On the Possible Nature of Armchair-Zigzag Structure Formation and Heat Capacity Decrease in MWCNTs

Structural disorder and temperature behavior of specific heat in multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have been investigated. The results of X-ray diffractometry, Raman spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images are analyzed. The thermodynamic theory of the zigzag-armchair domain structure formation during nanotube synthesis is developed. The influence of structural disorder on the temperature behavior of specific heat is investigated. The size of domains was estimated at ~40 nm. A decrease in heat capacity is due to this size effect. The revealed dependence of the heat capacity of MWCNTs on the structural disorder allows control over thermal properties of nanotubes and can be useful for the development of thermoelectric, thermal interface materials and nanofluids based on them.

Thermo-physical Investigations of oils, N-(2-aminoethyl)oleamide and Resulting Gels using TGA-DSC

Edible vegetable oils were gelled by using N-(2-aminoethyl)-oleamide. Oils in their free state were subjected to differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) analysis. The gels of these oils were prepared by using N-(2-aminoethyl)-oleamide as gelator and similar thermal analysis of the gels was carried out. The thermal analysis data obtained was used to determine specific heat capacity at constant pressure (Cp). The values were compared with the reported values of heat capacities. It is observed that the thermal properties and transitions of oils and gels, specific heat capacity is helpful parameter to understand the fundamentals of gels and gelation strategies.

The Transport Properties of Quasi–One-Dimensional Ba3Co2O6(CO3)0.7

We have performed combined elastic neutron diffuse, electrical transport, specific heat, and thermal conductivity measurements on the quasi–one-dimensional Ba3Co2O6(CO3)0.7 single crystal to characterize its transport properties. A modulated superstructure of polyatomic CO32− is formed, which not only interferes the electronic properties of this compound, but also reduces the thermal conductivity along the c-axis. Furthermore, a large magnetic entropy is observed to be contributed to the heat conduction. Our investigations reveal the influence of both structural and magnetic effects on its transport properties and suggest a theoretical improvement on the thermoelectric materials by building up superlattice with conducting ionic group.

Wood Dust Flammability Analysis by Microscale Combustion Calorimetry

To study the practicability of a micro combustion calorimeter to analyze the calorimetry kinetics of wood, a micro combustion calorimeter with 13 heating rates from 0.1 to 5.5 K/s was used to perform the analysis of 10 kinds of common hardwood and softwood samples. As a microscale combustion measurement method, MCC (microscale combustion calorimetry) can be used to judge the flammability of materials. However, there are two methods for measuring MCC: Method A and Method B. However, there is no uniform standard for the application of combustible MCC methods. In this study, the two MCC standard measurement Methods A and B were employed to check their practicability. With Method A, the maximum specific heat release rate, heat release temperature, and specific heat release of the samples were obtained at different heating rates, while for Method B, the maximum specific combustion rate, combustion temperature and net calorific values of the samples were obtained at different heating rates. The ignition capacity and heat release capacity were then derived and evaluated for all the common hardwood and softwood samples. The results obtained by the two methods have significant differences in the shape of the specific heat release rate curves and the amplitude of the characteristic parameters, which lead to the differences of the derived parameters. A comparison of the specific heat release and the net calorific heat of combustion with the gross caloric values and heating values obtained by bomb calorimetry was also made. The results show that Method B has the potentiality to evaluate the amount of combustion heat release of materials.