Curing of urea-formaldehyde resins on awood substrate

TG-DTA analysis method was used to study the curing behaviour of urea-formaldehyde (UF) adhesive resins in the presence of a wood substrate. The cure process was followed using a Setaram labsys^TM instrument in flowing nitrogen atmosphere by varying the ratio of resin and wood. Resin cure was catalysed with 2% of NH₄Cl. Curing tests were performed in the open standard platinum crucibles and in the sealed glass capsules. To characterise the reactivity of curing system, the peak temperatures in DTA curve and the mass loss values in TG curve were taken as the apparent indices. The main attention was paid to phenomena which actually take place in curing of UF resins during manufacturing of particleboards. Reactivity of the curing system depends mostly on methylol content of resin and can be adequetly evaluated by the maximum temperature of exothermic peak. The wood substrate has a substantial influence on the resin and water diffusion in system causing the changes in water/resin separation and water evaporation conditions. The water movement in curing adhesive joint was a confusing parameter in determining the peak positions. The rate of mass loss on a wood substrate is higher as compared to curing UF resin alone.     

Periodic,multiplicative number-theoretical functions

D. Leitmann andD. Wolke [3] proved that multiplicative functions, which are restrictions of continuous, periodic functionsF: with irrational period, are constant equal to 0 or 1. In this note a simpler proof for this result is given.     

A multi-angle magnetic spectrograph for nuclear reaction studies

A multi-angle magnetic spectrograph for recording spectra of charged particles emitted in nuclear reactions has been built. The apparatus and the beam transport system are described and their parameters are discussed.     

Mathematical theory of reduction of physical parameters and similarity analysis

The method of similarity analysis in the study of differential equations is extended to study the variability of parameters in a physical system. The analysis provides an insight into the meaning of physical similarity, which usually means the possibility of a reduction in the number of physical parameters characterizing the system. Theorems relating similarities to groups of invariant transformations are proved and employed to show how the number of parameters can be reduced.     

Practical application of the refracted near-field technique for the measurement of optical fibre refractive index profiles

Both the theoretical basis and experimental realization of the refracted near-field technique for the direct measurement of optical fibre profiles are presented. The technique requires minimal sample preparation, no computation and is applicable to both single and multimode fibres. Both the core and the cladding are profiled. After outlining the problems associated with other techniques, the use of this method for the measurement of fibre profile, numerical aperture and geometry is discussed. Leaky mode rejection and resolution are treated in detail. A fitting procedure for determining the-value of a profile is given. The experimental apparatus is fully discussed. Results are presented to illustrate both the applicability of the technique to single and multimode fibres and also the rejection of leaky modes. The experimental sensitivity is shown sufficient to reveal an index fluctuation having a wavelength < 1m and an amplitude of < 0.0001.     

Atomic and molecular fluorescence with long radiative decay times from laser excited Na2

Na₂ is excited (B¹Π_u←X¹Σ _g ⁺ ) in the presence of noble gases (20–700 Torr). The Na₂ fluorescence decay shows two lifetimes: a short component which corresponds to the well known lifetime of Na₂ in the B¹Π_u state [1], and a long component with a lifetime of about 0,1 μs which depends strongly on the noble gas density [2]. The same long lived radiative decay is also seen via the Na resonance fluorescence Na(3²S)←Na(3²P).     

Eigenmode scattering relations for plane-stratified gyrotropic media

We consider the 4×4 scattering matrixS for a plane wave incident on a plane-stratified gyrotropic multilayer slab, which is assumed to have a single symmetry axis (the magnetisation vector in a ferrite sheet, or the external magnetic field direction in a plane-stratified magnetoplasma). In the given (original) problem the plane of incidence is at an azimuthal angle ϕ with respect to the magnetic meridian plane (the plane containing the normal to the stratification, and the gyrotropic symmetry axis), and there is a corresponding “conjugate” set of wave fields, in which the plane of incidence is at an azimuthal angle (π−ϕ), with a corresponding conjugate scattering matrixS′. Adjoint wave fields, obtained by reversing the magnetic symmetry vector, are used to yield the eigenmode amplitudes required in the definition of the scattering matrices. At an interface between two adjacent layers the scattering matrices are shown to be uniquely determined by the characteristic wave polarisations, and this is used to prove that the given and conjugate scattering matrices,S andS′, for the overall multilayer system are mutually transposed, i.e. .     

Comparative monte Carlo study of ising spin glasses in two to five dimensions

Monte Carlo simulations of the Edwards-Anderson-Ising spin glass with Gaussian distribution of nearest-neighbor exchange forces in four and five dimensions are performed to check the speculation thatd=4 is the lower critical dimensionality. In contrast to this expectation we find no qualitative difference at all to the results in two and three dimensions. We still find that on not too long time-scales there is an apparently rather well defined freezing temperatureT _f , where the susceptibility has a cusp, and belowT _f nonzero order parametersq, can be found as ford=2, 3. But even ford=5 the decay of the Edwards-Anderson order parameter belowT _f is found to be consistent with a logarithmic variation over several decades of observation time. The possible interpretations of this result are discussed. Our data thus suggest that either there is no equilibrium phase transition in all these dimensions, or more likely that a phase transition exists for 2d5 but the properties of the ordered phase may be rather peculiar.Sonderforschungsbereich 125 Aachen-Jülich-Köln     

Adiabatic behavior of sine-Gordon solitons in the presence of perturbations

The behavior of sine-Gordon solitons in the presence of weak perturbations is considered. The procedure is based on the exact inverse scattering solution of the unperturbed sine-Gordon equation. Accounting for perturbations such as those arising from impurities, external forces as well damping and spatially inhomogeneous frequencies the corresponding perturbed operator equation can be solved by the Green's function technique if one expands the Green's operator in terms of a set of biorthogonal eigenfunctions. Ordinary linear differential equations prescribing the time evolution of the scattering data are obtained. Instead of solving the inverse scattering problem completely the adiabatic assumption is then used anticipating the result that solitons maintain their integrity to a high degree. Explicit solutions for the one-soliton dynamics are presented.Work supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through the Sonderforschungsbereich Nr. 162 Plasmaphysik Bochum/Jülich