Operating temperature can be a limiting factor in reliable applications of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Nanoindentation tests were performed on perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membranes (Nafion® 117) in order to study the influence of the temperature condition on their mechanical properties. The hardness and reduced modulus of Nafion® 117 were measured within a certain temperature r...

Orientational ordering transitions in C70 are studied by constructing a Landau free energy in terms of order parameters describing long-range orientational order. This theory predicts that the transition from the orientationally disordered state into a partially ordered state, where the long axes of the molecules are parallel to one another, is discontinuous with an elastic distortion. Order pa...

Temperature dependent fracture properties of NiTi-based Shape Memory Alloys (SMAs), within the pseudoelastic regime, were analyzed. In particular, the effective Stress Intensity Factor (SIF) was estimated, at different values of the testing temperature, by a fitting of the William's expansion series, based on Digital Image Correlation (DIC) measurements. It was found that temperature plays an i...

The qualitative analysis of the spin-crossover molecular solid with distortion effect is presented. A spin-crossover solid with effect of distortion is studied in the framework of the Ising-like model with two-order parameters under statistical approach, where the effect of elastic strain on inter-ion interaction is considered. These considerations lead to examination of the relation between th...

Electrospun fibres have gained broad interest in biomedical applications, including tissue engineering scaffolds, due to their potential in mimicking extracellular matrix and producing structures favourable for cell and tissue growth. The development of scaffolds often involves multivariate production parameters and multiple output characteristics to define product quality. In this study on ele...

Using positional data from video microscopy, we determine the elastic moduli of two-dimensional colloidal crystals as a function of temperature. The moduli are extracted from the wave-vector-dependent normal-mode spring constants in the limit q-->0 and are compared to the renormalized Young's modulus of the Kosterlitz-Thouless-Halperin-Nelson-Young theory. An essential element of this theory is...

The flow behavior, dynamic viscoelasticity, and optical rotation of aqueous solutions of wheat amylose were measured using a rheogoniometer and a polarimeter. The amylose solutions, at 25 °C, showed shear-thinning behavior at a concentration of 1.2%, but plastic behavior at 1.4 and 1.6%, the yield values of which were estimated to be 0.6 and 1.0 Pa, respectively. The viscosity of the wheat amyl...

Since the eruption began in 1995, Soufrière Hills volcano on Montserrat has been characterised by five phases of magma extrusion and corresponding pauses. Despite a lack eruptive surface activity since 2010, continues to show signs unrest form ongoing outgassing, inflation entire island Montserrat. Using numerical modelling, we compare set contrasting deformation models an attempt understand cu...

Thermodynamic analysis and molecular dynamics simulations were conducted to systematically study the size-dependent electrochemical response of solids. By combining the generalized Young-Laplace equation with the popular Butler-Volmer formulation, the direct influence of surface stress on solid film electrochemical reactions was isolated. A series of thermodynamic formulas were developed to des...

In this paper, thermo-elastic analysis of a rotating thick truncated conical shell subjected to the temperature gradient, internal pressure and external pressure is presented. Given the existence of shear stress in the conical shell due to thickness change along the axial direction, the governing equations are obtained based on first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT). These equations are so...