Simulation of the submerged energy nozzle-mold water model system using laser-optical and computational fluid dynamics methods

The present work describes quantitative digital particle image velocimetry measurements of a full-scale water model of a thin slab mold. Different casting speeds and two submerged entry nozzles with one and two outlet ports have been investigated. The flow pattern of the single-port nozzle shows a counterclockwise-rotating double vortex that is nearly steady-state but leads to high stationary surface waves. The flow jets out of the two-port nozzle oscillate and produce a transient flow pattern with low wave amplitudes. The amplitudes for the one-port nozzle show a linear variation with the volumetric flow rate. The experimental results lead to a good interpretation of the flow phenomena and are used to validate steady-state numerical simulations with the commercial program, CFX, on the basis of the Reynolds equations. To describe anisotropic turbulence effects, the Reynolds stress model (RSM) is used for the flat single-port nozzle and the standard k-ɛ model for the mold flow. The calculated mean velocities and wave amplitudes, predicted from pressure distribution at the water surface, are generally in the consensus of the experimental data. An erratum to this article is available at .     

C3a is a chemotaxin for human eosinophils but not for neutrophils. I. C3a stimulation of neutrophils is secondary to eosinophil activation

Inflammatory action of the potent chemotaxin C5a has been well characterized on a variety of human cell types, including neutrophils, monocytes, basophils, and eosinophils. The cellular effects of C3a are less well defined. Contradictory reports have been published for C3a activation of neutrophils. Recent reports that C3a activates both basophils and eosinophils prompted us to reinvestigate the effects of C3a stimulation on eosinophils. We hypothesized that C3a activation of eosinophils, cells that are present in most neutrophil preparations, might lead to neutrophil activation. Using neutrophils of 98% purity, we observed no evidence of cellular activation after stimulation with either C3a, recombinant human C3a (rhC3a), or the synthetic C3a analogue C3a 57-77, Y57. Eosinophils purified to > 98% purity displayed concentration-dependent polarization, chemotaxis, and enzyme release by stimulation with C3a, rhC3a, and the synthetic C3a analogue. An inactive form of C3a, C3adesArg, failed to stimulate either eosinophils or neutrophils. Using neutrophil preparations containing 5-9% eosinophils, up to 20% of neutrophils became polarized after exposure to C3a. Likewise, we demonstrated that supernatant from C3a-stimulated eosinophils promotes neutrophil chemotaxis. Eosinophil polarization experiments were repeated in the presence of antibody to the C5a receptor (C5aR) to show that C3a and C5a interact with different receptors. C3a activates eosinophils in the presence of anti-C5aR antibody at concentrations that fully block C5a activation. We conclude that eosinophils are directly activated by either C3a or C5a, whereas C3a failed to activate neutrophils. C3a acts on eosinophils via a receptor that is distinct from C5aR. Since neutrophils are indirectly stimulated by C3a, eosinophils contaminating neutrophil preparations may explain earlier reports that C3a activates human neutrophils.     

A Possible Industrial Solution to Ferment Lignocellulosic Hydrolyzate to Ethanol: Continuous Cultivation with Flocculating Yeast

The cultivation of toxic lignocellulosic hydrolyzates has become a challenging research topic in recent decades. Although several cultivation methods have been proposed, numerous questions have arisen regarding their industrial applications. The current work deals with a solution to this problem which has a good potential application on an industrial scale. A toxic dilute-acid hydrolyzate was continuously cultivated using a high-cell-density flocculating yeast in a single and serial bioreactor which was equipped with a settler to recycle the cells back to the bioreactors. No prior detoxification was necessary to cultivate the hydrolyzates, as the flocks were able to detoxify it in situ. The experiments were successfully carried out at dilution rates up to 0.52 h⁻¹. The cell concentration inside the bioreactors was between 23 and 35 g-DW/L, while the concentration in the effluent of the settlers was 0.32 ± 0.05 g-DW/L. An ethanol yield of 0.42–0.46 g/g-consumed sugar was achieved, and the residual sugar concentration was less than 6% of the initial fermentable sugar (glucose, galactose and mannose) of 35.2 g/L.     

Molecular orientation and relaxation in poly(butylene terephthalate)/polycarbonate blends

Rheo-optical Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is based on the simultaneous acquisition of stress-strain data and FTIR spectra on-line to the mechanical treatment of polymers and is frequently applied for the characterization of transient structural changes during deformation and stress-relaxation. In the present communication, this technique has been employed in order to investigate the distribution of molecular orientation and its relaxation in uniaxially drawn solution-cast films of semicrystalline partial miscible blends of poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) with polycarbonate (PC) containing 10, 30 and 50 wt% PC. The uniaxial deformation of these blend films having a PBT-crystallinity degree ranging from 31 to 12%, in unstretched blends, leads to a appreciable high segmental orientation for the crystalline PBT due to a structural transformation from lamellae to microfibrils. The formation of this fibrillar structure is attributed to non-reversibility of an extended phase with all-trans conformational sequence of the aliphatic segments of PBT, occurring during elongation. The rate of relaxation of this conformational transition, however, increases with increasing amorphous content in the blends. Also it is observed that even with increasing amorphous content in the PBT/PC blends the crystalline PBT shows significant orientation. In such cases, apart from the few lamellae which transform to microfibrils, it is suggested that a stress induced transformation of PBT chains in amorphous PBT-component to irreversible all-trans extended crystalline form also contributes to PBT crystalline orientation. In contrast with this high crystalline orientation, the amorphous PBT located in the interlamellar regions inside the PBT-spherulites show a lower orientation in blends as compared in pure PBT.On the other hand, an overall segmental orientation of PC chains in blends is of lower order which is attributed mainly to low stretching temperature compared to T_g of pure PC. The results are discussed in terms of the resulting spherulitic morphology and the temporary network formed by the elongated PBT and PC chains inside the interlamellar regions, in blends.     

Modulation of silica layer properties by varying the granulometric state of tetraethyl orthosilicate precursor aerosols during combustion chemical vapor deposition (CCVD)

Abstract

For the purpose of silica surface layer modulation, a pneumatic-controlled two-substance atomizer with inertia-based coarse droplet separation was operated at different system pressures for tetraethyl orthosilicate precursor aerosol supply during combustion chemical vapor deposition. A comprehensive testing study was performed to characterize the atomizer’s performance characteristics, initial precursor aerosols at the atomizer’s outlet, transformed aerosols before combustion, combustion aerosols and formed layers. Laser diffraction spectrometry, differential electrical mobility analyses and condensation particle counting were used for aerosol characterization with regard to particle size and particle production quantities. Layers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, spectral ellipsometry, water contact angle measurements and light transmission concerning geometric properties (thickness, surface structure and roughness) and physical behaviors (i.e., optical behaviors, hydrophobicity). Results show a quasi-linear relationship of the ejection mass flow of the pneumatic-controlled atomizer and geometric layer properties which again show a direct relationship to the physical properties. No correlation was found between the aerosols before combustion and the combustion aerosols since the majority of combustion aerosol particles are synthesized solely from the gas phase based on evaporated precursor material.

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