Physical Properties of Sol-Gel Coatings

One of the most important applications of sol-gel technology is the fabrication of coatings. This is because of the possibility of applying oxide coatings with practically all types of chemical compositions at low ambient temperatures on many substrates of various shapes through the use of liquid solutions. Both oxides and different types of organic-inorganic hybrid coatings have been reported. Both oxides and hybrid coatings are usually amorphous at ambient temperatures but some oxides can be converted to the crystalline phase with heating. Regardless of the intended applications of the coatings their physical properties are always of importance. For instance, an anti-reflective coating for an automobile mirror is of little practical value unless it is fairly scratch-resistant. In this review which covers published information in the past fifteen years, some of the more important results of physical properties of sol-gel derived coatings are discussed firstly for oxides and then for organic-inorganic hybrids. It appears that properties such as the hardness of oxide coatings are inadequate unless the heat-treatment temperatures are in excess of about 400°C. The hybrid coatings, especially when they contain a dispersed phase of a hard solid like colloidal silica, can be processed at temperatures below about 150°C and can improve the performance of organic plastics such as the polycarbonates. There is insufficient scientific understanding of the relationship between physical properties and other interdependent variables such as processing conditions, chemistry and coating thickness. More research in this area will undoubtedly contribute to the availability of better and new coatings via the sol-gel approach.     

Effect of surface character of filler particles on rheology of heat-set whey protein emulsion gels

Small-deformation and large-deformation rheological properties of heat-set whey protein emulsion gels containing active and inactive filler particles have been investigated using a controlled stress rheometer. The results suggest that the contributions to the gel network are quite different for pure protein gels and emulsion gels having similar storage moduli. An emulsion gel containing inactive filler has a larger phase angle due to the energy dissipation at the ‘slippery’ droplet surface under the influence of the applied shear stress. The large-deformation rheology of the heat-set protein gel has behaviour intermediate between that for an entropic biopolymer gel and that for a particle gel. Emulsion gels containing active or inactive fillers behave more like typical particle gel systems.     

Fast survey analysis of biomass by-product samples based on ICP optical emission spectra

Prehydrolysate samples from the acidic prehydrolysis of Eucalyptus wood residues were submitted to survey analysis by inductively coupled plasma (ICP) optical emission spectrometry (OES) based on the multicomponent and multiline techniques. The survey analysis software is designed to determine 64 elements. The semiquantitative data obtained for the unknown prehydrolysate samples provided fast and valuable information for the determination of important inorganic constituents (Al, B, Ba, Ca, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, P, S, Si, Sr, Zn, Co, Pb, Sn) for further utilisation of the prehydrolysate in the production of fertilisers, animal feed and furfural. To validate the survey analysis approach, the prehydrolysate samples were quantitatively analysed by the standard additions method. For the prehydrolysate samples the relative difference between the results obtained by both techniques was generally ± 25% for the majority of the elements, a typical value for the survey approach. Analyte recoveries in the spiked prehydrolysate samples analysed by the survey approach ranged from 95 to 125%. Independent replicates of prehydrolysate samples were measured over a 15-day period showing relative standard deviations of ≤ 4% for all elements, except for Zn (10%) and S (16%).