Today's KNOWLEDGE Share: Striking the Perfect Balance

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Striking the Perfect Balance: Lightweight vs. Comfort in Airplane Cabins 

When flying, we all cherish the unique experience of traveling by air. Today, let's delve into a fascinating topic that often sparks debate: the delicate balance between "Lightweight" and "Comfort" in airplane cabins. 

Lightweight Innovations:

With advancements in materials, technology, and engineering, airlines have been relentlessly striving to make their aircraft lighter. Why? Lighter planes lead to significant fuel savings, reduced emissions, and ultimately, a more sustainable future for air travel. These innovations are remarkable feats of engineering that we can't help but support with our Additive Fusion Technology (AFT)™ design & manufacturing standard! 

The Pursuit of Passenger Comfort:

At the heart of every aviation endeavor lies the utmost priority – passenger comfort. Airlines continuously invest in enhancing the in-flight experience, providing more legroom, adjustable headrests, improved entertainment options, and overall ergonomic seating. After all, a comfortable journey makes a world of difference, especially during long-haul flights. 

Striking the Right Balance:

As airlines evolve, they face the challenge of harmonizing the push for lightweight designs with the quest for ultimate passenger comfort. While reducing weight benefits fuel efficiency, it's essential not to compromise on providing a relaxing and enjoyable flight experience for our valued travelers. 

Collaboration for Future Progress:

The aerospace industry has always embraced collaboration and innovation. As we move forward, it's crucial for airlines, manufacturers, and experts to work hand in hand, finding creative solutions that marry lightweight technology with top-notch comfort. Together, we can shape the future of air travel, one that's both eco-friendly and delightful for all passengers on board. 

Source:Yannick Willemin

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#composites #aviationindustry #lightweight #sustainable

#aft #9tlabs

Heat engine: Bengaluru scientists overcome 200 year old problem on Carnot’s heat-engine

Resolving a 200-year-old challenge, Bengaluru physicists have developed a “heat engine” that generates high-power with high-efficiency, overcoming a “trade-off” associated with all types of engines, from cars and aeroplanes to nuclear reactors.

The path-breaking discovery from researchers at the Indian Institute of Sciences and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research opens up the door to design fundamentally new engines using the novel concept, and can be translated into developing tiny microscopic engines for targeted drug delivery inside cells. “This is a conceptual breakthrough that opens up many new doors. It is the beginning of a fresh journey. What was thought impossible, has been achieved, Ajay Sood, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Union government and a co-author of the study, told DH.

In 1824, French engineer Nicolas Leonard Sadi Carnot – known as the father of thermodynamics – proposed what is known as the Carnot engine, the most efficient engine which is theoretically possible. It was a part of his theory on heat engines.

Heat engines are ubiquitous as they lie at the core of cars, aircraft, refrigerators, power plants and miniature motors. But they are currently limited by Carnot's maximum efficiency rule, according to which any attempt to enhance a heat engine's efficiency lowers its power, making the engine useless.

For the last two centuries, all the engines manufactured in the world follow the principles laid down by Carnot. But because of such a trade-off between power and efficiency, a Carnot heat engine was never made.

Take the example of a racing motor-bike, which requires you to pick up speed in a very short time. Their engines produce high power but are not fuel-efficient. In comparison, the regular family motorbikes are more fuel efficient, but they can’t generate such high power.

“Since a zero-power engine is useless, everyone accepts the power-efficiency trade-off like a law. More efficiency will mean lower power and vice versa. It has never been overcome and everyone thought it can’t be done till now,”

Sood, his student Sudeesh Krishnamurthy, who is now at the University of California, Berkley and Ganapathy carried out a series of ultra-precise experiments in the laboratory using a tiny heat engine made out of a single colloidal particle having a dimension of one-hundredth of a human hair.

The microscopic engine was exposed to a rapidly-fluctuating electrical field, because of which the engine’s efficiency reached close to the Carnot’s limit.

“The micro heat engine built by Krishnamurty operates at the Carnot efficiency at small durations of the engine cycle, and this is the regime of practical interest for extracting useful power output from any heat engine,” said Ganapathy.

Source:Deccanherald

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Today's KNOWLEDGE Share:ULTRA HIGH STRENGTH CARBON FIBER

 Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Toray just unveiled TORAYCA™ T1200, the world's ultra high-strength carbon fiber. This carbon fiber helps move us forward to reducing environmental footprints by making carbon fiber-reinforced plastic materials lighter. This also opens a new performance frontier for strength-driven applications, from aerostructures and defense to alternative energy and consumer products.

Leveraging this fundamental technology led Toray to develop TORAYCA™ T1200 in its new facility within the Ehime Plant (in Masaki-cho, Ehime Prefecture). T1200 has a tensile strength of up to 1,160 Ksi, more than 10% higher than TORAYCA™ T1100, which currently has the highest tensile strength available. T1100 applications include defense weapon systems, space, aircraft, and sports and leisure equipment.

Toray began the commercial production of TORAYCA™ carbon fiber in 1971 at the Ehime Plant and diversified the application into compressed natural gas and high-pressure hydrogen tanks, automobiles, aircraft, and sporting equipment. In 1986, Toray developed TORAYCA™ T1000 and further expanded carbon fiber’s potential by commercializing TORAYCA™ T1100. Toray remains a global leader, with both carbon fibers exhibiting the highest strength available worldwide.

Source:TORAY

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#composites #CarbonFiber #Innovation #tensilestrength #automotive #h2tanks #cngtanks #aerospace

New Bio-based Polyesters with Excellent Tensile Properties Beyond PE and PP

The research group of professor Kotohiro Nomura, Tokyo Metropolitan University, in cooperation with the research group of director Hiroshi Hirano, Osaka Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology, has developed biobased polyesters from inedible plant resources, which can be easily chemical recyclable and exhibit promising mechanical properties in film than commodity plastics.

Promising Alternative Materials to Commodity Polymers:

The development of high-performance sustainable, recyclable plastics is an important subject to realize circular economy. Biobased polyesters made from plant resources are expected to become promising alternative materials to commodity polymers such as #polyethylene and #polypropylene produced from petroleum. However, there have been few examples of the development of high-performance materials that exceed required mechanical properties such as tensile strength and elongation at break.

Synthesis methods for high molecular weight (long chain) polymers had been a pending issue in conventional polycondensation methods. To solve this issue, the research group has developed an olefin metathesis polymerization method using a high-performance #molybdenumcatalyst, focusing on polyesters derived from inedible plant resources, glucose and so forth.

In general, there is an antinomic relationship between tensile strength and elongation at break in polymer film, as well as increase in molecular weight and elongation at break. However, the present polymer film demonstrates that the tensile properties (strength and elongation at break) of the polymer film increased with the molecular weight, exhibiting superior properties beyond conventional plastics.

The present result is the first success in developing the #biobasedpolyester materials that can be decomposed/recycled and has excellent tensile strength and elongation at break than commodity plastics. The film properties can be further improved by combination with naturally derived fibers such as #cellulosenanofibers. Therefore, the material is expected to be a large breakthrough in the research and development of #plasticmaterials aiming at the #circulareconomy.

About Olefin Metathesis Polymerization Method

"Olefin" is a general term for hydrocarbons with one carbon-carbon double bond. The word “metathesis” means “substitution”. Therefore, the recombination reaction of substituents on the double bond of an olefin is called the olefin metathesis reaction.

For example, there is a reaction where a carbon-carbon double bond in an olefin is replaced with a catalytic metal-carbon double bond (catalytically active species) through the reaction using a catalytic metal such as ruthenium or molybdenum. The #polymersynthesis method using such reaction is called the olefin metathesis #polymerization method.

Source: Japan Science and Technology Agency/specialchem

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Sumitomo Chemical begins construction of a pilot facility to establish a process for producing propylene directly from ethanol, which is attracting attention as a sustainable chemical raw material.

The development of this technology is one of the projects supported by the NEDO Green Innovation (GI) Fund.

Generating Hydrogen as a By-product:

The Company will work to complete the construction of the pilot facility at the Sodegaura site of its Chiba Works in Japan by the first half of 2025 and step-up efforts to quickly implement the technology in society.

Propylene is an essential chemical product. Currently, it is mainly produced by cracking fossil resources, such as naphtha, and classified as an upstream petrochemical. Ethanol, meanwhile, can be produced from biomass, such as sugarcane and corn, and it is anticipated that technology for manufacturing ethanol at scale from combustible waste, waste plastics or CO2 will be established in the near future. Expectations are rising for ethanol as a sustainable essential chemical raw material.

Given these developments, Sumitomo Chemical has newly established a pilot facility to produce ethylene using ethanol as a raw material at its Chiba Works, while it has also been working to develop a proprietary new process to manufacture propylene using ethanol. This process, which produces propylene directly from #ethanol, has the advantage of being compact and low-cost compared to existing processes that involve multiple intermediates. Additionally, while producing propylene, which enjoys ongoing solid demand, it also generates #hydrogen as a by-product at the same time.

Sumitomo Chemical will acquire the necessary data for scaling the process for commercial production from the pilot facility, while also providing samples of #polypropylene using the #propylene produced in the pilot facility for customer evaluation. The Company aims to start commercial #production with the new process, as well as licensing of the technology to other companies, by the early 2030s. #Sumitomo Chemical will contribute to creating a #carbonneutral society and a #circulareconomy through the establishment of innovative production processes.

Source: Sumitomo Chemical/specialchem

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Today's KNOWLEDGE Share: Is Graphene Safe?

Today's KNOWLEDGE Share

Is Graphene Safe?

 

Graphene is a nanomaterial that is made from pure carbon. It is often described as a two-dimensional (2D) material because it is only a few carbon atoms thick and therefore is almost entirely surface area.

Graphene can also be considered a “family” of materials because it comes in many forms and types including graphene oxide, reduced #grapheneoxide, graphene sheets, graphene flakes and other versions of this amazing material.

 

It is precisely because of the 2D characteristics and dimensions that make graphene one of the strongest and most electrically and thermally conductive materials ever measured. These attributes make it an extremely interesting material to use to make other materials better, lighter, stronger, more durable and more recyclable.

 

Because it is based on carbon, graphene can be used in an astonishingly wide scope of applications, from extremely sensitive sensors to high performance textiles, to much more efficient batteries, to advanced high strength composites and even to be used in concrete to reduce the amount of embedded CO2. #Graphenematerials are also being used and tested for use in biological and #medicalapplications from tissue engineering to #drugdeliverysystems. 

 

It is very important to remember that when graphene is used as a nano-additive in other products like #plastics, #textiles, #coatings or even concrete, it is typically used in very small quantities, often much less than just 1% by weight. Despite these small amounts, it contributes significant benefits to the materials it is added to. This also means the graphene is typically fully embedded into the host material it has been added to.

 

It is also important to note that nearly twenty years ago, the Royal Society published a landmark report that made it clear that nanomaterials that were embedded into any material matrix posed no more health and safety threat than any other materials.

 

Since the Royal Society report, #graphene , as a new nanomaterial, has faced inevitable questions that naturally arise over how to safely handle it, and if it poses any risks to #humanhealth. 

 

Any risk assessment for graphene, or any other material, has to be based on the formula: Hazard x Exposure = Risk. In this formula, you can see that a highly #hazardoussubstance like an acid may have restricted access, limiting its exposure and in so doing reducing its risk. When this formula is applied to the difference between engineered nanoparticles, such as graphene, and those found in the air because of air pollution, we can begin to put the risks into perspective.In addition, because graphene is both relatively new and there is confusion or misinformation about the health risks of nanomaterials in general, it is important to refer to scientific tests and studies that have thoroughly evaluated the risk profile of graphene materials for #dermal (skin) contact.

No nanomaterial in its raw form should be handled directly without the necessary precautions to prevent inhalation (safe handling settings and personal protective equipment for trained personnel). However, as the Royal Society report established nearly twenty years ago, once a nanomaterial (including graphene) has been incorporated into a product, it is virtually impossible to liberate the graphene particles from the host material.

 

This has been demonstrated conclusively in research commissioned by The Graphene Council and conducted by researchers at Virginia Tech (soon to be published by Nature/Springer) that showed once graphene had been embedded into protective gloves, it was impossible to separate the graphene from the gloves without completing destroying the gloves.

 

 

Source:Terrance Barkan

Blog : http://polymerguru.blogspot.com