Zhenping Wan

Preparation of oriented linear copper fiber sintered felt and its performance

Long metal fibers were manufactured in horizontal lathe with a multi-tooth tool. Based on the coarse antler surface structure of copper fibers, a new sintering technology was put forward to manufacture a kind of oriented linear copper fiber sintered felt. The sintering mechanism of oriented linear copper fiber sintered felt was studied. Compared with sintered copper-wire felt, the characteristics of sintered copper-fiber felts were analyzed in details. Owing to the coarse antler surface structure of copper fibers, oriented linear copper-fiber felt was sintered under the condition of micro/nano scale range, and copper fibers easily bonded together in the sintering process. Microchannels with micro-scale coarse antler surface structure were constructed. These characters give oriented linear copper fiber felt some new merits: high filtration accuracy, high flow capability, low resistance loss, good capability to resistance pressure, stable and uniform pore, high specific surface area. The properties of oriented linear copper fiber sintered felt were analyzed.

Manufacture, characterization and application of porous metal-fiber sintered felt used as mass-transfer-controlling medium for direct methanol fuel cells

Fabrication, characterization and performance of a porous metal-fiber sintered felt (PMFSF) based on multi-tooth cutting and solid-phase sintering were studied. The PMFSF was used as the anodic methanol barrier in a passive air-breathing direct methanol fuel cell to mitigate the effects of methanol crossover. Compared with the commercial SUS316L felt made of bundle-drawn fibers, this self-made PMFSF has larger pore diameter, polarized pore distribution, irregular fiber shape, rougher surface, lower mass flow resistance and evident hydrophobicity. The results reveal that the use of a PMFSF significantly enhances the cell performance since it helps to maintain a balance between the reactant and product management while depressing methanol crossover. The PMFSF with a porosity of 70% yields the highest cell performance at a methanol concentration of 4 mol/L.

Fabrication and Characterization of Aluminum Fibers by Peripheral Milling

A novel peripheral milling process with an end milling cutter for manufacturing aluminum fibers is proposed. Most of the cutting is done by the peripheral teeth of the cutter and the chips removed by the teeth form aluminum fibers, while the cutter end has little effect on aluminum fibers. The machining principle and the formation mechanism of aluminum fiber cross-section are presented. The feasibility of this new fabrication process is experimentally investigated under different machining conditions. In addition, influences of cutting parameters on the equivalent diameter, the length, and surface morphology of aluminum fibers are analyzed. Experimental results indicate that aluminum fibers can be successfully manufactured by peripheral milling and the productivity can be improved by increasing the rotational speed n. Smaller radial depth of cut a e , larger rotational speed n, and smaller feed speedv f are in favor of obtaining slim aluminum fibers. The length of aluminum fibers is theoretically determined by the axial depth of cut a p and also actually affected by other cutting parameters. Of all the cutting parameters considered in these experiments, the optimum parameters of a e , n, and v f are 0.3 mm, 118 r/min, and 60 mm/min, respectively.

A Novel Sintered Stainless Steel Fiber Felt with Rough Surface Morphologies

A novel sintered stainless steel fiber felt (SSSFF) with rough surface morphologies and high strength as well as high porosity is fabricated by solid-state sintering of stainless steel fibers produced by cutting method. The rough surface morphologies are characterized by laminar and jagged structures formed on the surface of stainless steel fibers. The SSSFF with 85% porosity sintered at 1200°C for 60 min exhibits tensile strength of 19 MPa and yield stress of 10.5 MPa. The influence of sintering parameters on surface morphologies and tensile strength is investigated. The experimental results show that the rough surface structures will disappear gradually when sintering temperature is 1300°C or sintering time is excessive, that is, 240 min when sintering temperature is 1200°C. The SSSFF with high porosity presents high tensile strength when sintering temperature ranges from 1100°C to 1200°C and sintering time is from 60 min to 120 min. In addition, the fracture mechanism of the SSSFF is investigated when subjected to uniaxial tensile load.

The Electrochemical Behavior of Carbon Fiber Microelectrodes Modified with Carbon Nanotubes Using a Two-Step Electroless Plating/Chemical Vapor Deposition Process

Carbon fiber microelectrode (CFME) has been extensively applied in the biosensor and chemical sensor domains. In order to improve the electrochemical activity and sensitivity of the CFME, a new CFME modified with carbon nanotubes (CNTs), denoted as CNTs/CFME, was fabricated and investigated. First, carbon fiber (CF) monofilaments grafted with CNTs (simplified as CNTs/CFs) were fabricated in two key steps: (i) nickel electroless plating, followed by (ii) chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Second, a single CNTs/CF monofilament was selected and encapsulated into a CNTs/CFME with a simple packaging method. The morphologies of as-prepared CNTs/CFs were characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The electrochemical properties of CNTs/CFMEs were measured in potassium ferrocyanide solution (K4Fe(CN)6), by using a cyclic voltammetry (CV) and a chronoamperometry method. Compared with a bare CFME, a CNTs/CFME showed better CV curves with a higher distinguishable redox peak and response current; the higher the CNT content was, the better the CV curves were. Because the as-grown CNTs significantly enhanced the effective electrode area of CNTs/CFME, the contact area between the electrode and reactant was enlarged, further increasing the electrocatalytic active site density. Furthermore, the modified microelectrode displayed almost the same electrochemical behavior after 104 days, exhibiting remarkable stability and outstanding reproducibility.

Forming mechanism of integral serrated high fins by plowing-extruding based on variational feed

Plowing-extruding tool was designed and plowing-extruding process was investigated. Then, a manufacturing method of integral serrated high-finned tube, plowing-extruding based on variational feed was proposed, in which plowing-extruding tool moved forward at two different feeds, f1 and f2, in turn. In this method, overlaps that are usually avoided in practical application were utilized to manufacture high fins and average height of fins was up to 1.58 mm. The critical feed (fc) of overlaps forming and terms of high fins forming were analyzed. The main technical parameters that affect the fins height were discussed. The experimental results show that the fins height increases with extruding inclination angle and plowing-extruding depth, and the fins height increases with f1 increasing when f1 is smaller than fc, and decreases with f1 increasing if f1 is larger than fc.

Experimental Study on Tensile Properties of a Novel Porous Metal Fiber/Powder Sintered Composite Sheet

A novel porous metal fiber/powder sintered composite sheet (PMFPSCS) is developed by sintering a mixture of a porous metal fiber sintered sheet (PMFSS) and copper powders with particles of a spherical shape. The characteristics of the PMFPSCS including its microstructure, sintering density and porosity are investigated. A uniaxial tensile test is carried out to study the tensile behaviors of the PMFPSCS. The deformation and failure mechanisms of the PMFSCS are discussed. Experimental results show that the PMFPSCS successively experiences an elastic stage, hardening stage, and fracture stage under tension. The tensile strength of the PMFPSCS is determined by a reticulated skeleton of fibers and reinforcement of copper powders. With the porosity of the PMFSS increasing, the tensile strength of the PMFPSCS decreases, whereas the reinforcement of copper powders increases. At the elastic stage, the structural elastic deformation is dominant, and at the hardening stage, the plastic deformation is composed of the structural deformation and the copper fibers’ plastic deformation. The fracture of the PMFPSCS is mainly caused by the breaking of sintering joints.

Influence of chamber dimensions on the performance of a conduction micropump

An electrohydrodynamic (EHD) conduction micropump with symmetric planar electrodes is developed to investigate the effect of micropump chamber dimensions on static pressure and flow rate. The interdigitated electrodes are created on an FR-4 CCL (copper clad laminate) using photolithography. The micropump consists of an electrode plate, chamber plate, top and bottom end cover. A 2D numerical simulation study is conducted to provide details about the ion distribution and fluid flow behaviors within a local domain of micropumps with different chamber height. Experimental results show that, by increasing chamber height, the static pressure and flow rate rise with a big slope under a chamber height of 0.2 mm, and henceforth decrease dramatically. The variation trends of static pressure and flow rate with an increase in chamber height are determined by the combination of ion concentration distribution and fluidic circulation formed between the two electrodes. Additionally, the effect of the chamber width and length is experimentally analyzed for optimum pressure and output flow rate.

Heat Transfer Performance of an Edge-Shaped Finned Tube

The third-generation heat transfer technologies, such as three-dimensional fin and dimple, are still important means of improving energy efficiency and will continue to be challenging issues. This paper presents condensation heat transfer performance of an edge-shaped finned tube fabricated by a ploughing–extruding process. The edge-shaped finned tube integrates more than one heat transfer enhancement technology and can enhance the heat transfer capacity greatly. It is seen that the overall heat transfer coefficient and heat flux increase with inlet velocity of cold water increasing, and decrease with inlet temperature of cold water increasing, whereas the shell-side heat transfer coefficient decreases with inlet velocity of cold water increasing and increases with inlet temperature of cold water increasing. At the same inlet velocity, the shell-side heat transfer coefficient for the edge-shaped finned tube is improved by 5–7 times compared to that of a smooth tube. At the same temperature difference between wall and vapor, the shell-side heat transfer coefficient is also higher than what had been reported in the literature. The shell-side heat transfer coefficient of the edge-shaped finned tube decreases with the increase of fabrication parameter feed at the same inlet velocity or inlet temperature of cold water.

Influence of drawing process parameters on forming of micro copper tube with straight grooves

Abstract Using high-speed oil-filled spinning method, high quality micro copper tube with straight grooves (MCTSG) with an outer diameter of 6 mm was obtained. Then, MCTSG with an outer diameter of 3-6 mm was fabricated successfully by multi-pass drawing processing method. The influence of drawing parameters on the forming of micro straight grooves was investigated based on the forming mechanism. The results show that the values of groove depth and width decrease, while the wall thickness increases as the drawing diameter decreases. At the same time, the groove depth and width increase, while the wall thickness decreases as the die angle increases. The drawing force increases as the reduction increases. Excessive copper tube reduction may results in groove folding and segmental teeth. The drawing force decreases firstly and then increases with the increases in die angle. When the die angle α is 16°, the drawing force is the smallest, indicating 16° is the optimal angle.