Molecular Sorption by Heterogeneous Natural Rubber/Poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) Blend Systems

The sorption of n-alkanes, viz. hexane, heptane and octane by cross-linked natural rubber/poly(ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (NR/EVA) blends has been studied at 28, 38, 48 and 58°C, with special reference to the effects of EVA content, cross-linking systems, penetrant nature and temperature. The solvent transport was found to decrease with increase in EVA content in the blends. The effects of blend ratio on the transport characteristics have been correlated with the phase morphology of the blends, using scanning electron micrographs and optical micrographs. Among the three vulcanising systems, viz. sulphur (S), dicumyl peroxide (DCP) and a mixed system (S + DCP) employed for the matrix, the DCP cross-linked blends exhibited the lowest solvent uptake. Octane has been found to show higher interaction with the blends than hexane and heptane, probably owing to the closer solubility parameter values. The computed transport coefficients, viz. diffusion coefficient and permeability coefficient, were found to decrease with increase in EVA content in the blends. At room temperature, the mechanism of diffusion was found to deviate slightly from the regular Fickian trend for all blend systems. The blend–solvent interaction parameter and the activation energy for transport were also determined from the sorption data.     

Cure characteristics,morphology, and mechanical properties of ethylene–propylene–diene–monomer rubber/acrylonitrile butadiene rubber blends

Blends based on ethylene–propylene–diene monomer rubber (EPDM) and acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) was prepared. Sulfur was used as the vulcanizing agent. The effects of blend ratio on the cure characteristics and mechanical properties, such as stress–strain behavior, tensile strength, elongation at break, hardness, rebound resilience, and abrasion resistance have been investigated. Tensile and tear strength showed synergism for the blend containing 30% of NBR, which has been explained in terms of morphology of the blends attested by scanning electron micrographs. A relatively cocontinuous morphology was observed for 70 : 30, EPDM/NBR blend system. The experimental results have been compared with the relevant theoretical models. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007     

Stochastic and Dynamic Shipper Carrier Network Design Problem

The focus of this work is to determine the optimal storage capacity to be installed on transhipment nodes by shippers in a dynamic shipper carrier network under stochastic demand. A two stage linear program with recourse formulation is developed where in the first stage, the shipper decides the optimal capacity to be installed on transhipment nodes. In the second stage, the shipper chooses a routing strategy based on the realized demand. The performance of the following solution methods: Stochastic L Shaped Method, Regularized Decomposition and L Shaped Method with preliminary cuts were compared for various network sizes and numerous demand scenarios. A novel capacity shifting heuristic was introduced to generate a feasible implementable solution which significantly improves the performance of Regularized Decomposition and provides the best performance in the cases tested. Various ways of generating analytical bounds on the objective function value was discussed. The new capacity shifting heuristic was found to be efficient in generating tight upper bounds. Even though the formulation considered in this paper is for a single commodity, the model can be easily extended to account for multiple commodities.     

Kinetics of alpha precipitation in Ti-6 wt % Cr and Ti-11 wt % Mo

The morphology and kinetics of the precipitation of the alpha phase produced by two different heat treatment routes, namely, (a) direct isothermal decomposition and (b)-quenching and subsequent ageing, were studied. In isothermally decomposed samples the (supersaturated) + transformation was seen to occur mainly through the discontinuous growth of the transformed zone consisting of groups of parallel side plates from the grain boundary regions towards the interior of the grain. Unlike for the case of a regular discontinuous precipitation, here the transformed regions are not separated from the untransformed by an incoherent interface and the growing-plates do obey a fixed orientation relationship with the grain from which they are evolved. The theory of cellular reaction has been applied to explain the growth rate of the duplex ( + ) region. The overall reaction kinetics were analysed on the basis of the Johnson-Mehl formulation and were found to be consistent with that of a discontinuous precipitation reaction, where grain boundary nucleation sites were saturated at an early stage of the transformation. The structure of the-quenched samples showed a uniform distribution of athermal omega particles which acted as precursors to the-precipitates. As a consequence, the reaction rate was greatly enhanced and-precipitation in the quenched and aged samples was seen to occur continuously in the entire body of the grain.     

Structural and luminescence enhancement properties of Eu3＋/Ag nanocrystallites doped SiO2-TiO2 matrices

We reported here the structural and optical characterisation of silver nanocrystallites/Eu3+ :SiO2-TiO2 matrices synthesised through sol-gel route. Structural characterisations were done by using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), atomic force microscope (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) measurements and optical characterisations were performed by absorption and emission spectroscopy. The TEM and XRD measurements confirmed the presence of nanocrystals. A broad absorption band was observed due to surface plasmon resonance of silver nanocrystals. The effect of silver nanocrystals on the emission spectrum of Eu3+ doped SiO2-TiO2 matrices was discussed. An attempt was made to explain this fluorescence enhancement by invoking phenomena such as energy transfer, asymmetry ratio, surface plasmon, surface roughness, crystallinity and grain boundary. Our analysis, based on the experimental results, suggested that all the phenomena except crystallinity and grain boundary had favourable effects on fluorescence enhancement. We also estimated the relevant parameters associated with the phenomena that affected the fluorescence emission from the Eu3+ ions in the matrix. It was seen that the theoretical estimate of fluorescence enhancement agreed well with the experimental estimate.     

Numerical and experimental evaluation of performance of centrifugal seals

‘Centrifugal seals’ or ‘Slinger seals’ offer an attractive choice as non-contact-type sealing in fluid machinery. These seals utilize the radial pressure gradient caused by centrifugal forces in a rotating fluid ring, to create a sealing of the working fluid. Basic construction of a typical seal consists of a rotating disc inside a stationary casing; one side of the disc (sealing side) is provided with a set of slots (Type-1) or vanes (Type-2) to enhance the tangential velocity of the fluid. The other side of the disk (back side) in both the configurations is exposed to high pressure liquid being sealed. Both numerical and experimental investigations of the performance of Type-1 seal (with slots) have been carried out so as to optimize the seal configuration to achieve maximum sealing capacity, with minimum power consumption. A comparison of the performance of Type-1 seal has been made with that of conventional one (Type-2) in view of economy of construction and better sealing with minimal expense of power consumption. A test rig that allows for varying the major geometrical and operating parameters was designed and tests were conducted with water as the medium. Influence of major geometric parameters like dimensions and number of slots, axial/radial clearances and major operating parameters like rotational speed, inlet pressure and sealing fluid bypass flow rate has been investigated. Apart from various pressure, temperature, flow and torque measurements, the interface between the sealing and working fluid for the experiments was captured and recorded using a high speed camera at ~26,000 frames per second. Geometrical configuration for the slots that maximizes the sealing capacity is arrived through 3D numerical simulations using commercial CFD solver ANSYS Fluent^®. A good agreement is obtained with respect to experimental results. In view of economy of construction and better sealing with minimal expense of operating power, a modified version of Type-1 seal termed as Type-3 seal is investigated. A simple 1D model for prediction of the interface radius during the seal operation, which could be used as a quick design guide, is also presented.