Key Engineering Materials Vol. 804

Abstract: Mg-based alloys were prepared by rapid solidification of twin roll casting (TRC) which shows that the Mg-RE alloy expressed the quasi-amorphous phased and fine crystalline phase dual-phase material. Corrosion behavior of Mg-Based alloy in 3.5% NaCl solution after 48h immersion and mechanical properties were investigated. The result show that The Mg-RE alloy strip exhibited good corrosion resistance and higher ultimate tensile strength and elongation comparing to the AZ31 alloy strips. The elongation of Mg-RE alloy strip is also high than the AZ91 and ZK61 under powder metallurgy processing. These indicate that Mg-RE alloy produced by our method has a better ductility. This may due to the special microstructure of the Mg-RE alloy forms, i.e., quasi-amorphous phase plus fine crystalline phase dual phase state.

Abstract: The dielectric elastomer (DE) has the advantages of large deformation ability, fast response speed, low price and high energy density. Therefore, DE has great prospects as artificial muscle and flexible robot. The purpose of the research is to clarify the mechanical behavior for acrylate dielectric elastomer by tensile test, fatigue test and viscoelasticity measurement.

Abstract: Dielectric elastomer generators (DEGs) are based on the electromechanical response of the dielectric elastomer film sandwiched between the compliant electrodes on each side, which are capable of converting mechanical energy from diverse sources (e.g, ocean wave) into electrical energy. In essence, DEG is a voltage up-converter using mechanical energy to increase the electrical energy of the charge on a soft capacitor. We evaluated the effect of input voltage and the pre-stretch ratios on energy conversion efficiency of DEG. With a power supply of 2.2kV and pre-stretch ratio of 2, the maximum net electrical energy density and energy conversion efficiency in a single harvesting cycle were measured to be 413 J/kg and 15.8%, respectively. The experimental results showed that, with the higher input voltage and the larger stretch ratio range, higher the energy conversion performance of DEG can be achieved.

Abstract: In this study, DLC films were deposited using IBED with various CH₄/H₂ ratio, gas flow rates and accelerating voltages. The composition and mechanical properties of the DLC coatings were characterized using SEM, Raman spectroscopy and nanoindentor. The tribological properties of the coating were also investigated using a frictional surface microscope with an in situ observation system and friction force measurements. The DLC films were characterized by a lower I_D/I_G, higher hardness, and improved tribological properties when deposited at a lower accelerating voltage (6 kV). At the CH₄/H₂ ratio of 1:99 and 6 sccm/6 kV, minimum I_D/I_G values of 0.62, relatively low friction coefficient of 0.12 , and a maximum hardness of 4056 HV were attained respectively.

Abstract: Polydimethylacrylamide (PDMA) microgels and niobate nanosheet/PDMA composite microgels were fabricated by using a microfluidic device. Morphologies and sizes of the composite microgels were tuned by adjusting synthetic conditions such as viscosity of oil phases, hydrophilicity and concentration of surfactants, and flow rates of oil phase and water phase. Furthermore, it was found that the dispersion of nanosheets was better when the composite microgels were synthesized by photopolymerization compared to redox polymerization.