Thermoplastic composites are in high demand and continually growing in use due to their inherent properties. Commingled fibre is one of the recent solutions developed for thermoplastic composites, but has not yet ready for weaving. An alternative to commingling approach, co-weaving of reinforcing and thermoplastic fibres is investigated in this study. In this work, the carbon and nylon fibres were woven separately through the warp and weft directions, respectively. A 5-multilayer 3D weave architecture was designed to produce the co-woven fabrics. By varying the weft filling or pick density, a set of woven fabrics of different thermoplastic content was obtained. The hot press was used to consolidate the composite plaques. Samples of the thermoplastic composites were physically characterised through density, fibre volume fraction and void content and then optically investigated. The composite samples were also mechanically tested to determine the interlaminar shear strength via the short beam bending test. The result proves that co-weaving method for thermoplastic composites is a feasible approach as the composite shows a low void content of approximately 1.14 percent. Comparing the four co-woven composites tested in this study it is found that the maximum achievable strength (ILSS) is ~ 41.36MPa in the case of lowest matrix (PA66) and the highest fibre (CF) contents, i.e. 13PA/7CF.@en

Surface pretreatment is generally applied before application of protective coatings on Mg alloys, which influences surface microstructure and electrochemical activity of the substrate and has an effect on the coating properties. The effect of various pretreatment processes (sand-blasting, grinding and polishing) on the microstructure and corrosion protection performance of phosphate conversion coating (PCC) on AZ91D Mg alloy was investigated in the present study. Sand-blasting cleaning significantly increases the surface roughness and electrochemical activity of the substrate, leading to formation of a porous PCC with inferior corrosion protection performance. In the case of ground/polished Mg alloy, the uniformity and corrosion resistance of the resultant conversion coating are mainly related to the surface roughness. Relatively low surface roughness of the substrate facilitates formation of a corrosion protective PCC.@en

As simulation systems get more and more complex, the study of multi-resolution modeling (MRM) remains an exciting and fertile area of research. Contrasting its abundant successful use cases, a rigorous mathematical foundation is still lacking in MRM. In this paper, we propose a quotient space based multi-resolution modeling (QMRM) theory based on granular computing in artificial intelligence and on discrete-event system specification (DEVS) in modeling and simulation. Based on quotient sets, resolution, multi-resolution modeling and other related concepts are defined and a general concept framework is constructed. Based on the concepts of quotient set and natural projection, several MRM principles are derived. The internal consistency principle guarantees consistency among different perspectives of an atomic model, whereas the external consistency principle guarantees that different components in a coupled model are consistent. The false-preserving principle indicates that if a construction relation or state transformation relation of a component does not exist in a low resolution model, then the corresponding relations should not exist in its high resolution model. The true-preserving principle tells us that a high resolution model can be simplified by choosing the proper low resolution model. QMRM is not only a formal specification, but also a fundamental framework to understand MRM concepts, a guiding ideology to design specific MRM methods, and a modeling methodology to develop MRM systems. QMRM is created from a general simulation perspective, not limited by any specific application or problem domain aspects. The results of this paper can serve as a starting point for further study of multi-resolution problems in different domains.@en

A 5-bit digital controlled switch-type passive phase shifter realised in a 40 nm digital CMOS technology without ultra-thick metals for the 60 GHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band is presented. A patterned shielding with electromagnetic bandgap structure and a stacked metals method to increase the on-chip inductor quality factor are proposed. To reduce the insertion loss from the transistors, the transistor switches are implemented with a body-source connection. For all 32 states, the minimum phase error is 1.5°, and the maximum phase error is 6.8°. The measured insertion loss is -20.9 ± 1 dB including pad loss at 60 GHz and the return loss is >10 dB over 57-64 GHz. The total chip size is 0.24 mm2with 0 mW DC power consumption.@en

A 5-bit digital controlled switch-type passive phase shifter realised in a 40 nm digital CMOS technology without ultra-thick metals for the 60 GHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band is presented. A patterned shielding with electromagnetic bandgap structure and a stacked metals method to increase the on-chip inductor quality factor are proposed. To reduce the insertion loss from the transistors, the transistor switches are implemented with a body-source connection. For all 32 states, the minimum phase error is 1.5°, and the maximum phase error is 6.8°. The measured insertion loss is -20.9 ± 1 dB including pad loss at 60 GHz and the return loss is >10 dB over 57-64 GHz. The total chip size is 0.24 mm2with 0 mW DC power consumption.@en

A 5-bit digital controlled switch-type passive phase shifter realised in a 40 nm digital CMOS technology without ultra-thick metals for the 60 GHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band is presented. A patterned shielding with electromagnetic bandgap structure and a stacked metals method to increase the on-chip inductor quality factor are proposed. To reduce the insertion loss from the transistors, the transistor switches are implemented with a body-source connection. For all 32 states, the minimum phase error is 1.5°, and the maximum phase error is 6.8°. The measured insertion loss is -20.9 ± 1 dB including pad loss at 60 GHz and the return loss is >10 dB over 57-64 GHz. The total chip size is 0.24 mm2with 0 mW DC power consumption.@en