Polyimide foams from powder: Experimental analysis of competitive diffusion phenomena

In the present study, various diffusive processes have been investigated during foaming of powdered precursors of polyimide. A detailed analysis of the powdered precursor's characteristics allows for an enhanced morphological understanding of the resulting microstructures and foam unit cell. Parameters that are central to the foaming process such as particle morphology, volatile concentration and sorption-desorption processes are evaluated. Isothermal and non-isothermal desorption experiments have been carried out by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and specific diffusive processes have been correlated to thermodynamic and kinetic transitions by means of modulated differential scanning calorimetry (MDSC) of the corresponding materials. It was found that two primary fluxes of volatiles, one out of the external surface of the particles (responsible for volatile desorption) and the other into the growing bubble (responsible for vapor supersaturation inside the bubble) compete against each other creating a competitive scenario that becomes the controlling factor for potential inflation within the precursor particles.     

Numerical Study of a Modified Time-Stepping θ-Scheme for Incompressible Flow Simulations

In [Turek (1996). Int. J. Numer. Meth. Fluids 22, 987–1011], we had performed numerical comparisons for different time stepping schemes for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations. In this paper, we present the numerical analysis in the context of the Navier–Stokes equations for a modified time-stepping θ-scheme which has been recently proposed by Glowinski [Glowinski (2003). In: Ciarlet, P. G., and Lions, J. L. (eds.), Handbook of Numerical Analysis, Vol. IX, North-Holland, Amsterdam, pp. 3–1176]. Like the well-known classical Fractional-Step-θ-scheme which had been introduced by Glowinski [Glowinski (1985). In Murman, E. M. and Abarbanel, S. S. (eds.), Progress and Supercomputing in Computational Fluid Dynamics, Birkh?user, Boston MA; Bristeau et al. (1987). Comput. Phys. Rep. 6, 73–187], too, and which is still one of the most popular time stepping schemes, with or without operator splitting techniques, this new scheme consists of 3 substeps with nonequidistant substepping to build one macro time step. However, in contrast to the Fractional-Step-θ-scheme, the second substep can be formulated as an extrapolation step for previously computed data only, and the two remaining substeps look like a Backward Euler step so that no expensive operator evaluations for the right hand side vector with older solutions, as for instance in the Crank–Nicolson scheme, have to be performed. This modified scheme is implicit, strongly A-stable and second order accurate, too, which promises some advantageous behavior, particularly in implicit CFD simulations for the nonstationary Navier–Stokes equations. Representative numerical results, based on the software package FEATFLOW [Turek (2000). FEATFLOW Finite element software for the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations: User Manual, Release 1.2, University of Dortmund] are obtained for typical flow problems with benchmark character which provide a fair rating of the solution schemes, particularly in long time simulations.Dedicated to David Gottlieb on the occasion of his 60th anniversary     

Finite elements in the analysis of pressure vessels and piping-a bibliography (1976–1996)

The paper gives a bibliographical review of the finite element methods (FEMs) applied for the analysis of pressure vessel structures/components and piping from the theoretical as well as practical points of view. The range of applications of FEMs in this area is wide and cannot be presented in a single paper; therefore the aim of this review is to give the reader an encyclopaedic view of the differnt possibilities that exist today for the finite element analysis in the fields of pressure vessels and piping. The bibliography at the end of the paper contains approximately 1900 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations on the subject that were published in 1976–1996. These are classified in the following categories: linear and non-linear, static and dynamic, stress and deflection analysis; stability problems; thermal problems; fracture mechanics problems; contact problems; fluid-structure interaction problems; manufacturing of pipes and tubes; welded pipes and pressure vessel components; development of special finite elements for pressure vessels and pipes; finite element software; and other topics. Also finite element software, general purpose and special purpose codes, used for the analysis of pressure vessels and pipes are briefly discussed and presented.     

Laser irradiation of oligosiloxane copolymer thin films functionalized with side chain bulky carbosilane moieties

Linear oligosiloxanes functionalized with bulky side chain tris(trimethylsilyl)hexyl (TTSH) substituents were transformed into cross-linked materials by UV 193 nm excimer pulsed laser ablation. The process occurred without any catalyst, by reactions of radicals formed in UV laser induced photolysis of side tris(trimethylsilyl)hexyl groups. Chemical changes were monitored by FTIR, LC/UV, GC/MS and solubility tests.     

Medicaid reform: an opportunity for the osteopathic medical profession

The autoantigen in adjuvant arthritis in Lewis rats is still unknown despite the knowledge that the 65 kDa mycobacterial heat-shock protein (hsp) is involved in the disease process. T cells and antibodies obtained from rats with adjuvant arthritis respond to chondrocyte membrane antigen(s). In Western blots a 65 kDa chondrocyte membrane protein (CH65) is stained by sera from arthritic rats. In addition, spleen cells from rats with adjuvant arthritis proliferate in vitro to chondrocyte membranes and CH65 as antigens. Furthermore, pretreatment of rats with CH65 or mycobacterial hsp65 but not human hsp60, induces a significant retardation of the onset of adjuvant arthritis in Lewis rats. The data suggest that CH65 is a potential autoantigen involved in the pathogenesis of adjuvant arthritis in Lewis rats.     

Optimization of ceramics bonding in the area of pressure sensor manufacturing

Ceramics joints are applied for producing products that should be made in a general shapes and dimensions for more advantageous usage. The article presents the research work related to ceramic joint quality evaluation, the thermal-structural analysis of ceramic joining and ceramic bond design and implementation. The role of ceramic material in the electronics industry and motivation for joining ceramics is described in the introduction. The requirements and methods for improving the quality of joints are summarized. Also, the results of simulations of pressure sensor cooling after removal from the oven during joining are discussed. The experimental results are evaluated by using a t-test before and after process cooling modification. Important directions for future research are summarized, with emphasis on the statistical determination of poor connection, and how the interface of modification of joint technology and process setting affects results and parameters that have been achieved.     

Phase transition in swollen gels

Summary The dynamic mechanical behaviour of 4% aqueous solutions and networks of poly (N, N-diethylacrylamide) and copolymers of diethylacrylamide with sodium methacrylate (MNa) (molar ratio x_MNA=0–0.05) swollen in water was measured in the temperature range 20–80 °C. With increasing temperature, at T_c polymer chains collapse from random coil to more compact globular conformations. While in the region of coil conformations (T > T_c) the mechanical behaviour of solutions has a liquid-like character (the loss modulus G″ is higher than the storage modulus G′ for a constant frequency ω=1 Hz), in the region of globular conformations (T > T_c) a heterogeneous physical network is built in solutions, and the mechanical behaviour has a solid-like character (G′ > G″). In networks the collapse is reflected in an increase of storage modulus G′; the magnitude of this increase decreases with ionization. The dependence of the loss modulus G″ on the temperature of solutions and networks allows us to conclude that the magnitude of losses in the collapsed state is affected rather by x_MNa (the modulus G″ increases with increasing ionization) than by the heterogeneous structure of the samples.     

The genesis of polyaniline nanotubes

Aniline has been oxidized with ammonium peroxydisulfate in 0.4 M acetic acid. Protons are produced in the course of oxidation and the pH decreases as the reaction proceeds. The oxidation had two subsequent phases: (1) the oxidation of the neutral aniline molecules and the initially produced low-molecular weight aniline oligomers at low acidity, followed by (2) the oxidation of the anilinium cation after the acidity became higher. The two phases of oxidation gave different products, aniline oligomers with mixed ortho- and para-coupling of aniline molecules, and polyaniline nanotubes, respectively.The aniline oligomers are produced at first at low acidity, pH > 4, some of them as rod-like crystals. The molecular weight of the oligomers has been assessed by gel-permeation chromatography to be of several thousands. The 2-3 wt.% content of sulfur in deprotonated samples suggests that the oxidation products are partly sulfonated. The oxidation of ortho-coupled anilines combined with intramolecular cyclization produces phenazine units or their blocks, as indicated by FTIR spectra. A high-molecular weight polyaniline is produced at pH < 2. The protonation of the intermediate pernigraniline form of polyaniline is a prerequisite for the polymerization.The nano-sized oligomer crystallites serve as starting templates for the nucleation of PANI nanotubes. Further growth of nanotubes proceeds by the self-organization of the phenazine units or their blocks located at the ends of the PANI chains. Polyaniline nanotubes have a typical outer diameter of 100-200 nm, with a wall thickness of 50-100 nm, an inner diameter of 0-100 nm, and a length extending to several micrometres.