Polyacrylic acid macromolecule—complexed zinc phosphate crystal conversion coatings

When water-soluble polyacrylic acid (PAA) macromolecules are introduced into zinc phosphating liquids, significant improvements in the yield of conventional zinc phosphate conversion films deposited on carbon steel surfaces are obtained. The improvements include controllability of crystal dimensions, degree of crystallinity, and coating weight. The conversion layer formed is a composite microstructure consisting of a bulk PAA polymer and complexed PAA continuously overlaying a uniform array of fine dense zinc phosphate crystals. Interfacial studies of the composite layer using infrared spectroscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry associated with scanning electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy indicated that the functional carboxylic acid groups in the PAA molecules were strongly chemisorbed by the Zn atoms at the outermost surface sites of the crystal layers. The intermolecular bridging action of the surface Zn atoms which connect the PAA and the zinc phosphate crystal layers results in good adhesion at the PAA–crystal interfaces. In addition, the plasticized complex formation plays an essential role in increasing the stiffness and the ductility of the normally conventional crystal films. The flexibility of the complex coating surface and the thickness and surface roughness of the thin PAA overlayer all affect the adhesive force at the interface between the organic polymer topcoat and the complexed coating.     

Diels-alder adducts from safflower oil fatty acids: I. Maleic anhydride as dienophile

The Diels-Alder reaction between alkali conjugated and elaidinized safflower oil fatty acids and maleic anhydride was studied under various experimental conditions. The principal product which was obtained in 51–55% yields was a mixture of the adduct of maleic anhydride and maleic acid in 40∶60 proportions. The isolation and properties of this mixed adducts from the reaction mixture and their conversion to trimethyl, tributyl and triallyl esters are described. The trimethyl ester was also obtained in good yield from the methyl esters of the fatty acids and dimethyl maleate.     

Effect of casting conditions on the performance of porous cellulose acetate membranes in reverse osmosis

Several sets of porous cellulose acetate membranes were made using the same casting solution composition and gelation conditions but varying the casting solution temperature and solvent evaporation conditions. The films were tested in reverse osmosis experiments at 250 psig using aqueous feed solutions containing 3500 ppm NaCl. The results show that the product rate obtained at a given level of solute separation is independent of evaporation time in the range tested and, for a given casting solution composition, the temperature of the casting solution and conditions of solvent evaporation during film formation together constitute an important interconnected variable governing the porous structure of the resulting membranes. These results offer a new approach to the problem of developing more productive reverse osmosis membranes and have led to a new class of porous cellulose acetate membranes capable of giving product rates 100% to 150% higher than those of the best membranes reported, at any given level of solute separation under the experimental conditions used. These results are of practical importance in low-pressure reverse osmosis applications.     

Effect of boron nitride addition on some properties of aluminosilicate refractories

Conclusions An addition of 10–60 wt.% of boron nitride significantly alters the thermal conductivity, thermal expansion, and the elastic modulus of aluminosilicate refractories.As the boron nitride content is increased from 1–60% the strength of specimens heated in a nitrogen atmosphere with an oxygen content of 0.02% decreases.During cyclic heat treatment in an oxidizing atmosphere between 900 and 20°C additional bonds develop between the particles of the aluminosilicate and the oxygen-free additive. As a result the strength of the specimen increases.The thermal shock resistance of the specimens increases with an increase in the amount of boron nitride addition. Specimens with 40–50% boron nitride addition are in practice insensitive to temperature drops in the range 20–2400°C.Aluminosilicate refractories with the addition of 30–40 wt.% of boron nitride can be used as lining material in high temperature systems with brief nonsteady or cyclic work schedules.Translated from Ogneupory, No. 4, pp. 36–39, April, 1968.     

HYDRODYNAMIC MODELLING IN AN AIR-LIFT LOOP REACTOR

A simple hydrodynamic model is proposed for use in the design, scale-up and characterization of external loop air-lift reactors. The approach is based upon a momentum balance for the flow loop coupled with a drift-flux equation for the reactor riser and establishes a rational basis for a predictive model relating gas throughput to induced liquid flow and gas hold-up in a range of air-lift reactors. The effective resistance of the reactor, k, defined in terms of the total loss coefficients of the reactor and the aerated height of the two-phase riser, was identified to allow for the quantification of the influence of reactor design on the hydrodynamic variables. An extensive body of data for the air-water system, collected on two reactors with active volumes of 0·055 m³ and 0·3 m³, is presented and used, in conjunction with literature data encompassing a wide range of reactor geometries and flow conditions, to define a unique relationship between flow behaviour and reactor configuration. The model, which accounts for the prevailing flow regime in the reactor, provides a direct method of predicting hydrodynamic behaviour in relatively non-viscous systems.     

Boundary layer model for char combustion and gasification

A non-steady boundary layer model is developed for numerical simulation of combustion and gasification of a single shrinking char particle. The model considers mass and energy conservation coupled with heterogeneous char reactions producing CO and homogeneous oxidation of CO to CO₂ in the boundary layer surrounding the char particle. Mass conservation includes accumulation, molecular diffusion, Stefan flow and generation by chemical reaction. Energy conservation includes radiation transfer at the particle surface and heat accumulation within the particle. Simulation results predict experimentally measured conversion and temperature profiles of a burning Spherocarb particle in a laminar flow reactor. Effects of bulk oxygen concentration and particle size on the combustion process are addressed. Predicted particle temperature is significantly affected by boundary layer combustion of CO to CO₂. With increasing particle size, char gasification to char combustion ratio increases, resulting in decreasing particle temperature and increasing peak boundary layer temperature.     

HEC influence on cement hydration measured by conductometry

Cellulose ethers are of universal use in factory-made mortars, though their influences on mortar properties at a molecular scale are poorly understood. Recent studies dealt with the influence of hydroxyethylmethyl cellulose (HEMC) and hydroxypropylmethyl cellulose (HPMC) molecular parameters on cement hydration. It was concluded that the degree of substitution is the most relevant factor on cement hydration kinetics, contrary to the molecular weight. Nevertheless, the major role played by the substitution degree has not been verified for other types of cellulose ethers such as hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC), which generally possesses a higher hydration retarding capacity compared to HPMC and HEMC. In this frame, a study of the impact of HEC molecular parameters on cement hydration was performed. A negligible influence of the molecular weight was observed. Moreover, the results emphasize that the hydroxyethyl group content mainly determines the delay of cement hydration.     

Super-resolution: a comprehensive survey

Super-resolution, the process of obtaining one or more high-resolution images from one or more low-resolution observations, has been a very attractive research topic over the last two decades. It has found practical applications in many real-world problems in different fields, from satellite and aerial imaging to medical image processing, to facial image analysis, text image analysis, sign and number plates reading, and biometrics recognition, to name a few. This has resulted in many research papers, each developing a new super-resolution algorithm for a specific purpose. The current comprehensive survey provides an overview of most of these published works by grouping them in a broad taxonomy. For each of the groups in the taxonomy, the basic concepts of the algorithms are first explained and then the paths through which each of these groups have evolved are given in detail, by mentioning the contributions of different authors to the basic concepts of each group. Furthermore, common issues in super-resolution algorithms, such as imaging models and registration algorithms, optimization of the cost functions employed, dealing with color information, improvement factors, assessment of super-resolution algorithms, and the most commonly employed databases are discussed.     

The influence of water vapour on the transformation of γ calcium sulphate anhydrite to β anhydrite

The isothermal kinetics of the transformation of γ calcium sulphate anhydrite to β anhydrite have been determined. All the curves obtained have a sigmoidal form. We have also observed an influence of the water vapour pressure on the rate of formation of β anhydrite. On each plot of rate vs. water vapour pressure one observes a maximum whose position shifts to lower values of water vapour pressure when the temperature decreases. The formation of β anhydrite a low temperatures may be explained by the geometry of the water vapour pressure-temperature diagram of the hydrated forms of calcium sulphate, and by the “mineralizing” action of water vapour at or close to saturation.     

Hyper-Spherical Search (HSS) algorithm: a novel meta-heuristic algorithm to optimize nonlinear functions

This paper proposes a novel optimization algorithm called Hyper-Spherical Search (HSS) algorithm. Like other evolutionary algorithms, the proposed algorithm starts with an initial population. Population individuals are of two types: particles and hyper-sphere centers that all together form particle sets. Searching the hyper-sphere inner space made by the hyper-sphere center and its particle is the basis of the proposed evolutionary algorithm. The HSS algorithm hopefully converges to a state at which there exists only one hyper-sphere center, and its particles are at the same position and have the same cost function value as the hyper-sphere center. Applying the proposed algorithm to some benchmark cost functions shows its ability in dealing with different types of optimization problems. The proposed method is compared with the genetic algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimization (PSO) and harmony search algorithm (HSA). The results show that the HSS algorithm has faster convergence and results in better solutions than GA, PSO and HSA.