• Journal of Hydrogen and New Energy
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.315-323
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• 2021

The air-cooled proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) stacks, which is widely used in small-sized PEMFC, have a problem in that durability is weaker than that of the water-cooled type. Because the cathode is open to the atmosphere and the structural problem of the air-cooled stack, which is difficult to maintain airtightness, is highly likely to form a hydrogen/air boundary during start-up/shut-down (SU/SD). Through the accelerated durability evaluation of the 20 W air-cooled PEMFC stack, the purpose of this study was to find out the cause of the degradation of the stack and to contribute to the improvement of the durability of the air-cooled PEMFC stack. In this study, it was possible to evaluate durability in a relatively short time by reducing 20-30% of initial performance by repeating SU/SD 1,000 to 1,200 times on an air-cooled PEMFC stack. After disassembling the stack, each cell was divided into two and the performance analysis showed that the electrode degradation was more severe in the anode outlet membrane electrode assembly (MEA), which facilitates air inflow as a whole, than in the inlet MEA. It was shown that the cathode Pt was dissolved/precipitated to deteriorate the polymer ionomer inside the membrane.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.12-19
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• 2022

Cathode open-type PEMFC (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells) stacks, which are widely used in small transport-type PEMFC, have a problem with poor durability. Through the accelerated durability test of the 13-cell PEMFC stack, we tried to find the cause of the degradation of the stack and to contribute to the improvement of the durability of the cathode open stack. A hydrogen/air boundary is formed during start-up/shut-down (SU/SD) due to the structural problem of the cathode open stack in which the cathode is open to the atmosphere and it is difficult to maintain airtightness, thereby deteriorating the cathode. In this study, it was possible to evaluate the durability in a relatively short time by reducing the 54% of the initial performance by repeating SU/SD 1,800 times on the cathode open stack. After dismantling the stack, each cell was divided into two and the performance was analyzed. Overall, the anode outlet MEA, which facilitates air inflow, showed more severe electrode deterioration than the inlet MEA, confirming that the hydrogen/air boundary formation during SU/SD is the main cause of degradation.

• Journal of People, Plants, and Environment
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.399-410
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• 2020

The United Nations project the world population to reach 10 billion by the year 2057. To increase the food of the ever-increasing world population, agrochemicals are indispensable tools to the boon in agriculture production. These agrochemicals are a serious threat to the health of humans, plants, and animals. Agrochemicals are ultimately reached to the main reservoir/sink such as soil and contaminating the groundwater, disturb the soil health and in turn a serious threat to biogeochemical cycling and the entire biosphere. Among agrochemicals, quinalphosis one of the most repeatedly and widely used insecticides in the control of a wide range of pests that attack various crops. Quinalphos is shown to be primarily toxic in organisms by acetylcholinesterase enzyme action. Hydrolysis of quinalphos produces amajor metabolite 2-hydroxyquinoxaline (2-HQ), which has shown secondary toxicity in organisms. 2-HQ is reported to be mutagenic, carcinogenic, growth inhibition and induce oxidative stress in organisms. Quinoline is a heterocyclic compound and structural resemblance of 2-HQ with minor changes, but its degradation studies are enormous compared to the 2-HQ compound. Biotic factors in fate and behavior of 2-HQ in the environment are least studied. 2-HQ interactions with soil enzymes are vary from soil to soil. Based on the toxicity of 2-HQ in our stockpile we need to isolate a handful of microorganisms to treat this persistent metabolite and also other metabolites/compounds.This brief review will be significant from the point of biological and environmental safety.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.86 no.3
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• pp.385-397
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• 2023

This study presents an experiment and analysis to compare the seismic behavior of full-scale reinforced concrete beam-column joint strengthened by prestressed steel strips, externally bonded steel plate, and CFRP sheets. For experimental investigation, five specimens, including one joint without any retrofitting, one joint retrofitted by externally bonded steel plate, one joint retrofitted by CFRP sheets, and two joints retrofitted by prestressed steel strips, were tested under cyclic-reserve loading. The failure mode, strain response, shear deformation, hysteresis behavior, energy dissipation capacity, stiffness degradation and damage indexes of all specimens were analyzed according to experimental study. It was found that prestressed steel strips, steel plate and CFRP sheets improved shear resistance, energy dissipation capacity, stiffness degradation behavior and reduced the shear deformation of the joint core area, as well as changed the failure pattern of the specimen, which led to the failure mode changed from the combination of flexural failure of beams and shear failure of joints core to the flexural failure of beams. In addition, the beam-column joint retrofitted by steel plate exhibited a high bearing capacity, energy consumption capacity and low damage index compared with the joint strengthened by prestressed steel strip, and the prestressed steel strips reinforced joint showed a high strength, energy dissipation capacity and low shear deformation, stirrups strains and damage index compared to the CFRP reinforced joint, which indicated that the frame joints strengthened with steel plate exhibited the most excellent seismic behavior, followed by the prestressed steel strips.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.441-456
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• 2023

Aiming at the development trend of light weight and high strength of engineering structures, this paper experimentally investigated the seismic performance of circular-in-square high-strength concrete-filled double skin steel tubular (HCFDST) stub columns with out-of-code width-to-thickness (B/t) ratios. Typical failure mode of HCFDST stub columns appeared with the infill material crushing, steel fracture and local buckling of outer tubes as well as the inner buckling of inner tubes. Subsequently, the detailed analysis on hysteretic curves, skeleton curves and ductility, energy dissipation, stiffness degradation and lateral force reduction was conducted to reflect the influences of hollow ratios, axial compression ratios and infill types, e.g., increasing hollow ratio from 0.54 to 0.68 and 0.82 made a slight effect on bearing capacity compared to the ductility coefficients; the higher axial compression ratio (e.g., 0.3 versus 0.1) significantly reduced the average bearing capacity and ductility; the HCFDST column SCFST-6 filled with concrete obviously displayed the larger initial secant stiffness with a percentage 34.20% than the column SCFST-2 using engineered cementitious composite (ECC); increasing hollow ratios, axial compression ratios could accelerate the drop speed of stiffness degradation. The out-of-code HCFDST stub columns with reasonable design could behave favorable hysteretic performance. A theoretical model considering the tensile strength effect of ECC was thereafter established and verified to predict the moment-resisting capacity of HCFDST columns using ECC. The reported research on circular-in-square HCFDST stub columns can provide significant references to the structural application and design.

• Composites Research
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.122-127
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• 2018

Sandwich composites of carbon fiber reinforced plastic(CFRP) and polymer foam will be used to automobile and aerospace industry according to increasing importance of light weight. In this study, mechanical and heat resistance properties of sandwich composites were compared with type of polymer foam (polyethylene terephthalate(PET), polyvinylchloride(PVC), epoxy and polyurethane). All types of polymer foams were degraded to 30, 60, 120, 180 minutes in $180^{\circ}C$. After heat degradation, the polymer foams were observed using optical microscope and compressive test was performed using universal testing machine(UTM). Epoxy foam had the highest compressive property to 2.6 MPa and after thermal degradation, the mechanical property and structure of foam were less changed than others. Epoxy foam had better mechanical properties than other polymer foams under high temperature. Because the epoxy foam was post cured under high temperature. As the results, Epoxy foam was optimal materials to apply to structures that thermal energy was loaded constantly.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.810-816
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• 2017

This study investigates the relationship between the damage patterns and structural performance levels of a multi-strand 7-wire strand that is used as an important member of stay cables. Stay cables are continuously damaged after completion, and corrosion is the main cause. However, it is difficult to check the damage pattern inside the cable due to its structural characteristics, and it is difficult to evaluate the degradation level of the damage quantitatively. This study derives the relationship between the damage pattern and the performance level of the stranded wire by comparing results and analyzing them through an indoor experiment and finite element analysis. In order to simulate the damage of a 7-wire strand, artificial damage was applied by mechanical precision machining to perform a performance evaluation. The results of the analysis show that regardless of the damage size of the strand, the structural performance deteriorated immediately after the damage. It was experimentally and analytically deduced that the type and amount of damage should be considered as a parameter for evaluating the performance level of the strand. This information can be used for the safety management of a cable stayed bridge by constructing a database according to the pattern and amount of damage.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.436-442
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• 2008

Graphite material has been recognized as a very competitive candidate for reflector, moderator, and structural material for very high temperature reactor (VHTR). Since VHTR is operated up to $900-950^{\circ}C$, small amount of impurity may accelerate the oxidation and degradation of carbon graphite, which results in increased porosity and lowered fracture toughness. In this study, ultrasonic wave propagation properties were investigated for both as-received and degradated material, and the feasibility of ultrasonic testing (UT) was estimated based on the result of ultrasonic property measurements. The ultrasonic properties of carbon graphite were half, more than 5 times, and 1/3 for velocity, attenuation, and signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio respectively. Degradation reduces the ultrasonic velocity slightly by 100 m/s, however the attenuation is about 2 times of as-receive state. The results of probability of detection (POD) estimation based on S/N ratio for side-drilled-hole (SDHs) of which depths were less than 100 mm were merely affected by oxidation and degradation. This result suggests that UT would be reliable method for nondestructive testing of carbon graphite material of which thickness is not over 100 mm. In accordance with the result produced by commercial automated ultrasonic testing (AUT) system, human error of ultrasonic testing is barely expected for the material of which thickness is not over 80 mm.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.30 no.8
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• pp.383-392
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• 2020

In this paper, AgCl/Ag₃PO₄/diatomite photocatalyst is successfully synthesized by microemulsion method and anion in situ substitution method. X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis) are used to study the structural and physicochemical characteristics of the AgCl/Ag₃PO₄/diatomite composite. Using rhodamine B (RhB) as a simulated pollutant, the photocatalytic activity and stability of the AgCl/Ag₃PO₄/diatomite composite under visible light are evaluated. In the AgCl/Ag₃PO₄/diatomite visible light system, RhB is nearly 100 % degraded within 15 minutes. And, after five cycles of operation, the photocatalytic activity of AgCl/Ag₃PO₄/diatomite remains at 95 % of the original level, much higher than that of pure Ag₃PO₄ (40 %). In addition, the mechanism of enhanced catalytic performance is discussed. The high photocatalytic performance of AgCl/Ag₃PO₄/diatomite composites can be attributed to the synergistic effect of Ag₃PO₄, diatomite and AgCl nanoparticles. Free radical trapping experiments are used to show that holes and oxygen are the main active species. This material can quickly react with dye molecules adsorbed on the surface of diatomite to degrade RhB dye to CO₂ and H₂O. Even more remarkably, AgCl/Ag₃PO₄/diatomite can maintain above 95 % photo-degradation activity after five cycles.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.1951-1964
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• 2016

1,4-Dioxane-degrading bacterial consortia were enriched from forest soil (FS) and activated sludge (AS) using a defined medium containing 1,4-dioxane as the sole carbon source. These two enrichments cultures appeared to have inducible tetrahydrofuran/dioxane and propane degradation enzymes. According to qPCR results on the 16S rRNA and soluble di-iron monooxygenase genes, the relative abundances of 1,4-dioxane-degrading bacteria to total bacteria in FS and AS were 29.4% and 57.8%, respectively. For FS, the cell growth yields (Y), maximum specific degradation rate ($V_{max}$), and half-saturation concentration ($K_m$) were 0.58 mg-protein/mg-dioxane, $0.037mg-dioxane/mg-protein{\cdot}h$, and 93.9 mg/l, respectively. For AS, Y, $V_{max}$, and $K_m$ were 0.34 mg-protein/mg-dioxane, $0.078mg-dioxane/mg-protein{\cdot}h$, and 181.3 mg/l, respectively. These kinetics data of FS and AS were similar to previously reported values. Based on bacterial community analysis on 16S rRNA gene sequences of the two enrichment cultures, the FS consortium was identified to contain 38.3% of Mycobacterium and 10.6% of Afipia, similar to previously reported literature. Meanwhile, 49.5% of the AS consortium belonged to the candidate division TM7, which has never been reported to be involved in 1,4-dioxane biodegradation. However, recent studies suggested that TM7 bacteria were associated with degradation of non-biodegradable and hazardous materials. Therefore, our results showed that previously unknown 1,4-dioxane-degrading bacteria might play an important role in enriched AS. Although the metabolic capability and ecophysiological significance of the predominant TM7 bacteria in AS enrichment culture remain unclear, our data reveal hidden characteristics of the TM7 phylum and provide a perspective for studying this previously uncultured phylotype.