Chemically modified oil palm ash‐filled natural rubber composites and its properties

Chemically modified Oil Palm Ash (OPA)‐filled natural rubber composites were prepared by modifying the functional group of OPA with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) prior to compounding by using laboratory conventional laboratory‐sized two‐roll mills. The functional groups of CTAB‐modified OPA were analyzed by using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and compared with those of non‐modified ones. The CTAB‐modified OPA‐filled NR composites showed shorter scorch time and cure time as compared to those of non‐modified OPA, which was attributed to the new functional groups occurred. The tensile test results showed that the OPA‐filled NR composites with CTAB modification exhibit improvement in tensile strength, tensile modulus, and hardness but lower elongation at break as compared to nonmodified ones. The tensile fractured surface of modified OPA filled NR composites revealed the well embedded and better distribution of CTAB‐modified OPA in NR matrix. The toluene uptake was also found to be lower for the modified OPA‐filled NR composites and showed better rubber–filler interaction; it further showed that surface modification with CTAB could compatibilize the OPA particles and NR matrix. POLYM. COMPOS., 35:691–697, 2014. © 2013 Society of Plastics Engineers     

亚麻籽麻纤维增强复合材料的制备及其力学性能

本文着重研究了亚麻籽麻纤维强度及其复合材料纵向拉伸和弯曲性能,旨在探求亚麻籽麻纤维在绿色复合材料领域的应用潜能。分别采用10 g/l NaOH和20 g/l NaOH对亚麻籽麻纤维进行脱胶处理。脱胶后纤维表面SEM照片显示,经20 g/l NaOH处理可脱除纤维表面大部分胶质,脱胶较为彻底和均匀。热处理对纤维的力学性能有较大影响,经150℃热处理后纤维强度下降了36.2%。选择低熔点PBS(聚丁二酸丁二醇酯)树脂与麻纤维采用热压成型制备了纤维体积分数为36%的复合材料。测试了复合材料的纵向拉伸和弯曲性能,并对破坏模式进行分析。结果显示:碱处理后,复合材料拉伸性能有所降低,弯曲强度分别提高了19.3%(10 g/l NaOH)和59.9%(20g/l NaOH),20 g/l NaOH处理后复合材料的纵向弯曲强度为42.69 MPa。研究表明,亚麻籽麻纤维可用于制备热塑性复合材料,并具有较好的力学性能和应用前景。     

Electrical transport properties of Co–Zn–Y–Fe–O system

Co–Zn substituted nanoferrites having stoichiometric composition Co_1?xZn_xY_0.15Fe_1.85O₄ (x = 0.0–1.0, step: 0.2) were synthesized by chemical co-precipitation method. Analysis of the XRD patterns confirms the formation of cubic spinel phase as main phase along with few traces of secondary phase. The lattice constant was found to increase from 8.378 Å to 8.438 Å with zinc contents which can be explained on the basis of difference in ionic radii. SEM micrographs indicate nearly uniform distribution of grains. The average crystal size was found to decrease from 38.41 nm to 14.25 nm with the increase of Zn contents. The physical density increases with the increase of Zn contents from 3.95 g/cm³ to 4.42 g/cm³. It was found that the resistivity decreases with the increase of Zn contents from 9.20 × 10⁷ Ω cm to 5.26 × 10⁶ Ω cm which may be attributed to the increase in the number of Fe²⁺/Fe³⁺ ions pairs at B-sites. The transition temperature of the samples with substitution level x = 0.6, 0.8, 1.0 changes at 373, 333 and 313 K, respectively. The transition temperature of the sample with x = 1.0 is close to the room temperature. This may be the Curie temperature. Low Curie temperature material can be used for the preparation of temperature sensitive ferrofluid. Dielectric loss tangent (tan δ) has been observed to increase with the increase of zinc contents. This can be attributed to the decrease in resistivity which in turn increases the dielectric loss tangent.     

Comparing physicochemical properties of banana pulp and peel flours prepared from green and ripe fruits

Banana pulp and peel flour prepared from green and ripe Cavendish banana were assessed for physicochemical properties such as pH, total soluble solids (TSS), water holding capacity (WHC) and oil holding capacity (OHC) at 40, 60 and 80 °C, colour values L^∗, a^∗ and b^∗, back extrusion force (BEF) and viscosity. Data obtained were analysed by MANOVA, discriminant analysis and cluster analysis. All statistical analyses showed that physicochemical properties of flour prepared from pulp and peel, and green and ripe banana were different from each other. TSS, WHC40, WHC60 and BEF can be used to discriminate between peel and pulp flour, whilst TSS and viscosity can be used to discriminate between flour prepared from green and ripe banana.     

Smart objects identification system for robotic surveillance

Video surveillance is an active research topic in computer vision.In this paper,humans and cars identifcation technique suitable for real time video surveillance systems is presented.The technique we proposed includes background subtraction,foreground segmentation,shadow removal,feature extraction and classifcation.The feature extraction of the extracted foreground objects is done via a new set of afne moment invariants based on statistics method and these were used to identify human or car.When the partial occlusion occurs,although features of full body cannot be extracted,our proposed technique extracts the features of head shoulder.Our proposed technique can identify human by extracting the human head-shoulder up to 60%–70%occlusion.Thus,it has a better classifcation to solve the issue of the loss of property arising from human occluded easily in practical applications.The whole system works at approximately 16 29 fps and thus it is suitable for real-time applications.The accuracy for our proposed technique in identifying human is very good,which is 98.33%,while for cars identifcation,the accuracy is also good,which is 94.41%.The overall accuracy for our proposed technique in identifying human and car is at 98.04%.The experiment results show that this method is efective and has strong robustness.     

A game theoretical perspective on the quantum probabilities associated with a GHZ state

In the standard approach to quantum games, players’ strategic moves are local unitary transformations on an entangled state that is subsequently measured. Players’ payoffs are then obtained as expected values of the entries in the payoff matrix of the classical game on a set of quantum probabilities obtained from the quantum measurement. In this paper, we approach quantum games from a diametrically opposite perspective. We consider a classical three-player symmetric game along with a known expression for a set of quantum probabilities relevant to a tripartite Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen (EPR) experiment that depends on three players’ directional choices in the experiment. We define the players’ strategic moves as their directional choices in an EPR setting and then express their payoff relations in the resulting quantum game in terms of their directional choices, the entries of the payoff matrix, and the quantum probability distribution relevant to the tripartite EPR experiment.     

Impact of salicylic acid and calcium chloride on quality attributes of peach stored at refrigeration temperature

Food Science and Biotechnology - Salicylic acid (SA) in different concentration were used to assess its individual effect as well as combined impact with 3% calcium chloride (CaCl2) on Swat No. 8...