Effect of Alloying Powders on Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Aluminum Alloy Arc Additive Manufacturing.

Cold metal transfer arc additive manufacturing technique was used to produce 5356 aluminum alloy by adding refining agents to solve the problems of coarse grains and poor performance. Metallic powders (Ti, TiH, and Ti+B4C) were used to refine the grain size and promote the mechanical properties of the alloy. The effects of refining agents on the microstructure and mechanical properties of straight wall samples (SWSs) were studied. Samples with Ti+B4C addition had a profound impact on morphology. However, the TiH added sample revealed uneven transition between sediment layers, unstable precipitation process, unstable wall height and wall width, poor morphology, and defects. All SWSs with powder addition revealed the formation of the Al3Ti phase. Moreover, the columnar grains between the layers were transformed into equiaxed grains and finer grains at the center of the layers. There was a significant effect of TiH on the grain refinement. The samples with Ti demonstrated superior mechanical properties. The tensile strength and elongation of the SWSs increased by 28 MPa and 4.6% in the parallel additive direction and by 37 MPa and 8.9% in the vertical direction. The addition of Ti also contributed to the even distribution of the mechanical properties in both directions.

Molecular-Crowding Effect Mimicking Cold-Resistant Plants to Stabilize the Zinc Anode with Wider Service Temperature Range.

Growth of dendrites, the low plating/stripping efficiency of Zn anodes, and the high freezing point of aqueous electrolytes hinder the practical application of aqueous Zn-ion batteries. Here, a zwitterionic osmolyte-based molecular crowding electrolyte is presented, by adding betaine (Bet, a by-product from beet plant) to the aqueous electrolyte, to solve the abovementioned problems. Substantive verification tests, density functional theory calculations, and ab initio molecular dynamics simulations consistently reveal that side reactions and growth of Zn dendrites are restrained because Bet can break Zn2+ solvation and regulate oriented 2D Zn2+ deposition. The Bet/ZnSO4 electrolyte enables superior reversibility in a Zn-Cu half-cell to achieve a high Coulombic efficiency >99.9% for 900 cycles (≈1800 h), and dendrite-free Zn plating/stripping in Zn-Zn cells for 4235 h at 0.5 mA cm-2 and 0.5 mAh cm-2 . Furthermore, a high concentration of Bet lowers the freezing point of the electrolyte to -92 °C via the molecular-crowding effect, which ensures the stable operation of the aqueous batteries at -30 °C. This innovative concept of such a molecular crowding electrolyte will inject new vitality into the development of multifunctional aqueous electrolytes.

Two-step gasification of cattle manure for hydrogen-rich gas production: Effect of biochar preparation temperature and gasification temperature.

Two-step gasification process was proposed to dispose cattle manure for hydrogen rich gas production. The effect of temperature on product distribution and biochar properties were first studied in the pyrolysis-carbonization process. The steam gasification of biochar derived from different pyrolysis-carbonization temperatures was then performed at 750°C and 850°C. The biochar from the pyrolysis-carbonization temperatures of 500°C had high carbon content and low volatiles content. According to the results of gasification stage, the pyrolysis-carbonization temperature of 500°C and the gasification temperature of 850°C were identified as the suitable conditions for hydrogen production. We obtained 1.61m3/kg of syngas production, 0.93m3/kg of hydrogen yield and 57.58% of hydrogen concentration. This study shows that two-step gasification is an efficient waste-to-hydrogen energy process.

Synthesis, biological activity and tubulin binding poses of 1-deoxy-9-(R)-dihydrotaxane analogs.

1-Deoxy-9alpha-dihydrotaxane analogs 9 and 10 were semi-synthesized from 1-deoxybaccatin VI, isolated from Taxus mairei, and tested for cytotoxic activity. Taxane 9 is 10-fold less cytotoxic than paclitaxel, while 10 is equally active. In the tubulin polymerization assay (ED(50) values), 10 is 4-fold less effective than paclitaxel, but 3-fold superior to 9. These observations can be explained by analysis of the corresponding taxane/beta-tubulin complexes.