Tuning the Operating Band of an Artificial Magnetic Conductor

Journal of Communications Technology and Electronics - Approximate formulas for calculating the coefficient of reflection from an artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) based on a capacitive lattice...     

Volumetric out-of-furnace heat treatment of 3600-M3 decomposers

Specifications require that all the welds in 12-m-diam. decomposers with a capacity of 3600 m³ be subjected to high-temperature tempering before going into service in order to alleviate the stresses from the welding operation. Specialists at the organizations VNIIPTkhimnefteapparatury and VNIImontazhspetsstroi have proposed out-of-furnace volumetric (complete) of the assembled decomposer with the use of special heaters. The use of this heating method has shortened assembly operations while providing the welds with a highquality heat treatment and reducing the stresses overall (including welding stresses, stresses from assembly of the decomposer, etc.) The technology ensures uniform heating of the housing of the decomposer and provides for close control over the process. The experience gained in heat-treating decomposers can also be used in the construction of other containers that come into contact with corrosive media. __________ Translated from Metallurg, No. 3, pp. 61–64, March, 2006.     

Synthesis of amphiphilic (meth)acrylates with oligo(ethylene glycol) and (or) oligo(propylene glycol) blocks by the esterification of (meth)acrylic acid

Thermoresponsive PEG-based (PEG stands polyethylene glycol) polymers are unique for use in medicine because of their low toxicity, good biocompatibility and biodegradability, but usually more hydrophobic and more toxic comonomers are used to adjust lower critical solution temperature (LCST). A convenient way to overcome this problem and to finely tune LCST is to use alkoxy oligo(ethylene glycol)- or alkoxy oligo(propylene glycol) (meth)acrylates as starting comonomers. Here we report on the conditions for the simple and affordable synthesis of methoxy oligo(propylene glycol) (meth)acrylate- and methoxy oligo(propylene glycol)-block-oligo(ethylene glycol) (meth)acrylate-based macromonomers with high yields (80%–98.7%) by the acid-catalyzed esterification of (meth)acrylic acid with alkoxy oligo(alkylene glycols) containing oligo(ethylene glycol) (OEG) and/or oligo(propylene glycol) (OPG) blocks. p-Toluene sulphonic acid (pTSA), alkyl(C₁₂–C₁₄)benzene sulfonic acid (ABSA) and H₂SO₄ were used as catalysts. It has been shown that pTSA and ABSA are practically the same in catalytic activity and are superior to sulfuric acid. The reaction orders with respect to catalyst was found to be close to 1 in all cases. It has been shown that the reaction is actually insensitive to the lengths of OEG and OPG blocks, as well as to the structure of the terminal alkyl group, while the esterification of acrylic acid (AA) proceeds much faster compared to methacrylic acid (MAA) one under the same conditions. The influence of temperature on the equilibrium conversions of alcohols was determined, which were found to be 89%–93% for the esterification of AA and 61%–86% for MAA in the temperature range of 60–120°C. A further increase in conversion was achieved by introducing an azeotropic agent (toluene), its optimal concentration was found to be 10%–15%.     

Shielding of Electromagnetic Radiation by an Artificial Magnetic Conductor Based on an Isotropic Composite Material Consisting of Capacitive Gratings

Journal of Communications Technology and Electronics - The characteristics of an artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) based on an anisotropic composite material consisting of capacitive gratings...     

Lanthanides in phosphates with the structure of whitlockite mineral [analog of β-Ca3(PO4)2]

Data on phosphates with the structure of biogenic whitlockite mineral [analog of low-temperature modification of β-Ca₃(PO₄)₂] were analyzed. The possibility of isomorphic substitution of cations in phosphates with whitlockite structure was evaluated and formation of solid solutions of various compositions involving elements in oxidations states 1+, 2+, 3+, and 4+, including lanthanides and other elements and isotopes occurring in wastes from radiochemical plants, was studied. Phosphates of Ca, Mg, and lanthanides (Sm, Eu, Gd) were prepared by the sol-gel procedure, and their thermal, thermomechanical (thermal expansion), and hydrolytic properties were determined. The results of hydrothermal and thermal experiments were compared with published data for calcium phosphate and other matrices for immobilization of radioactive wastes (RAW).     

On Improvement of Methods for Experimental Determination of Strength Characteristics of NPP Component Materials

The methods for experimental determination of strength characteristics as per applicable standards have been reviewed. For some structural steels used in NPP facilities, the influence of loading parameters and specimen geometry are allowed for during the assessment of static fracture toughness (K_Ic, J_Ic). Recommendations are given on the setting of cycling conditions for fracture toughness testing of standard specimens with and without crack-guiding lateral grooves. The authors substantiate the applicability of the Master Curve method to determination of fatigue strength of small specimens with subsequent use of the results for calculating brittle fracture resistance of reactor pressure vessel materials in the welded joint.     

Temperature investigations of mechanosynthesized cementite

Methods of differential thermal analysis and Mössbauer spectroscopy (⁵⁷Fe) have been used to study the process of the formation of cementite in α-Fe upon the low-temperature mechanosynthesis (T < 375 K) in the medium of liquid hydrocarbons. It has been established that this process occurs in the absence of austenite and corresponds to a two-stage model suggested previously for describing the mechanism of the decomposition of the quench martensite α″-(Fe)C with the precipitation of the θ phase in the process of aging or tempering. Upon dilatometric studies of the single-phase samples of cementite in the range of 750 ≤ T ≤ 925 K, a significant increase was revealed in the linear elongation Δl/l ₀ and linear thermal expansion coefficient (LTEC). It has been assumed that this increase is not connected with the localization of carbon atoms in the positions C(4a) and C(4b), but rather is determined by the anomalously high concentration of equilibrium carbon vacancies V _C in the unit cell of cementite. The concentration of this type of vacancies can be sufficient for the growth of a graphite component of the carbon layer on the surface of the particles of the mechanosynthesized cementite (θ phase).     

On the synthesis of passive–adaptive systems for electric drive control

A new approach to synthesis of passive–adaptive electromechanical control systems is proposed. Decomposition of a control system structure into two subsystems, which solve a uniform problem of finite control, but have various functions, is a feature of the presented approach. The first subsystem is a control system of an electric drive, and it carries out the task of finite control that is invariant to the reference signals in the traditional statement of linear discrete–continuous systems. The second subsystem is an adaptive reference model that forms a criterion that is optimal in terms of performance and accuracy of the phase coordinate vector of an electric drive with restriction of them to acceptable levels. A discrete–continuous system of electric drive control and a functional structure of a passive–adaptive electromechanical system are set up in the MexBIOS Development Studio simulating the modeling environment. The results of simulation showed that there is an acceptable quality of system operation in both linear and nonlinear areas of operation when working out additive increments of setting the position of the drive shaft changing at random points of time. The synthesized system has low sensitivity to changes in the parameters of the object of electromechanical control.     

Concentration effects in the base-catalyzed hydrolysis of oligo(ethylene glycol)- and amine-containing methacrylic monomers

Concentration effects in the base-catalyzed hydrolysis of water-soluble methacrylates (3-(N,N-dimethylaminoethyl) methacrylate (DMAEMA), 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and oligo(ethylene glycol) methacrylates (OEGMAs)) have been studied. These monomers are rapidly hydrolyzed in the presence of bases at the room temperature in dilute aqueous solutions, but the reaction rate decreases sharply in highly concentrated solutions. A clear correlation was found between a form of the viscosity isotherm for DMAEMA solutions and the concentration dependence of the autocatalytic hydrolysis rate which indicates the connection of process kinetics with the structure of solutions. These data should be considered when carrying out homo- and copolymerization of the previously mentioned monomers in aqueous solutions.