Welcome to Issue Qtr 4 2008

buzz stop

Strata Happenings

The collaboration between Strata Technology, EQS and The University of Nottingham wins award

At ’The Engineer Technology & Innovation Awards’ ceremony held at the Royal Society on October 3rd, the collaboration of Strata Technology, EQS and the University of Nottingham on ’Commercialisation of HyPy’ was announced as the winner of the ’Business Support of Universities’ category.  The rival entries included BAE Systems linked with the University of Cambridge and others, which were very impressive, and clearly we are thrilled to have been given the accolade.

http://www.theengineerawards.co.uk/Information.aspx?Action=949524938&ID=1d1de54a-85ab-493e-b1cd-fe0abb16a33c

Strata appointed as Quizix pump distributor

CHANDLER ENGINEERING


AMETEK Chandler Engineering has appointed Strata Technology as an authorized Quizix product distributor to sell, service and distribute Quizix pump products in England & Wales, and to offer maintenance and repair service throughout the European Union where necessary.  Please contact Andre at andrev@stratatec.co.uk or 0870 7706 406 for further details.

How to catch an explosion?

Conventional methods of measuring temperature are not adequate for understand the physical and chemical processes that occur during the detonation and expansion phases of an explosion.  Thermocouples do not react quickly enough to capture information and shockwave, heat, soot and debris from an explosion can damage thermometers.  Now scientists at the UK’s National Physical Laboratory (NPL) in Teddington have designed a thermometer that does not suffer the same problems as the conventional methods.  

The NPL thermometer consists of an optical fibre 400 microns (0.4 mm) across and protected in a sand-packed steel tube with one open end. The thermometer detects thermal radiation at four different wavelengths and the system takes 50,000 measurements per second, producing a detailed profile of temperature changes during a split-second detonation.  The findings are important to allow for fine-tuning of predictive models on many different explosion parameters

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081008095718.htm

The Ying And Yang of Hydrogen

With a move to the use of cleaner burning fuels, hydrogen has received much attention as an alternative fuel.  However, storage and transportation of hydrogen fuel in pipelines has presented one of the long-recognised challenges to using hydrogen.  This is due to embrittlement, which occurs when there is accumulation of hydrogen that slowly diffuses into the atomic structure of metal pipework.  High strength pipeline steels can tolerate only a few parts per million of hydrogen before significant problems arise.  In order to predict the likelihood of embrittlement, researchers at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Colorado School of Mines (CSM) have developed a prototype sensor that quickly detects very small amounts of hydrogen accumulation in coated pipeline steel.  The non-destructive, non-contact hydrogen sensor is approximately 4 square inches and is designed to be a portable sensor to make measurements on excavated or unexcavated pipeline steels.  The sensor sends an AC current through the pipe and measures changes in impedance (resistance as a function of depth) as an indicator of hydrogen content.  The new hydrogen sensor also acts as a forewarning or preventative monitoring system to detect the agents that actually cause the flaws, cracks and defects before they arise

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081002172146.htm

pipeline

Be Safe - Is Your Battery One In a Million?

Manufacturers and scientists have launched intensive efforts to improve the safety of rechargeable power packs following recalls and fires involving Lithium-ion batteries.
In an article published in December 2007, C&EN Senior Editor Mitch Jacoby pointed out that fires and explosions involving Lithium-ion batteries are rare, occurring in anywhere from one in 1 million to one in 10 million batteries, but the publicity that such incidents attract has worried consumers and forced costly recalls of millions of batteries.

Researchers cannot yet explain why Lithium-ion batteries sometimes catch fire or explode, but they are nonetheless exploring new battery materials, including components that generate less heat and reduce the risk of mishaps.  Manufacturers are already selling or planning to sell safer Lithium-ion batteries for power tools and electric vehicles, with more improvements on the way, according to the article.

These commercial lithium-ion cells (the size of AA batteries) spewed flaming material when they were destroyed by puncturing a hole through them in standard abuse tests.

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/science/85/8551sci1.html

A Step Closer to Running Your Car On Weeds

Researchers at the Ohio State University have found a way to convert ethanol and other biofuels into hydrogen very efficiently.  A new catalyst makes hydrogen from ethanol with 90 percent yield at a workable temperature and using inexpensive ingredients.  The non-metallic catalyst costs around $9 a kilogram compared to $9,000 an ounce for the conventional Rhodium alternative.  
This offers a means to make hydrogen-powered cars a more practical proposal for the future.  Instead of making hydrogen from biofuel at a centralised facility and transporting it to distributors, the catalyst-loaded reactors could be actually located at the fuel stations for production on demand, so removing the need to transport or store the hydrogen with their inherent dangers.

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/biohydro.htm

green machine

‘Organic photovoltaics’ convert sunlight to cheaper energy

Scientists at South Dakota State University are developing new materials that can make devices used for converting sunlight to electricity more cheaply and efficiently than is currently possible.  Known as ‘organic photovoltaics’ (OPVs) these carbon-based polymers can be turned into photovoltaic devices by inexpensive, solution-based processing techniques similar to painting or printing.  By use of multiple layers of polymer/fullerene films tuned to different spectral regions, the devices can harvest radiation across the visible, infra red and ultraviolet bands in order to convert the full spectrum of solar energy to electricity.

http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/energie_elektrotechnik/scientists_work_convert_sunlight_cheaper_energy_116541.html

Greener nuclear power via supercritical fluids

A new plant is planned to recover uranium from the ashes of radioactively contaminated waste for recycling into nuclear fuel by a process that uses supercritical fluids to dissolve toxic metals.  In time the process might even become the basis of the next generation of plants designed to recover useful materials from spent fuel.  
A supercritical fluid - in this case carbon dioxide - is any substance raised to a temperature and pressure at which it exhibits properties of both a gas and a liquid.  When supercritical, the substance can move directly into a solid like a gas and yet it can dissolve compounds like a liquid.  When its pressure is returned to normal, carbon dioxide becomes a gas and evaporates, leaving behind only the extracted metals.  No solvents required, no acids applied, and no organic waste left behind.

http://ceramictechweekly.org/?p=50

Breaking down fluorocarbons

Looking towards the time when CFC inventories will being phased out, new research points to a catalytic reaction that could lead to better ways to dispose of or recycle fluorocarbons.  Brandeis University researchers report that a robust silylium-carborane catalyst can transform notoriously strong, unreactive carbon-fluorine bonds into carbon-hydrogen bonds.  (Science 2008, 321, 1188).  The key to success has been to find a way of maintaining catalytic reactivity, and now researchers are looking for other applications of the technology.

http://www.analytica-world.com/news/e/86367/

Gleanings

It’s Not The Cat’s Whisker - Why Alloys Fail

Metal alloys, solids made from mixtures of more than one element, can fail unexpectedly in a wide range of applications.  A team from the University of Michigan is looking closely into the reasons why, with specific application in the electronics industry where failure of soldered joints is a problem. 
They have found that where alloys are made of two metals with widely differing binding strengths, grain-boundary diffusion is 100 times higher than theories predict.  This generic finding can be applied to a wide variety of materials including common electronic alloys like solder.  Concern for environmental toxins such as lead, has driven scientists to develop new lead-free substitutes, but they haven’t found a replacement that is as stable.  These findings might explain why "tin whiskers" grow from the surface of these new lead-free alloys, and cause conduction problems.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-09/uom-nrs092408.php

Where Science Meets Art

Glaziers in medieval forges were the first nanotechnologists, according to researchers from Queensland University of Technology.
Whilst studying gold nanoparticles - tiny particles of gold - in the search for a photocatalytic air purifier they realised that the medieval workers had created a ‘catalytic reactor in a work of art’.
Stained glass windows in numerous church windows across Europe are decorated with glass coloured with gold nanoparticles.  When energised by the sun, these are able to destroy air-borne pollutants like volatile organic chemical (VOCs).  Intrigued......?

http://www.physorg.com/news138532585.html

The World’s Thinnest Gasbag

Using a lump of graphite, a piece of Scotch tape and a silicon wafer, Cornell researchers have created a balloon-like membrane that is just one atom thick - but strong enough to contain gases without popping. 
Graphene, a form of carbon atoms in a plane one atom thick, is the strongest material in the world, with tight covalent bonds in two dimensions that hold it together even as the thinnest possible membrane.  When graphene was deposited on a wafer etched with holes, it was found that helium stays trapped behind a wall of graphene -- even under several atmospheres of pressure.  Such a membrane could have many uses and might give opportunities for the development of all kinds of single-atom sensors.

http://www.sciencecentric.com/news/article.php?q=08092343

Big Bangs

Could £3 have saved the Cutty Sark?

The restoration process of the Cutty Sark, a well-known London tourist attraction, was given a setback when it caught alight in May 2007.  After investigation by The London Fire Brigade, the Forensic Science Service and Dr. Burgoyne and Partners, all the clues are pointing towards a vacuum cleaner that was accidentally left switched on over a weekend.  At the time of the fire, a renovation team was removing dust from below the decks of the vessel using portable vacuum cleaning equipment.  This equipment was not designed for continuous operation and would be prone to overheating especially operating in a confined area without ventilation.  Fortunately, as the vessel was undergoing renovation, less than 2% of the original fabric of the ship was lost in the fire because its masts, deckhouse, saloon and much of its planking had been removed for the renovation work.  A £3 thermal cutout fitted to the vacuum cleaner could have prevented the machine from overheating and providing a source of ignition.

http://www.hazardexonthenet.net/article.aspx?AreaID=2&ArticleID=19534

Sugar - exploding sweetness

An explosion at a sugar refinery in Georgia that killed nine workers has started the debate whether there is a need for tougher industrial safety standards regarding production of combustible dust, according to Jeff Johnson, Senior Editor of Chemical & Engineering News.  Most people do not realize that common substances such as sugar can become highly explosive after being processed into fine dust, whose tiny size requires less energy to ignite.  The risk grows as huge quantities of these tiny particles accumulate on floors, beams, ceilings and other areas.  Over the years, tighter US federal regulations have already prevented combustible dust accidents at grain facilities, however experts feel that more uniform combustible dust standards and regulations should be expanded to cover all industries in the future.

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/government/86/8608gov1.html