| 1. |
- Wei, Xin-Feng, 1990-
(författare)
-
Ageing behavior of plastics used in automotive fuel systems
- 2019
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The increase in service temperature and the use of biobased fuels, such as biodiesel, have raised concerns on the short/long-term performance of plastic components used in automotive fuel systems.In this work the ageing behavior of unreinforced and glass-fibre reinforced polyamide 12 (PA12), exposed to three different fuels (petroleum diesel, biodiesel, and a mixture of these (80/20)) at high temperature, was investigated. The interactions between the polymer and the fuel, and the associated polymer ageing mechanisms (fuel uptake, extraction of monomer and oligomers, annealing and oxidation), were found to be “generic” in the sense that they occurred, although to various extent, for all fuels. In the glass-fibre reinforced polyamides, the ageing occurred mainly in the polyamide matrix and not in the matrix-fibre interface. The semi-aromatic polyamide showed better performance when exposed to fuels than the aliphatic PA12. At a component level, multilayer polyamide-based pipes, with polyamide or fluoropolymer as inner layer, were aged under “in-vehicle” conditions where the pipes were exposed to fuel on the inside and to the air on the outside. All pipes stiffened during ageing but embrittlement occurred only for the pipes with polyamide being the inner layer. Compared to polyamide, the fluoropolymer inner layer showed significantly better barrier properties towards the fuel and no material was extracted into the fuel. The plasticizer loss from the PA12 outer layers into air was diffusion controlled and its diffusivity followed a linear Arrhenius behavior in the high temperature region. Relationships between plasticizer loss and the changes in mechanical properties were established.The polyamides experienced diffusion-limited oxidation when exposed to air and/or fuel, involving the formation of a thin oxidized surface layer which was responsible for a significant decrease in strain-at-break. The fracture behavior of PA 6 in air at high temperature, found to involve three distinct stages, were systematically studied and linked to underlying mechanisms responsible for the reduction in strain-at-break.
|
|
| 2. |
- Zhang, Feng, 1981-
(författare)
-
Theoretical Studies on Kinetics of Molecular Excited States
- 2010
-
Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- HTML clipboardKinetics on molecular excited states is a challenging subject in the field of theoretical chemistry. This thesis pays attention to theoretical studies on kinetics of photo-induced processes, including photo-chemical reactions, radiative and non-radiative transitions (intersystem crossing and internal conversion) in molecular and bio-related systems. One- or multi- dimensional potential energy surfaces (PESs) not only provide qualitative mechanistic explanation for excited state decay, but also make it possible to perform kinetic simulations. We have constructed several types of PESs by using computational methods of high-accuracy for a variety of systems of interest. In particular, density functional theory (DFT) and couple cluster singles and doubles (CCSD) method are employed to build PESs of the ground and lowest triple states. For medium-sized molecules, the complete active space self-consistent (CASSCF) method is used for constructing the PESs of excited states. Various kinetic theories for the decay processes of excite states are briefly introduced, in particularly adiabatic and nonadiabatic Rice–Ramsperger–Kassel -Marcus (RRKM) approaches for the kinetics of nonradiative decay of excited 2-aminopridine molecule. Special attention has been devoted to Monte Carlo transition state theory which can provide an efficient way to predict the rate of nonradiative transitions of polyatomic molecules on multi-dimensional PESs. Examples of Monte Carlo simulations on the intersystem crossing of isocyanic acid and a model molecule of hexacoordinate heme, as well as internal conversion process for 2-amininopyridine dimer and the adenine-thymine base pair are presented.
|
|
