A Novel Preparation Method for Foamed Silica Ceramics by Sol-Gel Reaction and Mechanical Foaming

A simple method for obtaining silica foam has been developed by combining sol-gel reaction and mechanical foaming without added organic pore formers, in order to reduce generation of CO₂ and harmful gases by decomposition of the organic compounds. The silica foam was prepared by mechanically foaming the silica sol and controlling the viscosity change and gelling. The gelation time of the silica sol can be varied from 10 minutes to 3 hours by changing the pH, temperature and concentration of the surfactant added as a foam stabilizer. The dried silica gel foam was calcined at 600°C then fired at 1000°C to obtain sintered silica foam. The porosity and average pore size of the silica foam was 84% and 140 m, respectively. The bending strength and gas permeability of the sintered silica foam was 2.4 MPa and 9.4 × 10^–11 m², respectively.     

Mechanical properties of DLC films prepared inside of micro-holes by pulse plasma CVD

Diamond-like carbon (DLC) films are metastable amorphous carbon materials with superior tribological characteristics. In order to improve wear resistance of micro-extrusion dies with numerous imperceptible holes, DLC films were deposited on the inner wall surface of model dies with holes of 2 and 0.9 mm in diameter, and 20 mm in depth by using pulse plasma CVD method. This paper will discuss how argon gas, deposition pressure and time affect the characteristics of films deposited on the inner wall surface of dies. This micro-coating method can be applied widely for inner wall surface treatment of components with thin holes.     

Poly(butylene succinate)/poly(vinyl phenol) blends. Part 1. Miscibility and crystallization

Miscibility has been investigated in blends of poly(butylene succinate) (PBSU) and poly(vinyl phenol) (PVPh) by differential scanning calorimetry in this work. PBSU is miscible with PVPh as shown by the existence of single composition dependent glass transition temperature over the entire composition range. In addition, the polymer–polymer interaction parameter, obtained from the melting depression of PBSU using the Nishi–Wang equation, is composition dependent, and its value is always negative. This indicates that PBSU/PVPh blends are thermodynamically miscible in the melt. Preliminary morphology study of PBSU/PVPh blends was also studied by optical microscopy (OM). OM experiments show the spherulites of PBSU become larger with the PVPh content, indicative of a decrease in the nucleation density, and the coarseness of PBSU spherulites increases too with increasing the PVPh content in the blends.     

Association and physical gelation of ABA triblock copolymer in selective solvent

Association behavior and physical gelation mechanism of ABA triblock copolymer dissolved in B-selective solvent have been studied systematically from dilute to moderately concentrated solutions. Static and dynamic light scattering and nuclear magnetic resonance measurements for dilute solutions of poly(methyl methacrylate)-block-poly(tert-butyl acrylate)-block-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA-PtBuA-PMMA) in 1-butanol (PtBuA selective solvent) indicated that PMMA-PtBuA-PMMA chains are molecularly dissolved above 50 °C. With decreasing temperature, the triblock copolymers form associated micelles consisting PMMA associated core and PtBuA shell. Linear dynamic viscoelastic measurements for solutions with moderate concentration (3.9-12.0 wt%) revealed that the system was viscous sol state at 60 °C. Drastic increase of shear storage modulus (G′) occurred with decreasing temperature, and at 25 °C, G′ showed rubbery plateau with weak frequency dependency, means the formation of elastic physical gel. The consistency between the temperature for micelle formation and that at the increase in G′ indicates that the physical gelation is owing to the network formation as the result of the association of PMMA chains and the bridging PtBuA chains connecting the PMMA cores. Master curves for the dynamic moduli were derived by time-temperature superposition along the frequency axis. Just above sol-gel transition concentration (C_gel), the master curves suggest the existence of fairy amount of aggregate that is not incorporated in the macroscopic network. With the increase in polymer concentration, the master curves become to reveal Maxwell-type viscoelasticity with narrow relaxation time distribution, suggesting the formation of transient network with easily generation and destruction of crosslinks. Concentration dependency of the plateau modulus is stronger than the theoretically expected, means the macroscopic transient network grows with polymer concentration by increasing the fraction of elastically effective bridging PtBuA chain above C_gel.     

Evidence for the formation of interpenetrated spherulites in poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene carbonate)/poly(l-lactic acid) blends investigated by atomic force microscopy

The spherulitic morphology in poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene carbonate)/poly(l-lactic acid) (PEC/PLLA) blends was investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) to obtain direct evidence for the formation of interpenetrated spherulites (IPS), where the spherulites of PEC penetrate into PLLA spherulites. The observation actually revealed that PEC crystals penetrated into interfibrillar regions of edge-on lamellae in a PLLA spherulite. The penetration process was also investigated by AFM with a temperature controller. An edge-on PLLA lamella or a fibril that ran nearly perpendicular to the growth direction of a PEC spherulite obstructed the growth of PEC spherulite. The PEC crystals filled the blocked space after growing around the PLLA lamella. These results showed that the spherulites of PEC and PLLA grow on the same layer instead of forming a layered structure of two spherulites. All the results supported the formation of IPS.     

DSC and TMDSC study of melting behaviour of poly(butylene succinate) and poly(ethylene succinate)

The subsequent melting behaviour of poly(butylene succinate) (PBSU) and poly(ethylene succinate) (PES) was investigated using DSC and temperature modulated DSC (TMDSC) after they finished nonisothermal crystallization from the melt. PBSU exhibited two melting endotherms in the DSC traces upon heating to the melt, which was ascribed to the melting and recrystallization mechanism. However, one melting endotherm with one shoulder and one crystallization exotherm just prior to the melting endotherm were found for PES. The crystallization exotherm was ascribed to the recrystallization of the melt of the crystallites with low thermal stability, and the shoulder was considered to be the melting endotherm of the crystallites with high thermal stability. The final melting endotherm was ascribed to the melting of the crystallites formed through the reorganization of the crystallites with high thermal stability during the DSC heating process. TMDSC experiments gave the direct evidences to support the proposed models to explain the melting behaviour of PBSU and PES crystallized nonisothermally from the melt.     

Photocatalytic effects of plasma-heated TiO2−x particles under visible light irradiation

The photocatalytic characteristics of partially reduced TiO₂ (TiO_2?x ) by plasma treatment and plasma-heated treatment were investigated in the visible-light region. For the visible-light photocatalytic activity of TiO_2?x , plasmaheated treatment shows stronger than plasma treatment significantly. The TiO_2?x by plasma-heated treatment shows broader red-shifted absorption bands than one by plasma treatment in the visible-light region. The surface color of TiO_2?x by plasma treatment and plasma-heated treatment changed from white to sky blue, and to navy, respectively. After exposure to air, the surface color of TiO_2?x changed from sky blue to white for plasma treatment and from navy to beige for plasma-heated treatment.     

Adhesion between side surface of an elastic beam and flat surface of a rigid body

A theory of adhesion between an elastic beam and a rigid body is proposed using linear beam theory. Normalized force between the elastic beam and the rigid body considering adhesion of the side surface of the elastic beam is investigated theoretically. Adhesion of an elastic beam is important to analyze gecko adhesion, and peeling mechanism of an adhered film. This adhesion is also important in design of grip-and-release devices. The force between an elastic beam and a rigid body is investigated by considering shear force and total energy, and is obtained as a function of the displacement of the elastic beam. The proposed theory is different from Kendall’s thin-film peeling theory in terms of the elastic energy. The proposed theory considers bending elastic energy, whereas Kendall’s theory considers extension elastic energy. Two different contacts, line contact and area contact, are taken into account to discuss the loading and unloading processes in terms of the relation between the force and the displacement. Non-dimensional parameter, which relates to the work of adhesion and the specifications of the elastic beam, is introduced to explain the normalized maximum tensile force.     

Evolution of directly-spinnable carbon nanotube catalyst structure by recycling analysis

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), particularly of the substrate-grown directly spinnable variety, have a vast number of potential applications. We have devised a recycling methodology to enable the evolution of catalyst morphology and activity and its effect on CNT growth quality and failure to be studied incrementally. Direct spinnability is particularly sensitive to many variables and so provides verification that each cycle is essentially identical.Two processes, utilising acetylene with and without hydrogen, are studied. Acetylene alone gives four cycles of spinnable CNTs before failing abruptly at the fifth at which point catalyst particle (and CNT) areal density increase while CNT diameter and length fall sharply. In contrast, addition of hydrogen doubles the initial growth rate but spinnability declines on the third cycle and fails on the fourth as catalyst (and CNT) areal density decreases sharply. CNT length also falls although diameter increases.Our observations support a proposed ‘sinking plateau’ model of catalyst behaviour where growth rate is driven by the essentially flat accumulation area or ‘plateau plain’ surrounding a local high spot (active catalyst particle). The growth rate remains stable until the plateau plain drops below the substrate surface through diffusion at the base, at which point it falls sharply.