Commercial Ball Research Articles

Simple and low‐cost preparation of functionalised graphene by microwave expansion combined with ball milling grafting

AbstractThe preparation of functionalised graphene often involves consuming significant amounts of organic solvents, complicated steps, and expensive equipment. This study presented a simple, low‐cost, and efficient method for preparing well‐dispersed functionalised graphene. This method involved the microwave heating of commercial graphene precursors and ball milling of grafted expanded graphite, resulting in a short and straightforward preparation process without requiring large amounts of organic solvents. This process enabled the preparation of few‐layer graphene with a thickness of only 3.5 ± 0.5 nm. During this process, the majority of the surface oxygen‐containing groups were replaced by polyetheramine (D2000) at a grafting rate of up to 5.14%, which improved the interface adhesion strength between the graphene and the epoxy resin. The fabricated altered graphene notably enhanced the mechanical characteristics of the epoxy resin., that is, the toughening effect reached up to 171% with a graphene content of only 0.3 wt%, while the Young's modulus and tensile strength values increased by 54% and 39%, respectively. This process is cost‐effective, easy to operate, and highly efficient, making it suitable for the large‐scale production of well‐dispersed functionalised graphene.Highlights Pioneers mechanical chemical energy in graphene, a new materials science direction. First ball milling on microwave graphene, merging milling benefits with graphene. Ball milling cuts D2000 grafting time on graphene, boosting efficiency. Reduces organic solvent use, cutting costs and environmental effects. Ball milling lowers costs and impacts, aiding graphene material commercia‐lization.

Gas-Blows-Liquid Spinning Strategy Toward Mechanically Strong, Thermally Protective, Efficiently Hemostatic Aerogel Fibers/Fabrics.

Nanoporous aerogel fibers enjoy the luxury of being one of the most attractive nanomaterials. However, the representative fabrication pathways have faced up with low production rates due to significant speed mismatch between slow sol-gel transition and as fast as possible spinning in the same period. Herein, a novel gas-blows-liquid spinning (GS) strategy with a spinning speed of 300-700ms-1 is developed to get the high-speed and high-efficiency production of aerogel fibers/fabrics. The spinning speed of the GS strategy is 900 times higher than various techniques reported for aerogel fibers. The resulting aerogel fibers exhibit a high specific surface area (180m2g-1). In comparison, the aerogel fiber possesses the highest tensile strength (58.7±3.9MPa) among its counterparts and aerogel fabric with surprising water-absorption and microparticle-blocking performances exhibits the application prospect for better hemostasis than that of commercial gauze and cotton ball. Besides, the GS aerogel fabrics with hierarchical aligned structures show better thermal insulation (≈0.035Wm-1K-1) than wet spinning aerogel fabric and commercial insulation felts. This work has provided inspiration for fast fabricating more aerogel fibers/fabrics with this GS strategy, and the resulting aerogel fibers/fabrics may find significant application in the fields of 5G smart phones, wound hemostasis, etc.

EXPERIMENTATION OF EVAPORATION REDUCTION BY A USE OF PLASTIC BOTTLES COVERING

Evaporation significantly affects the loss of water in reservoir. The effective use of water-surface covering materials for evaporation reduction purpose is commercially performed including plastic spherical and circular shapes. This study initiates to reuse very common Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) drinking-water bottles to cover water surface instead. The bottle shape could have a covering percentage ratio as much as 91% equal to a commercial ball or circular disk. The experiment was designed and conducted to prove the reduction of water evaporation rate using eight simulated ponds. The testing aspects are the opacity of the floating bottles, the coverage area, and the floating pattern. Based on environmental impact concern, the deterioration of PET bottles due to hydrolysis reaction and ultraviolet rays in natural conditions is also investigated. The water samples from the testing ponds are collected and analyzed to be compared with the water quality standard. Initial result from the experiment showed that PET bottles containing laminated-aluminum-foiled (LAF) plastic bags have the greatest reduction in evaporation among different opaque materials. Cover flotation percentages of 75% and 100% were able to reduce evaporation the most and with little difference. The raft-floating pattern has a slightly lower evaporation rate compared to the free-floating. All this has the potential to reduce evaporation which are a very cost-effective alternative to the existing commercial materials and help support the reuse of plastic waste.

Experimentation of Evaporation Suppression by Various Plastic Bottles Coverage Area

Evaporation significantly affects the loss of water in reservoir. The effective use of water-surface covering materials for evaporation reduction purpose is commercially performed including plastic spherical and circular shapes. This study initiates to reuse very common polyethylene terephthalate (PET) drinking-water bottles to cover water surface instead. The bottle shape could have a covering percentage ratio as much as 91% equal to a commercial ball or circular disk. The experiment was designed and conducted to prove the reduction of water evaporation rate using five simulated ponds. The testing aspect is the percentage of the coverage area over the water surface. Based on environmental impact concern, the deterioration of PET bottles due to hydrolysis reaction and ultraviolet rays in natural conditions is also investigated. The initial result from the experiment shows that PET bottles have a potential for the evaporation reduction which are a very cost-effective alternative to the existing commercial materials and help support the reuse of plastic waste.

Mechanistic model for quantifying the effect of impact force on mechanochemical reactivity.

Conventional mechanochemical synthetic tools, such as ball mills, offer no methodology to quantitatively link macroscale reaction parameters, such as shaking frequency or milling ball radius, to fundamental drivers of reactivity, namely the force vectors applied to the reactive molecules. As a result, although mechanochemistry has proven to be a valuable method to make a wide variety of products, the results are seldom reproduceable between reactors, difficult to rationally optimize, and hard to ascribe to a specific reaction pathway. Here we have developed a controlled force reactor, which is a mechanochemical ball mill reactor with integrated force measurement and control during each impact. We relate two macroscale reactor parameters-impact force and impact time-to thermodynamic and kinetic transition state theories of mechanochemistry utilizing continuum contact mechanics principles. We demonstrate force controlled particle fracture of NaCl to characterize particle size evolution during reactions, and force controlled reaction between anhydrous copper(II) chloride and (1, 10) phenanthroline. During the fracture of NaCl, we monitor the evolution of particle size as a function of impact force and find that particles quickly reach a particle size of ∼100 μm largely independent of impact force, and reach steady state 10-100× faster than reaction kinetics of typical mechanochemical reactions. We monitor the copper(II) chloride reactivity by measuring color change during reaction. Applying our transition state theory developed here to the reaction curves of copper(II) chloride and (1, 10) phenanthroline at multiple impact forces results in an activation energy barrier of 0.61 ± 0.07 eV, distinctly higher than barriers for hydrated metal salts and organic ligands and distinctly lower than the direct cleavage of the CuCl bond, indicating that the reaction may be mediated by the higher affinity of Fe in the stainless steel vessel to Cl. We further show that the results in the controlled force reactor match rudimentary estimations of impact force within a commercial ball mill reactor Retsch MM400. These results demonstrate the ability to quantitatively link macroscale reactor parameters to reaction properties, motivating further work to make mechanochemical synthesis quantitative, predictable, and fundamentally insightful.

Acceptability and Shelf-life Testing of Newly Formulated Crab Balls from Blue Swimming Crab (Portunus pelagicus)

Meatballs made from fishery products such as fish, shrimp, and squid are among the popular street foods in Asia. To meet the increasing demand for these street foods, there is a need to develop/formulate new balls out of fishery products. Hence, in this study, crab balls from blue swimming crabs (Portunus pelagicus) were formulated and standardized using three formulations (meat and binder ratio): Formulation A (50:50), Formulation B (60:40), and Formulation C (70:30). Sensory attributes such as flavor, color, texture (juiciness and chewiness), and general acceptability of the three formulations were evaluated by sensory panelists. Selected formulation was further analyzed in terms of shelf-life testing and comparison with the existing commercial squid ball. Consumer testing was also done to determine the feasibility of the formulated crab ball. Results revealed that Formulations B and C received the highest overall score of sensory attributes (p

Control of textural property in spherical alumina ball for enhanced catalytic activity of Ni-supported Al2O3 catalyst in steam–methane reforming

Designing Ni-based catalyst with high performance is one of the most important challenges for operation of practical steam-methane reforming (SMR) processes. We report control of the textural properties of commercial alumina ball for Ni-supported catalysts in SMR. The textural properties of the commercial Al2O3 sphere are successfully controlled by aqueous HCl treatment for elongated periods. The pore diameters and pore volumes of the controlled alumina supports are finely tuned by varying the HCl treatment period. The catalytic activity of the corresponding Ni-supported alumina is significantly enhanced with increasing HCl treatment period on alumina ball. The alumina supports with longer HCl treatment period have larger pore size and bigger pore volume, and the corresponding Ni-Alumina catalysts exhibited higher catalytic activity at even higher space velocity, due to the increased intraparticle diffusion of reactant molecules inside the catalyst. Ni-supported alumina catalyst prepared by using alumina support treated with HCl for 18 h showed the largest pore size and pore volume, revealing enhanced catalytic activity in terms of CH4 conversion and H2 yield. It showed the well-maintained activity without any further deactivation in both continuous operation for 24 h and cyclic operation at different WHSV conditions.

Bighead carp meat adulterated in commercial milkfish ball products

Attempts were made to identify the species of raw materials of milkfish ball products. A 466-bp fragment could be amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using a pair of primer (L14735/H15149ad). Sequences of cytochrome b gene (cyt b) were determined in 3 fish species including milkfish (Chanos chanos), bighead carp (Hypophthalmichthys nobilis) and grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella). These three fish species contained distinguishable sequences. In addition, RFLP analysis of the PCR products with endonuclease HpaII showed unique restriction maps for these 3 fish species. Based on gene sequencing and PCR-RFLP analyses, we have identified one commercial milkfish ball be intentionally adulterated with bighead carp.

Analisis Mutu Bakso Ikan Home Industri dan Komersil Di Babakan Raya Bogor

Fish balls is a food product that popular and favored by children or adult. Fish balls usually produced as a home industry or commercial product. The aims of this research are to figure out the quality of the home industry or commercial fish ball at Babakan Raya Bogor. This research using a descriptive method. The best score for home industry category, water content analysis for sample A (51.20%), ash analysis for sample A (2.13%), for commercial category, the best fat content is for sample A (0.27%), protein content is for sample A (12.52%) and for carbohydrate by difference is for sample A (18.62%).

Bactericidal effect of cold plasma on microbiota of commercial fish balls

Abstract This study evaluated the bactericidal effect of cold plasma on three spoilage bacteria isolated from commercial fish balls: Psychrobacter glacincola 38–1, Brochothrix thermosphacta 38–2, and Pseudomonas fragi 38–8. Bacterial suspensions were treated by pulsed discharge plasma (PDP, 50 Hz, 3.0 L/min) and gas phase surface discharge plasma (GPSDP, 75 Hz, 6.5 L/min). The inactivation behavior was closely related to the peak discharge voltage, initial bacterial concentration, and exposure time. After treatment with GPSDP for 300 s (12.8 kV), a reduction of 6.87, 4.81 and 3.32 log10 CFU/mL was observed for 38–1, 38–2 and 38–8, respectively. However, when the voltage of PDP reached 20 kV, inactivation was initiated. P. glacincola 38–1 was the most sensitive to plasma treatment. After 4-min treatment with PDP or 30-s treatment with GPSDP, the 38–1 (approximately 105 CFU/mL) were completely inactivated. A Weibull model and a modified Whiting-Buchanan model provided a good fit for the survival curves, with R2 ≥ 96%. After plasma treatment, deformation and rupture of bacterial cells were observed by SEM and TEM; the leakage of cellular contents was also observed by TEM. The oxidation by active particles (H2O2 and O3) was the primary mechanism of bacterial inactivation exerted by GPSDP. PDP acted synergistically through physical penetration and chemical oxidation, which combined to lead to cell death. Industrial relevance Commercial fish balls are popular in China, and they are usually transported and stored in the cold chain (mainly frozen environment). Although efficient cold chain can reduce the rate of microbial changes in fish balls, there are still limits of cold chain. The inevitable fluctuations in temperature during cold chain provide conditions for the attachment and growth of cold-tolerant bacteria that may lead to spoilage of commercial fish ball. The proposed research gives insight into how to control microbial contamination of commercial fish balls. Cold plasma treatment proved to be effective at killing the three bacteria tested, and the inactivation achieved by GPSDP was far superior to that achieved by PDP treatment. Dynamic fitting of a mathematical model was performed to describe the inactivation behaviors. This also provides a basis for predicting the inactivation of microorganisms. The study offers firm theoretical foundation and practical guidance for the application of cold plasma in the quality control of commercial fish balls, and further contributes to the safety of foods in cold chain.

A Study on the Suitability of Visual Languages for Non-Expert Robot Programmers

A visual programming language allows users and developers to create programs by manipulating program elements graphically. Several studies have shown the benefits of visual languages for learning purposes and their applicability to robot programming. However, at present, there are not enough comparative studies on the suitability of textual and visual languages for this purpose. In this paper, we study if, as with a textual language, the use of a visual language could also be suitable in the context of robot programming and, if so, what the main advantages of using a visual language would be. For our experiments, we selected a sample of 60 individuals among students with adequate knowledge of procedural programming, that was divided into three groups. For the first group of 20 students, a learning scenario based on a textual object-oriented language was used for programming a specific commercial robotic ball with sensing, wireless communication, and output capabilities, whereas for the second and the third group, two learning scenarios based on visual languages were used for programming the robot. After taking a course for programming the robot in the corresponding learning scenario, each group was evaluated by completing three programming exercises related to the robot features (i.e. motion, lighting, and collision detection). Our results show that the students that worked with visual languages perceived a higher clarity level in their understanding of the course exposition, and a higher enjoyment level in the use of the programming environment. Moreover, they also achieved an overall better mark.

TiC-composite materials in applications for kinematic denture connections

PurposeThis paper presents an own proposal for the construction of a ball latch intended for use in prosthetic dentistry. Attention was paid to the existing commercial constructions of elements of the same type, indicating their advantages and disadvantages. Based on the analysis of the present solutions, own ones were proposed. Materials and methodsThe following materials were chosen for the tests: pure titanium, 316 L V steel, Ti15Mo2.8Nb obtained using powder metallurgy and through mechanical alloying, 10 and 20% of titanium carbide – obtained using powder metallurgy, as well as 10 and 20% of graphite – obtained using powder metallurgy. For the prepared materials, tribological tests were performed using a friction simulator in a ring/shield system. ResultsFairly extensive tests were performed to verify the suitability of the selected material for use in the specific conditions of the oral cavity. The performed tests showed that the proposed material is not only beneficial in relation to the existing commercial dental alloys but also meets the general criteria set for this type of elements. ConclusionsA more beneficial use of two–part ball latches (two key parts – patrix, matrix) was noticed in comparison to latches consisting of three parts (patrix, insert, matrix). On the basis of the obtained test results, it can be concluded that the proposed own design of a ball latch is a good alternative for traditional constructional and material solutions of commercial ball latches.

Effect of sintering temperature on tribological properties of Ni60 matrix self-lubricating composites

Ni60-based self-lubricating composites were prepared by vacuum sintering, and the tribological properties were evaluated against commercial Si3N4 ball at room temperature. Apparently, the experimental results show that the prepared composites exhibit excellent lubricating properties at room temperature. The average friction coefficient of the samples is between 0.13 and 0.35 at different sintering temperatures. It can be found that as the sintering temperature increases, the wear rate decreases. Its hardness value showed an upward trend between 900°C and 1000°C, while the temperature achieves 1000°C, the hardness of the composite decreases, because the lubricating phases such as Sr2MoO4 and Sr (CrO4) were produced to increase the porosity.

Eyes on the Commercial Ball

When enfant terrible Damian Hirst, reputedly Britain's highest earning artist, recently said in relation to the UK and its tax system that 'I like living here. If you live somewhere nice you've got to pay the taxes, haven't you?' every tax commissioner was smiling, along with the HM Revenue and Customs department. We probably even decided at that moment that 'we got' his work depicting an Australian 14-foot tiger shark embalmed in a formaldehyde tank! Mr Hirst did add, 'Unfortunately' to his comment about paying tax. But that is the catch is it not? And Damian Hirst gets it. Taxes are the price we pay as part of enjoying a certain lifestyle and the services that go with it.

Numerical Study of Cage Dynamics Focused on Hydrodynamic Effects of Guidance Land Clearances for Different Ball-Pocket Clearances in Cryogenic Environments

This study presents the dynamic motion of a ball bearing cage submerged in a cryogenic fluid under high-speed conditions. The dynamic motion of the cage has been studied as a function of the race land-cage and ball-cage pocket clearances for different inner race rotation speeds under light load conditions. In addition, this study conducted computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis using commercial software to analyze the fluid dynamic forces on the cage. The hydraulic force obtained from the CFD analysis was coded in commercial ball bearing analysis software as a function of the eccentricity ratio and rotation speed of the cage. Finally, the dynamic motion of the ball bearing cage considering the effects of fluid dynamic forces has been studied. The results include the cage whirling amplitude, fluctuation of cage whirling speed, and cage wear for various cage clearances and rotation speeds. The cage whirling amplitude decreases as the outer guidance clearance decreases, and it decreases as the rotation speed increases up to 11,000 rpm because of the increasing hydrodynamic force of the liquid nitrogen (LN2). However, the probability density function curves indicate that an increase in the rotor speed increases the standard deviation in the cage whirling frequency. The wear loss of the cage was greatest for the largest race land-cage and the smallest ball-cage pocket clearances. Consequently, the analysis results for various operating conditions (inner race rotation speeds, cage clearances, traction coefficients, etc.) are in good agreement with the reference results.

Investigation of porous polyimide lubricant retainers to improve the performance of rolling bearings under conditions of starved lubrication

The current work examines the lubricant retaining effect of porous polyimide (PI) on the performance of rolling bearings under starved lubrication conditions. PI with four different porosities were prepared by cold pressing and sintering processes. The oil-containing and oil-supply properties as well as frictional properties were investigated. Then, PI was used as the retainer for a commercial thrust ball bearing with a race diameter of 18.7mm. Room temperature tests of retainer performance were conducted with an axial load of 500N under starved lubrication, in which only residual oil on and in the retainer could work for lubrication. Experimental results show that oil-containing porous PI can easily release oil mainly by thermal expansion rather than centrifugation. Lubrication failure happened quickly with a compact retainer at starved lubrication whereas the bearings with oil-containing porous retainers operated smoothly for 12h at 800rpm and 5h at 1200rpm. Friction reduction and cooling effects are even more obvious with increased porosity.

Structural Investigations of Nanocrystalline Cu-Cr-Mo Alloy Prepared by High-Energy Ball Milling

Cu-Cr-Mo alloy could be a suitable candidate material for collector electrodes in high-power microwave tube devices. An attempt has been made to synthesize ternary Cu-Cr-Mo alloys by mechanical alloying of elemental Cu, Cr, and Mo powders, to extend the solid solubility of Cr and Mo in Cu, using a commercial planetary ball mill. For the first ternary alloy, a mixture of 80 wt.% Cu, 10 wt.% Cr, and 10 wt.% Mo was mechanically milled for 50 h. For the second ternary alloy, a mixture of 50 wt.% Cr and 50 wt.% Mo was mechanically milled for 50 h to obtain nanocrystalline Cr(Mo) alloy, which was later added to Cu powder and milled for 40 h to obtain Cu-20 wt.%Cr(Mo) alloy. Both nanocrystalline Cu-Cr-Mo ternary alloys exhibited crystallite size below 20 nm. It was concluded that, with addition of nanocrystalline Cr(Mo) to Cu, it was possible to extend the solid solubility of Cr and Mo in Cu, which otherwise was not possible by mechanical alloying of elemental powders. The resulting microstructure of the Cu-20 wt.%Cr(Mo) alloy comprised a homogeneous distribution of fine and hard (Cr, Mo) particles in a copper matrix. Furthermore, Cu-20 wt.%Cr(Mo) alloy showed better densification compared with Cu-10 wt.%Cr-10 wt.%Mo alloy.

Influence of long time post annealing on thermal stability and thermophysical properties of plasma sprayed La2Zr2O7 coatings

Thermal barrier coatings (TBCs) were applied to gas turbines to function at higher gas temperatures. Extensive effort has been invested in identifying new materials with even better performance compared to yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) being the industry standard up-to-date. La2Zr2O7 (LZ) with the pyrochlore structure has received attention and been identified as a new candidate material for TBCs. In this study, two different coatings produced with commercial and high-energy ball milled LZ powders were investigated. Coatings were annealed for 50 h, 100 h, 200 h and 500 h at 1150 °C. Microstructures of the coatings were examined with Scanning Electron Microscopy and thermal conductivities were investigated with laser flash measurements. Mercury porosimetry was used as well to identify pore size changes that might occur with annealing process. X-Ray diffraction analysis was used to determine any possible phase changes. The results showed a sintering effect leading to an increase in thermal conductivity, and after 500 h heat treatment time, phase decomposition occurred on LZ based coatings.

Mechanical alloying and properties of immiscible Cu-20 wt.% Mo alloy

In the present article, an attempt has been made to synthesize binary Cu-20 wt.% Mo immiscible alloy by mechanical alloying of pure elemental Cu and Mo powders. The aforesaid alloy was prepared by commercial planetary ball mill (PBM) and indigenous dual drive planetary ball mill (DDPBM). Both the milling techniques resulted in homogenous distribution of fine and hard Mo particles in soft copper matrix. The crystallite size of the alloy milled in DDPBM exhibited a minimum value of 12 nm after 40 h of milling which was confirmed using XRD and TEM. Further, the mechanically alloyed powders were cold pressed and sintered at different temperatures between 900 and 1050 °C for 1 h. The sintered Cu-20wt.%Mo alloy showed a good combination of coefficient of thermal expansion, electrical conductivity and hardness in spite of having a density 93%.

SU‐E‐J‐47: Development of a High‐Precision, Image‐Guided Radiotherapy, Multi‐ Purpose Radiation Isocenter Quality‐Assurance Calibration and Checking System

Purpose:To develop a system that can define the radiation isocenter and correlate this information with couch coordinates, laser alignment, optical distance indicator (ODI) settings, optical tracking system (OTS) calibrations, and mechanical isocenter walkout.Methods:Our team developed a multi‐adapter, multi‐purpose quality assurance (QA) and calibration device that uses an electronic portal imaging device (EPID) and in‐house image‐processing software to define the radiation isocenter, thereby allowing linear accelerator (Linac) components to be verified and calibrated. Motivated by the concept that each Linac component related to patient setup for image‐guided radiotherapy based on cone‐beam CT should be calibrated with respect to the radiation isocenter, we designed multiple concentric adapters of various materials and shapes to meet the needs of MV and KV radiation isocenter definition, laser alignment, and OTS calibration. The phantom's ability to accurately define the radiation isocenter was validated on 4 Elekta Linacs using a commercial ball bearing (BB) phantom as a reference. Radiation isocenter walkout and the accuracy of couch coordinates, ODI, and OTS were then quantified with the device.Results:The device was able to define the radiation isocenter within 0.3 mm. Radiation isocenter walkout was within ±1 mm at 4 cardinal angles. By switching adapters, we identified that the accuracy of the couch position digital readout, ODI, OTS, and mechanical isocenter walkout was within sub‐mm.Conclusion:This multi‐adapter, multi‐purpose isocenter phantom can be used to accurately define the radiation isocenter and represents a potential paradigm shift in Linac QA. Moreover, multiple concentric adapters allowed for sub‐mm accuracy for the other relevant components. This intuitive and user‐friendly design is currently patent pending.