Practical anodes for Li-ion batteries comprising metallurgical silicon particles and multiwall carbon nanotubes

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Silicon is considered to be a very attractive anode material for next-generation lithium-ion batteries due to its high theoretical capacity...     

Determination of uranium concentration in urine of workers in an Iraqi phosphate mine and fertilizer plants

Precise determination of uranium concentration in human urine is quite important in assessment of occupational and public exposure to uranium. In the present work, a pulsed dye nitrogen laser-induced kinetic phosphorescence analysis (KPA) was used to determine uranium in urine of Iraqi phosphate mine and fertilizer plant workers and in the population living near the mining region. A total of 92 urine samples were collected from workers of the Akashat phosphate mine, the Al-Qaim fertilizer complex, and the Akashat residential region. Uranium concentration in urine of all samples ranged between 0.49 to 5.26 μg L^?1 with a total average of 1.47 ± 0.01 μg L^?1. For comparison, all samples were also analyzed using a completely different technique; the nuclear fission track analysis using CR-39 SSNTD. Both techniques were capable of such measurements, although not with an equal degree of uncertainty. KPA technique is found to be more suitable for analysis of urine samples having high concentrations of uranium.     

Some links between recent gradient thermo-elasto-plasticity theories and the thermomechanics of generalized continua

This work elaborates upon two robust models of gradient elasticity and gradient plasticity, and one gradient model of heat transfer, as originally advocated by the second author in the 1980’s. The objective is, after recalling the links between these models and existing generalized continuum theories as developed in the 1960’s and subsequently, to apply the same methodology to the case of diffusion with a view to establishing generalized transport equations. Aifantis double diffusivity and conductivity theory that provides generalized mass or heat transfer equations is compared to micromorphic-type hyper-temperature and micro-entropy proposals. The double temperature and the micromorphic thermal models are shown to lead to equations more general that Cattaneo’s. The sign of the coefficient of the second time-derivative of temperature is found to differ according to both approaches. The double temperature model contains a fourth space derivative term not present in the micromorphic models. Such generalized equations can be useful, for example, in the interpretation of recent femtosecond laser experiments on metals.     

Development of a Bonner sphere spectrometer with emphasis on decreasing the contribution of scattering by using a new designed shadow cone

In this study, the Bonner sphere spectrometer (BSS) used for measurement of neutron spectra based a BF₃ long counter. The most important problem for this system was a high count of scattered neutrons. This spectrometer was established by designed a new shadow cone with a smaller length and improved attenuation coefficient. Because of shortening the length of the shadow cone, distance of source and center of the sphere was decreased. Furthermore, external part of the thermal detector was covered with a suitable layer to reduce the contribution count of scattering neutrons. Experimental results show that BSS system with BF₃ long cylindrical counter, applying the proper developments, can be used in neutron fluence spectrometry.     

Effect of PBT molecular weight and reactive compatibilization on the dispersed‐phase coalescence of PBT/SAN blends

Poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT)/styrene‐acrylonitrile copolymer (SAN) blends were investigated with respect to their phase morphology. The SAN component was kept as dispersed phase and PBT as matrix phase and the PBT/SAN viscosity ratio was changed by using different PBT molecular weights. PBT/SAN blends were also compatibilized by adding methyl methacrylate‐co‐glycidyl methacrylate‐co‐ethyl acrylate terpolymer, MGE, which is an in situ reactive compatibilizer for melt blending. In noncompatibilized blends, the dispersed phase particle size increased with SAN concentration due to coalescence effects. Static coalescence experiments showed evidence of greater coalescence in blends with higher viscosity ratios. For noncompatibilized PBT/SAN/MGE blends with high molecular weight PBT as matrix phase, the average particle size of SAN phase does not depend on the SAN concentration in the blends. However noncompatibilized blends with low molecular weight PBT showed a significant increase in SAN particle size with the SAN concentration. The effect of MGE epoxy content and MGE molecular weight on the morphology of the PBT/SAN blend was also investigated. As the MGE epoxy content increased, the average particle size of SAN initially decreased with both high and low molecular weight PBT phase, thereafter leveling off with a critical content of epoxy groups in the blend. This critical content was higher in the blends containing low molecular weight PBT than in those with high molecular weight PBT. At a fixed MGE epoxy content, a decrease in MGE molecular weight yielded PBT/SAN blends with dispersed nanoparticles with an average size of about 40 nm. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2010     

Oxidative degradation of nitrogen-containing organic compounds: vaccum-ultraviolet (VUV) photolysis of aqueous solutions of 3-amino 5-methylisoxazole

The oxidative degradation of 3-amino 5-methyl isoxazole initiated by the VUV photolysis of water at 172 nm has been studied. Mineralization of CO₂, H₂O, NO ₃ ^– and NH ₄ ⁺ is more efficient when reductive conditions (argon saturated solutions) are favoured. Formation of compounds which cannot be completely oxidised to CO₂ is observed. Experiments performed under strictly oxidative conditions show higher yields of these inert compounds and, hence, incomplete mineralization. Cyanide was formed in concentrations lower than 5×10^–5 mol/l. In alkaline aqueous solutions, cyanide is completely transformed into CO ₃ ^2– , NH ₄ ⁺ and NO ₃ ^– during the irradiation time needed to mineralize the isoxazole. Therefore, cyanide does not present a potential risk for the use of the VUV photolysis for isoxazole degradation. Similarly, organic nitrogen is converted into both, NO ₃ ^– and NH ₄ ⁺ . The relative concentrations of the two ions depend on total irradiation time, oxygen saturation and reactor geometry. A sequence of reactions is proposed and discussed.Dedicated to Professor Dr. Dieter Klockow on the occasion of his 60th birthday     

Undulation instability in two-dimensional foams of magnetic fluid

Two-dimensional magnetic fluid foams are cellular structures whose framework is made of magnetic fluid. The features of these equilibrated patterns are driven by a control parameter: the amplitude of the applied magnetic field. When the latter is rapidly increased, an instability occurs: the walls between cells undulate. Such an instability has also been observed in other 2D cellular structures, which exist for instance in Langmuir monolayers or in magnetic garnets thin films. In this paper we give a theoretical analysis of this instability, the issues of which are shown to be well confirmed by experiments and numerical simulations. Received: 13 October 1997 / Received in final form: 28 January 1998 / Accepted: 9 March 1998     

Fermion–Antifermion Condensate Contribution to the Anomalous Magnetic Moment of a Fundamental Dirac Fermion

We consider the contribution offermion–antifermion condensates to the anomalousmagnetic moment of a fermion in a vacuum in which suchcondensates exist. The real part of the condensatecontribution to the anomalous magnetic moment is shown to bezero. A nonzero imaginary part is obtained below thekinematic threshold for intermediatefermion–antifermion pairs. The calculation isshown to be gauge-parameter independent provided a single fermion masscharacterizes both the fermion propagator andcondensate-sensitive contributions, suggestive of adynamically generated fermion mass. The nonzeroimaginary part is then argued to correspond to the kinematicproduction of the intermediatestate Goldstone bosonsanticipated from a chiral-noninvariant vacuum. Finally,speculations are presented concerning the applicability of these results to quark electromagneticproperties.