An Electronic Approach to Materials Design

A molecular orbital approach to materials design has recently made great progress. This approach is based on the electronic structure calculations by the DV-Xα cluster method. In this paper recent progress in this approachis reviewed. In particular     

Preparation and properties of transparent cellulose hydrogels

Highly transparent cellulose hydrogels with physical crosslinkage were prepared from nonaqueous organic cellulose solutions and viscose by coagulating and regenerating cellulose in an aqueous solution containing a water‐miscible organic solvent. Nonaqueous organic cellulose solutions used were LiCl/dimethylacetamide, paraformaldehyde/dimethyl sulfoxide, and triethylammonium chloride/dimethyl sulfoxide. Preparation conditions and physical properties of the transparent cellulose hydrogels were studied. The transparency of the cellulose hydrogels depended on the composition of the aqueous solution containing the organic solvent. Furthermore, transparent cellulose hydrogels from viscose showed high tensile strength. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 90: 3020–3025, 2003     

Direct observation of time-dependent space charge profiles in XLPEcable under high electric fields

Space charge distribution was measured, applying an electric field of >1 MV/cm to 3 mm thick XLPE cable insulation. Improving the conventional pulse electro-acoustic method, a new method was developed to measure space charge when applying HV to cables. Under high field, hetero charges were formed soon after voltage application, followed by an injection from the cathode. Then intermittent injections of charge packets from the anode took place. The space charge distribution kept changing without becoming stabilized. A simulation was done assuming hysteresis of the injection characteristics. The observed intermittent injection near the anode was qualitatively reproduced using computer simulation     

Al-Ba (aluminum-barium)

This work was supported by ASM International. Literature searched through 1987. Dr. Okamoto is the Alloy Phase Diagram Program Category Editor for miscellaneos binary alloys.