Dependence of properties of liquid crystalline aromatic copolyesters on monomer sequence-copolyesters derived from terephthalic acid, 2,7-naphthalenediol and p-hydroxybenzoic acid

Summary An aromatic copolyester with the ordered sequence of terephthalic acid (TA)-p-hydroxybenzoic acid (HB)-2,7-naphthalenediol (ND)-p-hydroxybenzoic acid (HB) was prepared and its properties were compared with those of the corresponding random copolyester having the same overall monomer composition. Thermal and crystallizing properties of the two polymers are quite different. The former exhibits significantly higher glass transition and melting temperatures than the latter. The former's degree of crystallinity also is much higher than the latter's. Both polymers are thermotropic and form nematic melts.     

Measurement of the rheological properties of polymer melts with annular rheometer

An annular die has been designed having a very thin gap distance between two coaxial cylinders. The die was then used to measure wall normal stresses along the longitudinal direction of polymer melts flowing through the thin annulus. The materials investigated were high-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, polypropylene, and polystyrene. Also investigated were blends of polystyrene and polypropylene, and blends of polystyrene and high-density polyethylene The measurements of wall normal stresses were used to determine the rheological properties of the melts, namely, the melt viscosity from the slope of axial wall normal stress profiles and the melt elasticity from exit pressures. The interpretation of the experimental data was made possible by the fact that the narrow-gap annular die can be considered as a substitute for a thin slit die. It has been found that the results obtained in the present study are consistent with those reported earlier by the author, who at that time used both capillary and slit dies.     

Collaborative representation with reduced residual for face recognition

Collaboration representation-based classification (CRC) was proposed as an alternative approach to the sparse representation method with similar efficiency. The CRC is essentially a competition scheme for the training samples to compete with each other in representing the test sample, and the training class with the minimum representation residual from the test sample wins the competition in the classification. However, the representation error is usually calculated based on the Euclidean distance between a test sample and the weighted sum of all the same-class samples. This paper exploits alternative methods of calculating the representation error in the CRC methods to reduce the representation residual in a more optimal way, so that the sample classes compete with each other in a closer range to represent the test sample. A large number of face recognition experiments on three face image databases show that the CRC methods with optimized presentation residual achieve better performance than the original CRC, and the maximum improvement in classification accuracy is up to 12 %.     

Synthesis and self-assembly of hyperbranched polyester peripherally modified by touluene-4-sulfonyl groups

In this paper, hyperbranched polyesters (HPs) were synthesized in the molten state from 2,2-bis(hydroxymethyl) propionic acid (bis-MPA) and 2-ethyl-2-hydroxymethyl-1,3-propanediol (TMP) using acid catalysis. The modified hyperbranched polyesters were obtained through the chemical modification of the hyperbranched polyester cores by substituting a controlled fraction of the terminal hydroxyl groups with touluene-4-sulfonyl chloride using triethylamine (TEA) as an acceptor of HCl. The resultant polyesters were characterized by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, FT-IR, UV and GPC and their self-assembly behaviors were investigated. The results revealed that self-assembled structures could be formed in selected solvents (trichloromethane/acetone or trichloromethane/n-hexane).     

Industrial TiO2 based nacreous pigments as functional building materials: Photocatalytic removal of NO

In this paper, the photocatalytic activity of industrial titanium dioxide (TiO₂) based nacreous pigments was researched as functional building materials for photocatalytic NO remove. Three industrial TiO₂ based nacreous pigments were selected to estimate the photocatalytic activity for NO remove. This study is a good proof that pearlescent pigments can eliminate NO, and its performance is positively correlated with its titanium dioxide content. And this research will widen the application of nacreous pigments in functional building materials, and provide a new way to eliminate in door nitric oxide pollution.     

Substrate-mediated interactions and intermolecular forces between molecules adsorbed on surfaces

Adsorbate interactions and reactions on metal surfaces have been investigated using scanning tunneling microscopy. The manners in which adsorbates perturb the surface electronic structure in their vicinity are discussed. The effects these perturbations have on other molecules are shown to be important in overlayer growth. Interactions of molecules with surface steps are addressed, and each molecule's electron affinity is shown to dictate its adsorption sites at step edges. Standing waves emanating from steps are demonstrated to effect transient molecular adsorption up to 40 A away from the step edge. Halobenzene derivatives are used to demonstrate how the surface is important in aligning reactive intermediates.     

A generalized method for correcting instrument spreading in gel permeation chromatography

A general method of chromatogram correction for skewed instrument spreading in gel permeation chromatography is presented. The correction method is so general that there is no restriction on the shape of the spreading function. It admits nonsymmetric, non-Gaussian as well as nonconvolution type. Aspects of solution techniques are discussed and an illustrative example is given to elucidate the method.     

Studies on multilayer film coextrusion III. The rheology of blown film coextrusion

Multilayer blown film coextrusion was studied, both experimentally and theoretically. For the experimental study, an annular die with a feed-port system was designed and multilayer blown films were produced by rotating the inner mandrel with a one horsepower variable-speed drive at speeds from nearly 2 to 6 rpm, and by inflating the tubular molten film with air. The die has 16 feed slots and melt pressure transducers are mounted along the axial direction of the outer wall of the annular flow channel. The transducers were used to determine the pressure gradient in the annular flow channel, which then permitted determination of the reduction in pressure drop when different combinations of two polymer systems were coextruded. Polymers used for b own film coextrusion were: (1) low-density polyethylene with ethylene-vinyl acetate; (2) low-density polyethylene with high-density polyethylene; (3) low-density polyethylene with polypropylene; (4) high-density polyethylene with ethylene-vinyl acetate. For the theoretical study, stratified helical flow was analyzed using a power-law non-Newtonian model. A computational procedure was developed to predict the number of layers, layer thickness, and the volumetric flow rate as functions of certain processing variables (namely, the pressure drop in the die, and the angular speed of rotation of the inner mandrel of the die) and the rheological parameters of the individual polymers concerned. Comparison was made of the theoretical prediction of volumetric flow rate with experimental ones. Some representative results are presented of the theoretically predicted axial and angular velocity distributions, shear stress profiles, and shear rate profiles.