Graphene oxide grafted poly(acrylic acid) synthesized via surface initiated RAFT as a pH-responsive additive for mixed matrix membrane

Incorporation of nanostructured materials into the membrane matrix is a new strategy to improve mechanical and performance properties. Graphene oxide (GO) is one of the advantageous carbon-based nanomaterials, which recently has been used extensively in this field. However, in the most cases, the surface modification of GO has been considered for the creation of new properties like a response to different stimuli such as temperature, pH, and pressure. In the present study, a well-defined poly(acrylic acid) was grafted on GO using reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer polymerization technique. This modified GO was incorporated into the mixed matrix membrane as a pH-sensitive additive and its effect on the membrane performance was investigated. The membrane with 5 wt % of modified GO provides better hydrophilicity, flux, antifouling, and rejection properties and so the effect of pH change on the aforementioned characteristic properties was studied for this membrane. It is indicated that modified membrane shows different behaviors in acidic and alkaline conditions. In addition, excellent heavy metal separation was observed among rejection tests, especially for Hg ions. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47213.     

Open-celled microcellular foaming and the formation of cellular structure by a theoretical pattern in polystyrene

An open-celled structure was produced using polystyrene and supercritical carbon dioxide in a novel batch process. The required processing conditions to achieve open-celled structures were predicted by a theoretical model and confirmed by the experimental data. The theoretical model predicts that at least a saturation pressure of 130 bar and a foaming time between 9 and 58 s are required for this system to produce an open-celled structure. The foaming temperature range has been selected to be higher than the polymer glass transition temperature yet not higher than a temperature limit where the gas starts leaving the system. The experimental results in the batch foaming process verified the model substantially. The SEM pictures showed the presence of pores between the cells, and the mercury porosimetry test results verified the overall open-celled structure. Experimental results also showed that by increasing the saturation pressure and the foaming temperature, there was a drop in the time required for open-celled structure formation. At saturation pressure of 130 bar, foaming temperature of 150 °C and a foaming time of 60 s, open-celled microcellular polystyrene foams were obtained using supercritical CO₂ in the batch process. Based on the results, a schematic diagram, depicting the process of foam structure formation from nucleation to bubble coalescence and gas escape from polymer, was proposed. Theoretical calculations showed that by increasing foaming time, cell size was increased and cell density was reduced and the experimental results verified this prediction.     

Synthesis of MoSi2–Al2O3 nanocomposite by mechanical alloying

MoSi₂–Al₂O₃ nanocomposite was synthesized by mechanical alloying (MA) of MoO₃, SiO₂ and Al powder mixture. The structural evolution of the powders was studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Both β-MoSi₂ and -MoSi₂ were obtained after 3 h of milling. The spontaneous formation of β-MoSi₂ during milling proceeded by a mechanically induced self propagating reaction (MSR), analogous to that of the self propagating high temperature synthesis (SHS). After 70 h of milling the β-phase transformed to -phase. The crystallite size of -MoSi₂ and Al₂O₃ after milling for 100 h was 12 and 17 nm, respectively. Residual Mo and Si in the 3 and 70 h milled samples formed β-MoSi₂ and Mo₅Si₃ during heating at 1000 °C, respectively.     

Physical,mechanical and dry sliding wear properties of hybrid and non-hybrid Al–V nanocomposites produced by powder metallurgy

The present work aims to characterise the sliding wear behaviour of non-hybrid Al–Al₃V and hybrid Al–(Al₃V, Al₂O₃) nanocomposites. Wear rates were calculated from mass loss measurements. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) pattern was utilised to evaluate the microstructural changes during milling hot-pressed samples. It was found that the wear resistance of hybrid nanocomposites was enhanced by increasing Al₃V–Al₂O₃ percentage due to an increase in hardness. The mass loss measurement showed that not only was the wear rate of hybrid samples lower than that of Al–Al₃V, but also it had lower friction coefficients in comparison to the non-hybrid sample. The worn surface evaluation in hybrid samples indicated that the formed darker layer possesses the features of the mechanically mixed layer (MML), which inhibits mass loss intensification. Moreover, formation of MML as a lubricant layer promotes the friction characteristic of the hybrid nanocomposite.     

Action of grignard reagents and amines on some N-(Arylmethyleneamino)phthalimides

N-(Arylmethyleneamino)phthalimides ( 2a–c ) carrying an o-substituent in the aryl group were prepared by the reaction of N-aminophthalimide with o-substituted benzaldehydes. The reaction of these compounds with Grignard reagents proceeded either by normal addition to one of the carbonyl groups to give 3a–c or by addition and cleavage to give 4-arylphthalaz-1-ones 5a–c . The steric effect exhibited by either the Grignard reagent or the N-arylmethylene compound was studied. The reaction of N-furfurylideneaminophthalimide ( 2d ) with Grignard reagents was also investigated. N-(Arylmethyleneamino)phthalimides reacted with primary amines to give N,N′-dialkylphthalamides ( 7a and b ) while the reaction with secondary amines gave ( 8a and b ).     

A novel bandwidth efficient SOC-based turbo coding scheme mid reduced complexity MUD for SA-based MC-CDMA systems

Multiuser-detection (MUD), turbo coding and smart-antennas (SA) are powerful techniques for enhancing the performance and capacity of MC-CDMA systems. Among the MUD algorithms, the maximum-likelihood (ML) method has the best performance but its complexity increases exponentially with the number of users and constellation size. In this paper, we first propose a novel bandwidth-efficient-channel-coding-scheme (BECCS) for a super-orthogonal-code (SOC)-based serially concatenated turbo code (SCSOC) so that by using it, the coded system without extra bandwidth significantly improves the performance of an uncoded system over a fading channel. Second, in order to reduce the complexity of the ML-based turbo MUD technique, an ML algorithm based on the sensitive-bits-algorithm (SBA) and a less-complex-norm-approximation (LCNA) based Euclidean distance is proposed for a SCSOC-based BECCS assisted coded MC-CDMA system accompanied by SA techniques at the receiver. Our analytical and simulation results show that from a performance perspective, at BER=10^?2, the proposed SCSOC-based BECCS assisted MC-CDMA system performs 4?dB better than SOC-based coded systems. The latter system has 5?dB gain in comparison with an uncoded one, all in the same bandwidth and over fading channels.     

Development of NiFe-CNT and Ni3Fe-CNT nanocomposites by mechanical alloying

NiFe-CNT and Ni₃Fe-CNT nanocomposites were fabricated by high energy mechanical alloying method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy were employed for evolution of phase composition, morphology and microstructure of the powder particles. Ball milled powders were heat treated at 500 °C for 1 h to release the milling induced stresses. Bulk samples were prepared by sintering of cold pressed (300 MPa) samples at 1040 °C for 1 h. XRD patterns of powders, as-milled and after annealing at 500 °C did not show any peak related to CNTs or excess phases due to the interaction between CNTs and matrix. SEM micrographs showed that the addition of CNTs caused a reduction of powder particles size. The hardness value of as-milled NiFe and Ni₃Fe powders reach to 660 and 720 HV, respectively. According to optical microscopy evaluations, the amount and size of the porosities of the composites bulk samples decreased in comparison with matrix ones.