Interpolymer associations between poly(vinyl alcohol) and poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) in aqueous dilute solution

This article studied the compatibility of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDADMACl) in a dilute aqueous solution. At a total mixture concentration and a constant molecular weight of PDADMACl, it was found that interpolymer associations increase with the molecular weight and decrease with the degree of hydrolysis of the PVA sample (87–89 and 98–99%). From these results, it can be deduced that the compatibility of PVA and PDADMACl is due to specific intermolecular interactions that could be assigned mainly to electrostatic interactions between hydroxyl groups within PVA chains and ion atoms within PDADMACl. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 86: 433–435, 2002     

Viscosimetric study of poly(vinyl alcohol)/poly(styrenesulfonic acid) miscibility in dilute aqueous solution

The miscibility of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and poly(styrenesulfonic acid) (PSSA) in dilute aqueous solutions was studied by a viscosimetric method. At a constant molecular weight of PSSA, it was found that the miscibility of both polymers increases with the molecular weight and the number of acetate groups of the PVA samples (1 and 12% unhydrolyzed sites). Moreover, this miscibility increases slightly with the total mixture concentration in the interval 1–2 g/dL. By comparison of the results of reduced viscosity of PVA/PSSA and PVA/poly(sodium styrenesulfonate) (PSSNa) mixtures, it has been deduced that the miscibility of two polymers is due mainly to intermolecular interactions between the hydroxyl and sulfonic groups of PVA and PSSA, respectively. These groups act as acceptors and donors of hydrogen bonds which are the responsible for polymers' miscibility. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

An optimization strategy based on a metamodel applied for the prediction of the initial blank shape in a deep drawing process

The transformation of the sheet into a product without failure and excess of material in a deep drawing operation means that the initial blanks should be correctly designed. Therefore, the initial blank design is a critical step in deep drawing design procedure. Consequently, an easy approach for engineers in predicting the initial blank shape is necessary to reduce wastage in material and to overcome the large time consumed in the classical approaches. Thus, the aim of the present investigation is to propose an automatic procedure for the quick sheet metal forming optimization. In fact, a metamodel will be build based on artificial neural networks which will be coupled then with an optimization procedure in order to predict the initial blank shape in a rectangular cup deep drawing operation. The metamodel is built from the finite element simulations using ABAQUS commercial code. This procedure allows a significant reduce of the CPU time compared to classical optimization one. The results show that the desired shape is in good agreement with the one calculated using the optimized blank shape.     

Ion-exchange membranes made of semi-interpenetrating polymer networks,used for pervaporation-assisted esterification and ion transport

Ionic membranes were prepared by blending poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with an ionic polymer. Semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (sIPN) in which the crosslinked PVA chains trap the ionic polymer were obtained by using a heat treatment at 180 °C or dibromoethane vapor at 140 °C, respectively, for poly (styrene sulfonic acid) (PSSH), poly (sodium styrene sulfonate) (PSSNa), poly (acrylic acid) (PAA) or poly (dimethyl dimethylene piperidinum chloride) (PDMeDMPCl) as the ionic polymer. The stability of the sIPN membranes in some liquid media was studied to select the appropriate membranes for the envisaged applications. The thermally crosslinked PVA/PSSH membranes showed an effective catalytic effect on the esterification reaction between n-propanol and propanoic acid. An active composite membrane made of a layer of PVA/PSSH deposited on a dense PVA layer of an industrial dehydration membrane exhibited both high catalytic activity and high selectivity to water in the pervaporation-assisted esterification. The values of the counter-ion transport number indicated that some crosslinked ionic membranes have good ion permselectivity.     

Identification of Constitutive Parameters using Hybrid ANN multi-objective optimization procedure

This paper deals with the identification of material parameters for an elastoplastic behaviour model with isotropic hardening using several experimental tests at the same time. But, these tests are generally inhomogeneous and finite element simulations are necessary for their analysis. Therefore an inverse analysis is carried out and the identification problem is converted into a multi-objective optimization where prohibitive computing time is required. We propose in this work a hybrid approach where Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) are trained by finite element results. Then, the multi objective procedure calls the ANN function in place of the finite element code. The proposed approach is exemplified on the identification of non-associative Hill’48 criterion and Voce parameters model of the Stainless Steel AISI 304.     

Detailed analysis of the self-discharge of supercapacitors

Self-discharge is an important performance factor when using supercapacitors. Voltage losses in the range of 5-60% occur over two weeks. Experiments show a dependency of the self-discharge rate on various parameters such as temperature, charge duration and short-term history. In this paper, self-discharge of three commercially available supercapacitors was measured under various conditions. Based on different measurements, the impact of the influence factors is identified. A simple model to explain parts of the voltage decay is presented.     

A VSG expression site-associated gene confers resistance to human serum in Trypanosoma rhodesiense

Twenty three isolates of Beauveria bassiana and 13 isolates of Metarhizium anisopliae were tested on third instar nymphs of Triatoma infestans, a serious vector of Chagas disease. Pathogenicity tests at saturated humidity showed that this insect is very susceptible to fungal infection. At lower relative humidity (50%), conditions expected in the vector microhabitat, virulence was significantly different among isolates. Cumulative mortality 15 days after treatment varied from 17.5 to 97.5%, and estimates of 50% survival time varied from 6 to 11 days. Maintaining lower relative humidity, four B. bassiana and two M. anisopliae isolates were selected for analysis of virulence at different conidial concentrations and temperatures. Lethal concentrations sufficient to kill 50% of insects (LC50) varied from 7.1 x 10(5) to 4.3 x 10(6) conidia/ml, for a B. bassiana isolate (CG 14) and a M. anisopliae isolate (CG 491) respectively. Most isolates, particularly B. bassiana isolates CG 24 and CG 306, proved to be more virulent at 25 and 30 degrees C, compared to 15 and 20 degrees C. The differential virulence at 50% humidity observed among some B. bassiana isolates was not correlated to phenetic groups in cluster analysis of RAPD markers. In fact, the B. bassiana isolates analyzed presented a high homogeneity (> 73% similarity).     

Superconductive and Magnetic Properties of Bi2Sr2Ca2Cu3O10+�� Ceramics Doped by Pb

Among the superconducting phases of bismuth-based Bi?CSr?CCa?CCu?CO, compound Bi₂Sr₂Ca₂Cu₃O_10+?? (Bi-2223) is the most interesting because of its relatively high critical temperature (T _C =95?C110 K) and numerous applications. However, this phase is also known for its low stability and the difficulty of purifying parasites phases including the Bi-2212. To this end, the Pb used in relatively high proportions can stabilize, purify, and improve the further enhancement of T _C . The influence of Pb on structural, superconducting and magnetic properties has been extensively investigated in polycrystalline Bi_2?x Pb _x Sr₂Ca₂Cu₃O_10+?? ceramics (0<x<1). For low Pb amounts, structural analysis shows that the Bi-2223 phase is difficult to achieve without the Bi-2212 phase, and for high Pb content a large fraction of secondary phases containing Pb is detected. Our results confirm that the optimal Pb content for obtaining a Bi-2223 single phase is x=0.3, 0.4.     

Inverse technique identification of material parameters using finite element and neural network computation

Experimental identification of anisotropic behavior law is currently obtained by performing several complicated tests and a long duration of experiments. This paper describes a new technique allowing for the identification of HILL anisotropic parameters by inverse technique method based on deep drawing of a cylindrical cup. The identification approach is based on the artificial neural network (ANN) computation trained from finite element simulation. The results obtained by ANN models and by the finite element method shows a good agreement.     

Poly (acrylic acid) and poly (sodium styrenesulfonate) compatibility by Fourier transform infrared and differential scanning calorimetry

Blends of poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and poly(sodium styrene sulfonate) (PSSNa) were prepared from polymer solutions by solvent evaporation. The observed decrease in PAA-solution pH upon addition of PSSNa suggests an inter-penetration of the two polymer chains, thus the polymer compatibility, in solution. The blend compatibility was studied with the attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared (atr-FTIR) and the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) techniques. The unique and composition-dependent glass transition temperature indicates that the two polymers are compatible, but the ΔT_g broadening suggests a certain degree of nano-heterogeneity. The T_g of pure PSSNa which was non-detectable in DSC, was calculated from the Fox equation. From FTIR data, the polymer compatibility could be attributed to the establishment of hydrogen bonds, and dipole-ion interactions between carboxylic groups, sulfonate groups, and sodium ion on the polymer segments.