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Almost 75 years of research has been devoted to producing superalloys capable of higher operating temperatures in jet turbine engines, and there is an ongoing need to increase operating temperature further. Here, a new disk Nickel-base superalloy is designed to take advantage of strengthening atomic-scale dynamic complexions. This local phase transformation strengthening provides the alloy with a three times improvement in creep strength over similar disk superalloys and comparable strength to a single crystal blade alloy at 760 °C. Ultra-high-resolution chemical mapping reveals that the improvement in creep strength is a result of atomic-scale η (D0₂₄) and χ (D0₁₉) formation along superlattice stacking faults. To understand these results, the energy differences between the L1₂and competing D0₂₄and D0₁₉stacking fault structures and their dependence on composition are computed by density functional theory. This study can help guide researchers to further optimize local phase transformation strengthening mechanisms for alloy development.

 

Dynamic pricing, also known as real-time pricing, provides electricity users with an economic incentive to adjust electricity use based on changing market conditions. This paper studies the economic implications of real-time pricing mechanisms in a cement manufacturing plant. Production for a representative cement manufacturing plant is modeled using stochastic mathematical programming. The results show that a cement plant can a) reduce electricity costs by shifting electricity load of certain processes to times when electricity prices are lower, and b) profitably reduce electricity use during peak prices through more efficient scheduling of production under real-time pricing compared to fixed pricing. The results suggest that building scheduling flexibility into certain industrial manufacturing processes to reschedule electricity consumption when the electricity prices at their peak may be economical. The results also suggest that shifts in the production schedule of a cement manufacturer that result from real-time pricing may also influence environmental impacts. The modelling framework modeled real-time pricing as a source of risk in this study, which is also applicable to other energy intensive industries. As such, dynamic pricing strategies that include the non-market impacts of electricity generation should be further explored. 

The environmental impact of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) largely depends on the environmental profile of the national electric power grid that enables their operation. The purpose of this study is to analyze the environmental performance of BEV usage in Korea considering the changes and trajectory of the national power roadmap. We examined the environmental performance using a weighted environmental index, considering eight impact categories. The results showed that the weighted environmental impact of Korea’s national power grid supply would increase overall by 66% from 2015 to 2029 using the plan laid out by the 7th Power Roadmap, and by only 33% from 2017 to 2031 using the 8th Power Roadmap plan. This change reflects the substantial amount of renewables in the more recent power mix plan. In 2016, BEV usage in Korea resulted in emissions reductions of about 37% compared with diesel passenger vehicles, and 41% compared with gasoline vehicles per kilometer driven (100 g CO2e/km versus 158 g and 170 g CO2e/km, respectively) related to transportation sector. By 2030, BEV usage in Korea is expected to achieve a greater emissions reduction of about 53% compared with diesel vehicles and 56% compared with gasoline vehicles. However, trade-offs are also expected because of increased particulate matter (PM) pollution, which we anticipate to increase by 84% compared with 2016 conditions. Despite these projected increases in PM emissions, increased BEV usage in Korea is expected to result in important global and local benefits through reductions of climate-changing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.