Acoustic anisotropy and birefringence in fibre-reinforced composite materials

All nine elastic moduli of an orthotropic composite material, namely, polypropylene reinforced with glass fiber, are determined from the measured values of the bulk acoustic wave velocities along specific directions in the planes of symmetry of the material. These data are used to calculate the angular dependences of phase velocities, polarization vectors, and directions of ray velocities of bulk waves in the composite. It is demonstrated that the difference in the velocities of shear waves polarized along and across the glass fiber gives rise to an acoustic birefringence and can lead to an elliptical polarization of waves. The measurement of the phase velocities of shear waves as functions of the wave polarization is suggested as a method for the determination of the fiber orientation in a composite material.     

Weighted Monte Carlo Methods for Approximate Solution of a Nonlinear Boltzmann Equation

We construct weighted modifications of statistical modeling of an ensemble of interacting particles which is connected with approximate solution of a nonlinear Boltzmann equation.     

Influence of <Emphasis Type="Italic">CP</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">CPT</Emphasis> on production and decay of Dirac and Majorana fermions

The consequences of CP and CPT invariance for production and subsequent decay of Dirac and Majorana fermions in polarized fermion-antifermion annihilation are analytically studied. We derive general symmetry relations for the production spin density matrix and for the three-particle decay matrices and obtain constraints for the polarization and the spin-spin correlations of Dirac and Majorana fermions. We prove that only for Majorana fermions the energy and opening angle distribution factorizes exactly into contributions from production and decay if CP is conserved. Received: 6 November 2001 / Revised version: 23 April 2002 / Published online: 12 July 2002     

Fluorinations with complex metal fluorides. Part 6 [1] fluorination of yridine and related compounds with caesium tetrafluorocobaltate(III) [2]

Pyridine has been fluorinated over caesium tetrafluorocobaltate(III) (CsCo^IIIF₄) at 300–400°C to give a mixture of undecafluoro-N-methylpyrrolidine, bis(trifluoromethyl)amine, pentafluoropyridine and several polyfluoropyridines; the product composition depended to some extent on the geometry of the reactor. The fluorinations of pentafluoropyridine, piperidine and undecafluoropiperidine were also investigated.     

On the evolution of islands

Letn cells be arranged in a ring, or alternatively, in a row. Initially, all cells are unmarked. Sequentially, one of the unmarked cells is chosen at random and marked until, aftern steps, each cell is marked. After thekth cell has been marked the configuration of marked cells defines some number of islands: maximal sets of adjacent marked cells. Let ξ _k denote the random number of islands afterk cells have been marked. We give explicit expressions for moments of products of ξ _k ’s and for moments of products of 1/ξ _k ’s. These are used in a companion paper to prove that if a random graph on the natural number is made by drawing an edge betweeni≧1 andj>i with probabilityλ/j, then the graph is almost surely connected ifλ>1/4 and almost surely disconnected ifλ≦1/4.     

Relaxation dynamics of a broadband nanosecond acoustic pulse in a bubbly medium

The first experimental observation of the propagation dynamics of a short broadband acoustic pulse in a resonance medium with gas bubbles is carried out. The probing pulse is generated using the optoacoustic effect. It is shown that the theory of short pulse propagation in media with generalized resonance relaxation adequately and accurately describes the dynamics of short pulse dispersion. A possibility to determine the relaxation and resonance parameters of media by the pulsed testing technique is demonstrated.     

Determination of Surface Functional Groups in Lignocellulosic Materials by Chemical Derivatization and ESCA Analysis

Simple and convenient methods for determining surface chemical composition of lignocellulosic materials are described. The methods are based on vapor phase fluorine surface derivatization with either trifluoro acetic anhydride (TFAA), tri-fluoro ethanol (TFE) or pentafluorophenyl hydrazine (PFPH) and subsequent Electron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis (ESCA). Model cellulosic surfaces with well defined functionalities were used to optimize the derivatization reaction conditions. Detection and accessibility of surface hydroxyl functional groups were investigated in cotton and regenerated cellulose as models. Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) was used as a model surface for detection and quantification of carboxylic acid groups. Theoretical conversion curves for derivatization reactions were calculated and used to evaluate the extent of the reactions on the model surfaces. It was found that the conversion was higher for the regenerated cellulose and CMC than for cotton. The protocols developed using the model surfaces were applied to a case study on wood fibers with different degrees of complexity, namely dissolving and chemithermomechanical (CTMP) pulp. Untreated and oxygen-plasma modified pulps were compared with respect to the surface composition of functional groups. According to the derivatization reactions, functionalities containing oxygen were significantly increased on the plasma-treated samples. The effect of the treatment was found to be dependent on the type of pulp. Fluorine derivatization is shown to be an unambiguous method for clear assessment of the chemical functionalities of cellulosic surfaces.