Poly(butylene terephthalate)/organoclay nanocomposites prepared by in situ interlayer polymerization and its fiber (II)

Intercalated nanocomposites with poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) incorporated between the montmorillonite layers were synthesized from dimethyl terephthalate and 1,4-butane diol by using an in situ interlayer polymerization. The PBT nanocomposites were melt-spun at different organoclay contents to produce monofilaments. The samples were characterized by using wide angle X-ray diffraction, electron microscopy, thermal analysis, and tensile testing. The extent of the clay layer in the PBT was confirmed by using X-ray diffraction and electron microscopy, and the clay layer was found to be highly dispersed on a nanometer scale. The addition of only a small amount of organoclay was enough to improve the thermo-mechanical properties of the PBT hybrid fibers. The hybrids were extruded with various draw ratios (DRs) to examine the tensile mechanical property of the fibers. At DR=1, the ultimate tensile strength of the hybrid fibers increased with the addition of clay up to a critical content and then decreased. However, the initial modulus monotonically increased with increasing amount of organoclay in the PBT matrix. When the DR was increased from 1 to 6, for example, the strength and the initial modulus values of the hybrids containing 3 wt% organoclay decreased linearly.     

Selective Complexation and Membrane Transport of Guanidinium Salts by Calix[6]arene Amides

The p-tert-butylcalix[6]arene hexamide 2 and syn-1,3,5–trimethoxy-2,4,6-triamide 4 were synthesized by reaction of α-chloro-N,N-diethylacetamide and the corresponding calix[6]arenes 1 and 3 , respectively. ¹H NMR spectroscopy shows that 2 is a mixture of different conformations whereas 4 is fixed in a cone conformation. Extraction experiments, (S-L) and (H₂O–CDCl₃) with picrate salts, indicate that 2 complexes both alkali metal (1:2 complex) and guanidinium salts (1:1 complex) but 4 complexes only guanidinium (1:1 complex). Incorporated in supported liquid membranes (Accurel^® / o-nitrophenyl n-octyl ether) the calixarenes 2 and 4 transport guanidinium salts. The hexamide 2 is a more efficient carrier of guanidinium but the syn-1,3,5-trimethoxy-2,4,6-triamide 4 is much more selective. Both 2 and 4 are sufficiently lipophilic to give membranes that are stable over longer periods (weeks).     

Vitamin A microencapsulation within poly(methyl methacrylate)‐g‐polyethylenimine microspheres: Localized proton buffering effect on vitamin A stability

To stabilize vitamin A in a cosmetic/dermatological formulation, we present here a new encapsulation method based on polymer microspheres having a localized “proton‐buffering” capacity. Poly(methyl methacrylate)‐g‐polyethylenimine (PMMA‐g‐PEI) was prepared by direct condensation grafting of PEI onto poly(methyl methacrylate‐co‐methyl acrylic acid). The reaction was confirmed by FT‐IR analysis showing the amide vibration at 1,550 cm^?1. Elemental analysis indicated that the weight content of the grafted PEI was 1.6% (w/w). Vitamin A was encapsulated into PMMA‐g‐PEI microspheres by using an oil‐in‐water (O/W) single emulsion method. The presence of PEI moiety dramatically improved the chemical stability of vitamin A in microspheres. Vitamin A encapsulated within PMMA‐g‐PEI microspheres maintained 91% of its initial activity after 30‐day incubation at 40°C, while only maintaining 60% within plain PMMA microspheres. This study demonstrates that proton‐buffering within hydrophobic polymer matrix is a useful strategy for stabilizing “acid‐labile” active ingredients. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 92: 517–522, 2004     

Feasibility of Sludge Ozonation for Stabilization and Conditioning

A pilot-scale sludge treatment plant was built to investigate the feasibility of ozonation processes for waste activated sludge treatment. Ozonation of wastewater sludge resulted in mass reduction by mineralization as well as by supernatant and filtrate recycle. Another advantage of sludge ozonation is a significant improvement of settleability and dewaterability. Experimental results showed that mass reduction of 70% and volume reduction of 85% compared with the control sludge was achieved through the sludge ozonation at a dose of 0.5?gO₃/gDS. It is also interesting to note that the filterability deteriorates up to ozone dose of 0.2?gO₃/gDS and then improves considerably at a higher ozone dose. The filterability could be improved by chemical conditioning even at a low ozone dose. The economic feasibility by cost analysis reveals that ozonation processes can be more economical than other alternative processes for sludge treatment and disposal at small-sized wastewater treatment plants.     

The Effect of Aluminum Ions on the DC Etching of Aluminum Foil

A study has been made of the electrochemical etching of 99.99% aluminum foils at a current density of 50 mA cm^–2in AlCl₃–HCl solutions (1 m Cl^–) at 80 °C. The solutions were made by dissolving metallic aluminum into 1m HCl solution, to give a Cl^– concentration of 1 m. The number density of etch tunnels and the homogeneity of tunnel length decreased, and the mean pit size and its standard deviation increased with increasing Al³⁺ concentration. The results were discussed based on potential transients at a current density of 50 mA cm^–2, current–potential curves at a scan rate of 10 m Vs^–1 and electrochemical impedance spectra.     

Mechanical, thermal and ablative properties of interply continuous/spun hybrid carbon composites

The mechanical and thermal properties of interply hybrid carbon fiber (continuous and spun fabric)/phenolic composite materials have been studied. Hybrid carbon/phenolic composites (hybrid CP) with continuous carbon fabric of high tensile, flexural strength and spun carbon fabric of better interlaminar shear strength and lower thermal conductivity are investigated in terms of mechanical properties as well as thermal properties.Through hybridization, tensile strength and modulus of spun type carbon fabric reinforced phenolic composites (spun CP) increased by approximately 28% and 20%, respectively. Hybrid CP also exhibits better interlaminar shear strength than continuous carbon fabric/phenolic composites (continuous CP).The in-plane thermal conductivity of hybrid CP is 4-8% lower than that of continuous CP. As continuous filament type carbon fiber volume fraction increases, the transversal thermal conductivity of hybrid CP decreases.The erosion rate and insulation index were examined using torch test. Spun CP has a higher insulation index than continuous CP and hybrid CP over the entire temperature range. Hybrid CP with higher content of spun fabric exhibits higher insulation index as well as lower erosion rate.     

Efective Object Identification and Association by Varying Coverage Through RFID Power Control简

This paper presents an effective power scheduling strategy for energy efficient multiple objects identification and association. The proposed method can be utilized in many heterogeneous surveillance systems with visual sensors and RFID （radio-frequency identification） readers where energy efficiency as well as association rate are critical Multiple objects positions and trajectory estimates are used to decide the power level of RFID readers. Several key parameters including the time windows and the distance separations are defined in the method in order to minimize the effects of RFID coverage uncertainty. The power cost model is defined and incorporated into the method to minimize energy consumption and to maximize association performance. The proposed method computes the power cost using the range of the outermost position for possible single association and group associations at every sampling time. An RFID reader is activated with the proper coverage range when the power cost for the current time is lower than the power cost for the next time sample. The simplicity of the power cost model relieves the problematic combinatorial comparisons in multiple object cases. The performance comparison simulation with the minimum and maximum energy consumption shows that the proposed method achieves fast single associations with less energy consumption. Finally, the realistic comparison simulation with the fixed range RFID readers demonstrates that the proposed method outperforms the fixed ranges in terms of single association rate and energy consumption.     

Separation of Triacylglycerol Species from Interesterified Oils by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography

Using a 1,3-regioselective lipase as a catalyst, soybean oil and olive oil were interesterified with the short-chain triacylglycerol tributyrin (1,2,3-tributyrylglycerol) to produce mixtures of structured triacylglycerols (SL-TAG). The SL-TAG were purified by column chromatography and analyzed by both normal-phase (silica column; NP_SIL) and reversed-phase [octadecyl silane (ODS) column] high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Individual SL-TAG molecular species were detected by evaporative light-scattering detection, and characterized by mass spectrometry. NP_SIL HPLC successfully separated the newly synthesized SL-TAG into two groups of TAG: one composed of one butyryl group and two long-chain fatty acyl groups (from soybean or olive oil); the second was composed of two butyryl groups and one long-chain fatty acyl group. The SL-TAG species were further analyzed by reversed-phase HPLC which gave a more detailed separation of the TAG species present in the two SL-TAG.     

Kinetics of cellobiose decomposition under subcritical and supercritical water in continuous flow system

The effects of reaction temperature, pressure and residence time were investigated with a flow apparatus. Cellobiose decomposition kinetics and products in suband supercritical water were examined at temperatures from 320 to 420 °C at pressures from 25 to 40 MPa, and at residence times within 3 sec. Cellobiose was found to decompose via hydrolysis and pyrolysis. The yield of desired hydrolysis product, glucose, was the maximum value of 36.8% at 320 °C, 35 MPa, but the amount of 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF), fermentation inhibitor increased too because residence time increased in the subcritical region owing to decrease of reaction rate. Meanwhile, though the yield of glucose is low in the supercritical region, the yield of HMF decreased compared with the subcritical region; and at the minimum yield of HMF (380 °C, 25 MPa), the yield of glucose was 21.4%. The decomposition of cellobiose followed first-order kinetics and the activation energy for the decomposition of cellobiose was 51.05 kJ/mol at 40MPa.     

Control of the photorefractive effect using a low Tg sol-gel glass

Summary We prepared the photorefractive sol-gel glass based on organic-inorganic hybrid materials containing a charge transporting molecule, second-order nonlinear optical chromophore, photosensitizer, and plasticizer. Carbazole and 2-{ 4-[(2-hydroxyethyl) methylamino]benzylidene}malononitrile were reacted with 3-isocyanatopropyl triethoxysilane and the functionalized silanes were employed to fabricate the efficient photorefractive media including 2,4,7-trinitrofluorenone (TNF) to form a charge transfer complex. The simplest way to vary the composition in the matrix was to mix the desired amount of the functionalized alkoxysilane. The prepared sol-gel glass samples contained a large amount of nonlinear optical (NLO) chromophore compared to that of the charge transporting molecules. They showed a large net gain coefficient and high diffraction efficiency at certain conditions. Received:27 May 2002/Revised version:23 August 2002/Accepted:7 September 2002 Correspondence to Dong Hoon Choi E-mail: dhchoi@khu.ac.kr