Synthesis,interfacial properties,and antimicrobial activity of a new cationic gemini surfactant

Tetramethylene-1,4-bis(N,N-dodecylammonium bromide), cationic gemini surfactant, (12-4-12) was first synthesized with an one-step and shortened procedure and its interfacial and antimicrobial properties were compared with a conventional single-chain cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB). The interfacial and thermodynamic properties of both surfactants reveal that critical micelle concentration (CMC) of this novel synthetic cationic dimeric surfactant is lower than that of cationic monomeric surfactant at almost 15 times of its magnitude, which is due to the increase in hydrophobicity of the surfactant molecules by having dual hydrocarbon chains. In comparison with CTAB, the produced compound 12-4-12 yields much better interfacial and thermodynamic properties. The antimicrobial activities of the synthesized gemini surfactant were tested against eight strains of bacteria, as well as two strains of fungi. The results showed that both 12-4-12 compound and CTAB exhibited higher inhibitory effects on the growth of Gram-positive bacteria and fungi than that of Gram-negative bacteria. The minimum inhibitory concentrations in molar of 12-4-12 against all tested Gram-negative bacteria were lower than those of CTAB, which is hypothetically due to the lower HLB together with smaller CMC values of our gemini surfactant.     

Hybrid surrogate-model-based multi-fidelity efficient global optimization applied to helicopter blade design

A multi-fidelity optimization technique by an efficient global optimization process using a hybrid surrogate model is investigated for solving real-world design problems. The model constructs the local deviation using the kriging method and the global model using a radial basis function. The expected improvement is computed to decide additional samples that can improve the model. The approach was first investigated by solving mathematical test problems. The results were compared with optimization results from an ordinary kriging method and a co-kriging method, and the proposed method produced the best solution. The proposed method was also applied to aerodynamic design optimization of helicopter blades to obtain the maximum blade efficiency. The optimal shape obtained by the proposed method achieved performance almost equivalent to that obtained using the high-fidelity, evaluation-based single-fidelity optimization. Comparing all three methods, the proposed method required the lowest total number of high-fidelity evaluation runs to obtain a converged solution.     

Modeling of Precipitation Phase Boundaries in Mixed Surfactant Systems Using an Improved Counterion Binding Model

Anionic surfactants, commonly used in household products and the detergency industry, tend to precipitate with divalent counterions in hard water. The unsightly soap scum thus formed also removes the surfactant from the cleaning action. The current research has improved prediction of the precipitation phase boundary for mixtures of surfactants in hard water in two ways: firstly, an accurate value of the solubility product (K _SP ) has been determined for the calcium salt of 4-octylbenzene sulfonate, and accurate temperature dependent K _SP values have been determined for the calcium salts of dodecyl sulfate and decyl sulfate; secondly, improvements in prediction of the precipitation phase boundary have been achieved using an improved model. The K _SP values of the decyl sulfate and dodecyl sulfate salts strongly increase with increasing temperature, with the shorter chain surfactant having significantly higher K _SP than its longer chain analogue. At 30?°C the K _SP of the 4-octylbenzenesulfonate salt is similar to that of the dodecyl sulfate salt, perhaps due to the similarity in the length of their hydrocarbon tails. A recent counterion binding model proposed by our research group and micellization models have been used to model the precipitation phase boundaries for both single anionic surfactant and binary mixed anionic surfactant systems, improving thermodynamic modeling of the precipitation phase boundary of single and binary mixed anionic surfactant systems. In particular, the improved model of counterion binding has allowed the model to predict the phase boundary accurately over a range of temperatures.     

Experiment and computation multi-fidelity multi-objective airfoil design optimization of fixed-wing UAV

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - Optimization with a surrogate model is a popular method used in design to avoid a high computational cost problem and is often encountered in...     

Synergisms in Binary Mixtures of Anionic and pH‐Insensitive Zwitterionic Surfactants and Their Precipitation Behavior with Calcium Ions

This work aims to investigate synergy in anionic and zwitterionic surfactant mixtures, as they result in better interfacial properties and micellization behavior. Various mixtures of the pH‐insensitive zwitterionic surfactant 3‐(decyldimethylammonio) propanesulfonate (Zwittergent 3–10) and sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) were prepared in aqueous solution at a range of pH values between 2 and 13. The thermodynamic parameters during mixed surfactant adsorption at the air/water interface are obtained and the results show the mixed surfactant systems having superior properties to the constituent surfactants. Experimentally, the mixed surfactant solutions clearly improve the surface activities by lowering the critical micelle concentration (CMC) and lowering the surface tension at the air/water interface. The synergisms are investigated through the interaction parameters estimated from regular solution theory that is used to quantitatively describe the nonideality of surfactant mixtures. High negative interaction parameters are obtained from these surfactant mixtures. Experimental precipitation phase boundaries of SDS in the presence of CaCl₂ were also investigated in mixtures containing pH‐insensitive zwitterionic surfactant at different pH levels from 2 to 13 and SDS mole fractions of 0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 1.00. Changes in the precipitation phase boundaries are due to the changes in the speciation or activities of the major components both below and above the CMC. As a result, the precipitation phase boundaries are pH dependent. In addition, mixed micellization and counterion binding to the micelle also change the precipitation phase boundary above the CMC. The activity‐based solubility product of calcium dodecylsulfate is also determined from the precipitation phase boundaries below the CMC. X‐ray diffraction patterns and SEM images confirm that only calcium dodecylsulfate precipitates in the soap scum for all pH and surfactant compositions studied.