Sheet molding compound characterization using spiral flow

Sheet molding compound (SMC) is a fiber‐reinforced polymeric composite. It is often used in automotive, marine, and industrial applications over other materials because of its high strength to density ratio, resistance to corrosion, and low cost. There is a demand in the SMC industry to be able to characterize SMC processability. This is particularly true for heavy truck body panels, one of the fastest growing applications of SMC. Because of their large size and high strength requirement, the molding forces have a major influence in the molding cycle. Also because of the long flow paths involved, the ability of the paste to carry glass needs to be properly characterized when developing new SMC materials. In this article, we demonstrate the benefits of using spiral flow as a processability tester. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Polysaccharide‐based artificial extracellular matrix: Preparation and characterization of three‐dimensional,macroporous chitosan,and heparin composite scaffold

Scaffold‐guided tissue engineering based on synthetic and natural occurring polymers has gained many interests in recent year. In this study, the development of a chitosan‐heparin artificial extracellular matrix (AECM) is reported. Three‐dimensional, macroporous composite AECMs composed of heparin (Hep) and chitosan (Chito) were prepared by an interpolyelectrolyte complex/lyophilization method. The Chito‐Hep composite AECMs were, respectively, crosslinked with glutaraldehyde, as well as cocrosslinked with N,N‐(3‐dimethylaminopropyl)‐N′‐ethyl carbodiimide (EDC/NHS) and N‐hydroxysuccinimide (NHS). The crosslinking reactions were examined by FT‐IR analysis. In physiological buffer solution (PBS), the EDC/NHS‐crosslinked Chito‐Hep composite AECM showed a relative lower water retention ratio than its glutaraldehyde‐crosslinked counterparts. The EDC/NHS‐crosslinked Chito‐Hep composite AECMs showed excellent biocompatibility, according to the results of the in vitro cytotoxic test. This result suggested that the EDC/NHS‐crosslinked Chito‐Hep composite AECMs might be a potential biomaterial for scaffold‐guided tissue engineering applications. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Dynamic photorheological analysis of photopolymerizable urethane dimethacrylate resins with varying diluent content and light fluence

The in situ measurement of dynamic changes in viscosity induced by illumination has been performed on a range of photosensitive urethane dimethacrylates (UDMA) evaluating the response at three different illuminations intensities (1, 2, and 5 W cm^?2) and at three different diluent concentrations (15, 30, and 50%), using 1,6‐hexanediol dimethacrylate (HDDMA). The initial viscosity value ranged between 1 and 10 Pa s for the mixtures with final viscosities approaching 1 × 10⁷ Pa s after illumination. The initial rise in viscosity was analyzed using an exponential model with an exponent ranging from 1.0 to 2.5 with time under exposure. Higher conversion rates were observed with both higher intensity and lower HDDMA content. The analytical approach taken here could aid in developing more sophisticated models that consider simultaneous flow and cure advancement in other thermosets. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Effects and properties of poly(arylene ether benzonitrile)s of various molecular weights blended with sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone)

Poly(arylene ether benzonitrile) (PAEBN) was synthesized with 2,6‐dichlorobenzonitrile and biphenol. PAEBNs with various molecular weights (MWs), 1,640,000 and 185,000 g/mol, were synthesized by control of the stoichiometry of the monomers and were blended with sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone) (SPEEK). The effects of MW on the water uptake, swelling, methanol permeability, and proton conductivity of the SPEEK/PAEBN blend membranes were investigated. The molecular mobility of the SPEEK/PAEBN blends was also examined in this study. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Effect of electric field on the vapor-phase growth of carbon nanostructures

A mathematical model of dc gas discharge plasma has been developed in order to determine the electric field strength at a substrate surface during plasmachemical deposition of carbon nanostructures. A numerical solution of the model equations has been obtained using the experimentally determined boundary conditions and model parameters. A comparison of the solution to experiment confirms the adequacy of the proposed mathematical model, which provides the electric field profiles and the electron and ion density distributions near the substrate surface. Estimations show that, for carbon nanostructures with a characteristic size of about 30 nm, the electric field strength at the surface is sufficiently high to provide for their directional growth along the field.     

Heliumlecktestgeräte für die Qualitätsprüfung von Gehäusen für Vakuumverdichter

Helium leak test devices for the quality inspection of housings for vacuum compressors The well‐known and wide‐spread helium leak test method is a safe and fast quality testing method for construction units of any kind. Due to its safe examination and the short time of examination it is predominantly inserted into automated production lines as e.g. in the automobile supporting industry up to the examination by Airbags and rims of wheel. Likewise in addition, for the construction units, machines and devices of the vacuum engineering. From this the demand results simple and in particular economical devices for the helium leak test of construction units with small numbers of items of under 200 pieces per day. For these manufacturing profiles economical ways for the helium leak test are pointed out.