Preparation of photocurable silica–titania hybrid coatings by an anhydrous sol–gel process

Photocurable silica-titania hybrid coatings were prepared through an anhydrous sol–gel process. Moreover, test samples were prepared by the addition of definite ratios of fluoro acrylate oligomers into the formulations to manage the optical properties of transmitted light. Formulations were applied to corona-treated polycarbonate substrates. Upon adding the inorganic component to the coating material, thermal, mechanical, and other properties, such as hardness, gloss, contact angle, and flame resistance were improved. The photocured hybrid films showed an increase in the refractive index with increasing the titanium tetraisopropoxide content. As expected, a decrease was observed in the refractive index of the coatings with the incorporation of fluoro acrylate resin. The surface morphology of the hybrid films was characterized by ESEM analysis. In addition the chemical composition of the surface of the coatings was identified by ESEM–EDS technique. ESEM studies indicated that inorganic particles were dispersed homogenously throughout the organic matrix.     

Polyethylene glycol-assisted growth of Cu2SnS3 promising absorbers for thin film solar cell applications

In this paper, we report, for the first time, the results of the polyethylene glycol- (PEG) assisted preparation and characterization of high-quality and well-crystallized Cu₂SnS₃ (CTS) thin films obtained using sol–gel spin-coating method and a subsequent annealing in a sulphur atmosphere. Structural, morphological, compositional, electrical and optical investigations were carried out. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the samples proved the polycrystalline nature and preferred crystallization of the films. No peak referring to other binary or ternary phases were detected in the patterns. The intensity of the preferred orientation and crystallite size of the films increased with increasing PEG content. This trend yielded an improvement in photo-transient currents of the PEG-assisted growth of CTS films. The scanning electron microscopy images revealed that the CTS films have continuous, dense and agglomeration-like morphology. Through energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy studies, it has been deduced that the samples consist of Cu, Sn and S of which atomic percentages were consistent with Cu/Sn and S/metal initial ratios. The agglomerated morphology of the samples has been attributed to increasing PEG content. A remarkable enhancement was observed in photo-transient currents of p-n junction of the produced films along with increasing PEG content. Through resistivity-temperature measurements, three impurity level electrical activation energy values for each film were found. Optical band gap values of the films were estimated via absorbance-wavelength behaviours and decreased with increasing PEG content. It has been revealed that PEG-assisted growth of CTS thin films is a promising way to improve its photovoltaic characteristics.     

Thioether functional chain extender for thermoplastic polyurethanes

In this study, a novel three functional chain extender(TATATRIOL) was synthesized from the reaction of 1,3,5-tri(prop-2-en-1-yl)-1,3,5-triazinane-2,4,6-trione(TATA) with 2-sulfanylethanol. Then new thermoplastic polyurethanes(TPUs) were synthesized by a one-step bulk polymerization from the reaction of 1,1'-methanediylbis(4-isocyanatocyclohexane)(H12MDI), a poly(ethylene adipate) based polyester polyol and a chain extender. Butane-1,4-diol(BD) and the newly synthesized monomer, TATATRIOL, were used as chain extenders. The effects of TATATRIOL on the properties of the TPU were investigated and compared to those of the TPU prepared with BD. The TPUs which derived from the sulfur containing chain extender displayed lower modulus and high elongation at break values than the analogous TPUs derived from BD. Moreover sulfur containing TPUs exhibited higher thermal stability.     

Study on transient local entropy generation in pulsating fully developed laminar flow through an externally heated pipe

This study presents the investigation of transient local entropy generation rate in pulsating fully developed laminar flow through an externally heated pipe. The flow inlet to the pipe is considered as pulsating at a constant period and amplitude (only the velocity oscillates). The simulations are extended to include different pulsating flow cases (sinusoidal flow, step flow, and saw-down flow). To determine the effects of the mean velocity, the period and the amplitude of the pulsating flow on the entropy generation rate, the pulsating flow is examined for various cases of these parameters. Two-dimensional flow and temperature fields are computed numerically with the help of the fluent computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code. In addition to this CFD code, a computer program has been developed to calculate numerically the entropy generation and other thermodynamic parameters by using the results of the calculations performed for the flow and temperature fields. In all investigated cases, the irreversibility due to the heat transfer dominates. The step flow constitutes the highest temperature (about 919 K) and generates the highest total entropy rate (about 0.033 W/K) within the pipe. The results of this study indicate that in the considered situations, the inverse of square of temperature (1/T ²) is more dominant on the entropy generation than the temperature gradients, and that the increase of the mean velocity of the pulsating flow has an adverse effect on the ratio of the useful energy transfer rate to irreversibility rate.     

On the response of a preloaded mechanical oscillator with a clearance: Period-doubling and chaos

The dynamic behavior of a harmonically excited, preloaded mechanical oscillator with dead-zone nonlinearity is described quantiatively. The governing strongly nonlinear differential equation is solved numerically. Damping coefficient-force ratio maps for two different values of the excitation frequency have been formed and the boundaries of the regions of different motion types are determined. The results have been compared with the results of the forced Duffing's equation available in the literature in order to identify the differences between cubic and dead-zone nonlinearities. Period-doubling bifurcations, which take place with a change of any of the system parameters, have been found to be the most common route to chaos. Such bifurcations follow the scaling rule of Feigenbaum. b half length of the clearance.     

Effects of packing materials on the sensitivity of RadFET with HfO2 gate dielectric for electron and photon sources

The radiation sensing field effect transistor (RadFET) with SiO₂ gate oxide has been commonly used as a device component or dosimetry system in the radiation applications such as space research, radiotherapy, and high-energy physics experiments. However, alternative gate oxides and more suitable packaging materials are still demanded for these dosimeters. HfO₂ is one of the most attractive gate oxide materials that are currently under investigation by many researchers. In this study, Monte Carlo simulations of the average deposited energy in RadFET dosimetry systems with different package lid materials for point electron and photon sources were performed with the aim of evaluating the effects of package lids on the sensitivity of the RadFET by using HfO₂ as a gate dielectric material. The RadFET geometry was defined in a PENGEOM package and electron–photon transport was simulated by a PENELOPE code. The relatively higher average deposited energies in the sensitive region (HfO₂ layer) for electron energies of 250?keV–20?MeV were obtained from the RadFET with the Al₂O₃ package lid despite of some deviations from the general tendency. For the photon energies of 20–100?keV, the average amount of energy deposited in RadFET with Al₂O₃ package was higher compared with the other capped devices. The average deposited energy in the sensitive region was quite close to each other at 200?keV for both capped and uncapped devices. The difference in the average deposited energy of the RadFET with different package lid materials was not high for photon energies of 200–1200?keV. The increase in the average deposited energy in the HfO₂ layer of the RadFET with Ta package lid was higher compared with the other device configurations above 3?MeV.     

Reversed-phase HPLC analysis of levetiracetam in tablets using monolithic and conventional C18 silica columns

Development and validation of an RP-HPLC method for determination of levetiracetam in pharmaceutical tablets is described. The separation and quantification of levetiracetam and caffeine (internal standard) were performed using a single analytical procedure with two different types of stationary phases, conventional Phenomenex Gemini C18 (100 x 4.6 mm, 5 microm) and Merck Chromolith Performance RP18e (100 x 4.6 mm, macropore size 2 mm, micropore size 13 nm) monolithic silica. Five-microliter aliquots of samples were injected into the system and eluted using water-acetonitrile (90 + 10, v/v) mobile phase pumped at the rate of 1 mL/min. The analyte peaks were detected at 200 nm using a diode array detector with adequate resolution. Validation studies were performed using the method recommended by the International Conference on Harmonization, the U.S. Pharmacopeia, and AOAC INTERNATIONAL, which includes accuracy, precision, range, limits, robustness, and system suitability parameters. Levetiracetam and caffeine were detected in about 7 min using the conventional column, whereas less than 5 min was required when the monolithic column was used. Calibration plots had r values close to unity in the range of 0.8-8.0 microg/mL. Assay of levetiracetam in a tablet formulation was demonstrated as an application to real samples.     

Fuzzy capital rationing model

In this paper, we study the fuzzification of Weingartner’s pure capital rationing model and its analysis. We develop a primal–dual pair based on t-norm/t-conorm relation for the constraints and objective function for a fully fuzzified pure capital rationing problem except project selection variables. We define the α$\alpha$-interval under which the weak duality is proved. We perform sensitivity analysis for a change in a budget level or in a cash flow level of a non-basic as well as a basic variable. We analyze the problem based on duality and complementary slackness results. We illustrate the proposed model by computational analysis, and interpret the results.     

Optimization of Multilevel Investments Using Dynamic Programming Based on Fuzzy Cash Flows

Dynamic programming is applicable to any situation where items from several groups must be combined to form an entity, such as a composite investment or a transportation route connecting several districts. The most desirable entity is constructed in stages by forming sub-entities of progressively larger size. At each stage of the development, the sub-entities that are candidates for inclusion in the most desirable entity are retained, and all other sub-entities are discarded. In deterministic dynamic programming, a specification of the current state and current decision is enough to tell us with certainty the new state and costs during the current stage. In many practical problems, these factors may not be known with certainty, even if the current state and decision are known. In this paper, the dynamic programming is applied to the situation where each investment in the set has the following characteristics: the amount to be invested has several possible values, and the rate of return varies with the amount invested. Each sum that may be invested represents a distinct level of investment, and the investment therefore has multiple levels. A fuzzy present worth based dynamic programming approach is used. A numeric example for a multilevel investment with fuzzy geometric cash flows is given. A computer software named FUZDYN is developed for various problems such as alternatives having different lives, different uniform cash flows, and different ranking methods.