Xiaoliang Fan

Transparent and abrasion-resistant superhydrophobic coating with robust self-cleaning function in either air or oil

This paper reports an easy method to prepare a transparent superhydrophobic coating which shows a robust resistance to oil contamination, knife-scratch, sandpaper abrasion and strong acid/base attack. A PDMS interlayer was introduced to support the partially embedded fluoroalkylsilane treated silica nanoparticles, and thus the coating retained superhydrophobicity and self-cleaning properties after knife-scratch or 9 sandpaper abrasion cycles. An OSP scraping ink bar was introduced to control the thickness of the silica nanoparticle suspension, and thus the coating shows good transparency for visible light. Moreover, this transparent superhydrophobic coating shows self-cleaning properties in either air or oil environment.

An Improved Ant Colony Optimization Approach for Optimization of Process Planning

Computer-aided process planning (CAPP) is an important interface between computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) in computer-integrated manufacturing environments (CIMs). In this paper, process planning problem is described based on a weighted graph, and an ant colony optimization (ACO) approach is improved to deal with it effectively. The weighted graph consists of nodes, directed arcs, and undirected arcs, which denote operations, precedence constraints among operation, and the possible visited path among operations, respectively. Ant colony goes through the necessary nodes on the graph to achieve the optimal solution with the objective of minimizing total production costs (TPCs). A pheromone updating strategy proposed in this paper is incorporated in the standard ACO, which includes Global Update Rule and Local Update Rule. A simple method by controlling the repeated number of the same process plans is designed to avoid the local convergence. A case has been carried out to study the influence of various parameters of ACO on the system performance. Extensive comparative experiments have been carried out to validate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed approach.

A stretchable and super-robust graphene superhydrophobic composite for electromechanical sensor application

Stretchable superhydrophobic materials are of potential interest for next-generation multi-functional haptic technologies particularly suited for wearable device and artificial skin applications. However, the practical applications of stretchable superhydrophobic materials are hindered by some issues, such as low mechanical robustness, harmful chemicals, etc. Here, we partially embedded perfluorosilane-coated graphene into thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) by a dissolution and resolidification method. Due to the exceptional physical properties of graphene, the resulting nanocomposites could maintain their superhydrophobicity after toleration of strain up to 400%, man-made destruction by hands or sandpapers, pollution by oil, immersion in various corrosive liquids, and heat treatment at 150 °C for 24 h. It should be noted that even under an ultra-large load of 2 kg (32.5 kPa pressure), this graphene composite could withstand the abrasion by sandpaper for 20.00 m without losing superhydrophobicity. More remarkably, the electrical resistance of this graphene superhydrophobic composite is sensitive to material deformation, and can be directly applied to gloves for real-time detection of human motions.

Fabrication of mechanically robust superhydrophobic steel surface with corrosion resistance property

In this research, a simple and cheap method was presented to make steel superhydrophobic. A mixture of antiformin solution and hydrogen peroxide was utilized to grow a porous structure on steel foil; the antiformin solution is much cheaper and more environmentally friendly than the use of strong acids. More interestingly, lotus-leaf-like hierarchical micro-nanostructures were formed after ultrasonic treatment. The superhydrophobic surface can be further prepared by surface modification, which could withstand sandpaper abrasion for 2.24 m under a pressure of 24.50 kPa without losing superhydrophobicity. Moreover, the as-prepared superhydrophobic surface exhibits excellent self-cleaning and anti-corrosion properties.

Adsorption of boron and its relationship with morphologies of TiC

First-principle calculations were performed to study the adsorption of boron and its relationship with the morphologies of TiC. It is found that although the adsorption of boron on all the low-index TiC crystal planes is thermally favorable, it will be adsorbed more easily by C-terminated {111} and {011} planes, while less possible to be adsorbed by {001}. The study of the formation of B–B clusters indicates that the distribution of boron adatoms on C-terminated (111) and {011} planes will be more uniform, and the diffusion of the adatom further confirms the above results. According to the geometry relationship and growth rate of different crystal planes, it is deduced that the adsorption of boron on TiC will seriously impede the growth of {111} and {011} planes, which can make TiC grow into hexagonal platelets.

The influence of boron on the adsorption of Ti and C on TiC surfaces

The first-principles calculations have been performed to study the influence of boron on the adsorption of Ti and C on different TiC surfaces. It is found that boron can be adsorbed on both TiC (001) and (111) surfaces. When boron is present and carbon supply is high during the preparation of TiC, boron can bond with carbon atoms to form B-C clusters on (001) surface, but the formation of them is less favorable than that of Ti-C clusters. However, under the low carbon-supply condition, both B-B and Ti-Ti clusters can be formed, and, once being formed, B-B clusters are more stable than the Ti-Ti ones. On Ti-terminated (111) surfaces, boron adatoms are more likely to be moved to form B-B clusters. The study of the diffusion of the adatoms on the surfaces demonstrates that boron adatoms can be more easily migrated on (111) surfaces, which further confirms the above results.