Distribution of oil in olefinic thermoplastic elastomer blends

The distribution of processing oil in two olefinic thermoplastic elastomer (OTPE) blends was determined using dielectric spectroscopy. The OPTE blends are blends of dynamically vulcanised EPDM with polypropylene (PP), TPVs, and blends of PP with SEBS. Both blend types contain paraffinic oil, which is present in both the PP and in the elastomer phase. The determination of the actual oil concentration by measuring the reduction in the glass transition temperatures (T_g) is inaccurate using DSC or DMA, because the glass transition dynamics of the two phases overlap. The blends were made sensible for dielectric spectroscopy by the addition of a probe molecule. The oil distribution was determined by modelling of the dielectric loss of the OPTE blends in the T_g regime from the ones of the binary mixtures. The mean value for the oil distribution coefficient was found to be 0.6 for PP/SEBS blends and 0.63 for TPVs.     

Special porous plugs for the production of super clean steels

Fine bubblers to be used as special porous plugs (SPP), have been devised for fine bubbling within steel melts for improving the cleanliness efficiently by floating the micro‐inclusions and removing the dissolved gases. The development principles of the magnesia‐spinel porous plugs are presented. Laboratory water simulator tests have shown that small (< 1 mm), non‐coagulating bubbles, with uniform distribution are formed. The characterisation and testing of the SPP has shown that under steelmaking conditions clogging from metal infiltration is limited. Erosion, cracking or changes in microstructure were not detected in high temperature long‐term endurance tests. With combined treatment in a vacuum induction furnace under a 3 kPa pressure and Ar purging of 18 min through the new SPP, the total oxygen content of the steel melt was decreased from 65 to 7.7 ppm. An application has been filed for a patent for the method for the production of fine bubblers to be used as porous plugs     

Games, Virtual Reality, and the Pursuit of Happiness

The paper discusses the aspects of games and virtual reality in human happiness.In the past few decades, scientists have focused most of their attention on developing technologies that sharpen only the minds or relieve minds and bodies of certain duties. The people become smarter but incredibly unhealthy. Health games seem to offer one solution to this problem. Entertainment based health interventions have a huge potential to transform healthcare. Most people love games.Play is a fundamental mode of expression, fulfills the human need to connect with the other, and can even be fun. Serious play is also great exercise for the mind and spirit. The Nintendo Wii was a good start for motivating people to get off the couch. But Wii isn't good enough for virtual reality (VR) fans due to easy sensor cheats, but Wii is the first step toward liberation. For many people, the Wii is as close to VR as they've ever gotten. Health games and sensor based experiences have recently become the new, shiny promise of hope and change in our field. However, an affordable, untethered full body VR experience is still the Holy Grail. Playing Flower game was as close to VR. Liberated from complex controller buttons, the author role played a flower petal by using the controller's tilt sensor to navigate a sublime landscape.It was exhilarating, and for once, appreciated all the special realtime graphics effects that compensated for the absence of head tracking and stereoscopy, luxuries that was always expected from VR. The author concluded that health games is an exciting research area today. It's an opportunity to reuse what learned from decades of CG, VR, and digital game research, merge that with knowledge with other areas, and release new ideas into the world.