Emerging trends in advanced high energy materials

Enhanced performance of propellants and explosives is the most sought-after attribute for ambitious research programs in the field of high energy materials. Convergence of defence and space sector priorities has always kept research and development efforts in the area of propellants to the forefront. With the diminishing boundaries between rocket and gun propellants, as well as explosives, the possibility of low-vulnerable munitions with high performance potentials and spin-off advantages of research on rocket propellants are also emerging on the forefront. At the same time, an increasing predominance of missiles in today’s military warfare, as well as the space sector, has brought the issue of pollution by chlorine-containing combustion products of modern ammonium-perchlorate-based propellants into focus. A drastic transformation of high energy material technology is in offing. Research and development efforts made in this direction have brought an array of new materials into prominence. This paper reviews the recent work done in the frontier areas of advanced novel high energy materials. This paper covers the global scenario in the development of oxidizers, binders, plasticizers, high energy density materials, and insensitive high energy materials. __________ Translated from Fizika Goreniya i Vzryva, Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 72–85, January–February, 2007.     

Introduction of bifunctionality into the phosphinic acid ion-exchange resin for enhancing metal ion complexation

In nuclear industry the role of conventional strong cation exchange resins is limited as they function less in high acid media. The phosphorous group that has got more affinity towards actinide elements is chosen as a chelating group and the phosphinic acid ion exchange resin was synthesized. The extraction ability of the phosphinic acid resin for plutonium (Pu) from HNO₃ medium as well as from H₂SO₄ medium was studied. Though the resin shows better extraction for Pu than the strong cation exchanger resins at higher acidities, its kinetics is slow. In order to enhance the kinetics as well as to improve upon selectivity, a sulphonic group is introduced into the phosphinic acid resin. To verify the effect of bifunctionality extraction studies have been carried out with Pu from different acid media of varying concentrations. Sulphonated phosphinic acid resin shows a 2-fold increase in distribution coefficient (k_d) as well as it reached equilibrium very fast compared to the phosphinic acid resin. It is postulated that the sulphonic acid ligand provides an access mechanism for the metal ions into the polymer matrix while it is the phosphinic acid group that is responsible for selective coordination of metal ions. Thus bifunctionality is coupling of an access mechanism to a recognition mechanism. The experiments carried out demonstrated the applicability of sulphonated phosphinic acid resin in the nuclear industry.     

Purified mesoporous nickel metal organic framework as electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) in basic medium

Metal organic framework or MOFs are found to be a good catalyst for hydrogen evolution in view of its excellent structural features like porous nature and well-defined morphology. This report describes the synthesis of Nickel-MOF prepared by solvothermal approach and further purified by a chemical process. Both impure and purified Nickel-MOFs are fabricated as electrodes for evaluating HER reaction. The performance towards electrocatalytic activity is affected due to the impurities present in the porous structure. In view of investigating the effect of activation/purification process towards morphology and in-turn HER activity, activation and purification is carried out to enhance the performance of MOFs. The electrochemical characterization proves high electrocatalytic activity for purified Ni-MOF with high rate kinetics towards HER than impure Ni-MOF. The Tafel slope of purified Nickel MOF is estimated to be 73.7 mV/dec with a low charge transfer resistance of 1.84 Ω, whereas the unpurified Ni-MOF shows 87.47 mV/dec and 3.85 Ω. Results show that pure Ni-MOF has abundant catalytic active edge sites and obeys Volmer-Heyrvosky mechanism with makes desorption of hydrogen as rate determining step.     

Study of morphological and magnetic properties of microwave sintered barium strontium hexaferrite

Magnetic materials are important electronic materials that have a wide range of industrial and commercial applications. Barium strontium hexaferrite (Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Fe₁₂O₁₉-BSF) were prepared by a sol–gel method using d-Fructose as fuel and the heat treatment was carried out in a microwave furnace. The effects of the sintering temperature on the morphology, crystalline structure and magnetic properties are studied. Sintering temperature affected the grains in compact samples. The sintered product possessed dense microstructure with clear micro grains and is in consistence with the XRD analysis based on the peak intensity of the (107) plane. Magnetic measurement shows that the barium strontium hexaferrite sample sintered at 1,150?°C has the coercive field of 1,998 Gauss, remnant magnetization of 38.87?emu/g and the saturation magnetization of 53.44?emu/g.     

Differentiated survivability with improved fairness in IP/MPLS-over-WDM optical networks

This paper addresses the priority-fairness problem inherent in provisioning differentiated survivability services for sub-lambda connections associated with different protection-classes in IP/MPLS-over-WDM networks. The priority-fairness problem arises because, high-priority connections requiring high quality of protection such as lambda level pre-configured lightpath protection are more likely to be rejected when compared to low-priority connections which may not need such a high quality of protection. A challenging task in addressing this problem is that, while improving the acceptance rate of high-priority connections, low-priority connections should not be over-penalized. We propose two solution-approaches to address this problem. In the first approach, a new inter-class backup resource sharing (ICBS) technique and a differentiated routing scheme (DiffRoute) are adopted. The ICBS is investigated in two methods: partial- and full-ICBS (p-ICBS and f-ICBS) methods. The DiffRoute scheme uses different routing criteria for the traffic classes. In the second approach, two rerouting schemes are developed. The rerouting schemes are applied with the DiffRoute and ICBS. The rerouting schemes employ inter-layer backup resource sharing and inter-layer primary-backup multiplexing for the benefit of high-priority connections, thus improving fairness. Our findings are as follows. (1) The application of p-ICBS and DiffRoute yields improved performance for high-priority connections. However, it shows penalized performance for low-priority connections. On the other hand, the collective application of f-ICBS and DiffRoute yields significantly improved performance for high-priority connections with no penalized performance as the performance of low-priority connections is also improved. (2) The rerouting schemes, when applied with the DiffRoute and ICBS methods, further improve the performance of high-priority traffic without significantly affecting the performance of other traffic.     

Biosorption of heavy metals from aqueous solution using modified activated carbon: comparison of linear and nonlinear methods

BACKGROUND: Biosorption of heavy metals from aqueous solution by modified activated carbon with Phanerochaete chrysosporium immobilised in Ca‐alginate beads was investigated using a batch system and comparison of linear and nonlinear methods. RESULTS: The amount of Cu(II), Zn(II) and Pb(II) ion sorption by the beads was as follows: activated carbon with P. chrysosporium immobilised in Ca‐alginate beads (ACFCA) (193.4, 181.8, 136.6 mg g^?1) > activated carbon immobilised in Ca‐alginate beads (ACCA) (174.8, 162.0, 130.7 mg g^?1) > P. chrysosporium (F) (148.8, 125.6, 120.4 mg g^?1) > activated carbon (AC) (138.8, 112.3, 109.3 mg g^?1) > plain Ca‐alginate beads (PCA) (125.4, 105.2, 98.2 mg g^?1). The widely used Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models were utilised to describe the biosorption equilibrium process. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that the immobilisation of modified activated carbon with P. chrysosporium in Ca‐alginate beads is suitable for a batch system. The isotherm parameters were estimated using linear and nonlinear regression analyses. The surface charge density of the biosorbents varied with the pH of the medium; the maximum biosorption of heavy metal ions on the biosorbents was obtained when the pH was between 5.6 and 7.4. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Tunable kHz deep ultraviolet (193-210 nm) laser for Raman application

The performance characteristics of a kilohertz solid-state laser source for ultraviolet Raman spectroscopy are described. Deep ultraviolet (UV) excitation in the 193-210 nm region is provided by mixing of the fundamental and third harmonics of a Ti-sapphire laser, which is pumped by the second harmonic of a Q-Switched Nd-YLF laser. The combination of tunability, narrow linewidth, high average power, good stability, and kilohertz repetition rate makes this laser suitable for deep UV resonance Raman applications. The short pulse duration (approximately 20 ns) permits nanosecond time resolution in pump-probe applications. The low peak power and high data rate provide artifact-free spectra with a high signal-to-noise ratio. UV Raman cross-section and Raman excitation profiles are reported for gaseous O2 (relative to N), aqueous ClO4-, tyrosine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, histidine, and hemoglobin excited between 193 nm and 210 nm to illustrate laser performance.     

Formation of zinc ferrite by solid-state reaction and its characterization by XRD and XPS

A dry mixture of ZnO and -Fe₂O₃was annealed at 1200°C; the progress of the formation of the ferrite was monitored by XRD and XPS analyses at different time intervals. The presence of octahedral zinc cation was observed along with the regular tetrahedral Zn in the sample that had undergone 30 minute heat treatment. After three hours of heating, pure normal zinc ferrite was formed. The Zn 2p_3/2peak binding energy, intensity and line shape were analyzed extensively to show the diffusion of ZnO and the growth of ferrite at different stages of heat treatment. Analysis of the Fe 2p_3/2line-shape supported the substitution of Fe²⁺by zinc cations during ferrite formation. The binding energy values of the Zn 2p levels for stoichiometric and non-stoichiometric ferrites were also determined and surface segregation of the zinc was observed by XPS in the non-stoichiometric ferrites.     

Mechanical and barrier properties of epoxy polymer filled with nanolayered silicate clay particles

The diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) epoxy resin system filled with organo clay (OC) and unmodified clay (UC) were processed separately by two different curing agents. Triethylene tetramine (TETA) and Diaminodiphenyl methane (DDM) hardeners were used as curing agents. The nanocomposites were processed by shear mixing at different clay concentrations (1, 2, 3,5 and 10 wt%). The OC and UC were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD) technique. The morphology of the nanocomposites was obtained by XRD and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Bending and Impact tests conducted on these materials revealed that the organo clay filled epoxy resin showed good improvement in property over unmodified clay filled epoxy composites. The mass uptake of the nanocomposites was studied in the acid, base and water mediums. It is observed that the mass uptake in the acid medium is higher than in other mediums. The equilibrium mass uptake in all the mediums for nanocomposites was found to be lower compared to neat epoxy polymer system.