Rapid Quenching Technique Using Thermal-Image Furnace for Glass Preparation

A new technique combining a thermal-image furnace and a twin roller is described for quenching the melt to form glass. The technique was applied to the simple system Li₂O-SiO₂, since its fundamental parameters in the estimation of critical cooling rate are available. Glass flakes were obtained in the composition Li₄SiO₄, for which a very large critical cooling rate (∼10⁹ K·s⁻¹) was needed for glass formation.     

Effect of perchloric acid on the molecular weight and yield of poly-THF

Polytetramethylene glycol (molecular weight range 1000–8000) was prepared by the polymerization of tetrahydrofuran (THF) using a binary catalyst system of fuming sulfuric acid and perchloric acid. When 28% fuming sulfuric acid alone was used as the catalyst, the average molecular weight of polymer was low, the maximum value being 1000–1100. By the combination of fuming sulfuric acid with a small amount of perchloric acid, the average molecular weight of the polymer was increased to about 8000. Furthermore, the molecular weight was readily controlled in the range of 1000 to 8000 by varying the amount of the binary catalyst.     

Computer-aided reaction system synthesis based on structured process energy-exergy-flow diagram

A computerized thermodynamics-oriented procedure for reaction system synthesis is proposed. First, hierarchy structure of chemical reactions is discussed and the reaction system is categorized into three types; (1) combination with a heat source or sink, (2) combination with a reaction donor, and (3) decomposition of target reaction into subtargets. Then, the algorithm to find subtarget reactions and/or donor reactions is presented.     

Iodine reaction of vinyl acetate/vinyl propionate copolymers. III. Iodine affinities of the radically polymerized copolymers and the copolymers derived from partially saponified polyvinyl acetate

The minimum sequence lengths (n_c) of vinyl acetate (VAc) units necessary to form a colored iodine complex were determined to be 4 and 17 for radically polymerized VAc/vinyl propionate (VPr) and VAc/isopropenyl acetate (IPAc) copolymers, respectively. The iodine affinities (I/VAc) of VAc/VPr copolymers (SP-series) obtained by propionylation of partially saponified polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) were remarkably affected by the saponification conditions. An increase of the water content in acetone/water mixture as saponification solvent brought about a decrease of the iodine affinities of the SP-series. The dependence of the iodine affinity on the saponification of monomer units in the SP-series was compared with that in the radically polymerized VAc/VPr copolymers by taking the sequence probability as the measure of monomer unit distribution. The results strongly supported an occurence of the slide fastener reaction at high degrees of saponification, which was well-known in the saponification of PVAc. Furthermore, it was found that the saponification mode of PVAc at low degrees of saponification was influenced uniquely by the water content in saponification solvents and the saponification temperature.     

Novel method of preparing Ag–Hg alloy on polyacrylamide films and their structure

A novel method is proposed of preparing thin Ag–Hg alloy on PAAm film surface at room temperature: The film of interest is formed by holding PAAm aqueous solution with AgNO₃ in Hg-saturated atmosphere. Two kinds of films, one of which is a conductor and the other an insulator, can be selectively formed with pH-controlled PAAm solution by ammonia. The conducting surface is assigned to the α phase of Ag–Hg alloy by means of X-ray analysis. Potentiometric titration and IR spectral studies suggest the existence of PAAm–Ag⁺ complexes. On the basis of their structure and the oxidation and reduction potential of Ag⁺ and Hg²⁺, the mechanism of film formation is also discussed.     

Temperature Dependence of KIC for High-Pressure Hot-Pressed Si3N4 Without Additives

Temperature dependence of K_IC values for Si₃N₄ bodies sintered at high pressures without additives was studied from room temperature to 1400°C. Little change in K_K was found in this range.     

Balanced corpus of contemporary written Japanese

The balanced corpus of contemporary written Japanese (BCCWJ) is Japan’s first 100 million words balanced corpus. It consists of three subcorpora (publication subcorpus, library subcorpus, and special-purpose subcorpus) and covers a wide range of text registers including books in general, magazines, newspapers, governmental white papers, best-selling books, an internet bulletin-board, a blog, school textbooks, minutes of the national diet, publicity newsletters of local governments, laws, and poetry verses. A random sampling technique is utilized whenever possible in order to maximize the representativeness of the corpus. The corpus is annotated in terms of dual POS analysis, document structure, and bibliographical information. The BCCWJ is currently accessible in three different ways including Chunagon a web-based interface to the dual POS analysis data. Lastly, results of some pilot evaluation of the corpus with respect to the textual diversity are reported. The analyses include POS distribution, word-class distribution, entropy of orthography, sentence length, and variation of the adjective predicate. High textual diversity is observed in all these analyses.     

Implications of variable fluid resistance caused by start-up flow in microfluidic networks

Electrical circuit analogies are often used to design microfluidic systems because they simplify device design, providing simple relationships between fluid flow rate, driving forces, and channel dimensions. However, such approximations often significantly overestimate flow rates in situations where start-up energy losses from establishing kinetic head are similar in magnitude to the energy required to overcome viscous shear stresses, as is often the case within complex microfluidic networks. These reduced flows can be more accurately predicted within an electrical analogy framework that accounts for the nonlinear flow resistance generated on the transient regime of start-up flow. In this work, standard flow resistance expressions are modified to account for such effects, and the onset of nonlinear resistance is predicted by a dimensionless parameter, $\xi = Re\frac{D}{L},$ which is dependent on the Reynolds number and the channel length. As a demonstration, variable fluid resistance is shown to dramatically affect the flow performance of common microfluidic units such as T-junctions and serpentine channels, and the change in performance is accurately predicted. Experimental and theoretical analysis of T-junctions further shows that variable flow resistance causes the ratio of flows through the junction to converge toward unity with respect to an increasing total flow rate. In addition, serpentine channels are shown to exaggerate these start-up effects, owing to compounded energetic demand associated with changing a flow’s direction. As a result, serpentine channels cause the ratio of flow rates exiting a T-junction to diverge from unity with respect to an increasing flow rate.     

Diffusion/adsorption model of cellulose dyeing. II. Ordinary cellulose–direct dye system

The diffusion and adsorption of C.I. Direct Yellow 12 and Blue 15 in water-swollen ordinary cellophane sheets were examined at various ionic strengths. The concentration dependence of apparent diffusion coefficients, D_c, for these dyes was obtained from the diffusion profiles in the substrate, which were measured by the use of the cylindrical film roll method. The decrease of apparent porosity with an increase in the amounts of adsorption was observed. To explain the diffusion/adsorption behaviors of these systems, a variable porosity model was proposed and was applied to analyze the concentration dependence of D_c's. The diffusion/adsorption behaviors of these dyes could be quantitatively described by this model at relatively low ionic strengths. At higher ionic strengths and/or lower values of C, i.e., at the large values of C_im/C_m, where the C's are the concentrations of immobilized (suffix im) and mobile (suffix m) species, it needed to introduce the concept of dynamic equilibria which occurred simultaneously with diffusion but deviated from the true equiliblia measured by the adsorption experiments.     

Glass transition behavior of emulsion-polymerized polymer films containing a surface-active agent

The glass transition behavior of emulsion-polymerized poly(methyl methacrylate) and polystyrene films containing sodium laurylsulfate as emulsifier was studied by measurements of dynamic mechanical properties and thermal depolarization current. The film specimens of the emulsion-polymerized polymers were prepared by casting from their benzene solutions. The glass transition temperatures of the emulsion-polymerized films are higher than those of the bulk-polymerized films. The higher glass transition temperature of the emulsion-polymerized films is attributed to the colloidal properties of sodium laurylsulfate in the process of the film formation. The restriction of the molecular chains in the emulsion-polymerized films is attributed to the interaction between the hydrophobic groups of sodium laurylsulfate and the polymer molecules.