Small-angle X-ray scattering studies on melting and recrystallization behaviors of poly(oxyethylene) crystallites in poly(d,l-lactide)/poly(oxyethylene) blends

Direct determination of the discrete distribution for crystalline lamellar thickness has been performed for poly(d,l-lactic acid)/poly(oxyethylene) (PDLLA/PEG) blends by conducting small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) measurements using synchrotron radiation. The PDLLA used was an random (racemic) copolymer of bio-based poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) and poly(d-lactic acid) (PDLA) with the lactide monomer ratio of l:d = 50:50. It is known that PLA is miscible with PEG in the amorphous state. In the current paper, we report comprehensive results on structural analyses of PDLLA/PEG blends in the course of heating and cooling process using SAXS to elucidate the change in the thickness distribution of the lamellae. As a consequence, it was found that the distribution of the lamellar thickness moves toward the larger value (in other words, lamellar thickening) as temperature approaches the melting point. Typically, the thickness distribution was dispersed in the range of 10–20 nm at room temperature and it changed toward 40 nm in the vicinity of the melting temperature. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of direct determination of the discrete distribution for the crystalline lamellar thickness and their in-situ changes in the course of the lamellar thickening process. As a result, the lamellar thickening was found to occur at much lower temperature for the blend samples with 10% and 20% of PDLLA contents as compared to the PEG 100% sample. This phenomenon can be ascribed to the melting point depression owing to the miscibility between PEG and PDLLA. Thereby, thinner lamellae were melted and thicker ones appeared at much lower temperature for the blends than for the PEG 100% sample. As for the average repeating distance (long period) of the lamellar stacks, an abrupt increase similar to the critical divergence was observed (from 25 nm to 50 nm) in the heating process. Not only for the melting behavior but also in the course of recrystallization, change in the lamellar-thickness distribution was uncovered, which shows strong hysteresis depending on what temperature the sample was cooled down from.     

Nonsalt 1‐(arylmethyloxy)pyrene photoinitiators capable of initiating cationic polymerization

Analysis of photoproducts derived from 1‐(methoxynaphthalen‐1‐ylmethyloxy)pyrene initiators and polymer end groups demonstrated that methoxynaphthalen‐1‐ylmethyl carbocation is involved in the initiation steps for both styrene (St) and cyclohexene oxide (CHO) polymerization. Charge transfer from the pyrenyloxy oxygen atom to the methoxynaphthalen‐1‐ylmethyl chromophore in the singlet excited state is assumed to be responsible for the efficient generation of the carbocation species, which also initiates the copolymerization of St and CHO. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 40510.     

The World robot summit disaster robotics category – achievements of the 2018 preliminary competition

The World Robot Summit is a robot Olympics and aims to be held in a different country every four years from 2020. The concept of the Plant Disaster Prevention challenge is daily inspections, checks, and emergency response in industrial plants, and in this competition, robots must carry out these types of missions in a mock-up plant. The concept of the Tunnel Disaster Response and Recovery challenge is emergency response to tunnel disasters, and is a simulation competition whereby teams compete to show their ability to deal with disasters, by collecting information and removing debris. The Standard Disaster Robotics challenge assesses, in the form of a contest, the standard performance levels of a robot that are necessary for disaster prevention and emergency response. The World Robot Summit Preliminary Competition was held at Tokyo Big Sight in October 2018, and 36 teams participated in the Disaster Robotics Category. UGVs and UAVs contended the merits of new technology for solving complex problems, using core technologies such as mobility, sensing, recognition, performing operations, human interface, autonomous intelligence etc., as well as system integration and implementation of strategies for completing missions, gaining high-level results.     

Microstructural degradation mechanisms during creep in strength enhanced high Cr ferritic steels and their evaluation by hardness measurement

There are two creep regions with different creep characteristics: short-term creep region “H”, where precipitates and subgrains are thermally stable, and long-term creep region “L”, where thermal coarsening of precipitates and subgrains appear. In region “H”, the normalized subgrain size (λ-λ₀)/(λ^∗-λ₀) has a linear relation with creep strain and its slope is 10ε⁻¹. But, region L is the time range in which the static recovery and the strain-induced recovery progress simultaneously. In this region, the static recovery accelerates the strain-induced recovery, and subgrain size is larger than that line which neglects the contribution of the static recovery. In region “L”, the Δλ/Δλ^∗-strain present a linear relation with a slope 35ε⁻¹. There is a linear relation between hardness and subgrain size. Hardness drop, H₀ − H, as a function of Larson-Miller parameter can be a good measure method for assessment of hardness drop and consequently degradation of microstructure. Hardness drop shows an identical slope in creep region “H”, whereas hardness drop due to thermal aging and creep in region “L” show together a similar slope. In region “H”, degradation of microstructure is mainly due to recovery of subgrains controlled by creep plastic deformation, and precipitates do not have a major role. However, in creep region “L”, there are three degradation mechanisms that accelerate creep failure; (1) strain-induced recovery of subgrains due to creep plastic deformation, (2) static-recovery of subgrains and precipitates and (3) strain-induced coarsening of precipitates due to the appearance of static-recovery.     

Research and Development of the Coprecipitation Process for Lanthanum Germanate Oxyapatite

Although lanthanum germanate oxyapatite (La–Ge–O) has shown good potential for use as a solid electrolyte in energy storage applications, its synthesis has been challenging by either solid‐ or solution‐state methods. In this study, a new synthesis of La–Ge–O was developed through a coprecipitation technique, in which a highly concentrated homogeneous aqueous solution of La and Ge was prepared from aqueous ammonium germanate and lanthanum nitrate solutions with the addition of dilute nitric acid. Several precipitates were formed by pH manipulation, including an amorphous material obtained at pH > 3. Compared to the individual precipitation behaviors of the parent compounds, the amorphous precipitate was formed only from the aqueous two‐component mixture, and appeared to contain both metals. This material was transformed into crystalline mixtures upon heating at 1273 K. The crystalline phases were La₂Ge₃O₉ and hexagonal‐type GeO₂ when the precipitate was formed below pH 8, and the La–Ge–O and La₂Ge₂O₇ phases when the precipitate was formed around pH 8. Product formation from the coprecipitate was discussed based on X‐ray diffraction and thermal analyses. The improved availability of La–Ge–O will allow more extensive investigations of its useful properties.     

一种基于改进超弹性Zener模型的高阻尼橡胶隔震支座速度相关性本构模型

目前高阻尼橡胶隔震支座已在土木工程中得到广泛应用,但由于高阻尼橡胶隔震支座的材料组成成分比较复杂,特别是大量阻尼材料的采用导致支座的应力应变关系与其加载速度相关,而目前的支座本构模型很难精确地模拟这种力学特性。因此该文从高阻尼支座的橡胶材料特性出发,提出了一个基于改进超弹性Zener模型的高阻尼支座本构模型,该模型由两个超弹性弹簧和一个非线性阻尼器单元组成,能够精确表达高阻尼支座的速度相关性。在模型中,对超弹性弹簧建立新的应变能函数,并通过附加刚度系数α来模拟高阻尼橡胶材料的初始刚度。通过高阻尼橡胶材料的多步松弛试验和在不同速度下的循环剪切试验来识别模型中的参数。通过支座试验验证了提出的模型,运用基于速度控制的实时子结构试验系统分析了某隔震桥梁在地震作用下的动力反应,并基于试验结果对该文提出的本构模型在隔震结构非线性分析中的准确性进行了验证。     

The role of dispersed particles in strengthening and fracture mechanisms in a Mo-ZrC alloy processed by mechanical alloying

The tensile properties of a ZrC particle-dispersed Mo, which was processed by spark plasma sintering with mechanically alloyed powder, were investigated at room temperature and at elevated temperatures of 1170 to 1970 K. The Mo-ZrC alloy showed much higher strength at room temperature than a fully recrystallized pure Mo. The high strength of Mo-ZrC is mainly attributed to a very small grain size (about 3 μm). The main role of the ZrC particle is not to increase strength due to the particle-dislocation interaction, but to limit grain growth during sintering and to attain the very small grain size. The elongation at room temperature of Mo-ZrC was much lower than that of pure Mo. This is probably related to the higher interstitial contents. However, Mo-ZrC showed a large elongation of 180 pct at 1970 K and 6.7×10⁻⁴ s⁻¹. It was suggested that the ZrC particles stabilized the fine-grained microstructure yet provided no cavitation sites at 1970 K; as a result, the large elongation was attained.     

Rules for robust generation of accurate reduced-order models forhigh-speed coupled interconnections

Recently, robust algorithms have been established fur passive order reduction of electrical models of complex interconnection networks. However, very little is known about the way the order of the reduced model should be chosen to ensure accuracy in subsequent transient simulation studies, in this paper, a rule is derived for the selection of the order of the reduced model for interconnections modeled as transmission lines. It is shown that pulse rise time, interconnection length, and physical properties impact the order of the reduced model. The proposed rule is validated through numerical studies involving both analytic and numerical results from the frequency- and time-domain response of multiconductor transmission line circuits