Design systems for gear elements made of cotton fiber-reinforced plastics

We look on the cotton fiber reinforced plastics as industrial gear materials, and have been developing design systems for industrial gears made of cotton fiber-reinforced plastics. In this report, we deal with a method estimating for tooth root stresses caused by bending movements under running conditions. The gear material used was cotton fiber plain woven cloth reinforced phenolic resin laminates. Paper-reinforced phenolic resin laminates, a commonly used material, was used as a control for comparison. The main dimensions of the gears were module 3–5 mm and tooth width 25 mm. First, accelerations of gears were measured under running conditions to estimate dynamic performance. Second, fracture tests of gear teeth were carried out under bending loads. Different fracture modes at tooth roots for cotton fiber-reinforced plastics and phenolic resin gears were observed. The fractures occurred at a high position from the tooth root in the case of the cotton fiber-reinforced plastics gear because the cotton fiber-reinforced plastics had excellent cleavage and shear strength. This gear also had higher strength for tooth bending loads. Third, the mechanical properties of the gears were researched by tensile, bending, and shearing tests. It was clear that the cotton fiber-reinforced plastics had excellent properties in cleavage fracture between laminates and shear strength. Finally, we proposed a design method for this gear, which considers the cleavage and shear strength.     

Residual stress measurement of Al/steel dissimilar friction stir weld

ABSTRACT

The dissimilar welds between aluminium (Al) alloy, A6061-T6, and stainless steel, type 304, were fabricated by a friction stir welding (FSW) technique. The FSW tool was offset to Al side and the probe was inserted only into Al plate. The softening occurred in Al side due to the heat input during FSW, while the hardness increased by the post-ageing treatment. Tensile strength of dissimilar weld also increased about 8.5% by the post-ageing. The residual stresses were measured based on the cos α method. The residual stresses parallel to the weld line, σ_xr, were predominantly tensile, while those perpendicular to the weld line, σ_yr, were compressive. Post-ageing treatment had little effect on the residual stresses.     

Plasma Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Levels Are Associated with Progression of Estrogen Receptor-Positive Breast Cancer

Although numerous experiments revealed an essential role of a lipid mediator, sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), in breast cancer (BC) progression, the clinical significance of S1P remains unclear due to the difficulty of measuring lipids in patients. The aim of this study was to determine the plasma concentration of S1P in estrogen receptor (ER)-positive BC patients, as well as to investigate its clinical significance. We further explored the possibility of a treatment strategy targeting S1P in ER-positive BC patients by examining the effect of FTY720, a functional antagonist of S1P receptors, on hormone therapy-resistant cells. Plasma S1P levels were significantly higher in patients negative for progesterone receptor (PgR) expression than in those positive for expression (p = 0.003). Plasma S1P levels were also significantly higher in patients with larger tumor size (p = 0.012), lymph node metastasis (p = 0.014), and advanced cancer stage (p = 0.003), suggesting that higher levels of plasma S1P are associated with cancer progression. FTY720 suppressed the viability of not only wildtype MCF-7 cells, but also hormone therapy-resistant MCF-7 cells. Targeting S1P signaling in ER-positive BC appears to be a possible new treatment strategy, even for hormone therapy-resistant patients.     

Cholesterol synthesis and degradation in normal rats fed a cholesterol-free diet with excess cystine

Feeding a diet with excess cystine to rats resulted in hypercholesterolemia. To understand the mechanism of the hypercholesterolemia’ cholesterol synthesis and degradation’ bile acid content of bile’ and fecal steroids were determined. The in vivo incorporation of tritiated water into hepatic cholesterol’ and activity of hepatic 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase in rats fed a high-cystine diet were significantly higher than those in rats fed a control diet. The activity of hepatic cholesterol 7α-hydroxylase was similar between two groups. Little effect of cystine supplementation was found on fecal sterol excretion although there were some changes in biliary excretion of cholic acid derivatives. These results indicate that hypercholesterolemia caused by feeding of a high-cystine diet may be due to the stimulation of hepatic cholesterol synthesis.     

Hydrodynamics of a spouted bed with an impermeable draft tube for binary particle systems

A spouted bed with an impermeable draft tube was employed to obtain fundamental data of binary mixtures of glass beads for both the operating conditions and the design factors. These data were compared with those for the coarser particle system only. From this view point, minimum spouting velocity, pressure drop, hold-up of solid particles within a draft tube, upward gas flow rate within the annulus and solids circulation rate were determined by changing the total gas flow rate and mass fraction of finer particles as operating parameters and by changing distance of entrainment zone and draft tube diameter as geometric parameters.     

Synthesis of amphiphilic triblock copolymer of polystyrene and poly(4-vinylbenzyl glucoside) via TEMPO-mediated living radical polymerization

4-Vinylbenzyl glucoside peracetate 1 was polymerized with α,α′-bis(2′,2′,6′,6′-tetramethyl-1′-piperidinyloxy)-1,4-diethylbenzene 2 in chlorobenzene using (1S)-(+)-10-camphorsulfonic acid anhydrous (CSA) as an accelerator ([1]=0.4 M,[1]/[2]/[CSA]=75/1/1.3) at 125 °C for 5 h. The polymerization afforded poly(4-vinylbenzyl glucoside peracetate) having TEMPO moieties on both sides of the chain ends, 3, with a molecular weight (M_w,SLS) of 8500, a polydispersity index (M_w/M_n) of 1.09, and an average degree of polymerization of the 1 unit (x) of 17. Styrene (St) was polymerized with 3 in chlorobenzene at 125 °C (St/chlorobenzene=1/2, w/w). The polymerization successfully afforded polystyrene-poly(4-vinyl glucoside peracetate)-polystyrene, 4, when the polymerization time was below about 2 h. Polymer 4 with the M_w,SLS of 12,500, 17,900, and 29,400, the compositions (y-x-y) of 20-17-20, 45-17-45, and 100-17-100, and the M_w/M_n of 1.12, 1.14 and 1.17 were modified by deacetylation using sodium methoxide in dry-THF into polystyrene-poly(4-vinyl glucoside peracetate)-polystyrene, 5. The solubility of polymer 5 was examined using a good solvent for polystyrene such as toluene and for the saccharide such as H₂O.     

Hydrodynamics of a spouted bed with a porous draft tube containing a small amount of finer particles

A small-size spouted bed with a porous draft tube was employed to obtain hydrodynamic data of binary mixtures of glass beads for a range of operating conditions and design factors. In this case, a small amount of finer particles was added mostly to the large majority of coarser particles. Under this condition, minimum spouting velocity, bed pressure drop, hold-up of solid particles within a draft tube, gas flow rate through the annulus and solids circulation rate were determined by changing the total gas flow rate and the mass fraction of finer particles as operating parameters, and by changing the height of the entrainment zone and the draft tube diameter as geometric parameters. The results show that the gas flow rate through the annulus increases by increasing the distance between the gas inlet nozzle and the bottom of the draft tube, that is, the height of the entrainment zone, but decreases with increasing draft tube diameter and mass fraction of finer particles. The porous draft tube shows a higher gas flow rate through the annulus than the non-porous draft tube, particularly in the case of the low height of the entrainment zone. The solids circulation rate increases with increasing gas velocity, the height of the entrainment zone and the porous draft tube diameter. Moreover, the porous draft tube leads to a higher solids circulation rate than the non-porous draft tube.     

Flow regimes and vertical solids conveying in a spout‐fluid bed with a draft tube

Pressure fluctuation data were obtained in a semi‐cylindrical spout‐fluid bed with draft tube, and statistical analyses of them were employed to recognise flow regimes. Also, the effects of spouting‐gas and auxiliary‐gas velocities, and length of entrainment zone on solids loading ratio in a draft tube were examined. As a result, five flow regimes appeared by changing spouting‐gas and auxiliary‐gas velocities and it was found that the simplest method to determine flow regime is to measure pressure fluctuations in a draft tube. Moreover, solids loading ratio could be controlled flexibly by auxiliary‐gas velocity and length of entrainment zone.     

Formation of electroless barrier and seed layers in a high aspect ratio through-Si vias using Au nanoparticle catalyst for all-wet Cu filling technology

An all-wet process was achieved using electroless deposition of barrier and Cu seed layers for fabrication of a high aspect ratio through-Si via (TSV). Formation of a thin barrier metal layer of Ni–B, Co–B and Co–W–B is possible using a Au nanoparticle (AuNP) catalyst, which is densely adsorbed on the SiO₂ of the TSV sidewall. A silane coupling agent of 3-aminopropyl-triethoxysilane is effective for enhancement of the density of adsorption for AuNP. A conformal electroless Cu layer is deposited on the barrier layer by displacement plating without a catalyst. The adhesion strength between the electroless barrier layer and the SiO₂ substrate is increased by annealing at 300 °C. These results strongly suggest that an all-wet process for the formation of Cu-filled TSV with a high aspect ratio is practically possible.     

Purification and characterization of a cold-active protease from psychrotrophic Serratia marcescens AP3801

Protease activity was detected in the culture medium of Serratia marcescens AP3801 grown at 10°C, which was isolated from soil collected from the top of a mountain. The enzyme, designated as CP-58 protease, was purified to homogeneity from the culture broth by ion exchange and gel filtration chromatographies. The molecular mass of the protease was 58 kDa, and its isoelectric point was close to 6.0. Maximal activity toward azocasein was observed at 40°C and from pH 6.5 to 8.0. The activity was strongly inhibited by 1,10-phenanthroline, suggesting that the enzyme is a metalloprotease. The N-terminal amino acid sequence was Ser-Leu-Asn-Gly-Lys-Thr-Asn-Gly-Trp-Asp-Ser-Val-Asn-Asp-Leu-Leu-Asn-Tyr-His-Asn-Arg-Gly-Asn (or Asp)-Gly-Thr-Ile-Asn-Asn-Lys-Pro-Ser-Phe-Asp-Ile-Ala. A search through databases for sequence homology aligned CP-58 protease with metalloprotease. The result of the cleavage pattern of oxidized insulin B-chain suggests that CP-58 protease has a broader specificity than other proteases against the peptide substrate.