Adhesion to Sodium Naphthalenide Treated Fluoropolymers. Part II. Effects of Treatment Conditions and Fluoropolymer Structure

Films of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) and perfluorinated copolymers (PFA and FEP), with a range of fabrication histories, were exposed to sodium naphthalenide (Na/naphth) etchant so as to defluorinate the surface for improved wettability, and hence adhesion. The depth of defluorination was measured gravimetrically and the nature of the chemical functionalities determined spectroscopically. For smooth films, the fluoropolymer type and crystallinity had little effect on the defluorination process. Surface area was the major variable affecting defluorination rate, although the presence of surface defects and deformation in skived films also increased the rate of defluorination. For all but the skived PTFE, there was little change in surface texture either after defluorination or subsequent stripping of the defluorinated layer by an acid etch. Acid stripping of the defluorinated layer on skived PTFE left a porous surface texture. The chemical nature of the surface could be changed by modifying the post-etch treatment of the specimen, for example by modifying the rinse procedure and the storage history of the specimen before the adhesive bond is made.     

Molybdate inhibition of environmental fatigue crack propagation in Al–Zn–Mg–Cu

effectively inhibits environmentally assisted fatigue crack propagation in 7075-T651 stressed during full immersion in low-chloride solution, as understood by hydrogen environment embrittlement and film rupture where -enhanced passivity reduces H production and uptake due to reduced crack hydrolysis, buffered pH, and a diffusion-barrier film. Inhibition is governed by the balance between crack tip strain rate and repassivation kinetics which establish the stability of the passive film. Inhibition is promoted by reduced loading frequency, reduced stress intensity range, increased crack tip concentration, and potentials at or anodic to free corrosion. The inhibiting effect of parallels that of , but molybdate effectiveness is shifted to a lower frequency regime suggesting the Al_xMo_yO_z passive film is less stable against crack tip deformation. For high R loading at sufficiently low frequencies fully inhibits EFCP, quantified by reduced crack growth rate to that typical of ultra-high vacuum, reduction in crack surface facets typical of hydrogen embrittlement, and crack arrest. Chromate did not produce such complete inhibition. Methods exist to incorporate molybdate or Mo in self-healing coating systems, but the complex effects of mechanical and electrochemical variables must be understood for reliable-quantitative fatigue performance enhancement.     

Quantifying alignment in carbon nanotube yarns and similar two-dimensional anisotropic systems

The uniaxial orientational order in a macromolecular system is usually specified using the Hermans factor which is equivalent to the second moment of the system's orientation distribution function (ODF) expanded in terms of Legendre polynomials. In this work, we show that for aligned materials that are two-dimensional (2D) or have a measurable 2D intensity distribution, such as carbon nanotube (CNT) textiles, the Hermans factor is not appropriate. The ODF must be expanded in terms of Chebyshev polynomials and therefore, its second moment is a better measure of orientation in 2D. We also demonstrate that both orientation parameters (Hermans in three dimensional (3D) and Chebyshev in 2D) depend not only on the respective full-width-at-half-maximum of the peaks in the ODF but also on the shape of the fitted functions. Most importantly, we demonstrate a method to rapidly estimate the Chebyshev orientation parameter from a sample's 2D Fourier power spectrum, using an analysis program written in Python which is available for open access. As validation examples, we use digital photographs of dry spaghetti as well as scanning electron microscopy images of direct-spun carbon nanotube fibers, proving the technique's applicability to a wide variety of fibers and images.     

Limitations of the lumped model for in‐tube laminar forced convection interacting with cross forced convection flows

The short communication addresses forced convection heat transfer of a viscous fluid flowing in a tube with fully developed laminar velocity and uniform entrance temperature that exchanges heat convection with a surrounding fluid. The idea is to implement the lumped model following the footsteps of the potent lumped model within unsteady heat conduction, instead of the differential model. The computed mean bulk temperatures of the viscous fluid expressed by a simple exponential function agrees well with the baseline numerical mean bulk temperatures when the internal fluid is air, water or crude oil and the external fluid is air for small values of the modified Biot numbers and maximum Reynolds numbers are satisfied.     

Visual event-related potentials in schizotypal personality disorder and schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia (SZ) occurs among a spectrum of disorders with similar characteristics, including schizotypal personality disorder (SPD). Visual processing disturbances have been reported in both disorders, but it is not yet clear which processes are disturbed in both SZ and SPD, suggestive of a common endophenotype, and which appear only in SZ. In order to address this question, the authors evaluated visual event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited during a line-orientation discrimination task in control, SPD, and SZ participants. Visual ERPs allow specification of both the time course and physiological correlates of visual perception and cognition. SZ patients had smaller P100 and P300a amplitudes and prolonged P300b latency compared to the control group. SZ patients also had smaller N160, N200, P300a, and P300b amplitudes compared to the SPD group. SPD participants did not differ from control participants on any ERP measure. These data documented pervasive abnormalities in visual perception and attention in SZ but not in SPD, suggesting that these visual ERP disturbances may not represent a common endophenotype. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)