Effects of pigmentation on siloxane–polyurethane coatings and their performance as fouling-release marine coatings

Siloxane–polyurethane paints were formulated and characterized for coating properties and performance as fouling-release (FR) marine coatings. Paints were formulated at 20 and 30 pigment volume concentrations with titanium dioxide, and aminopropyl-terminated poly(dimethylsiloxane) (APT-PDMS) loadings were varied from 0 to 30% based on binder mass. The coatings were characterized for water contact angle, surface energy (SE), gloss, and pseudobarnacle (PB) adhesion. The assessment of the FR performance compared with polyurethane (PU) and silicone standards through the use of laboratory biological assays was also performed. Biofilm retention and adhesion were conducted with the marine bacterium Cellulophaga lytica, and the microalgae diatom Navicula incerta. Live adult barnacle reattachment using Amphibalanus amphitrite was also performed. The pigmented coatings were found to have properties and FR performance similar to those prepared without pigment. However, a higher loading of PDMS was required, in some cases, to obtain the same properties as coatings prepared without pigment. These coatings rely on a self-stratification mechanism to bring the PDMS to the coating surface. The slight reduction in water contact angle (WCA) and increase in pseudobarnacle release force with pigmentation suggests that pigmentation slowed or interfered with the self-stratification mechanism. However, increasing the PDMS loading is an apparent method for overcoming this issue, allowing for coatings having similar properties as those of clear coatings and FR performance similar to those of silicone standard coatings.     

Some Semiconductor Properties of Carboxymethyl Cellulose-Copper Complexes

Metal chelates of three grades of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) (LI-L3) with Cu(II) ions, either originating from CuCl₂ or CuSO₄, were prepared and characterized by elemental analysis, infrared spectra, and electrical conductivity studies. The results showed that the degree of substitution of CMCs and the origin of the Cu(II) ion have a profound effect on the amount of metal included in the polymer complexes and the structure and the electrical conductivity of the prepared complexes. CMC acts as a uninegatively charged bidentate ligand when it is chelated with Cu(II) of CuCl₂ via the carboxymethyl group and exhibits the formula Cu(L)₂, whereas it acts as a binegatively charged bitentate ligand when it is chelated with CuSO₄ via the carboxymethyl and secondary hydroxyl groups and exhibits the formula CuL.2H₂O. The investigation revealed that the electrical conductivity depends on the temperature and has two maximum peaks. The values of the activation energy for the conductivity of CMC and their complexes indicated that the samples changed from a low-semiconductor to a high-semiconductor property with heating. It is found that CMC-Cu(II) complexes formed from CuSO₄ exhibit a high-semiconductor property compared to complexes derived from CuCl₂.     

A comparative study of accelerated weathering of epoxy resins based on DGEBA and HDGEBA

The durability of epoxy resins is an important factor in applications of composites to timber engineering. We carried out a comparative study of the effect of accelerated weathering on epoxy resins based on the glycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) or hydrogenated diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (HDGEBA) cured with 2,2,4-trimethylene-1,6-hexadiamine, using various characterization tools, including mechanical and thermal testing and SEM to evaluate the effect of exposure to UV light, moisture and elevated temperature cycles on the properties of the resins. Mechanical testing showed that after 6 months accelerated weathering reduced by 50% the tensile strength of DGEBA-TMDA while HDGEBA-TMDA epoxies lost slightly less strength over the same exposure period. Elongation at break increased after 6 months of accelerated weathering from 5.1?±?0.1% to 7.5?±?0.3% for DGEBA-TMDA epoxy specimens, and from 0.9?±?0.3% to 2.0?±?0.1% for HDGEBA-TMDA epoxy specimens. FTIR of the epoxies showed increases in the absorbance of hydroxyl and carbonyl groups for both epoxies on accelerated weathering, but the hydroxyl and carbonyl indexes reached values 90 and 40% higher respectively for DGEBA than HDGEBA-based epoxy resins. While susceptibility to accelerated weathering on the molecular scale was clearly greater for the DGEBA-based epoxy on the molecular scale, this did not translate into a significant deterioration in mechanical properties relative to HDGEBA over the time scale of the accelerated weathering experiments.     

Antioxidant Effects of Berry Phenolics Incorporated in Oil-in-Water Emulsions with Continuous Phase β-Lactoglobulin

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of berry phenolics, in this case, black currant (Ribes nigrum) anthocyanins and raspberry (Rubus idaeus) ellagitannins, in the presence of continuous phase β-lactoglobulin (β-Lg), on the oxidative stability of Brij 35-stabilized corn oil-in-water emulsions. The extent of lipid oxidation in emulsions was measured by determining the formation of lipid hydroperoxides and hexanal, and extent of protein oxidation by monitoring the loss of tryptophan and cysteine residues in the continuous phase β-Lg. Berry phenolics at concentration levels of 20 and 50 μM were able to prevent lipid oxidation with and without β-Lg in the aqueous phase. The results show that a combination of β-Lg and berry phenolics was more efficient in inhibiting hexanal formation than either component alone. Synergistic effects on antioxidant activity toward hexanal were observed only at the 20 μM levels of berry phenolics in combination with continuous phase β-Lg. The berry phenolics were also able to inhibit the oxidation of tryptophan and cysteine residues of β-Lg. The results show that the amino acid residues were oxidized prior to the propagation of lipid oxidation. This suggests that these amino acids were able to inhibit fatty acid scission. The information gained from this study would be useful in protecting emulsion-based food products from oxidative deterioration.     

Design and testing of a solar photovoltaic operated multi-seeds oil press

Oil expression tests were conducted to evaluate the performance of a novel oil expeller designed and fabricated to operate on a 200 W solar photovoltaic (PV) power system as a sole power source. The oil press was designed to press oilseeds meal with intermediate moisture content of 12±1% (w.b.) and 0.5–2 mm particle sizes. Freshly grated coconuts and ground peanuts were used to determine the oil expression efficiency of the press. The oilseed samples were pressed for 12 min with a maximum pressure of 3.0 MPa being reached at 6 min of pressing for peanuts and 8 min of pressing for coconuts. The pressure was then held for the rest of the pressing time. The press attained an average oil expression efficiency of 73% for coconuts and 70% for peanuts. The force-vs.-deformation studies indicated that peanut press meal was compacted at a higher rate as compared to coconuts. The observation on the energy consumption indicated that there was a significant increase (P<0.05) in the specific energy requirement for both coconuts and peanuts after 6 min of pressing, which resulted from the solidification of the press cake. An average specific energy of 36.55 and 20.35 Wh/kg was recorded for peanuts and coconuts, respectively, after 12 min of pressing.     

Pulsed neutron source measurements in the subcritical ADS experiment YALINA-Booster

A subcritical zero-power source-driven coupled core, the YALINA-Booster, has been constructed for experimental investigations of neutron kinetics of source-driven systems. In this study, the reactivity of two subcritical configurations has been determined by the area ratio method. The prompt neutron decay constants have been evaluated through slope fitting of the prompt neutron decay as well as through the pulsed Rossi-α method. It is shown that the slope fitting method and the pulsed Rossi-α method give stable results whereas the area ratio method results show spatial dependence. The reasons for the spatial spread are addressed.     

Assessment of a regulatory sanitization process in Egyptian dairy plants in regard to the adherence of some food-borne pathogens and their biofilms

Food-borne pathogens may develop certain strategies that enable them to defy harsh conditions such as chemical sanitization. Biofilm formation represents a prominent one among those adopted strategies, by which food-borne pathogens protect themselves against external threats. Thus, bacterial biofilm is considered as a major hazard for safe food production. This study was designed to investigate the adherence and the biofilm formation ability of some food-borne pathogens on stainless steel and polypropylene surfaces using chip assay, and to validate regular sanitizing process (sodium hypochlorite 250mg/L) for effective elimination of those pathogens. Sixteen pathogenic bacterial strains, previously isolated from raw milk and dairy products at Zagazig city, Egypt (9 Staphylococcus aureus, 4 Cronobacter sakazakii and 3 Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium), were chosen for this study. Strains showed different patterns of adherence and biofilm formation on tested surfaces with minor significance between surfaces. The ability of sodium hypochlorite to completely eradicate either adhered or biofilm-embedded pathogens varied significantly depending on the strain and type of surface used. Whilst, sodium hypochlorite reduced tested pathogens counts per cm(2) of produced biofilms, but it was not able to entirely eliminate neither them nor adherent Cronobacter sakazakii to stainless steel surface. This study revealed that biofilm is considered as a sustainable source of contamination of dairy products with these pathogens, and also emphasized the need of paying more attention to the cleaning and sanitizing processes of food contact surfaces.     

Distributed steady state nonlinear modeling of turboalternators

This paper presents an alternate approach for modeling of steady state performance of large turboalternators including the effects of magnetic saturation. To avoid the superposition limitations of the conventional d-q approach, a sectoral model of a pole of the machine is developed and solved iteratively. The computational effort is orders of magnitude less than for a finite element solution. Results from the proposed model are compared with those from a conventional d-q model and with measurements made for a wide range of load conditions on a 588-MVA turbogenerator     

Stress analysis of multi-layer electronic and mechanical systems (MEMS) under fatigue and impact loading conditions

Detailed micro electronic and mechanical systems (MEMS) for a mobile microprocessor complex shape were modeled using Finite Element (FE) processing. Fatigue and impact conditions were performed on the Ball Grid Array (BGA) Integrated Circuit (IC) using Abaqus\CAE finite element analysis software. The main objective of this research is to make sure that BGA products can endure the roughness of the daily usage, where a portable electronic product is habitually coupled with potential damage of functional failure when the device falls.