Destructive Analysis Research Articles

Energy and exergy analysis of conjugate 3D unsteady heat conduction with solidification of water by turbulent buoyancy-driven freezing of solid food in air

In this work, the influence of the position of salmon in a cooling cavity on heat transfer, freezing rate and local exergy destruction was investigated using mathematical modeling and numerical simulation. The predicted temperature evolution in the food during freezing by turbulent heat convection in air inside a cooling chamber was validated with experimental results. The conjugate turbulent model in three dimensions included the natural heat convection and the unsteady heat diffusion with the phase change of water to ice in the food meat. Three positions of the block of salmon in the freezer were studied: bottom-left, bottom-center, and center of the freezer. The local exergy destruction was calculated to quantify the contribution of viscous dissipation and heat transfer during the salmon freezing process. The unsteady description of air velocity, temperature, and freezing rate were analyzed. The highest cooling rate calculated was for the food at the bottom left, and the lowest when located at the center of the cooling cavity. The exergy destruction analysis determined the useful energy lost during the freezing process.

Thermodynamic performance evaluation of an ejector-enhanced transcritical CO2 parallel compression refrigeration cycle

A parallel compression cycle is one efficient approach to improving the transcritical CO2 refrigeration cycle performance. This paper proposes a modified parallel compression transcritical CO2 refrigeration cycle with an ejector and a sub-cooler to further enhance the cycle performance. The thermodynamic analyses based on the energetic and exergetic analyses are conducted, and the influences of the parameters, including discharge pressure, flash pressure, gas cooler outlet temperature, and evaporation temperature, are discussed. The particle swarm optimization method is used to get the optimal discharge pressure and flash pressure and the temperature reduction in the sub-cooler with respect to the maximum COP. The performance comparisons between the conventional cycle and the modified cycle are presented. The results illustrate that the maximum improvements in COP and volumetric refrigeration capacity reach 15.8% and 17.1%. The utilization of the ejector and sub-cooler could reduce the optimal flash pressure by 16.4–33.0% and the compressor displacement by 11.4% compared with the conventional cycle. The ejector plays a dominant role in performance improvement at a high gas cooler outlet temperature. The exergy destruction analysis shows that the first-largest system exergy destruction ratio of 31.5% in the ejector-enhanced cycle is caused by the gas cooler, and its second-largest exergy destruction is generated in the two parallel compressors instead of the expansion valves in the conventional cycle.

Hyperspectral Core-Logging for Past Primary Productivity Assessment

Past primary productivity is tracked in lake sediments to reconstruct environmental changes. However, the resolution of the routinely used destructive techniques is not suitable for the analysis of a large number of samples due to cost. Non-destructive analysis of chlorophyll-a performed by hyperspectral imagery enables the quick determination of indices of past primary productivity. Eighteen indices used in paleo-environmental reconstruction were inventoried to define the best index capable of tracking chlorophyll-a by this technique. All the indices were applied to hyperspectral data measured on the sediment of Lake Bresson, in which detrital organic matter input is likely to skew chlorophyll-a identification, and the results were compared with concentrations measured by a routinely used destructive analysis. The 18 indices all produced a different result and only three indices were positively correlated with chlorophyll-a concentrations (n = 28, p < 0.0001). The detrital organic matter impacts chlorophyll-a characterization and shows the bias produced by the sediment matrix variations. Moreover, artificial modification of the sediment matrix revealed an impact of the mineral phase. To tackle this issue, the indices are normalized by two proxies of the sediment components. This new approach reduces the impact of detrital organic matter, hence the sediment matrix variations also reduce the normalization of the chlorophyll-a indices by a specific proxy of the mineral phase. These results identify the impact of local geochemical features that limit past primary productivity assessment and show the necessity of characterizing the sediment composition prior to tracking the chlorophyll-a by hyperspectral imaging.

Semiconductors (LEDs) quality control based in high-resolution 3D X-ray microscope

Electronic devices are getting smaller each time and the technology, increasingly complex. Commonly found problems such as reflow soldering and open solder connections, which are mostly difficult to detect by conventional means like X-ray images or physical cut on the transverse section. Along with the challenge of finding these flaws, there are also some problems that may arise on the exposure of them using destructive analysis techniques, such as the fiscal transversal cut and chemical decapsulation. Both techniques may induce damage not relevant to where that flaw is located or remove evidence of a flaw or a damaged place. The high-resolution 3D x-ray computerized microtomography provides a powerful alternative solution and non-invasive to issues that involve the analysis of semiconductor devices. This research contemplates the study of semiconductor’s integrity (LED’s) based of X-ray computerized microtomography. The SkyScan 1272 Bruker commercial equipment was used for analysis of the P-N junction in a set with 10 LEDs, under non polarized conditions and upon electrical overstress effects on its contact terminals. The P-N junction had their dimensions analyzed on the three spatial directions (x, y and z) and studied on the effects that occur when a LED is damaged. The study methodology of integrity regarding computerized microtomography have shown consist outcomes that allowed the understanding of what occurs on the LED's structure and investigates matters that allows decisions to be made regarding its quality, and so, accomplishing the goals designated on this research.

Approach to Determine the Characteristic Dimensions of Clinched Joints by Industrial X-ray Computed Tomography

Destructive micrograph analysis (MA) is the standard method for the assessment of clinched joints. However, during the joint preparation for the MA, geometric features of the joint can change due to elastic effects and closing cracks. X-ray computed tomography (CT) is a promising alternative to investigate the joint non-estructively. However, if the material properties of similar joining partners are the same, the CT is not able to correctly resolve surfaces in the joint that are close to or pressing onto each other. These surfaces are relevant for the determination of characteristic dimensions such as neck thickness and undercut. By placing a thin, highly radiopaque tin layer between the joining partners, the interfacial area in the reconstructed volume can be highlighted. In this work, a method for the localisation of the tin layer inside the joint as well as threshold value procedures for the outer joint contour in cross section images are investigated. The measured characteristic dimensions are compared with measured values from MA of the same samples and of samples without tin layer. In addition, possible effects of the tin layer on the joining point characteristics as well as problems of the MA are discussed.

Portable X-ray Fluorescence (pXRF) as a Tool for Environmental Characterisation and Management of Mining Wastes: Benefits and Limits

Portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) is one of the main geochemical techniques employed in multi-elemental analysis screening for contaminated sites management. As the confidence of pXRF analyses are matrix-specific, efforts are made to provide studies of pXRF quality on different geochemical datasets, focusing on less investigated elements such as mercury (Hg) and antimony (Sb), to help both new and experienced users. The analysis of environmental solid samples from two decommissioned mining sites in NE Italy, characterised by Pb-Zn and (Hg-rich) Cu-Sb ore deposits, were prepared with two different protocols and compared with traditional destructive analyses. Sample composition was found strictly dependent to the occurrence of false positives and overestimation at low concentrations. In contrast, milling the sample did not produce major variations in the overall quality. Lead (Pb), Sb, and Zn reached the definitive data quality in at least one of the two datasets. Consequently, as far as a thorough QA/QC protocol is followed, pXRF can rapidly produce chemical data that is as accurate as that produced by destructive standard laboratory techniques, thus allowing to identify potential sources of contamination that could be reprocessed for the extraction of valuable elements and mitigating the dispersion of contaminants and ecological or health risks.

Ancient DNA sequence quality is independent of fish bone weight

The field of ancient DNA (aDNA) typically uses between 50 and 200 mg of minimum input weight of bone material for the extraction of DNA from archaeological remains. While laboratory and analysis techniques have focused on improved efficiency of extracting useable sequence data from older and poorer quality remains, bone material input requirements have rarely been critically evaluated. Here, we present the aDNA analysis of 121 size-constrained Atlantic herring remains – weighing between <10 and 70 mg – that were individually sequenced to explore the capacity of successful aDNA retrieval from small archaeological remains. We statistically evaluate the relationship between bone weight and several response variables, including library success, endogenous DNA content, and library complexity, i.e., the number of unique molecules that are obtained. Remarkably, we find no relationship between bone weight and library success, levels of endogenous DNA, or library complexity. Our results imply that – at least in the case of fish bone – even minute bones can yield positive results and that the presumed minimum sample size required should be re-evaluated. Archaeological site, instead of bone size, is the primary driver of DNA sequence quality. Our work expands the number of specimens considered suitable for aDNA analyses, and therefore facilitates efforts to minimize the destructive impact of aDNA research and mediate some of the ethical concerns surrounding destructive analysis.

What You Clean Is What You Get: A Novel Chemical Cleaning Technique and the Interpretation of Corrosion Products Found in Late Roman Copper Alloy Coins Retrieved from the Sea

Thirteen Late Roman copper alloy coins with a dark concretion layer from the Early Islamic period Ma‘agan Mikhael B shipwreck were chosen to undergo an experimental chemical cleaning and polishing procedure for removing the concretion while limiting the damage to the surviving metal. These coins, and two more without concretion discovered on the beach nearby, were then subjected to a series of non-destructive analyses–visual testing, XRF, multi-focal light microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy–to determine their state of preservation, identify their corrosion products, and acquire information regarding their core material. An additional coin was examined by destructive metallographic light microscopy and SEM-EDS analyses to gain further information concerning the concretion cover. Preservation varied: For some chemically cleaned coins, a shiny orange-coloured metallic surface was exposed, while others were poorly preserved. Moreover, evidence of the stamping process was also observed. The results show that the suggested chemical cleaning treatment could be useful for processing other copper alloy objects retrieved from underwater environments; we propose a 12-step methodology to this effect.

Lithium-Ion Battery Degradation: Measuring Rapid Loss of Active Silicon in Silicon-Graphite Composite Electrodes.

To increase the specific energy of commercial lithium-ion batteries, silicon is often blended into the graphite negative electrode. However, due to large volumetric expansion of silicon upon lithiation, these silicon-graphite (Si-Gr) composites are prone to faster rates of degradation than conventional graphite electrodes. Understanding the effect of this difference is key to controlling degradation and improving cell lifetimes. Here, the effects of state-of-charge and temperature on the aging of a commercial cylindrical cell with a Si-Gr electrode (LG M50T) are investigated. The use of degradation mode analysis enables quantification of separate rates of degradation for silicon and graphite and requires only simple in situ electrochemical data, removing the need for destructive cell teardown analyses. Loss of active silicon is shown to be worse than graphite under all operating conditions, especially at low state-of-charge and high temperature. Cycling the cell over 0-30% state-of-charge at 40 °C resulted in an 80% loss in silicon capacity after 4 kA h of charge throughput (∼400 equiv full cycles) compared to just a 10% loss in graphite capacity. The results indicate that the additional capacity conferred by silicon comes at the expense of reduced lifetime. Conversely, reducing the utilization of silicon by limiting the depth-of-discharge of cells containing Si-Gr will extend their lifetime. The degradation mode analysis methods described here provide valuable insight into the causes of cell aging by separately quantifying capacity loss for the two active materials in the composite electrode. These methods provide a suitable framework for any experimental investigations involving composite electrodes.

Effect of temperature on vibration durability of lead-free solder joints

Safety critical electronics in automotive, avionic or military applications have to work reliably in a range of harsh conditions, including simultaneous mechanical and thermal loads (Gromala, 2021; Qi et al., 2009 [1, 2]). The durability of electronics, more specifically their board level interconnects, under vibration and thermal loads must be investigated and understood for interconnects assembled with lead-free solder alloys. In this study, isothermal vibration fatigue tests have been carried out at −40 °C, 25 °C and 125 °C. A novel test specimen, specifically designed for combined vibration and temperature cycling experiments, was used for this study. The test PCB contains leadless chip resistor (LCR) components, soldered using the SAC105 solder alloy (Sn98.5Ag1.0Cu0.5). Failed specimens at each temperature were subjected to destructive physical analysis (DPA) for root cause analysis (RCA) of the observed failures. Dynamic finite element analysis (FEA) was carried out and combined with the experimental results in order to generate fatigue strain-life (SN) curves. Two opposing effects of increasing temperature - viz. decrease of fatigue strength for high-cycle fatigue (HCF) and increase of fatigue ductility for low-cycle fatigue (LCF) - are hypothesized to be responsible for this non-monotonic behavior.

Cermet nuclear waste forms: Phase identification and connectivity

A cermet material is by design a microscopically heterogeneous composite wherein a ceramic phase coexists with a metal phase. One of the propositions of this combination is to improve decay heat removal from the ceramic phase if this material type is used as a nuclear waste form; the ceramic phase consisting primarily of long-lived, beta-radiation-emitting oxides from nuclear fission products. Intuitively, heat removal improves if more of the metal phase is added and if it is also the continuous phase (connected) while the oxide phase is dispersed; the latter stands immobilized by a protective metal barrier. Therefore both phase identity and connectivity are necessary to evaluate the thermo-chemical-mechanical properties of a cermet; chemical composition alone is not sufficient. Assuming the cermet composite is chemically durable, the central question arises: where are the oxide and metal phases spatially located after the material has been processed in its final form? This work describes the usage of computer-aided analysis of energy-dispersive x-ray elemental maps to identify the oxide and metal phases, and compute its connectivity. We use two-dimensional slices of processed cermet pellets, therefore it is a destructive analysis. All pellets were manufactured with 75 wt% of metal former elements and 25 wt% of oxide formers typical of nuclear waste compositions. We determined that all samples consist of four micro-phases, namely, metal, oxide, metal-oxide overlap (or solution), and apparentvoid (or lost due to numerical approximations) phases. The computed area fraction for the micro-phases decreases in the order: metal, oxide, metal-oxide and void. The metal phase is shown to be the continuous phase while the others, discontinuous. However in one sample, there is an overlap of oxide formers and metal formers which could lead to a loss of immobilization barrier and thermal conduction path. A follow-up study demonstrates that these samples are likely thermally anisotropic.

Thermodynamic Analysis of a New Combined Cooling and Power System Coupled by the Kalina Cycle and Ammonia–Water Absorption Refrigeration Cycle

In order to improve the utilization efficiency of low-temperature heat sources, a new combined cooling and power system using ammonia–water is proposed. The system combines Kalina cycle with absorption refrigeration cycle, in which the waste heat of the Kalina cycle serves as the heat source of the absorption refrigeration cycle. The steady-state mathematical model of system is established in detail first, and then the simulation results of design condition are obtained, which show that the thermal efficiency and exergy efficiency can reach 24.62% and 11.52%, respectively. Based on the system design condition, an exergy destruction analysis is conducted and shows that four heat exchangers and the turbine contribute most of the total exergy destruction. Finally, the effects of five key parameters on the system performance are examined, which reveal that within certain ranges, there is an optimal turbine inlet pressure that makes the exergy efficiency maximal. Increasing the ammonia–water temperature at the vapor generator outlet and the ammonia-weak solution temperature at the bottom outlet of the rectification column will reduce the thermal efficiency but raise the exergy efficiency. With the increase of rectification column pressure, both the thermal efficiency and exergy efficiency drop, while the evaporation pressure has an opposite effect on the system performance.

The Use of Magnetic Susceptibility as a Technique to Measure the Impact of Wildfires on Archaeological Heritage

Wildfires are one of the main threats of natural areas and often fires can affect protected or heritage areas and properties, in which the preservation requirements demand the use of non-destructive techniques (NDTs). The magnetic susceptibility is an NDT that provides information on the mineralogical composition of the materials but has never been applied to the evaluation of fires. Here, we combine laboratory with field analysis to test the applicability of the magnetic susceptibility for the assessment of the impacts of wildfires. The laboratory results showed an increase in the magnetic susceptibility with the temperature, more evident in the samples heated to 600 °C and above. The in situ measures revealed a spatial variation in the magnetic susceptibility, which was related to the behaviour of the fire in the area. The samples were later analysed with other magnetic destructive techniques that were used to confirm the mineralogical processes that occurred in the materials. The increase in the susceptibility values were due to the formation of iron oxides. The destructive analysis also showed the presence of minerals such as hematite and magnetite in the samples. Overall, the study allowed a first approach to test the magnetic susceptibility as a simple and fast way to measure the impacts of wildfires.

Quality evaluation of cell spheroids for transplantation by monitoring oxygen consumption using an on-chip electrochemical device

Three-dimensional cell spheroids are superior cell-administration form for cell-based therapy which generally exhibit superior functionality and long-term survival after transplantation. Here, we nondestructively measured the oxygen consumption rate of cell spheroids using an on-chip electrochemical device (OECD) and examined whether this rate can be used as a marker to estimate the quality of cell spheroids. Cell spheroids containing NanoLuc luciferase-expressing mouse mesenchymal stem cell line C3H10T1/2 (C3H10T1/2/Nluc) were prepared. Spheroids of high or low quality were prepared by altering the medium change frequency. After transplantation into mice, the high-quality C3H10T1/2/Nluc spheroids exhibited a higher survival rate than the low-quality ones. The oxygen consumption rate of the high-quality C3H10T1/2/Nluc spheroids was maintained at high levels, whereas that of the low-quality spheroids decreased with time. These results indicate that OECD-based measurement of the oxygen consumption rate can be used to estimate the quality of cell spheroids without destructive analysis of the spheroids.

The Challenge of Nietzsche: How to Approach His Thought

The Challenge of Nietzsche: How to Approach His Thought

Reflectance spectroscopy allows rapid, accurate and non‐destructive estimates of functional traits from pressed leaves

Abstract More than ever, ecologists seek to employ herbarium collections to estimate plant functional traits from the past and across biomes. However, many trait measurements are destructive, which may preclude their use on valuable specimens. Researchers increasingly use reflectance spectroscopy to estimate traits from fresh or ground leaves, and to delimit or identify taxa. Here, we extend this body of work to non‐destructive measurements on pressed, intact leaves, like those in herbarium collections. Using 618 samples from 68 species, we used partial least‐squares regression to build models linking pressed‐leaf reflectance spectra to a broad suite of traits, including leaf mass per area (LMA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), equivalent water thickness, carbon fractions, pigments, and twelve elements. We compared these models to those trained on fresh‐ or ground‐leaf spectra of the same samples. The traits our pressed‐leaf models could estimate best were LMA (R2 = 0.932; %RMSE = 6.56), C (R2 = 0.855; %RMSE = 9.03), and cellulose (R2 = 0.803; %RMSE = 12.2), followed by water‐related traits, certain nutrients (Ca, Mg, N, and P), other carbon fractions, and pigments (all R2 = 0.514–0.790; %RMSE = 12.8–19.6). Remaining elements were predicted poorly (R2 &lt; 0.5, %RMSE &gt; 20). For most chemical traits, pressed‐leaf models performed better than fresh‐leaf models, but worse than ground‐leaf models. Pressed‐leaf models were worse than fresh‐leaf models for estimating LMA and LDMC, but better than ground‐leaf models for LMA. Finally, in a subset of samples, we used partial least‐squares discriminant analysis to classify specimens among 10 species with near‐perfect accuracy (&gt;97%) from pressed‐ and ground‐leaf spectra, and slightly lower accuracy (&gt;93%) from fresh‐leaf spectra. These results show that applying spectroscopy to pressed leaves is a promising way to estimate leaf functional traits and identify species without destructive analysis. Pressed‐leaf spectra might combine advantages of fresh and ground leaves: like fresh leaves, they retain some of the spectral expression of leaf structure; but like ground leaves, they circumvent the masking effect of water absorption. Our study has far‐reaching implications for capturing the wide range of functional and taxonomic information in the world’s preserved plant collections.

Development of non‐destructive analytical strategies based on Raman spectroscopy and complementary techniques for Mars Sample Return tested on Northwest Africa 1950 Martian meteorite

AbstractThe Mars Sample Return (MSR) is a near future mission to return samples from the surface of Mars to the Earth. The field operations to carry out data collection, selection of the samples, and sampling procedure, mainly related to the CanMars MSR analog mission, are well‐studied and published. In contrast, studies related to the methodology implemented to characterize the mineralogy of the returned samples are scarcer and focused on biosignature detection. This work presents a non‐destructive analytical methodology based on Raman microscopy (single point and imaging), micro‐energy dispersive X‐ray fluorescence imaging analysis, and scanning electron microscopy coupled to energy dispersive spectroscopy that could be used as a first analytical characterization for the Martian samples that will be returned to the Earth in the upcoming MSR mission, before any destructive analysis. The analytical methodology has been tested on a fragment of the Northwest Africa 1950 Martian meteorite, which gives us a mineralogical characterization of the meteorite. This methodology also allowed to define several chemical reactions taking place in some of the mineral phases (olivines and ilmenite) of the meteorite. In addition to the geochemical characterization of the samples, the fact that this methodology allows to assess the chemical transformations in several minerals gives important clues for describing mineral processes and geological evolution that took place on Mars. This work also shows the advantages and disadvantages that each of the techniques employed has when performing a mineralogical characterization, the information that each one can provide and the importance of combining them.

Degradation modes and mechanisms analysis of lithium-ion batteries with knee points

The capacity of lithium-ion batteries decreases during usage (cycling) and storage (rest). After some initial charge-discharge cycling, the capacity fade rate has been observed to increase, and the capacity fade curve visibly bends, the onset of which is described as a knee point. The occurrence of the knee point above the end-of-life capacity threshold leads to a shorter life than expected based on the initial capacity fade rate. Although various degradation mechanisms and their effects on lithium-ion batteries are generally known, the degradation mechanisms for the knee point phenomenon have been in contention in the literature. In this paper, aging tests are conducted on custom three-electrode lithium-ion pouch cells to distinguish the contribution of all degradation modes to the cell's capacity fade and determine the one that causes the knee point, which is the acceleration of cathode resistance increase due to the increased degradation rate in cathode interfacial kinetics. Incremental capacity analysis and destructive analysis were further conducted to determine the degradation mechanisms that lead to the acceleration of cathode resistance increase.

In situ simultaneous quantitative analysis multi-elements of archaeological ceramics via laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy combined with machine learning strategy

With the characteristics of precious, rare and non-renewable, archaeological ceramics cannot be used for destructive analysis and testing. Valuable physical and chemical information can be obtained through scientific micro damage analysis of precious pottery, which plays a positive role in the protection of ceramics and archaeological research. In this study, LIBS spectroscopy combined with sequential backward selection-random forest regression (SBS-RFR) algorithm was proposed for simultaneous quantitative analysis of multi-elements in ceramic samples. Firstly, the experimental conditions for LIBS spectrum acquisition of ceramic samples were optimized, including delay time, laser pulse energy and cumulative times, and the characteristic emission lines of typical elements in LIBS spectra of ceramic samples were identified based on national institute of standards and technology (NIST) database. Four different spectral preprocessing methods are used to preprocess LIBS spectral data to find a better preprocessing method. And then, SBS algorithm is applied to eliminate irrelevant or redundant feature variables of LIBS spectrum. SBS-RFR calibration model is constructed based on the screened input variables to realize the rapid determination of multi-element content of ceramic samples. To further verify the prediction performance of the SBS-RFR calibration model, its prediction performance is compared with several other models. The results show that SBS-RFR model has better prediction performance than partial least squares regression (PLSR), support vector machine (SVM), and random forest regression (RFR), of which the R2 values of prediction set are all over or close 0.98, and the RMSE values for Mg, Al, Ca and Fe are 0.3954%, 0.4627%, 0.2532% and 0.3791% respectively. This study shows that LIBS technology combined with SBS-RFR algorithm is a feasible method for the quantitative analysis of elements in ceramic samples.

Analysis of Magmatic Crystal Destruction by Backscattered Electron Imaging

Abstract: After their crystallization from magmatic melt, minerals such as accessory zircon are often subject to different kinds of chemical impairment. This includes the radiation-induced damage of the crystal lattice due to the incorporation of radioactive elements (U, Th) and the dissolution of the mineral structure due to the permanent action of aggressive fluid phases. Both phenomena can be best studied by using specific crystal sections and electron microscopy visualization techniques (backscattered electron imaging, BSEI). Crystal damage by the emission of α-particles corresponds to a continuous transformation of the regularly structured lattice into an amorphous mass. Mineral dissolution is expressed by the formation of specific corrosion pits, which may be refilled by recrystallized material.