Dynamic mechanical analysis and broadband electromagnetic interference shielding characteristics of poly (vinyl alcohol)-poly (4-styrenesulfonic acid)-titanium dioxide nanoparticles based tertiary nanocomposites

ABSTRACT

Novel tertiary nanocomposite films comprising of poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA), poly (4-styrenesulfonic acid) (PSSA) and titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nanoparticles (NP_S) were prepared using simple solvent casting method. The structural, thermal, morphological, thermo-mechanical and electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding properties of PVA/PSSA/TiO₂ nanocomposite films were investigated. The EMI shielding effectiveness (SE) of PVA/PSSA/TiO₂ nanocomposite films in the X and Ku band was found to be 12 dB and 13 dB respectively at 25 wt% TiO₂ NPs loading. These results demonstrate the possible applications of PVA/PSSA/TiO₂ nanocomposite films as low cost, lightweight and flexible material for EMI shielding.     

Mechanical testing of a FW panel attachment system for ITER

An objective of experiments and finite element simulations was to check the stiffness, the strength and the fatigue resistance of the attachment of the First Wall panels onto a shield block of blanket modules according to the ITER 2001 design. The panel has a poloidal key at the rear side (in so-called option A with the rear access bolting) and it is attached by means of special studs located on a key-way in the shield block. Special device for a test of stud tensile pre-load relaxation during a thermal cycling was developed. True-to-scale panels, the shield block mock-up and simplified studs were fabricated and the assembly was loaded alternatively by radial moment, poloidal force or poloidal moment simulating the loading during off-normal plasma operations. Thermal cycling led to an acceptable stud pre-load relaxation. Mechanical cycling caused neither the pre-load relaxation nor the loss of the contact in the key-way nor a damage of the attachment system. The combination of poloidal moment and radial force during vertical displacement events (VDEs) seems to be a most dangerous case because it could lead to the loss of the key–key-way contact.     

Application of the Electrodiffusion Method to Measure Wall Shear Stress: Integrating Theory and Practice

The electrodiffusion method has been used in fluid dynamic research for the past 50 years. It allows the measurement of wall shear stress, a crucial parameter, e.g., for the cleaning of membrane modules used in water filtration. Various authors have published articles dealing with the theory behind this technique. But no paper collects all the knowledge assembled over five decades of application. Here, comprehensive summary of the theory of steady flow, unsteady flow, and transient voltage step experiments is given. Factors influencing the accuracy of the measurements are discussed. Furthermore, a new approach to calibrate the system from voltage step experiments is introduced, and practical issues related to its application in flow measurements are discussed for an exemplary signal response to a near‐wall flow.     

Properties of tin/plasma polymer nanocomposites

Thin composite layers (tin in plasma polymer matrix) were prepared in a stainless steel vacuum chamber. An RF powered magnetron with tin target was used to excite the discharge and to activate the monomer species (n-hexane). The gas mixture introduced comprised Ar and n-hexane vapours. The properties of the films and chemical composition were characterized by AFM (surface morphology), TEM and Electron tomography (bulk structure characterization), XPS and FTIR spectroscopy (chemical composition analyses). Current-voltage characteristics were measured to examine the electrical properties of the layers and their dependence on the deposition parameters.     

The carbonization of colloidal polyaniline nanoparticles to nitrogen‐containing carbon analogues

The carbonization of nanostructures afforded by conducting polymers represents a new route to the preparation of functional nanostructured carbons. The exposure of colloidal polyaniline particles stabilized with poly(N‐vinylpyrrolidone) or silica nanoparticles at 650 °C in inert atmosphere led, in both cases, to nitrogen‐containing carbonaceous materials with specific surface areas of 200 and 205 m² g^?1, respectively, and conductivities of 8.3 × 10^?7 and 1.9 × 10^?10 S cm^?1, respectively. The latter material contained 77 wt% of silica. The original particulate nanostructure of the samples was preserved after carbonization. The carbon‐to‐nitrogen atomic ratio was 7.2 and 7.9; the nitrogen content in the carbonized polyaniline–poly(N‐vinylpyrrolidone) particles was 10.8 wt%. Thermogravimetric analysis in air revealed their stability to be up to 500 °C. This is comparable with commercial multi‐wall carbon nanotubes, which have similar areas of application. The nitrogen‐containing carbons are potentially useful as supports for catalysts and in applications where carbon of higher hydrophilicity would be of benefit. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

Polypyrrole and polyaniline prepared with cerium(IV) sulfate oxidant

The conducting polymers, polypyrrole and polyaniline, were synthesized by chemical oxidative polymerization of the corresponding monomers in 0.1 M sulfuric acid using cerium(IV) sulfate as the oxidant at mole ratios of oxidant-to-monomer ranging from 0.5 to 3. The yields of the oxidation products were determined, and the samples were characterized with respect to their elemental composition, molecular structure, and morphology. The conductivity of polypyrrole prepared in 0.1 M sulfuric acid, 10^?1 to 10⁰ S cm^?1, was higher compared with the conductivity of polyaniline prepared under the same conditions, 10^?3 to 10^?1 S cm^?1. The loss of mass after deprotonation with ammonium hydroxide is reported, and discussed in terms of the type of protonation as also reflected by FTIR spectroscopy. The conductivity of polypyrrole bases remained at relatively high level, 10^?5 to 10^?3 S cm^?1, while PANI bases became non-conducting, 10^?12 to 10^?10 S cm^?1. The polymers had a granular morphology in all cases.     

Review of adaptation mechanisms for data-driven soft sensors

In this article, we review and discuss algorithms for adaptive data-driven soft sensing. In order to be able to provide a comprehensive overview of the adaptation techniques, adaptive soft sensing methods are reviewed from the perspective of machine learning theory for adaptive learning systems. In particular, the concept drift theory is exploited to classify the algorithms into three different types, which are: (i) moving windows techniques; (ii) recursive adaptation techniques; and (iii) ensemble-based methods. The most significant algorithms are described in some detail and critically reviewed in this work. We also provide a comprehensive list of publications where adaptive soft sensors were proposed and applied to practical problems. Furthermore in order to enable the comparison of different methods to standard soft sensor applications, a list of publicly available data sets for the development of data-driven soft sensors is presented.     

Partition coefficients of environmentally important phenols in a supercritical carbon dioxide-water system from cocurrent extraction without analysis of the compressible phase

Partition coefficients of phenol, salicylic acid, and several environmentally important chloro- and nitrophenols in a supercritical CO2-water system were measured using direct cocurrent extraction of aqueous solutions of the individual solutes with CO2. Partitioning data on the nitrophenols and salicylic acid were obtained for the first time. To bypass the troublesome and error-prone analysis of the CO2-rich phase, the present method employed only the solute concentrations in the aqueous phase before and after extraction to determine the partition coefficient. Unlike most previous engineering studies of phenol partitioning in a CO2-water system, the concentrations of phenolic solutes approached infinite dilution in both phases. This makes the results relevant to analytical-scale SFE of environmental water samples with CO2. Because of effective infinite dilution of the solutes, the partition coefficients provide a direct measure of relative CO2-philicity/hydrophilicity of the individual phenols. Compared to the octanol-water partition coefficients of substituted phenols, the CO2-water partition coefficients are more sensitive to substitution in the position neighboring the hydroxyl group.     

A new wavelet-based measure of image focus

We present a new measure of image focus. It is based on wavelet transform of the image and is defined as a ratio of high-pass band and low-pass band norms. We show this measure is monotonic with respect to the degree of defocusation and sufficiently robust. We experimentally illustrate its performance on simulated as well as real data and compare it with existing focus measures (gray-level variance and energy of Laplacian). Finally, an application of the new measure in astronomical imaging is shown.     

Analysis of the reaction mechanism and substrate specificity of haloalkane dehalogenases by sequential and structural comparisons

Haloalkane dehalogenases catalyse environmentally importantdehalogenation reactions. These microbial enzymes representobjects of interest for protein engineering studies, attemptingto improve their catalytic efficiency or broaden their substratespecificity towards environmental pollutants. This paper presentsthe results of a comparative study of haloalkane dehalogenasesoriginating from different organisms. Protein sequences andthe models of tertiary structures of haloalkane dehalogenaseswere compared to investigate the protein fold, reaction mechanismand substrate specificity of these enzymes. Haloalkane dehalogenasescontain the structural motifs of /ß-hydrolases and epoxidaseswithin their sequences. They contain a catalytic triad withtwo different topological arrangements. The presence of a structurallyconserved oxyanion hole suggests the two-step reaction mechanismpreviously described for haloalkane dehalogenase from Xanthobacterautotrophicus GJ10. The differences in substrate specificityof haloalkane dehalogenases originating from different speciesmight be related to the size and geometry of an active siteand its entrance and the efficiency of the transition stateand halide ion stabilization by active site residues. Structurallyconserved motifs identified within the sequences can be usedfor the design of specific primers for the experimental screeningof haloalkane dehalogenases. Those amino acids which were predictedto be functionally important represent possible targets forfuture site-directed mutagenesis experiments.