Preparation and performance of a novel polyimide foam

A new type of polyimide foam (PIF) was prepared and characterized based on a one‐pot process by the reaction of a first solution with different ratios of a second solution. The first solution was comprised of pyromellitic dianhydride (PMDA), N, N‐dimethyl formamide (DMF), methanol, water, surfactant, and catalysts, while the second solution contained polyaryl polymethylene isocyanate (PAPI). In the present study, the relationships among compositions, structures, and properties of PIFs were investigated. The results indicated that with the increase in the weight ratio of PAPI/(first solution), the foaming degrees of PIFs increased from 10.14 to 10.52 times and the apparent densities before postcure decreased from 15.96 to 14.51 kg/m³. The open cell contents, average sound absorption coefficients, and average cellular diameters of PIFs after postcure increased with increase in the weight ratio of PAPI/(first solution). The glass transition temperatures (T_g) of PIFs after postcure first increased from 287 to 299°C, then decreased to 292°C, and the 5% weight loss temperatures and 10% weight loss temperatures presented the same trend as well. The compressive and flatwise tensile properties scaled very well with the relative densities of the foams after postcure, with the highest compressive strength of 0.03 MPa and the highest flatwise tensile strength of 0.15 MPa. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

晶粒尺寸对Ba0.70Sr0.30TiO3陶瓷介电性能的影响规律及机理研究

通过制备晶粒尺寸处于0.1-10 μm之间的致密Ba0.70Sr0.30TiO3陶瓷,系统研究了晶粒尺寸对居里温度TC、铁电相介电常数εF、峰值介电常数εM的影响规律,并深入分析了其内在的影响机理.研究表明:晶粒尺寸减小时,TC刚开始基本不变,直到晶粒尺寸小到一定程度时才开始降低,此变化规律可由Buesseum的内应力模型解释;随晶粒尺寸的增加,εF先增加后减小,此变化规律可由Shaikh的串并联模型来解释,主要影响因素有内应力、畴、晶界;εM随晶粒尺寸的增加,在晶粒尺寸较小时先增加后减小,晶粒尺寸较大时略有增加,此变化规律可由弥散相变理论和串并联模型共同解释,在晶粒尺寸较小时主要影响因素为内应力、微畴和晶界,晶粒尺寸较大时主要影响因素为晶界.     

High selectively oxidative bromination of toluene derivatives by the H_2O_2-HBr system

An aqueous solution of hydrogen peroxide and hydrogen bromide illuminated by a 60 W incandescent light bulb serves as a source of bromine radicals.Various substituted toluenes（NO₂,Cl,Br,H,CH₃） were high selectively brominated at the benzyl position for monobromination in CH₂C1₂ at ice water with catalyst free.This simple but effective bromination of toluene derivatives with an aqueous H₂O₂-HBr system is characterized with the use of inexpensive reagents and a lower impact on the environment, which make it a good alternative to the existing bromination methods.     

Polymer electrolyte membranes based on polystyrenes with phosphonic acid via long alkyl side chains

A series of polystyrenes with phosphonic acid ( 5 ) via long alkyl side chains (4, 6, and 8 methylene units) were prepared by the radical polymerization of the corresponding diethyl ω‐(4‐vinylphenoxy)alkylphosphonates, followed by the hydrolysis with trimethylsilyl bromide. The resulting phosphonated polystyrene membranes had a high oxidative stability against Fenton's reagent at room temperature. The membranes prepared from 5 exhibited a very low water uptake, similar to that of Nafion 117 over the wide range of 30 to 80% relative humidity (RH). The proton conductivities of these membranes are lower than that of Nafion 117 in the range of 30 to 90% RH, but comparable or higher than those of the reported phosphonated polymers with higher IEC values, such as the phosphonated poly(N‐phenylacrylamide) (PDPAA, IEC: 6.72 mequiv/g) and fluorinated polymers with pendant phosphonic acids (M47, IEC: 8.5 mequiv/g), at low RH conditions despite the much lower IEC values (3.0–3.8 mequiv/g) of these membranes. These results suggest that the flexible pendant side chains of 5 would contribute to the formation of hydrogen‐bonding networks by considering the very low water uptake of these polymers. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Influence of NH<Subscript>3</Subscript> flow rate on pyridine-like N content and NO electrocatalytic oxidation of N-doped multiwalled carbon nanotubes

Nitrogen-doped multiwalled carbon nanotubes (N-MWCNTs) have been prepared by pyrolysis of pyridine and iron phthalocyanine over an iron catalyst at 850 °C at various ammonia gas (NH₃) flow rates. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results reveal that the pyridine-like nitrogen (N) content can be controlled by changing the flow rate of NH₃, and that pyridine-like N plays an important role: it can increase the electrocatalytic activity and the rate of nitric oxide (NO) electrooxidation and decrease the activation energy of NO electrooxidation. Cyclic voltammetry results demonstrate that the N-MWCNTs sample grown with 200 mL/min NH₃ flow has the maximum N content of 3.22 atomic %, and its content of pyridine-like N that is chemically active is also the highest among all the N-MWCNTs samples. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results indicate that two-step electron transfer process occurs at the N-MWCNT-modified electrode, and the control step is different in various potential regions. The stability of NO electrooxidation at the N-MWCNT-modified electrode is examined, and the reaction mechanism is discussed.     

Discontinuous transition from free flow to synchronized flow induced by short-range interaction between vehicles in a three-phase traffic flow model

In this paper, we incorporate a limitation on the interaction range between neighboring vehicles into the cellular automaton model proposed by Gao and Jiang et al. [K. Gao, R. Jiang, S. X. Hu, B. H. Wang and Q. S. Wu, Phys. Rev. E 76 (2007) 026105], which was established within the framework of Kerner’s three-phase traffic theory and has been shown to be able to reproduce the three-phase traffic flow. This modification eliminates an unrealistic phenomenon found in the previous model, where the velocity-adaptation effect between neighboring vehicles can exist even if those vehicles are infinitely far away from each other. Therefore, in the improved model, we regulate that such interactions can only occur within a finite distance. For simplicity, we suppose a constant value to describe this distance in this paper. As a result, when compared to the previous model, the improved model mainly simulates the following results which are believed to be an improvement. (1) The improved model successfully reproduces the expected discontinuous transition from free flow to synchronized flow and the related “moving synchronized flow pattern”, which are both absent in the original model but have been observed in real traffic. (2) The improved model simulates the correlation functions, time headway distributions and optimal velocity functions which are all more consistent with the empirical data than the previous model and most of the other models published before. (3) Together with the previous two models considering the velocity-difference effect, this model finally accomplishes a significative process of developing traffic flow models from the traditional “fundamental diagram approach” to the three-phase traffic theory. This process should be helpful for us to understand the traffic dynamics and mechanics further and deeper.     

Hiding information using a checkered pattern

Visual cryptography is expected to have various applications since it has potential for visual decoding. However, there are still few practical applications. One reason for this is the difficulty of superposition to decode. To solve the alignment difficulty, we propose an information hiding method which can be physically decode by superimposing a checkered pattern. Superimposing a checkered pattern can also be considered as a kind of image sampling process, and a decoding experiment using an ordinary compact digital camera is presented.