Simultaneous study of cure kinetics and rheology of montmorillonite/vinyl ester resin nanocomposites

In this work, the effect of quaternary ammonium salt containing nanoclay content (1–5 wt%) on phase morphology, rheology, cure kinetics, and mechanical properties of the vinyl ester resin (VER)‐based nanocomposites was studied. The morphological characterization including d‐spacing measurement, microscopy observation and phase‐height image processing were performed on the prepared nanocomposites using small angel X‐ray scattering (SAXS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). According to the results obtained from these techniques, it was concluded that an intercalated morphology existed for all the nanocomposites. The kinetic analyses of the isothermal curing followed by storage modulus obtained from the rheometry experiments are shown to be an affective rheological characteristic to investigate the cure behavior of VER/clay nanocomposites. In addition, the most important finding regarding the effect of nanoclay on the cross‐linking behavior of VER systems lays on the chemisorption and physisorption of the reacting monomers and initiator molecules on the nanoclay platelets surface which is found to be responsible for the retardation of the cure reaction caused by organoclay. Eventually, the mechanical characterizations were performed through the tensile, flexural and impact analysis tests. In this case, a considerable improvement of the bulk mechanical responses such as tensile and flexural strengths and also the corresponding moduli were observed for the nanocomposites. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Flux line lattice symmetries in the borocarbide superconductor LuNi2B2C

We compare the results of small angle neutron scattering on the flux line lattice (FLL) obtained in the borocarbide superconductor LuNi₂B₂C with the applied field along the c- and a-axes. For H‖c the temperature dependence of the FLL structural phase transition from square to hexagonal symmetry was investigated. Above 10 K the transition onset field. H ₂(T), rises sharply, bending away from H _c2(T) in contradiction to theoretical predictions of the two merging. For H‖a a first order FLL reorientation transition is observed at H _tr=3–3.5 kOe. Below H _tr the FLL nearest neighbor direction is parallel to the b-axis, and above H _tr to the c-axis. This transition cannot be explained using nonlocal corrections to the London model.     

Numerical study of penetration and distribution of charged particles in the magnetosphere during southward IMF case

The energetic charged particles penetration in the plasmasphere are carried out using the updated version of 3D Stanford PIC code. We considered slow and fast wind streams to know the penetration of the energetic charged particles (electrons and ions) having different velocities into four regions i.e. cusp, plasmasphere, sunward, and tailward sides. It is observed that the ion penetrations are higher than electrons for solar slow wind streams in the plasmasphere, while it is reverse for the solar fast streams. Also, the results show that the percentage of penetration of the energetic charged particles (both electrons and ions) are the same into the cusp and subsolar point reconnection region. It is different for the higher speed of fast streams; so that the penetrated electrons reached about 10–20 times than penetrated ions. The results show that for the tailward reconnection region, the penetration of ions is 2–3 times higher than the penetration of electrons, but it is the same for the case of higher solar fast speed.     

Synthesis, characterization and properties of poly(methylenetetrasulfide) using interfacial catalysis

A new polysulfide polymer was synthesized from methylene dichloride and sodium tetrasulfide by an interfacial polycondensation technique using two quarternary ammonium salts as phase transfer catalysts. The synthesized polymers were characterized by FT-IR, X-ray and elemental analysis. Thermal properties were evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry. The solvent resistance of the polymer was investigated by the swelling method.     

Synthesis and Characterization of Polysulfide Rubber Using Phase Transfer Catalyst

Summary : Poly(alkyltetrasulfide) is prepared via reaction of ethylene dichloride with sodium tetrasulfide (Na₂S₄) in the presence of methyl tributyl ammonium chloride as phase transfer catalyst (PTC). The polysulfide polymer is characterized by CHN analysis, FT-IR, TGA, DTA and DSC techniques.     

Electrochemical investigation of magnetite-carbon nanocomposite in situ grown on nickel foam as a high-performance binderless pseudocapacitor

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Magnetite-carbon nanocomposite was grown in situ on nickel foam by a novel auto-combustion method, and it was investigated for application as a...     

Semileptonic (Λ b → Λcev) decay in a field theoretic quark model

The semileptonic decay width of heavy baryons such as (Λ _b → Λcev) has been estimated in the framework of a nonrelativistic field theoretic quark model where four component quark field operators along with a harmonic oscillator wave function are used to describe translationally invariant hadronic states. The present estimation does not make an explicit use of heavy quark symmetry and has a reasonable agreement with the experimentally measured decay width, polarisation ratio and form factors with the harmonic oscillator radii and quark momentum distribution inside the hadron as free parameters.     

Gel growth of α and γ glycine and their characterization

The microbial free single crystals of α and γ glycine were grown from gel at room temperature in a new chemical route. These crystals showed a superior quality than the solution grown crystals. The metastable α-form and the stable γ-form of glycine were crystallized in silica gel by solubility reduction method. The form of crystallization is confirmed by single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction analyses. The crystals of α and γ glycine were found to crystallize in monoclinic and hexagonal crystal systems, respectively. For analyzing the functional group and thermal stability of α and γ glycine crystals, spectroscopic and thermal analyses have been carried out. The dielectric studies were performed to find the dielectric constant of the grown crystals and the results are discussed. Second harmonic generation efficiency of the crystal was measured by Kurtz’s powder method using Nd:YAG laser and it was found to be 2.68 times that of potassium dihydrogen phosphate crystals.     

Raman and resonance-Raman spectra of CsI/I−3

Raman and resonance-Raman spectra of the I^?₃ ion isolated within CsI crystals have been studied using 647 nm and 488 nm exciting radiation. Sample temperatures between 300 and 20 K have been used. Eleven overtones of the symmetric stretching mode (nν₁) have been observed in the resonance-Raman spectrum excited by the 488 nm Ar⁺ laser line. Bands centred at 153, 170, 264 and 304 cm^?1 have been assigned as ν₃, 2ν₂, ν₁+ν₃ and 2ν₃(Σ⁺) respectively. The remaining structure between the nν₁ lines has been assigned as due to combinations of these lines with the lattice vibrations of the CsI crystal.