Characterization of PVA and Chitosan/PVA Blends Prepared from Aqueous Solutions of Various Na2SO4 Concentrations

Uniplaner orientation of a particular crystal plane along the surface of a film was investigated for poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) film prepared by a coagulation bath with concentrated aqueous solution containing 100 ∼ 300g of Na₂SO₄ against 1 ℓ of water. The orientation distribution functions of the three crystallographic principal axes of the dried films were obtained by the X-ray diffraction technique. The same treatment was carried out for the films prepared by stretching biaxially of the fresh gel and then by drying the resultant fresh gel. The very high preferential orientation of the crystal chain axes and amorphous chain segments could be realized by the biaxially elongation. Accordingly, the techniques were applied to the biaxially stretching of chitosan and PVA blend films with high Young's modulus. The planer orientation of the chain axes of chitosan and PVA crystallites could be confirmed. The morphology of the film surface was estimated by measurements of contact angle and electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis. The results suggested that the admixture of chitosan decreases wet ability of the specimen and this tendency was slightly enhanced by the biaxially elongation.     

Structure and Mechanical Properties of Chitosan/Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) Blend Films

Summary: The origins of the thermal and mechanical properties of chitosan and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with inter- and intra-hydrogen bonds were investigated systematically by using X-ray, DSC, positron annihilation and viscoelastic measurements. Based on their individual properties, the characteristics of the blend films were estimated in relation to their morphology and mechanical properties as a function of chitosan content. The characteristics of the blend films were also analyzed in terms of the deviation from a simple additive rule of chitosan and PVA content. These results suggested that the miscibility of chitosan and PVA could be ensured by entanglement of the amorphous chain segments of chitosan and PVA. Further detailed analysis revealed that the chitosan content on the film surface is higher than that of the admixture content of chitosan after elongation, although the chitosan and PVA chains were crystallized independently. The elongation could be achieved for the blend films whose PVA content was higher than 50% and the drawn blend films were transparent. Thus, it may be expected that sufficiently entangled meshes formed between chitosan and PVA amorphous chains within the film, the PVA content being higher than 50%, were maintained under the elongation process.     

Tau Functions of q-Painlevé III and IV Equations

We present a geometric approach to τ-functions of the q-Painlevé III and IV equations via rational surfaces with affine Weyl group symmetry of type (A ₂+A ₁)⁽¹⁾. We also study a similarity reduction of the q-KP hierarchy to the equations. Mathematics Subject Classification (2000). 34M55, 37K10, 39A13     

A Class of Integrable and Nonintegrable Mappings and their Dynamics

We analyse a class of mappings which by construction do not belong to the QRT family. We show that some of the members of this class have invariants of high degree. A new linearisable mapping is also identified. A mapping which possesses confined singularities while having nonzero algebraic entropy is presented. Its dynamics are studied in detail and shown to be related intimately to the Fibonacci recurrence.      

Three-dimensional flow visualization system by holographic interferometry

A holographic system has been developed to visualize a three-dimensional fluid flow. The system consists principally of a thermoplastic film, a monochrome video camera, a microcomputer with image-processing capability and a printer. The system makes it possible to measure a slow flow. Two examples of such, the bimodal and mixed-mode convection flows within a Bénard cell, are presented.     

Spin-oriented projectile fragments: The first application tog-factor measurements

Ejectile nuclei in the fragmentation of intermediate-energy heavy-ion projectiles were found to be largely spin polarized. The observed polarization as a function of the outgoing momentum was nicely explained by a simple kinematical argument based on the participant-spectator model of projectile fragmentation. The measurements extended to cover several different targets, incident energies, exit channels, and emission angles revealed that substantial polarization shows up widely in projectile fragmentation reactions. Furthermore, this polarization exhibits an interesting behavior which may be interpreted as a manifestation of a gradual change in the deflection angle from positive to negative values as the energy increases and/or the target-Z decreases. The present polarization results also suggests various applications of spin polarized radioactive beams. As the first example of such an application, we present a recent result on theg-factor measurements on neutron-rich nuclei.     

A study of surface dynamics of polymers. II. Investigation by plasma surface implantation of fluorine–containing moieties

Macromolecules at the surface of a polymeric solid have considerable mobility, and the specific arrangement of functional groups of macromolecules at the surface is dictated by the environmental conditions in which the surface is placed. Consequently, the change of environmental conditions, such as immersion in water or placement in a biological surrounding, could cause a cosiderable degree of change in the surface characteristics of a polymer from those evaluated in the laboratory against ambient air. The mobile nature of a polymer surface can be investigated by surface-implanting fluorine-containing moieties, mainly—CF₃, by the plasma implantation technique and following the disappearance and reappearance of fluorine atoms on the surface. The disappearance rates (based on the immersion time in water at room temperature) of ESCA F_1s signals, the decay rates of (advancing) contact angle of water, and the recovery of these values on heat treatment of water-immersed samples were measured as a function of crystallinity of polymer samples (at three levels of crystallinity) for poly(ethylene terephthalate) and nylon 6.     

Catalytic epoxidation of cyclohexene by covalently linked manganese porphyrin–viologen complex

When a viologen-linked Mn(III)porphyrin complex with a short methylene-chain, in which a viologen is covalently linked by the methylene-chain into one phenyl group of 5,10,15,20-tetraphenylporphyrinatomanganese(III)chloride (Mn(III)(tpp)Cl), was used as a catalyst for a monooxygenation of cyclohexene in an air-equilibrated acetonitrile solution containing insoluble zinc powder as a reductant, more cyclohexene oxide was obtained as a single product than when Mn(tpp)Cl was used as a catalyst. Benzoic acid as a cleaving reagent of the dioxygen double-bond and 1-methylimidazole as a ligand to Mn porphyrin were further contained in the reaction mixture. This result implies that the viologen moiety in the viologen-linked Mn(III)porphyrin acted effectively as a mediator for electron transfer from zinc powder to the Mn(III)porphyrin moiety in the epoxidation cycle activating molecular dioxygen reductively. Though Mn(tpp)Cl was remarkably demetallated by H⁺ ion from benzoic acid during the epoxidation reaction in the mixed system of Mn(III)(tpp)Cl and viologen, the demetallation of the viologen-linked Mn porphyrin with the short methylene-chain was partly prevented because the reduction of a Mn(II)porphyrin-dioxygen adduct was easily caused by fast intramolecular electron-transfer between the two moieties of the viologen and the Mn porphyrin, proceeding the epoxidation cycle smoothly.