Powder Deposition in Three Parallel-Oriented Dies of Different Shapes

Uniformity of bulk density distribution during the die filling process is required to minimize quality problems, such as distortion and cracking, for powder compacts. Understanding the die filling process is necessary in ensuring a uniform powder deposition. The second-generation pressure deposition tester (PDT-II) was used to investigate the deposition process and final pressure distribution of powder filling in toroidal, cylindrical, and E-shaped dies. All tests were conducted using a spray-dried free-flowing granular powder. The results indicated that for toroidal dies: (1) the area around 0° orientation (the leeward end) had the highest pressure values (1186.7 to 2498.0 Pa), with the average pressure values of the remaining area 353.7-648.0 Pa; (2) the pressure distribution was symmetrical about the centerline parallel to the feed shoe movement direction; (3) the highest feed shoe speed (500 mm/s) led to the most nonuniform pressure distribution among the three speeds; (4) higher feed shoe speed did not always result in higher final pressure values; and (5) the right die tended to have higher final pressure values (215.0 to 2498.0 Pa) than the center die (95.4 to 2052.5 Pa). For E-shaped dies: (1) the final pressure values of the middle leg (308.9 to 760.7 Pa) were higher than those of the left and the right legs (148.9 to 530.3 Pa); (2) the area along the backside had the highest final pressure value (1054.6 to 1303.8 Pa); (3) the pressure distribution was symmetrical about the centerline parallel to the feed shoe movement direction; and (4) neither the center die nor the right die always had higher pressure values than the other one at all locations. Comparison between cylindrical and toroidal dies indicated that: (1) neither of the two die shapes (cylinder and toroid) led to consistently higher or lower final pressure values at all locations and (2) for all three feed shoe speeds, the toroidal die had higher average final pressure values in the 0° orientation.     

Circular core polarization-maintaining optical fibers withelliptical stress-induced cladding

The reproducible technology for producing high-birefringence fibers with stress-induced elliptical cladding and circular core is described. The authors have obtained fibers that have a birefringence of about (1-3) 10^-4, a mode coupling parameter of about (2-7) 10 ^-5 m^-1, and loss of less than 0.5 dB/km at 1.6 μm. The authors have found effects restricting the capability of test fibers to maintain the state of linear polarization     

Low cycle fatigue and creep behavior of recrystallized Molybdenum near room termperature

The deformation behavior of pure recrystallized molybdenum under cyclic and static loads was investigated in the temperature range between 30°C and 10O°C, for stress amplitudes between 100 MPa and 250 MPa and for static loads up to 200 MPa. The results show that in spite of the low test temperatures and stress levels the Mo material exhibits considerable plastic strains which depend sensitively on frequenez and small changes in temperature.The activation energy deduced for the static and dynamic deformation is less than 0.98 eV which indicates thermally activated processes, to be explained by a dislocation kink model as described in the literature. The low-temperature fatigue behavior appears strongly influenced by creep-fatigue interaction phenomena.     

Cytokines and PGE2 modulate the phagocytic function of the beta-glucan receptor in macrophages

Under serum-free conditions the beta-glucan receptor of mouse macrophages mediates phagocytosis of beta-1,3-D-glucan-coated microbeads (diameter 2 microns). IFN-gamma increases the phagocytic function of the beta-glucan receptor in a dose-dependent manner, giving the plateau level at 100 U/ml. Maximum activity appears 9 h after addition of IFN-gamma to the cells. The effect disappears within 24 h. The effect of IFN-gamma may be a result of augmented receptor synthesis since treatment with cycloheximide reduces the phagocytosis. IL-1 also increases the phagocytic function of the beta-glucan receptor giving a dose-dependent response and with the plateau level reached at 10 U/ml. Maximum activity is found 4 h after addition of IL-1 to macrophages. The effect disappears within 24 h. TNF does not alter the phagocytic function of the beta-glucan receptor, but TNF together with IL-1 prolongs the effect of IL-1. PGE2 reduces the phagocytic function of the beta-glucan receptor. Maximum reduction is achieved with 8 ng/ml. Time-course studies show the lowest phagocytic activity 9 h after addition of PGE2 to the cells.     

Gain equalization by mitigating self-filtering effect in a chain ofcascaded EDFA's for WDM transmissions

A simple method of alternatively using high-inversion and moderate-inversion erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA's) in an optical amplifier chain is presented to mitigate the self-filtering effect and equalize both signal power and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of multiple wavelength channels in wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM) transmission systems. The performance of the compensated system with alternatively used high- and moderate-inversion amplifiers is compared with the uncompensated ones where only moderate- or high-inversion amplifiers are employed. The result shows that the compensated system has a flatter gain profile, a lesser signal power spread, and SNR degradation     

Synthesis and biological studies on analogs of cyclolinopeptide A with a shortened peptide chain

Continuing our work on the immunosuppressive activity of cyclolinopeptide A (CLA), a cyclic nonapeptide of the sequence: c-(-Leu-Ile-Ile-Leu-Val-Pro-Pro-Phe-Phe), we synthesized a series of 6 linear analogs of CLA, successively shortened at the N-terminus of the peptide chain. Immunosuppressive activity of acetates as well as trifluoroacetates of these peptides was investigated using PFC (humoral immunity) and DTH (cellular immunity) tests. It was found that the immunosuppressive potency of the peptides examined diminishes with shortening of the peptide chain. Octapeptide I with the sequence Ile-Ile-Leu-Val-Pro-Pro-Phe-Phe was found to be the most active of the whole series. The immunosuppressive activity increased again for a tripeptide fragment of CLA of the sequence Pro-Phe-Phe. The immunosuppressive activity of octapeptide probably depends on the suppression of IL-1, IL-6 and TNF production by the cells involved in immune and inflammatory response.     

The relationship among oxygen content, defect distribution and superconductivity in BiSrCaCuO systems

The effect of oxygen content on superconductivity of the 2212 and 2223 phase has been studied. By comparing the excess oxygen, the modulation vector, the XRD patterns, and the electric resistivity of 2212 and 2223 phase samples obtained with different post-annealing conditions, i.e., annealing at 600°C or quenching from 860°C, it was found that the super-conductivity is markedly influenced by both the defect distribution in non-Bi layers and the interstitial oxygens incorporated in the Bi-O layers. A tentative explanation for this is given.     

An automatic machine for bending a furniture fitting tie rod

Translated from Khimicheskoe i Neftyanoe Mashinostroenie, No. 8, pp. 31–32, August, 1992.