Three-Stage Extraction of Gelatines from Tendons of Abattoir Cattle: 2—Properties of Gelatines

The subject of our previous paper (part 1) was three-stage extraction of gelatines from short cattle tendons. In this paper, we studied influence of extraction conditions on quality of produced gelatines??protein content, ash content, rigidity of gelatine gels, viscosity, and distribution of molecular weights. Ash content of gelatines ranged in limits 3.5?C10.5?%. Rigidity of the gels was influenced by extraction conditions and by elastin content in gelatines; highest-quality gels display rigidity of 213 Bloom. Viscosity of gelatines ranged from 2.47 to 12.11?mPa?s. Molecular weights of gelatines display a proportion of fractions from 20 to 36?kDa, a quite high proportion of fractions from approximately 50 to 100?kDa, in some cases even fractions above 200?kDa appear. It was found that transition temperature and melting temperature of gelatines extracted from tendons are in accord with data on gelatines obtained by traditional extraction techniques from skins and bones. With respect to efficiency of the whole extraction process and to quality of extracted gelatine, we may recommend extraction conditions as follows: in the 1st processing stage, shaking degreased starting material with water in ratio 1:10 at 25?°C for 5?h; in the 2nd stage, treating the swelled material with 5?% (w/w) added proteolytic enzyme at 40?°C for 25?h; in 3rd stage, extracting gelatine while boiling for 16?min.     

Calorimetry of the Reactions of Hydrolysates of Chromed Shavings with Aldehydes

Hydrolysates from chromed leather waste obtained in powdered form on an industrial scale by using biotechnical methods were analysed by TG an DSC techniques. Besides about 9% (mass/mass) of moisture, around 1% (mass/mass) of cyclohexylamine was found in the pulverized hydrolysates. Calorimetric measurement of the reaction heats of the reactions of the hydrolysates with commercially available aldehydes indicates that their reactivity decreases in the sequenceglutardialdehyde>>methylglyoxal≈acetaldehyde>>glyoxal>formaldehyde. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Percolation Thresholds in 2-Dimensional Prefractal Models of Porous Media*

Considerable effort has been directed towards the application of percolation theory and fractal modeling to porous media. We combine these areas of research to investigate percolation in prefractal porous media. We estimated percolation thresholds in the pore space of homogeneous random 2-dimensional prefractals as a function of the fractal scale invariance ratio b and iteration level i. The percolation thresholds for these simulations were found to increase beyond the 0.5927l... porosity expected in Bernoulli (uncorrelated) percolation networks. Percolation in prefractals occurs through large pores connected by small pores. The thresholds increase with both b (a finite size effect) and i. The results allow the prediction of the onset of percolation in models of prefractal porous media and can be used to bound modeling efforts. More fundamental applications are also possible. Only a limited range of parameters has been explored empirically but extrapolations allow the critical fractal dimension to be estimated for a large combination of b and i values. Extrapolation to infinite iterations suggests that there may be a critical fractal dimension of the solid at which the pore space percolates. The extrapolated value is close to 1.89 – the well-known fractal dimension of percolation clusters in 2-dimensional Bernoulli networks.     

Mixed-mode stress intensity factors of 3D interface crack in fully coupled electromagnetothermoelastic multiphase composites

This contribution presents an extended hypersingular intergro-differential equation (E-HIDE) method for modeling the 3D interface crack problem in fully coupled electromagnetothermoelastic anisotropic multiphase composites under extended electro-magneto-thermo-elastic coupled loads through theoretical analysis and numerical simulations. First, based on the extended boundary element method, the 3D interface crack problem is reduced to solving a set of E-HIDEs coupled with extended boundary integral equations, in which the unknown functions are the extended displacement discontinuities. Then, the behavior of the extended singular stress indices around the interface crack front terminating at the interface is analyzed by the extended main-part analysis. The extended stress intensity factors near the crack front are defined. In addition, a numerical method for a 3D interface crack problem subjected to extended loads is proposed, in which the extended displacement discontinuities are approximated by the product of basic density functions and polynomials. Finally, the radiation distribution of extended stress intensity factors at the interface crack surface are calculated, and the results are presented toward demonstrating the applicability of the proposed method.     

Geometric and Hydrodynamic Characteristics of Three-dimensional Saturated Prefractal Porous Media Determined with Lattice Boltzmann Modeling

Fractal and prefractal geometric models have substantial potential for contributing to the analysis of flow and transport in porous media such as soils and reservoir rocks. In this study, geometric and hydrodynamic parameters of saturated 3D mass and pore–solid prefractal porous media were characterized using the lattice Boltzmann model (LBM). The percolation thresholds of the 3D prefractal porous media were inversely correlated with the fraction of micro-pore clusters and estimated as 0.36 and 0.30 for mass and pore–solid prefractal porous media, respectively. The intrinsic permeability and the dispersivity of the 3D pore–solid prefractals were larger than those of the 3D mass prefractals, presumably because of the occurrence of larger solid and pore cluster sizes in the former. The intrinsic permeability and dispersivity of both types of structure increased with increasing porosity, indicating a positive relationship between permeability and dispersivity, which is at odds with laboratory data and current theory. This discrepancy may be related to limitations of the convection dispersion equation at the relatively high porosity values employed in the present study.