Cavitation and crystallization in a metastable Lennard-Jones liquid at negative pressures and low temperatures

Molecular dynamics simulations have been used to investigate the kinetics of spontaneous cavitation and crystallization in a Lennard-Jones liquid at negative pressures in the temperature range where these processes compete with each other. The nucleation rate has been calculated in NVE and NpT ensembles by the method of mean lifetime and the transition interface sampling method with parallel path swapping. The data obtained have been used to determine in the framework of classical nucleation theory the value of the ratio of the solid-liquid and the liquid-void interfacial free energy for critical crystals and cavities and the values of their volumes at points where the cavitation rate of the liquid is equal to the rate of its crystallization.     

Size and Shape Effects in Optical Spectra of Silver and Gold Nanoparticles

Journal of Russian Laser Research - We report some theoretical results on the extinction, absorption, and scattering of light by individual silver and gold nanoparticles of different sizes and...     

Effect of annealing on the viscoelastic and viscoplastic responses of low‐density polyethylene

Two series of tensile tests with constant crosshead speeds (ranging from 5 to 200 mm/min) and tensile relaxation tests (at strains from 0.03 to 0.09) were performed on low‐density polyethylene in the subyield region of deformations at room temperature. Mechanical tests were carried out on nonannealed specimens and on samples annealed for 24 h at the temperatures T = 50, 60, 70, 80, and 100 °C. Constitutive equations were derived for the time‐dependent response of semicrystalline polymers at isothermal deformations with small strains. A polymer is treated as an equivalent heterogeneous network of chains bridged by temporary junctions (entanglements, physical crosslinks, and lamellar blocks). The network is thought of as an ensemble of mesoregions linked with each other. The viscoelastic behavior of a polymer is modeled as a thermally induced rearrangement of strands (separation of active strands from temporary junctions and merging of dangling strands with the network). The viscoplastic response reflects sliding of junctions in the network with respect to their reference positions driven by macrostrains. Stress‐strain relations involve five material constants that were found by fitting the observations. Fair agreement was demonstrated between the experimental data and the results of numerical simulation. This study focuses on the effects of strain rate and annealing temperature on the adjustable parameters in the constitutive equations. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 1638–1655, 2003     

Microdetermination of carbon in compounds containing alkali metals

Zusammenfassung Wenn organische Verbindungen außer Alkalimetallen auch noch eine zumindest äquivalente Menge Schwefel enthalten, so besteht der Verbrennungsrückstand aus Alkalisulfat. Auf Grund dieser Beobachtung wird darauf hingewiesen, daß sich außer Kaliumdichromat und Vanadiumpentoxyd auch Kaliumpersulfat als oxydierender Zusatz zur organischen Substanz für die Verdrängung des Kohlendioxyds aus der Asche eignet.

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Résumé Quand des composés organiques, outre les métaux alcalins contiennent encore une quantité au moins équivalente de soufre, le résidu de la combustion apparaît sous la forme de sulfate alcalin. Sur la base de cette observation, on a montré, qu'à côté du bichromate de potassium et de l'anhydride vanadique, le persulfate de potassium convenait comme oxydant de la substance organique et pour débarrasser les cendres de l'anhydride carbonique.

     

Inhomogeneous nature of UV absorption bands of bulk and surface oxygen-deficient centers in silica glasses

Photochemical and photoluminescence studies of oxygen-deficient centers stabilized in the bulk and on the surface of silica glasses clearly demonstrate the inhomogeneous nature of the absorption and luminescence spectra of oxygen-deficient centers. The conclusion is drawn that the inhomogeneity of the absorption spectra is due to the dispersion of the energy of the S₀-S₁ transition, while the inhomogeneity of the luminescence spectra is due to the dispersion of the energy barrier of intersystem crossing. The inhomogeneous nature of the oxygen-deficient centers in silica glasses is assumed to be caused by a small dispersion in the geometrical parameters of different groups of centers with similar chemical properties.     

Molecular dynamics simulation of nanoscale distribution and mobility of water and dimethylmethylphosphonate in sulfonated polystyrene

The interest in a better understanding of the specific interactions of phosphor-organic compounds and water with sulfonated polystyrene (sPS) is motivated by the use of block copolymers as protective membranes against chemical warfare agents. Using classical molecular dynamics simulations, we explored the nanoscale segregation and diffusion of water and nerve gas simulant dimethylmethylphosphonate (DMMP) in sPS neutralized with calcium counterions at different sulfonation and hydration levels. The water content was varied from 15 to 54% of dry polymer weight, and the DMMP content was varied from 0 to 100 wt %. We found that, in the 40% sulfonated polystyrene, water forms well defined aggregates, which grow in size as the hydration increases, reaching approximately 20 A at the maximum water content. In the 100% sulfonated polystyrene, the overall structure of hydrated polymer is more uniform with smaller water aggregates. Diffusion of water at the same number of water molecules per sulfonate group is faster at a lower sulfonation level. The solvation of sPS in water-DMMP binary mixtures was found to differ substantially from Nafion, where DMMP forms a layer between the hydropholic and hydrophobic subphases. In sPS with divalent Ca(2+) counterions, DMMP and water compete for the solvation of the sulfonate group. At high water and DMMP contents, the diffusion of DMMP turned out to be rather fast with a diffusion coefficient of ca. 30% of that of water. At the same time, water diffusion slows down as the DMMP concentration increases. This observation suggests that although sPS is permeable for both solvents, water and DMMP are partially segregated on the scale of 1-2 nm and have different pathways through the system. The nonuniform nanoscale distribution of water and DMMP in sPS is confirmed by analyses of different pair correlation functions. This feature may significantly affect the perm-selective properties of sPS-contained block copolymer membranes.