This study focused on the production of polypropylene(PP)/silver(Ag)composites via additive manufacturing.This study aimed to enhance the quality of medical-grade PP in material extrusion(MEX)three-dimensional printin...This study focused on the production of polypropylene(PP)/silver(Ag)composites via additive manufacturing.This study aimed to enhance the quality of medical-grade PP in material extrusion(MEX)three-dimensional printing(3DP)by improving its mechanical properties while simultaneously adding antibacterial properties.The latter can find extremely important and versatile properties that are applicable in defense and security domains.PP/Ag nanocomposites were prepared using a novel method based on a reaction occurring while mixing appropriate quantities of the starting polymers and additives,namely polyvinylpyrrolidone(PVP)as the matrix material and silver nitrate(AgNO_(3))as the filler.This process produced three-dimensional(3D)printed filaments,which were then used to create specimens for a series of standardized tests.It was found that the mechanical properties of the nanocomposites were enhanced in relation to pristine PP,especially for the PP matrix with various loadings of AgNO_(3)and PVP,such as 5.0 wt%and 2.5 wt%,respectively.The voids,inclusions,and actual-to-nominal dimensions also showed improved results.The 3DP specimens exhibited a more effective biocidal performance against Staphylococcus aureus than Escherichia coli,which developed an inhibition zone only in the case of PP with filler loading percentages of AgNO_(3)and PVP at 10.0 wt%and 5.0 wt%,respectively Compounds possessing such properties can be beneficial for various applications requiring increased mechanical properties and biocidal capabilities,such as in the Defence or medical industries.展开更多
To reduce the fuel consumption and emissions and also enhance the molten aluminum quality, a mathematical model with user-developed melting model and burning capacity model, were established according to the features ...To reduce the fuel consumption and emissions and also enhance the molten aluminum quality, a mathematical model with user-developed melting model and burning capacity model, were established according to the features of melting process of regenerative aluminum melting furnaces. Based on validating results by heat balance test for an aluminum melting furnace, CFD （computational fluid dynamics） technique, in association with statistical experimental design were used to optimize the melting process of the aluminum melting furnace. Four important factors influencing the melting time, such as horizontal angle between burners, height-to-radius ratio, natural gas mass flow and air preheated temperature, were identified by PLACKETT-BURMAN design. A steepest descent method was undertaken to determine the optimal regions of these factors. Response surface methodology with BOX-BEHNKEN design was adopted to further investigate the mutual interactions between these variables on RSD （relative standard deviation） of aluminum temperature, RSD of furnace temperature and melting time. Multiple-response optimization by desirability function approach was used to determine the optimum melting process parameters. The results indicate that the interaction between the height-to-radius ratio and horizontal angle between burners affects the response variables significantly. The predicted results show that the minimum RSD of aluminum temperature （12.13%）, RSD of furnace temperature （18.50%） and melting time （3.9 h） could be obtained under the optimum conditions of horizontal angle between burners as 64°, height-to-radius ratio as 0.3, natural gas mass flow as 599 m3/h, and air preheated temperature as 639 ℃. These predicted values were further verified by validation experiments. The excellent correlation between the predicted and experimental values confirms the validity and practicability of this statistical optimum strategy.展开更多
文摘This study focused on the production of polypropylene(PP)/silver(Ag)composites via additive manufacturing.This study aimed to enhance the quality of medical-grade PP in material extrusion(MEX)three-dimensional printing(3DP)by improving its mechanical properties while simultaneously adding antibacterial properties.The latter can find extremely important and versatile properties that are applicable in defense and security domains.PP/Ag nanocomposites were prepared using a novel method based on a reaction occurring while mixing appropriate quantities of the starting polymers and additives,namely polyvinylpyrrolidone(PVP)as the matrix material and silver nitrate(AgNO_(3))as the filler.This process produced three-dimensional(3D)printed filaments,which were then used to create specimens for a series of standardized tests.It was found that the mechanical properties of the nanocomposites were enhanced in relation to pristine PP,especially for the PP matrix with various loadings of AgNO_(3)and PVP,such as 5.0 wt%and 2.5 wt%,respectively.The voids,inclusions,and actual-to-nominal dimensions also showed improved results.The 3DP specimens exhibited a more effective biocidal performance against Staphylococcus aureus than Escherichia coli,which developed an inhibition zone only in the case of PP with filler loading percentages of AgNO_(3)and PVP at 10.0 wt%and 5.0 wt%,respectively Compounds possessing such properties can be beneficial for various applications requiring increased mechanical properties and biocidal capabilities,such as in the Defence or medical industries.
基金Project(2009BSXT022) supported by the Dissertation Innovation Foundation of Central South University, ChinaProject(07JJ4016) supported by Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province, ChinaProject(U0937604) supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China
文摘To reduce the fuel consumption and emissions and also enhance the molten aluminum quality, a mathematical model with user-developed melting model and burning capacity model, were established according to the features of melting process of regenerative aluminum melting furnaces. Based on validating results by heat balance test for an aluminum melting furnace, CFD （computational fluid dynamics） technique, in association with statistical experimental design were used to optimize the melting process of the aluminum melting furnace. Four important factors influencing the melting time, such as horizontal angle between burners, height-to-radius ratio, natural gas mass flow and air preheated temperature, were identified by PLACKETT-BURMAN design. A steepest descent method was undertaken to determine the optimal regions of these factors. Response surface methodology with BOX-BEHNKEN design was adopted to further investigate the mutual interactions between these variables on RSD （relative standard deviation） of aluminum temperature, RSD of furnace temperature and melting time. Multiple-response optimization by desirability function approach was used to determine the optimum melting process parameters. The results indicate that the interaction between the height-to-radius ratio and horizontal angle between burners affects the response variables significantly. The predicted results show that the minimum RSD of aluminum temperature （12.13%）, RSD of furnace temperature （18.50%） and melting time （3.9 h） could be obtained under the optimum conditions of horizontal angle between burners as 64°, height-to-radius ratio as 0.3, natural gas mass flow as 599 m3/h, and air preheated temperature as 639 ℃. These predicted values were further verified by validation experiments. The excellent correlation between the predicted and experimental values confirms the validity and practicability of this statistical optimum strategy.
