New Adhesion Promoters for Copper Leadframes and Epoxy Resin

New primer molecules have been synthesized to increase the adhesion strength between a copper leadframe and an epoxy molding compound in microelectronical devices. The coupling agents were preliminarily chemisorbed at the surface of copper plates via special binding groups like thiol, disulfide, ethylene diamine and phthalocyanine. Binding to the epoxy resin was performed via an hydroxyl group. Linear hydrocarbon spacers with various chain lengths connected the copper- and epoxy-binding groups. The self-assembled layers of the organic coupling agents at the metal surface were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Thermogravimetric analysis was used to study the coating with respect to its corrosion oxidation inhibition. Shear tests clearly indicated that the coupling agents increase adhesion strength and are stable even in extreme humidity and thermal conditions in analogy to IPC-Level-1 pretreatment. Thus, delamination of the microelectronical packages was prevented.     

Hydrogenolysis of Hydroxymatairesinol Over Carbon-Supported Palladium Catalysts

The natural lignan hydroxymatairesinol was hydrogenolysed to a potential anticarcinogenic substance matairesinol over different carbon-supported palladium catalysts. The reaction was conducted in 2-propanol at 70 °C under hydrogen flow in a stirred glass reactor. The catalysts were characterised by N₂-physisorption, CO pulse chemisorption and pH measurement of aqueous catalyst slurries. The most active catalyst (Degussa-Hüls) gave yields of matairesinol over 90% in 4 h. It was concluded that the acidity of the catalyst had a profound influence on the reaction rate.     

Sustainability of biofuels in Latin America: Risks and opportunities

Several Latin American countries are setting up biofuel programmes to establish alternative markets for agricultural commodities. This is mainly triggered by the current success of Brazilian bioethanol production for the domestic market and for export. Furthermore, the global biofuel market is expected to increase due to ambitious biofuel programmes in the EU and in the USA. Colombia, Venezuela, Costa Rica and Guatemala are focusing on bioethanol production from sugarcane whereas biofuel production in Argentina is based on soy biodiesel. Recent developments of the biofuel sector take place extremely rapid especially in Argentina, which became one of the five largest biodiesel producers in the world in 2008. Till date no specific biofuel sustainability certification systems have been implemented in Latin American, as well as on global level. This fact and the predominant use of food crops for biofuel production raise concerns about the sustainability of biofuel production related to environmental and social aspects. This paper provides an overview of the hotspots of conflicts in biofuel production in Latin America. It investigates presently available sustainability tools and initiatives to ensure sustainable biofuel production in Latin America. Finally, it provides an outlook on how to integrate sustainability in the Latin American biofuel sector.     

Tensile Testing of Nitinol Tubes and Wires with Higher Strain Rates

During tensile testing of superelastic Nitinol material, the specimen temperature increases as result of the exothermic Austenite-to-Martensite phase transformation. The increase in specimen temperature has great influence on the stress-strain response—in particular, upper and lower plateau values—and limits the strain rate of the tensile test, so that for larger specimen dimension, the strain rate has to be reduced. A special setup of the tensile testing equipment has been developed using a fan to improve the heat exchange between the specimen and the ambiance to allow much higher strain rates as well as even gradient of the upper and lower plateau. It could be shown that the strain rate of the first loading and unloading cycle could be two to four times higher as recommended in ASTM F 2516-07 without any negative impact on the determined values. The needed time for tensile testing of Nitinol products could be reduced considerably. The improved heat exchange gives a better comparability and reproducibility of the tensile test data.     

Conformational changes of Mal d 2, a thaumatin-like apple allergen,induced by food processing

Mal d 2, a thaumatin-like protein from apple was previously described to react to almost 75% of the apple allergic patient sera. Based on the molecular structure of this protein, the present study focused on the conformational stability of Mal d 2 in relation to in vitro IgE-binding under different physico-chemical conditions and proteolysis. The structural integrity of Mal d 2 was monitored using SDS–PAGE, Western blotting using polyclonal antibodies and human sera, fluorescence spectrometry and circular dichroism. Results confirmed the stability of Mal d 2. However, Mal d 2 was reactive to human serum IgEs mainly after reduction of disulphide bridges fixing the α-helical domain II. Contrary to previous assumptions, the current findings suggest that the allergenic epitopes of Mal d 2 are hidden inside the protein structure and none of the rigorous conditions applied in industrial juice processing or digestive proteolysis enhance or reduce the binding to IgE molecules.