Preparation and epoxy curing of p‐nonylphenol/dicyclopentadiene adducts

Phenol/dicyclopentadiene adducts were prepared from the BF₃‐catalyzed reaction of p‐nonylphenol and dicyclopentadiene at molar ratios of 2 : 1 and 3 : 2. These dicyclopentadiene‐derived novolac products contain tricyclodecane and multiple phenol functionalities. In curing with diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A, the polymer properties were compared with those cured with formaldehyde novolac or Jeffamine D‐400 amine. When p‐nonylphenol/dicyclopentadiene adducts were mixed with other commercially available curing agents such as Jeffamine D‐400 amine, the tricyclodecane functionality was introduced into the resulting epoxy network. The flexibility of the cured resin was improved due to the presence of the tricyclodecane moiety in the polymer structure. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 74: 2196–2206, 1999     

Synthesis and epoxy curing of Mannich bases derived from bisphenol A and poly(oxyalkylene)diamine

A family of Mannich bases were prepared from the reaction of 2,2‐bis‐(4‐hydroxyphenyl)propane (bisphenol A or BPA), formaldehyde, and poly(oxyalkylene)diamines at 1 : 1 : 1 or 1 : 2 : 2 molar ratio. By varying the molar ratio of bisphenol A to amine and the chemical structures of poly(oxyalkylene)diamines, a series of products with multiple functionalities of primary/secondary amines, phenols, and poly(oxyalkylene) were prepared. The curing profiles of these products toward the diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A (DGEBA) were examined by a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The physical properties of these cured materials were correlated with the chemical structures of the Mannich bases. Compared with the poly(oxyalkylene)diamines, the built‐in phenol moiety in Mannich bases accelerated the curing rate. Both amine and phenol functionalities could be reactive sites toward diglycidyl ethers in a step‐wise fashion under catalytic (triphenylphosphine) and different temperature conditions. Furthermore, the cured polymers demonstrated improved properties including tensile and flexural strength in comparison with those cured by the corresponding poly(oxyalkylene)diamines. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 78: 615–623, 2000     

Analysis of volume change effects in a fluidized bed catalytic reactor

A mathematical model based on the concept of an improved bubble assemblage model is developed for calculating the conversion of a reaction system involving a volume change in fluidized beds. The influence of volume change on the hydrodynamic behavior of gas in the bed, such as bubble size variation, superficial gas velocity change, and volume fraction occupied by each phase, is also investigated. It is found that increasing stoichiometric coefficient values results in larger bubble size, higher superficial gas velocities, higher crossflow rate between emulsion phase and bubble phase, and greater volume fraction of bubble phase, but smaller volume fraction occupied by the emulsion phase as well as lower conversions.     

Finite Element Limit Analysis of Passive Earth Resistance in Cohesionless Soils

This note examines the classic passive earth resistance of cohesionless soil by using two newly developed numerical procedures based on finite element formulations of the bound theorems of limit analysis and non-linear programming techniques. Solutions using upper and lower bounds are presented to complement the previous studies of this problem. The parameters studied are soil-wall interface friction, wall inclination, backfill surface configuration and the wall's weight.     

Flutter of Thermally Buckled Composite Sandwich Plates

A high precision high order triangular plate element is developed for the linear flutter analysis of thermally buckled composite sandwich plates. Due to uneven thermal expansion in the two local material directions, the buckling mode of the plate may be shifted from one pattern to another for certain fiber orientation or plate aspect ratio as the aerodynamic pressure is present. This buckle pattern change alters the frequencies and modes of the plate and that in turn changes the flutter coalescent modes. Numerical results show that temperature has a destabilizing effect on the flutter boundary but the aerodynamic pressure has a stabilizing effect on the buckling boundary.     

Surface and subsurface damages and magnetic recording pattern degradation induced by indentation and scratching

Magnetic recording pattern degradation due to head–disk impact and scratching are simulated by static indentation and scratch testing, respectively, on a pre-recorded thin film magnetic recording disk. Different magnitude of controlled stresses were used to induce stress and physical damage to the magnetic recording disk resulting in erasure and distortion of the magnetic recording pattern. Both nanoindentation and scratching resulted in the elastic–plastic deformation of the multilayer coating of the magnetic recording disk but in different relative magnitude and types of in-plane stresses (which are effective in causing magnetization changes). For residual indentation and scratch depths of the order of the magnetic disk coating thickness, magnetization changes in the recording pattern were observed even though the protective carbon overcoat was not damaged. Large magnetic pattern distortion and erasure results where cracks and pileups, and delamination and buckling damages were observed for deeper indentation marks and scratch grooves, respectively.     

Isolation and characterization of acid and pepsin-solubilized collagens from the skin of balloon fish (Diodon holocanthus)

Acid-solubilized collagen (ASC) and pepsin-solubilized collagen (PSC) were successfully extracted from the skin of balloon fish (Diodon holocanthus) with yields of 4% and 19.5% respectively (based on dry weight). According to the electrophoretic patterns, both the ASC and PSC consisted of two different α chains (α1 and α2), were characterized to be type I, and contained imino acid of 179 and 175 residues/1000 residues, respectively. The PSC had a lower content of high-molecular weight cross-links than the ASC. The ultraviolet (UV) absorption spectrum of collagens showed that the distinct absorption was between 210 and 230 nm. A maximum solubility in 0.5 M acetic acid was observed at pH 1–5, and a sharp decrease in solubility above 4% (w/v) in both the ASC and PSC was observed in the presence of NaCl. The denaturation temperatures (T_d) of the ASC and PSC measured by viscometry were 29.01 °C and 30.01 °C, respectively. The maximum temperatures (T_max) of the ASC and PSC were 29.64 °C and 30.30 °C, respectively.     

Aerothermoelastic analysis of composite laminated plates

The flutter behavior of a thermally buckled composite laminated plate is investigated in the frequency and time domains using the finite element method. Von Karman large deformation assumptions and quasi-steady aerodynamic theory are employed for the analysis. The effects of temperature gradient, panel length-to-width ratio, fiber orientation, and stacking sequence on aerothermoelastic behavior of the plate are studied in detail. The flutter boundary, buckling boundary, time history response, and phase plane plots of cross-ply and angle-ply laminates are presented. The numerical results show that temperature gradient induces thermal moments and increases the overall stiffness of the plate, and thus may increase the flutter boundary significantly. When the buckle pattern of the plate changes, the eigenvalues of the natural modes are changed suddenly and the sequence of the natural modes may be altered. Therefore, the change in the buckle pattern postpones the coalescence and the flutter boundary may increase. The change in the coalescence pair may also postpone the coalescence and increase the flutter boundary.     

The effect of dynamic behavior on surface roughness of ball screw under the grinding force

The dynamic behavior of a ball screw under a moving grinding force and the resulting ball screw surface roughness are investigated. The system includes a ball screw, a headstock, a tailstock, a steady rest, a grinding wheel, and a wheel head. Equations of motion of the system are derived through Lagrangian approach combined with global assumed mode method in this study. The transient responses of the system due to a moving force are evaluated using Runge?CKutta method. Results show that the steady rest can reduce 90% vibration in a grinding process. An equation is proposed to predict the maximum response by the cutting depth. Then we simulate the grain height distribution on the grinding wheel, considering transient response on the ball screw and the grinding wheel. Lastly, the ball screw surface roughness could be simulated via calculating the depth of all working grains. The purpose of using grinding process is that the ball screw needs fine surface roughness. The ball screw surface roughness is influenced by the grain size more than the structure numbers can be.     

FOUR-PHASE MODEL FOR FLUIDIZED-BED CATALYTIC REACTORS

A four-phase model for fluidized-bed catalytic reactors is developed. The bed is divided into four phases, i.e., bubble, cloud-wake, emulsion upflow, and emulsion downflow phases. In the model, gas back mixing in the emulsion phase and gas interchange as well as gas cross flow between phases are all considered. Model predictions are shown to compare well with various published experimental data on both axial concentration profiles and overall conversions. Parameters effects on the reaction performance were also illustrated. It was found that neglecting cross flow will result in 13% lower on the predicted conversion.