Moisture Removal from Natural Jute Fibre by Plasma Drying Process

Low temperature plasma process is an effective alternative method compared to the conventional vacuum drying method for removing moisture. Plasma drying removes the moisture from fibres faster and to a lower level than conventional methods. It also improves the surface properties of the fibres. The jute fibre was treated with inert gas argon plasma without damaging the fibre. The OES was used to monitor the moisture desorbed from the fibre during processing. The XRD results revealed a change in the macromolecular structure as well as the crystallinity of the treated fibre. The FTIR and TGA provided the evidence of moisture removal from the fibres. It was found that the plasma treated fibres contain less than 1.8% (wt.) moisture which is a promising result when compared with conventional drying processes.The average tensile strength of the plasma treated fibres increased by 12.5% compared with those treated with the conventional vacuum dry process.     

Equipartition of rotational and translational energy in a dense granular gas

Experiments quantifying the rotational and translational motion of particles in a dense, driven, 2D granular gas floating on an air table reveal that kinetic energy is divided equally between the two translational and one rotational degrees of freedom. This equipartition persists when the particle properties, confining pressure, packing density, or spatial ordering are changed. While the translational velocity distributions are the same for both large and small particles, the angular velocity distributions scale with the particle radius. The probability distributions of all particle velocities have approximately exponential tails. Additionally, we find that the system can be described with a granular Boyle's law with a van?der?Waals-like equation of state. These results demonstrate ways in which conventional statistical mechanics can unexpectedly apply to nonequilibrium systems.     

Mixed Valence Tungsten (IV,V) Compounds with Layered Structures (Part IV): Syntheses,Crystal Structures,and Conductivity of BiX2[W2O2X6] (X = Cl,Br)

The reaction of metallic bismuth with either tungsten tetrachlorideoxide WOCl₄ at 650 K or tungsten tetrabromideoxide WOBr₄ at 670 K, respectively, leads to BiX₂[W₂O₂X₆] (X = Cl, Br) as black, lustrous crystal needles. The crystal structure determinations (triclinic, P$\bar{1}$ ) show the two isotypic structures to be closely related to Hg_0.55[W₂O₂Cl₆] with the presence of 1D‐polymeric W₂O₂X₆ double strands. Dinuclear [Bi₂X₄]²⁺ cations are embedded in the host structure via secondary W–X ··· Bi bonds. Unlike the other members of theM_y[W₂O₂X₆] structure family, which crystallize monoclinic and show crystallographic equivalent tungsten atoms, BiX₂[W₂O₂X₆] has independent tungsten sites. Nevertheless, an assignment of an individual oxidation state to the tungsten atoms within the W₂ group (W–W 2.8321(4) Å for X = Cl, 2.8985(4) Å for X = Br) is not possible and a dynamic intervalent state W(IV, V) is assumed. Electrical conductivity measurements for BiCl₂[W₂O₂Cl₆] show semi‐conductive behavior with a very small band gap of 70 meV and a high conductivity of around 0.5 Ω^–1cm^–1 at temperatures above 220 K. A temperature dependence of the activation energy of charge transport is present and interpreted by the Varshni model.     

Linear rheology of diluted linear, star and model long chain branched polymer melts

We present experiments and theory on the diluted melt dynamics of monodisperse entangled polymers of linear, star and H-shaped architecture. Frequency-dependent rheological data on a series of progressively diluted linear, star and H-polymers are in good agreement with a refined tube-model theory that, for H-polymers, combines star polymer melt behaviour at high frequency, with linear polymer reptation behaviour at low frequencies. Taking into account the effect of dilution via some simple scaling relations, mild polydispersity and by incorporating the high frequency Rouse modes, we are able to model quantitatively the entire frequency range. This work suggests a novel rheological route to analysing long chain branching in polymer melts. Received: 6 April 2000/Accepted: 21 December 2000     

Fullerene-coated beads as reusable catalysts

New heterogeneous catalysts that use oxygen and light to generate singlet oxygen ((1)O2) have been prepared. The catalysts facilitate various types of singlet oxygenation reactions including the Ene reaction, the Diels-Alder reaction, and others. The catalysts are made by stirring a heterogeneous mixture of fullerene-C(60) (dissolved in toluene) with aminomethylated poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) beads. Also, catalysts for aqueous photooxidations are made by reacting the initial catalysts with poly(allylamine) to create an outer layer that is more hydrophilic.     

Linear trichromium complexes with direct Cr to Cr contacts. 1. Compounds with Cr3(dipyridylamide)4(2+) cores

The preparation and structures of seven compounds that contain the Cr3(dpa)4(2+) core (dpa = the anion di(2-pyridyl)amide) are reported. The magnetic properties of several have been measured. In each case there are anionic ligands at each end of the Cr3(6+) chain, sometimes identical (2Cl-, 2CCPh-), sometimes different (Cl-, BF4-; Cl-, PF6-). Several of these compounds have a symmetrical arrangement of the three Cr atoms, with the two Cr-Cr distances equal at ca. 2.36 A, while others have an unsymmetrical arrangement. In the most extreme case the two Cr-Cr distances are 2.00 and 2.64 A. The electronic structures and the remarkable flexibility of the Cr3 arrangement are discussed.     

An acoustooptic method of measuring the noise equivalent power of optical heterodyne systems

The noise equivalent power of optical heterodyne detection at 10.6 m has been measured with a method based on Raman-Nath diffraction of a CO₂ laser beam. One of the frequency shifted first order diffracted beams is used as the signal radiation. The local oscillator radiation is obtained by splitting off a part of the laser beam incident upon the device used for the acoustooptic diffraction. The signal power can be varied over a large dynamic range by changing the acoustic input power. A study of the probable errors shows that the total error in the NEP measurement is less than 30%.     

Derivatives of 10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[a,d] cycloheptene and related compounds. III. Azaketones

The preparation and properties of four isomeric azadibenzoeycloheptenones 3 and their 10,11-dihydro derivatives 2 are described. The ketones 2 were prepared by cyclization of appropriately substituted phenethylpyridine carboxylic acids and dehydrogenated to 3 . Four monochloro derivatives 24 of the 4-azaketone 2d are also described.     

Determination of uranium in zircon

A routine fluorimetric procedure is described for the determination of trace amounts of uranium in zircon. It employs the direct extraction of uranyl nitrate with ethyl acetate using phosphate as a retainer for zirconium. Submicrogram amounts or uranium are separated in the presence of 100,000 times the amount of zirconium. The modified procedure has been worked out using synthetic mixtures of known composition and zircon. Results of analyses have an accuracy of 97–98% of the contained uranium and a standard deviation of less than 2.5%.