Carbon textile reinforced concrete (CTRC) is currently used as a high-performance composite material in the construction industry, comprising concrete and a non-metallic reinforcement. In addition to remarkable material properties such as tensile load-bearing behaviour, durability and density, this innovative material features high electrical conductivity, offering the potential for electrical heat generation within building components. In this context, the electrical conductivity of carbon fibres, as well as their high thermal conductivity along the fibre direction can be utilized for accelerating processes such as the hydration of concrete in the composite material or the development of electrically heated carbon textile reinforced concrete. For this purpose, investigations have been carried out on material combinations with textile reinforcement (CTR) and ultra-high-performance concrete, with a specific focus on the electrically heated carbon textile reinforcements at temperatures up to 80 °C. The impact of electrical heating of CTR was evaluated by analyzing the specific resistance on selected non-metallic reinforcement materials. For the composite material (CTRC) tensile strength tests and heating tests were performed. To facilitate the evaluation of the CTRC, an automated crack evaluation software was developed and validated for the results from laboratory tests utilizing digital image correlation. This software automatically determines the crack behaviour such as crack widths and stress-strain behaviour for the users in the form of a graphical user interface. This interdisciplinary approach connects materials science with thermal management in concrete construction, providing valuable insights into the practical use of CTR in multifaceted building concepts.

The study analyzes the energy intensity of the hot-air drying mode for beech lumber in the thickness range of 32–60 mm, with a particular focus on preserving the color of the wood. The suggested drying schedule is extended by ∆τ = 35 hours compared to the procedure outlined in the ON 49 0651 standard. This prolongation is due to the reduced temperature of the drying air during the phase of free water evaporation. The specific heat consumption for the proposed drying schedule is QTZN = 303.9 kWh·m⁻³, which is 26.16 kWh·m⁻³ higher than the consumption specified by the ON 49 0651 standard. The increase in energy use results from an 8.9-fold higher energy requirement for water evaporation from the wood, which outweighs the energy savings from reduced heat demand for lumber heating, initial air heating, air humidification at the start of drying, and compensating for the thermal losses of the dryer.

China currently accounts for the largest share of global CO₂ emissions, faces immense pressure to achieve its “dual-carbon” goals amid a coal-dominated energy structure and rising emissions. The energy trilemma theory highlights inherent conflicts among energy security, affordability, and sustainability, yet existing studies inadequately address regional heterogeneity and dynamic synergies. This study evaluates China’s energy transition pathways by analyzing the trade-offs and synergies of photovoltaic, wind, and nuclear power within the trilemma framework. Through a comparative analysis of technical efficiency, economic costs, and environmental impacts, we demonstrate that nuclear power outperforms renewables in stability (7,805 annual utilization hours vs. 2,127 for wind), cost-effectiveness (¥0.28/kWh levelized cost), and near-zero emissions. Despite challenges in waste management and public acceptance, nuclear energy’s high energy density and grid reliability position it as a critical solution for balancing the trilemma. The findings advocate for prioritizing advanced nuclear technologies and stringent regulatory frameworks to accelerate decarbonization while ensuring energy security.

This study employs first-principles calculations and cluster expansion to explore new stable phases of Ta-doped LLZO (Li5La3Zr2-xTaxO12) to enhance the conductivity of the tetragonal structure. Monte Carlo simulations further analyze the temperature-dependent behavior of these phases under the canonical ensemble and determine phase transition of mixed systems. The structures were selected by identifying those with the lowest energy at various compositions from the cluster expansion, where the low cross-validation score (CVS < 5 meV) guarantees the predicted energies are highly accurate and physically meaningful, allowing for a reliable assessment of thermodynamic stability. The structures were selected by identifying those with the lowest energy at various compositions from the cluster expansion. The cluster expansion reveals 28 miscible multi-component structures, all thermodynamically stable with negative formation enthalpies. Monte Carlo results indicate no phase separation, with optimal mixing at ~900 K. These findings suggest Ta doping improves structural stability without compromising miscibility, offering potential pathways for higher ionic conductivity.

The aviation industry is one of the highest emitters of greenhouse gases globally, and thus, the call to become carbon neutral is an urgent one. Two possible paths of production of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) are considered here: the Power-to-Liquid (PtL) pathway and biomass conversion. The PtL pathway makes use of renewable electricity to decompose water and form hydrogen through electrolysis, utilizing captured carbon dioxide to form liquid hydrocarbons through Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. While promising, PtL suffers from problems of energy inefficiency, production inefficiencies, and financial constraints. Biomass conversion, however, involves the use of organic feedstocks, gasification and fermentation of the feedstocks to produce liquid fuels. While biomass- based fuels have the advantage of compatibility with current infrastructure, they have land-use problems, feedstock renewability, and lifecycle emissions concerns. By contrasting these routes in terms of energy efficiency, economic viability, and environmental friendliness, this research underlines the necessity of policy action and technological breakthroughs to optimize SAF production. The findings indicate that PtL and biofuels will have supporting roles to play in energizing a decarbonized aviation industry, where persistent innovation is vital to the evolution of sustainable, affordable, and scalable solutions.

As reinforced concrete structures age, they increasingly require extensive maintenance and repair. Due to their limited lifespan, repair materials are often susceptible to early cracking, resulting from environmental influences, deformation, and physical-chemical incompatibilities between the repair material and the substrate. In line with sustainable development goals, minimising costly maintenance and repairs is essential. Self-healing mortar presents a promising solution to extend the durability of repaired structures and reduce long-term maintenance needs. The primary objective of this research is to evaluate the self- healing capacity of a cementitious material containing magnesium oxide and calcium sulfo-aluminate-based expansive agents, as well as to assess its mechanical performance under repair conditions. Healing kinetics are monitored through water permeability tests on cylindrical specimens precracked at 28 days. To validate the suitability of the studied mortars for repair applications, their bond strength is measured using pull-off tests under various concrete substrate conditions, including different roughness and saturation levels. Experimental results indicate that incorporating an expansive agent enhances the autonomous healing potential of mortars, with mortars containing calcium sulfo-aluminate-based expansive agents demonstrating superior bond strength and a better healing capacity.

Surface roughness due to plastic deformation is important as it impacts both the surface properties of finished parts and tribological conditions during metal forming. In the present study, an approach for modeling free surface roughening due to the heterogeneous microstructure of polycrystals, where grains deform differently, is presented and validated experimentally for uniaxial tension. Roughening is modelled by finite element crystal plasticity simulations. Two methods of applying boundary conditions to the polycrystal are used. One method involves multi-scale modeling, where the continuum-scale simulation provides the submodel boundary conditions. In the second method, the elongation is applied directly by a moving periodic boundary. Material properties of DC04 steel sheet are measured by uniaxial tensile testing. Microstructure is characterized by optical microscopy and electron backscatter diffraction is used as input to generate representative simulation models. Material parameters for crystal plasticity are determined by matching simulation results to experimental stress-strain behavior. Experimental surface topography measurements by confocal microscopy after deformation are presented and compared to simulated surface topographies to assess the accuracy of the finite element model. Simulated surface roughness values of free surfaces in the model are also used as figures of merit for a convergence study of finite element parameters.

The hydrophobicity and surface charge of coals and coal-associated minerals play important roles in froth flotation and dewatering in coal preparation plants. These properties are also important for respirable dust control and the application of surfactants. This paper discusses techniques for the measurement of hydrophobicity and surface charge and then uncovers literature values for contact angles and surface charge for coals of varying rank, including some maceral analyses. It also provides a review of literature data for contact angle and surface charge for the major minerals in coal. Readers can use these data for understanding mineral removal or recovery using various preparation techniques, including fine desliming, froth flotation, selective agglomeration, and other processes that are influenced by hydrophobicity and surface charge as we continue to develop the need for ultra clean coals.

We developed a salt film surface simulation method that integrates stochastic processes and time-series modelling to address the challenges of ultrasonic guided wave (UGW)-based inspection in solar heat-absorbing tubes, where heterogeneous salt films develop owing to prolonged exposure to high temperatures, intense radiation and molten salt corrosion in tower-based solar thermal energy storage systems. A multilayer heterogeneous pipeline model comprising a substrate, coating and salt film was established using COMSOL Multiphysics® finite element software to systematically investigate the effects of salt film deposition on defect echo characteristics. The simulation results revealed that salt films considerably attenuated echo signal amplitudes and reduced the wave propagation velocity. In particular, severe interference was observed in the detection of structural discontinuities, such as weld seams. To address spatial constraints in practical field inspections, we developed a magnetostrictive sensor for dry-coupled UGW excitation and reception. Our study clarifies the mechanisms of signal attenuation and mode aliasing induced by heterogeneous salt films, offering both theoretical insights and technological innovations for defect detection in multilayer pipeline structures. Moreover, these findings can pave the way for improved safety evaluation and maintenance efficiency in solar thermal systems, providing critical support for the reliability and sustainability of energy infrastructure.

With the acceleration of large-scale application of UAV in agricultural monitoring, disaster rescue, logistics and distribution and other fields, its complex environmental perception bottleneck is becoming increasingly prominent. The traditional single sensor system is limited in GNSS signal shading, IMU cumulative drift and visual photosensitivity, which seriously restricts the system reliability and adaptability of the system. This paper systematically reviews the breakthrough progress of multi-source data fusion technology: the space-time fusion architecture based on the Kalman filter (UKF) reduces the dynamic attitude estimation error by 18%, and the GPU accelerated particle filtering scheme realizes 20 Hz real-time processing in real-time. The proposed precision-cost-power consumption triangle constraint criterion guides the combination of multispectrum and RTK-GNSS to balance 95% classification accuracy with 10 cm localization error in agricultural monitoring. Typical application verification shows that the bionic radar-vision system achieves 0.32 m positioning accuracy in the occlusion environment (41% improvement compared with the traditional method), and the LiDAR-photogrammetry combined leveling technology improves the absolute accuracy of terrain modeling by 23%. The multi- dimensional evaluation system constructed in this study (localization error of 5 cm, response delay of <100 ms, work15 W) provides theoretical support and decision basis for engineering deployment under complex working conditions.