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The purpose of this paper is to study the dispersion and tribological properties of liquid paraffin with aluminum nanoparticles as additive, which are prepared by the surface‐modification method using oleic acid (OA).

The dispersion stability of aluminum nanoparticles in liquid paraffin is measured by spectrophotometry, which can be optimization by Taguchi method. The tribological properties are evaluated by using a ball‐on‐ring wear tester.

The results show that few concentrations of aluminum nanoparticles as additives in liquid paraffin have better antiwear and antifriction properties than the pure paraffin oil. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive spectrometer analyses can show that the thin films on the rubbing surfaces can be formed by these aluminum nanoparticles, which not only bear the load but also separate the both interfaces, thus the wear and friction can be reduced.

Machine components and mechanism pairs rely on high‐quality lubricants to withstand high temperature and extreme pressure. Extreme pressure and antiwear additives are typically adopted to improve the tribological performance of a fluid lubricant in reducing friction and surface damage under severe conditions.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the dispersion capacity and tribological behavior of liquid paraffin added by diamond nanoparticles.

The structure of the modified diamond nanoparticles which are prepared by oleic acid (OA) is observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and infrared spectroscopy (IR). The dispersivity of these nanoparticles in liquid paraffin is measured by nanoparticle analyzer. The tribological behavior of adding diamond nanoparticles in liquid paraffin is evaluated by using a ball‐on‐ring wear tester.

The measurement results reveal the dispersion capability of OA modified diamond nanoparticles and indicate the dispersing stability in liquid paraffin of the OA which is bonded to the surface of diamond nanoparticles through esterification. It is found from wear testing results that the diamond nanoparticle as additive in liquid paraffin at proper concentration shows better tribological properties for anti‐wear (AW) and antifriction than the pure paraffin oil and different AW ability depending on the particle size.

It is shown in the paper that by reducing friction and AW, the lubricant prepared by the methods described can prolong operating hours of machinery.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the tribological properties of liquid paraffin with SiO₂ nanoparticles additive made by a sol‐gel method.

The tribological properties of the SiO₂ nanoparticles as an additive in liquid paraffin are measured using a ball‐on‐ring wear tester to determine the optimal additive concentration. The mechanism that wear and friction are reduced is studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS), and atomic force microscope (AFM).

Experimental results indicate that the sizes of the synthesized SiO₂ nanoparticles are distributed uniformly and that the optimal concentrations of SiO₂ nanoparticles in liquid paraffin is associated with better tribological properties than pure paraffin oil, and an anti‐wear (AW) ability that depends on the particle size.

It is shown in the paper that by reducing friction and AW, the lubricant prepared by the methods described can prolong operating hours of machinery.

The purpose of this work is to study tribological properties of liquid paraffin with SiO₂ nanoparticles as an additive, which are made by surface-modification method. Taguchi robust designs for optimization in synthesizing SiO₂ nanoparticles by sol-gel method.

The tribological properties of the SiO₂ nanoparticles as additive in liquid paraffin are studied by ball-on-ring wear tester to find out optimal concentration, and the mechanism of the reduction of wear and friction will be investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS) and atomic force microscope (AFM).

Under optimal conditions identified by Taguchi robust designs method, SiO₂ nanoparticles with a narrow particle size distribution can be obtained and optimal concentrations of SiO₂ nanoparticles as additives in liquid paraffin have better properties than the pure paraffin oil.

It is shown in the paper that by reducing friction and AW, the lubricant prepared by the methods described can prolong operating hours of machinery.

This study aims to manufacture cotton fabric with thermal regulation performance by using the composite phase change material (CPCM) prepared by coating paraffin doped with expanded graphite (EG), and the thermal effect of the fabric material was evaluated and characterized.

EG/paraffin CPCM with shape stability and enhanced thermal conductivity were prepared by the impregnation method and then finished on the surface of cotton fabric with coating technology. The microstructure, crystal structure, chemical composition, latent heat property and thermal conductivity were analyzed by scanning electron microscope, x-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimeter and thermal constant analyzer. The photo-thermal effect of the coated fabric was studied by a thermal infrared imager.

CPCM prepared with a mass ratio of EG to paraffin of 1:8 showed excellent shape stability and low paraffin leakage rate. The latent heat of the CPCM was 51.6201 J/g and the thermal conductivity coefficient was increased by 11.4 times compared with the mixed paraffin. After the CPCM was coated on the surface of the cotton fabric, the light-to-heat conversion rate of the C-EG/PA3 sample was improved by 86.32% compared with the original fabric. In addition, the coated fabric showed excellent thermal stability and heat storage performance in the thermal cycling test.

EG can improve the shape stability and thermal conductivity of paraffin but will reduce the latent heat energy.

The method developed provided a simple and practical solution to improving the thermal regulation performance of fabrics.

Combining paraffin wax with fabrics in a composite way is innovative and has certain applicability in improving the thermal properties of fabrics.

The purpose of this paper is to synthesize oil-soluble copper (Cu) nanoparticles modified with free phosphorus and sulfur modifier and investigate its tribological properties as environment-friendly lubricating oil additives.

To improve the anti-oxidation properties of these nanoparticles, two kinds of surface modifiers, oleic acid and oleylamine were used simultaneously. The morphology, composition, structure and thermal properties of as-synthesized Cu nanoparticles were investigated by means of transmission electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and differential thermal and thermogravimetric analysis. The tribological properties of as-synthesized Cu nanoparticles as an additive in liquid paraffin were evaluated with a four-ball friction and wear tester.

It has been found that an as-synthesized Cu nanoparticle has a size of 2-5 nm and can be well dispersed in organic solvents. Tribological properties evaluation results show that as-synthesized Cu nanoparticles possess excellent anti-wear properties as an additive in liquid paraffin. The reason lies in that as-synthesized surface-capped Cu nanoparticles are able to deposit on sliding steel surface and form a low-shearing-strength protective layer thereon, showing promising application as an environmentally acceptable lubricating oil additive, owing to its free phosphorus and sulfur elements characteristics.

Oil-soluble surface-modified Cu nanoparticles without phosphorus and sulfur were synthesized and its tribological properties as lubricating oil additives were also investigated in this paper. These results could be very helpful for application of Cu nanoparticles as environment-friendly lubricating oil additives.

Phase change energy storage is an important solution for overcoming human energy crisis. This study aims to present an evaluation for the thermal performances of a phase change material (PCM) and a PCM–metal foam composite. Effects of pore size, pore density, thermal conductivity of solid structure and mushy region on the thermal storage process are examined.

In this paper, temperature, flow field and solid–liquid interface of a PCM with or without porous media were theoretically assessed. The influences of basic parameters on the melting process were analyzed. A PCM thermal storage device with a metal foam composite is designed and a thermodynamic analysis for it is conducted. The optimal PCM temperature and the optimal HTF temperature in the metal foam-enhanced thermal storage device are derived.

The results show that the solid–liquid interface of pure PCM is a line area and that of the mixture PCM is a mushy area. The natural convection in the melting liquid is intensive for a PCM without porous medium. The porous medium weakens the natural convection and makes the temperature field, flow field and solid–liquid interface distribution more homogeneous. The metal foam can greatly improve the heat storage rate of a PCM.

Thermal storage rate of a PCM is compared with that of a PCM–metal foam composite. A thermal analysis is performed on the multi-layered parallel-plate thermal storage device with a PCM embedded in a highly conductive porous medium, and an optimal melting temperature is obtained with the exergy optimization. The heat transfer enhancement with metal foams proved to be necessary for the thermal storage application.

The purpose of this paper is to study thermal performance of metal foam/phase change materials composite under the influence of the enclosure aspect ratios (ratio of enclosure height: length). In this study, a compound metal foam/phase change material (PCM), which has been proved to be one of the most promising approaches for thermal conductivity promotion on PCMs, was used.

The PCM is considered initially at its melting temperature. The enclosure for all the cases has a constant volume with various aspect ratios. The left side of the enclosure is suddenly exposed to a thermal source having a constant heat flux, while the other three surfaces are kept thermally insulated. A two-dimensional numerical model considering the non-equilibrium thermal factor, non-Darcy effect and local natural convection was proposed. The coupling between velocity and pressure is solved using the SIMPLEC, and the Rhie and Chow interpolation is used to avoid the checker-board solutions for the pressure.

The effects of foam porosity and aspect ratio of the enclosure on the PCM’s melting time were investigated. The results indicated that enclosure aspect ratio plays a fundamental role in phase change of copper foam/PCM composites. For higher porosities, enclosures with bigger aspect ratios proved to led to optimal melting time. Besides, the best enclosure aspect ratio and foam porosity for a fixed-volume enclosure to have the shortest melting time are 2.1 and 91.66 per cent, respectively. However, for a specific amount of PCM inside a variable volume enclosure, the optimal melting time was for foam with ε = 95 per cent. The achieved results prove the great importance of selection of aspect ratio to benefit both conduction and convection heat transfer simultaneously.

The area of energy storage systems is original.

The aim of this paper is to study the effects of commercially available antioxidants on the oxidation stability of white mineral oils (paraffin oil).

Twelve commercially available antioxidants (Chimassorb 81, Tinuvin 326, Tinuvin 765, Tinuvin 571, Irganox L57, Irganox L109, Irganox L101, Irganox L115, Irganox L06, Irgafos 168, Naugard 445, BHT) were added to pharmaceutical and technical grade white mineral oils at 0.1%, 0.2%, 0.3%, 0.6% and 0.8% (w/w) concentrations. Light, heat and oxygen were applied to induce and accelerate oxidation. Total acid number, viscosity and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity of the oils were measured to evaluate the performance of the antioxidant additives.

Results showed that combined heat and oxygen treatment was the most effective of the three conditions tested to cause oxidation. Based on the data, the best antioxidant additives to be used in white oils are decided to be Irganox L06 and Irganox L101. It was also found that the grade of oils (technical or pharma) did not create a significant difference in the results obtained.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that reports effects of antioxidant addition on the oxidative properties of white mineral oils. This study advances knowledge of the behavior of white mineral oils under real atmosphere and provides comprehensive data on how the antioxidants affect the light, thermal, oxidative degradation of white mineral oils. The data presented also provide an insight to extend life expectancy of white mineral oils.

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