Oscillatory dynamics induced in polyelectrolyte gels by a non-oscillatory reaction: A model

We develop a general model and the associated numerical algorithm to compute the swelling dynamics of chemo-responsive polyelectrolyte gels immersed in a reactive ionic solution kept at a non-equilibrium stationary state by a permanent feed of fresh reactants. Using an autocatalytic bistable but nonoscillatory reaction, namely, the bromate-sulfite reaction, we predict that a piece of hydrogel that swells/shrinks as a function of p H can exhibit spontaneous mechanical and chemical oscillations. This constitutes the extension to realistic and experimentally feasible conditions of results previously obtained on a toy model with artificial swelling conditions.     

Mechanisms of amorphization-induced swelling in silicon carbide: the molecular dynamics answer

We present here the continuation of an investigation of the irradiation-induced swelling of SiC using classical molecular dynamics (CMD) simulations. Heavy ion irradiation has been assumed to affect the material in two successive steps (a) creation of local atomic disorder, modeled by the introduction of extended amorphous areas with various sizes and shapes in a crystalline SiC sample at constant volume (b) induced swelling, determined through relaxation using Molecular Dynamics at constant pressure. This swelling has been computed as a function of the amorphous fraction introduced. Two different definitions of the amorphous fraction were introduced to enable meaningful comparisons of our calculations with experiments and elastic modeling. One definition based on the displacements relative to the ideal lattice positions was used to compare the CMD results with data from experiments combining ion implantations and channeled Rutherford Backscattering analyses. A second definition based on atomic coordination was used to compare the CMD results to those yielded by a simplified elastic model. The results obtained are as follows. On the one hand, comparison of the swelling obtained as a function of the lattice amorphous fraction with the experimental results shows that the melting-quench amorphization simulates the best the irradiation-induced amorphization observed experimentally. This is consistent with the thermal spike phenomenon taking place during ion implantation. On the other hand, disorder analysis at the atomic scale confirms the elastic behavior of the amorphization-induced swelling, in agreement with the comparison with the results of an elastic model. First, no major structural reconstruction occurs during relaxation or annealing. Second, the systems with the most disordered and constrained amorphous area undergo the largest swelling. This means that the disorder and the constraints of the bulk amorphous area are the driving forces for the swelling observed. On the contrary, the nature of the interface does not affect significantly the swelling observed.     

高温下钙蒙脱石膨胀特性的分子动力学模拟

高温下蒙脱石的膨胀特性在核废料深部封存、二氧化碳封存及页岩气开发等应用中有着重要影响,但相关机理尚不明确.本工作使用分子动力学模拟为技术手段计算5 MPa和298—500 K等条件下,1.40—4.00 nm晶面间距(d)的一系列饱和钙蒙脱石的膨胀压力.以模拟所得的数值结果为依据,基于水化效应、双电层效应和离子关联效应等模型推演膨胀压力随温度与d的变化规律,并与相应的实验数据进行对比.模拟结果表明,当d较小时,因为高温会弱化水化力的强度,钙蒙脱石膨胀压力震荡的幅度降低,同时水化力作用的d的范围减小.当d较大时,因为高温强化离子关联效应,膨胀压力降低,同时双电层力的作用的d的范围增加.在较高温度和较大d时,膨胀压力为收缩力,阻碍膨胀.这些膨胀压力的变化规律与前期钠蒙脱石体系的研究类似.然而,通过对比两种蒙脱石体系的模拟结果,发现两种体系存在显著的差异—钙蒙脱石比钠蒙脱石更难膨胀到较大的d.此模拟结果与前人实验观测的结果相符.我们进一步将此差异归于钙蒙脱石的离子关联效应要远大于钠蒙脱石.有别于分子模拟中对于离子关联效应的精确描述,连续化的Poisson-Boltzmann方程因为忽略了离子关联效应,从而无法表达出与两种体系模拟结果都相吻合的膨胀压力变化规律.     

高温下钙蒙脱石膨胀特性的分子动力学模拟

高温下蒙脱石的膨胀特性在核废料深部封存、二氧化碳封存及页岩气开发等应用中有着重要影响,但相关机理尚不明确.本工作使用分子动力学模拟为技术手段计算5 MPa和298—500 K等条件下,1.40—4.00 nm晶面间距(d)的一系列饱和钙蒙脱石的膨胀压力.以模拟所得的数值结果为依据,基于水化效应、双电层效应和离子关联效应等模型推演膨胀压力随温度与d的变化规律,并与相应的实验数据进行对比.模拟结果表明,当d较小时,因为高温会弱化水化力的强度,钙蒙脱石膨胀压力震荡的幅度降低,同时水化力作用的d的范围减小.当d较大时,因为高温强化离子关联效应,膨胀压力降低,同时双电层力的作用的d的范围增加.在较高温度和较大d时,膨胀压力为收缩力,阻碍膨胀.这些膨胀压力的变化规律与前期钠蒙脱石体系的研究类似.然而,通过对比两种蒙脱石体系的模拟结果,发现两种体系存在显著的差异—钙蒙脱石比钠蒙脱石更难膨胀到较大的d.此模拟结果与前人实验观测的结果相符.我们进一步将此差异归于钙蒙脱石的离子关联效应要远大于钠蒙脱石.有别于分子模拟中对于离子关联效应的精确描述,连续化的Poisson-Boltzmann方程因为忽略了离子关联效应,从而无法表达出与两种体系模拟结果都相吻合的膨胀压力变化规律.     

Swelling properties and intrinsic reactivities of coal chars produced at elevated pressures and high heating rates

A high-temperature, high-pressure flat-flame burner reactor was developed to prepare char at different pressures. This system achieves particle heating rates of 10⁵ K/s, which better mimics industrial conditions than conventional drop tube or radiative flow reactors. Previous data at atmospheric pressure demonstrated a significant decrease in particle swelling during devolatilization as heating rates increased from 10⁴ K/s (the typical drop tube heating rate) to 10⁵ K/s. Pyrolysis experiments were performed at pressures from 1 to 15 atm at 1300 °C for two bituminous coals and a lignite. Average swelling was determined from a combination of the mass release and the average density. The results indicate significantly lower swelling ratios at elevated pressures than reported in the literature. Scanning electron micrographs show that the bubbles in the bituminous coal particles popped before significant swelling at these elevated heating rates. Lignite particles exhibited shrinkage rather than swelling, but still showed a small effect of pressure. TGA oxidation reactivities were determined for the Pitt #8 and Knife River lignite char samples at their respective char preparation pressures. The oxidation reactivities of both the bituminous and lignite chars decreased with increasing pressure.     

Influence of environmental solution pH and microstructural parameters on mechanical behavior of amphoteric pH-sensitive hydrogels

Amphoteric hydrogels contain both ionizable acidic and basic groups attached on the polymer chains, which can change their volume in response to the slight alteration of the surrounding environmental p H. In this paper, a theory of equilibrium swelling of amphoteric p H-sensitive hydrogels which is an extension of the formalism proposed by Marcombe et al. and a new hybrid free-energy density function of amphoteric hydrogels composed of the Edwards-Vilgis slip-link model and the Flory-Huggins solution theory as well as the contributions of mixing the mobile ions with the solvent, and dissociating the acidic and basic groups are presented for the prediction of the influence of environmental solution p H, microstructural parameters and geometric constraints on mechanical behavior. The calculations were modeled on chitosan-genipin gels, and the results were compared to experimental data. Numerical calculations show that the model is able to predict the dependence of swelling on p H and crosslinker qualitatively well and quantitatively close to the experimental data. Each gel shows minimal swelling at low p H but an increase in swelling until a maximum was reached; for most of the p H range, a good fit was achieved except for where the maximum swelling occurs; for experimental data, the maximum swelling appears at about pH = 4 , but for modeled data the maximum swelling appears between pH = 4 and pH = 6 ; each gel swell decreasing with increasing crosslinker concentration was also successfully predicted. The calculated results also show that microstructural parameters and geometric constraints have a significant impact on the mechanical behavior of the amphoteric hydrogels; the gel swells less when the network is more densely entangled and the maximum swelling ratio of the gels under biaxial constraint is only about one-third of the maximum when the gels swell freely. The theory developed here is valuable for the design and optimization of a drug delivery system.     

Molecular Dynamics as a tool to interpret macroscopic amorphization-induced swelling in silicon carbide

We present here an investigation of the irradiation-induced swelling of SiC using Classical Molecular Dynamics simulations. Heavy ion irradiation has been assumed to affect the material in two steps: (a) creation of local atomic disorder, modeled by the introduction of extended amorphous areas with various sizes and shapes in a crystalline SiC sample at constant volume (b) induced swelling, determined through relaxation using Molecular Dynamics at constant pressure. This swelling has been computed as a function of the amorphous fraction introduced. Two different definitions of the amorphous fraction were introduced to enable meaningful comparisons of our calculations with experiments and elastic modeling. One definition based on the displacements relative to the ideal lattice positions was used to compare the Molecular Dynamics results with data from experiments combining ion implantations and channeled Rutherford Backscattering analyses. A second definition based on atomic coordination was used to compare the Molecular Dynamics results to those yielded by a simplified elastic model. The simulation results using the lattice-based definition of the amorphous fraction compare very well with the experimental results. This proves that the modeling in two steps chosen for the creation of the amorphous regions is reasonable. Moreover, the results show very clearly that SiC swelling does not scale linearly with the amorphous fraction introduced. Two swelling regimes are observed relatively to the size of the amorphous area. Comparison of the elastic model with the Molecular Dynamics results using the coordination-based definition of the amorphous fraction has also enabled us to shed light on the swelling mechanisms and has shown that amorphization-induced swelling exhibits an elastic behavior. Furthermore, scalings for the swelling as a function of the two amorphous fractions considered, which can be used by larger scale models, have been determined. Finally, our study shows that classical Molecular Dynamics calculations enable one to connect the results of the available experiments with the elastic calculations and to get further insight into the swelling mechanisms.     

Effect of titanium dioxide nanoparticles on polymer network formation

This work presents a study of the effect of nanoparticles on polymer composites to develop a powerful polymer dispersed liquid crystal materials. Tri propylene glycol diarcrylate/titanium dioxide nanocomposites were produced at various titanium dioxide fractions ranging between 0 and 1?wt%, through ultraviolet curing technique during 30?min. Different technics such as polarized optical microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and thermal gravimetric analysis were used to characterize the samples. A dynamic swelling of polymer network was also investigated. The evolution of the acrylic double-bond conversion shows a decrease in the absorption intensity at 1637?cm^?1. It is noted that the conversion rate decreases from 0.1 to 1?wt% of titanium dioxide nanoparticles. An increase in glass transition temperature is observed by differential scanning calorimetry. The thermogravimetric analysis results reveal a highly improved thermal stability upon the addition of the reinforcing phase. The follow of kinetics swelling of polymer network shows a decrease of the swell ratio with the inclusion of titanium dioxide nanoparticles.     

Swelling Kinetics of PAAm–κ-Carrageenan Composites: A Fluorescence Technique

The steady-state fluorescence (SSF) technique was introduced for studying swelling of disc-shaped polyacrylamide (PAAm) gels containing various amount of κ?carrageenan (κC). They were prepared by free-radical cross-linking copolymerization. N,N^′-methylenebisacrylamide (BIS) and ammonium persulfate (APS) were added as a cross-linker and an initiator, respectively. Composite gels were prepared at 80°C with pyranine as a fluorescence probe. After drying of these gels, swelling kinetics were performed in water at 60°C by real-time monitoring of the pyranine fluorescence intensity, I, which decreased as swelling proceeded. The Li–Tanaka equation was used to determine the swelling time constants, τ ₁, and cooperative diffusion coefficients, D ₀, from fluorescence intensity, weight, and volume variations of the gels during the swelling processes in all cases. It was observed that τ ₁ decreased and D ₀ increased as the κC concentrations in the composites were increased indicating that high κC gels swell faster than low κC gels.     

In situ device for salinity measurements (chloride detection) of ocean surface

Microbend sodium chloride sensors based on polymer swelling are the latest approach to fiberoptic sodium chloride sensors. We have designed, constructed, and tested a compact microbend fiberoptic sodium chloride sensor that utilizes microbend and polymer swelling effects through the use of modified polymer beads. The design of this sensor is an improvement over previously reported microbend sensors. This sodium chloride sensor has shown feasibility as a practical, stable, inexpensive device with excellent performance and most of the desirable sensor properties including reversibility. Further optimization of the sensor is possible for the various applications we envision.     

Stereo-selective swelling of imprinted cholesteric networks

Molecular chirality, and the chiral symmetry breaking of resulting macroscopic phases, can be topologically imprinted and manipulated by cross-linking and swelling of polymer networks. We present a new experimental approach to stereo-specific separation of chiral isomers by using a cholesteric elastomer in which a helical director distribution has been topologically imprinted by cross-linking. This makes the material unusual in that is has a strong phase chirality, but no molecular chirality at all; we study the nature and parameters controlling the twist-untwist transition. Adding a racemic mixture to the imprinted network results in selective swelling by only the component of "correct" handedness. We investigate the capacity of demixing in a racemic environment, which depends on network parameters and the underlying nematic order.     

Structure factor of a lamellar smectic phase with inclusions

Motivated by numerous X-ray scattering studies of lamellar phases with membrane proteins, amphiphilic peptides, polymers, or other inclusions, we have determined the modifications of the classical Caillé law for a smectic phase as a function of the nature and concentration of inclusions added to it. Besides a fundamental interest on the behavior of fluctuating systems with inclusions, a precise characterization of the action of a given protein on a lipid membrane (anchoring, swelling, stiffening ...) is of direct biological interest and could be probed by way of X-ray measurements. As a first step we consider three different couplings involving local pinching (or swelling), stiffening or curvature of the membrane. In the first two cases we predict that independent inclusions induce a simple renormalization of the bending and compression moduli of the smectic phase. The X-ray experiments may also be used to probe correlations between inclusions. Finally we show that asymmetric coupling (such as a local curvature of the membrane) results in a modification of the usual Caillé law. Received 10 March 2000 and Received in final form 30 August 2000     

Temperature-Induced Swelling of Alkali Metal Polyacrylate Gels in Aqueous Organic Solvent Mixtures

It has been known that some polyelectrolyte systems, e.g., betaine polymer and polycations, have an upper critical solution temperature (UCST) in water while polyanions seldom show such a temperature-dependent phase separation. Recently we have found a significant counterion- and solvent-specific UCST-type behavior for alkali metal poly(acrylate)s (PAAM) in aqueous organic solvent mixtures. Namely, the reduced viscosity significantly increased with increasing temperature which was ascribed to disintegration of the ion-clusters or the aggregated ion-pairs formed at the lower temperature. In the present study, we prepared PAAM gel samples by irradiating the aqueous solutions with γ-rays in variable doses to find that a significant gel swelling was induced by a temperature jump from 5 to 40°C in various kinds of aqueous organic solvent mixtures. The UCST-type behavior and the counterion- and solvent-specificities for the gel swelling turned out to be parallel to those for the corresponding solution systems. In addition to these expected results, an appreciable LCST-type deswelling was unexpectedly observed for collapsed gels in a relatively higher solvent concentration region. Further, the γ-ray doses, i.e., the degree of crosslinking, proved to affect the UCST behavior; the gel swelling ratio was more significant for gels prepared with higher doses.     

A phase-field modeling of void swelling in the Austenitic stainless steel

Two-dimensional phase-field simulations of void swelling in the Austenitic stainless steel were performed for irradiated materials. A numerical model was established for void swelling with an implementation of the elasticity effect, and we examined the roles of the applied stress and grain boundary sink strength and Frenkel defect recombination in determining the void swelling rate. The obtained results were compared with the existing experimental observations.     

Buckling behaviors of open-tip carbon nanocones at elevated temperatures

This paper used molecular dynamics simulations to investigate buckling behaviors of open-tip carbon nanocones (CNCs) at elevated temperatures ranging from 300 to 700 K. Influences of cone height and apex angle on the buckling behaviors were examined. Some interesting findings, especially on the change in buckling mode shapes of the CNCs, were observed in the study. For the CNCs having an apex angle of 19.2°, the one with a lower cone height exhibited a shrinking/swelling buckling mode shape even at the higher temperature 700 K. However, as the cone height increased, the CNC displayed a deflective buckling mode shape at 300 K, but changed to a shrinking/swelling buckling mode shape when the temperature grew to 500 K. Regarding the influences of apex angle, the CNCs presented a deflective buckling mode shape even at 700 K as the apex angle expanded. This is opposite to the shrinking/swelling buckling mode shape of the CNC having the smallest apex angle of 19.2°.     

On the theory of void formation during irradiation

A simple theory of the swelling of materials subjected to high energy particle irradiation is developed. Chemical reaction rate equations are used as a basis. Point defects, interstitials and vacancies, are assumed to be produced randomly throughout the solid. They move by random walk through the material until they cease to exist either by recombination with the opposite type of defect or by incorporation into the crystal at sinks such as dislocations, grain boundaries and voids. The rate equations for interstitials and for vacancies, which are coupled via the recombination term, are solved for steady state conditions under irradiation. Defect concentrations, supersaturations, recombination and total sink annihilation rates are obtained in terms of the production rate, sink annihilation probabilities, jump frequencies and thermal equilibrium concentrations of defects. The swelling rate is derived using sink annihilation probabilities at three principally different types of sinks, i.e. voids, sinks which have a bias with regard to the annihilation of interstitials and vacancies (such as dislocations), and sinks with no bias. The defect annihilation probabilities at void, precipitate, dislocation and grain boundary sinks are estimated by using a cellular model and solving the diffusion equation for geometries approximating that of the cells, e.g. a concentric sphere around a void. The relative effects of different types of sinks, i.e. the microstructure, on the swelling rate is discussed. The swelling rate is integrated to give swelling-time or swelling-dose relations, making some simplifying assumptions about the changes in the sink structure as the irradiation proceeds. It is shown that the relation obtained is rather sensitive to the type of assumptions made.     

Glassy effects in the swelling/collapse dynamics of homogeneous polymers

We investigate, using numerical simulations and analytical arguments, a simple one-dimensional model for the swelling or the collapse of a closed polymer chain of size N, representing the dynamical evolution of a polymer in a Θ-solvent that is rapidly changed into a good solvent (swelling) or a bad solvent (collapse). In the case of swelling, the density profile for intermediate times is parabolic and expands in space as t ^1/3, as predicted by a Flory-like continuum theory. The dynamics slows down after a time ∝N ² when the chain becomes stretched, and the polymer gets stuck in metastable “zig-zag” configurations, from which it escapes through thermal activation. The size of the polymer in the final stages is found to grow as . In the case of collapse, the chain very quickly (after a time of order unity) breaks up into clusters of monomers (“pearls”). The evolution of the chain then proceeds through a slow growth of the size of these metastable clusters, again evolving as the logarithm of time. We enumerate the total number of metastable states as a function of the extension of the chain, and deduce from this computation that the radius of the chain should decrease as 1/ln(ln t). We compute the total number of metastable states with a given value of the energy, and find that the complexity is non-zero for arbitrary low energies. We also obtain the distribution of cluster sizes, that we compare to simple “cut-in-two” coalescence models. Finally, we determine the aging properties of the dynamical structure. The subaging behaviour that we find is attributed to the tail of the distribution at small cluster sizes, corresponding to anomalously “fast” clusters (as compared to the average). We argue that this mechanism for subaging might hold in other slowly coarsening systems. Received 23 October 2000     

Structural changes in glutamate cell swelling followed by multiparametric q-space diffusion MR of excised rat spinal cord

Diffusion in the extracellular and intracellular spaces (ECS and ICS, respectively) was evaluated in excised spinal cords, before and after cell swelling induced by glutamate, by high b-value q-space diffusion MR of specific markers and water. The signal decays of deuterated tetramethylammonium (TMA-d(12)) chloride, an exogenous marker of the ECS, and N-acetyl aspartate (NAA), an endogenous marker of the ICS, were found to be non-mono-exponential at all diffusion times. The signal decays of these markers were found to depend on the diffusion time and the cell swelling induced by the glutamate. It was found, for example, that the mean displacements of the apparent fast and slow diffusion components of TMA-d(12) are 7.21 +/- 0.11 and 1.16 +/- 0.05 microm, respectively at a diffusion time of 496 ms. After exposure of the spinal cords to 10 mM of glutamate, these values decreased to 6.62 +/- 0.13 and 1.01 +/- 0.05 microm, respectively. The mean displacement of NAA, however, showed a less pronounced opposite trend and increased after cell swelling induced by exposure to glutamate. q-Space diffusion MR of water was found to be sensitive to exposure to glutamate, and q-space diffusion MRI showed that a more pronounced decrease in the apparent diffusion coefficient and the mean displacement of water is observed in the gray matter (GM) of the spinal cord. All these changes demonstrate that diffusion MR is indeed sensitive to structural changes caused by cell swelling induced by glutamate. Multiparametric high b-value q-space diffusion MR is useful for obtaining microstructural information in neuronal tissues.     

Investigation of the swelling of human skin cells in liquid media by tapping mode scanning force microscopy

The swelling of individual human skin cells (so-called corneocytes) was studied in distilled water and hexadecene, respectively, by tapping mode scanning force microscopy. The area, the mean height, and the volume were recorded and compared to data of the same cell, which has been obtained under ambient conditions. In distilled water, we found an average swelling in height and volume of about (-)%5010, but no significant increase of the area. Additionally, phase-contrast images suggest a significant change of the viscoelastic properties of the corneocytes. On the other hand, the corneocytes behaved inertly when exposed to hexadecene as an example of a non-polar solvent.     

Dislocation vs. production bias revisited with account of radiation-induced emission bias. I. Void swelling under electron and light ion irradiation

Early experimental data on void swelling in electron-irradiated materials disagree with the dislocation bias models based on the dislocation-point defect elastic interactions. Later, this became one of the factors that prompted the development of models based on production bias (PBM) as the main driver for swelling, which assumed that the dislocation bias was much lower than that predicted by theoretical analyses of dislocation bias. However, the PBM in its present form fails to account for important and common observations, namely, the indefinite void growth often observed under cascade irradiation and the swelling saturation observed under high-dose irradiation and in void lattices. In this paper, we show that these contradictions can be naturally resolved in the framework of the rate theory that accounts for the radiation-induced vacancy emission from extended defects, such as voids, dislocations and grain boundaries. This modification introduces a new bias type in the theory, namely, the emission bias. This modified rate theory agrees well with the experimental data and demonstrates that the original dislocation bias should be used in rate theory models along with the emission bias in different irradiation environments. The modified theory predictions include, but are not limited to, the radiation-induced annealing of voids, swelling saturation under high-dose irradiation, generally, and in void lattices, in particular.