Development of poly(vinyl chloride)/wood composites. A literature review

Poly(vinyl chloride)/wood fiber (flour) composites are currently experiencing a dramatic increase in use. Most of them are used to produce window/door profiles, decking, railing, and siding by using conical counterrotating intermeshing twin‐screw extruders. Heat stabilizers, processing aids, impact modifiers, lubricants, and pigments are still important for PVC/wood composite formulations. Poly[methylene(polyphenyl isocyanate)] (PMPPIC), γ‐aminopropyltriethoxysilane, maleated polypropylene (MAPP), and copper metallic complex have proved to be effective coupling agents for this composite system. Mechanical properties of PVC/wood composites can be enhanced by combining wood with mica or glass fibers to form hybrid reinforcements. Ultraviolet light resistance and weathering dimensional stabilities of PVC/wood composites are superior to those of natural wood. Density reduction can be achieved through the microcellular foaming technique by using chemical blowing agents, such as azodicarbonamide and sodium bicarbonate, or physical blowing agents, such as carbon dioxide. J. Vinyl Addit. Technol. 10:59–69, 2004. © 2004 Society of Plastics Engineers.     

A new Chinese character recognition approach based on the fuzzy clustering analysis

In this paper, a new Chinese character recognition (CCR) approach is proposed based on the fuzzy clustering analysis theory. Chinese characters (CCs) have various similar radicals and stroke components, which make it difficult to recognize features in the CCR process. At the same time, the recognition accuracy and the efficiency are lower when the objects to be recognized are complex. In order to solve these problems, a fuzzy clustering analysis method is introduced to enhance the computing efficiency. At first, the CCs including learning samples and testing samples are transformed into binarization templates in the form of matrixes. Then, the minimum distance algorithm is applied to calculate ‘distances’ between the testing sample templates and the learning sample templates. At last, the character recognition can be achieved by searching the minimum distance from the results. The experiment results of the CCR process can prove the effectiveness and accuracy of the new method.     

Relative image similarity learning with contextual information for Internet cross-media retrieval

With the fast explosive rate of the amount of image data on the Internet, how to efficiently utilize them in the cross-media scenario becomes an urgent problem. Images are usually accompanied with contextual textual information. These two heterogeneous modalities are mutually reinforcing to make the Internet content more informative. In most cases, visual information can be regarded as an enhanced content of the textual document. To make image-to-image similarity being more consistent with document-to-document similarity, this paper proposes a method to learn image similarities according to the relations of the accompanied textual documents. More specifically, instead of using the static quantitative relations, rank-based learning procedure by employing structural SVM is adopted in this paper, and the ranking structure is established by comparing the relative relations of textual information. The learning results are in more accordance with the human’s recognition. The proposed method in this paper can be used not only for the image-to-image retrieval, but also for cross-modality multimedia, where a query expansion framework is proposed to get more satisfactory results. Extensive experimental evaluations on large scale Internet dataset validate the performance of the proposed methods.     

Synthesis and self-assembly of hyperbranched polyester peripherally modified by touluene-4-sulfonyl groups

In this paper, hyperbranched polyesters (HPs) were synthesized in the molten state from 2,2-bis(hydroxymethyl) propionic acid (bis-MPA) and 2-ethyl-2-hydroxymethyl-1,3-propanediol (TMP) using acid catalysis. The modified hyperbranched polyesters were obtained through the chemical modification of the hyperbranched polyester cores by substituting a controlled fraction of the terminal hydroxyl groups with touluene-4-sulfonyl chloride using triethylamine (TEA) as an acceptor of HCl. The resultant polyesters were characterized by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, FT-IR, UV and GPC and their self-assembly behaviors were investigated. The results revealed that self-assembled structures could be formed in selected solvents (trichloromethane/acetone or trichloromethane/n-hexane).     

Effects of hydrogen on the transition layers between diamond films and Zr, Hf substrates

Highly purified polycrystalline wafers of Zr and Hf were chosen as substrates for diamond deposition by means of the d.c. arc discharge plasma CVD method. Polycrystalline diamond films were formed on both substrates. Scanning electron microscopy and high resolution X-ray diffraction were used to investigate the surface morphology of the diamond films and the composition of the interface layers between the diamond films and substrates. The experiments showed that the transition layer between the diamond films and Zr substrates was ZrC, ZrH and ZrC_0.32H_1.2. For Hf substrates, in addition to HfC, it is supposed that there were also some hydrides or carbohydrides in the transition layer, because several X-ray reflections appeared which could not be assigned to Hf, HfC or diamond.     

Preparation of Titanium Nitride/Alumina Laminate Composites

A preparation route for TiN/Al₂O₃ laminate composites has been described. A water-based process using Al₂O₃ and TiN slurries with solids contents of 40 and 35 vol%, respectively, was used to make TiN and Al₂O₃ tapes. The removal of the binder was monitored by weight-loss measurements in a thermogravimetry unit. Bodies composed of Al₂O₃ and TiN tapes were densified at temperatures of 1400° and 1500°C using the Spark Plasma Sintering^® (SPS) technique. Densities of >98% of the theoretical densities were approached. Crack-free and almost fully densified TiN/Al₂O₃ compacts were prepared by heating the burned-out green bodies to the final sintering temperature (1500°C) at a rate of 100°C/min, and with a holding time of 5–10 min, under a pressure of 75 MPa. The microstructures of the obtained compacts were studied using scanning electron microscopy. Grain sizes in the sintered Al₂O₃ and TiN compacts were similar to those of the precursor powders. Hardness and indentation fracture toughness were measured at room temperature, and the monolithic compacts as well as the laminate composites exhibited anisotropic mechanical behavior; i.e., the cracks propagated much more easily in a direction parallel to the laminas than perpendicular to them.     

CaSO_4晶须对聚氨酯胶粘剂性能影响的研究

用实验室自制的相对分子质量为2500的聚己二酸-1,4-丁二醇酯二醇和甲苯二异氰酸酯、混合扩链剂配制聚氨酯胶粘剂,并使用实验室自制的改性和未改性200nm硫酸钙晶须对聚氨酯胶粘剂进行改性,考察不同硫酸钙晶须及其加入量、加入方式对聚氨酯胶粘剂综合力学性能的影响。根据实验结果,200nm改性硫酸钙晶须当加入量为3％时,聚氨酯胶粘剂的拉伸强度、初粘性和最终剥离强度均有明显提高。     

轻质多孔复合隔墙板挤压成型的研究与应用

〕介绍了轻质多孔复合隔墙板挤压成型机的构造原理、技术参数、使用方法与保养、经济分析和有关问题的探讨     

Phase Assemblages of Pr α-sialon Derived from SHS-ed Powders and TEM Study on the Nucleation of Pr α-sialon

The Pr α-sialon powders prepared by self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS), consisting of 55 wt% Pr α-sialon and 45 wt% of β-sialon (abbreviated as α' and β'), were hot-pressed at 1800°C for 1 h. The results showed that Pr α' phase would transfer to β' with the appearance of JEM phase (Pr(Si_{6− z} Al _z )(N_{10− z} O _z )) after sintering, thus resulting in the increase of β' phase to 86 wt%. The addition of Y₂O₃ into SHS-ed Pr α' powders as the starting materials restrains the transformation of α' to β' and prevents the formation of JEM phase as well. The nucleation mechanism of Pr α' grain during hot-pressing was investigated in terms of transmission electron microscope and energy-dispersive spectrometer analysis. Two nucleation modes of Pr α' grains were found, i.e., nucleating on the undissolved Pr α' grains and on the nuclei of (Pr, Y) α' grains precipitated from liquid phase.