Thermoanalytical investigations of extended and annealed keratins

DSC investigations have been used to characterize the microfibril-matrix complex of keratin consisting of helical low-sulfur microfibrils in a nonhelical high-sulfur matrix. The corresponding DSC curves display one or two endothermic peaks in the temperature range 230°–255°C. The first peak is a microfibrillar peak and the second one a matrix peak (cystine decomposition peak). DSC investigations of extended keratins have shown that the microfibrillar peak is a helix peak. DSC investigations of annealed keratins confirm our earlier assumption that the helix peak is no helix melting peak but an irreversible helix unfolding, superimposed by various decomposition reactions. The matrix peak of the above described keratin samples is less reproducible than the corresponding helix peak and cannot be used for further characterization studies of keratins.Dedicated to Professor E. G. Klesper on the occasion of his 60th birthday.     

Electrical properties of poly(bis(β-phenoxyethoxy)phosphazene) and its complexes

Electrical and dielectrical properties of poly(bis(-phenoxyethoxy)phosphazene) (I) and its complexes with various content ratios of AgSO₃CF₃ to monomeric unit (0.25/1 (II) and 0.5/1 (III) in molar ratio) were investigated.Dc conductivity of respective samples at 18 °C were 6.1×10^–12, 4.4×10^–9, and 7.1×10^–8 S/m.Dc conduction was considered to be due to ion hopping. Charge mobility ranged from 3×10^–12 to 6× 10^–11 m²/Vs depending on the applied field in sample II. In sample I, a tan peak was found which can be ascribed to molecular relaxation of main chains. The peak vanished upon introducing AgSO₃ CF₃. Temperature dependence of total conductivity ( _T ) measured byac method in the temperature range between –150 °C and 50 °C showed several peaks at the temperatures corresponding to the peak temperatures of tan. Total conductivities of respective samples at 100 kHz were 4.9×10^–7 (69 °C), 1.7×10^–4 (45 °C), and 1.5×10^–4(40°C)S/m.     

Morphology and mechanical properties of ultrahigh molecular weight polypropylene prepared by gelation/crystallization at various temperatures

Films of ultrahigh molecular weight (5.4×10⁶) polypropylene were produced by gelation/crystallization at various temperatures from dilute decalin solutions according to the method of Smith and Lemstra. The temperatures chosen were 20°, 30°, 50°, and 60°C. With increasing the temperature, the long period and crystallinity of the resultant gel film increased. By contrast, when the films were stretched up to 50 } 60 times, the increases in Young's modulus and crystallinity become more significant, as the temperature of the gelation/crystallization became lower. This interesting phenomenon is thought to be due to the dependence of the number of entanglements on the temperatures concerning gelation/crystallization and evaporation of solvent from the gel to form a film.     

Recovery of thermal and mechanical properties after thermal treatment in a polyester-based polyurethane

Solution casted films of segmented polyurethanes based on poly (ethylene adipate) glycol, 4,4diphenylmethanediisocyanate, and 1,4 butanediol were studied by thermal-mechanical methods including differential scanning calorimetry and mechanical hysteresis. Data demonstrate that, following thermal treatment at 70 °C for 15 min, these polymers show time-dependent thermal and mechanical properties. In fact, because 70 °C is a temperature greater than the melting point of soft segments (about 42 °C), the soft-segment crystals are melted and their crystallization is time dependent. The results are explained in terms of phase separation. In particular, the sample with better phase separation has a faster and larger recovery.     

The mechanism and stability of thermal transitions in hair keratin

Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) has been applied to study the interactions between components of human hair keratin. Keratin is a biopolymeric composite made of several proteins forming basically two phases: amorphous matrix and crystalline microfibrillar phase. Water, the content of which depends on atmospheric humidity, is also an integral part of keratin structure. The following processes are apparent from the DSC: removal of loosely bound water (ca. 70°C), a transition in the amorphous phase (155°C) and melting/denaturation of the -crystalline phase (233°C). The process occurring in keratin at ca. 155°C has an opposite character to a glass transition; we refer to this process as the toughening transition. The area of the -keratin peak increases significantly upon annealing at temperatures from 80°C to 150°C and decreases for higher annealing temperatures. Water affects both the crystalline and amorphous phases of keratin. The process similar in nature to annealing — induced recrystallization in synthetic polymers is strictly correlated with removal of strongly bound fraction of water in keratin.     

Physicochemical properties of α, ω-type bolaform surfactant in aqueous solution. Eicosane-1,20-bis(triethylammonium bromide)

The physicochemical properties of the, - type (bolaform) surfactant, eicosane-1, 20-bis(triethylammonium bromide) (C₂₀Et₆), in aqueous solution have been investigated by means of surface tension, electrical conductivity, dye solubilization, and time-resolved fluorescence quenching (determination of average micelle aggregation number). Using electrical conductivity, the critical micelle concentration of C₂₀Et₆ was found to be 6.0×10^–3 mol dm^–3 and the ionization degree of C²⁰Et₆ micelle was found to be 0.42. From surface tension measurments, the molecular area of C₂₀Et₆ at the air-water interface was about twice that of normal type surfactants such as dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB). The solubilizing power of micellar solution of C₂₀Et₆ toward Orange OT was 1.0×10^–2 mole of dye per mole of surfactant, i. e., slightly smaller than that of DTAB. The micelle aggregation number,N, was found to be 17±2 by time-resolved fluorescence quenching. C₂₀Et₆ showed a very small temperature dependence ofN, much less than for normal surfactants.     

Spreading and compression of n-hexadecyl acrylate at liquid-air interface

Usingn-hexadecyl acrylate, surface pressure-area (F-A) curves and equilibrium spreading pressuresF ^e were measured at various temperatures (5.7°–46°C) by the Langmuir balance (F-A) and the Wilhelmy-plate method (F ^e). At low temperatures (T<13 °C) condensed films and the liquid-condensed/solid condensed transition can be observed. At high temperatures (T>30 °C) liquid-expanded films occur. In the intermediate range the compression curves have two transition points. The transition pressureF ₁ between liquid-expanded and condensed film has a marked temperature dependence. The transition enthalpiesH ₁ decrease with increasing temperature and become zero at 29.2 °C. The second transition is related to a transition between the condensed films (F ₂). The slight temperature dependence of this transition is accompanied by an increasing change of area as well as by increasing transition enthalpiesH ₂.TheF ^e-T curve has two distinct breaks, at the melting pointT _m and atT=30 °C. The break atT _m is due to the melting process and the break atT=30 °C is caused by a phase transition between a liquid-expanded film and a condensed film.The phase diagram was constructed from the transition pressures. It can be demonstrated that the highest pressures of the thermodynamic stable film occurs atT _m. At temperaturesT>T _m equilibrium spreading pressure and equilibrium collapse pressure are identical whereas atT _m supercompression of the monolayer occurs. The film in this state behaves like a supercooled liquid. Obviously, rupture and collapse of such a film lead to a thermodynamically metastable bulk phase.     

Effects of uniaxial stretching and shrinkage on proton spin-lattice and spin-spin relaxation times of isotactic polypropylene

An isotactic polypropylene film was stretched at 120 °C in poly(ethylene glycol) and thermally shrunk at various temperatures. Proton spin-lattice,T ₁, and spin-spin,T ₂, relaxation times were measured using a broad line pulse spectrometer operating at 19.8 MHz in the temperature range 40 °C–100 °C. The temperature ofT ₁ minimum shifts to higher temperatures and the value ofT ₁ minimum increases in magnitude as the stretching ratio is increased. In contrast the temperature ofT ₁ minimum shifts to lower temperatures as shrinkage is increased, whereas the value ofT ₁ minimum increases in magnitude because of the increase in crystallimty during shrinkage. T_2a, the longestT ₁ associated with the mobile amorphous regions, increases during shrinkage, indicating that chain mobility in the amorphous regions increases substantially during shrinkage. It was found that an orientation function of the amorphous regions,f _a, correlates well withT _2a .Presented in part at the 52nd Annual Meeting of the Japan Chemical Society, Kyoto, April 1986.     

Preparation of muscovite with ultrahigh specific surface area by chemical cleavage

The specific surface area of a muscovite sample increases drastically after exposure to a LiNO₃ solution, e.g., from 3.4 m²/g, corresponding to platelets of ca. 200 silicate layers, to 295 m²/g (platelets of ca. 2–3 silicate layers) after treatment at 180°C under atmospheric pressure for 46 h. The efficiency of the cleavage process decreases with decreasing temperature (down to 50°C). The LiNO₃/H₂O weight ratio is also very important: at 130°C and a reaction time of 46 h, for instance, a value in the range of 1.7–1.8 leads to the highest specific surfaces. The cleaved products have the form of strong papers that disperse readily in water. During the cleaving procedure, not only the particle thickness, but also the diameter decreases. There is no evidence of damage or partial dissolution of the silicate structure after cleavage, by IR spectroscopy and yield. The use of LiCl also leads to an increase in specific surface area, but the effect is weaker than in the case of LiNO₃. Treatment with some other alkaline and alkaline earth nitrates and chlorides did not increase the specific surface area of muscovite significantly.     

Molecular mechanism for elongation: poly(vinylidene fluoride) form II

Elongation of an unoriented sample of poly(vinylidene fluoride) form II at high temperature (above 140 °C) results in a uniaxially oriented sample of form II during so-called necking. The short-range and long-range order parameters of poly(vinylidene fluoride) form II and measures of the structural order on thec-projection are characterized by the intensity and half-width of the 120 reflection. The elongation under the same condition gives almost the same order parameters, independent of the order parameters before the elongation. Furthermore, the dependence of the order parameters on the elongation temperature behaves in the same way as the dependence of the quenched unoriented sample on the annealing temperature. This suggests that the elongation of the sample during necking corresponds to the crystallization or recrystallization after a much disordered state, approximately molten state; this supports the mechanism proposed by Yoon and Flory.     

Thermally stimulated currents in poly(bis(p-fluorophenoxy)phosphazene)

Thermally stimulated currents (TSC) were examined for poly(bis(p-fluorophenoxy)phosphazene) (PBFPP) film. TSC showed peaks at the glass transition temperature (Tg=–4 °C) and atT(1) (160 °C – 170 °C), where-form crystal phase transformed to mesophase of-form structure. Another peak was found atT _cc betweenTg andT(1). Linear relationship between polarization field and peak current ofT _cc -peak was found, which shows thatT _cc -peak was caused by motion of dipolar groups in crystalline phase. When heating (up to 200 °C) and cooling (down to 20 °C) thermal process was repeated,T _cc -peak shifted to higher temperature region approachingT(1) and simultaneously, the peak current ofT(1)-peak became smaller. Activation energy, time constant of dipolar relaxation and charge mobility were evaluated forT _cc -peak. From these results, it was concluded that-form and more ordered- form crystalline phases coexisted in PBFPP once heated aboveT(1) and the content of- form phase increased by repeated thermal hysteresis.     

The Essential Oil of Pistacia vera L. at Various Temperatures of Direct Thermal Desorption Using Comprehensive Gas Chromatography Coupled with Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

The essential oil obtained from the hulls of Pistacia vera fruits using direct thermal desorption was resolved using comprehensive gas chromatography (GC×GC) coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF-MS). A range of temperatures (100, 150, 200, 250 °C) for thermal desorption were applied to extract volatile organic compounds from around 10mg of raw sample. Although different species profiles were produced at each temperature (notably browning products above 200 °C), -pinene and (Z)--terpineol were found to be the major components at all temperatures studied. The number of compounds observed increased with increasing temperature. A temperature of 150 °C is recommended as optimum for the direct thermal desorption of volatiles from matrices such as fruit hulls. The GC×GC separation chromatographically resolved several hundred components which when coupled for detection with TOF-MS gave high probability identifications for around 100 compounds. The comprehensive separation also separated a number of components which remained unresolved on a single GC column, such as camphene with butyrolactone and dodecane with p-cymene.     

Adhesive effect of high density polyethylene gels on polyethylene moldings

Adhesive effect of polyethylene moldings by use of high density polyethylene gels in organic solvents such as decalin, tetralin, ando-dichlorobenzene was investigated by shearing tests, electron microscope, and DSC measurements. All of the gels showed such a strong adhesive strength over 36 kg/cm² that polyethylene plates of 3 mm in thickness gave rise to necking sufficient for practical use, when heated at 120 °C for 2 h. In particular, the gel in tetralin showed a strong adhesive strength when heated at 110 °C. It was found that adhesive strength increases with the heating temperature; the temperatures at which adhesive strength begins to increase differ depending on the type of polyethylene sample and solvent. It is apparent that polyethylene gels exhibit an adhesive effect when they are heated at higher temperatures than the gel melting temperatures, and that the closer the SP values of solvents used for the gelation are to the molded polyethylene, the stronger the adhesion of the polyethylene molding.     

Thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry of γ-irradiated i-polypropylene films

Isotactic polypropylene films, Buplen Type, 40m thick, irradiated by a⁶⁰Co source to doses 0.37–37 Mrad, are investigated by means of optical microscopy, WAXS, thermogravimetry, DSC and DTA. The original film exhibits a paracrystal structure. Irradiation does not change the films' structure. The kinetic parameters of the non-isothermal destruction and the thermodynamic parameters of melting are obtained. The samples irradiated to small doses (up to 3 Mrad) are thermally more stable; the activating energy of the destruction is higher than that of the original film. The temperature of melting slightly increases, while the enthalpy of melting decreases. For the range of doses of 3.7–37 Mrad, the films show low thermal stability and the destruction proceeds with low activating energy. From the results of the data obtained, the following assumptions are made: the-irradiation causes simultaneous crosslinking and chain scission at random sites along the chains. Fragments of partially crosslinked molecules and fractions of low molecular linear segments are formed. The destruction caused by radiation prevails above 3 Mrad.     

A monolayer model of the interfacial region of microemulsions

Mixed monolayers of tetradecanol and oleic acid at the water-air interface were studied to provide a static related structure featuring the interface between water and oil of water-dodecane microemulsions.The films of pure components as a function of temperature show a strong area contraction between 25 ° and 30 °C, caused by a change in the head groups hydration. This agrees with similar discontinuities found for some properties of the microemulsion in the same temperature range. At the water-air interface, the composition range of tetradecanol/oleic acid mixtures with the highest thermodynamic stability corresponds to the same stability range of the water-in -dodecane-potassium oleate microemulsions.Adsorption isotherms of tetradecanol and hexanol at the dodecane-water interface were studied to compare the surface behaviour of the two alcohols; the results indicate that the two alcohols have very similar two-dimensional surface phases and adsorption energies.     

Pressure effect on the phase transitions in Ni-base multicomponent systems

Summary The phase transformations in the three Ni-base alloys at the temperature range up to 1500°C and at the pressure of 170 MPa were studied. Solidus, -phase dissolution/precipitation, carbides dissolution/precipitation and liquidus temperatures are established. Multiple exceeding of the Ni-base alloys characteristic temperatures pressure coefficients over metal components ones (up to 10 times) is observed both at the heating and cooling scans during the experiments on the differential barothermal analysis. On the DBA curves had been obtained at 170 MPa, there are from two to three peaks, which connected with the carbides dissolution/precipitation, while on the each conventional DTA curve there was merely one carbide thermal effect. The liquidus temperature pressure coefficients correlate with the Ni melting point pressure coefficient.     

Reatarding effect of nitrogen ylide for the polymerization of N-vinyl pyrrolidone

-Picolinium-p-chlorophenacylide (-PCFY) acts as a retarder for polymerization of N-vinyl pyrrolidone. The polymerization runs were carried out at 60°C using benzene as an inert solvent. The kinetic equation for the present system may be written asR _p [-PCPY]^–1.0 [AIBN]^0.66[N-VP]^1.0. The value of overall energy of activation for polymerization in presence and absence of-PCPY was computed as 44.0 and 42.3 kJ mol^–1, respectively. The inverse relationship ofR _p and¯M _v with-PCPY suggests that-PCPY acts as a polymerization retarder. The retarding effect is also evidenced by higher initiator exponent value and higher value of energy of activation in presence of ylide. A mechanism is also proposed in which polymer propagating chain combines with one ylide component to give resonance stabilized radical.     

Adhesive effect of low-density polyethylene gels on polyethylene moldings

Adhesive effect of low density polyethylene (LDPE) gels in organic solvents such as decalin, tetralin, ando-dichlorobenzene on high density polyethylene (HDPE) moldings has been investigated by shearing tests, electron microscopy, and DSC measurements. When heated at 110°C for 2 h, all of the gels showed strong adhesive strengths around 30 kg/cm², which is sufficiently strong for practical uses. It has been found that the adhesive strength increases with the heating temperature and that the temperature at which the heated gel begins to exhibit the adhesive effect depends upon solvents and is about 30° lower than that of the HDPE gels.     

Kinetics of nonisothermal crystallization and melting of normal high density and ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene blends

The kinetics of nonisothermal crystallization and melting of blends of ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) and polyethylene high density with normal molecular weight (NMWPE) are investigated by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Mixing the components at a temperature below the flow temperature of UHMWPE (215 °C) results in increased crystallization/melting rates of the individual components in the blends above the corresponding additive values. The morphological observations of the blends, carried out by means of polarization microscopy, show that a strong boundary of both types of structures (UHMWPE non-flowing aggregates and NMWPE spherulite structures) does not exist. The NMWPE spherulites' dimensions decrease on increasing the UHMWPE concentration in the blends, but their number increases. The facilitation of the crystallization/melting of the components in the blends is explained in terms of mutual influence exhibited by the components with respect to each other. It is due to the inner stresses in nonflowing UHMWPE characterized with a lot of entangled tie molecules and to the partial co-crystallization of NMWPE molecules with the flowing part of UHMWPE. At mixing temperatures above 215 °C the melting/crystallization integral kinetic curves have only one linear part in contrast to these of the same blend (11 ratio of components), prepared at 190 °C. The rates of melting/crystallization remain almost constant with the increase of the mixing temperatures.     

Thermal Behaviour of the N-donor Adducts of Metal Saccharinates: I. 2,2'-bipyridine saccharinato complexes of Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II) and Pb(II)

The adducts of Co, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb saccharinates with 2,2'-bipyridine were synthesized and their thermal behaviour in the 20–1000°C temperature interval in a static air atmosphere was investigated. Regardless of the coordination, the decomposition starts with dehydration and proceeds with removal of the bipyridine ligand(s). The resulting metal(II) saccharinates adopt characteristic two-step decomposition, the first step being the SO₂ release. Their stability was found tobe metal-dependent. The thermal decomposition pathways were correlated with the existing structural data about the compounds.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.