Viscoelastic properties of nanostructured natural rubber/polystyrene interpenetrating polymer networks

The effects of the blend ratio and initiating system on the viscoelastic properties of nanostructured natural rubber/polystyrene‐based interpenetrating polymer networks (IPNs) were investigated in the temperature range of ?80 to 150 °C. The studies were carried out at different frequencies (100, 50, 10, 1, and 0.1 Hz), and their effects on the damping and storage and loss moduli were analyzed. In all cases, tan δ and the storage and loss moduli showed two distinct transitions corresponding to natural rubber and polystyrene phases, which indicated that the system was not miscible on the molecular level. However, a slight inward shift was observed in the IPNs, with respect to the glass‐transition temperatures (T_g's) of the virgin polymers, showing a certain degree of miscibility or intermixing between the two phases. When the frequency increased from 0.1 to 100 Hz, the T_g values showed a positive shift in all cases. In a comparison of the three initiating systems (dicumyl peroxide, benzoyl peroxide, and azobisisobutyronitrile), the dicumyl peroxide system showed the highest modulus. The morphology of the IPNs was analyzed with transmission electron microscopy. The micrographs indicated that the system was nanostructured. An attempt was made to relate the viscoelastic behavior to the morphology of the IPNs. Various models, such as the series, parallel, Halpin–Tsai, Kerner, Coran, Takayanagi, and Davies models, were used to model the viscoelastic data. The area under the linear loss modulus curve was larger than that obtained by group contribution analysis; this showed that the damping was influenced by the phase morphology, dual‐phase continuity, and crosslinking of the phases. Finally, the homogeneity of the system was further evaluated with Cole–Cole analysis. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 1680–1696, 2003     

Optical limiters and diffraction elements based on a COANP-fullerene system: Nonlinear optical properties and quantum-chemical simulation

The results of optical study and quantum-chemical simulation of a conjugated organic system, 2-cyclooctylamino-5-nitropyridine (COANP)-fullerene, performed to determine its potential for application as a limiter of visible and near-IR laser radiation and as a material for diffraction elements in systems for reversible recording of optical information, are presented. Complexation between a COANP molecule and fullerene is considered as one of the main mechanisms responsible for the corresponding properties of this system. For the first time, nonlinear optical characteristics of COANP-C₆₀ and COANP-C₇₀ systems are comparatively studied and the intermolecular interaction between a COANP molecule and fullerene is analyzed on the quantum-chemical level.     

Integral Newton-Type Polynomials with Continual Nodes

We construct an integral Newton-type interpolation polynomial with a continual set of nodes. This interpolant is unique and preserves an operator polynomial of the corresponding degree.     

Crack path instabilities in DCDC experiments in the low speed regime

We studied the low speed fracture regime (10⁻⁴-10⁻⁹ m s⁻¹) in different glassy materials (soda-lime glass, glass ceramics) with variable but controlled length scale of heterogeneity. The chosen mechanical system enabled us to work in pure mode I (tensile) and at a fixed load on double cleavage drilled compression specimen. The internal residual stresses of studied samples were carefully relaxed by appropriate thermal treatment. By means of optical and atomic force microscopy techniques fracture surfaces have been examined. We have shown for the first time that the crack front line underwent an out-of-plane oscillating behavior as a result of a reproducible sequence of instabilities. The wavelength of such a phenomenon is in the micrometer range and its amplitude in the nanometer range. These features were observed for different glassy materials providing that a typical length scale characterizing internal heterogeneities was lower than a threshold limit estimated to few nanometers. This effect is the first clear experimental evidence of crack path instabilities in the low speed regime in a uniaxial loading experiment. This phenomenon has been interpreted by referring to the stability criterion for a straight crack propagation as presented by Adda-Bedia et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 76 (1996) 1497].     

Synthesis and characterization of isotopically enriched methylmercury (CH3201Hg+)

A simple procedure for the synthesis of an important standard, isotopically enriched methylmercury, which is not commercially available, has been established successfully. The isotopically enriched standard synthesized is utilized in conventional isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS), as well as in speciated IDMS (SIDMS), for determination of the true concentration of methylmercury in environmental samples. The CH₃²⁰¹Hg⁺ standard has been synthesized from commercially available ²⁰¹HgO and tetramethyltin. The synthesis time required is 1 h at 60°C. The product is highly pure, yielding more than 90% as ²⁰¹Hg in CH₃²⁰¹Hg⁺. Hazardous dimethylmercury does not occur during this synthesis procedure. The product synthesized was analyzed using high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) and ICP‐MS alone in order to determine its concentration, isotopic composition and purity. The stability of the product was also evaluated for over 6 months and found to be stable at 4°C in the dark. The isotopically enriched methylmercury synthesized can be used in SIDMS and IDMS analyses as a standard. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Lower bounds for sums of Barban-Davenport-Halberstam type (supplement)

This article was processed by the author using the IATEX style filecljourl from Springer-Verlag.     

Numerical study of simultaneous natural convection heat transfer from both surfaces of a uniformly heated thin plate with arbitrary inclination

 Numerical studies were conducted to investigate the natural convection heat transfer around a uniformly heated thin plate with arbitrary inclination in an infinite space. The numerical approach was based on the finite volume technique with a nonstaggered grid arrangement. For handling the pressure–velocity coupling the SIMPLE-algorithm was used. QUICK scheme and first order upwind scheme were employed for discretization of the momentum and energy convective terms respectively. Plate width and heating rate were used to vary the modified Rayleigh number over the range of 4.8×10⁶ to 1.87×10⁸. Local and average heat transfer characteristics were compared with regarding to the inclination angle. The empirical expressions for local and average Nusselt number were correlated. It has been found that for inclination angle less than 10^∘, the flow and heat transfer characteristics are complicated and the average Nusselt number can not be correlated by one equation while for inclination angle larger than 10^∘, the average Nusselt number can be correlated into an elegant correlation. Received on 18 April 2001 / Published online: 29 November 2001     

Finite element method in the solution of the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations for internal flow

Finite element solutions of the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations are presented, using a simple dissipation model. The discretization is based on the weak-Galerkin weighted residual method and equal interpolation functions for all the unknowns are permitted. The nonlinearity is iterated upon using a Newton method and at each iteration the linear algebraic system is solved by a direct solver with all unknowns fully coupled. Results are presented for two-dimensional transonic inviscid flows and two- and three-dimensional incompressible viscous flows. Convergence of the algorithm is shown to be quadratic, reaching machine accuracy in very few iterations. The inviscid results demonstrate the existence of nonunique numerical solutions to the steady Euler equations.