Recent Investigations for Microwave Iron Making in Japan
Friday, October 22nd, 2010Friday, October 22, 2010 3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Room 610, M&M Building
Motoyasu Sato
Professor and Chair of Coordinate Research Center
National Institute for Fusion Science
Toki, Japan
Abstract
Research, NIFS
Proposal in Progress: Sanders
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010New Funding
Thursday, October 14th, 2010
Associate Professor Douglas Swenson (MSE/IMP) and Assistant Professor Paul Sanders (MSE) have received $450,000 from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for a three-year project, “Systematic Investigation of Organized Elongated Pore Formation in Invariant Liquid to Solid Metal Plus Gas Transformations.”
A Miracle Diet for Brake Rotors: High-Strength, High-Temp Aluminum
Monday, October 11th, 2010If you could make rotors out of aluminum, says Paul Sanders, the average car would lose about 50 pounds. “That’s a big number on a car,” says Sanders, an assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Michigan Technological University. “Every 10 percent saved in weight on a vehicle equals roughly 4 percent in fuel economy…
Pt-Re Interactions under Hydrothermal Conditions for Aqueous Phase Reforming of Bio-derived Liquids
Wednesday, October 6th, 2010Wednesday, October 6, 2010 11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Room 610, M&M Building
David L. King
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Abstract
Hydrogen production from the aqueous phase reforming of glycerol over 3%Pt-Re/C has beenstudied, and the results compared with a Re-free 3%Pt/C catalyst. Although the Pt/C catalyst isvery selective toward the production of hydrogen, catalytic activity is low. Addition of Resignificantly increases the conversion of glycerol, at some loss of hydrogen selectivity to lighthydrocarbons and water-soluble oxygenates. This loss of H2 selectivity can be traced to anincrease in acid-catalyzed dehydration pathways. The highest hydrogen productivity among thecatalysts tested is achieved with a 3%Pt-3%Re/C catalyst with added KOH base, whichmediates the acidity. The observed product distributions can be understood in terms of thedifferent reaction pathways that become emphasized depending on catalyst composition andpH.
The structure of Pt-Re nanoparticles supported on carbon following exposure to a hydrogenreducing environment and subsequent hydrothermal conditions has been studied using in-situ xray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and aberration-corrected scanning transmission electronmicroscopy (STEM) with associated energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Thephysicochemical and electronic structure of PtRe nanoparticles under hydrothermal conditionshave been correlated to the catalyst selectivity in the aqueous phase reforming of glycerol. Weshow that Re addition to Pt results in charge transfer from Pt to Re-Ox under hydrothermalreaction conditions. The catalyst acidity increases with increasing Re:Pt ratio, and the higheracidity is shown to favor C-O over C-C cleavage. This results in higher selectivity to liquidproducts and alkanes at the expense of hydrogen production. We discuss the possible origins ofacidity enhanced by the addition of Re.
Biography
Dr. David L. King is a Laboratory Fellow (the highest rank that PNNL science and engineering staff canattain) and Team Lead of the Catalysis Science and Application Group at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory(PNNL) in Richland, Washington. He is currently Associate Lead for the Energy Conversion Initiative, a laboratorylevel initiative which has as its goal to develop PNNL as a Center of Excellence for Air- and Water-NeutralHydrocarbon Conversions, with a major focus on clean coal. He has had a long-standing interest in production ofhydrocarbon liquids from coal and biomass. Dr. King holds fifteen patents, with several pending, and over forty peerreviewed publications. Dr. King has a Ph. D. from Harvard University in physical chemistry.
Car Show
Tuesday, October 5th, 2010
• View the Daily Mining Gazette news article
Louks said when Ford comes to Tech during the career fair, they look for students who want to work as engineers in the product development department, metallurgists to work in the metallurgy department and other specialized students…
Composite Materials in Large Civil Engineering Structures – Design Optimization
Friday, October 1st, 2010Friday, October 1, 2010 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Room 610, M&M Building
John Pilling
Technical Director, Electric Park Research
Abstract
The choice of materials for use in load bearing civil engineering structures are often determined by costsimply because of the large volumes of materials involved. One instance of the large scale use ofpolymeric materials is in the rehabilitation of cracked, corroded or collapsed pipes that were originallyinstalled under most of the large American cities during the late 1800s. In many instances it is extremelycostly or impossible to dig up and replace the existing pipes. Rehabilitation by lining the pipes with apolymeric material is common practice. HDPE is currently favoured for small diameter internallypressurized pipes such as water and gas mains and is usually pulled into and through the existing pipes.However, this is not practical for many of the waste and storm water pipes that are either non-circular orlarger than about 24” in diameter as the pipe wall becomes excessively thick in order to support theimposed loads without buckling or fracture. Combining micromechanics of materials, elasticity theory oflaminates, and a geotechnical analysis of the loading of buried pipes, it is possible to design compositestructures that can support all the imposed loads and be easily installed in the existing collapsed pipe.The design process involves a geotechnical analysis of the imposed soil, water and rolling loads (vehicle,rail or aircraft) to determine the imposed pressure on the pipe. The pressure that a given pipe wall willsupport depends on the flexural rigidity of the pipe wall (EI), its strength (s) and a critical designdimension (D), usually the diameter of the pipe, but can be a critical radius of curvature or the length of astraight section when the pipe is non-circular. The actual equations used to determine the pressure thatcan be supported depend on the shape of the pipe, the type of loading and the country in which the pipeis to be installed (National Design Codes). An “Ashby” type analysis is then completed in which therequired pipe thickness to support the imposed loads is determined as a function of the internal structureof a laminated composite given that the mechanical properties of the pipe wall are themselves functionsof thickness. The cost of the design is then calculated. Typical microstructural variables include the typeof reinforcing fibre, the fibre spacing (volume fraction), resin type and fibre position within the laminatedstructure, i.e thickness. A numerical solution method is employed to determine the combination ofmicrostructural variables that produce the composite with the minimum cost. Each rehabilitation projectproduces a unique composite microstructure which can be easily manufactured, on demand, usingtechnology currently deployed in the textile industry. Typical municipal rehabilitation projects cangenerate material costs savings in the millions of $ range over conventional monolithic materials. Thispresentation explains how micromechanics and elasticity theory are combined with typical civilengineering design codes to produce cost minimized structural composites. Examples of pipes andinstallations will be included.