Blends of ethylene 1‐octene copolymer synthesized by Ziegler–Natta and metallocene catalysts. II. Rheology and morphological behaviors

The rheological and morphological behaviors of commercially available three binary blends of ethylene 1‐octene copolymer (EOC) regarding the melt index (MI), density and comonomer contents, one component made by the Ziegler–Natta and the other by the metallocene catalysts, were investigated to elucidate miscibility and phase behavior. Miscibility of the EOCs blend in a melt state was related to the value of the MI, density, and comonomer content. If the comonomer contents are similar, then the melt viscosity is weight average value, otherwise it is positively or negatively deviated. The microtomed surface prepared by two different cooling processes—one is fast cooling and the other is slow cooling—indicated that all the blends were not homogenous regardless the density, MI, and comonomer content. The Ziegler–Natta catalyzed EOCs exhibited bigger spherulitic diameter and larger ring space than those of the metallocene EOCs prepared by a cooling process. The blends consisting of similar MI showed banded spherulites with different diameter, whereas the blend consisting of different MI and density takes place of explicit phase separation and phase inversion at 1 : 1 blend composition. The melt rheology appeared to influence the mechanical and film properties in the solid state. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 76: 1950–1964, 2000     

The effects of roasting temperatures on the formation of headspace volatile compounds in perilla seed oil

Volatile compounds of perilla seed oils roasted at different temperatures (150–190°C) were analyzed by dynamic headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The headspace volatiles in roasted perilla seed oils (RPSO) were composed of thermally produced flavors and compounds originating from the raw perilla seeds. The roasting temperatures significantly affected the production of thermal reaction flavors. Oils from parilla seeds roasted below 170°C had relatively high concentrations of aldehydes, whereas pyrazines and furans were the predominant volatiles above 170°C. In all of the RPSO, the contents of both perilla aldehyde and perilla ketone remained almost constant and might be used to discriminate perilla seed oils from other roasted vegetable seed oils.     

Intricate CSTR dynamics

Various dynamical characters of continuous stirred tank reaclors (CSTR) are introduced with respect to the effects of reaction types, extra thermal capacitance, periodic forcing, and coupling of CSTRs. The subject includes the classical dynamics of two-dimensional model and the variety of complex dynamics in three or higher dimensional systems such as periodic bifurcations to torus or chaos, aperiodic oscillations on invariant torus, and universal dynamics of alternating periodic-chaotic sequences with k.2^v-cycles for every natural number k. Particularly this review intends to bring about the problems that the engineers must be prepared to encounter in solving various physical systems including chemically reacting systems.     

Stability of Fe/ZSM‐5 de‐NOx catalyst: effects of iron loading and remaining Brønsted acid sites

The stability of Fe/ZSM‐5 de‐NOx catalyst has been investigated. The samples are prepared by sublimation of iron chloride. Substantial amount of protons are found to remain in the fresh catalyst after washing and calcination. After 10 h exposure to wet exhaust gas at 600^°C, the catalyst is severely deactivated. The presence of steam induces dealumination of the ZSM‐5 matrix, because the protons provide the point of attack by water. In addition, highly reactive distorted tetrahedral iron species and tetrahedral species change to less reactive octahedral iron ions or iron agglomerates upon aging treatment. With the second sublimation of iron chloride, the iron loading is increased and thus the concentration of remaining protons is reduced. Also, the catalyst turns out to preserve more reactive iron ions after aging treatment. In conclusion, the second sublimation is believed to bring about a remarkable improvement in the stability of the Fe/ZSM‐5 catalyst although its de‐NOx activity is slightly decreased. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Synthesis and nonlinear optical properties of a novel polyurethane containing cyanovinylthiophene with enhanced thermal stability of dipole alignment for electro‐optic applications

Stabilization of electrically induced dipole alignment is one of the important criteria in the development of nonlinear optical (NLO) polymers for electro‐optic device applications. Polyurethanes for NLO applications have attracted attention because of their high thermal stability due to hydrogen bonding. In the work reported here, we designed and synthesized a new type of NLO polyurethane, in which the pendant NLO chromophores are part of the polymer backbone. This mid‐type NLO polymer is expected to have the merits of both main‐chain and side‐chain NLO polymers, namely stable dipole alignment and good solubility. 1‐[3,4‐Di‐(2‐hydroxyethoxy)phenyl]‐2‐(2‐thienyl)ethene was prepared and condensed with 3,3′‐dimethoxy‐4,4′‐biphenylenediisocyanate to yield a polyurethane. This polyurethane was reacted with tetracyanoethylene to give a novel Y‐type polyurethane (7) containing 1‐(3,4‐dioxyphenyl)‐2‐[5‐(1,2,2‐tricyanovinyl)‐2‐thienyl]ethenes as NLO chromophores, which constitute part of the polymer backbone. Polyurethane 7 is soluble in common organic solvents such as N,N‐dimethylformamide and dimethylsulfoxide. It shows a thermal stability up to 280 °C from thermogravimetric analysis with a glass transition temperature obtained from differential scanning calorimetry of ca 162 °C. The second harmonic generation (SHG) coefficient (d₃₃) of a poled polymer film of he polyurethane at 1560 nm fundamental wavelength is ca 1.11 × 10^?18 C. Polymer 7 exhibits an enhanced thermal stability and no significant SHG decay is observed below 150 °C, which is acceptable for NLO device applications. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry     

The Effect of Functional Finishes and Laundering on Textile Materials Part II: Characterization of Liquid Flow

The effect of finishes and laundering on the liquid flow in cotton and polyester-fiber fabrics is investigated. The liquid flow can be categorized into vertical wicking and demand wettability. Since the liquid flow in fibrous materials is affected by the pore size, based on the Washburn equation, the effect of fabric pore size and pore-size distribution was also studied.

The presence of the three different finishes (durable-press, stain-repellent, and antistatic) and laundering changed the vertical-wicking and demand-wettability phenomena owing to changes in the surface energy of fibers and/or changes in pore characteristics. However, the results from vertical wicking and demand wettability did not always agree. The vertical-wicking test was more sensitive to finishing treatments and responded in a more predictable way. In general, changes in liquid flow in finished fabrics can be predicted from the surface energy of the fiber in the fabrics and the pore size and pore-size distribution in the fabrics, as expressed by the Washburn equation. To assess the relationship between liquid flow in fabrics and the surface properties of fibers quantitatively, however, it is necessary to have specific information on the number of pores in a fabric, in addition to the data on the pore-size distribution.     

No wiring constraints

Wireless technologies are gaining increased acceptance as a viable technology within the industrial solution space. However, it is important for control system architects to fully understand not only the benefits but also the challenges and limitations of wireless technologies. The complex interrelationships between the various wireless technology characteristics require careful tradeoffs to be made in the design of the solution. This is especially true for applications that need to handle continuous data streams where high capacity is critical to maintain the scalability and reliability of the network. Although still relatively new, mesh networks have proven themselves to have significant advantages in robustness, scalability, and low-power consumption over other wireless technologies for use in industrial monitoring applications. Mesh networks employing PDR address the scalability challenges of wireless sensor networking that can limit implementation in production situations by significantly increasing overall packet-delivery rate and reducing network communication overhead. HC_WSN, an approach that will emerge as the important next trend in the wireless sensor networking industry, can be implemented in addition to PDR techniques and will further support the increasing number of applications that require the wireless sensor network to handle greater amounts of data.     

Rheological characteristics of mesophase pitch

Rheological characteristics of two pretreated petroleum pitches, during their transformation to mesophase, have been studied by using rotalional viscometer. Simultaneously, the formation, growth, coalescence of mesuphase spheres, and the alignment of coalesced mesophase were observed by Hot-Stage-Cinema-Microscope, discussed with the results of viscosity change and the Q.I. content. It is found that both pretreated pitches were Newtonian fluids at low temperature, but behaved pseudoplastics as increase of mesophase content above 390C. Shear thinning behaviour was also apparent in the shear rate range of 1.9–20 sec⁻¹ at temperature above 390C. The apparent viscosity-temperature curves of this pyrolysed pitches were much affected by the pretreatment conditions.     

Development and validation of a CATHENA fuel channel model for a post-blowdown analysis of the high temperature thermal–chemical experiment CS28-1

To form a licensing basis for a new methodology for a fuel channel safety analysis code for CANDU-6 nuclear reactor, a CATHENA model for a post-blowdown fuel channel analysis has been developed, and tested for a high temperature thermal–chemical experiment CS28-1 [Lei, Q.M., 1993. Post-test analysis of the 28-element high-temperature thermal–chemical experiment CS28-1. In: 4th International Conference on Simulation Methods in Nuclear Engineering, Montreal, PQ, 1993].     

Self-assembly phenomenon of hydroxyapatite nanocrystals on chondroitin sulfate

Self-assembly phenomenon of hydroxyapatite (HAp) nanocrystals on chondroitin sulfate (ChS) templates was investigated. A HAp/ChS hybrid was synthesized through a precipitation method with a calcium hydroxide suspension and phosphoric acid solution containing the ChS. The preferential alignment of the crystallographic c-axis of the HAp crystals parallel to the long axis direction of the ChS templates was observed to occur with the chemical interactions between the HAp crystals and the functional groups of the ChS. This phenomenon was interpreted by the crystallochemical specific nucleation and growth of the HAp crystals regulated by the pre-organized functional groups of the ChS template. Practical implication may involve a biomimetic artificial bone or cartilage can be made through a precipitation method with suitable bio-organics.