Rheological studies of cellulose derivatives solutions

The rheological behavior of solutions of cellulose derivatives, acetate, and hydroxypropyl was studied as a function of different parameters; molecular weight, concentration,…, at T = 25°C in the vicinity of the liquid crystal phase transition. A variation of the strain rate sensitivity parameter with concentration is found. A degradation of the solution in trifluoroacetic acid is demonstrated.     

Transient containment response and inherent retention capability

For safety assessments of early sodium cooled fast breeder reactors, hypothetical events such as loss of flow or transient overpower sequences combined with the failure of the reactor protective systems have been evaluated. The intent of these evaluations was to demonstrate that even extremely unlikely combinations of failures which could lead to meltdown of a portion of the reactor core would not propagate into events harmful to the public.This paper investigates the consequences of a meltdown event. In general, reactor vessels and the primary sodium systems have an adequate inherent retention capability to retain dispersed or molten core debris and remove decay heat. For certain vessel designs, large core debris masses may penetrate through the vessel wall and drain into the reactor cell. Although significant uncertainties exist in the evaluations of debris retention and heat removal capabilities of the containment, there is indication that criteria for radiological limits can well be met. If the accident progression can be controlled in-vessel, consequences would be minimized.     

Volatile organic acids in raw wastewater and in physico-chemical treatment

The purpose of the present study was to identify soluble organics, which comprise the high BOD remaining in the effluent from direct physico-chemical treatment of strong raw sewage. Salts of volatile organic acids were found to be the main constituents of the organic fraction remaining after chemical treatment and activated carbon adsorption. The fate of the volatile acids such as acetic, propionic, butyric, valeric, isovaleric and hexanoic acids was followed in each stage of the physicochemical treatment.     

Liquid crystalline copolymers of monomer-pairs containing mesogenic units which exhibit constitutional isomerism

Summary The synthesis and characterization of side-chain liquid crystalline copolymers obtained from a monomer pair containing a mesogenic unit which exhibits constitutional isomerism are presented. The particular example described refers to copolymethacrylates obtained from 4-hydroxy-4-methoxy--methylstilbene and 4-methoxy-4-hydroxy--methylstilbene containing six and eleven methylenic units in the spacer. The polymer containing six methylenic units presents a nematic mesophase, while the polymer containing eleven methylenic units presents a smectic A or C mesophase. None of these polymers exhibited side-chain crystallization.     

High spectral purity microwave oscillator: design using conventional air-dielectric cavity

We report exceptionally low PM noise levels from a microwave oscillator that uses a conventional air-dielectric cavity resonator as a frequency discriminator. Our approach is to increase the discriminator's intrinsic signal-to-noise ratio by use of a high-power carrier signal to interrogate an optimally coupled cavity, while the high-level of the carrier is suppressed before the phase detector. We developed and tested an accurate model of the expected PM noise that indicates, among other things, that a conventional air-dielectric resonator of moderate Q will exhibit less discriminator noise in this approach than do more esoteric and expensive dielectric resonators tuned to a high-order, high-Q mode and driven at the dielectric's optimum     

Silane‐modified PVC pervaporation membranes for bromoform/water separation

The transport properties of a unique family of silane‐modified poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) pervaporation membranes for the separation of halogenated hydrocarbons from water were investigated. The PVC was modified by using a vinyl silane to improve its resistance to attack by halogenated hydrocarbons and to increase the flux. Two preparation routes were used: Route i included an initiator to promote the vinyl reaction before the hydrolysis and condensation of the methoxy silane group, whereas Route ni did not. The structures of the membranes were characterized and related to the transport properties, as derived from batch pervaporation experiments. The permeability of unmodified PVC membranes increases with exposure to haloorganics at low concentrations. Initially, the modified membranes exhibited a higher permeability than PVC and a lower selectivity. At long pervaporation times, the silane‐modified membranes exhibited a higher selectivity than PVC. The different preparation routes led to different morphologies, which affected the performance of the membranes; Route ni membranes exhibited higher permeabilities and selectivity than Route i membranes. Rubbery polydimethylsiloxane membranes were resistant to haloorganics but their high water permeability and low selectivity make them unsuitable for this pervaporative separation. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 81: 1429–1438, 2001