The Goodgrant Foundation is a charitable organization that wants to improve education performance of undergraduates attending colleges and universities in the US. So the foundation plans to contribute a total of US 50...The Goodgrant Foundation is a charitable organization that wants to improve education performance of undergraduates attending colleges and universities in the US. So the foundation plans to contribute a total of US 50 million for a suitable team of schools per year under the condition of avoiding repeated other large grant organizations’ investment. The DEA (Data Estimate Analysis) model is developed to determine an optimal investment strategy for the Goodgrant Foundation. In this paper, two questions were solved: how to choose a suitable team of schools and how to allocate the investment. Before the establishment of the model, the EXCEL software is used to preprocess data. Then the DEA model which includes two models in the paper is developed. For the first question, the CCR model is established to rank schools which used efficiency from DEAP 2.1. For the second question, the resource allocation model is established to allocate investment amount by weights of allocation from MATLAB software. Accordingly, the optimal investment strategy is received for the Goodgrant Foundation. Through the analysis above, 23 from 293 schools are selected to invest. Then the schools are ranked and the investment of US 50 million for 23 schools is allocated.展开更多
Ultra-high temperature ceramic(UHTC)nanowires are potential reinforcement materials due to it combines the perfect properties of bulk materials and unique geometric properties of one-dimensional(1D)nanostructures.Thus...Ultra-high temperature ceramic(UHTC)nanowires are potential reinforcement materials due to it combines the perfect properties of bulk materials and unique geometric properties of one-dimensional(1D)nanostructures.Thus,developing 1D nanomaterials that have excellent morphology and structure retention in ultra-high temperature environments is of prime importance to bring their outstanding performance into full play.Herein,we report the novel solid solution((Hf_(0.5)Ta_(0.5))C)ceramic nanowires,which could not only maintain morphological and structural stability at 1900°C but also exhibit 1D nanostructures under oxyacetylene scouring and ablation at 2300°C.The morphology evolution of nanowires obeys the Rayleigh instability mechanism,and the internal structure and element distribution of nanowires remain unchanged even if the surface atoms are rearranged.The fascinating nanowires are demonstrated to have great potential as ideal reinforcement materials of composite materials and toughening phases of ceramics that are applied in ultra-high temperature environments,as well as excellent performance enhancement phases of functional materials.Our work may provide new insights into the development of ceramic nanowires and widen their applications.展开更多
Tantalum carbon(TaC)alternate coatings with sublayers comprised of different crystallite morphologies were prepared on carbon/carbon composites by chemical vapor deposition.Their ablative behaviors and defending mecha...Tantalum carbon(TaC)alternate coatings with sublayers comprised of different crystallite morphologies were prepared on carbon/carbon composites by chemical vapor deposition.Their ablative behaviors and defending mechanisms were both investigated.The specimen with the sublayer composed of columnar crystals exhibited a better ablation resistance due to the toughness enhancement induced by the lami-nated structure.However,the mechanical denudation of the sample only containing acicular crystals and the coating spallation caused by superfluous gaseous products of the sample with the sublayer composed of nanocrystals both indicate their inferior anti-ablation properties.It is believed that the results will be helpful for the structural design and practical application of chemical vapor deposition(CVD)alternate coatings.展开更多
Polymer-derived ultra-high-temperature ceramic(UHTC)nanocomposites have attracted growing attention due to the increasing demands for advanced thermal structure components in aerospace.Herein,hafnium carbide(HfC)whisk...Polymer-derived ultra-high-temperature ceramic(UHTC)nanocomposites have attracted growing attention due to the increasing demands for advanced thermal structure components in aerospace.Herein,hafnium carbide(HfC)whiskers are successfully fabricated in carbon fiber preforms via the polymer-derived ceramic(PDC)method.A novel carbon nanotube(CNT)template growth mechanism combined with the PDC method is proposed in this work,which is different from the conventional vapor–liquid–solid(VLS)mechanism that is commonly used for polymer-derived nanostructured ceramics.The CNTs are synthesized and proved to be the templates for fabricating the HfC whiskers,which are generated by the released low-molecular-weight gas such as CO,CO_(2),and CH4 during the pyrolysis of a Hf-containing precursor.The formed products are composed of inner single crystal HfC whiskers that are measured to be several tens of micrometers in length and 100–200 nm in diameter and outer HfC/HfO_(2)particles.Our work not only proposes a new strategy to prepare the HfC whiskers,but also puts forward a new thinking of the efficient utilization of a UHTC polymer precursor.展开更多
In recent years,high-entropy metal carbides(HECs)have attracted significant attention due to their exceptional physical and chemical properties.The combination of excellent performance exhibited by bulk HEC ceramics a...In recent years,high-entropy metal carbides(HECs)have attracted significant attention due to their exceptional physical and chemical properties.The combination of excellent performance exhibited by bulk HEC ceramics and distinctive geometric characteristics has paved the way for the emergence of one-dimensional(1D)HECs as novel materials with unique development potential.Herein,we successfully fabricated novel(Ti_(0.2)Zr_(0.2)Hf_(0.2)Nb_(0.2)Ta_(0.2))C nanowires derived via Fe-assisted single-sourced precursor pyrolysis.Prior to the synthesis of the nanowires,the composition and microstructure of(Ti,Zr,Hf,Nb,Ta)-containing precursor(PHECs)were analyzed,and divinylbenzene(DVB)was used to accelerate the conversion process of the precursor and contribute to the formation of HECs,which also provided a partial carbon source for the nanowire growth.Additionally,multi-branched,single-branched,and single-branched bending nanowires were synthesized by adjusting the ratio of PHECs to DVB.The obtained single-branched(Ti_(0.2)Zr_(0.2)Hf_(0.2)Nb_(0.2)Ta_(0.2))C nanowires possessed smooth surfaces with an average diameter of 130–150 nm and a length of several tens of micrometers,which were a single-crystal structure and typically grew along the[11¯1]direction.Also,the growth of the(Ti_(0.2)Zr_(0.2)Hf_(0.2)Nb_(0.2)Ta_(0.2))C nanowires was in agreement with top-type vapor–liquid–solid mechanism.This work not only successfully achieved the fabrication of HEC nanowires by a catalyst-assisted polymer pyrolysis,but also provided a comprehensive analysis of the factors affecting their yield and morphology,highlighting the potential application of these attractive nano-materials.展开更多
To improve the oxidation resistance of carbon/carbon (C/C) composites, mullite coating was prepared on the surface of SiC-coated C/C composites by supersonic plasma spraying. Phases and microstructures of mullite coat...To improve the oxidation resistance of carbon/carbon (C/C) composites, mullite coating was prepared on the surface of SiC-coated C/C composites by supersonic plasma spraying. Phases and microstructures of mullite coating were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The coating primarily consists of a single phase of mullite (3Al2O3-2SiO2). The SEM results show that mullite coating was continuous and well bonded with the SiC inner layer without penetrating crack. Mullite coating exhibited good oxidation resistance. After 98.5 h oxidation at 1773 K and 9 thermal shock cycles between 1773 K and room temperature, the weight loss of the coated C/C composites was only 2.57%.展开更多
To improve oxidation resistance of carbon/carbon(C/C) composites,a SiC/SiC-MoSi_2-ZrB_2 double-layer ceramic coating was prepared on C/C composites by two-step pack cementation.The phase compositions and microstructur...To improve oxidation resistance of carbon/carbon(C/C) composites,a SiC/SiC-MoSi_2-ZrB_2 double-layer ceramic coating was prepared on C/C composites by two-step pack cementation.The phase compositions and microstructures of as-prepared multilayer coating were characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy.The oxidation resistance at 1773 K and the effect of thermal shock between 1773 K and room temperature on mechanical performance of coated specimens were investigated.The results show that the SiC/SiC-MoSi_2-ZrB_2 coating exhibits dense structure and is composed of SiC,Si,MoSi_2 and ZrB_2·It can protect C/C composites from oxidation at 1773 K for more than 510 h with weight loss of 0.5%.The excellent anti-oxidation performance of the coating is due to the formation of SiO_2-ZrSiO_4 complex glassy film.The coating can also endure the thermal shocks between 1773 K and room temperature for 20 times with residual flexural strength of 86.1%.展开更多
Bi doped SrTiO3 ceramics with Sr deficiency,i.e.Sr1-1.5xBixTiO3(x=0,0.01,0.05,0.1),were prepared via conventional solid-state reaction route.A colossal permittivity(CP)over 104 with low dielectric loss less than 0.05w...Bi doped SrTiO3 ceramics with Sr deficiency,i.e.Sr1-1.5xBixTiO3(x=0,0.01,0.05,0.1),were prepared via conventional solid-state reaction route.A colossal permittivity(CP)over 104 with low dielectric loss less than 0.05wasobtained in x=0.05 Sr1-1.5xBixTiO3 ceramics.In addition,the dielectric constant is maintained at a value greater than 104 in the range of 102-105 Hz and almost frequency independent.Phase structure analysis and density functional theory calculations suggest that the Bi·Sr-V"Sr-Bi·Sr defect complex with hole-pinned defect-dipoles maybe responsible for the high-performance CP properties.This work gives a new way to achieve high performance CP materials in ABO3 perovskite ceramics.展开更多
Multi-layer connected self-organizing feature maps(SOFMs) and the associated learning procedure were proposed to achieve efficient recognition and clustering of messily grown nanowire morphologies. The network is made...Multi-layer connected self-organizing feature maps(SOFMs) and the associated learning procedure were proposed to achieve efficient recognition and clustering of messily grown nanowire morphologies. The network is made up by several paratactic 2-D SOFMs with inter-layer connections. By means of Monte Carlo simulations, virtual morphologies were generated to be the training samples. With the unsupervised inner-layer and inter-layer learning, the neural network can cluster different morphologies of messily grown nanowires and build connections between the morphological microstructure and geometrical features of nanowires within. Then, the as-proposed networks were applied on recognitions and quantitative estimations of the experimental morphologies. Results show that the as-trained SOFMs are able to cluster the morphologies and recognize the average length and quantity of the messily grown nanowires within. The inter-layer connections between winning neurons on each competitive layer have significant influence on the relations between the microstructure of the morphology and physical parameters of the nanowires within.展开更多
Carbon nanotubes(CNTs) are fabricated in carbon cloth by ultilizing the waste gasses when fabricating hafnium carbide nanowires(HfC_(NWS)) through thermal pyrolysis of Hf-containing polymer precursor.The formed HfC_(N...Carbon nanotubes(CNTs) are fabricated in carbon cloth by ultilizing the waste gasses when fabricating hafnium carbide nanowires(HfC_(NWS)) through thermal pyrolysis of Hf-containing polymer precursor.The formed HfC_(NWS) are distributed uniformly on the surface of the carbon fibers in carbon/carbon(C/C) composites and display perfect single crystal appearance.The pyrolysis of the Hf-containing organic precursor provides hafnium and carbon source for the growth of HfC_(NWS).The released waste gasses containing CO,CH4and CO_(2)are the main carbon source for the growth of CNTs.Specifically,the flexural strength of HfC_(NWS) reinforced carbon/carbon(HfC_(NWS)-C/C) composites is enhanced by ~105% compared with pure C/C,and the CNTs/carbon cloth also displays improved electrochemical performance with respect to capacitor applications.The present study introduces a novel sustainable and eco-friendly process related to polymer-derived ceramics to form advanced ceramic nanocomposites and proposes a deep understanding of the growth mechanism of CNTs.展开更多
文摘The Goodgrant Foundation is a charitable organization that wants to improve education performance of undergraduates attending colleges and universities in the US. So the foundation plans to contribute a total of US 50 million for a suitable team of schools per year under the condition of avoiding repeated other large grant organizations’ investment. The DEA (Data Estimate Analysis) model is developed to determine an optimal investment strategy for the Goodgrant Foundation. In this paper, two questions were solved: how to choose a suitable team of schools and how to allocate the investment. Before the establishment of the model, the EXCEL software is used to preprocess data. Then the DEA model which includes two models in the paper is developed. For the first question, the CCR model is established to rank schools which used efficiency from DEAP 2.1. For the second question, the resource allocation model is established to allocate investment amount by weights of allocation from MATLAB software. Accordingly, the optimal investment strategy is received for the Goodgrant Foundation. Through the analysis above, 23 from 293 schools are selected to invest. Then the schools are ranked and the investment of US 50 million for 23 schools is allocated.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.52130205 and 51727804)the National Key R&D Program of China(No.2021YFA0715803)Innovation Foundation for Doctor Dissertation of Northwestern Polytechnical University(CX2022010).
文摘Ultra-high temperature ceramic(UHTC)nanowires are potential reinforcement materials due to it combines the perfect properties of bulk materials and unique geometric properties of one-dimensional(1D)nanostructures.Thus,developing 1D nanomaterials that have excellent morphology and structure retention in ultra-high temperature environments is of prime importance to bring their outstanding performance into full play.Herein,we report the novel solid solution((Hf_(0.5)Ta_(0.5))C)ceramic nanowires,which could not only maintain morphological and structural stability at 1900°C but also exhibit 1D nanostructures under oxyacetylene scouring and ablation at 2300°C.The morphology evolution of nanowires obeys the Rayleigh instability mechanism,and the internal structure and element distribution of nanowires remain unchanged even if the surface atoms are rearranged.The fascinating nanowires are demonstrated to have great potential as ideal reinforcement materials of composite materials and toughening phases of ceramics that are applied in ultra-high temperature environments,as well as excellent performance enhancement phases of functional materials.Our work may provide new insights into the development of ceramic nanowires and widen their applications.
基金supported by the National Natu-ral Science Foundations of China(Nos.51727804,52130205,and 91860203)the National Key R&D Program of China(No.2021YFA0715803)The authors also thank the Analytical&Testing Center of Northwestern Polytechnical University for the characteri-zation of our samples.
文摘Tantalum carbon(TaC)alternate coatings with sublayers comprised of different crystallite morphologies were prepared on carbon/carbon composites by chemical vapor deposition.Their ablative behaviors and defending mechanisms were both investigated.The specimen with the sublayer composed of columnar crystals exhibited a better ablation resistance due to the toughness enhancement induced by the lami-nated structure.However,the mechanical denudation of the sample only containing acicular crystals and the coating spallation caused by superfluous gaseous products of the sample with the sublayer composed of nanocrystals both indicate their inferior anti-ablation properties.It is believed that the results will be helpful for the structural design and practical application of chemical vapor deposition(CVD)alternate coatings.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.52293373,52130205,and 52061135102)the National Key R&D Program of China(Grant No.2021YFA0715803).Also,we would like to thank ND Basic Research Funds of Northwestern Polytechnical University(Grant No.G2022WD)and China Scholarship Program,2020(Grant No.202006290179).
文摘Polymer-derived ultra-high-temperature ceramic(UHTC)nanocomposites have attracted growing attention due to the increasing demands for advanced thermal structure components in aerospace.Herein,hafnium carbide(HfC)whiskers are successfully fabricated in carbon fiber preforms via the polymer-derived ceramic(PDC)method.A novel carbon nanotube(CNT)template growth mechanism combined with the PDC method is proposed in this work,which is different from the conventional vapor–liquid–solid(VLS)mechanism that is commonly used for polymer-derived nanostructured ceramics.The CNTs are synthesized and proved to be the templates for fabricating the HfC whiskers,which are generated by the released low-molecular-weight gas such as CO,CO_(2),and CH4 during the pyrolysis of a Hf-containing precursor.The formed products are composed of inner single crystal HfC whiskers that are measured to be several tens of micrometers in length and 100–200 nm in diameter and outer HfC/HfO_(2)particles.Our work not only proposes a new strategy to prepare the HfC whiskers,but also puts forward a new thinking of the efficient utilization of a UHTC polymer precursor.
基金supported by the National Key R&D Program of China(Grant No.2021YFA0715803)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant Nos.52293373 and 52130205)ND Basic Research Funds of Northwestern Polytechnical University(Grant No.G2022WD).
文摘In recent years,high-entropy metal carbides(HECs)have attracted significant attention due to their exceptional physical and chemical properties.The combination of excellent performance exhibited by bulk HEC ceramics and distinctive geometric characteristics has paved the way for the emergence of one-dimensional(1D)HECs as novel materials with unique development potential.Herein,we successfully fabricated novel(Ti_(0.2)Zr_(0.2)Hf_(0.2)Nb_(0.2)Ta_(0.2))C nanowires derived via Fe-assisted single-sourced precursor pyrolysis.Prior to the synthesis of the nanowires,the composition and microstructure of(Ti,Zr,Hf,Nb,Ta)-containing precursor(PHECs)were analyzed,and divinylbenzene(DVB)was used to accelerate the conversion process of the precursor and contribute to the formation of HECs,which also provided a partial carbon source for the nanowire growth.Additionally,multi-branched,single-branched,and single-branched bending nanowires were synthesized by adjusting the ratio of PHECs to DVB.The obtained single-branched(Ti_(0.2)Zr_(0.2)Hf_(0.2)Nb_(0.2)Ta_(0.2))C nanowires possessed smooth surfaces with an average diameter of 130–150 nm and a length of several tens of micrometers,which were a single-crystal structure and typically grew along the[11¯1]direction.Also,the growth of the(Ti_(0.2)Zr_(0.2)Hf_(0.2)Nb_(0.2)Ta_(0.2))C nanowires was in agreement with top-type vapor–liquid–solid mechanism.This work not only successfully achieved the fabrication of HEC nanowires by a catalyst-assisted polymer pyrolysis,but also provided a comprehensive analysis of the factors affecting their yield and morphology,highlighting the potential application of these attractive nano-materials.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 51072166 and No.50902111the "111" Project under Grant No.D08040NPU Foundation for Fundamental Research and the Research Fund of the State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing(NWPU), China (Grant No.73-QP-2010)
文摘To improve the oxidation resistance of carbon/carbon (C/C) composites, mullite coating was prepared on the surface of SiC-coated C/C composites by supersonic plasma spraying. Phases and microstructures of mullite coating were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The coating primarily consists of a single phase of mullite (3Al2O3-2SiO2). The SEM results show that mullite coating was continuous and well bonded with the SiC inner layer without penetrating crack. Mullite coating exhibited good oxidation resistance. After 98.5 h oxidation at 1773 K and 9 thermal shock cycles between 1773 K and room temperature, the weight loss of the coated C/C composites was only 2.57%.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.50902111 and 51272213)NPU Foundation for Fundamental Researchthe Research Fund of the State Key Laboratory of Solidification Processing(NWPU),China(No.73-QP-2010)
文摘To improve oxidation resistance of carbon/carbon(C/C) composites,a SiC/SiC-MoSi_2-ZrB_2 double-layer ceramic coating was prepared on C/C composites by two-step pack cementation.The phase compositions and microstructures of as-prepared multilayer coating were characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy.The oxidation resistance at 1773 K and the effect of thermal shock between 1773 K and room temperature on mechanical performance of coated specimens were investigated.The results show that the SiC/SiC-MoSi_2-ZrB_2 coating exhibits dense structure and is composed of SiC,Si,MoSi_2 and ZrB_2·It can protect C/C composites from oxidation at 1773 K for more than 510 h with weight loss of 0.5%.The excellent anti-oxidation performance of the coating is due to the formation of SiO_2-ZrSiO_4 complex glassy film.The coating can also endure the thermal shocks between 1773 K and room temperature for 20 times with residual flexural strength of 86.1%.
基金This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China[Grant Nos.51677033,51802061,51702069].
文摘Bi doped SrTiO3 ceramics with Sr deficiency,i.e.Sr1-1.5xBixTiO3(x=0,0.01,0.05,0.1),were prepared via conventional solid-state reaction route.A colossal permittivity(CP)over 104 with low dielectric loss less than 0.05wasobtained in x=0.05 Sr1-1.5xBixTiO3 ceramics.In addition,the dielectric constant is maintained at a value greater than 104 in the range of 102-105 Hz and almost frequency independent.Phase structure analysis and density functional theory calculations suggest that the Bi·Sr-V"Sr-Bi·Sr defect complex with hole-pinned defect-dipoles maybe responsible for the high-performance CP properties.This work gives a new way to achieve high performance CP materials in ABO3 perovskite ceramics.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 51727804 and 51672223supported by the “111” project under grant No. B08040
文摘Multi-layer connected self-organizing feature maps(SOFMs) and the associated learning procedure were proposed to achieve efficient recognition and clustering of messily grown nanowire morphologies. The network is made up by several paratactic 2-D SOFMs with inter-layer connections. By means of Monte Carlo simulations, virtual morphologies were generated to be the training samples. With the unsupervised inner-layer and inter-layer learning, the neural network can cluster different morphologies of messily grown nanowires and build connections between the morphological microstructure and geometrical features of nanowires within. Then, the as-proposed networks were applied on recognitions and quantitative estimations of the experimental morphologies. Results show that the as-trained SOFMs are able to cluster the morphologies and recognize the average length and quantity of the messily grown nanowires within. The inter-layer connections between winning neurons on each competitive layer have significant influence on the relations between the microstructure of the morphology and physical parameters of the nanowires within.
基金financial supports of this work by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.52130205,51727804,91860203,52061135102)the National Key R&D Program of China(No.2021YFA0715803)the China Scholarship Program,2020(CSC No.202006290179)。
文摘Carbon nanotubes(CNTs) are fabricated in carbon cloth by ultilizing the waste gasses when fabricating hafnium carbide nanowires(HfC_(NWS)) through thermal pyrolysis of Hf-containing polymer precursor.The formed HfC_(NWS) are distributed uniformly on the surface of the carbon fibers in carbon/carbon(C/C) composites and display perfect single crystal appearance.The pyrolysis of the Hf-containing organic precursor provides hafnium and carbon source for the growth of HfC_(NWS).The released waste gasses containing CO,CH4and CO_(2)are the main carbon source for the growth of CNTs.Specifically,the flexural strength of HfC_(NWS) reinforced carbon/carbon(HfC_(NWS)-C/C) composites is enhanced by ~105% compared with pure C/C,and the CNTs/carbon cloth also displays improved electrochemical performance with respect to capacitor applications.The present study introduces a novel sustainable and eco-friendly process related to polymer-derived ceramics to form advanced ceramic nanocomposites and proposes a deep understanding of the growth mechanism of CNTs.
