Photoinitiated polymerization in ionic liquids and its application

Ionic liquids (ILs) are low‐melting organic salts often liquid at room temperature, whose unique properties are the reason of increasing interest for their applications as solvents, reaction media and functional additives. The exceptional properties of ILs have proved to be particularly useful in polymer science giving the potential to produce polymeric materials with improved properties or to immobilize ILs in polymer matrices while keeping their special characteristics. One of the possibilities is polymerization in ILs which can also affect positively polymerization reactions. An especially attractive technique is photopolymerization due to the ease of process control, short reaction time and ambient working temperature. This review gives a literature survey of developments in photopolymerization processes carried out in ILs as well as applications of these processes. It covers both the photopolymerization in ILs as well as photopolymerization of IL monomers. The first part presents a short overview of physicochemical and photochemical properties of ILs; it includes also photochemical reactions and photoinitiation of polymerization in ILs. The second part covers both the basic research (kinetics of photopolymerization including polymerization rate coefficients and polymerization of IL monomers) as well as applications of UV‐induced polymerization in ILs. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry     

The Effect of Implanted Al and/or Y on the Scale Formation on Low-Al Fe20Cr2Al Alloy

The very early stages of the oxidation of an Fe20Cr2Al alloy, unmodified and ion-implanted by aluminium, yttrium and a combination of both elements, Al and Y, were studied at 1100 °C in oxygen using two-stage-oxidation exposures with ¹⁸O₂ as a tracer and subsequent characterisation of the scales using SIMS analyses of distribution of oxygen isotopes and oxide-related negative ion clusters, SEM observations of the surface morphology and photoluminescence spectroscopy analysis of the phase composition. The scales formed in all cases, except for the Al-implanted alloy, exhibited layered structures, with the outer part comprising Fe- and Cr-rich oxide, and the inner part being Al₂O₃, which grew due to a mixed outward–inward mechanism . The alumina sub-layers contained the transient oxides and α-Al₂O₃. Implanted Al significantly affected the mechanism of the scale growth, providing that the scale consisted essentially of α-Al₂O₃, and grew via a mixed inward-outward mechanism typical for scales on alumina formers.     

Sharpening filter for false color imaging of dual-energy X-ray scans

Dual-energy X-ray imaging has a vast range of application in security. Luggage inspection is an essential process for an airplane or court house security as well as securing mass events. An image of a content of some package may help to figure out if there is any dangerous object inside and avoid possibly threatening situation. As the raw X-ray images are not always easy to analyze and interpret, some image processing methods like an object detection, a frequency resolution increase or a pseudocoloring are being used. Since color can be a powerful tool to improve the usefulness of an information display, we propose pseudocoloring improvement by modifying material-based approach with edge detection to fill and sharpen color layers over the image making it easier to read and analyze. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the methods using real data, acquired from a professional dual-energy X-ray scanner.     

In vitro culture of Boletus badius as a source of indole compounds and zinc released in artificial digestive juices

Food Science and Biotechnology - The objective of this study was to obtain the in vitro cultures of Boletus badius under controlled conditions and investigate the release of indole compounds and...