Concentration distribution of antioxidant additive BHT in polypropylene after heating

The concentration distribution of an antioxidant 2,6-di-tert-butyl-p-cresol (BHT) in the polypropylene (PP) after heating the film containing BHT for a long period of time in succession was studied with use of the rolled film method. The film of 0.003 cm in thickness containing uniformly 710 mg kg^?1 of BHT was wound tightly around a glass tube. At the beginning, BHT was distributed uniformly in all layers, and after a given time of the heat treatment at 70–100°C, a remarkable alteration of the concentration distribution of BHT in PP took place. The relations between BHT concentration and the distance from the surface were shown by parabolic curves after heating. The BHT concentration was always kept at almost zero concentration at the surface layer of the rolled film. Assuming that the diffusion obeys Fick's law, the diffusion coefficients at 70, 80, 90, and 100°C were estimated to be 1.05, 4.17, 8.69, and 24.7 × 10^?9 cm² s^?1, respectively. The activation energy was calculated as 105 kJ mol^?1.     

Electrical properties and microstructure in the system ceria-alkaline earth oxide

The ionic conduction of oxygen in the ceria-alkaline earth oxide system was investigated as a function of temperature, partial pressure of oxygen and oxide composition, together with its crystal structure, density, and microstructure. Undoped ceria and its solid solution with alkaline earth oxides have a cubic fluorite structure. The ionic conductivity of ceria is greatly enhanced by additions of calcia and strontia, even when they are added in excess of the solubility limit. The conductivities of ceria-calcia and ceria-strontia were much higher than those of calcia-and yttria-stabilized zirconia. Up to the limit of calcia and strontia, the ionic transference number was nearly unity in the temperature range between 600 and 900°C. With an increase in calcia and strontia content, the ionic conductivity was little affected by the presence of a second phase of CaO and SrCeO₃.     

FORMATION OF MULLITE FROM GROUND PRODUCT OF A KAOLINITE-ALUMINUM TRIHYDROXIDE MIXTURE BY SOLID PHASE REACTION

The present paper describes the effect of grinding a kaolinite/aiuminum-trihydroxide mixture using a planetary ball mill on the structure of the ground product and the mean thermal expansion coefficients of samples sintered from the unground and ground mixtures. The size reduction of the mixture predominates in the early stage of grinding and the obtained fine particles aggregate subsequently with an increase in grinding time. The crystal structure of the mixture is collapsed easily into a disordered one, of which amount increases with an increase in grinding time. Only mullite phase was detected in the sintered body of the ground products at relatively lower temperature 1523K except for anatase as an inherent impurity, whereas corundum, cristobalite and Al-Si spinel phases besides mullite were formed in the sintered body of the unground mixture. The thermal expansion coefficients of sintered bodies of the 120 minutes-ground mixture are considerably lower than those of the unground mixture by about 10%. Consequently, the planetary milling enables us to improve the uniform mixing state at the atomic scale resulting in direct formation of mullite with high purity at relatively low temperature with a lower thermal expansion coefficient of the sintered body.     

Rheo-optical studies on the deformation mechanism of semicrystalline polymers. VIII. Dynamic x-ray diffraction of a high-density polyethylene film having row-structure of C-axis orientation

Dynamic x-ray diffraction is employed to scrutinize the structural origin of the α mechanical dispersion of a highdensity polyethylene having preferentially oriented rownucleated cylindritic texture around the machine direction (MD). Results indicate that the α₁ dispersion is associated with two kinds of orientation processes of crystallites: (1) the orientation process involving the rotation of crystallites around the crystal b-axis (lamellar axis) dominates in the MD specimen; (2) the other process accompanying the rotation of crystallites or lamellar segments around their crystal a-axis dominates in the TD (transverse direction) specimen. The complex apparent crystal lattice compliances show no frequency dependence in the real component and no appreciable value in the imaginary component, indicating that the α₁ process is definitely associated with the intercrystalline process, but not relavent to the intracrystal process. However, at elevated temperatures, the complex lattice compliances exhibit a remarkable frequency dependence, suggesting that the α₂ dispersion concomitant to intracrystalline nature takes place in this time scale. The α₂ dispersion was found to be more pronounced upon stretching along the lamellar axis (TD) than normal to it (MD).     

Coolability study on two-bundle scale flow blockage in the reflood process

A two-bundle scale channel flow blockage in the eight-bundle slab core test facility (SCTF) was examined for core cooling capability study in the reflood phase of a PWR-LOCA. The coplanar blockage with 60% blockage fraction resulted in promotion of quench for the elevation immediately above the blockage in relatively high reflood velocity tests. Conversely, this blockage led to delay of quench in low reflood velocity tests. Peak clad temperature, however, was not affected much by the existence of the blockage. These results are examined in comparison with the results of similar small scale test facilities. This examination revealed that the promotion of quench above the blockage was confined to a shorter length but the quench delay time was slightly longer for a large partial blockage than for a small blockage.     

Changes of volatile components of tomato fruits during ripening

Volatile components obtained by simultaneous steam distillation-extraction from two varieties of tomato fruits at various ripening stages and their artificially ripened tomato fruits were analyzed by GC and GC-MS using a glass capillary column. One hundred and thirty compounds were identified. Of these, quantitative changes in the major thirty-six compounds were investigated. Hexanal, trans-2-hexenal, 2-iso-butylthiazole, 2-methyl-2-hepten-6-one, geranylacetone and farnesylacetone, which were estimated to be important volatile components of fresh tomato aroma by the GC-Sniff method, increased with natural and artificial ripening. However, many volatile components showed complicated changes in the case of artificially ripened tomato fruits.     

Synthesis and properties of polymeric latex particles and their conjugates with human immunoglobulin G

Polymeric latex particles of uniform size in the range of 750 to 10 000 Å in diameter were prepared by emulsion copolymerization of methyl methacrylate, methacrylic acid, 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, using sodium dodecylbenzene sulphonate as an emulsifier and ammonium persulphate as an initiator. With a fixed composition of monomers the carboxyl groups on the latex particles ranged from 5 × 10³ to 180 × 10³ per particle, but the average number per unit surface area remained within a limited variation. Human immunoglobulin G (IgG) was covalently bonded to the latex particles by either the carbodiimide or the cyanogen bromide method, taking advantage of carboxyl and hydroxyl groups, respectively. The resulting conjugates exhibited a specific agglutination with rabbit anti-human IgG and sera from rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. The immunolatex particles were found to be superior to those derived from nylon-6, which had been used in our previous work, and are expected to offer useful means in various immunological studies.