Concept and Performance of a Non-Azide Propellant for Automotive Airbag Inflators

A university laboratory and three companies have collaborated to develop a non-azide propellant for automotive airbag inflators which is composed of azodicarbonamide(ADCA), potassium perchlorate(KClO₄), and additives such as burning catalyst, binder and others. The new propellant aims at low cost, small size of inflators, featuring low toxicity of not only raw materials of the propellant but also effluent gases, particulates and residues generated on deployment of an airbag. No hygroscopicity and low hazard of the propellant will make manufacturing, transportation, and handling easy. The performances of the propellant were evaluated by strand test, pressure chamber test, 7.5 l tank test, 60 l tank test, and airbag deployment test. The strength of the pellet of the new propellant was evaluated by a small ball drop test.     

A Remarkable Titanium‐Catalyzed Asymmetric Strecker Reaction using Hydrogen Cyanide at Room Temperature

Close to perfect enantioselectivity (up to 98% ee) is obtained for the formation of amino nitriles using hydrogen cyanide (HCN) as the cyanide source at room temperature for the first time. In an operationally simple process, the catalyst generated from a partially hydrolyzed titanium alkoxide (PHTA) and (S)‐N‐salicyl‐β‐amino alcohol ligand, catalyzes the cyanation of imines in a short reaction time.     

Enantioselective Silylcyanation of Aldehydes and Ketones by a Titanium Catalyst Prepared from a Partially Hydrolyzed Titanium Alkoxide and a Schiff Base Ligand

In the presence of small amount (0.2–1.0 mol%) of a titanium complex catalyst prepared from a partially hydrolyzed titanium alkoxide and an optically active tridentate Schiff base ligand, the enantioselective silylcyanation of aldehydes and ketones proceeded in a short reaction time at room temperature to afford the corresponding optically active cyanohydrin derivatives in excellent chemical yield with high enantiomeric excess (86–97% ee). The results indicate that partially hydrolyzed titanium alkoxides are a promising titanium source for the preparation of efficient catalysts for asymmetric synthesis.     

Do the number of robots and the participant’s gender influence conformity effect from multiple robots?

ABSTRACT

The conformity effect is a critical social phenomenon through which one individual or a particular group influences the thoughts, feelings, or behaviors of another person or group. We focused on two essential factors that influence the power of the conformity effect: the number of people and gender. In this paper, we investigated whether conformity effects have changed due to the number of robots and the gender of the participants. We experimentally compared conformity effects by considering these two factors while participants answered questions after listening to incorrect answers from two, four, or six robots. The experimental results showed that the conformity ratio with the six robots is significantly larger than the two/four robots, and the conformity effect for female participants is stronger than male participants, similar to human-human conformity effects.     

Impact of carbon nanotube additives on carbide-derived carbon-based electroactive polymer actuators

The effects of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) on the properties of carbide-derived carbon (CDC)-based electroactive polymer (EAP) actuators were studied. SWCNTs were used as an additive to increase the mesoporosity and electrical conductivity of the electrodes, and also to support the CDC matrix. EAP actuators with various ratios of SWCNTs to CDC in the electrodes were fabricated and their electromechanical and electrochemical characteristics were examined. The addition of SWCNTs to CDC-based electrodes significantly increased the bending strain and stress (bending force) of the actuators. The actuator assembled with electrodes containing SWCNTs and CDC in the ratio 50/50 (wt.%/wt.%) showed the highest strain output among the samples at lower frequencies (<0.1 Hz). The increase in maximum strain was more than twice that of pure CDC-based EAPs (0.85% vs. 0.35% at an applied voltage of ±2 V). Also, the high frequency (5–50 Hz) response of the combined SWCNT/CDC-based actuators was considerably improved.     

Study on droplet deformation of an immiscible fluid system by selective radiation heat using infrared laser

The droplet deformation's mechanism in a simple shear flow is well understood, but most studies only considered a uniform temperature field of immiscible droplet systems. This research investigates the possible droplet deformation and visualizes its evolution under selective radiation heating, which is a novel method to modify droplet dispersion via thermo-physical mechanism. Polybutenes and PDMS silicone oils were employed as the dispersed droplet phase and matrix phase, respectively. Results showed that the mean value of the droplet's modified deformation parameter was limited to 0.12 and 0.08 at an isothermal ambient room temperature having a viscosity ratio of 4.32 and 17.69, respectively. The droplet under selective radiation was visualized. Experimental investigation showed that the selective radiation method enhanced the droplet deformation, as confirmed by the obtained droplet image during laser irradiation process, even allowing droplet breakup. At a moderate level of viscosity ratio (4.32), selective radiation can be applied effectively, whereas at a higher level of viscosity ratio (17.69), droplet elongation-breakup and droplet retraction were observed.