Variation of focus action with electrode length for an innerelectrode of negative polarity

A 2.3 kJ plasma focus (PF) device was used to investigate the variation of focus action with electrode length using argon, air, and nitrogen as filling gases. It was observed that for an inner electrode (IE) of negative polarity, the focus action improved tremendously as the electrode lengths were reduced from 80 to 40 mm. The high voltage (HV) pulse width also decreased with the decrease in electrode lengths. Third, the best focus peak of the HV pulse was shifted toward higher focus pressures, and the range for good focus action was broader. There is a tendency toward improvement of focus action toward significantly shorter IE lengths (about 40 mm) for negative polarity as compared to positive polarity, where the optimum IE length is 150 mm. This suggests that plasma contamination due to ablated IE material is minimized with shorter electrode length for negative IE. This could provide part of the solution to the polarity riddle of PF devices in relation to neutron production     

Binding of cadmium to Laurentide fulvic acid. Justification of the functionalities assigned to the predominant acidic moieties in the fulvic acid molecule

The binding of cadmium to a fulvic acid (FA) extracted from peat was studied as a function of pH (4–8), ionic strength (0.01 and 0.10 M NaNo₃) and ratio of fulvic acid to metal ion concentrations (FA/Cd = 8, 4, and 2). An overall complex formation function of approximately 10^3.14 was determined to enable comparison with previous studies. Additionally, literature values of complex formation constants were employed to describe the interaction between Cd(II) and the individual acidic sites. A good prediction of the experimental results is considered as a justification of the functionalities assigned to the predominant acidic sites in the fulvic acid molecule.     

Calcium binding by fulvic acids studied by an ion selective electrode an ultrafiltration method

The interaction between Ca(2+) and two well-characterized fulvic acids (Armadale and Laurentide FA) has been studied at 0.100 and 0.010M sodium nitrate using a fixed concentration of fulvic acid (100 ppm) and varying amounts of calcium (0.005-0.020 mmoles). Free calcium concentration was determined by in situ measurements employing a calcium electrode. For Armadale FA, free calcium was additionally determined via an ultrafiltration technique followed by atomic absorption measurements. For both fulvic acids, Ca(2+) binding was observed to be decreased by an increase in the ionic strength of the system. At the lower ionic strength the tendency for binding is dependent on the fulvic acid-to-metal ratio while at the higher ionic strength, the binding is insensitive to changes in the fulvic acid-to-metal ratio (an observation corroborating the contention that calcium binding to humic substances is primarily electrostatic). Comparison of the computed overall complex formation functions shows that values obtained from the ultrafiltration method were higher than those obtained using the calcium electrode. The binding of calcium was similar for the two fulvic acids.     

Organic solvent extraction of uranium from alkaline nuclear waste

There are proliferation issues with the Plutonium Uranium Redox Extraction process due to the possibility of recovering plutonium. The objective of this research was to evaluate different organic extraction ligands that can remove uranium from the nuclear waste and to determine the most effective organic solvent for extracting uranium only, from alkaline media. The results indicate that Alamine 336 in xylene has zero (0%) extraction capability for surrogate fission products at an optimum extraction time of 15 min. Aliquat 336 in xylene has an extraction percentage of 72% for uranium in 60 min. However, Aliquat 336 in toluene extracted 82% of the uranium from the feed solution after 30 min, decreasing to 76% after 60 min.

     

The three-phase theory for plasma focus devices

A simplified theory for preliminary design of plasma focus devices that starts at the breakdown phase is proposed. For best focus, it is shown that the model can be used to predict the values of the inner and outer electrode radius, inner electrode length, gas pressure, and charging voltage that give minimum possible pinch radius. The theoretical results agree with experimental observations. The model shows that of these parameters, inner electrode length, inner and outer electrode radii play a significant role. An optimum pinch radius ratio of 0.05 to 0.40 was realized. Test results show that the focus strength is dependent on the breakdown conditions via the initial and final velocities of the current sheath during the radial collapse phase and the axial rundown phase. The final axial velocity determines the initial inward radial velocity. Results for a test design are presented     

Gas chemical adsorption characterization of lanthanide hexafluoroacetylacetonates

Newly-established adsorption enthalpy and entropy values of 12 lanthanide hexafluoroacetylacetonates, denoted Ln[hfac]₄, along with the experimental and theoretical methodology used to obtain these values, are presented for the first time. The results of this work can be used in conjunction with theoretical modeling techniques to optimize a large-scale gas-phase separation experiment using isothermal chromatography. The results to date indicate average adsorption enthalpy and entropy values of the 12 Ln[hfac]₄ complexes ranging from ?33 to ?139 kJ/mol K and ?299 to ?557 J/mol, respectively.