The leveling of thermosetting waterborne coatings. Part II: Drying of coated wet films

Evaporation behavior of water/solvent blends was estimated using the universal functional activity coefficient, UNIFAC, method. The evaporation rate from a free surface of a waterborne coating, WBC, containing a co-solvent was experimentally determined. These results were used to estimate the evaporation rate from wet films of a WBC containing a variety of co-solvents with a range of initial thickness. Knowing the composition of the WBC during the drying process, the change in the viscosity and the surface tension was determined. The results strongly support the development of a surface tension gradient in the film. It is also suggested that a surface tension gradient would accelerate the leveling of the ribs if a proper co-solvent were employed.     

Analysis of interaction between liposome membranes induced by stress condition: Utilization of liposomes immobilized on indium tin oxide electrode

NBD-cholesterol (NBD-Ch)-modified liposome was immobilized on indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode via the covalent binding method. The transfer of NBD-Ch between the immobilized liposomes and the target liposomes was observed by using a fluorescent microscope. The addition of liposome suspension co-incubated with α-chymotrypsin or stimuli-responsive polymer to the surface of the above ITO electrode, enhanced the liposome–liposome interaction, resulting in the promotion of NBD-Ch transfer. The apparent transfer rate constant of NBD-Ch was found to be correlated with the index for the liposome–liposome interaction evaluated by an immobilized liposome chromatography. This suggests that the present method using the liposome-immobilized ITO electrode was effective to evaluate the liposome–liposome interaction induced by the protein or the stimuli-responsive polymer under stress conditions.     

A fundamental study on recovery of copper with a cation exchange membrane: Part 2 — Transfer rate of copper and hydrogen ion through a cation exchange membrane

Transfer rates of copper and hydrogen ion through a cation exchange membrane were measured experimentally for the systems of Cu/H-SO₄ and Cu/H-NO₃. Transfer rates of anions in the membrane were also measured, and they were negligible compared to those of the cations. Cupric ion and hydrogen ion transfer in a ratio of 1:2 and in opposite directions. The self-diffusion coefficient of cupric ion in the membrane is obtained from the transfer rate of copper in high concentrations of sulfuric or nitric acid solutions using the equilibria data obtained in our previous work. The coefficient of the hydrogen ion is similarly obtained.     

Full scale investigation of GCL damage mechanisms in small earth dam retrofit applications under earthquake loading

This paper reports results of full scale testing to further explore potential GCL damage mechanisms in earth dam retrofit applications in seismically active areas; in particular, to a) investigate whether shear displacements could reduce the magnitude of GCL panel overlap during earthquake shaking; b) explore the influence of gravel particles on GCL thickness at localised point of contact; and c) observe the consequences of an accidental exposure of an uncovered GCL to short duration rainfall in terms of moisture content and effects during subsequent compaction. The results of these experiments indicate that even under severe shaking no movements were detected at the GCL panel overlap. Whereas gravel particles were observed to locally reduce the thickness of the GCL to 2.2 mm, no plowing of the particle into the GCL occurred due to a lack of shear displacement at the interface, resulting in no localised internal erosion through the barrier. Furthermore, hydration of GCL panels during construction due to surface wetting was observed to result in a state of hydration less than its post-construction state. These results indicate that although each of the three GCL damage mechanisms cannot be ruled out to ever be relevant in practice, the performance of the GCL retrofitted earth dam tested was satisfactory under even severe Level 2 earthquake shaking, and suggests that the retrofitting of small earth dams with GCLs is a promising strategy to improve their static and seismic resistance.     

Stoichiometry Control for the Tuning of Grain Passivation and Domain Distribution in Green Quasi‐2D Metal Halide Perovskite Films and Light‐Emitting Diodes

Quasi‐2D metal halide perovskite films are promising for efficient light‐emitting diodes (LEDs), because of their efficient radiative recombination and suppressed trap‐assisted quenching compared with pure 3D perovskites. However, because of the multidomain polycrystalline nature of solution‐processed quasi‐2D perovskite films, the composition engineering always impacts the emitting properties with complicated mechanisms. Here, defect passivation and domain distribution of quasi‐2D perovskite films prepared with various precursor compositions are systematically studied. As a result, in perovskite films prepared from stoichiometric quasi‐2D precursor compositions, large organic ammonium cations function well as passivators. In comparison, precursor compositions of simply adding large organic halide salt into a 3D perovskite precursor ensure not only the defect passivation but also the effective formation of quasi‐2D perovskite domains, avoiding unfavorable appearance of low‐order domains. Quasi‐2D perovskite films fabricated with a well‐designed precursor composition achieve a high photoluminescence quantum yield of 95.3% and an external quantum efficiency of 14.7% in LEDs.     

Electron-Affinity Substituent in 2,6-Dicarbonitrile Diphenyl-1λ5-Phosphinine Towards High-Quality Organic Lasing and Electroluminescence under High Current Injection

Rationally manipulating the functional substituents plays a crucial role in tuning the luminescence and lasing properties of organic gain media. Herein, a cyanophenyl-moiety, which exhibits relatively weaker electron affinity, is connected to 2,6-dicarbonitrile diphenyl-1λ⁵-phosphinine (DCNP) via para-linking. Resultantly, the appreciated locally-excited characteristics ensuring a large oscillator strength and high radiative rate can be reserved in DCNP-4-(4-cyanophenyl) (DCNP-pCN). Interestingly, the weak charge-transfer state from the relative donor (D)/acceptor (A) interplay enables small singlet-triplet splitting (ΔE_ST ≈ 0.45 eV). Thus the triplets generated on DCNP-pCN can be efficiently scavenged by 4,4'-bis[(N-carbazole)styryl]biphenyl (BSBCz), which is used as the host with a lower-lying triplet energy level for DCNP-pCN. Moreover, benefitting from the mediation between the conjugated length extension and weak D/A interplay, the emission spectrum cannot be largely shifted, which can effectively suppress the overlap between the lasing emission of DCNP-pCN and the excited-state absorption of BSBCz, thereby avoiding detrimental singlet-triplet annihilation. Thus, high-quality distributed feedback lasings with ≈2.0 μJ cm⁻² thresholds are achieved, and the organic light-emitting diodes exhibit external quantum efficiency exceeding 2.0% without efficiency rolloff under high current injection, indicating the potential for electrical-pumping organic lasings.     

Superstructure and mechanical properties of poly(L-lactic acid) microfibers prepared by CO2 laser-thinning

Poly(L-lactic acid) (PLLA) microfibers were obtained by a carbon dioxide (CO₂) laser-thinning method. A laser-thinning apparatus used to continuously prepare microfibers was developed in our laboratory; it consisted of spools supplying and winding the fibers, a continuous-wave CO₂-laser emitter, a system supplying the fibers, and a traverse. The laser-thinning apparatus produced PLLA microfibers in the range of 100-800 m min⁻¹. The diameter of the microfibers decreased as the winding speed increased, and the birefringence increased as the winding speed increased. When microfibers, obtained through the laser irradiation (at a laser power of 8.0 W cm⁻²) of the original fiber supplied at 0.4 m min⁻¹, were wound at 800 m min⁻¹, they had a diameter of 1.37 μm and a birefringence of 24.1×10⁻³. The draw ratio calculated from the supplying and winding speeds was 2000×. The degree of crystal orientation increased with increasing the winding speed. Scanning electron microscopy showed that the microfibers obtained with the laser-thinning apparatus had smooth surfaces not roughened by laser ablation that were uniform in diameter. The PLLA microfiber, which was obtained under an optimum condition, had a Young's modulus of 5.8 GPa and tensile strength of 0.75 GPa.     

Characterization of phospholipid reverse micelles in relation to membrane processing of vegetable oils

Studies were conducted to determine the critical micelle concentration (CMC) of phospholipids in vegetable oils and the size of reverse micelles to understand their rejection phenomenon in the membrane process. The CMC values of phosphatidylcholine (PC) in triolein and phospholipids in crude soybean oil were determined to be 440 and 1020 mg/kg, respectively, by using TCNQ (7,7,8,8‐tetracyano‐quinodimethane) solubilization technique. The surface tension measurements of these samples gave similar values of CMC. From small‐angle X‐ray scattering (SAXS) analysis, the size of the PC micelles was determined to be in the range of 3.56 to 4.70 nm. The characterization of reverse micelles formed in the oil system was found useful in enhancing the understanding of the possible rejection phenomenon of phospholipids by non‐porous polymeric composite membranes used in our earlier studies on vegetable oils and in suggesting suitable types of membranes for the same.     

Development of high voltage harmonic measuring instruments for distribution systems using optical voltage sensor and current sensor

Application of an optical measuring technique was attempted in order to develop harmonic voltage and current measuring instruments for distribution systems. To develop the harmonic voltage measuring system using a Bi₁₂GeO₂₀ crystal as a sensing Pockels cell for high‐voltage distribution lines, zinc oxide elements were adopted as a voltage divider. Also, an optical current sensor system was improved on the harmonic current measuring system using an R₃Fe₅O₁₂ film as a Faraday device. In practical three‐phase distribution systems, the developed high voltage harmonic measuring devices using the optical voltage sensor and current sensor were compared with conventional harmonic analyzers for low voltage. As a result, it was confirmed that the developed high voltage harmonic measuring devices had satisfactory characteristics for practical use. © 1999 Scripta Technica, Electr Eng Jpn, 128(4): 84–93, 1999