Relation between hydrodynamics and drop size distributions in pump–mix mixer

In the present work, experiments have been carried out to measure the drop size distributions in a pump–mix mixer over a wide range of geometry and operating conditions. The effects of impeller type, (single and multiple impellers), impeller speed, location, phase flow rates, and interfacial tension have been investigated. Computational fluid dynamics model has been developed to predict the hydrodynamic characteristics of pump–mix mixers. Population balance modeling has been carried out to predict the drop size distributions. The hydrodynamic characteristics predicted through CFD simulations have been related to the drop size distributions. The role of convection and energy dissipation in influencing the drop size distributions has been elucidated.     

Physico-mechanical,rheological and gas barrier properties of organoclay and inorganic phyllosilicate reinforced thermoplastic films

Insertion of 2:1 organo-modified phyllosilicate tactoids into rheologically tough thermoplastics has extraordinary potential candidate in oxygen permeability and microstructural toughening. Herein, two commercially abundant clays have been taken for improvement of the thermoplastic's gas barrier property in reasonably low loading. The cause of low loading has been accounted to the usage of maleated polyethylene (MA-g-PE) during the melt mixing tenure. The optimized nanocomposite compression molded film has been tested against uniaxial stretching, which showed a negligible change in the residual permanent set with sacrificing the elongation at break feature. Moreover, nanoindentation was also performed to get the hardness of the sample surface. The flow behavior of the nanocomposites showed thixotropic likely with increasing the frequency. Oxygen transmission rate (OTR) has significantly decreased for tallow amine-modified nanoclay system (cloisite 15A) in comparison to cloisite Na⁺ providing 'tortoise path' formation inside the matrix. Thus, hitherto, the work could demonstrate and provide the information of comparative studies between organo-clay and simple phyllosilicates, which could be remediation of the loopholes in mechanical toughening and gas barrier lineaments.     

Tuning the particle size and charge density of the crosslinked polystyrene particles

We report the synthesis of charged spherical colloidal particles of poly [styrene‐(co‐2‐propene sulfonic acid)] crosslinked with divinylbenzene by emulsion polymerization. The effects of concentration of both the emulsifier and initiator on the polymerization, particle size, and charge density are studied. The particle size is found to be dependent on both the emulsifier and initiator concentration and their power dependencies are different. Below critical micelle concentration (CMC), the particle size varies significantly within a small range of emulsifier concentration. In contrast, particle size decrease is not very pronounced at the heterogeneous (micellar) particle nucleation regime where the emulsifier concentration is well above of the CMC. The power dependencies of the number of particles on surfactant concentration are explained in the light of conversion–time profile of the polymerization. The surface charge density of the colloidal particles also varies with both the emulsifier and initiator concentration. Both the particle size and charge density show an inverse relation with the molecular weight of the polymer. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008     

Polycondensation of structurally divergent tetraamine monomers with dicarboxylic acids to synthesize polybenzimidazole copolymers for polymer electrolyte membranes

In our effort to promote 2,6‐bis(3,4‐diaminophenyl)‐4‐phenylpyridine (Py‐TAB) as an alternative tetraamine monomer to conventionally used 3,3′,4,4′‐tetraaminobiphenyl (TAB) for synthesizing readily processable pyridine bridged polybenzimidazoles (Py‐PBIs), two series of random copolymers (PBI‐co‐Py‐PBI) were synthesized by polymerizing Py‐TAB and TAB with isophthalic acid or terephthalic acid to produce meta (mPBI‐co‐mPy‐PBI) and para (pPBI‐co‐pPy‐PBI) connected copolymers, respectively. For the first time in the PBI literature, copolymers were synthesized by varying the relative compositions of tetraamines (TAB and Py‐TAB) in the polymerization feed with a single dicarboxylic acid (DCA) instead of the traditionally used method where two DCAs with variable compositions were polymerized with a single tetraamine. The solubility and hence the processability of the copolymers were improved significantly upon introduction of Py‐PBI in the copolymer. The detailed characterizations of both meta and para series copolymers compellingly established that thermal, chemical and mechanical stabilities can be easily modulated according to need by altering the relative compositions of PBI and Py‐PBI. The phosphoric acid (PA) loading of the copolymers increased gradually with increasing Py‐PBI content since the bulky pyridine moiety facilitated the absorption of PA. The presence of pyridine functionality and a larger PA loading caused a higher proton conductivity of PA doped copolymer membranes. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry     

Predicting electroless Ni–Co–P coating using response surface method

Electroless Ni–Co–P coating has been studied considering pure copper (99.99 %) as a substrate material. The deposited mass per unit area of the substrate has been considered as the response variable. The individual as well as combined effects of the process parameters on the response variable has been studied. The bath temperature and the interaction of cobalt source concentration and reducing agent concentration have been found to be significant through regression analysis and Student's t test. Mathematical modelling has been carried out using a second-order response surface model with central composite design to take into account the effect of curvature in the predicted response. The equation for response surface has been determined using MATLAB software package. The response surface plots show that the rate of deposition increases significantly with the rise in temperature while the cobalt source concentration and reducing agent concentration have an interactive effect which influences the rate of deposition. The test of reliability for the predicting response surface equation shows that the equation gives an excellent fitting to the observed values.     

An overview on marine anti-allergic active substances for alleviating food-induced allergy

Abstract

Food provides energy and various nutrients and is the most important substance for the survival of living beings. However, for allergic people, certain foods cause strong reactions, and sometimes even cause shock or death. Food allergy has been recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a major global food safety issue which affect the quality of life of nearly 5% of adults and 8% of children, and the incidence continues to rise but there is no effective cure. Drug alleviation methods for food allergies often have shortcomings such as side effects, poor safety, and high cost. At present, domestic and foreign scientists have turned to research and develop various new, safe and efficient natural sources of hypoallergenic or anti-allergic drugs or foods. There are many kinds of anti-allergic substances obtained from the plants and animals have been reported. Besides, probiotics and bifidobacteria also have certain anti-allergic effects. Of all the sources of anti-allergic substances, the ocean is rich in effective active substances due to its remarkable biodiversity and extremely complex living environment, and plays a huge role in the field of anti-food allergy. In this paper, the anti-food allergic bioactive substances isolated from marine organisms encompassing marine microbial, plant, animal sources and their mechanism were reviewed and the possible targets of anti-allergic substances exerting effects are illustrated by drawing. In addition, the development prospects of marine anti-allergic market are discussed and forecasted, which can provide reference for future research on anti-allergic substances.     

Enhanced hydrogen evolution reaction on highly stable titania‐supported PdO and Eu2O3 nanocomposites in a strong alkaline solution

In this work, PdO/TiO₂ and Eu₂O₃/TiO₂ nanocomposites (NCs) were synthesized using a new facile, template‐free, and one‐step solvothermal approach and characterized by several instrumentation techniques. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies revealed the presence of oxidized form of the Pd and Eu nanoparticles within the NC materials (PdO and Eu₂O₃). The two catalysts exhibited remarkable activity for the hydrogen evaluation reaction (HER) in a strong alkaline solution (4.0 M NaOH) with PdO/TiO₂ catalyst being the best, which recorded an exchange current density (j_o) of 0.26 mA cm^?2 and a Tafel slope (β_c) of 125 mV dec^?1. Such parameters are not far from those recorded for a commercial Pt/C catalyst (0.71 mA cm^?2 and 120 mV dec^?1) performed here under the same operating conditions. Eu₂O₃/TiO₂ catalyst recorded j_o and β_c values of 0.05 mA cm^?2 and 135 mV dec^?1. The Tafel slopes 125 and 135 mV dec^?1 calculated on the PdO/TiO₂ and Eu₂O₃/TiO₂ catalysts suggest a HER kinetics controlled by the Volmer step. PdO/TiO₂ catalyzed the HER with a high turnover frequency of 2.3 H₂/s at 0.2 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode, while Eu₂O₃/TiO₂ catalyst only measured a turnover frequency value of 1.25 H₂/s at the same overpotential. The two catalysts exhibited excellent stability and durability after 10 000 cycles and 72 hours of controlled potential electrolysis at a high cathodic overpotential, reflecting their practical applicability. Scanning electron microscope and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy examinations revealed that the morphology and chemistry of both catalysts were not altered as a result of the performed long‐term stability and durability tests.     

Development and Integration of a Data Acquisition System for SST-1 Phase-1 Plasma Diagnostics

Long pulse(of the order of 1000 s or more) SST-1 tokamak experiments demand a data acquisition system that is capable of acquiring data from various diagnostics channels without losing useful data(and hence physics information) while avoiding unnecessary generation of a large volume data.SST-1 Phase-1 tokamak operation has been envisaged with data acquisition of several essential diagnostics channels.These channels demand data acquisition at a sampling rate ranging from 1 kilo samples per second(KSPS) to 1 mega samples per second(MSPS).Considering the technical characteristics and requirements of the diagnostics,a data acquisition system based on PXI and CAMAC has been developed for SST-1 plasma diagnostics.Both these data acquisition systems are scalable.Present data acquisition needs involving slow plasma diagnostics are catered by the PXI based data acquisition system.On the other hand,CAMAC data acquisition hardware meets all requirements of the SST-1 Phase-1 fast plasma diagnostics channels.A graphical user interface for both data acquisition systems(PXI and CAMAC) has been developed using LabVIEW application development software.The collected data on the local hard disk are directly streaming to the central server through a dedicated network for post-shot data analysis.This paper describes the development and integration of the data acquisition system for SST-1 Phase-1 plasma diagnostics.The integrated testing of the developed data acquisition system has been performed using SST-1 central control and diagnostics signal conditioning units.In the absence of plasma shots,the integrated testing of the data acquisition system for the initial diagnostics of SST-1 Phase-1 operation has been performed with simulated physical signals.The primary engineering objective of this integrated testing is to validate the performance of the developed data acquisition system under simulated conditions close to that of actual tokamak operation.The data acquisition is synchronized with a clock and trigger provided by the central timing system.