Optical and conductive properties of AlSi-alloy/SiCp composites: application in modelling CO2 laser processing of composites

The optical properties—reflectivity, real part of the refractive index, absorption coefficient as well as the thermal and electrical conductivity of AlSi-alloy/SiC_p composite were measured. The optical parameters and both conductivities decreased with the increase of SiC_p particles volume in AlSi-alloy matrix. This decrease was almost linear for the volume fraction of SiC_p particle up to 10 vol% of the total mass of the composite. For the 15 vol% of SiC_p particles, the departure from linearity is connected with the presence of additional phases in AlSi-alloy/SiC_p composite materials. The measured temperature dependencies of optical reflectivity and electrical conductivity for AlSi-alloy/SiC_p 15 vol% are of metallic character. Modelling of the interaction of the CO₂ laser radiation with AlSi-alloy/SiC_p 15 vol% composite should allow to estimate the initiation time at which the surface composite reaches melting temperature.     

Zur Synthese und Struktur von K3N

Synthesis and Structure of K₃N Two phases in the binary system K/N have been obtained via co‐deposition of potassium and nitrogen onto polished sapphire at 77 K and subsequent heating to room temperature. The powder diffraction pattern of one of these phases can be satisfactorily interpreted by assuming the composition K₃N, and the anti‐TiI₃ structure‐type, which is also adopted by Cs₃O. The resulting hexagonal lattice constants are: a = 779.8(2), c = 759.2(9) pm, Z = 2, P6₃/mcm. Comparison with possible structures of K₃N generated by computational methods and refined at Hartree‐Fock‐ and DFT level, reveals that the energetically most favoured structure has not formed (presumable Li₃P‐type), but instead one of those with very low density. In this respect, the findings for K₃N are analogous to the results on Na₃N. The thermal evolution of the deposited starting mixture has been investigated. Hexagonal K₃N transforms to another K/N phase at 233 K. Its XRD can be fully indexed resulting in an orthorhombic cell a = 1163, b = 596, c = 718 pm. Decomposition leaving elemental potassium as the only residue occurs at 263 K.     

Moment vanishing properties of harmonic Bergman functions

We show that Poisson integrals belonging to certain weighted harmonic Bergman spaces b_δ^p on the upper half-space must have the moment vanishing properties. As an application, we show that b₀^p, p?1, contains a dense subspace whose members have the horizontal moment vanishing properties. Also, we derive related weighted norm inequalities for Poisson integrals. As a consequence, we obtain a characterization for Poisson integrals of continuous functions with compact support in order to belong to b_δ^p.     

Studies on the blends of cardanol-based epoxidized novolac resin and CTPB

Cardanol-based novolac-type phenolic resins were synthesized with different mole ratios of cardanol-to-formaldehyde, viz., 1:0.6, 1:0.7, and 1:0.8. These novolac resins were epoxidized with molar excess of epichlorohydrin at 120 °C in basic medium. The epoxidized novolac resins were, separately, blended with different weight ratios of carboxyl-terminated polybutadiene liquid rubber ranging between 0-25 wt% with an interval of 5 wt%. All the blends were cured at 150 °C with 40 wt% polyamide. The formation of various products during the curing of blend samples has been studied by Fourier-transform infra-red spectroscopic analysis. The tensile strength and elongation-at-break of the cured samples increased up to 15 wt% in the blend and decreased thereafter. This blend sample was also found to be most thermally stable system. The blend morphology, studied by scanning electron microscopy analysis, was finally correlated with the structural and property changes in the blends.     

Absorption measurement of strained SiGe nanostructures deposited by UHV-CVD

In order to obtain a low band gap photocell based on the widely spread silicon technology, e.g. for thermophotovoltaics, SiGe nanostructures can be introduced into a monocrystalline silicon photocell. Beforehand, it is necessary to know the absorption coefficient of the SiGe quantum wells. On a silicon (1 0 0) substrate multiple Si/SiGe quantum well structures were grown by UHV-CVD. The Ge concentration and the well width were used as growth parameters. To obtain significant absorption, the experiment was set up to allow for 200 internal reflections.The total reflection of the light results in a standing electromagnetic wave. The absorption coefficient was obtained from the experimental data taking the geometry and the electric field distribution in the absorbing layer into account. The influence of well width and germanium content on the absorption was investigated with the goal of maximizing the absorption for photons with energies below the band gap energy of silicon. The measurement results are compared with a theoretical model, which takes the band structure of strained SiGe including confinement effects into account.     

Synthesis and characterization of poly(methyl methacrylate)‐block‐poly(methylphenylsilane)‐ block‐poly(methyl methacrylate) by atom transfer radical polymerization

ABA block copolymers of methyl methacrylate and methylphenylsilane were synthesized with a methodology based on atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The reaction of samples of α,ω‐dihalopoly(methylphenylsilane) with 2‐hydroxyethyl‐2‐methyl‐2‐bromoproprionate gave suitable macroinitiators for the ATRP of methyl methacrylate. The latter procedure was carried out at 95 °C in a xylene solution with CuBr and 2,2‐bipyridine as the initiating system. The rate of the polymerization was first‐order with respect to monomer conversion. The block copolymers were characterized with ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy and size exclusion chromatography, and differential scanning calorimetry was used to obtain preliminary evidence of phase separation in the copolymer products. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 30–40, 2003     

Novel route to synthesis of allyl starch and biodegradable hydrogel by copolymerizing allyl‐modified starch with methacrylic acid and acrylamide

Maize starch was modified by allyl chloride adopting an interfacial reaction technique with cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide as a phase‐transfer catalyst and pyridine as an acid acceptor. The degree of substitution was determined from an increasing carbon content of the modified starch. The percentage of carbon and hydrogen of the allyl‐modified starch was estimated by elemental analysis (C, H, and N), and the product characterization was done through ¹H NMR and ¹³C NMR analyses. The allyl‐modified starch was then copolymerized with methacrylic acid and a combination of methacrylic acid and acrylamide at 50 and 70 °C with potassium persulfate as an initiator. The copolymer thus formed swelled in distilled water after neutralization with sodium carbonate. The percentage of absorption capacity of the hydrogels was determined with distilled water and 0.9% NaCl solution. The highest percentage of absorption, 6500%, was achieved for the developed hydrogel containing allyl starch and acrylic monomer in a 1.7:1 w/w ratio and acrylic monomer, namely, methacrylic acid and acrylamide in a 3.2:1 w/w ratio. The study on biodegradability of the developed hydrogel showed that the hydrogel is degradable in the presence of diastase (amylase). © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 41: 1650–1658, 2003     

Nonlinear rheological behavior of silica filled solution‐polymerized styrene butadiene rubber

The reinforcement and nonlinear viscoelastic behavior have been investigated for silica (SiO₂) filled solution‐polymerized styrene butadiene rubber (SSBR). Experimental results reveal that the nonlinear viscoelastic behavior of the filled rubber is similar to that of unfilled SSBR, which is inconsistent with the general concept that this characteristic comes from the breakdown and reformation of the filler network. It is interesting that the curves of either dynamic storage modulus (G′) or loss tangent (tan δ) versus strain amplitude (γ) for the filled rubber can be superposed, respectively, on those for the unfilled one, suggesting that the primary mechanism for the Payne effect is mainly involved in the nature of the entanglement network in rubbery matrix. It is believed there exists a cooperation between the breakdown and reformation of the filler network and the molecular disentanglement, resulting in enhancing the Payne effect and improving the mechanical hysteresis at high strain amplitudes. Moreover, the vertical and the horizontal shift factors for constructing the master curves could be well understood on the basis of the reinforcement factor f(φ) and the strain amplification factor A(φ), respectively. The surface modification of SiO₂ causes a decrease in f(φ), which is ascribed to weakeness of the filler–filler interaction and improvement of the filler dispersion. However, the surface nature of SiO₂ hardly affects A(φ). © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 2594‐2602, 2007     

Cellulose-polyamide 66 blends. Part II: Mechanical behavior

Blends of the natural polymer cellulose with a synthetic polymer, polyamide 66, are studied in order to determine if the expected strong interaction between them, due to hydrogen bonds, could improve their mechanical properties such as strength and elongation at break. In a previous work {Part I, J. Polym. Sci. Polym. Phys., 32 , 1437 (1994)}, the preparation technique and the characterization of cellulose-polyamide 66 (PA66) blends were described in detail. Several samples in the composition range between 0 to 70 wt % of PA66 were carefully dried and examined using dynamic mechanical and tensile tests. Based on previous work a new percolation model has been developed. It takes both linear and nonlinear mechanical behaviors into account and allows for the effect of adhesion between material domains. From comparison between experimental and predicted data, it is concluded that a partial miscibility between the amorphous phases of cellulose and PA66 exists and is responsible for a strong adhesion at their interface. Solid-state ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance has also been used to study these samples and supports the existence of strong interactions between both homopolymers. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Circularly polarized light-induced electrogyration in the Au nanoparticles on the ITO

We have found that the gold nanoparticles on the ITO substrates might be considered promising materials for circularly polarized light-induced linear electrogyration (EG). The maximal achieved value of the EG susceptibility described by third-order axial tensor caused by probe circularly polarized light at a wavelength of 1060 nm was equal to about 13 deg/mm at pulsed electric field strength 30.0 V/cm with a duration of about 1 ms. We have revealed that the maximal EG coefficient is achieved for the samples possessing maximal resistivity. The investigated composites possess long-lived EG grating which decreases by not more than 12% after 120 min of laser treatment. Applying a non-circular pump light leads to the diminishing of the observed EG.