Surface heating and energy transfer in pulsed microwave catalytic systems: A microwave-induced acoustic study

Since the early demonstrations of our concept of pulsed microwave catalysis in chemistry, we have witnessed the coming of age of the technique as an enabling technology in the industrial world, despite the inadequate understanding of the basic mechanisms of how microwaves interact with metallic surface sites and the subsequent energy transfer. We shall present here some very recent developments of the microwave-induced acoustic technique and its applications to a better understanding of the basic surface heating and energy transfer phenomena in pulsed microwave catalytic systems.     

Resonance ionization spectroscopy for trace analysis and fundamental research

Resonance ionization spectroscopy (RIS) and its combination with mass spectrometry (RIMS) have grown to become powerful techniques, which offer high sensitivity as well as elemental and isotopic selectivity. The principles of RIS and RIMS are introduced; they primarily concern the analysis of the optical spectra for the choice of efficient excitation schemes and the suitable design of the experimental apparatus. Recent applications span from studies of short-lived isotopes at on-line mass separators to a wide variety of trace analysis applications for radioactive isotopes, which can range from measurements of solar neutrino flux to environmental assessment.On leave from Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, USA     

Analysis of the structure of an amorphous sediment obtained upon decomposition of potassium oxofluroniobate in water

An amorphous sediment was prepared by the decomposition of potassium oxofluoroniobate K_{2 ? x} Nb₄O₃(O, F)₃F in water. For this sediment, the atomic radial distribution function was analyzed with the use of a fragment model, which allows one to interpret expanded coordination spheres as being formed by first several strongest diffusion maxima. These spheres carry the most reliable information on the structure. It is shown that the amorphous sediment consists of the randomly packed Nb(O,F)₆-octahedra with interatomic distances close to those observed in the ordered region in the N-Nb₂O₅ structure. During decomposition in water, the initial K_{2 ? x} Nb₄O₃(O, F)₃F phase loses KF-layers, whereas Nb₆ clusters with metal bonds are destroyed.     

Aspects of the transpiration model for aerofoil design

Transpiration is a technique in which extra non-physical normal flows are created on an aerofoil surface in order to form a new streamline pattern such that the surface streamlines no longer follow the aerofoil surface under inviscid flow. The transpiration model is an important technique adopted in aerofoil design either to avoid mesh regeneration when aerofoil profile co-ordinates are adjusted or to find shape corrections in inverse design methods. A first-order approximation (with respect to the normal streamline displacement) to the transpiration model is commonly adopted; it is shown that this can be a poor approximation especially in regions of high curvature. In this paper more accurate approximations are developed to address this problem and improve the accuracy.     

Physical aging of a polyetherimide: Creep and DSC measurements

Creep and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) measurements have been used to study the physical aging behavior of a polyetherimide. Isothermal aging temperatures ranged from 160°C to T_g with aging times ranging from 10 min to 8 days. The only measurable effect of physical aging on the short-time creep curves is a shift of the creep compliance to longer times. Andrade plots of the compliance versus the cube root of time are linear at short times with the slope β decreasing with increasing aging time to a constant value once equilibrium is reached. Log β³ is related directly to the degree to which the creep curves shift to longer times with physical aging, and is used in this work as a measure of physical aging. A reduced curve of log β³ versus log aging time is obtained for the aging temperatures investigated by appropriate vertical and horizontal shifts. The enthalpy change during aging increases linearly with the logarithm of the aging time, t_a, leveling off at equilibrium at values which increase with decreasing aging temperature. Hence, both nonequilibrium and equilibrium temperature shift factors can be calculated from the DSC data. Good agreement is observed between the equilibrium temperature shift factors obtained from the creep and DSC data. The temperature dependence of the nonequilibrium temperature shift factors is found to be an order of magnitude smaller than that of the equilibrium shift factors. The time scales to reach equilibrium for enthalpy and for mechanical measurements are found to be the same within experimental error. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Advances in the chemical synthesis of brassinosteroids

This review generalizes the latest advances in the chemical synthesis of the plant growth regulators brassinosteroids in 1990–1994.Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry, Belarus Academy of Sciences, 220141, Minsk, ul. Zhodinskaya, 5/2. Translated from Khimiya Prirodnykh Soedinenii, No. 4, pp. 507–544, July–August, 1997.     

Elevation of the glass transition temperature in flexible‐chain semicrystalline polymers

In the idealized two‐phase model of a semicrystalline polymer, the amorphous intercrystalline layers are considered to have the same properties as the fully‐amorphous polymer. In reality, these thin intercrystalline layers can be substantially influenced by the presence of the crystals, as individual polymer molecules traverse both crystalline and amorphous phases. In polymers with rigid backbone units, such as poly(etheretherketone), PEEK, previous work has shown this coupling to be particularly severe; the glass transition temperature (T_g) can be elevated by tens of degrees celsius, with the magnitude of the elevation correlating directly with the thinness of the amorphous layer. However, this connection has not been explored for flexible‐chain polymers, such as those formed from vinyl‐type monomers. Here, we examine T_g in both isotactic polystyrene (iPS) and syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS), crystallized under conditions that produce a range of amorphous layer thicknesses. T_g is indeed shown to be elevated relative to fully‐amorphous iPS and sPS, by an amount that correlates with the thinness of the amorphous layer; the magnitude of the effect is severalfold less than that in PEEK, consistent with the minimum lengths of polymer chain required to make a fold in the different cases. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 1198–1204, 2007     

Static dust sphere in Einstein-Cartan theory

Physically meaningful solutions of the field equations for static spherical dust distributions in the Einstein-Cartan theory have been obtained. There is one in which the spin is zero at the center and another with zero spin at the boundary of the sphere.     

Temperature dependence of magnetization in nanocrystalline FeCoZr alloy

The temperature dependence of magnetization of a nanocrystalline Fe₆₀Co₃₀Zr₁₀ alloy annealed at various temperatures to varying crystal sizes was investigated down to 5 K in the field range up to 5 T. The fitting procedure gave T^3/2 as the leading term irrespective of the crystal size. We suggest that the increase of the coefficient by this term for smaller crystals may be connected to an increased relative volume of their surface.