CONTRACTION CHARAClFRlSTlCS OF MOLDED CERAMICS DURING DRYING

ABSTRACT

The characteristics of drvine and contraction (shrinkage) of molded ceramics were expenmentally studied to clarify the effects of drying conditions on contraction behaviors or deformation during drying processes. Mikawa-Shanshu clay molded into spheres or slabs was used as a sample which underwent convective drying by hot air.

Three periods of preheating, constanl rate and falling rate existed, and the contraction was observed mainly in the preheating and constanl rate periods for all samples. It is also observed that the behavior of ihe contraction of molded clay is inflienced significantly by drying conditions. The higher drying rate makes the contraction of clay more remarkable in the preheating and constant rate periods. This behavior could not be explained from the difference of the moisture content distribution among runs. However, it is suggested that the inside parts of molded ceramics may be subjected to the strong compressional stresses and the strain-stress in the sample would Influence the contraction behavior when he gradient of moisture content distribution becomes steeper with increase in the drying rate.     

Characteristic diagrams of coal-derived liquids: the correlation between aromaticity and atomic HC ratios

Characteristic diagrams, which are very useful in studies of the reaction pathways in coal liquefaction processes and to characterize coal-derived materials, are presented. Using model compounds, aromatic carbon fraction, f_a, and aromatic proton fraction, f_aH, are plotted against atomic $\text{H}\text{C}$ ratio. The experimental results of an anthracene oil and its hydrogenated oils are plotted on these diagrams, and the usage and the validity of the charts are verified.     

Identification of Host Fruit Volatiles from Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida) Attractive to Dogwood-Origin Rhagoletis pomonella Flies

Solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography coupled with electroantennographic detection were used to identify volatiles from fruit of flowering dogwood, Cornus florida, as key attractants for Rhagoletis pomonella flies originating from dogwood fruit. A six-component blend containing ethyl acetate (54.9%), 3-methylbutan-1-ol (27.5%), isoamyl acetate (0.9%), dimethyl trisulfide (1.9%), 1-octen-3-ol (9.1%), and -caryophyllene (5.8%) was identified from flowering dogwood fruit that gave consistent EAD activity. In a flight tunnel assay there was no significant difference in the response of individual dogwood flies exhibiting upwind anemotactic flight to volatile extracts from dogwood fruit and the six-component synthetic mixture. Dogwood flies also displayed significantly greater levels of upwind flight to sources with the dogwood volatile blend than with previously identified volatile blends from domestic apple or hawthorn fruit. Selected subtraction assays showed that the three-component mixture of 3-methylbutan-1-ol, 1-octen-3-ol, and -caryophyllene elicited levels of upwind flight to the source equivalent to the six-component mixture. Our study adds to previous ones showing that populations of Rhagoletis pomonella flies infesting apple, hawthorn, and flowering dogwood fruit are attracted to unique mixtures of fruit volatiles, supporting the hypothesis that host fruit odors could be key traits in sympatric host shifts and establishing host fidelity within members of the Rhagoletis pomonella species complex.     

Photocatalytic O2 evolution under visible light irradiation on BiVO4 in aqueous AgNO3 solution

BiVO₄ with a 2.3 eV band gap showed an activity for O₂ evolution from aqueous solutions containing Ag⁺ as an electron scavenger under visible light irradiation (λ > 520 nm). The quantum yield was 0.5% at 450 nm. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Designs that surpass imagination are born from discomfort outside the knowledge domain

Analyzing the mind process of industrial designers led to hypotheses that industrial design (1) not only involves defining artistic appearance but also builds on concepts derived from voice of customer and establishes independent functional requirements, and (2) does not just meet the customer expectation with conventional forms but defines products that surpass the customer imagination by starting from discomfort outside the knowledge domain. Our analysis of 475 products that won Japan's Good Design Award revealed that 39% of them are designed from the expressed functional requirements, 20% surpassed people's imagination, and 67% of the latter came out from negative discomfort.     

4-Oxo-2-nonenal as a pro-oxidant during the autoxidation of methyl linoleate in bulk phase

The effect of aldehydic lipid peroxidation products on the autoxidation of methyl linoleate (MeL) was studied at 60 °C in bulk phase. Addition of 4-oxo-2-nonenal (ONE) to MeL accelerated the formation of MeL hydroperoxides. Other tested aldehydes showed no effect on the rate of MeL autoxidation. The pro-oxidative effect of ONE disappeared when pre-existing peroxides and transition metals were removed from MeL. Further addition of ferric ion to the peroxide- and metal-free MeL recovered its pro-oxidative effect. ONE reduced ferric ion to ferrous ion effectively. Furthermore, it had a chelating ability with ferrous ion. The results suggest that the pro-oxidative effect of ONE is due to its ability to reduce transition metals and to chelate the reduced form of metal ions. Thus, ONE could accelerate the metal-dependent lipid peroxidation.     

Facile orientation of unmodified BN nanosheets in polysiloxane/BN composite films using a high magnetic field

Composite films consisting of highly oriented boron nitride (BN) nanosheets in polysiloxane were fabricated without modifying the BN surface by applying a high magnetic field generated by a superconducting magnet. The hexagonal BN nanosheets were dispersed by sonication in a prepolymer mixture of polysiloxane. The homogeneous suspension was then cast on a polyamide spacer of microscale thickness and a magnetic field was applied before the mixture became crosslinked. The BN nanosheets in the polysiloxane were aligned with high anisotropy either parallel or perpendicular to the composite film plane depending on the magnetic flux direction. The fabricated composite films exhibited enhanced thermal conductivity by controlling the anisotropy of the BN nanosheets in the film. The mechanisms for rotation of BN nanosheets and heat diffusion across the composite film are discussed.     

Analysis of creep behavior in thermoplastics based on visco-elastic theory

Plastics and fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP) are used in the aerospace industry because of their mechanical properties. However, despite their excellent high-temperature mechanical properties, plastics and FRP eventually deform visco-elastically at high temperatures. Most of the research has focused on the creep behavior of FRPs, but few studies have investigated the linear visco-elastic behavior. Linear visco-elastic behavior and non-linear visco-elastic behavior occur with physical aging in these plastics. In this study, the non-linear visco-elastic behavior of plastics and FRP was investigated based on the bending creep deformation of polycarbonate (PC) and polyoxymethylene (POM). Moreover, the effects of the fiber volume fraction on the creep characteristics were investigated using glass fiber-reinforced polycarbonate (GFRPC). The creep deformation was calculated using the linear visco-elastic theory based on these effects, and comparison between experimental and estimated data showed that the creep analysis sufficiently predicted the creep behavior.     

Posets with seven linear extensions sortable by three comparisons

If every relation in a partial order also holds in a total order, then the total order is called linear extension of the partial order. The number of linear extensions is closely related with the number of minimum comparisons to sort the poset (D.E. Knuth, Sorting and Searching, 2nd ed., The Art of Computer Programming, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1998) [5]. We show that three comparisons suffice to sort any poset having seven linear extensions, and this result may speed up exhaustive computation to derive the lower bound of the minimum number of comparisons in sorting.