Poly(vinylpyrrolidone) as a tool: aqueous dispersion of nanodiamonds by wrapping in the solid state

Among carbon‐based nanomaterials such as fullerenes, carbon nanotubes and nanodiamonds, the latter are good candidates as prospective materials in the future due to their potential physical, chemical and biological properties. Thus, nanodiamonds were wrapped with biocompatible polymers in the solid state. The dispersibility of the polymer‐wrapped nanodiamonds in water was investigated with respect to reaction time and mass ratio of the polymers during the wrapping process. The dispersibility of the materials was monitored using UV spectroscopy, and the size distribution of the polymer‐wrapped nanodiamonds was analyzed using high‐resolution transmission electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering measurements. In addition, molecular modeling calculations were performed. Finally, the best dispersion for the polymer‐wrapped nanodiamonds in water was found for a reaction time of 120 min. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry     

Rheological analysis of polyvinyl butyral near the glass transition temperature

In many polymer manufacturing operations, the material is processed near the glass transition temperature (T_g). Examples are thermoforming, blow molding, film blowing, hot embossing, forging, plastic welding, and de‐airing in safety glass lamination. In these processes, solid‐like behaviors such as strain hardening and yielding play important roles. These material properties cause the material to flow (or deform) in a way that substantially differs from a polymer melt. In order to understand the flow behavior near the T_g, polyvinyl butyral (PVB), a rubbery polymer used in safety glass lamination, was studied in this work. The flow properties of the polymer above the T_g were characterized by using both shear and elongational rheometers, and a tensile tester. The measured flow properties were described by a viscoelastic constitutive model.     

Processing and properties of polymeric nano‐composites

Polymeric nano‐composites are prepared by melt intercalation in this study. Nano‐clay is mixed with either a polymer or a polymer blend by twin‐screw extrusion. The clay‐spacing in the composites is measured by X‐ray diffraction (XRD). The morphology of the composites and its development during the extrusion process are observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Melt viscosity and mechanical properties of the composites and the blends are also measured. It is found that the clay spacing in the composites is influenced greatly by the type of polymer used. The addition of the nano‐clay can greatly increase the viscosity of the polymer when there is a strong interaction between the polymer and the nano‐clay. It can also change the morphology and morphology development of nylon 6/PP blends. The mechanical test shows that the presence of 5–10 wt.% nano‐clay largely increases the elastic modulus of the composites and blends, while significantly decreases the impact strength. The water absorption of nylon 6 is decreased with the presence of nano‐clay. The effect of nano‐clay on polymers and polymer blends is also compared with Kaolin clay under the same experimental conditions.     

Synthesis of polycyclic polyfunctionalized carbocycles by a cobalt(I)-initiated tandem diels–alder reaction sequence

The cobalt(I)-catalyzed neutral Diels–Alder reaction of acyclic 1,3-dienes with conjugated enynes can be used to generate secondary dihydroaromatic 1,4,8-trienes containing a 1,3-diene substructure, in good yields under mild reaction conditions. These 1,3-dienes can be converted, with reactive dienophiles in a tandem normal Diels–Alder reaction, into polycyclic compounds. In a similar tandem Diels–Alder sequence, the cobalt-catalyzed neutral homo Diels–Alder reaction of 2,5-norbornadiene can be used to generate polycyclic cycloaddition adducts. A sequential triple Diels–Alder reaction sequence can be realized when norbornadiene is reacted with the excess of the conjugated enynes under cobalt(I) catalysis. In a homo Diels–Alder, neutral Diels–Alder, normal Diels–Alder reaction sequence, the intermediately formed adducts are reacted with activated dienophiles to yield polycyclic compounds in a short sequence. The structures of several products were established by X-ray analysis. This showed that predominantly endo-products are formed in the tandem reaction sequences, while the exo-product becomes predominant in the triple Diels–Alder reaction sequence.     

用心铸造文化与友谊的桥梁——访泰国国际航空大众有限公司成都办事处总经理安南先生

创立于1960年的泰国国际航空大众有限公司，到今年已经走过了五十个年头。并又一次在全球航空业评选调查中获得“最佳头等舱贵宾室第一名”、“最佳机场服务第一名”的荣誉。在7月还被美国著名旅游休闲杂志（Travel＋Leisure）评选为全球十佳国际航空公司之一。     

Chemical,physical and biological properties of alginates and their biomedical implications

Alginates are binary, linear copolymers of (1 → 4) linked ß-d-mannuronic acid (M) and α-l-guluronic acid (G) residues of widely different composition and sequence. The monomers do not occur randomly but rather in a block-like fashion, where the G-blocks are responsible for the specific ion binding and hence also the gelling properties of alginates. Alginates have for decades been used as medical devices in various products, and research has been conducted on alginate gel beads as entrapment devices for the transplantation of e.g. insulin producing cells. Until recently, no pharmaceutical activity of the alginate molecule itself had been claimed. The fact that alginates high in mannuronate residues are able to induce cytokine production and may stimulate Toll-like receptors has changed this picture. Furthermore, it has quite recently also been shown that oligoguluronates are able to transiently modify mucin network structures to such an extent that it opens up possibilities for the treatment of pathological respiratory diseases as well as a general increased drug bioavailability due to increased mucosal uptake. This review presents a summary of the physicochemical properties of alginates and their entry into biotechnology and biomedicine.     

Feedrate optimisation/scheduling on sculptured surface machining: a comprehensive review, applications and future directions

Free-form or sculptured surface milling is one of the continually used manufacturing processes for die/mould, aerospace (especially turbine blades), precision machine design, bio-medical devices and automotive industries. Developments of machining technologies for quality enhancement of machining results have become a very important fact in current real industry. Therefore, reducing milling time, tool wear, cutter deflection and improving surface texture quality and machining operations through adaptation and optimisation of tool feedrates based on changing surface geometry in sculptured surface machining is a great step in this direction. Various feedrate optimisation strategies have different feedrate rescheduling control parameters such as chip thickness, material removal rate (MRR), min(mrr,chip,force), max(expo.Acc/dec) and resultant forces. Some commercial CAM softwares come with MRR-based feedrate optimisation algorithms which have a very short calculation time. However, commercial feedrate scheduling systems have some limitations in generating the scheduled feedrates because they use the MRR or the cutting force model which is dependent on milling conditions. However, for the processes in which machining precision/accuracy is very important, it is inevitable that mechanistic force-based feedrate optimisation approaches, for which the calculation time is improved, will be integrated into commercial CAM software packages. Here, developing only the mechanistic cutting force-based algorithm is not enough. In this paper, improvement and optimisation of machining feedrate value, which is one of the cutting parameters which has a tremendous effect on the precise machining of free-form surfaces, was discussed by using the virtual machining framework. For this purpose, the boundary representation solid modelling technique-based free-form milling simulation and feedrate optimisation system integrated with commercial CAD/CAM software is developed for three-axis ball-end milling. This review study includes the information regarding the following topics: The algorithms developed for the feedrate value optimisation, MRR calculation approaches, cutting force computation methods, details of algorithms, the effects on the surface accuracy, the effects on the machining time, the capabilities of the present commercial CAM software packages, the encountered difficulties and overcoming those difficulties, recent developments and future research directions.