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In situ study of the mechanical properties of airborne haze particles

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Abstract

Particulate pollution has raised serious concerns regarding its potential impacts on human health in developing countries. However, much less attention has been paid to the threat of haze particles to machinery and industry. By employing a state-of-the-art in situ scanning electron microscope compression testing technique, we demonstrate that iron-rich and fly ash haze particles, which account for nearly 70% of the total micron-sized spherical haze particles, are strong enough to generate abrasive damage to most engineering alloys, and therefore can generate significant scratch damage to moving contacting surfaces in high precision machineries. Our finding calls for preventive measures to protect against haze related threat.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Advancing Materials Performance from the Nanoscale (CAMP-Nano) and Hysitron Applied Research Center in China (HARCC), State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    MingShuai Ding, WeiZhong Han, Ju Li, Evan Ma & ZhiWei Shan

  2. Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02139, USA

    Ju Li

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 21218, USA

    Evan Ma

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  1. MingShuai Ding
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  2. WeiZhong Han
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  3. Ju Li
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  4. Evan Ma
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  5. ZhiWei Shan
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Correspondence to ZhiWei Shan.

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Ding, M., Han, W., Li, J. et al. In situ study of the mechanical properties of airborne haze particles. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 58, 2046–2051 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-015-5935-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-015-5935-8

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