The authors present the synthesis of hollow silica nanospheres (HSNSs) by a template-assisted approach using polystyrene nanospheres as templates. These nanospheres could potentially be used as nano insulation materials due to their low thermal conductivity ~0.02 W/m K. The authors also examined the environmental footprint of these nanospheres by life cycle assessment, and it was found that they possess a high embodied energy. It was thus suggested that new synthetic ...
Three model polymer-bonded explosive compositions were prepared to determine the effects of damage on their mechanical and thermal properties. The composites were damaged in a controllable manner such that three different levels of damage could be produced, and the strain on the samples could be determined. The samples differed in the size of the particles that they contained, and the sample that showed the largest decrease in mechanical properties occurring ...
The density related properties (specific gravity, density, apparent porosity), and thermal transport properties were determined for diorite and granite rocks taken from the Shewa-Shahbaz Garhi volcanic complex, Pakistan. All measurements were made at varying temperatures from 253-333 K to determine the effect of temperature on the properties. It was found that all of the properties investigated depended on the chemical composition of the rock samples. For a given sample, the ...
The effects of incorporating phase change materials (PCMs) into concrete on the potential service lives of bridges were investigated. It was determined that PCMs could potentially be used in the future to reduce the effects of freeze-thaw cycles on bridges, but more work needed to be done to improve the strength of concretes containing PCMs before this could be applied. It was determined that increasing the latent heat of fusion ...
Consolidated water sorbents with varying densities were prepared by adding expanded graphite treated with sulphuric acid to activated carbon-lithium chloride composites for use as a lab-scale prototype for thermal energy storage. The sorption reactor prototype that was designed was unable to reach the 1 kWh heat storage target. Further research will be done with the goal of developing a 15 kWh reactor which would be capable of meeting the heating demand of ...
