Effects of potential and heat treatment on phase transition of alumina dielectric layer

The characteristics and growth behaviors of alumina dielectric layer formed by anodic oxidation were investigated. The aluminum oxide layer anodized at 400 V was predominantly amorphous alumina, but at the applied potentials more than 500 V, amorphous and crystalline γ-alumina were existed in anodic oxide layer and the ratio of γ-alumina increased with the increasing applied potential. During the heat treatment at 600^°C or higher temperature, amorphous alumina layer was transformed into the crystalline γ-alumina. The phase transition of anodic amorphous alumina into crystalline depends on anodic applied potentials and heat-treatment temperatures.     

Synthesis and characterization of a novel proton‐exchange membrane for fuel cells operating at high temperatures and low humidities

The synthesis of a p‐toluidine/formaldehyde (PTF) resin was performed, and the effects of the molar ratio of the individual monomers and the polymerization conditions on the structure of the PTF resin were studied. Fourier transform infrared and ¹³C‐NMR spectra were used to characterize the PTF. Wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction patterns revealed the crystalline structures of various PTFs. Polarized optical microscopy revealed that the molar ratio of the monomers had a strong effect on the crystalline morphologies. A longer polymerization time turned out a polymer with a higher intrinsic viscosity and molecular weight, which led to differences in the proton conductivity. All of the PTFs showed a higher proton conductivity than a commercial Nafion membrane at 90–100°C and 0% relative humidity. The proton conductivity of the PTF series could be improved by sulfonation with sulfuric acid and could be maintained after blending with polyurethane. Pure methanol could be used as a fuel source because of the insolubility and nonwetting properties of PTF in methanol to increase the output current density for a PTF membrane electrode assembly. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2008     

Scaling laws and internal structure for characterizing electrospun poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate] fibers

Using chloroform/dimethylformamide (CF/DMF) co-solvent, electrospinning of poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutyrate] (PHB) solutions was carried out at ambient temperature. The effects of the applied voltage (V), flow-rate (Q), and solution viscoelastic properties on the Taylor cone, electrified jet, and fiber morphology were investigated. In addition, the electric field developed by the needle-plate electrode configuration was calculated using a finite element analysis to reveal the tip-to-collector (H) effect. Among the processing parameters (V, Q and H), it was found that Q played a key role in determining the jet diameter (d_j) and electrospun fiber diameter (d_f), and scaling laws existed between them, i.e., d_j-Q^0.61 and d_f-Q^0.33. The diameter reduction ratios of D_o/d_j (D_o is the needle diameter) and d_j/d_f were measured as 50-120 and 5-10, respectively; it suggested that major jet stretching took place in the straight electrified jet region, and further chain orientation could be gained by the subsequent process of jet whipping. By changing PHB concentrations from 5 to 15 wt%, the solution viscosity (η_o) was increased from 100 to 4900 cP, whereas the surface tension and solution conductivity remained unchanged; it provided a good model solution to exclusively reveal the η_o effect on the electrospinning process. Our results showed that the η_o-dependence of d_j and d_f also followed simple scaling laws: d_j-η_o^0.06, and d_f-η_o^0.39, with a prefactor depending on the processing variables, mainly the flow-rate. Regardless of the PHB concentrations used, the obtained PHB fibers showed a similar crystallinity fraction of ca. 0.63 and possession of major α-crystals together with a small amount of β-crystals with zigzag chain conformation.     

The effect of ionic interaction on the miscibility and crystallization behaviors of poly(ethylene glycol)/poly(L‐lactic acid) blends

The effect of end groups (2NH₂) of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) on the miscibility and crystallization behaviors of binary crystalline blends of PEG/poly(L ‐lactic acid) (PLLA) were investigated. The results of conductivity meter and dielectric analyzer (DEA) implied the existence of ions, which could be explained by the amine groups of PEG gaining the protons from the carboxylic acid groups of PLLA. The miscibility of PEG(2NH₂)/PLLA blends was the best because of the ionic interaction as compared with PEG(2OH, 1OH‐1CH₃, and 2CH₃)/PLLA blends. Since the ionic interaction formed only at the chain ends of PEG(2NH₂) and PLLA, unlike hydrogen bonds forming at various sites along the chains in the other PEG/PLLA blend systems, the folding of PLLA blended with PEG(2NH₂) was affected in a different manner. Thus the fold surface free energy played an important role on the crystallization rate of PLLA for the PEG(2NH₂)/PLLA blend system. PLLA had the least fold surface free energy and the fast crystallization rate in the PEG(2NH₂)/PLLA blend system, among all the PEG/PLLA systems studied. © 2008 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     

Prediction of the effects on dynamic response due to distributed structural modification with additional degrees of freedom

The aim of this study is to investigate means of efficiently assessing the effects of distributed structural modification on the dynamic properties of a complex structure. The dynamic properties of the modified structure can be determined by experimental testing or numerical simulation, both of which are complex, expensive and time-consuming. Assuming that the original dynamic characteristics are already established and that the modification is a relatively simple attachment, the modified dynamic properties may be determined numerically without solving the equations of motion of the full-modified structure. The frequency response functions (FRFs) of the modified structure can be computed by coupling the original FRFs and a delta dynamic stiffness matrix for the modification introduced. The validity of this approach is investigated by applying it to a cantilever beam to which a smaller beam is attached as modification. The original FRFs were obtained experimentally as well as numerically. The delta dynamic stiffness matrix was determined numerically by modeling the attachment and part of the original structure including the attachment points. The FRFs of the modified beam were then computed. Good agreement is obtained by comparing the results to the FRFs of the modified beam determined experimentally as well as by numerical modeling of the complete modified structure.     

Tri-amelia and phocomelia with multiple malformations resembling Roberts syndrome in a fetus: is it a variant or a new syndrome?

An initial Bentall operation was performed on a patient aged 38 years with annuloaortic ectasia and aortic regurgitation. An echocardiogram and RI angiogram revealed a perigraft aortic aneurysm on the same patient aged 45 years. The aneurysm gradually developed and the maximum diameter reached 90 mm in size. The Redo-Bentall operation (Piehler modification) was successfully done once again on the same patient aged 56 years. The anastmosis between the right coronary orifice and the graft was detached on all sides. The anastmosis between the left coronary orifice and the graft was detached two thirds of all sides.     

Electron transfer by domain movement in cytochrome bc1

The cytochrome bc1 is one of the three major respiratory enzyme complexes residing in the inner mitochondrial membrane. Cytochrome bc1 transfers electrons from ubiquinol to cytochrome c and uses the energy thus released to form an electrochemical gradient across the inner membrane. Our X-ray crystal structures of the complex from chicken, cow and rabbit in both the presence and absence of inhibitors of quinone oxidation, reveal two different locations for the extrinsic domain of one component of the enzyme, an iron-sulphur protein. One location is close enough to the supposed quinol oxidation site to allow reduction of the Fe-S protein by ubiquinol. The other site is close enough to cytochrome c1 to allow oxidation of the Fe-S protein by the cytochrome. As neither location will allow both reactions to proceed at a suitable rate, the reaction mechanism must involve movement of the extrinsic domain of the Fe-S component in order to shuttle electrons from ubiquinol to cytochrome c1. Such a mechanism has not previously been observed in redox protein complexes.     

Optimal Conditions for Preparing Ultra-Fine CeO2 Powders in A Submerged Circulative Impinging Stream Reactor

Cerium carbonate powders were produced in a submerged circulation impinging stream reactor (SCISR) from Ce(NO3)3·6H2O. NH4HCO3 was used as a precipitant in the reaction. Cerium carbonate powders were roasted to produce ultra-fine cerium dioxide (CeO2) powders. The optimal conditions of such production process were obtained by orthogonal and one-factor experiments. The results showed that ultra-fine and narrowly distributed cerium carbonate powders were produced under the optimal flowing conditions. The concentrations of Ce(NO3)3 and NH4HCO3 solutions were 0.25 and 0.3 mol·L-1, respectively. The concentration of PEG4000 added in these two solutions was 4 g·L-1. The stirring ratio, reaction temperature, feeding time, solution pH, reaction time and digestion time were 900 r·min-1, 80 ℃, 20 min, 5～6, 5 min and 1 h, respectively. The final product, CeO2 powders, was obtained by roasting the produced cerium carbonate in air for 3 h at 500 ℃. The finally produced CeO2 powders were torispherical particles with a narrow size distribution of 0.8～2.5 μm. The crystal structure of CeO2 powders belonged to cubic crystal system and its space point group was O5H-FM3M. Under optimal conditions, powders produced by SCISR were finer and more narrowly distributed than that by Stirred Tank Reactor (STR).