considered as suitable candidates for the development of new antibacterials against corresponding A. baumannii K types