Electro-copolymerisation of indene and styrene

Electroinitiated cationic copolymerisation of indene and styrene was investigated by constant potential electrolysis. Effects of copolymerisation potential and temperature on the copolymer composition and the reactivity ratios are discussed. The reactivity ratios of the monomers were calculated according to the integrated Lewis-Mayo equation.     

Water absorption properties of phosphate glass fiber‐reinforced poly‐ϵ‐caprolactone composites for craniofacial bone repair

The moisture uptake of polymers and composites has increasing significance where these materials are specified for invasive, long‐term medical applications. Here we analyze mass gain and the ensuing degradation mechanisms in phosphate glass fiber reinforced poly‐?‐caprolactone laminates. Specimens were manufactured using in situ polymerization of ?‐caprolactone around a bed of phosphate glass fibers. The latter were sized with 3‐aminopropyltriethoxysilane to control the rate of modulus degradation. Fiber content was the main variable in the study, and it was found that the moisture diffusion coefficient increased significantly with increasing fiber volume fraction. Diffusion, plasticization, and leaching of constituents appear to be the dominant aspects of the process over these short‐term tests. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2008     

Enhancing electrochromic properties of polypyrrole by silsesquioxane nanocages

A new monomer, octa(thiophenephenyl)silsesquioxane (OThiophenePS) was synthesized via click chemistry. The chemical structure of OThiophenePS was characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H NMR) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopies. Electrochemical polymerization of pyrrole with OThiophenePS was performed resulting in polypyrrole-attached, polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (OPS–PPy). The spectroelectrochemical studies show that the electrochromic properties of (OPS–PPy) are superior to those of polypyrrole (PPy). This great improvement can be attributed to the more accessible doping sites and the facile ion movement during the redox switching brought by the loose packing of the PPy chains.     

Multiwalled Nanotubes: Their Formation by Irradiating Graphite with High Doses of Electrons

We report the production of carbon nanotubes by high dose of electron irradiation. The irradiation was performed with a 2 MeV Van de Graaff accelerator, while the irradiation conditions were the following: voltage 1.3 MeV, current 5 µA, dose rate 25 kGy/min, and total dosage 1000 kGy. The samples were analyzed in a high-resolution transmission electron microscope. The main features observed on the samples, were huge nanotubes of several nanometer long and few nanometer wide, which are capped at one end. It is good to point out, that at this level of irradiation, we were not able to find either onion-like or particle structures throughout the material, as it is usual in similar hexagonal structures. This behavior could be attributed to the level of irradiation used to create the nanotubes under investigation.     

Prediction of suspended sediment concentration from water quality variables

This study investigates use of water quality (WQ) variables, namely total chromium concentration, total iron concentration, and turbidity for predicting suspended sediment concentration (SSC). For this purpose, the artificial neural networks (ANNs) and regression analysis (RA) models are employed. Seven different RA models are constructed, considering the functional relation between measured WQ variables and SSC. The WQ and SSC data are fortnightly obtained from six monitoring stations, located on the stream Harsit, Eastern Black Sea Basin, Turkey. A total of 132 water samples are collected from April 2009 to February 2010. Model prediction results reveal that ANN is able to predict SSC from WQ data, with mean absolute error (MAE) of 10.30 mg/L and root mean square error (RMSE) of 13.06 mg/L. Among seven RA models, the best one, which has the form including all independent parameters, produces results comparable to those of ANN, with MAE = 14.28 mg/L and RMSE = 15.35 mg/L. The sensitivity analysis results reveal that the most effective parameter on the SSC is total chromium concentration. These results have time- and cost-saving implications.     

Use of renewables for the production of chemicals: Glycerol oxidation over carbon supported gold catalysts

As a renewable feedstock and due to its high functionality glycerol is an attractive reactant for the production of a large number of valuable compounds. We report on an environmentally friendly alternative to produce chemicals from the glycerol oxidation, which are currently produced either by stoichiometric oxidation processes or by enzymatic routes. We investigate the heterogeneously catalyzed liquid-phase oxidation of glycerol with carbon supported gold catalysts. The prepared nanosized gold catalysts are highly active, so that the reaction could be performed under atmospheric pressure. The influence of the preparation method of the catalysts has been investigated. Moreover, the support effect on the catalytic process has been studied and discussed in terms of pore structure of the investigated carbon materials. The promotor effect of platinum on Au/C catalysts was examined and it could be shown that the presence of Pt increases not only the catalyst activity but also the selectivity. By promoting the gold catalysts with platinum the selectivity to dihydroxyacetone could be increased from 26% (Au/C) to 36% (Au–Pt/C).     

Chemical,thermal, and mechanical properties and ultraviolet transmittance of novel nano-hydroxyapatite/polyethylene terephthalate milk bottles

Polyethylene terephthalate (PET)/nano-hydroxyapatite (nHAp) composite granules were obtained using twin-screw extruder. Preforms were prepared by injection molding and then PET/nHAp bottles were produced by blow molding. For PET bottles with nHAp, the migration amounts of carboxylic acid (COOH), acetaldehyde (AA), diethylene glycol (DEG), and isophthalic acid (IPA); glass transition temperature (T_g); melting temperature (T_m); and the maximum crystallization temperature (T_cry) were measured. The load-carrying capacity, burst strength, stress cracking, and regional material distribution tests were carried out on the bottles. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and ultraviolet transmittance analyses were conducted to explain the changes in mechanical, chemical, physical properties, and light transmission of bottles. It was found out that the COOH amount increased and the AA content decreased with increasing nHAp amount. On the other hand, no change was observed in the amounts of DEG and IPA. Although the mechanical properties such as load-carrying capacity and burst strength of the bottles have improved, it has been determined that the standard environmental stress crack resistance test procedure cannot be applied to such a composite. Experimental findings indicate that nHAp disrupts the chemical structure of PET and it isolates harmful chemicals such as AA by forming intermolecular bonds. Moreover, with the addition of up to 0.8% nHAp, PET bottles block the light transmission approximately 80% within 400–700 nm wave length zone. The study demonstrates that the PET/nHAp composite bottles can be used in the food industry, particularly in the packaging of milk and milk products which are vulnerable to light exposure.     

Robust MIMO disturbance observer analysis and design with application to active car steering

A multi‐input–multi‐output extension of the well‐known two control degrees‐of‐freedom disturbance observer architecture that decouples the problem into single‐input–single‐output disturbance observer loops is presented in this paper. Robust design based on mapping D‐stability and the frequency domain specifications of weighted sensitivity minimization and phase margin bound to a chosen controller parameter space is presented as a part of the proposed design approach. The effect of the choice of disturbance observer Q filter on performance is explained with a numerical example. This is followed by the use of structured singular values in the robustness analysis of disturbance observer controlled systems subject to structured, real parametric and mixed uncertainty in the plant. A design and simulation study based on a four wheel active car steering control example is used to illustrate the methods presented in the paper. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Derivation of empirical equations for neutronic performance in a thorium fusion breeder with various coolants using regression analysis

In this paper, regression analyses (RA) are presented for the neutronic calculation of ThO₂ mixed ²⁴⁴CmO₂ fuel with different neutronic parameters for various coolants, natural lithium, Li₂₀Sn₈₀ and Flinabe, respectively. The tritium breeding ratio (TBR), energy multiplication factor (M), total fission rate (Σ_f) and ²³²Th(n, γ) reaction is computed by XSDRNPM. In addition, this numerical results are estimated by RA depends on neutronic parameters and the empirical equations for neutronic performance are acquired. The results obtained by using XSDRNPM and the results of the RA, obtained empirical equations, are compared. The empirical equations indicate that RA can successfully be used for the prediction of the neutronic performance parameters in the hybrid reactor with a high degree of accuracy. In addition, correlation matrix is calculated to determined statistical relationships between variables TBR, M, Σ_f, and ²³²Th(n, γ).     

Variational sensitivity analysis and design optimization

Variational method (VM) is employed to derive the co-state equations, boundary (transversality) conditions, and functional sensitivity derivatives. The converged solutions of the state equations together with the steady state solution of the co-state equations are integrated along the domain boundary to uniquely determine the functional sensitivity derivatives with respect to the design function. The application of the variational method to aerodynamic shape optimization problems is demonstrated on internal flow problems at supersonic Mach number range of 1.5. Optimization results for flows with and without shock phenomena are presented. The study shows that while maintaining the accuracy of aerodynamical objective function and constraint within the reasonable range for engineering prediction purposes, variational method provides a substantial gain in computational efficiency, i.e., computer time and memory, when compared with the finite difference computations.