Cure reaction for modified diallylbisphenol A/diaminodiphenylsulfone/bismaleimide

The glass‐transition temperature as a function of curing conversion for a modified diallylbisphenol A/diaminodiphenylsulfone/bismaleimide (BMI) resin was investigated at different temperature regimes and modeled using a modified Di Benedetto equation. Although the relationship between the glass‐transition temperature and conversion of the BMI system conforms to the Di Benedetto equation for α < 0.6 and at lower cure temperatures, at higher cure temperatures the results deviated significantly from the equation; thus, it was an inadequate model for the system. Fourier transform IR analysis showed that the major crosslinking reactions did not occur during cure for the modified BMI at and below 150°C. However, as the cure temperature was increased, the crosslinking reactions responsible for 3‐dimensional network structures became more dominant. At 190°C the C? N? C_stretch vibration of the uncured maleimide ring converted into succinimide rings in the curing process. Simultaneously, a decrease was observed for the absorbance bands of ? C? H_bending (maleimide). The higher cure temperatures induced a significantly faster initial crosslinking rate and also resulted in a shorter period of time after which further crosslinking was retarded, because the increase in the crosslinks also physically slowed further crosslinking activity. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 85: 227–235, 2002     

A longitudinal study of green-liver osteomyelitis complex in commercial turkeys

Two flocks of Nicholas tom turkeys from separate farms with histories of above-average condemnations for turkey green-liver osteomyelitis complex (TOC) were studied throughout a 16-week growout. Fifty birds from each farm were necropsied each week for 15 weeks, and birds that had green livers, osteomyelitis in the proximal tibia, or swollen joints were cultured for aerobic bacteria along with an equal number of control birds. At processing, TOC lesions and green livers were obtained for bacterial culture and histopathology. Green-liver-associated TOC was not observed until the turkeys were 9 or 10 weeks of age. The incidence of TOC was higher on one farm, which also had a higher incidence of airsacculitis, higher early and weekly mortality, seroconversion to Newcastle disease virus and Mycoplasma meleagridis, and significantly higher average body weights, relative spleen weights, and relative liver weights. Both farms had a high incidence of intestinal lesions and infestation with Ascaridia dissimilis. Histological evaluation of green livers revealed hyperplasia of bile ducts, dilation of sinusoids, and pigment-containing Kupffer's cells, some of which stained positive for iron. The bacterial isolates most frequently cultured from bones and livers were pleomorphic gram-variable coccobacilli, which grew visible colonies only after a series of subcultures and extended incubation.     

Abdominal wall prostheses. Biomechanic and histological study

The best prosthetic material is one which provides the best mechanical resistance with the best biological tolerance. In order to assess the mechanical and histological properties of abdominal wall prostheses, we performed experimental tests in animal models comparing four materials: polypropylene, dacron, polyglactine 910 and a dacron-polyglactine 910 composite. One hundred thirty rabbits were used including 10 controls and 120 test animals. A medial laparotomy was closed with an antemuscular aponevrotic prosthesis in the test animals. Animals were sacrificed at one, two and three months after the operation. Abdominal wall and prosthesis samples were tested to determine resistance to pressure and extension, deformability and elasticity. Histology tests were also done to determine resistance quality and biological tolerance. Dacron was tolerated best and was less resistant than polypropylene, though resistance was satisfactory. There was no advantage with polyglactine compared with non-resorbable prostheses; its only indication would be a septic site. The composite material tested had a resistance comparable with that of dacron but was less well tolerated.     

Microstructural modeling of recrystallization in deformed iron single crystals

Recrystallization kinetics in a (111)[1 0] iron single crystal deformed 70 pet by rolling were characterized experimentally at temperatures between 500°C and 600°C by means of quantitative metallography. A Laplace transform method was applied to the time-dependent global microstructural properties, volume fraction, interface area per unit volume, and the largest intercept-free length (recrystallized grain) to separate nucleation and interface migration effects from the overall recrystallization kinetics. A comprehensive nucleation and growth model was derived from analysis of the microstructural data. The model consisted of the following salient features: (a) nucleation was random and approximately site-saturated with zero incubation time at all temperatures; (b) the recrystallized grains grew three-dimensionally in the shape of prolate spheroids; and (c) interface migration rates were highly anisotropic, the grains growing at an approximately constant rate in one dimension and at a strongly decreasing rate in the other two dimensions. The present findings were compared to a similar earlier study of a deformed iron (111)[ 2] single crystal. The time dependencies of the interface migration rates were rationalized in terms of a deformation-induced, nonuniform distribution of stored energy and an orientation-dependent grain boundary mobility.     

Kinetic study of the curing behavior of bismaleimide modified with diallylbisphenol A

The curing kinetics of bismaleimide modified with diallylbisphenol A were investigated for different ratios of 1,1′‐(methylene di‐4,1‐phenylene) bismaleimide and diallylbisphenol A with differential scanning calorimetry. Multiheating‐rate and isothermal methods were used to study the kinetics of the curing process. The results indicated that the activation energy changed with the extent of conversion. The activation energy obtained by the multiheating‐rate method was higher than that obtained by the isothermal method. Two kinetic models (autocatalytic and nth‐order) were successfully used to model the curing process. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 90: 2229–2240, 2003     

Glass‐transition temperature in the curing process of bismaleimide modified with diallylbisphenol A

The T_g‐conversion relationship, during the thermal curing of different stoichiometric formulations of 1,1′‐(methylene‐di‐4,1‐phenylene) bismaleimide (BMI), modified with o,o′‐diallyl bisphenol A (DABA), was investigated. The DiBenedetto equation was used to model this relationship for the formulation of DABA‐1 (BMI : DABA, 1 : 1). Based on this model, the T_g‐conversion relationship of formulation DABA‐0.5 (BMI : DABA, 1 : 0.5) was modeled. The high consistency between the model curve and experimental data showed that the change of T_g, attributed to copolymerization between BMI and DABA in DABA‐0.5, in the low‐conversion regime, was the same as that in DABA‐1. This also verifies that, for the formulation DABA‐0.5, copolymerization and homopolymerization do not overlap with each other. The reactions progressed sequentially and homopolymerization occurred after completion of copolymerization. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 91: 3244–3247, 2004     

Self-organized porous TiO2 and ZrO2 produced by anodization

The present work investigates the electrochemical formation of self-organized high aspect ratio TiO₂ and ZrO₂ nanotube layers. The formation and growth of a self-organized porous layer can be achieved directly by anodization without any templates in fluoride containing electrolytes. The morphology of the porous layers is affected by the electrochemical conditions such as the electrolyte composition, the pH and the exact polarization treatment (such as the potential sweep rate from the open-circuit potential to the anodizing potential). For Ti, nanotube layers are formed with diameters varying from approx. 20 nm to 100 nm and lengths from approx. 0.25 μm to 2.5 μm depending on the electrolytes and pH. On the other hand, for Zr, tubes of 50 nm in diameter and up to approx. 17 μm in length can be grown—a key parameter in this case is the potential sweep rate. The large difference between Ti and Zr in the achievable thickness of nanotube layers indicates a difference in the growth mechanism which may be based on the different chemical dissolution rates of electrochemically formed oxides.     

The existence of Taylor vortices and wide-gap instabilities in spherical Couette flow

Summary The flow of a viscous incompressible fluid in the gap between two concentric spheres was investigated for the case where only the inner sphere rotates and the outer one is stationary. Flow visualization studies were carried out for a wide range of Reynolds numbers (Re2·10⁵) and aspect ratios (0.080.5) to determine the instabilities during the laminar-turbulent transition and the corresponding critical Reynolds numbers as a function of the aspect ratio. It was found that the laminar basic flow loses its stability at the stability threshold in different ways. The instabilities occurring depend strongly on the aspect ratio and the initial conditions. For small and medium aspect ratios (0.080.25), experiments were carried out as a function of the Reynolds number to determine the regions of existence for basic flow, Taylor vortex flow, supercritical basic flow and furthermore, to give the best fit for the maximum number of pairs of Taylor vortices as a function of aspect ratio. For wide gaps (0.330.5), however, Taylor vortices could not be detected. The first instability manifests itself as a break of the spatial symmetry and non-axisymmetric secondary waves with spiral arms appear depending on the Reynolds number. For =0.33, secondary waves with an azimuthal wave numbern=six, five and four were found, while in the gap with an aspect ratio of =0.5 secondary waves withn=five, four and three spiral arms exist. Frequencies of these secondary waves were measured, the corresponding critical Reynolds numbers and the transition Reynolds numbers during the transition to turbulence were found. The flow modes occurring at the poles look very similar to those found in the flow between two rotating disks. Effects of non-uniqueness and hysteresis were determined as a function of the acceleration rate.     

The flow field of two stratified liquids in the presence of interfacial waves

Generated interfacial waves are under investigation in this paper. The flow field and the movement of the interface between two stratified newtonian fluids will be considered. Cylindrical geometry is examined. All results are given in an analytical form. With the help of an algebraic computation programm it is possible to reduce computation time for parameter studies. The dependence of the wavenumber of several dimensionless groups are studied intensively.List of symbols a( ^j ), b( ^j ) integration constants - Â wave amplitude at the origin - g acceleration due to gravity - h interface distortion - i imaginary unit - J ₀, J ₁ zero/first order Bessel function - k ₁, k ₁( ^j ), k ₂( ^j ) complex wave numbers - p( ^j ) pressure - t time - v _r ^j , v _z ^j velocity component in r and z direction - Re( ^j ), Bo, We Reynolds, Bond and Weber number - R density ratio - wavelength - µ ^j , v ^j dynamic/kinematic fluid viscosity - ^j fluid density - interfacial tension - non dimensional time - ^j potential function - ^j stream function J=1, 2, where the index 1 refers to the upper fluid and the index 2 refers to the lower fluid. In the text the asterisk indicates non dimensional quantities.     

Deterministic planning in the fifth international planning competition: PDDL3 and experimental evaluation of the planners

The international planning competition (IPC) is an important driver for planning research. The general goals of the IPC include pushing the state of the art in planning technology by posing new scientific challenges, encouraging direct comparison of planning systems and techniques, developing and improving a common planning domain definition language, and designing new planning domains and problems for the research community. This paper focuses on the deterministic part of the fifth international planning competition (IPC5), presenting the language and benchmark domains that we developed for the competition, as well as a detailed experimental evaluation of the deterministic planners that entered IPC5, which helps to understand the state of the art in the field.We present an extension of pddl, called pddl3, allowing the user to express strong and soft constraints about the structure of the desired plans, as well as strong and soft problem goals. We discuss the expressive power of the new language focusing on the restricted version that was used in IPC5, for which we give some basic results about its compilability into pddl2. Moreover, we study the relative performance of the IPC5 planners in terms of solved problems, CPU time, and plan quality; we analyse their behaviour with respect to the winners of the previous competition; and we evaluate them in terms of their capability of dealing with soft goals and constraints, and of finding good quality plans in general. Overall, the results indicate significant progress in the field, but they also reveal that some important issues remain open and require further research, such as dealing with strong constraints and computing high quality plans in metric-time domains and domains involving soft goals or constraints.