Morphological controlled synthesis of micro-/nano-polyaniline

A novel, highly efficient and economical route is developed for the synthesis of polyaniline micro-/nanostructure. Materials were characterized by a complementary combination of X-ray diffraction, Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared, and UV-visible spectrophotometer. Morphology of polyaniline can be tailored by varying the structure-directing agents and pH of the synthesis condition. Ethylene glycol and polyethylene glycol formed a three-dimensional flower-like structure whereas block-copolymer (ethylene oxide and propylene oxide based co-polymer EO₂₀PO₇₀EO₂₀) formed leaf-like structure when the synthesis was performed at pH 7. Using these structure-directing agents, nanorod and granular morphologies were obtained when the samples were synthesized at pH 3 and 1, respectively.     

Analysis of Solid Explosion Products of Mixtures Based on HMX and Peroxide Benzoyl with Aluminum

The explosive transformation of mixtures of HMX and benzoyl peroxide with aluminum was studied. Aluminum oxides formed during initiation of an impact explosion were investigated. An x-ray analysis showed that aluminum is not oxidized during explosion of its mixtures with benzoyl peroxide. An analysis was made of aluminum oxides formed during explosion of HMX mixtures with aluminum hydride and ternary mixtures of aluminum, HMX, and benzoyl peroxide. It was found that the state of aluminum introduced into the composition and the explosion temperature influence the structure of aluminum oxide (Al8/3O4), whose lattice is a derivative of the spinel lattice.     

Performance Evaluation of a Commercial Polyurethane Coating in Marine Environment

A material evaluation study has been carried out to determine corrosion behavior of a commercial polyurethane coating system (Souplethane 5) in the marine environment. The coating system is solvent free, two-component polyurethane protective coating. The performance of the coating on steel and rebar concrete was evaluated by conducting different types of tests which include atmospheric exposure, immersion in 5% sodium chloride solution, exposure to splash zone in seawater, salt fog, sabkha soil burial, and electrochemical tests, which include potentiodynamic polarization and AC impedance measurements. Uncoated, coated, and coated scribed specimens were used in each study. In general, the coating showed good corrosion resistance in marine environment. However, the coated samples, when subjected to break under applied compressive load, showed partial or complete detachment from the substrate, e.g., steel and rebar concrete. This appears to be the major drawback of the coating while applying on steel and concrete structures.     

On the interpretation of vapor pressure measurements on oxide fuel at very-high temperatures for fast reactor safety analysis

Safety analysis of fast reactors requires knowledge of the evaporation behavior and the total vapor pressure of oxide fuel materials in the temperature region from 3000 K upwards. Dynamic vapor pressure measurements on liquid oxide fuels performed in open-evaporation experiments with laser heating techniques imply strong alterations in the composition of the incongruently evaporating fuel surface, since, during evaporation, the depletion in the preferentially evaporating components cannot be resupplied by diffusion from the bulk material. After a short transient evaporation period stationary surface-evaporation is reached with a surface composition which differs greatly from the given fuel composition and depends on the actual evaporation temperature. When this stationary forced-congruent evaporation mode is reached, the gross vapor composition is well-defined and is identical to the bulk composition of the fuel but is quite different from the actual surface composition. In consequence, the total vapor pressure developing in open surface-evaporation of a liquid oxide fuel can substantially deviate from its thermodynamic equation-of-state, in the case of (U_0.80Pu_0.20) mixed oxide by a factor of 2 to 7 depending on the $\text{O}\text{M}$-ratio. Following these thermodynamic calculations direct measurement of the equation-of-state in open-evaporation experiments is practically impossible. Theoretically fitted expressions applicable in reactor safety analysis are presented for the equations-of-state and the vapor pressure equations for open surface-evaporation and also for the heats of evaporation of liquid (U_0.80Pu_0.20)O_1.95…2.00 mixed oxides.