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Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Characterization Of Ground Albedo Materials For Bifacial Solar Farms, Fernanda De Los Angeles Garcia, Benny Tam, Jean Lee, James Vance
Characterization Of Ground Albedo Materials For Bifacial Solar Farms, Fernanda De Los Angeles Garcia, Benny Tam, Jean Lee, James Vance
College of Engineering Summer Undergraduate Research Program
Bifacial photovoltaics can collect solar energy from both sides, unlike regular one-sided solar panels. With the ability to collect energy from both sides, the energy production of bifacial photovoltaic farms is about 2-6% more efficient than typical solar farms. However, the increase in efficiency is highly dependent on the reflectivity of the ground material. This project explores six different materials to determine which material would be best to implement as a ground material for a bifacial photovoltaic farm, based on their mechanical properties and albedo value. Albedo refers to the ratio between the reflected solar radiation to the incident solar …
Strengthening Of 7175 Aluminum Alloy Through Multi-Step Aging Process, Colin E. Masterson, Ryland W. Jolliffe
Strengthening Of 7175 Aluminum Alloy Through Multi-Step Aging Process, Colin E. Masterson, Ryland W. Jolliffe
Materials Engineering
7175 is a heat-treatable aluminum alloy commonly used in aerospace forgings. This alloy is aged with a multi-step heat treatment. This treatment must balance strength with stress corrosion cracking resistance through a degree of overaging. The team was tasked by Weber Metals to increase the strength of this treatment without sacrificing stress corrosion cracking resistance. Both two-step and retrogression and reaging treatments were tested in experiments to find a heat treatment that could increase the yield and tensile strength by 1-2 ksi while maintaining a minimum electrochemical conductivity equivalence of 38% relative to copper. Two-step aging is the more conventional …
Effect Of Heat Treatment On The Mechanical Properties In Natural Bamboo, Austin Levy, Mackenzie Kirkpatrick
Effect Of Heat Treatment On The Mechanical Properties In Natural Bamboo, Austin Levy, Mackenzie Kirkpatrick
Materials Engineering
Previous studies have shown that heat treatments have the ability to improve mechanical strength and stiffness in hardwood species. Compared to structural hardwoods, bamboo is a more sustainable and globally viable renewable resource. Therefore, Bambusoides vivax (timber bamboo) culms were fabricated into flat, rectangular cross-section samples with varying cellulose content to be heat treated and tested for mechanical properties. All samples were heat treated (HT) twice. The first HT was a normalization of all samples at 103 +/- 3 °C. The second HT was performed at various times and temperatures ranging from 130°C to 170°C for 0.5 to 3 hours. …
Influence Of Grain Size And Widmanstätten Colonies On Variability Of Tensile Properties Of Forged Ti-6al-4v, Blake T. Gaspar
Influence Of Grain Size And Widmanstätten Colonies On Variability Of Tensile Properties Of Forged Ti-6al-4v, Blake T. Gaspar
Master's Theses
When testing forgings for specifications, it was found that some parts did not meet the requirements for mechanical properties. This triggered an investigation into two of the parts from the lot that did not meet specification. The ultimate reason for failure was due to lower than necessary yield strength and ultimate tensile strength values, as well as unwanted variability between regions of the part. Therefore, samples of the regions were tensile tested to determine the differences that existed in yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, and elongation. After tensile testing, quantitative metallography and fractography were conducted to identify aspects of the …