Application of Porous Glasses as Matrices for Nanocomposites

The use of matrices of different types makes it possible to prepare nanocomposites differing in the degree of ordering, the size and shape of structural units, their spatial distribution, and the type of contact between them. Porous glasses with controlled characteristics of pores can be used as matrices for nanocomposites. This provides a means for determining the basic parameters and the main properties of nanoclusters as a function of the size of their structural units. It is shown that the structural parameters of porous glasses can be controlled by varying the conditions of thermal and chemical treatments of the initial glasses.Original Russian Text Copyright © 2005 by Fizika i Khimiya Stekla, Aleksashkina, Venzel, Svatovskaya.     

Concentration of tocopherols from soybean sludge by supercritical carbon dioxide

A supercritical fluid extraction method has been applied to test the feasibility of tocopherol concentration from soybean sludge with carbon dioxide at temperatures and pressures ranging from 35 to 70°C and 200 to 400 bar, respectively. The supercritical solubility of the esterified soybean sludge was over 4–6 times greater than that of the original soybean sludge. By a simple batch-type one-stage method the tocopherols in the esterified soybean sludge could be concentrated up to 40 wt%. The overall results of the present study show that soybean sludge initially containing about 13–14 wt% tocopherols may require a countercurrent multistage column to be highly and effectively concentrated.     

Sterols,aliphatic hydrocarbons,and fatty acids of a nonphotosynthetic diatom,Nitzschia alba

The unsaponifiable lipids and total fatty acids of a nonphotosynthetic diatom,Nitzschia alba, have been examined. The major fatty acids were found to be 14∶0, 16∶0, 18∶1, and 20∶5; small amounts of 15∶0, 16∶1, 18∶0, 18∶2, 18∶3, and 20∶4 acids also were present. The unsaponifiable lipids consisted mostly of sterols, with only traces (<0.1%) of hydrocarbons (chiefly C₁₆, C₁₈, and C₂₈ normal olefins). The sterols contained brassicasterol (major) and clionasterol (minor), as well as traces of an unidentified sterol; clionasterol was present only in glycosidically bound form.     

Variations of Surface Tension with Body and Surface Concentrations

Mathematical derivatives of surface tension with body concentration and with surface concentration are examined analytically for solutions in which the activity coefficient of the solute is taken as a linear function of solute concentration in the body, and as fixed at unity in the surface. As an approximation, the surface concentration is taken as a uniform value maintained throughout a surface domain extending from the geometrical surface to a fixed depth into the solution, at which the concentration changes as a step function to the body concentration. The writer accepts previous experimental and theoretical conclusions that for an ionic solute the increment of surface tension per surface ion increases with decreasing ionic radius. The Debye-Hückel equation for the activity coefficient of electrolytes predicts that the activity coefficient of an ionic solute increases with increasing ionic radius. Experimentally, this predicted dependence and its reverse are observed about equally often. For those solutes which behave according to the Debye-Hückel prediction it is found that a negative derivative must exist between the derivatives of surface tension with body and with surface concentration at sufficiently high values of the increment of surface tension per surface ion.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Al-MCM-41 and Al-MCM-48 Mesoporous Materials

A novel route in the synthesis of Al-MCM-41 and Al-MCM-48, using tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and sodium aluminate (NaAlO₂) as Si and Al source has been obtained. The effect of surfactant nature and the synthesis conditions such as surfactant/Si ratio and hydrothermal treatment time on the formed mesostructure regularity has been studied. Different methods of template removal have also been evaluated. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, nitrogen physisorption, FT-IR, and solid-state MAS NMR spectroscopy.     

A realistic soil cloth and test procedure for detergent evaluation

The preparation of a uniformly soiled cloth for detergency studies is described. The soil, chosen for its realistic nature, consists of a colored clay as the particulate portion and triolein as the fatty or oily portion. The particulate portion of the soil is applied by tumbling the fabric in a horizontal axis washing machine containing a suspension of clay. The fatty portion is then applied by allowing the fabric to adsorb a known quantity of solvent-dissolved triolein with subsequent evaporation of the solvent. An evaluation test procedure for measuring the relative efficiencies of proprietary detergents is also described. Using this procedure, soil removal, soil redeposition and optical brightener effectiveness of a detergent are determined simultaneously. Detergents can thus be given a numerical rating according to their over-all performance. This rating is calculated from the equation: Overall Performance=Soil Removal−Soil Redeposition + Optical Brightener. Typical detergent evaluation data obtained with this soil cloth and test procedure are given, along with a statistical treatment of the data.     

Molecular beam studies of fullerenes

A number of molecular beam experiments with the fullerenes are described. Such experiments allow a detailed probing of the interactions between fullerenes and other species and among the fullerenes themselves. Emphasis is placed on work involving photophysics and collisional interactions of the fullerenes.     

A NOTE ON THE REDUCED EFFICIENCY OF THE INDUSTRIAL CYCLONE

In this paper a theoretical investigation into the basis of the reduced efficiency of a conical cyclone is performed. By considering the flow in a region where viscosity is unimportant an analytical solution to the problem is obtained. From this model the performance of the cyclone is evaluated and this can be expressed in terms of three operating and design parameters. One of these parameters is the split ratio, that is the proportion of the volume of fluid entering the cyclone which goes to the underflow. It is demonstrated mathematically that the empirical formula for the reduced efficiency at present in common use is a very good absolute measure of the separating ability of a cyclone.     

Fracture mechanics studies on concrete compounds

An experimental and analytical investigation was conducted to determine fracture mechanics characteristics of hardened cement paste, aggregates and aggregate-cement paste interfaces. For this the fracture toughness K_Ic was determined on wedge loaded CT-specimens. It was found that hardened cement paste, aggregates and interfaces exhibit unique K_Ic values which are independent of the initial crack length. In additional test series the ductility of various model concretes tested in flexure was determined. The ductility depends primarily on the fracture toughness toughness of the aggregate-hardened cement paste interfaces and is less affected by the fracture toughness of the hardened cement paste.