Research on mechanical and dielectric properties of XLPE cable under accelerated electrical‐thermal aging

Research into the electrical‐thermal aging properties of cross‐linked polyethylene (XLPE) cable has great significance, because of its wide application. This study conducted accelerated electrical‐thermal aging tests on 10‐kV XLPE cable in order to assess the cable's mechanical and dielectric properties. After being aged by applying 34.8‐kV AC voltage at the four temperatures of 90, 103, 114, and 135°C, the cable samples were taken out in five stages according to the aging time and cut into slices. The slices were conducted experiments to test the breaking elongation, tensile strength, gel content, breakdown voltage, and frequency spectrums of the dielectric constant and dielectric loss. The results demonstrate that the mechanical strength and gel content of XLPE vary greatly under different aging temperatures, a finding that is associated with the crystallization characteristics of the material. The breakdown voltage shows a slight decreasing trend with aging time. The dielectric constant decreases with aging time in high‐frequency areas (10³–10⁶ Hz), while the dielectric loss factor increases with aging time at low frequencies (10^?2–0 Hz). These two parameters can be used to characterize the degree of aging in cable. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

环境友好型离子液体催化环氧丙烷反应合成丙二醇醚

丙二醇醚类化合物是性能优良的精细化学品,也是环保型高级溶剂.该类化合物具有两个强溶解性功能基团—醚键和羟基,前者具有亲油性,可溶解疏水性物质,后者具有亲水性,可溶解亲水性物质,因而丙二醇醚具有很强的溶解能力,素有"万能溶剂"之称,可广泛应用于涂料、油墨、油漆、印刷、电子化学品、染料、净洗和纺织等行业.丙二醇醚类化合物目前主要由环氧丙烷和低级脂肪醇反应合成,然而,由于环氧丙烷的位阻效应,使其在酸或碱的条件下开环的位置会不同,从而得到不同的醇醚产物.由于碱催化的醇醚产物更加环境友好,因而越来越被人们所关注.工业上丙二醇醚合成多采用传统的强碱性催化剂醇钠以及氢氧化钠,腐蚀性强,产生的废液量大.本文采用环境友好的非卤素离子液体作为催化剂,研究了其催化环氧丙烷醚化合成丙二醇醚的反应特性.本文采用两步法合成了一系列环境友好的醋酸类碱性功能化离子液体,并在温和的条件下将其用于催化环氧丙烷与醇反应合成丙二醇醚.结果表明,该类离子液体可以高效催化该反应的进行.利用紫外-可见光谱测定Hammett指数来表征实验中所用离子液体的碱强度,并构建了离子液体碱性与催化活性之间的关系.结果表明,离子液体的催化性能和其碱性密切相关,随着离子液体碱性的增加,催化活性增强,其中咪唑醋酸类离子液体碱性强于季胺类,表现出优异的催化性能.离子液体的碱性明显弱于NaOH,但却呈现出更优异的催化性能.相同反应条件下,EmimOAc离子液体作为催化剂,PO的转化率分别较NaOH高出20%–30%,选择性略高于NaOH,这可能是由于二者催化机理不同造成的.传统NaOH催化机理的关键步骤是醇在碱性催化剂的作用下去质子化形成电子供体烷氧根离子,促进环氧丙烷的开环加成.而本文提出了离子液体亲电亲核双活化作用机理,即离子液体在阴阳离子之间的氢键和电荷相互作用的共同作用下,促进环氧丙烷开环和醇的去质子化,形成相应的反应中间体.通过电喷雾质谱分析手段检测到了阴阳离子通过协同作用亲电亲核催化过程中的反应中间体,证明了该假设机理的可行性.此外,还考察了催化剂浓度、醇比、反应温度以及醇的空间位阻效应对反应的影响.以EmimOAc催化合成丙二醇丁醚为例,反应的转化率随催化剂浓度的增加而增大,在催化剂添加量1%(催化剂与PO的摩尔比)时,PO转化率达到最大值为98.2%,1-丁氧基-2-丙醇的选择性为86.4%.当正丁醇与环氧丙烷的摩尔比为3时,转化率最高为88.6%,选择性高达94%.该反应为放热反应,最适反应温度约为140 oC,此时转化率高达96.5%.在环氧丙烷和不同的低碳醇合成丙二醇醚的反应中,反应物醇的碳链越短,支链越少,催化反应效率越高.     

Director configurations in nematic droplets with tilted surface anchoring

The polymer dispersed nematic liquid crystal (LC) with the tilted surface anchoring has been studied. The droplet orientational structures with two point surface defects – boojums and the surface ring defect – are formed within the films. The director tilt angle α = 40° ± 4° at the droplet interface and LC surface anchoring strength W_s ~ 10^–6 (J m^?2) have been estimated. The bipolar axes within the studied droplets of oblate ellipsoidal form can be randomly oriented are oriented randomly relatively to the ellipsoid axes as opposed to the droplets with homeotropic and tangential anchoring.     

高残炭硼酚醛树脂的制备

酚醛树脂(PF)因其具有良好的耐热性能和机械性能而被广泛应用。但其耐热性能已经满足不了现代航空航天技术的需求,研究发现,采用硼酸对酚醛树脂进行改性,可以制得具有优良耐高温性能的硼酚醛树脂(BPF)。采用硼酸酯法合成硼酚醛树脂,n(苯酚)∶n(甲醛)=1∶1.5时耐热性最佳。热分析结果表明,合成的BPF在1000℃条件下的残炭率为78%,其耐热性能明显优于传统的酚醛树脂。同时讨论了不同硼酸含量对BPF耐热性能的影响,当n(硼酸)∶n(苯酚)0.33∶1时,残炭率趋于稳定。此外,利用差示扫描量热仪(DSC)方法确定BPF预固化温度为160℃,后固化温度为220℃。     

Effect of cold plasma process on the surface wettability of NBR and the kerosene resistance of NBR/PTFE composites

In this study, first the acrylonitrile‐butadiene rubber (NBR5080) was modified by argon (Ar), air, and oxygen plasma at low temperature, and the effect of plasma process (power, time, and pressure) on the surface properties of NBR5080, the interfacial properties, physical properties, and the mechanical properties of NBR5080/polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) composites were investigated. The state contact angle and the surface free energy were applied to characterize the surface wettability of NBR5080. The scanning electron microscope and the atomic force microscope were used to observe the surface morphology of the NBR5080. The chemical changes on the NBR5080 surface were verified by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The average water contact angle the NBR5080 declined obviously when NBR5080 was treated by Ar (100 W/600 s/30 Pa). The active oxygen groups were introduced onto the surface of NBR5080 by cold plasma treatment and more active group containing oxygen were observed on the samples treated by Ar plasma. The peel strength between the NBR5080 and the PTFE was increased obviously, which increased from 0 to 44.2 N?m^?1 for Ar plasma treatment. The mass and the dimension of NBR5080 increase sharply after immersing in kerosene, whereas the NBR5080/PTFE composites changed a little. The mechanical properties of NBR5080 and NBR5080/PTFE composites decreased as the immersion time in kerosene increased, but the decreased degree of NBR5080 is higher than NBR5080/PTFE composites.     

Large impact in electrical properties of polypropylene by improving the filler-matrix interface effect in PP/PS blends

Inorganic nanoparticles are widely used to improve space charge behavior, DC breakdown strength and other electrical properties of polymer insulating materials, but the uniform distribution of inorganic nanofillers in matrix is difficult due to their agglomeration and bad compatibility with the polymeric matrix. In this paper, polypropylene (PP)/polystyrene (PS) blends were prepared to suppress space charge accumulation and improve DC breakdown strength. Polypropylene-g-polystyrene (PP-g-PS) graft copolymer was used as compatibilizer to improve the compatibility of PP matrix and PS filler. The evolution of microstructure of PP/PS blends were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM), the space charge distributions were measured by a pulsed electro-acoustic (PEA) system, and DC breakdown strength was also tested. The morphologies show that the size of PS particles reduced to 310 nm when the content of PP-g-PS graft copolymer increased to 24 wt%, and the interaction between PP matrix and PS particles enhanced. The presence of PS particles in all PP/PS blends suppressed the space charge accumulation compared to neat PP, but the DC breakdown strength in uncompatibilized blend was lower than neat PP. The increasing of content of PP-g-PS improved the DC breakdown strength with the maximum value of 408.9 kV/mm was obtained. This may attribute to excellent interface structure formed between PP matrix and PS particles.     

Improved separation and size characterization of gold nanoparticles through a novel capillary zone electrophoresis method using poly(sodium4‐styrenesulfonate) as stabiliser and a stepwise field strength gradient

A novel capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) method was developed for an improved separation and size characterization of pristine gold nanoparticles (AuNP) using uncoated fused‐silica capillaries with UV‐Vis detection at 520 nm. To avoid colloid aggregation and/or adsorption during runs, poly(sodium 4‐styrenesulfonate) (PSS) was added (1%, w/v) in the running buffer (CAPS 10 mM, pH 11). This polyelectrolyte conferred an enhanced stabilization to AuNP, both steric and electrostatic, exalting at the same time their differences in electrophoretic mobility. Resolution was further and successfully improved through a stepwise field strength gradient by the application of 25 kV for the first 5 min and then 10 kV. Migration times varied linearly with particles diameters showing relative standard deviations better than 1% for daily experiments and 3% for interday experiments. A comparison with the size distribution obtained by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) allowed assessing that the electrophoretic profile can reasonably be considered as representative of the effective size heterogeneity of each colloid. Finally, the practical utility of the proposed method was demonstrated by measuring the core diameter of a gold colloid sample produced by chemical synthesis which was in good agreement with the value obtained by TEM measurements.     

Optimizing gradient conditions in online comprehensive two‐dimensional reversed‐phase liquid chromatography by use of the linear solvent strength model

The linear solvent strength model was used to predict coverage in online comprehensive two‐dimensional reversed‐phase liquid chromatography. The prediction model uses a parallelogram to describe the separation space covered with peaks in a system with limited orthogonality. The corners of the parallelogram are assumed to behave like chromatographic peaks and the position of these pseudo‐compounds was predicted. A mix of 25 polycyclic aromatic compounds were used as a test. The precision of the prediction, span 0–25, was tested by varying input parameters, and was found to be acceptable with root mean square errors of 3. The accuracy of the prediction was assessed by comparing with the experimental coverages. Less than half of experimental coverages were outside prediction ± 1 × root mean square error and none outside prediction ± 2 × root mean square error. Accuracy was lower when retention factors were low, or when gradient conditions affected parameters not included in the model, e.g. second dimension gradient time affects the second dimension equilibration time. The concept shows promise as a tool for gradient optimization in online comprehensive two‐dimensional liquid chromatography, as it mitigates the tedious registration and modeling of all sample constituents, a circumstance that is particularly appealing when dealing with complex samples.     

Binding Characteristics Study of DNA based Aptamers for E. coli O157:H7

E. coli O157:H7 is a pathogenic bacterium producing verotoxins that could lead to serious complications such as hemolytic uremia syndrome. Fast detection of such pathogens is important. For rapid detection, aptamers are quickly gaining traction as alternative biorecognition molecules besides conventional antibodies. Several DNA aptamers have been selected for E. coli O157:H7. Nonetheless, there has not been a comparative study of the binding characteristics of these aptamers. In this work, we present a comprehensive analysis of binding characteristics including binding affinity (K_d) and binding capacity (B_max) of DNA-based aptamers for E. coli O157:H7 using qPCR. Our results show that aptamer E18R has the highest binding capacity to E. coli 157:H7 and the highest specificity over non-pathogenic E. coli strains K12 and DH5α. Our study also finds that the common biotin-tag modification at 5′ end typically changes the binding capacity significantly. For most of the selected aptamers, the binding capacity after a biotin-tag modification decreases. There exists a discrepancy in the binding capability between the selected aptamer and the aptamer used for detection. Our study also shows that a lower concentration of Mg²⁺ ions in the binding buffer leads to a decrease in the binding capacity of E17F and E18R, while it does not affect the binding capacity of S1 and EcoR1.     

Influence of Carbon Nanotubes on Phase Composition,Thermal and Post-Heating Behavior of Cementitious Composites

This paper experimentally investigates the influence of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) on phase composition, microstructure deterioration, thermal behavior, and residual mechanical strengths of cementitious composites exposed to elevated temperatures. Cement mortars with small dosages of CNTs, 0.05% and 0.2% by weight of cement, were prepared and then heated at 25 °C, 150 °C, 200 °C, 450 °C, and 600 °C for two hours before being tested. The results show positive impact of the CNTs on the hydration process of cement mortar at room temperature and at higher temperatures up to 200 °C. Decomposition of the hydration products is obvious at 450 °C, whereas sever deterioration in the microstructure occurs at 600 °C. The nano reinforcement and bridging effect of the CNTs are obvious up to 450 °C. Thermal behavior characterization shows that CNTs incorporation enhances the thermal conductivity of the unheated and heat-treated mortar specimens. The decomposition of the hydration products needs more heat in the presence of CNTs. Finally, presence of CNTs significantly enhances the residual compressive and flexural strengths of heated mortar specimens for all studied temperatures.