Characteristics investigation on heat transfer growth of sonochemically synthesized ZnO-DW based nanofluids inside square heat exchanger

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - In recent decades, the growth of heat transfer using nanomaterials in the conventional base fluid has caught the attention of researchers...     

The effect of rapid rotation on a vertical bridgman furnace at large Rayleigh number

In quasi-steady operation, convection currents in a Bridgmandevice, used for producing a semi-conductor crystal, createinhomogeneities that may make the crystal unusable. It has oftenbeen suggested that additional forces due to rotation or magnetismmight be efficacious in reducing the segregation of the elementsof the alloy. It has been found that, over a wide range of rotationrates, there is no improvement in performance due to rotationabout the vertical axis. However, numerical results that havebeen obtained previously (Lee & Pearlstein, J. Crys. Growth240, 2002) indicate that, when effects of centrifugal buoyancyare introduced, a substantial reduction in segregation is achieved.In the work reported here, by contrast, in which we extend previouslarge-Rayleigh-number asymptotic analysis to include centrifugalbuoyancy, we find no improvement in radial segregation, butrather increasing segregation with increasing rotation rate.     

Vacuum-ultraviolet induced oxidation of the polymers polyethylene and polypropylene

The emission from low-pressure microwave plasmas in the vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) region (λ < 200 nm) was investigated in order to use these plasmas as light sources for the study of the VUV photochemistry of polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) as part of the study of plasma-polymer interaction. These polymers, immersed in low-presure oxygen, were exposed to radiation with wavelengths down to 112 nm, the cut off of magnesium fluoride used as a window to separate the polymer specimen from the plasma light source. Total oxygen incorporation in the surface [O], and the formation of hydroxyl, carbonyl, and carboxyl groups were measured using XPS in combination with chemical derivatizations, particularly their dependence upon the radiation spectrum and the oxygen pressure around the sample. In most experiments the surface oxygen concentration [O] attained a constant value that appears to be related to the initial oxidation rate; this suggests a competition between oxygen incorporation and chain scission reactions, followed by the removal of volatile oxidation products. PE is usually oxidized to a higher level than PP, the latter appearing to be more susceptible to reaction with atomic oxygen than PE. A general initiation mechanism for the VUV experiments is proposed that allows us to explain the observed differences in behavior between PE and PP, and the results obtained under different irradiation conditions. The nature of oxidation products is in both cases very similar to what is observed after direct plasma treatment of the polymers. We conclude that short wavelength radiation contributes very appreciably to the observed surface modification effects during plasma treatment of PE and PP. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Large-area microwave and radiofrequency plasma etching of polymers

We have investigated O₂/CF₄ plasma etching of five commercial polymers: polyimide, polyamide, polyethylene terephthalate, polycarbonate and cured epoxy resin. A new large-area microwave plasma apparatus has been used in this work, but the same apparatus can also be used as a capacitively coupled radiofrequency (13.56 MHz) discharge reactor. The effect of operating parameters such as pressure, etchant gas composition, excitation frequency and sample temperature upon etch kinetics has been examined. We have observed distinct maxima in the etch rate as functions of pressure and CF₄ concentration. Activation, energies evaluated from the Arrhenius plots fall in the range 0.04-0.2 eV, in agreement with data in the literature. Dry etch susceptibility of a given polymer correlates strongly with the degree of unsaturation in the polymer's structure     

Polymer Composites with Plasma-Treated Fillers

A Large-volume Microwave Plasma (LMP) generator has been used to irradiate mica and ground-wood fibers in inert and active gas environments. Irradiated fillers were subsequently incorporated in a polypropylene matrix at solids levels of 10 and 20%. Calorimetrically measured heats of immersion showed that substantial changes in surface properties of fillers were effected by irradiation in ethylene, ammonia, and similar active gases. These surface changes are reflected In ultimate tensile and elongation properties of composites which show marked improvement over controls based on unirradiated fillers. Although no appreciable response in melt viscosity has been observed, surface treatment of fillers does seem to increase significantly melt elasticity of filled composites. The implications of improved performance motivate a more detailed study of the use potential of LMP in the fomulation of polymer composites.     

Controlled hydrothermal growth of ZnO nanostructures by sequestering the Zn metal ions with the chelating agent EDTA

In the present work, a controlled growth of ZnO nanostructures by manipulating Zn metal ion concentration by the chelating action of ethylene diaminetetra acetic acid in hydrothermal method is studied. EDTA produces metal–chelate complex by the formation of bidentate ligand with Zn²⁺ in the solution and diminishes the reactivity of Zn metal cations. Concentration of EDTA in the mother solution was varied in different ranges like 3, 5 and 10 mM while retaining the zinc metal salt and the NaOH concentration the same. Three different morphologies of wurtzite structured ZnO nanostructures such as nanorods-bunch, separate/discrete uniformly sized hexagonal nanorods and tapered flower petals like shapes are achieved by 3, 5 and 10 mM strengths of EDTA, respectively. The medium concentration 5 mM of EDTA is found to have moderate control over producing ZnO nanostructures of uniform diameter and a high aspect (length to diameter) ratio. An array of vertically aligned free standing ZnO nanorods with uniform spacing is successfully achieved by the addition of 5 mM of EDTA in the mother solution and the same is studied for its fluorescence property at an excitation of 325 nm and it has exhibited a characteristic UV emission of ZnO around 383 nm.     

Ultra-Shallow Chemical Characterization of Organic Thin Films Deposited by Plasma and Vacuum-Ultraviolet, Using Angle- and Excitation Energy-Resolved XPS

Nitrogen (N)-rich organic thin films were deposited using both low-pressure plasma- and vacuum-ultraviolet-based techniques, from mixtures of ammonia (NH₃) and ethylene (C₂H₄). These films were investigated using angle-resolved and excitation energy resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ARXPS and ERXPS, respectively) in order to determine their sub-surface chemical profiles. These two techniques enable one to tune the ??XPS 95%?? information depth, z _95%, by varying either the angle or the excitation energy. Using a combination of both techniques, z _95% can be varied continuously from 0.7 to 11 nm. The surface-near chemistry is investigated using both high-resolution C 1s spectra and elemental concentrations derived from elemental peak intensities. Results show that while laboratory XPS, and even ARXPS, suggest homogenous surface chemistries, the novel combination of ARXPS and ERXPS points to the existence of a compositional profile in the extreme outer surface layer. Our conclusions are supported by simulations using SESSA software.