Interpretation of the polyelectrolyte and antipolyelectrolyte effects of poly(N‐vinylimidazole‐co‐sodium styrenesulfonate) hydrogels

Hydrogels of N‐vinylimidazole (VI) and sodium styrenesulfonate (SSS) were synthesized in aqueous solution by radical crosslinking copolymerization with N,N′‐methylene‐bis(acrylamide) as crosslinker. Swelling in several saline solutions was measured for hydrogel samples synthesized with different comonomer concentrations (C_T = 10, 25, or 40%) and with SSS mole fractions covering a broad range (f_SSS = 0–0.7), while the crosslinker ratio was 2 wt % in all cases. The degree of swelling in aqueous solution with a specific ionic strength (μ), plotted versus the SSS composition of the feed, shows a minimum for any set of samples synthesized with a fixed C_T. The dependence of swelling on μ shows both polyelectrolyte (f_SSS beyond the minimum) and antipolyelectrolyte behaviors (in the low f_SSS limit). It was found that the nonGaussian factor of the crosslinking density and the polymer‐solvent interaction parameter increase with f_SSS for any C_T. Moreover, in the low f_SSS limit, the osmotic swelling pressure is governed not only by the ionic contribution, but also by the polymer‐solvent mixing and, the concentration of mobile counterions inside the gel is not proportional to the net fixed charge but to the addition of cationic and anionic side groups, what discards the formation of ionic pairs. The antipolyelectrolyte effect is interpreted as due to the increasing protonation of VI as μ goes up. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 1683–1693, 2007     

Matériaux composites à base de graves et de liants polymères—III. Caractéristiques et propriétés rhélogiques d'un nouveau liant à base de polyéthylène de récupération et de cires de polyéthylène

Recovered polyethylene is used with polyethylene waxes as a new binder for mineral granules. This binder is characterized and optimized mainly on a rheological basis. Its fluid index (I.F.), molecular distribution and crystallinity are especially studied. Its rheograms and tensile properties are compared with those of industrial polyethylene (I.F. = 250). The dimensional shrinkages of such binders during cooling from 190° to ambient temperature are measured.     

Microemulsion photopolymerization of methacrylates stabilized with sodium dodecyl sulfate and poly(N-acetylethylenimine) macromonomers

Methyl methacrylate and butyl methacrylate were polymerized in oil-in-water microemulsions that were stabilized by sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS). A poly(N-acetylethylenimine) (PNAEI) macromer was also included in the recipe, as a cosurfactant and a comonomer. Polymerizations were initiated by UV-irradiation. The average diameters of latex particles, obtained by STM, were in the range of 17-200 nm. The experimental data evidenced that the particle size was mainly dependent on the SDS/PNAEI ratio. Polymerization yields were around 75-85%. The synthesized copolymers have viscosity average molecular weights in the range of 2.1-2.4×10⁶ and glass transition temperatures of 38.0-43.5°C, lower than those obtained without using PNAEI. The investigation by means of FTIR and 1H-NMR techniques revealed that PNAEI was incorporated into the nanoparticles.     

Production of lepton pairs in processes with hadronic jets

We propose a model for the production of extra (additional) lepton pairs in deep inelastic lepton-hadron scattering, e⁺e^– annihilation and large p_T processes. Extra lepton pairs are supposed to be originated by annihilations of quarks and antiquarks created during the space-time evolution of quark initiated jets. This mechanism yields predominantly dileptons with rather low masses. Predictions following from the model are compared with the recent data on trimuon production in neutrino-nucleon interactions. It is also suggested that internal hard processes can lead to dileptons with both small and large masses. The latter mechanism has rather small cross section but it is particularly interesting from the point of view of the simple quark-parton model.Dedicated to Academician Václav Votruba on the occasion of his seventieth birthday.     

Equation of state of CaMnO3: a combined experimental and computational study

Elastic properties of CaMnO₃ are of primary importance in the science and technology of CaMnO₃-based perovskites. From X-ray diffraction experiments performed at pressures up to 100 kbar using a diamond-anvil cell to hydrostatically compress our sample, a bulk modulus, K ₀, of 1734(96) kbar was obtained after fitting parameters to the third-order Birch–Murnaghan equation of state. Mean field, semiclassical simulations predict, for the first time, the third-order equation-of-state parameters and show how the bulk modulus increases with pressure (the zero pressure value being 2062.1 kbar) and decreases with the extent of nonstoichiometry caused by the formation of oxygen vacancies. These trends are amplified for the shear modulus. A more accurate model that allows for the explicit reduction of Mn ions, or localization of excess electrons, yields qualitatively similar results. The experimental and calculated axial ratios show the same trends in their variation with rising pressure.