Binary blends of nylons with ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymers: Morphological,thermal, rheological,and mechanical behavior

Binary blends of ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymers, containing 62 (EVOH-62) and 71 (EVOH-71) mole percent vinyl alcohols, with nylons (nylon-6, nylon-6/12, and nylon-12) have been prepared from melt mixing in a twin screw compounding machine. Morphological, thermal, rheological, and mechanical properties were determined. EVOH-62/nylon-6 and EVOH-71/nylon-6 blends showed homogeneous phase morphologies in the nylon-6-rich region, and fine phase separations (c.a. 2 × 10^?7 m) in the EVOH-rich region. Melting point depression, positive deviations in viscosity and flexural modulus, and negative deviation in impact strength from the simple additive rule were generally observed. And the results were possibly interpreted in terms of compatibility and increased nylon/EVOH interactions over the nylon/nylon interactions. On the contrary, clean phase separations in large domains were observed from EVOH-71/nylon-6/12 and EVOH-71 /nylon-12 blends. Fibrillation was also obtained from EVOH rich blends. Probably due to the incompatible nature of these blends, yield at low rate of shear and a mechanical property drop were also observed.     

Exploration of unknown object by active touch of robot hand

This paper proposes a method of exploring the local shape of an unknown object using the force and torque information obtained from active touch. In the first, we present a method to estimate an unknown curvature, using rolling and sliding motion with a force/torque sensor attached to the fingertip of the hand. Then, the normal curvature equation from 2D curvatures is obtained. Finally we present a reconstruction algorithm of local geometry by using a normal curvature equation, which is composed of principal curvatures and principal directions. The method is tested by using a hand-arm system consisting of an industrial robot arm and an anthropomorphic robot hand with 6-axis force/torque sensor. The feasibility of the proposed method is experimentally validated for objects with simple geometries such as cylinder, spheres etc.     

Efficient verifiably encrypted signatures from lattices

Verifiably encrypted signature schemes can convince a verifier that a given ciphertext is an encryption of an ordinary signature on a given message and the ordinary signature can be recovered by the third party, called adjudicator. In 2010, Rückert et al. proposed a general construction for the verifiably encrypted signatures, and then, they also showed that there exist the lattice-based verifiably encrypted signature schemes. Their constructions are very insightful, but their schemes need an extra adjudication setup phase and Merkle trees, so they have large parameters and keys, that is, they are inefficient. Also, their schemes provide only the limited signature capacity because the signing keys should be reissued after generating \(k\) th verifiably encrypted signatures. To overcome the weaknesses of Rückert et al.’s scheme, we construct a verifiably encrypted signature scheme based on the hard lattice problems. Our scheme provides the full functionality, i.e., the signatures can be generated without any limitations and does not need any extra adjudication setup phases. Moreover, the size of the secret keys in our scheme is constant. Our scheme provides unforgeability, opacity, extractability, and abuse-freeness in the random oracle model.     

Molecular simulation of hydrogen adsorption in organic zeolite

The adsorption of molecular hydrogen on model zeolites has been simulated employing Grand Canonical Monte Carlo (GCMC) procedure. The effects of cation type, available volume, surface area, temperature, pressure and pre-adsorbed organics such as benzene on the hydrogen uptake are analyzed. The hydrogen adsorption can be affected mainly by the available volume and surface area per g-zeolite at the same temperature and pressure. Increase of temperature results in the decrease of sorption intensity and capacity. The adsorption capacity correlates well with the pressure with high linearity at room temperature. Adsorption is lowered by the pre-adsorbed benzene molecule. The orientation and the number of benzene molecule in zeolite affect the adsorption capacity. The organic zeolite with larger available volume shows larger adsorption capacity.     

Evaluation on steel bar corrosion embedded in antiwashout underwater concrete containing mineral admixtures

This study aims the evaluation of the corrosion of steel bar embedded in antiwashout underwater concrete, which has rather been neglected to date. To that goal, accelerated steel bar corrosion tests have been performed for three series of steel bar-reinforced antiwashout underwater concrete specimens manufactured with different admixtures and under different environments. The three series of antiwashout underwater concrete were: concrete constituted exclusively by ordinary portland cement (OPC), concrete composed by ordinary portland cement mixed with fly-ash in 20% ratio (FA20) and concrete with ground granulated blast furnace slag is mixed in 50% ratio (BFS50). And, the three different environments were: manufacture in the air, in tap water, and in artificial seawater.Measurement results using half-cell potential surveyor showed that, among all the specimens, steel bar in OPC manufactured in artificial seawater was the first one that exceeded the threshold value proposed by ASTM C 876 with a potential value below − 350 mV after 14 cycles. And, the corresponding corrosion current density and concentration of water soluble chloride were measured as 0.3 μA/cm² and 0.258%. On the other hand, for the other specimens that are FA20 and BFS50, potential values below − 350 mV were observed later at 18 and 20 cycles, respectively.Results confirmed the expectation that mineral admixtures may be more effective in delaying the development of steel bar corrosion in antiwashout underwater concrete.     

Development of density distributions in injection molded amorphous engineering plastics. Part I

The gapwise density distributions of the injection molded specimens of two engineering thermoplastics, i.e., poly(phenylene ether) and poly(ether imide), were characterized employing the density gradient column technique. The samples were molded using a 40t Van Dorn injection molding machine. The effects of the thermal history on the density distribution of unconstrained quenched specimens were also investigated. In addition, various material properties, such as pressure-volume-temperature, isothermal contraction, and pressure induced densification behavior were characterized, for the two resins employed in this study. The moldings of the two resins exhibited different trends in their density distributions. These findings were explained in terms of the competing effects of cooling rate and the pressure history experienced by the engineering plastic resins during the molding cycle. The data collected were also used as input to mathematical modeling of density distributions in injection molded articles, which is reported in Part II of this article.     

Preparation of porous thin films of a partially aliphatic polyimide

A thermally labile polymer, poly(propylene glycol), was modified to obtain PPG having an amino end group. PPG was incorporated into a partially aliphatic polyimide based on an alicyclic dianhydride, and this afforded triblock copolymers containing various amounts of PPG blocks. The thermal properties of the copolymers were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. The thermal decomposition of the PPG block in the copolymers was carried out at 240°C under various pressures to obtain porous polyimide films. The pores remained during the thermolysis under a reduced pressure of 710 mmHg, whereas they collapsed under (near) atmospheric pressure. The pore size increased as the amount of the PPG block in the copolymers increased. The dielectric constants of the porous polyimides varied from 2.60 to 2.42 with the original copolymer composition. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 101: 532–538, 2006     

Accurately determining eutectic compositions: The Sn-Ag-Cu ternary eutectic

Determining an accurate eutectic composition is more difficult than determining the corresponding eutectic temperature, a fact that was demonstrated in this study using a lead-free solder: the tin-rich Sn-Ag-Cu ternary eutectic. The solidification of this ternary eutectic involves the solid phases (Sn), Ag₃Sn, and Cu₆Sn₅. The liquid is prone to supercooling, the intermetallics have steep liquidus surfaces (small phase fractions), and the coupled zone of eutectic microstructure formation is shifted toward silver-rich and copper-rich compositions. These issues were overcome by a combination of methods: preliminary thermodynamic calculation of the ternary phase diagram to anticipate difficulties, increased sensitivity of the thermal analysis, and a cycled heating and cooling method. The experimentally determined composition of the ternary eutectic is Sn-3.58±0.05Ag-0.96±0.04Cu at 217.2±0.2°C. Author’s Note: Compositions in this paper are reported on a mass percent basis. The symbol (Sn) is used for the Sn phase to distinguish it from the element symbol Sn. For more information, contact K.-W. Moon, National Institute of Science and Technology, Metallurgy Division, Materials Science and Engineering Laboratory, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA; (301) 975-6148; fax (301) 975-4553; e-mail kil-won.moon@nist.gov.     

Superplastic deformation and crystallization behavior of Cu54Ni6Zr22Ti18 metallic-glass sheet

Superplastic deformation and crystallization behavior of a Cu₅₄Ni₆Zr₂₂Ti₁₈ metallic glass were investigated. A maximum elongation of 650% was obtained at 733 K at 1 × 10⁻² s⁻¹ from the sheet fabricated by squeeze copper-mold casting method. At low strain rates, the strain-rate-sensitivity exponent value was close to 1, suggesting that Newtonian-like behavior governed the plastic flow. At a high strain rate around 10⁻² s⁻¹, a transition from Newtonian to non-Newtonian behavior took place with decrease in m value. Large strain hardening by crystallization occurred during the course of deformation. The strain hardening was found to be caused by crystallization according to the analyses of the relation of true stress vs. testing time, T-T-T diagram and DSC characteristics. The time periods up to the strain before strain hardening at 733 K for the Cu₅₄Ni₆Zr₂₂Ti₁₈ metallic glass were similar to that of the Zr₆₅Al₁₀Ni₁₀Cu₁₅ metallic glass at 696 K as 180–300 s (3–5 min). This coincidence could be explained by comparison of their T-T-T diagrams showing that the incubation times for crystallization of the Cu BMG at 733 K and for Zr BMG at 696 K are similar.     

A study of tailored blank welding between mild steel sheet and zn-coated steel sheet by CO2 laser beam

Research was conducted on tailored blank welding between mild steel sheet and Zn-coated steel sheet using CO₂ laser beam. The materials used in this study were low carbon steel sheets with a thickness of 1.2 mm and Zn-coated steel sheet with the same thickness and 6.3 μm Zn coating. Experiments were conducted by applying the Taguchi method to obtain optimum conditions for the application of this tailored blank laser welding method in practical manufacturing processes. Optical microscopy, XRD, SEM and TEM analysis were performed to observe the microstructures and to determine the structures of welded zone. In addition, mechanical properties were measured by the microhardness test, tensile test and Erichsen test to evaluate the formability of the welded specimen. There was no trapped Zn in the fusion zone, and the phases of this region consisted of polygonal ferrite, quasi-polygonal ferrite, banitic ferrite and martensite. The elongation value of welded specimen was more than 80% of the value in substrate metal, and the LDH value was more than 90% of the value in substrate metal.