Monitoring the effects of homogeneity methanol/water/monomer on the mode of polymerization of styrene: dispersion polymerization versus emulsion polymerization

The polymerization of styrene (St) was carried out with varying amounts of methanol in aqueous medium. As methanol content decreased (to 50 %), the phase of polymerization mixture (methanol/water/monomer) changed to a heterogeneous state; the homogeneous state was obtained in samples that contain 75 and 100 % methanol. In order to verify the mechanism of polymerization in heterogeneous and homogeneous mixtures, the nucleus formation rate during polymerization, the stability equilibrium of the media and seeded particles, and the size of particles and their growth in polymerization were experimentally being monitored. With the homogeneous mixture in 75 wt% methanol, dumbbell, triangle, and peanut-like particles have been formed. On the other hand, the characteristics of the polymerization products were different from those typically obtained in the emulsion polymerization and in the sample with 100 wt% methanol dispersion polymerization. In the sample with 100 % methanol and in one with 50 % methanol, monodispersed spherical particles are formed in the final conversion. Thus, homogeneity in the aqueous methanol mixture can be a critical factor in determining the polymerization modes between dispersion and emulsion polymerization.     

New nanocomposites containing metal nanoparticles, carbon nanotube and polymer

Metal-carbon nanotube-graft-polymer (MCNT-g-P) nanocomposites were synthesized and characterized successfully. In this work, multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) were opened using HNO₃/H₂SO₄ mixture and filled by metal nanoparticles such as silver nanoparticles through wet chemistry method. Then MWCNT containing metal nanoparticles were used as macroinitiator for ring opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone and MCNT-g-P nanocomposites were obtained. Length of grafted polymer arms onto the MWCNT was controlled using MWCNT/ε-caprolactone ratio. Structure and properties of nanocomposites were evaluated by TEM, DSC, TGA, and spectroscopy methods.     

Forthcoming articles

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Forthcoming articles     

Measurement and modeling of three-dimensional sound intensity variations due to shallow-water internal waves

Broadband acoustic data (30-160 Hz) from the SWARM'95 experiment are analyzed to investigate acoustic signal variability in the presence of ocean internal waves. Temporal variations in the intensity of the received signals were observed over periods of 10 to 15 min. These fluctuations are synchronous in depth and are dependent upon the water column variability. They can be explained by significant horizontal refraction taking place when the orientation of the acoustic track is nearly parallel to the fronts of the internal waves. Analyses based on the equations of vertical modes and horizontal rays and on a parabolic equation in the horizontal plane are carried out and show interesting frequency-dependent behavior of the intensity. Good agreement is obtained between theoretical calculations and experimental data.     

Numerical iterative method for Volterra equations of the convolution type

The objective of this paper is to present an algorithm from which a rapidly convergent solution is obtained for Volterra integral equations of Hammerstein type. Such equations are often encountered when describing the response of viscoelastic materials where the time dependency of the material properties is often expressed in the form of a convolution integral. Frequently, singularity is encountered and often ignored when dealing with the constitutive equations of viscoelastic materials. In this paper, the singularity is incorporated in the solution and the iterative scheme used to solve the equation converges within six iterations to a typical toleration error of 10^?5. The algorithm is applied to the strain response of a polymer under impulsive (constant) loading and the results show excellent correlation between the experimental and analytical solution. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Combined finite difference and spectral methods for the numerical solution of hyperbolic equation with an integral condition

In this work the combined finite difference and spectral methods have been proposed for the numerical solution of the one‐dimensional wave equation with an integral condition. The time variable is approximated using a finite difference scheme. But the spectral method is employed for discretizing the space variable. The main idea behind this approach is that we can get high‐order results. The new method is used for two test problems and the numerical results are obtained to support our theoretical expectations. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Numer Methods Partial Differential Eq, 2007     

XPS study of some selected selenium compounds

X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of the Se 3d peak for Se in Se, SeO₂, As₂Se₃, ZnSe, CdSe, CoSe, FeSe, CrSe, VSe₂ and TiSe were studied. It was found that, firstly, in the case of As₂Se₃, ZnSe, CdSe, CoSe and CrSe, as the change in electronegativity of the anion increases, the change in the binding energy value of the Se 3d peak also increases and, secondly, in all of the Se compounds studied, the Se-Se bond in pure Se is stronger than the Se-x bond, where X = As, Zn, Cd, Co, Fe, Cr, V and Ti.