Two‐phase production of cyclohexene and cyclooctene oxides in water as an approach to pollution prevention

Liquid–liquid two‐phase epoxidation from cyclohexene and cyclooctene in aqueous potassium peroxymonosulfate (commercially available as Oxone^®) solution was studied as an application in pollution prevention. To avoid potential emissions of volatile organic compounds an aqueous solution was employed to replace the usual chlorinated solvents used in epoxide production. A droplet column reactor and stirred tank reactor were used to investigate two‐phase synthesis of epoxide. An aqueous Oxone^® solution was used to oxidize a dispersion of alkene droplets and form epoxide. The study of aqueous epoxidation in both reactors showed that the epoxidation of alkenes can be represented as a first order reaction with respect to alkene. The salting out effect of Oxone^® concentration was studied in both reactors and found to be very similar at optimal conditions. In comparing the two reactors, it was found that the droplet column reactor produces larger quantities of product per unit reactor volume for the same reaction time. The objective of this study is to provide an alternative reactor design and synthesis route that can meet pollution prevention goals. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Study of the morphology and mechanical properties of polypropylene composites with silica or rice‐husk

The mechanical, morphological behavior and water absorption characteristics of polypropylene (PP) and silica, or PP and rice‐husk, composites have been studied. The silica used in this study as filler was a commercial type produced from soluble glass or rice husks. The compatibilizing effect of PP grafted with monomethyl itaconate (PP‐g‐MMI) and/or with vinyltriethoxysilane (PP‐g‐VTES) as polar monomers on the mechanical properties and water absorption was also investigated. In general, a high loading of the studied fillers in the polymer matrix increases the stiffness and the water absorption capacity. This effect is more noticeable in the tensile modulus of the PP/silica composite with PP‐g‐VTES as compatibilizer. However, the increase of the rice‐husk charge as a natural filler in the PP matrix decreases the stiffness, and in the presence of PP‐g‐MMI as compatibilizer in PP/rice‐husk, the tensile modulus and water absorption of the composite were improved. The better adhesion and phase continuity in the PP/silica and PP/rice‐husk composites with different compatibilizers was confirmed by the morphological study. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Sandwich panels with Kagome lattice cores reinforced by carbon fibers

Stretching dominated Kagome lattices reinforced by carbon fibers were designed and manufactured. The sandwich panels were assembled with bonded laminate skins. The mechanical behaviors of the sandwich panels were tested by out-of-plane compression, in-plane compression and three-point bending. Different failure modes of the sandwich structures were revealed. The experimental results showed that the carbon fiber reinforced lattice grids are much stiffer and stronger than foams and honeycombs. It was found that buckling and debonding dominate the mechanical behavior of the sandwich structures, and that more complaint skin sheets might further improve the overall mechanical performance of the sandwich panels.     

Schwingfestigkeit von Schraube‐Mutter‐Verbindungen

High cycle fatigue of bolted connections Extensive tests regarding the influences on the fatigue of bolt‐nut‐connections of preloading with torsion, of preloading with yielding, of loading with superimposed bending and of the tested lot are processed. These influences are not yet known according to VDI 2230. New testing devices were designed for these tests, which allow a far less expensive operation and may easily be used for bolts of diameters up to M100 and testing frequencies up to 1000 Hz. The validity of fatigue resistance according to VDI 2230 is specified with respect to the test results. The determined influence of the tested lots is unexpectedly high. The manufacturing process of bolts should be improved to minimize this influence.     

Robust State Feedback Control Through Actuators With Generalized Sector Nonlinearities And Saturation

In control systems, actuators often have nonlinear characteristics that can not be neglected. For linear systems driven by actuators satisfying the generalized sector condition, a robust state feedback controller synthesis method is proposed to achieve the ultimate boundedness control. The method is based on the linear matrix inequality approach and is easy to apply. As an important special case of the generalized sector condition, the saturation characteristic of actuators is discussed separately, and non‐conservative results are obtained.     

Synthesis,characterization and properties of functionalized styrene–maleimide copolymers

New functionalized styrene–maleimide copolymers were prepared by free radical copolymerization of styrene (St) and N‐4‐carboxybutylmaleimide (NBMI) in chloroform, using 2,2′‐azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN) as initiator. Monomer and copolymer characterization was carried out by ¹H‐ and ¹³C‐NMR. Copolymer composition was determined by elemental analysis and Fourier‐transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. The glass transition temperature (from DSC) and the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) of the copolymers were consistent with the thermal behavior and stability observed for alternating St–maleimide copolymers. St–NBMI copolymers crosslinked with divinylbenzene (DVB) were also synthesized and their cation exchange properties evaluated in order to assess the capacity of the new copolymers to bind metallic ions. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Fast-converging minimum frequency error RLS lattice filter for narrowband interference with discrete frequency steps

This paper discusses the fundamental convergence and frequency tracking properties of the recursive-least-squares (RLS) lattice filter in the presence of narrowband interference (NBI) whose frequency varies in discrete steps. It is shown for filters of this type, that the residual forward energy (RFE) after a frequency transition is a function of the input signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), separation of the sequential frequencies and the filter time constant and is exponentially decaying in nature. Reducing the RFE is important in removing unwanted transient artefacts from the desired signal. The convergence behaviour of the RLS algorithm based on a posteriori estimation errors is analysed under a number of conditions by varying the SNR and frequency step size. In order to limit the impact of the RFE while maintaining a minimum frequency tracking error in steady conditions, a fast-converging minimum frequency error (FCMFE) RLS lattice filter is suggested. For comparison, a least-mean-square (LMS) based gradient-adaptive lattice (GAL) filter is also analysed for this class of narrowband interference.