Super alcohol-absorbent gels of sulfonic acid-contained poly(acrylic acid)

Alcohol-specific superabsorbing gels (super-alcogels) based on non-neutralized acrylic acid (AA, 60–94 mol%) and 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid (AMPS) were prepared via solution polymerization in water. Polyethylene glycol dimethacrylate and potassium persulfate were used as crosslinker and initiator, respectively. Characterization of samples was performed using FTIR, ¹H-NMR and thermomechanical analyses. Glass transition temperature and modulus of dried samples were found to be directly changed with their AA content. The gels exhibited enormous ability for absorbing and retaining a variety of mono- and poly-hydric alcohols. For example, in lieu of one gram of a typical sample composing 25 mol% AMPS, its absorption capacity was measured to be 53.0 g methanol, 42.1 g ethanol, 12.1 g n-propanol, 3.4 g iso-propanol, 41.2 g ethylene glycol, 20.7 g propylene glycol, 37.8 g 1,3-propanediol and 32.9 g glycerol. The absorbencies were superior to those of a known commercial poly(AA) sample, Carbopol. The alcohol absorbency was improved with increase of AMPS incorporated. It was recognized to be dependant on the alcohol characteristics such as H-bonding ability, OH/C ratio, electronic features (e.g. dielectric constant), steric hindrance of the neighboring groups of the solvent OH group, as well as the solvent viscosity. Normal phase transitions were observed in the gel swelling behavior in the alcohol-water binary mixtures. Rheological measurements of the water-swollen gel showed that more AMPS content resulted in gels with inferior storage modulus. All the empirical observations were discussed based on the related physicochemical principles.     

Effect of Phase Transformation During Long-Term Solution Treatment on Microstructure,Mechanical Properties,and Bio-corrosion Behavior of Mg–5Zn–1.5Y Cast Alloy

The influence of long-term solution treatment for various intervals on the microstructure,mechanical properties,and corrosion resistance of the as-cast Mg–5Zn–1.5Y alloy was investigated.Variation of secondary phases was studied during solution treatment through thermal analysis test and thermodynamic calculations.Tensile and hardness tests,as well as polarization and immersion tests,were performed to evaluate the mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of the ascast and heat-treated alloy,respectively.Results show that solution treatment transforms I-phaseinto W-phaseas well as dissolves it into the a-Mg matrix to some extent;therefore,the amount of W-phase increases.Moreover,prolonged solution treatment decreases the volume fraction of the phases.In the first stage of solution treatment for 14 h,the tensile properties significantly increase due to the incomplete phase transformation.Although long-term solution treatment sharply decreases the tensile and hardness properties of the alloy,it improves the corrosion resistance due to the transformation of I-phase into W-phase.In fact,it decreases corrosion potential and simultaneously dissolves intermetallic compounds into the a-Mg matrix,resulting in the reduction in galvanic microcells between the matrix and compounds.It is found that the optimum time for long-term solution treatment is 14 h,which improves both corrosion behavior and mechanical properties.     

Extraordinary swelling behavior of poly(AMPS) organogel in solvent/DMSO binary mixed media

The present article deals with super‐swelling behavior of crosslinked homopolymer of 2‐acrylamido‐2‐methylpropane sulfonic acid, poly(AMPS), in binary mixtures of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and various polar solvents including water, mono‐, and polyhydric alcohols, and amide solvents such as N‐methyl pyrrolidone. Extraordinary phase transition sequences including a new unusual swelling phenomenon, referred to as “overentrant” swelling, was observed for this polymeric organogel in the solvent/DMSO mixtures. The swelling behaviors were preliminarily explained based on the major interactions involved in the solvation process and dielectric constant of the swelling media. It was established that the “overentrant” region of the swelling profiles was progressed with the increase of dielectric constant of the mixed solvent media. The overentrant region was disappeared with partial replacement of AMPS units with acrylic acid. This was taken as an additional practical evidence for a major role of the sulfonic acid as the main interactive group involved in the solvation process. The unusual phase transitions were also explained via a semiquantitative approach based on the Gutmann's acceptor number and donor number values to emphasis on the key effect of dissociation degree of the sulfonic acid group (as a function of the solvent type and composition) on the swelling behaviors. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2010     

Zone selection strategy in Geocast routing algorithms in VANET: a review

The Journal of Supercomputing - Vehicle Ad hoc Network (VANET) is emerging as a desirable technology to make a revolution in transportation system. Due to the high and predictable mobility of...     

Antipolyelectrolyte superabsorbing nanocomposites: Synthesis and properties

Novel polyampholytic superabsorbing nanocomposites based on the zwitterionic sulfobetaine monomer [3‐(methacrylamido)propyl)]dimethyl(3‐sulfopropyl)ammonium hydroxide were synthesized through in situ polymerization in aqueous solution with different contents of an organo‐modified clay (OMMT, Cloisite 30B). Structural and thermomechanical properties of hydrogels were characterized by FT‐IR, XRD, and DMTA, respectively. Swollen gel strength of hydrogels was determined by a rheological method. Storage modulus of the hydrogels was considerably improved in comparison with its the clay‐free counterpart. The nanocomposite hydrogel containing 15% OMMT possessed the highest gel strength. The glass transition temperature was increased from 58.4 to 67.0°C for the clay‐free and nanocomposite hydrogel containing 8% OMMT, respectively. The swelling behavior of the hydrogel in various salt solutions was investigated. Antipolyelectrolyte behavior was observed with enhancement of concentration of mono‐ and multivalent salts. Swelling in the various pH media was nearly pH‐independent over a wide range of pH. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Solvent-, ion- and pH-specific swelling of poly(2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid) superabsorbing gels

Homopolymer hydrogel of 2-acrylamido-2-methylpropane sulfonic acid (AMPS) and its nanocomposite counterpart were prepared to study their swelling properties. The hydrogels showed ability to absorb and retain electrolytes as well as binary mixtures of water and organic solvents (i.e., methanol, ethanol, acetone, ethylene glycol (EG), polyethylene glycol, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP), and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). The nanocomposite gel exhibited lower swelling in all solvent compositions in comparison with non-composite gel. Unlike conventional acrylic acid-based hydrogels, the poly(AMPS) gels showed superabsorbing capacity in pure ethanol, methanol, EG, DMSO and NMP. Meanwhile, swelling capacity of poly(AMPS) hydrogel in DMSO-water mixtures was surprisingly found to be even higher than that in water. This extraordinary superswelling behavior was explained based on the interactions involved in solvation as well as the solubility parameters. The gels showed pH-independent superabsorbency in a wide range of pH (3–11). Saline-induced swelling transitions were also investigated and the ionic interactions were confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy.     

Elucidation of polymer wear resistance via nanoscale healing and fracture of sintered polystyrene particles

Polymer wear resistance evolution was studied based on nanoscale healing and fracture of a model polyinterface system: sintered film of uniform submicron polystyrene particles. The observed phenomenon was divided into three regimes namely interdiffusion, trough, and recovery, respectively. Film annealing up to 10 min in interdiffusion regime enhanced wear resistance with a 3.8 power dependence on interpenetration depth. Further annealing led to a severe wear resistance decrease, trough regime. Wear resistance then showed a sharp increase followed by a gradual rise to a plateau, recovery regime. Surfactants preservation during film formation shifted whole wear resistance‐annealing time curve to shorter times, decreased differentiations among observed regimes and reduced wear resistance power dependence on interpenetration depth to 2.3. Aforementioned regimes were also discernible in impact strength‐annealing time curves but without the steep rise of the recovery regime. Wear resistance scaled impact strength with a 0.67 power by omitting trough regimes data points. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013     

THIP: A trajectory history-based indoor positioning algorithm using stress-free floor plan for patient monitoring

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a novel paradigm that consists of a wide network of machines and intelligent devices with the capability of communication and interaction with each other. One of the significant issues for the IoT is its healthcare applications. The positioning systems based on their environment can be classified into two main categories: Indoor and outdoor. Recently, IoT indoor positioning attracts too much attention among researchers for patient monitoring. Hence, in this paper, a stress-free floor plan indoor positioning algorithm for patient monitoring is proposed, called THIP. The history of the patient's movement is stored in a trajectory history, and this information is employed to estimate the patient's more accurate position. The proposed THIP algorithm is simulated in MATLAB software. Several experiments are conducted to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm. Simulation results show that the proposed THIP algorithm raises patient positioning accuracy and declines the distance error cumulative compared to LiFS by about 4.68% and 60.6 m, respectively. Moreover, it can identify the floor level of the moving user.