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Lunar water ice resources are important space assets for human survival and sustainable living on the Moon. Detection data indicates that the permanently shadowed regions at the lunar poles contain water ice resources. The efficiency of in-situ extraction of lunar water ice resources depends on its volatile characteristics. In the context of extraction and utilization of water ice resources in the permanently shadowed regions, the sublimation and diffusion processes of lunar water ice are investigated by combining the theory of pure ice sublimation with the fractal theory of porous media. On this basis, a volatilization model for lunar water ice is established to examine the effect of temperature, relative density, and water content on the volatile behaviors of lunar water ice. The findings of this study can provide technical and theoretical support for the in-situ exploration, extraction, and utilization of lunar water ice resources and offer insights into the existence and distribution of lunar water ice resources. • Apply the fractal theory of porous media on the research of icy lunar regolith volatilization. • Establish a volatilization model of water ice within icy lunar regolith. • Investigate the effect of temperature, relative density, and water content on volatilization. • Provide technical support for the exploration and extraction of lunar water ice resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel hot embossing process to fabricate the hierarchical macro/nano optical glass lens is innovatively proposed. [Display omitted] • A novel hot embossing strategy to fabricate the hierarchical macro/nano optical glass lens is innovatively proposed. • The hierarchical macro-/nano glass lens made by second hot embossing show good optical performance. • The deformation history and forming mechanism of hierarchical macro-/nano glass structures are revealed. Constructing nanostructured surfaces on the macro/micro-scale optical lens is of great importance in the improvement of light transmittance, reflection, and surface functionality of optical devices. In this paper, a flexible and novel material interface design and manufacturing method for hierarchical macro/nano optical glass lenses is proposed. To verify the feasibility of the presented manufacturing strategy, the deformation history and flow driving mechanism of multiscale structured surfaces during second hot embossing were studied by simulations and experiments. The results showed that solid-like glass preform exhibits a higher nanoscale deformation resistance and elastic recovery, which can reduce the distortion levels of the nanostructured surface. At small scales, molecular confinement greatly reduces the tectonic deformation of nanostructured surface at relatively low applied heat and pressure. However, beyond a specific thermal energy threshold, nanostructured convex surfaces are easily compressed into a smooth flattened surface. By collaborative control of embossing conditions, the nano-surface integrity of multiscale structured surface can be ensured during second hot embossing. Compared to the smooth macroscale optical lens, the hierarchical macro/nano glass lens exhibited better optical transmittance and antireflection properties. The proposed design and manufacturing strategy provides a facile and flexible solution for building the hierarchical macro/micro/nanostructure functional optics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Glass hot embossing is a well-established and cost-effective manufacturing method for glass microstructures. However, the spatial volume affects deformation behaviors in closed mold cavities, which determines the final shape of the embossed glass. To investigate the spatial gas effect on the glass deformation mechanism during hot embossing, we used the focused ion beam (FIB) to fabricate blind micro-hole array structures with different depths as embossing templates. The experimental results demonstrated that the spatial volume of the mold cavity has a great influence on the energy of gas expansion, thus affecting the deformation height of glass microstructures during hot embossing. The deeper the cavity depth, the bigger the surface tension, resulting in larger surface concave deformation. Due to the surface tension of gas expansion, the deformation height of the edge zone is higher than that of the center zone at a higher embossing temperature until the heated glass is completely compressed into the mold cavity. Additionally, at lower embossing temperatures (520 °C), the heated glass has a large deformation resistance and elastic recovery. The more deformation volume escape from the shallower mold cavity because of the spatial effect, thus the deformation height decreases as the cavity depth reduces. The work provides a better understanding of manufacturing glass microstructures in hot embossing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

C f -ZrB 2 -SiC is a new composite material with excellent properties for making the next-generation aerospace component. This material is extremely difficult to removal by mechanical machining, and there is a lack of research on feasible secondary processing methods of this composite at present. Micro-EDM is not limited by material hardness, so it is very suitable for machining this material. In this paper, the Material removal mechanisms and processing characteristics of C f -ZrB 2 -SiC by micro-EDM is analyzed. The removal mechanism of composite materials is explored though the discharge crater morphology, and the single-discharge experiments of each phase materials with different medium and different energies are also carried out as a reference. Electrical discharge milling experiments of C f -ZrB 2 -SiC are performed to explore the medium on processing index, and found that the best surface quality and maximum processing efficiency can be realized in kerosene. An experiment with four factors (pulse width, voltage, peak current, capacitance) and three indexes (surface roughness, MRR, TWR) is designed to analyze the C f -ZrB 2 -SiC process characteristics of micro-EDM and the response surface diagram and second-order regression equation are obtained. Milling the C f -ZrB 2 -SiC by electrical discharge according to the optimal combination of surface roughness parameters deduced above, the as-machined surface is analyzed including the surface morphology by SEM, element content by EDS and the surface phase by XRD. The feasibility and advantages of micro-EDM on machining C f -ZrB 2 -SiC are prove. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the challenges of arid transboundary river water management among Central Asian countries, it is important to evaluate the water stress and propose practicable climate adaptation strategies. This study used the Syr Darya Basin (SDB) in a Central Asia data scarce region as the study area and, conducted the first quantified analysis of the spatiotemporal characteristics of water supply and requirements at the basin and irrigation district scale; identified its driving mechanisms based on systematic monitoring data concerning reservoir regulation and complex crop structure from 2000 to 2018; and a climate change scenario combined with a crop restructuring scenario was applied to evaluate water conservation effects and propose a climate adaptation strategy from 2019 to 2030. The results showed that runoff increased by 7.45 billion m3 but the water withdrawal decreased by 3.42 billion m3 after reservoir regulation in the basin during 2000–2018. Due to the unified water allocation, it was challenging to conduct and usually exceeded the plan by 0.4–8.5 %. The total crop water requirement (TCWR) mainly derived from cotton (61.5 %), winter wheat (12.1 %) and rice (13.9 %) increased by 3.15 billion m3 (+30.7 %) and the influence of crop area (380 million m3/a) was greater than that of climate (130 million m3/a). The wind speed (27.5 %) and rice area (19.2 %) also significantly contributed to the TCWR variation. The contradiction between water supply and requirement resulted in water scarcity in the basin. From 2019–2030, the water conservation effect of winter wheat (+20 %) under the restructuring scenarios reached 28.7 mm, which helped relieve water stress under the scenario of a 0.51–0.91 °C increase. Thus, priority planting of a winter wheat rotation and low water consuming crops is a practicable approach for coping with water scarcity and adapting to climate change in arid transboundary rivers of Centra Asia. [Display omitted] • A crop restructuring scenario was proposed to adapt to future climate change. • Increasing wind speed and rice area contributed the most to the water stress. • Priority development of winter wheat rotation is practical for water conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]