Control of free-radical emulsion polymerization of methyl methacrylate by oxygen injection. II. Experimental study

Oxygen injection has been proposed and experimentally demonstrated as an effective control measure for limiting the rate of heat release and altering the rate of polymerization in emulsion processes. A detailed mathematical model has been previously developed to describe the system behavior with and without oxygen injection. A simple lab scale apparatus was constructed and run extensively. Only trace quantities of oxygen are needed to inhibit the reaction completely. The facile response makes this method attractive for fast temperature control. However, because of the rapid penetration of dissolved oxygen into the polymer particles, growing radical chains are terminated prematurely, lowering product molecular weights. To minimize this detrimental effect, pulsed oxygen control is used and extensive experimental work was performed to determine the effects of controller set points on molecular weight. Moderate oxygen flows and moderate set point temperatures are found to give the optimal response without significant lowering of the final molecular weight. Injected quantities agree well with the order-of-magnitude sparging calculations needed to completely stop initiation. However, complete agreement between model simulations and experimental results was not reached due to an unmeasured loss of monomer from the reactor. Chain transfer to monomer is found to be important in modeling the polymer molecular weight. It has, however, a negligible effect on the reaction rate.     

“Metallisation” of oxide surfaces observed by in situ high-resolution electron microscopy

Intense irradiation (25–40 A/cm²) at intermediate energy (400 keV) has been found to cause “metallisation” of tungsten oxide and titanium niobate crystal surfaces. The possible mechanisms and the likely consequences for high-resolution imaging of clean oxide surfaces are briefly discussed.     

Summary of discussion on ‘Sciences related to pitch and coke usage in carbon manufacture’

This article is a brief summary of the Discussion session held after the presentation of the preceding papers at the conference organized by the Industrial Carbon and Graphite Group of the Society of Chemical Industry, London, March 1984.     

Semiempirical,squeeze flow,and intermolecular diffusion model. II. Model verification using laser microwelding

This article reviews the application of a coupled squeeze flow and intermolecular diffusion model, which was used to predict the quality and size of microwelds in plastics. Weld widths predictions were compared with previously presented experimental results using moving heat source models and temperature fields. The motivation for this work was to develop and verify a model based on fundamental principles that could accurately predict weld size and strength for conventional plastic welding techniques as well as novel techniques such as laser microwelding. It is envisioned that the resulting model could be used to predict proper welding parameters, including laser power and travel speed, to produce welds of varying size. Although insight into weld quality can be derived from this model, it was not the goal of this work to accurately predict weld strength for laser microwelding because of the difficulty in measuring weld strength on the micron scale. However, as reported in Part 1, weld strength for impulse welds were accurately predicted. In this model it was found that variable temperature histories, rather than a single value of maximum weld temperature, allows more accurate modeling of the welding process. In this work (Part 2), microwelds as small as 11 μm in width were produced with transmission infrared welding. In addition, welds over 150‐μm wide were also generated and the model was able to predict the range of weld widths that were found experimentally. It was found that the predictions were in very good agreement with the experimental results. There was some deviation between the experimental data and the model at the extreme parameters and it is believed that this was due to the temperature‐dependent material properties as well as optical aberrations. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2008. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers     

An experiment for showing some kind of artificial understanding

In this paper we design an experiment which can be depicted as a simple scenario, a very limited 'world'. In this world, there are an actor that can pursue a project and an observer that is keeping its eyes on the actor. We try to show in the experiment that the observer can to some degree understand the actor based on its knowledge and some metaphors, i.e. understand what the actor is doing and why. As the conclusion of this experiment, we try to show some features of 'understanding'. These are (1) that 'understanding' has to be based on some preliminary knowledge; (2) that 'understanding' is a process of incremental learning; (3) that, as for symbolic systems, some metaphors are necessary for mapping real entities into concepts in mind.     

Standing on Solid Ground

The new Editor in Chief of IEEE Micro introduces himself and the first issue of 2007. He thanks outgoing Editor in Chief Pradip Bose for his outstanding work on Micro during his tenure. He assesses the current state of the microarchitecture field, speculates on the future, and asks readers for their suggestions on topics the magazine should cover in coming issues.     

Bioavailability and Toxicity of Metal Nutrients during Anaerobic Digestion

This paper investigates the effect of chelating agents on the bioavailability of Fe and Cu during anaerobic digestion. The results on metal speciation and methane production in anaerobic serum bottles showed that biomass was able to grow in the presence of citrate 1?mM and nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) 1?mM, suggesting that the binding sites at the cell surface competed efficiently for the metals with the chelating agents added. The presence of free ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid 1?mM inhibited methanogenesis, and this seemed to be related to a loss in metal uptake capacity. Although the addition of soluble microbial products (SMP) did not change metal distribution in anaerobic systems, it caused an increase in the rate of methane production, and it is believed that direct uptake of Cu-SMP complexes was responsible for this increase. The best protection against Cu toxicity occurred when stoichiometric amounts of NTA, which should complex and solubilize most of the Cu, was added, and it is likely that NTA prevented lethal concentrations of Cu from being adsorbed onto the cell and hence internalized.     

The greenhouse effect; Impact upon and the role to be played by construction

The authors highlight several possible ways in which the construction industry could lower present emissions of the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide. It is an excellent discussion document and is recommended reading.