Factors influencing the formation of elongated morphologies in immiscible polymer blends during melt processing

The morphology of the dispersed phase in immiscible polymer blends plays an important role in the determination of the final physical properties. This paper considers factors that influence the final state of deformation of the dispersed phase, and in particular, the formation of fibers and lamellae. Blends of polyethylene and nylon-6 were extruded by ribbon extrusion at different draw ratios. Prior to single-screw extrusion the materials were blended in a co-rotating twin-screw extruder, and the size of the dispersed phase was studied as a function of the viscosity ratio. As the blends are extruded into ribbons and drawn through the calender rolls, the morphology of the dispersed phase undergoes drastic transformations. The fiber formation is enhanced by increasing the draw ratio. At high draw ratios, long thin fibers are observed. Some biaxial deformation is obtained for the noncompatibilized systems when the extruded materials enter the calender with the maximum closing pressure applied to the rolls. The same effect is observed for the compatibilized systems with lower values of the viscosity ratio. As a general rule, it has been observed that the final dispersed phase deformation is diminished in interfacially compatibilized systems.     

Selective hydrogenation of soybean oil in the presence of copper catalysts

Many investigators associate the poor keeping properties of soybean oil with its linolenic acid content. On the other hand the high linoleic acid content is a desired property from a nutritional point of view. We have therefore developed a process for the preferential reduction of the linolenic acid content by selective hydrogenation. Conventional catalysts for the hydrogenation of fats have a rather low selectivity in this respect. When linolenic acid in soybean oil is hardened (e.g., with a nickel catalyst), most of the linoleic acid is converted into less unsaturated acids. It was found that linolenic acid is hydrogenated much more preferentially in the presence of copper catalysts than in that of nickel and other hydrogenation catalysts. At a linolenic acid content of 2%, soybean oil hardened with nickel catalyst contained about 28% linoleic acid, whereas with copper catalyst the hardened soybean oil contained 49% linoleic acid. By means of our process it is possible to manufacture a good keepable oil of, e.g., I.V. 115 and containing 1% linolenic acid and 46% linoleic acid. The storage stability of this product is comparable with that of sunflower-seed oil. A liquid phase yield of 86% is obtained after winterization at 5C for 18 hr. The high selectivity for linolenate reduction of copper catalysts must be ascribed to the copper part of the catalyst. Investigations into the structure of the catalyst indicate that the active center consists of copper metal crystallites; whether these centers are promoted by the carrier or traces of other substances is under investigation.     

Optimization of the planar hall effect in ferromagnetic thin films for device design

The planar Hall effect, although directly related to the magnetoresistance effect, differs in its potential uses by the disposition of the sensing electrodes allowing an internal balance of the excitation voltage drop. An experimental study of ferromagnetic thin film conditions of evaporation, film thickness, composition and shape of the electrodes has been undertaken. Anisotropic Ni-Fe films with various additions of Pd, V, Co, Mo, showed a maximum planar Hall effect for the composition 86-percent Ni, 14-percent Fe. The optimization of the geometrical parameters of the electrodes and the magnetic film elements is described, allowing one to design for maximum output voltage or maximum output current in a short circuited loop. Two schemes are presented for implementation of small NDRO memories.     

Temperature-stable low-noise ferrite memory cores

Temperature-stable low-noise memory cores made from the substituted lithium and nickel ferrites were studied. Ferrite compositions which are suitable for miniature cores have been developed by studying magnetic properties of the ferrite in the system Li-M-M' and Ni-M-M' ferrite (M:Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn). Technological approaches for fabricating small memory cores were made by studying the effect of ferrite-powder parameters and sintering conditions on magnetic properties of the substituted ferrites. Typical pulse characteristics taken with coincident current mode for cores of 0.48, 0.32, and 0.27 mm φ OD are presented. It was found that the Ni-Mn-F(II) ferrites are suitable for a low-drive high signal-to-noise ratio (dV1/dVz) temperature-stable memory core.     

19F chemical shift anisotropy in aligned PTFE fibres

By applying a nuclear magnetic resonance (n.m.r.) multiple pulse sequence to a powder of randomly aligned crystallites, the principal values of the chemical shift tensor may be measured. However information about alignment of the chemical shift tensor with respect to the crystal axes is lost. To obtain orientation information in polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), we have prepared a bundle of drawn PTFE fibres and observed the ¹⁹F line-narrowed n.m.r. spectra for various fibre orientations relative to the direction of the static magnetic field. The data at 77 K indicate that the most screened component of the chemical shift tensor lies along the CF bond and that the least screened component is aligned at approximately 20° to the molecular chain axis. At 298K the spectrum of a PTFE powder indicates an axially symmetrical tensor whose principal values are consistent with a 20° inclination of the least screened component relative to the chain axis.     

The earth location of geostationary satellite imagery

Spin scan cloud pictures from NASA's Applications Technology Satellites are being computer processed as an operational experiment. Details of this near-real-time image manipulating activity are described. Processing involves the treatment of horizon and landmark features in support of the photogrammetric aspects and the subsequent transformation of images onto standard map projections.     

Analytical melting model for extrusion: Stress of fully compacted solid polymers

Our laboratory recently published several analytical equations that can be used to predict the melting rate of fully compacted solid polymers sliding on a heated metal surface, modeling the melting mechanism inside an extruder. These equations were obtained by seeking asymptotic solutions to the differential equations describing the melting mechanism, temperature, and shear-dependent viscosity of polymer melts. Following the same asymptotic approach, we successfully developed accompanying analytical equations for predicting the stress required to slide fully compacted solid polymers on a heated metal surface. The accuracy of these analytical stress equations was found to be reasonable, although not fully satisfactory, by comparing their predictions to the experimentally measured values. The accuracy of the stress calculation is directly related to the accuracy of the viscosity values at high shear rates. The consideration of the temperature and shear dependencies of melt viscosity is most important for accurate prediction of the stress, just as it is for the melting rate. The stress not only depends on the melt rheological properties of the polymer but also on the thermodynamic properties.     

Thermal diffusivity of polymers by the flash method

We have adopted the flash method to the measurement of thermal diffusivity α of polymers in the temperature range 100–400K. The pulsed radiant energy from a flash tube is applied to the ‘front’ side of a suspended sample disc, and α is deduced from the exponential decay time constant of the subsequent transient temperature difference between the ‘front’ and the ‘back’ side, while correction against radiation loss is made by measuring the much longer decay time of the back-side temperature. Calibration runs on polycarbonate (PC) samples of several thicknesses show that the method is quick, precise and fairly accurate, and the results obtained are in reasonable agreement with previous determinations. We have also carried out measurements on polyoxymethylene (POM), poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVF₂) and poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET) and computed their thermal conductivities. Results on POM and PVF₂, which are semicrystalline, are analysed in the framework of several two-phase models, and the effect of crystallization (produced by annealing) on the glass transition behaviour of PET has also been studied.     

INVESTIGATION OF THE USE OF LASER-DOPPLER VELOCIMETRY IN TWO-PHASE BUBBLY FLOWS

Understanding the dynamic phenomena of viability loss of shear sensitive cells and bubble breakage and coalescence within airlift reactors requires knowledge of local, liquid-phase hydrodynamics. The laser-Doppler velocimeter (LDV) is a non-invasive instrument which may be used to obtain this information. Experimental procedures and software were developed to detect and measure Doppler bursts in two-phase flow in a split-cylinder airlift reactor. Off-line analysis of the data indicated a detection rate approximately one order of magnitude greater than that observed using an available commercial frequency tracker. Approximately 400 to 500 observations are needed for the ensemble mean to characterize the local mean velocity to within ±5% for a superficial gas velocity of 10.4 cm/s, the highest superficial gas velocity used in these studies. The limitations, prospects, and signal-processing options for LDV in this application are also discussed     

Hausen and Murphree efficiencies in binary and multicomponent distillation

The design of industrial distillation columns is normally based on estimated values of plate efficiencies. Several different plate efficiency models have been proposed in the literature and among them the one presented by Murphree is widely used in spite of its limitations. However the difficulties involved in the use of Murphree's model are not present if Hausen's model is considered.In the present paper a comparative study of the two models considering both binary and multicomponent systems is presented. A graphical relationship beExperimental composition profiles obtained in small laboratory columns with binary and ternary systems are interpreted in terms of Hausen efficiencies.It is argued that the use of the Hausen efficiency model should be wider as it overcomes limitations of Murphree's model and is in agreement with physi