Contribution of nanoclays to the performance of traditional flame retardants in ABS

The purpose of this study was to investigate contribution of nanoclays to the flame retardancy performance of a traditional brominated flame retardant compound with various combinations of antimony trioxide and zinc borate. The matrix polymer acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) was compounded by melt mixing in a laboratory size twin‐screw extruder. X‐ray diffraction analysis and transmission electron microscopy revealed that nanoclay silicate layers were mainly intercalated with certain level of exfoliation in ABS matrix. Flammability analysis investigated by mass loss calorimeter, limiting oxygen index, and UL‐94 tests indicated that use of nanoclays improved all flame retardancy parameters significantly. For instance, the increase in the limiting oxygen index was up to 32% O₂, while the suppression in peak heat release rate value was as much as 82%, of course in each specimen the highest rating of V‐0 in UL‐94 test was obtained. Thermogravimetric and other residue analyses pointed out that these contributions were especially due to the condensed phase flame retardancy mechanism of nanoclay which contributes stronger and carbonaceous char formation acting as a barrier to heat and flammable gases and retarding volatilization via tortuous pathway. POLYM. COMPOS., 2012. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Heavy metal levels in leafy vegetables and some selected fruits

The aim of this study was to determine the levels of Cu, Zn, Fe, Pb and Cd in various fruits (tomato, cherry, grape, strawberry) and vegetables (parsley, onion, lettuce, garlic, nettle, peppermint, rocket, spinach, dill, broad bean, chard, purslane, grapevine leaves) grown in Manisa region. Flame and Graphite Furnace Atomic absorption spectrometry was used to estimate and evaluate the levels of these metals. Detected levels ranged from 0.56 to 329.7, 0.01 to 5.67, 0.26 to 30.68, 0.001 to 0.97 and 0 to 0.06 μg/g for Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd, respectively. While the highest mean levels of Cu and Zn were detected in grapevine leaves, the lowest mean levels of Fe and Pb were detected in nettle. Cd was not detected in most of the fruits and vegetables studied. The estimated daily intakes of Cu, Zn, Fe, Pb and Cd through fruits and vegetables were found to be below the maximum tolerable levels recommended by FAO/WHO. The element concentrations of fruits and vegetables analyzed in this study were within safety baseline levels for human consumption.     

Effect of Freezing and Frozen Storage on Phenolic Compounds of Raspberry and Blackberry Cultivars

The phenolic compounds in raspberry and blackberry cultivars grown in Turkey were determined by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (MS)/MS in fresh, just-frozen, and stored fruits at −22 °C for 6 months period. The major phenolic compounds in water extracted samples were ellagic acid (1,350.36–727.9 mg/kg fresh fruit), ferulic acid (820.78–338.27 mg/kg fresh fruit), caffeic acid (754.85–202.78 mg/kg fresh fruit), p-coumaric acid (361.68–142.63 mg/kg fresh fruit), p-hydroxybenzoic acid (534.20–233.29 mg/kg fresh fruit), and quercetin (46.97–27.31 mg/kg fresh fruit) in raspberry and ellagic acid (1,828.07–1,555.13 mg/kg fresh fruit), ferulic acid (757.69–413.82 mg/kg fresh fruit), caffeic acid (736.85–337.89 mg/kg fresh fruit), p-coumaric acid (877.45–287.15 mg/kg fresh fruit), and quercetin (74.69–56.78 mg/kg fresh fruit) in blackberry. The varietal differences in the phenolic compound contents were larger among the blackberry cultivars (from 1,828.07 to 56.78 mg/kg fresh fruit) than among the raspberry cultivars (1,350.36 to 27.31 mg/kg fresh fruit). A significant decrease was observed in the content of p-hydroxybenzoic acid (from 534.20 to 114.30 mg/kg; Aksu Kırmızısı) and the least decrease was in the content of caffeic acid (from 545.42 to 530.91 mg/kg; Heritage) in raspberry cultivars. On the other hand, ferulic acid (from 475.16 to 113.33 mg/kg) decreased significantly in blackberry (Bursa 2) after storage for 6 months.     

IMPORTANCE OF THE DIELECTRIC PROPERTIES OF MATERIALS FOR MICROWAVE HEATING

In this paper, we show the importance of having a good knowledge of the dielectric properties of a material when it is intended to heat or dry this material by microwaves. We study the frequency, temperature and composition dependence of the dielectric permittivity in order to see how these dependences can affect the microwave heating process. We also study the non-uniform absorption of energy in a sample due to dielectric or conductive losses.     

A constraint-based operation sequencing for a knowledge-based process planning

Process planning is a decision-making process. Decisions on machining operations for a particular feature have to be made on various independent conditions such as which operation should be performed with which tools and under what cutting parameters. An integrated knowledge-based CAPP system called ProPlanner has been developed. The system has five modules namely information acquisition, feature recognition, machining operation planning and tool selection, set-up planning, and operation sequencing. Most process-planning systems do not produce alternative process plans. Usually, a fixed sequence created by a process plan is not necessarily the best possible sequence. Therefore, the aim should be to generate all possible operation sequences and use some optimality criteria to obtain the best sequence for the given operating environment. This paper presents an efficient heuristic algorithm, belongs to the system's operation sequencing module, for finding near-optimal operation sequences from all available process plans in a machining set-up. The costs of the various machining schemes are calculated and the machining scheme with the lowest cost is chosen. All feasible cutting tools are identified for each particular feature and the corresponding machining operations. This process is repeated for all the features in the machining set-up. All possible feature sequence combinations allowed by the current feature constraints are then generated. Appropriate cutting tools are identified and assigned to different operations. The feature sequence with the smallest number of tool changes is adopted.     

A new mapping heuristic based on mean field annealing

A new mapping heuristic is developed, based on the recently proposed Mean Field Annealing (MFA) algorithm. An efficient implementation scheme, which decreases the complexity of the proposed algorithm by asymptotical factors, is also given. Performance of the proposed MFA algorithm is evaluated in comparison with two well-known heuristics: Simulated Annealing and Kernighan-Lin. Results of the experiments indicate that MFA can be used as an alternative heuristic for solving the mapping problem. The inherent parallelism of the MFA is exploited by designing an efficient parallel algorithm for the proposed MFA heuristic.     

Development and testing of a solar air-heater with conical concentrator

The free convection performance of a solar air heater with a cylindrical absorber centred to a conical concentrator for focusing incident solar radiation was studied. The primary objective was to heat air to higher temperatures than those obtainable in flat-plate collectors.The experiments were carried out and the data recorded in summer daytime, considering collector tilting angle and type of absorbing surface as the investigation parameters.It was found that a tilting angle under local latitude would be appropriate for collector installation. Although the efficiency of the heater at free convection conditions was very much smaller than flat-plate solar air-heaters, exit air temperatures reached up to 150 °C, which could allow utilisation in high temperature applications. A selective absorber surface improved appreciably the performance of the solar air-heater.     

FREEZE DEHYDRATION OF FOAMED MILK BY MICROWAVES

Previously published experiments on freeze-drying of foamed milk by microwaves are explained with an alternative theoretical model. The frozen milk foam is assumed to consist of parallel thin plates. A low-pressure gas stream consisting of air and water vapor mixture is believed to circulate freely in voids between plates. Air stream provides additional energy for the freeze-drying, helps to remove the sublimating water vapor and prevents an excessive icrowave heating of the dry milk foam.