Synthesis and characterization of ABA‐type triblock copolymers derived from polyimide and poly(2‐methyl‐2‐adamantyl methacrylate)

ABA‐type triblock copolymers derived from 4,4‐(hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphthalic anhydride‐2,3,5,6‐tetramethyl‐1,4‐phenylenediamine and 2‐methyl‐2‐adamantyl methacrylate (2‐MAdMA) were synthesized via atom transfer radical polymerization. The component ratios of polyimide (PI) and poly(2‐MAdMA) (PMAdMA) were about 8/2, 6/4 and 3/7, as determined using ¹H NMR spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The film structure of the triblock copolymers was dependent on the PI structure. Hydrophobicity increased as the component ratio of PMAdMA increased. Based on TGA, three‐step decomposition behaviors of all triblock copolymers derived from PI and PMAdMA in nitrogen and air atmosphere were observed. The gas permeability of the triblock copolymers was lower than that of PI. This finding can be attributed to the decrease in fractional free volume by the adamantane component and the decrease in permeability of the triblock copolymers compared with PI. The dielectric constant of the triblock copolymers was lower than that of PI. The dielectric constant was dependent on molar volume and molar porlarizability, and the dielectric constant derived from the symmetric structure of adamantane was reduced. The ABA‐type triblock copolymers derived from PI and PMAdMA can be considered as new polymer materials with high hydrophobicity, high H₂/CO₂ selectivity and low dielectric constant. © 2013 Society of Chemical Industry     

Mechanism of Crack Growth in Lubricated Rolling/Sliding Contact

In order to explain the mechanism of rolling-contact fatigue crack growth analytically, fracture mechanics are applied to a semicircular surface crack inclined at an angle to the elastic half-space loaded by Hertzian stresses.

It is shown that the surface traction is the controlling factor for lubricant seepage into the crack and for shear mode crack growth rate. It is also clarified that the generation of pits results from tensile mode crack growth mainly due to the oil hydraulic pressure action.     

Transition characteristics of combustion modes for flame spread in solid fuel tube

This paper provides a new concept based on the Damköhler number (Da) to describe the complete transition behavior found in a flame spread in a solid combustible tube. Through a series of experiments performed with various diameters of the tube, ambient pressure, and oxidizer velocity within a wide range, three combustion modes are observed for the flame spread in a solid fuel tube namely combustion dominated by heat transfer (mode 1), by chemical kinetics (mode 2), and slow combustion sustained under very high blowing conditions (so-called “stabilized combustion”: mode 3). Previous studies on the flame spread in tubes have shown that each transition, from mode 1 to mode 2 (transition 1–2) and from mode 2 to mode 3 (transition 2–3), is characterized by an equivalent velocity and by a friction velocity respectively. Meanwhile, for a flame spread on a fuel plate, it is widely known that both transitions are summarized by the Da. To achieve a comprehensive understanding of the transition characteristics of the combustion modes for the flame spread in the tube, the flame-spread rates under various conditions are experimentally investigated to elucidate the parameters that determine both transitions. First, the authors introduce a laminar friction velocity for the laminar flow region and revealed that transition 2–3 is determined by the laminar and turbulent friction velocity for laminar flow and turbulent flow regime respectively. The correlation between the Da and the friction velocity was experimentally obtained to show that transition 2–3 is consequently determined by the Da. This finding suggests that transition 2–3 corresponds to a blow-off limit that is observed for flame spread on a fuel plate. Second, the same correlation between the non-dimensional flame-spread rate and the Da is obtained, and it clearly showed that the transition 1–2 was determined by the Da. In conclusion, both transition phenomena are physically identical to those observed for on-plate flame spread, except the transition 2–3 occurs instead of the blow-off.     

Synthesis and gas permeability of ABA‐type triblock copolymers derived from fluorine‐containing polyimide with polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane

ABA‐type triblock copolymers derived from 4,4'‐(hexafluoroisopropylidene)diphthalicanhydride‐2,3,5,6‐tetramethyl‐1,4‐phenylenediamine (6FDA‐TeMPD) and methacryl phenyl polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (MPPOSS) were synthesized by atom transfer radical polymerization. The chemical structure of the synthesized ABA‐type triblock copolymer was confirmed by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, ²⁹Si NMR and Fourier transform infrared analyses. The ratios of 6FDA‐TeMPD and MPPOSS determined by TGA were 94/6, 85/15, 77/23, 68/32, 57/43 and 31/69. The film density of the ABA‐type triblock copolymer films did not conform to the mixing rule because of polyimide (PI) chain aggregation. Based on contact angle and water uptake analyses, the hydrophobicity of the ABA‐type triblock copolymer film was determined to be higher than the theoretical value because of POSS cage effects and PI chain aggregation. The gas permeability coefficient of the ABA‐type triblock copolymer decreased compared with that of PI because of aggregation of PI chains and inhibition of solubility decreases by substitutes with high affinity. ABA‐type triblock copolymer CO₂/H₂ separation performance increased compared with that of PI. The ABA‐type triblock copolymer derived from PI and MPPOSS can be described as a polymer material with higher hydrophobicity and higher CO₂/H₂ selectivity than PI. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry     

One Method for Selection of Circuit Parameters of a Self-Commutated Rectifier

A method of selecting the circuit parameters of a self-commutated rectifier circuit which aims at improving the power factor is proposed.     

A Pulsewidth Controlled AC-to-DC Converter to Improve Power Factor and Waveform of AC Line Current

As a method for improving power factor and waveform of ac line current drawn by an ac-to-dc converter a new pulsewidth controlled converter is proposed, its commutation mechanism is described, and experimental results are given which show a good power factor, a good waveform of the line current, and a wide adjustable range of dc output voltage.     

New Method for Reducing Harmonics Involved in Input and Output of Rectifier with Interphase Transformer

A new effective method for reducing harmonics involved in input ac line currents or output dc voltage of the thyristor rectifier apparatus with an interphase transformer is proposed. This method is based on the sophisticated utilization of several thyristors inserted in parallel between several taps equipped symmetrically for the midpoint of the interphase transformer and the terminal of the dc output circuit. The key point of this method can be understood easily when compared with conventional use of the interphase transformer, where the dc output circuit is taken from the midpoint of the interphase transformer directly. The features of this method are very simple and very economical in circuit construction. Their presentation will take the following form: 1) fundamental theory of the method; 2) analysis of waveforms of input ac line currents under optimum operation; 3) checking the validity of the theory by experiment using the six-phase 12-pulse thyristor polyphase rectifier apparatus; 4) various modifications of this method.     

Proposal of a method to extract straight line and circle using one-dimensional histogram

A new method for fast extraction of straight line and circle is proposed in this study. The method utilizes the Polytope method which is one of minimization algorithms. For the extraction of figures, one-dimensional histogram is used. Basically, main algorithm of the extraction of straight line is the same as those of circle and ellipse. Only the definition of histogram and the evaluation function are changed according as figures. By the comparison with Hough transform, it is understood that the using of memory space is very small and processing time is very short. This work was presented in part at the 13th International Symposium on Artificial Life and Robotics, Oita, Japan, January 31–February 2, 2008     

Phase-perturbation-free measurement of electro-optic effect based on Mach-Zehnder interferometer

A novel method of evaluating the electro-optic (EO) effect is proposed based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, where the interference fringes are perturbed by air turbulence and/or other mechanical vibrations of an optical bench. The method enables the practical and industrial measurement of the EO coefficient in any environment. It also provides the continuous or repetitive measurement, leading to evaluation of temporal change of an EO coefficient or orientation relaxation of an EO-chromophore containing polymer poled by an electric field.