Preparation of modified multi‐walled carbon nanotubes as a reinforcement for epoxy shape‐memory polymer composites

Effectively improving the mechanical properties and thermal resistance of epoxy shape‐memory polymers (ESMPs) without affecting their shape‐memory performance is necessary to expand these polymers in practical applications. In this article, modified multi‐walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were prepared and used as efficient reinforcement for enhancing the comprehensive properties of ESMPs. Increases of nearly 289% to 444% for impact strength and 112% to 184% for tensile force were obtained by adding only 0.1 to 1 wt% epoxy‐modified MWCNTs. The addition of unmodified and carboxyl‐modified MWCNTs was also investigated but showed less impact on the mechanical properties of the ESMPs than epoxy‐modified MWCNTs. Thermogravimetry analysis (TGA) and dynamic mechanical analyses (DMA) showed that less than 1 wt% modified MWCNTs can enhance the heat resistance of ESMPs greatly. Although the shape recovery time for composite materials increased upon adding the MWCNTs, the entire recovery time was still less than 1 minute, and the shape recovery rate was relatively high, nearly 100%.     

改性阳离子交换树脂的制备、表征及催化合成双酚F

用浸渍法制备了改性阳离子交换树脂,通过红外光谱、热重分析和扫描电镜等对其进行了分析,探讨了不同改性树脂对以苯酚和甲醛为原料催化合成双酚F收率的影响。当等摩尔比Al Cl3和Ti Cl4加入总量为树脂质量的8%,反应温度为80℃,改性时间为10h,Al Cl3-Ti Cl4改性阳离子交换树脂催化合成双酚F,其收率高达90.02%,比未改性或Al Cl3单独改性树脂的催化效果都好,其重复利用率也优于后两者。结果说明,Al Cl3-Ti Cl4改性阳离子交换树脂催化性能好,是一种环境友好高效合成双酚F的催化剂。     

AN EFFICIENT SEQUENTIAL DESIGN FOR SENSITIVITY EXPERIMENTS

In sensitivity experiments, the response is binary and each experimental unit has a critical stimulus level that cannot be observed directly. It is often of interest to estimate extreme quantiles of the distribution of these critical stimulus levels over the tested products. For this purpose a new sequential scheme is proposed with some commonly used models. By using the bootstrap repeated-sampling principle, reasonable prior distributions based on a historic data set are specified. Then, a Bayesian strategy for the sequential procedure is provided and the estimator is given. Further, a high order approximation for such an estimator is explored and its consistency is proven. A simulation study shows that the proposed method gives superior performances over the existing methods.     

Enantioselective separation of indole derivatives by liquid chromatography using immobilized cellulose (3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamate) chiral stationary phase

A new chiral stationary phase of 3,5-dimethylphenylcarbamates of cellulose chemically bonded to 3-aminopropyl silica gel was prepared, which may be used with a wide range of solvents including standard and non-standard ones. Several racemic indole derivatives have been resolved using standard and non-standard solvents on the immobilized chiral column (15 cm × 0.46 cm) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/min or 0.5 mL/min with a UV detection at 230 nm. Separation of indole derivatives on immobilized and coated chiral stationary phases (CSP) in HPLC using a mixture of hexane/2-propanol as mobile phase was compared. The resolution factors for immobilized and coated chiral column were 0.57–2.02 and 0.61–4.03, respectively. It was found that both coated and immbolized chiral stationary phases were suitable for the separation of indole derivatives; however, the coated CSP possesses a higher resolving power than the immobilized one. The article is published in the original.     

Internal flow numerical simulation of a cross‐flow fan in refrigerant operating condition using user‐defined functions

In the paper, a cross‐flow fan in refrigerant operating condition is systematically simulated using user‐defined functions. Three‐dimensional simulations are acquired with Navier–Stokes equations coupled with k–ε turbulence model, and internal flow characteristics of an indoor split‐type air conditioner are obtained, which is mainly composed of cross‐flow fan and heat exchanger. It has systematically been simulated in the isothermal flow condition that the performance of cross‐flow fan may be reduced easily with dry or humid air, and in the refrigerant operating condition in which user‐defined functions are applied to the humid air, considered as a mixture of dry air and vapor. A density‐modulated function is adopted to deal with the condensation of the vapor at the heat‐transfer region approximately. The results show flow mechanism of the two gas‐phase flow, including phase‐vary process. The distribution of the parameters is not uniform at the inlet of the machine, the intensity and position of pressure and velocity vary along the axial direction of the fan, the distribution of vapor volume fraction and turbulent intensity in heat‐transfer region is obtained, and the external characteristic data of the indoor machine are obtained and analyzed. Compared with the experimental data, the calculated characteristic curves and designed parameters are on target. © British Crown Copyright 2010/MOD. Reproduced with permission. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Copolymerization of styrene and norbornene with β‐diketiminato nickel/methylaluminoxane catalytic system

Styrene–norbornene (S‐N) copolymerizations were carried out using β‐diketiminato nickel complexes CH{C(CF₃)NAr}₂NiBr (Ar = 2,6‐ⁱPr₂C₆H₃, 1 ; Ar = 2,6‐Me₂C₆H₃, 2 ) in the presence of methylaluminoxane. The influence of the comonomer feed content and polymerization temperature on the conversion and composition of the copolymers with the catalytic system was investigated. An increase in the feed ratio of S/N led to an increase in the incorporated styrene content of the resulting copolymer. NMR characterization of the copolymers generated with the catalytic systems showed that the random S‐N copolymers are produced. Differential scanning calorimetric determination of the copolymers shows higher T_g values than polystyrene, and gel permeation chromatographic measurements have shown that the copolymers possess rather narrow molecular weight distributions, suggesting that the copolymerization take place at a single active site. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Immuno-laser capture microdissection of frozen prolactioma sections to prepare proteomic samples

Laser capture microdissection (LCM) technology combined with immunohistochemistry (immuno-LCM) is a valuable tool to obtain specific target cell populations and therefore this technique enables more accurate proteomic profile. In this study, we optimized the regular immuno-LCM technique to isolate and stain pure prolactin cells from either normal human pituitary (n = 6) or prolactioma (n = 11). Compared with the routine procedure, more intense and specific staining could be obtained when sections were pretreated with 0.2% Triton X-100 for 4 min. Interestingly, longer pretreatment (0.2% Triton X-100 for 10 min) or higher concentration (2% Triton X-100 for 4 and 10 min) greatly impaired labeling intensity and cell shape. Further scanning electron microscope study revealed that the component extracted from the cell surface by Triton X-100 was lipid. Using the optimized immuno-LCM technique, more pure prolactin cells could be isolated and prepared for further proteomic analysis. Taken together, we reported an optimized immuno-LCM technique that could effectively dissect pure target cells in different type pituitary adenomas for further proteomics analysis.     

Styrene polymerization with nickel complexes/methylaluminoxane catalytic system

Polymerization of styrene using β‐diketiminate nickel (II) bromide complexes CH{C(R)NAr}₂NiBr (R = CH₃, Ar = 2,6‐ⁱPr₂C₆H₃, 1 ; R = CH₃, Ar = 2,6‐Me₂C₆H₃, 2 ; R = CF₃, Ar = 2,6‐ⁱPr₂C₆H₃, 3 ; R = CF₃, Ar = 2,6‐Me₂C₆H₃, 4 ) in the presence of methylaluminoxane was studied. Compound 3 is the most active styrene polymerization catalyst of all the nickel complexes tested. The activity of these catalysts increases with increases in steric bulk of the substituents on the aryl rings. The electronic nature of the ligand backbone also affects the activity. Weight‐average molecular weight of the prepared polystyrene ranges from 21 000 to 72 000, with polydispersity indexes of 1.95–2.78. The microstructure of the obtained products is atactic polystyrenes from NMR analyses. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Effect of Surface Roughness on Immiscible Displacement Using Pore Scale Simulation

Transport in Porous Media - Pore scale immiscible displacement is crucial in oil industry. The surface roughness of throat is an important factor affecting water–oil interface movement. In...