Engineering Commons^™

Method And System For Electronically Generating Random Answers, Stephen O. Bozzone, Bonnie Bachman

Economics Faculty Research & Creative Works

The invention concerns a method (300) and system (110) for electronically generating random responses in a portable electronic device (110). The method includes the steps of detecting (316) motion of the portable electronic device, in response to the detecting step, generating (318) the random response and outputting (320) the random response to a user of the portable electronic device. The method can further include the steps of prompting (312) the user to ask a question and following a predetermined time period after prompting the user to ask the question, prompting (314) the user to shake the portable electronic device. The …

Fabrication Of Various Curved Relief Structures Through Concave Surface Forming And Soft Replica Molding, Fang-Tzu Chuang

Fang-Tzu Chuang

In this case, our groups presented various optical structures through the presented method, involving concave surface forming and soft replica molding. The method of concave surface forming is mainly for the fabrication of concave surface. The method of soft replica molding is mainly for the fabrication of replica. Concave and convex relief structures, including circular curved relief structures, convex relief structures with platform structures on the top, refractive beam-shaping elements, these structures with dual curvatures and asymmetric structures, can be easily made through the presented method, respectively. All processes of manufacture are in several simple steps without multistep optical lithography …

College Of Engineering Senior Design Competition Fall 2005, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Fred and Harriet Cox Senior Design Competition Projects

Part of every UNLV engineering student’s academic experience, the senior design project stimulates engineering innovation and entrepreneurship. Each student in their senior year chooses, plans, designs and prototypes a product in this required element of the curriculum. A capstone to the student’s educational career, the senior design project encourages the student to use everything learned in the engineering program to create a practical, real world solution to an engineering challenge.

The senior design competition helps to focus the senior students in increasing the quality and potential for commercial application for their design projects. Judges from local industry evaluate the projects …

Multiple Channel Laser Beam Combination And Phasing Using Stimulated Brillouin Scattering In Optical Fibers, Brent W. Grime

Theses and Dissertations

Brightness scaling lasers using stimulated Brillouin scattering (SBS) in optical fibers is explored. A multiple-channel amplifier approach is used to increase the total power of a laser system while avoiding a significant burden on a single channel. The work explores two approaches utilizing both SBS beam cleanup and SBS piston error conjugation. A unique beam combiner that takes advantage of the SBS beam cleanup properties of a long, gradient-index multimode fiber was designed and tested. The beam combiner was developed to combine multiple-channel laser beams simultaneously with high input and output coupling efficiency. The design for the SBS beam combiner …

Thermal And X-Ray Analysis On The Origin Of Double Melting Phenomena Of Poly(L-Lactic Acid) Films, Xiaoyun Ling

Doctoral Dissertations

Thermal analysis is one of the most commonly used techniques to characterize the structure and properties of semicrystalline polymers. Unfortunately, the interpretation of thermal events is not always straightforward, but can be quite complicated. However, the complexity involved is often overlooked, leading to erroneous or, at least, questionable results and interpretations. In the present study we carry out an extensive investigation of the thermal behavior of poly(L-lactic acid), PLLA, films prepared under a wide range of crystallization conditions, including isothermal and non-isothermal crystallization from both the glassy state and the melt. The primary techniques used were differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), …

High-Temperature Low-Cycle-Fatigue And Crack-Growth Behaviors Of Three Superalloys: Hastelloy ® X, Haynes ® 230, And Haynes ® 188, Yulin Lu

Doctoral Dissertations

Extensive smooth-bar low-cycle-fatigue (LCF) and fatigue crack growth (FCG) experiments on three solid-solution-strengthened superalloys HASTELLOY X, HAYNES 230, and HAYNES 188 have been conducted at 816 and 927 C. Limited tests were run at 649 C, 871 C, and 982 C to study the temperature effect. The LCF tests were performed under a total-strain-range-control mode at Solar Turbines Inc., Metcut Research Inc., and The University of Tennessee (UT). The FCG tests were done under both the constant-load-range and constant-stress-intensity-factor-range modes at Westmoreland Testing Inc. and UT. Various hold times were imposed at the maximum strain or load in both the …

The Effect Of Ultrasonic Vibration On The Solidification Of Light Alloys, Xiaogang Jian

Doctoral Dissertations

This exposition presents the novel thermodynamical and microstructural modification to light alloys, such as aluminum alloys and magnesium alloys, by ultrasonic vibrations during their solidification processes. Ultrasonic vibration has proven to be effective in controlling columnar dendritic structure, reducing the size of equiaxed grains, and under some conditions, producing globular non-dendritic grains. Despite this, the solidification process under the effect of ultrasonic vibration was not clear. Not only was there no such research on how ultrasonic vibration affected its solidification thermodynamically, but also its effects on the as-cast microstructure, including the primary fcc phase, the eutectics, and the secondary phases, …

Experimental, Theoretical, And Device Application Development Of Nanoscale Focused Electron-Beam-Induced Deposition, Steven Jeffrey Randolph

Doctoral Dissertations

To elucidate the effects of beam heating in electron beam-induced deposition (EBID), a Monte-Carlo electron-solid interaction model has been employed to calculate the energy deposition profiles in bulk and nanostructured SiO₂. Using these profiles, a finite element model was used to predict the nanostructure tip temperatures for standard experimental EBID conditions. Depending on the beam energy, beam current, and nanostructure geometry, the heat generated can be substantial. This heat source can subsequently limit the EBID growth by thermally reducing the mean stay time of the precursor gas. Temperature dependent EBID growth experiments qualitatively verified the results of the …

Characterisation Of Porous Materials Viscoelastic Properties Involving The Vibroacoustical Behaviour Of Coated Panels, Olivier Doutres, Nicolas Dauchez

Olivier Doutres Ph.D.

Porous materials are widely used as passive acoustic absorbers. For optimal design, it is often necessary to know the viscoelastic properties of these materials in the frequency range relevant to their application. The viscoelastic properties are obtained by fitting an analytical model to acoustical radiation experimental measurements carried out on a circular coated plate clamped in a rigid baffle. Compared with quasistatic method, the viscoelastic properties are here achieved at high frequency corresponding to the first resonance in the thickness of the porous layer and coupling between porous materials and external fluid is taken into account. The analytical model, developped …

Effect Of Hydrogenon On Mechanical Behavior Of A Zircaloy-4 Alloy, Elena Garlea

Masters Theses

Hydride formation is one of the main degradation mechanisms of zirconium alloys in hydrogen-rich environments. When sufficient hydrogen is present, zirconiumhydride precipitates can be formed. Cracking of the brittle hydrides near a crack tip can initiate the growth of a crack leading to the premature failure of the material. Hydride formation is believed to be enhanced by the presence of residual or applied stresses. Therefore, the increase in the stress field ahead of a crack tip may promote precipitation of additional hydrides. In order to verify these phenomena, the effect of internal stresses on the zirconium-hydride-precipitate formation, and in turn, …

The Development Of Qualification Standards For Cast Super Duplex Stainless Steel (2507 Wrought Equivalent), Vasudevan Hariharan

Masters Theses

The objective of the program is to determine the suitability of ASTM A923 “Standard Test methods for Detecting Detrimental Intermetallic Phase in Wrought Duplex Austenitic-Ferritic Stainless Steels” for 25 Cr Cast Super Duplex Stainless Steels (ASTM A890-5A).

Different tests were carried out on the materials procured from various steel foundries as stated in the ASTM A923. The foundries were designated as Foundry A, B, C and D. All the materials were foundry solution annealed. Materials from Foundry D were solution heat treated at The University of Tennessee also and then they were subjected to heat treatment schedule which was derived …

Synthesis, Microstructure, And Mechanical Behavior Of Fe-Cu Composites, Jin-Woo Jeon

Masters Theses

The synthesis, microstructure, and mechanical properties of ball-milled nanocrystalline (nc) Fe powder and immiscible Fe-Cu alloy composites are investigated in this thesis. Experimental approaches are described for the characterization of the grain size and hardness of nc Fe powders and the internal stress state of bulk Fe-Cu alloy composites are presented.

The grain size measurements of ball-milled Fe powders obtained from the XRD line broadening analysis (15 nm) and TEM observation (18 nm) showed good agreement between two results. From the nanoindentation tests, the hardness values of the ball-milled Fe powders were increased from 3.5 to 10.5 GPa as the …

An Experimental Evaluation Of The Constant Β Relating The Contact Stiffness To The Contact Area In Nanoindentation, Jeremy Harper Strader

Masters Theses

Measurements of mechanical properties by nanoindentation with triangular pyramidal indenters like the Berkovich rely heavily upon the relationship between the contact stiffness, S, the contact area, A, and the reduced elastic modulus, E_r . This relationship is often written in the form: S = 2βEr(A/π)1/2, where βis a constant that depends on the geometry of the indenter. Although the most common values for βused in experimental measurements are 1.000 and 1.034, various theoretical analyses have yielded values as small as 1.00 or as large as 1.2, depending on the assumptions made to model the deformation. Here the most appropriate …

Ferroelectric Switch For Spin Injection, Mikhail Ye. Zhuravlev, Sitaram Jaswal, Evgeny Y. Tsymbal, Renat F. Sabirianov

Materials Research Science and Engineering Center: Faculty Publications

A method for the switching of the spin polarization of the electric current injected into a semiconductor is proposed, based on injecting spins from a diluted magnetic semiconductor through a ferroelectric tunnel barrier. We show that the reversal of the electric polarization of the ferroelectric results in a sizable change in the spin polarization of the injected current, thereby providing a two-state electrical control of this spintronic device. We also predict a possibility of switching of tunneling magnetoresistance in magnetic tunnel junctions with a ferroelectric barrier and coexistence of tunneling magnetoresistance and giant electroresistance effects in these multiferroic tunnel junctions.

The Optimal Sulfonation Conditions Of Self-Doped Polyaniline Obtained By Using Experimental Strategies, Wen-Yar Li, Chi-Chang Hu

Journal of Electrochemistry

The optimal sulfonation condition of self-doped sulfonated polyaniline(prepared from leucoemeraldinebase;denoted as LEB-SPANI) with a high electronic conductivity was obtained by experimental strategies,includingthe fractional factorial design(FFD) and central composite design(CCD).From the FFD experiment,the self-doped LEB-SPANI prepared at a lowtemperature(4oC),a short reaction time(1 h),and a small volume of fumingsulfuric acid(10 mL) showed a better conductivity(ca.127 mS/cm).In the CCD study coupled with a confirmationtest,the highest conductivity(ca.141 mS/cm) of the LEB-SPANI film was obtained under a sulfonation temperatureof 4oC,a sulfonation time of75 minutes,and a volume of8 mLof30% fuming sulfuric acid.The textural cha-racter-istics of self-doped LEB-SPANI were characterized by Fourier transform infrared(FTIR) spectroscopy,four-pointprobe method,and X-ray …

Copper Electrodeposition Under The Perturbation Of Hard Particles, Zeng-Wei Zhu, Di Zhu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Copper electrodepositon was carried out on the rotating cathode,with hard particles(such as ceramic beads) filling between the electrodes.The rotation of cathode led hard particles to polish and impact the surface of deposit during electrodeposition.Copper deposits with a mass of cuspidal nodules were produced in acid sulfate solutions while brittle deposits without nodules were produced in alkaline sulfate solutions.It was also found that brightening and smoothing deposit could be obtained from the alkaline solution,and the deposit was approximatively disordered orientation with granular morphology of about 100~300 nm.The results show that the polishing and impact of hard particles can effectively disturb the …

Silicides And Composites Materials As Anodes For Lithium Ion Batteries, Jun-Mei Yan

Journal of Electrochemistry

The anode materials of Mg_(2)Si and MnSi were synthesized by mechanically activated annealing(MAA) techniques in this work and the in electrochemical performances were also studied.A series of composite materials of Mg_(2)Si and CNTs or CMS were prepared by ball-milling method respectively.The reversible capacities of the composites were higher than that of the pure Mg_(2)Si and pure carbon materials.The cyclic performances have been improved greatly by ball-milling of the Mg_(2)Si and carbon materials.Results show that ball-milling method is one kind of method to make alloy materials into practical use.

A Continuous Operation For Electroreduction Of Oxalic Acid To Glyoxylic Acid, Xiao-Hui Hu, Xiang-Fei Yan, Yu-Zhong Su, Jun Li

Journal of Electrochemistry

A simulative-continuous-operation approach was proposed to study the continuous operation for electroreduction of oxalic acid to gloxylic acid using a packed bed reactor and a parallel reactor with cooled cathode in order to solve the low productivity problem in current state by using traditional reactor.The effects of the concentration of oxalic acid and temperature on this process were also studied.Results showed that,after 30min of the reaction(residence time),the mass fraction of the produced glyoxylic acid in the catholic solution could reach 3.76% and 3.66% with respect to a saturated oxalic acid method and a step-temperature decreasing method.From this study,we conclude that …

Electrochemical Oxidation Of Organic Additives In Tin Plating Electrolytes, Yin-Mei Cheng, Lan-Kun Cai, Qiang Song

Journal of Electrochemistry

Cyclic voltammetry(CV) was used to characterize the voltammetric behaviours of organic additives,e.g.PSA(phenolsulfonic acid)、EN(ethoxylatedα-naphthol) and ENSA(ethoxylatedα-naphthol sulfonic acid),on the anode surface.In PSA solutions,an anodic peak was obtained and the peak potential was about 1.2V.In EN and ENSA solutions,two anodic peaks were obtained and the peak potentials were about(0.95V) and 1.3V.The products of galvanostatic electrolysis were separated by HPLC(high performance liquid chromatography) and analyzed by EI/MS(electron ionizing mass spectrometry).The mechnism of the electrochemical oxidation was also disussed.

The Electrocatalystic Investigation Of 3,4-Dihydroxybenzoic Acid On The Modified Multiply Wall Carbon Nanotubes, Ming-Qi Li

Journal of Electrochemistry

The electrochemical behavior of 3,4-Dihydroxybenzoic acid(DHBA)on modified multiply wall carbon nanotubes electrode was investigated by cyclic voltammetry(CV) and square wave voltammetry(SWV).Results show that in 0.1 mol/L HCl solutions the modified carbon nanotube electrode has an obvious electrocatalytic effect on the oxidation and deoxidization of DHBA.The oxidation current of DHBA is linear to it's concentration in the range of 4.0×10~(-6)～1.0×10~(-4) mol/L and 2.0×10~(-4)～8.0×10~(-4)1mol/L with correlation coefficient of 0.9995 and 0.9992.The detection limit is 1.0 ×10~(-6)mol/ L.

The Mechanism Of Ethylenediamine On Electroless Ni-B Alloy Deposition, Sen-Lin Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The effects of ethylenediamine stabilizer on the deposition rate and on the stability of the plating bath for electroless deposition of Ni-B alloy were investigated.It was found that the addition of ethylenediamine greatly enhances the stability of the electroless plating bath.The electrochemical polarization including cathodic and anodic polarizations measurements were carried out to examine the effect of ethylenediamine on the deposition process.The results show that ethylenediamine affects both the cathodic and the anodic polarization processes.The oxidation current of the reducer and the reduction current of Ni-B alloy decrease greatly when ethylenediamine was added into the plating bath.The infrared spectroscopy(IR) experiments …

Electrochemical Disinfection Method To Treat Wastewater From Hospitals, Lizhi-Fu Lizhi-Fu

Journal of Electrochemistry

Electrochemical disinfection method was used to treat wastewater from hospitals.The mechanism of electrochemical disinfection was researched by using the different anode materials.The results showed that when the titanium coated with noble metal(Ru、Pt、Ir)oxide was used as an anode and stainless steel as a cathode,the current density was 6 mA/cm~(2),hydraulic retention time was 15 min,air flow rate was 40 L/h,the rate of anode effective area to the inner water volume was 1.0,the amount of total colibacillus was below 500 CFU/L after electrochemical disinfection,All these meet the first order of Effluent Discharge Standard(GB8978-98).

Electrochemical Controllable Preparation Of Hydroxyapatite Coating With Different Morphologies And Preliminary In Vitro Tests, Hai-Yan Shi, Ren Hu, Chang-Jian Lin

Journal of Electrochemistry

The Controllable electrochemical deposition has been developed to prepare the hydroxyapatite(HA) coatings on Ti substrate with different morphologies and structures.Three kinds of typical topography of HA coatings,i.e.standing-up,flower and ordered porous structures have been obtained.The XRD and FTIR results demonstrate high crystallinity of the coating and exclusion of other forms of calcium phosphates.In vitro tests reveal that the biological property is largely dependent on the structure and morphology of the HA coating.It has been found that all pure HA coating show good biocompatibilities,while only the HA coating with ordered porous structures exhibits best bioactivities.

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells-Materials And Prospects, Molenda Janina, Marzec Jacek

Journal of Electrochemistry

The paper summarizes and discusses the basic properties of solid oxide fuel cell(SOFC) components(electrode materials and electrolyte) from the point of view of their essential functional parameters suck as chemicalstability,transport,catalytic and thermomechanical properties under operational conditions in a SOFC.An interrela-tion between the defect structure of these materials related to oxygen nonstoichiometry and their electronic propertiesand catalytic activity was shown.Single-chamber fuel cell concept was also presented.

The High Temperature Corrosion Of 2205 Duplex Stainless Steel With Nacl Deposit, Fu-Fu Peng, Chaur-Jeng Wang, Yu-Chang Lin

Journal of Electrochemistry

The objective of this study was to figure out the hot corrosion behavior of 2205 duplex stainless steel(2205 DSS) within the temperature ranges from 550 to 850℃ in the static air condition with 2 mg/cm~(2)NaCl deposit,and in the air atmosphere condition with a constant flow rate of 500 vppm NaCl_((g)),respectively.Experimental results show that the hot corrosion kinetics met the parabolic rate law and the corrosion rate increased constantly with increasing temperature.The scales formed included Fe_(2)O_(3)/Fe_(3)O_(4)/Cr_(2)O_(3) and FeCr_(2)O_(4)from outer layer to inner layer.The sequence of formation is independent of the environment temperature,but the SiO_2 and NiO can be found in the …

A Study Of Three Corrosion Inhibitors For Reinforcing Steel In Sps Solution By Electrochemical Methods, Bing Zhao, Rong-Gui Du, Chang-Jian Lin

Journal of Electrochemistry

Some electrochemical techniques such as linear polarization,electrochemical noise and EIShave been employedto study the inhibition behavior of N-lauroyl sarcosinate,β-sodium glycerophosphate and D-sodium gluconate for the reinforcing steel immersed in simulated concrete pore solution(SPS) with NaCl addition.The results show that D-sodium gluconatehas an obvious inhibitive effect for the reinforcing steelin containingCl~(-)SPS solution.It has been proposed that the corrosion inhibition of D-sodium gluconate is due to its competitive adsorption and precipitation on steel surface in the simulated concrete environment.

Effect Of Hco_3~-Concentration On Co_2 Corrosion In Gas And Oil Fields, Guo-An Zhang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The effecs of HCO_3~-concentration on CO_(2) corrosion in gas and oil fields were investigated by carrying out potentiodynamic scans and weight loss tests.Potentiodynamic polarization curves showed that the cathodic current density decreased with cm increase of HCO_3~-concentration when [HCO_3~-] was lower than 0.042(mol/L.)The cathodic reations were promoted by increasing [HCO_3~-] when it reached 0.126 mol/L,(Anodic) behavior was an active process at low er [HCO_3~-] concentration and the anodic current density decreased with the increase of [HCO_3~-] concentration.An evident active-passive behavior exhibited in anodic process at 0.126 mol/L HCO_3~-.Under high pressure and high temperature,the corrosion rate of steel X65 decreased with …

A Study Of Overcharge Characteristic Of Lithium-Ion Cells, Jing Pang, Shi-Gang Lu, Sha Liu

Journal of Electrochemistry

The overcharge characteristics and effect factors of lithium-ion cells containing LiMn_(2)O_(4)cathodes were studied in detail.Overcharge testing of Lithium-ion cells with a systematic variation in the cell balance demonstrated that the overcharge characteristics of Lithium-ion cells was affected by the amount of cathode in the cells,which is independent of the amount of anode material.The rate of charge was found to be an important parameter,as electrolyte complete decomposition at low charge rates caused the end of overcharge testing,while high charge rates accelerated the rate of heat generation in the cells and the cell temperature increased as a result of insufficient heat dissipation.The …

An Electrochemical Study Of Electroless Copper Plating Using Glyoxylic Acid As Reducing Agent, Li-Qiong Wu, Fang-Zu Yang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The electroless copper plating using glyoxylic acid as a reducing agent,Na_(2)EDTA as a chelating agent and K_(4)Fe(CN)_(6) and 2,2'-dipyridyl as additives was studied.The effect of chelating agent and addtives on the polangation behaviovs of copper reduction and glyoxylie acid oxidation were analyzed by linear sweep voltammetry.The results mainly demonstrated that the chelating agent hindered both the oxidation of glyoxylic acid and the reduction of copper complexing ions.It has revealed that K_(4)Fe(CN)_(6)and 2,2'-dipyridyl(with the content over than 20 mg/L)both played negative actions on the oxidation of glyoxylic acid.

The Deactivation Mechanism Of Metal Oxide Anodes Under Alternative Current Electrolysis Condition, Jun-Tao Wang

Journal of Electrochemistry

The metal oxide anodes coated on titanium used in seawater electrolysis were prepared by thermal decomposition.Their morphologies、compositions and phase structures were determined by scanning electron microscope(SEM)、energy dispersive X-ray detector(EDX) and X-ray diffraction(XRD).The electrochemical properties of the anodes were characterized by accelerated life test,cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.SEM、EDX and XRD showed that solid solution structures of(Ru,Ir,Ti)O_(2)and(Ir,Ti)O_(2) were formed after pyrolysis,the solid solution structures and active components were disappeared after the deactivation of the anodes.Electrochemical results indicated that the active area decreased and the coating resistance increased,which are resulted by active component falling off from the anode surfaces.Hence,the deactivation of the …