Differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetric analysis investigation of the thermal properties and degradation of some radiation‐grafted films and membranes

The influence of irradiation and grafting on the crystallinity of three base polymers has been investigated with differential scanning calorimetry. Grafting has the largest effect on the base polymer crystallinity and results in a reduction of the crystallinity. The thermal degradation of the base polymers and grafted films has been investigated with thermogravimetric analysis. The extent of the fluorination of the base polymer, the irradiation method, and the graft level all influence the thermal degradation and its activation energy. It is proposed that the variation of the chain lengths of the grafted polystyrene chains is actually a primary underlying factor responsible for the influence of these various parameters on the degradation process. The first results of a comparative thermal analysis of some fuel‐cell membranes are also presented, and the promise and shortcomings of this method are discussed. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 2612–2624, 2004     

On the Causes and Effects of Contaminations during rf Diode Deposition of Cr-Si Alloys

Investigations to the causes and effects of contaminants at the rf diode deposition of CrSi films in a non-heated high vacuum apparatus were carried out comparing an oxygen-free fusion target with an oxygen-containing cermet target. The films of the fusion target contained considerable amounts of oxygen; analogously the oxygen concentration in the films was increased in the case of the cermet target. Moreover, hydrogen was found. The concentration of the contaminants decreased with the sputtering power, however the rate of incorporation increased. For high sputtering rates the contamination process was reproducible and independent of the plant conditioning; the deposited films were depth-homogeneous. The reasons for this behaviour lie in water sources which are activated first of all by the discharge itself. The electrical properties found are explained by the contaminants and the deposition conditions.     

Rhenium

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Trigonometric polynomials with many real zeros

This is a contribution to the theory of “incomplete trigonometric polynomials”T _n , but mainly for the case when their zeros are not concentrated at just one point, but are distributed in some intervalI whose length is not too large. We begin with the simple theorem that if ∥T _n ∥ ≤ 1 and ifT _n has ≥θn, 0<θ< 2, zeros at 0, thenT _n (t) must be small on the interval |t|<2 arcsin (θ/2). There are similar but more complicated and more difficult to prove results whenT _n has ≥θn zeros onI. These results have the following application: IfT _n →f a.e., and if ∥T _n >∥_∞<-1, thenf vanishes on a set of the circleT whose measure is controlled by lim sup (N _n /n), whereN _n is the number of zeros ofT _n onT. In turn, this has further applications to series of polynomials, to norms of Lagrange operators, and to Hardy classes.