Surface properties of commercial polymer films following various gas plasma treatments

Surface properties of a number of commercial thermoplastic polymer films were investigated before and after brief exposures to RF induced, low temperature gas plasmas. Water wettability and adhesion of vapor deposited aluminum to thin films (8–12 micron) of polyethylene, polypropylene, polyester, polysulfone, polycarbonate, and polyvinylidene fluoride films were studied before and after treatments with oxygen, 96% CF₄/4% O₂, and helium plasmas. Treatment with oxygen plasmas showed the greatest change in water wettability for polyvinylidene fluoride and polypropylene films, while treatment with 96% CF₄/4% O₂ showed dramatic changes in wettability of polycarbonate, polysulfone, and polystyrene. Excellent adhesion of aluminium was found for polymers that had been previously exposed to gas plasmas.     

Statistical Analysis of the Intergranular Film Thickness in Silicon Nitride Ceramics

Silicon nitride materials typically reveal thin amorphous intergranular films along grain boundaries, with only the exception of special boundaries. It is known that such grainboundary films strongly affect the high-temperature properties of the bulk material. High-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) was used to study these amorphous films in different Si₃N₄ ceramics. The observed film thicknesses at grain boundaries in these materials varied between 5and 15 Å. It was shown that the grain-boundary film thickness strongly depends on film chemistry. Careful inspections of film-thickness measurements across grain boundaries in a given material suggest that the film widths vary on the order of 1 Å. Therefore, a quantitative evaluation should allow for the determination of the standard deviation of the film thickness. The amorphous film widths along grain boundaries in four materials were measured over the entire length (up to 1 μm) of the grain boundary between two triple points. Forty to fifty data points were evaluated for each boundary, giving a Gaussian-like distribution of the film thickness around a median value, which corresponded well with the film width measured from single HREM micrographs. The accuracy achieved by the statistical method was better than ± 1 Å.     

PHASE-SPACE DIFFUSION EQUATIONS FOR SINGLE BROWNIAN PARTICLE MOTION NEAR SURFACES

In numerous physical processes involving the motion of micron and submicron sized particles near surfaces, such as the filtration of hydrosols and aerosols, the particle motion is the net result of the combined effects of fluid convection, external forces, particle inertia, Brownian particle motion, and particle-surface fluid dynamic interactions. The most general method of describing particle motion under the combined action of these effects is through the so-called Fokker-Planck equation. In the absence of particle-surface fluid dynamic interactions, the Fokker-Planck equation is well-known, and it has been applied in a general way to problems involving the adsorption or deposition of Brownian particles onto surfaces through a solution technique known as the Brownian dynamics simulation method.

In this study, the Fokker-Planck equation for Brownian particle motion near surfaces is generalized to include particle-surface fluid dynamic interactions. The Fokker-Planck equation is shown to follow from the Liouville equation for the Brownian particle and n-fluid molecules present in the system, thus, establishing a firm theoretical foundation for the Fokker-Planck equation and the various other phase-space diffusion equations that follow from it.

Based on diagonalization of the Fokker-Planck equation, its short-time behavior is also derived here which enables a generalization of the Brownian dynamics method for the study of particle motion near surfaces including fluid dynamic interactions. Additionally, a perturbation solution of the Fokker-Planck equation under the conditions of small, but finite particle Stokes number is also derived. These solutions are shown to agree with previously given representations of the Smoluchowski or convective-diffusion equation for Brownian particle motion near surfaces, as well as with inertial corrections to the Smoluchowski equation available in the literature. This latter equation is also generalized here to include particle-surface fluid dynamic interactions.     

Control policies for an industrial acetylene hydrogenation reactor

This paper addresses the problem of finding optimal operational policies for an acetylene reactor for day to day operation. A lumped parameter model based on four main reactions is developed and used to examine the effects of the reactor manipulated variables on key reaction parameters. An optimal and a sub-optimal operational policy which minimize the ethylene loss over time are formulated and the solution techniques are presented. The results indicate that the reactor model is in good agreement with industrial plant data. The performance of the optimal control policy is very similar to the performance of the sub-optimal control policy. However, the sub-optimal formulation, while retaining the dominant features of the optimal response, reduces the computational requirements. Finally, some issues concerning the real-time implementation of an advanced acetylene reactor control scheme are presented. These include the estimation of the optimum regeneration cycle, a recursive model update algorithm, the process optimizer and their overall coordination. A preliminary analysis of the benefits associated with the advanced control scheme suggests a considerable reduction in the yearly ethylene loss.     

Mass determination of the fatty acids released from tannin-stimulated rabbit alveolar macrophages

Previous studies with macrophages that had been prelabeled with [¹⁴C]arachidonic acid (20∶4) have shown that condensed tannin is a potent agonist for the release of arachidonic acid. However, it has not been demonstrated that the percentage release of [¹⁴C]20∶4 accurately reflects the metabolic activity of the endogenous 20∶4 pool. In order to measure the 20∶4 mass release relative to the total cellular 20∶4 pool, the free fatty acids of freshly isolated alveolar macrophages were derivatized with a fluorescent reagent, and then separated and quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography. The amounts of esterified fatty acids were measured by gas chromatography of the methyl esters. Free fatty acid levels were compared to those of the total esterified plus unesterified fatty acids to determine the actual percentage released of each fatty acid. Tannin-stimulated release of 20∶4 mass reflected that previously reported for the release of [¹⁴C]20∶4 label but at a slower rate and at a much lower percentage indicating that [¹⁴C]20∶4 had been incorporated into part of a more reactive pool. The specificity of the fatty acid release induced by tannin and β-1,3-glucan, a known agonist for 20∶4 release, was also examined. Both agonists promoted an increase in the levels of free 20∶4 and of other fatty acids. A comparison of the absolute increases of each of the fatty acids indicated that tannin caused a preferential increase in the mass of free 20∶4, whereas β-1,3-glucan evoked a selective increase in the mass of 16∶0. Deceased.     

Miscibility of poly(methoxymethyl methacrylate) and poly(methylthiomethyl methacrylate) with poly(vinylidene fluoride)

Summary The miscibility behaviour of poly(methoxymethyl methacrylate) (PMOMA) and poly(methylthiomethyl methacrylate) (PMTMA) with poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) was examined by differential scanning calorimetry. PMOMA/PVDF blend system was judged to be miscible on the bases of the presence of a single, composition-dependent glass transition for the blend and a pronounced melting point depression of the PVDF component. Furthermore, lower critical solution temperature (LCST) behaviour was observed for all PMOMA/PVDF blends. PMTMA/PVDF blends were found to be immiscible. Based on the melting point depression of PVDF in PMOMA/PVDF blends, the interaction parameter B was found to be -14.5 J/cm³.     

Activated gas plasma surface treatment of polymers for adhesive bonding

Polyethylene, polypropylene, poly(vinyl fluoride) (Tedlar), polystyrene, nylon 6, poly(ethylene terephthalate) (Mylar), polycarbonate, cellulose acetate butyrate, and a poly(oxymethylene) copolymer were treated with activated helium and with activated oxygen. Mechanical strengths of adhesive-bonded specimens prepared from treated and from untreated coupons were compared. Polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) showed the greatest increases in bond strength. Oxygen and helium were both effective with polyethylene, but polypropylene showed no improvement when treated with activated helium. The results with excited helium parallel the effects of ionizing radiation on these two polymers, as does the appearance of unsaturation bands in the infrared (965 cm^?1 in PE, and 887 and 910 cm^?1 in PP). Active nitrogen produced excellent bond strength with polyethylene but not with polypropylene. Of the remaining polymers examined, Tedlar, polystyrene, and nylon 6 showed the greatest improvement in bondability after treatment, and Mylar showed moderate improvement. Polycarbonate, cellulose acetate butyrate, and the poly(oxymethylene) copolymer gave approximately two-fold increases in lap-shear bond strength. In several cases, significant differences in response to time of treatment and type of excited gas were found.     

The synthesis and characterization of calcium aluminate monoiodide

The hydrated calcium aluminate AFt and AFm phases are known hosts for a wide variety of chemical species. This characteristic is beneficial to those using portland cement to solidify/encapsulate radioactive waste which more often than not contains a wide variety of elements. In order to investigate the potential of the calcium aluminate hydrates as host phases for selected ions, the following experiments were carried out. Bottle hydration studies (water/solid > 1) were used to investigate the suitability of the AFt and AFm phases as hosts for iodine, one of the more mobile radioactive waste elements. Trial compositions along the AFt and AFm joins in the systems 3CaO·Al₂O₃---CaSO₄---CaI₂---H₂O were investigated. No stable iodine end-member AFt phase was formed at room temperature. The end-member AFm phase, 3CaO·Al₂O₃·CaI₂·12H₂O, was synthesized and was designated monoiodide. Characterization was carried out using chemical analysis, scanning electron microscopy, x-ray diffraction (conventional and high temperature), thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis. Monoiodide was indexed as hexagonal and thus isostructural with previously described AFm phases. Monoiodide is stable to about 85°C. A loss of approximately four molecules of water occurs between 71° and 101°C. The lower hydrate, tentatively identified as 3CaO·Al₂O₃·CaI₂·8H₂O, is stable to approximately 300°C. The latter hydrate was observed to revert to the original hydrate on exposure to the relative humidity in the laboratory.     

电子商务配送速度与客户退单的关联建模仿真

在电子商务中,产品的配送速度与客户的退单率之间存在着较为复杂的关联性,这种关联性受到所在地域、购买时间、运输能力、订单处理能力、人为因素等多方因素的影响十分复杂.传统的建模方法只能利用多个简单的线性关系进行描述,加入了更多的复杂约束过程的描述,模型复杂,无法准确反映两者关系.为解决上述问题,提出基于PLS_SEM算法的电子商务中产品的配送速度与客户退单的关系建模方法.根据PLS_SEM算法的构建复杂模型特有的优势,建立电子商务客户退单评价模型,并利用退单校验因子定量分析了电子商务中不同的变量对于客户退单的影响,可以较好地解决模型中存在的过多约束问题,保证建模准确性.仿真结果表明,利用PLS_SEM算法能够实现对电子商务中产品配送速度与客户退单的关系进行准确分析,效果令人满意.