SWELLING AND WETTABILITY OF LIGHT-CURED METHACRYLATE-BASED DENTAL RESINS PREPARED FROM CHOLIC ACID

1. INTRODUCTION Among the commercially available dental composites the most widely used are composites based on resins prepared from a combination of 2,2-bis[4-(2-hydroxy-3-methacrylyloxypro- poxy)-phenyl]propane (bis-GMA) and triethylene glycol dimethacr…     

Voltage effect on color,optical, and surface properties of fibers of PS/PES blends

Fibers of polystyrene (PS)/polyethersulfone (PES) blend were prepared with different concentrations under variant voltages. By increasing the voltage, a decrease in the fiber diameter and a gradual disappearance of the beads were determined by optical microscopy and scan electron microscopy whereas the roughness was increased as proved by atomic force microscopy. This study succeeded in detecting colored fiber of PS and PS/PES blend, under white light illumination, with different angles of incidence without utilizing any colorants whereas, PES had no color. Blending PES with PS as well as increasing the applied voltage has increased the fiber hydrophobicity.     

The Wettability Alteration and the Effect of Initial Rock Wettability on Oil Recovery in Surfactant-based Enhanced Oil Recovery Processes

Wettablity alteration of rock surface is an important mechanism for surfactant-based enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes. Two salt and temperature-tolerant surfactant formulations were developed based on the conditions of high temperature (97–120°C) and high salinity (20 × 10⁴ mg/L) reservoirs where a surfactant-based EOR process is attempted. Both the two sufactant formulations can achieve ultralow interfacial tension level (≤10^?3 mN/m) with crude oil after aging for 125 days at reservoir conditions. Wettability alteration of core slices induced by the two surfactant formulations was evalutated by measuring contact angles. Core flooding experiments were carried out to study the influence of initial rock wettabilities on oil recovery in the crude oil/surfactant/formation water/rock system. The results indicated that the two formulations could turn oil-wet core slices into water-wet at 90–120°C and 20 × 10⁴ mg/L salinity, while the water-wet core slices retained their hydrophilic nature. The core flooding experiments showed that the water-wet cores could yield higher oil recovery compared with the oil-wet cores in water flooding, surfactant, and subsequent water flooding process. The two surfactant formulations could successfully yield additional oil recovery in both oil-wet and water-wet cores.     

Mechanisms of Enhanced Oil Recovery by Surfactant-Induced Wettability Alteration

Different measurements were conducted to study the mechanisms of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) by surfactant-induced wettability alteration. The adhesion work could be reduced by the surfactant-induced wettability alteration from oil-wet conditions to water-wet conditions. Surfactant-induced wettability alteration has a great effect on the relative permeabilities of oil and water. The relative permeability of the oil phase increases with the increase of the water-wetness of the solid surface. Seepage laws of oil and water are greatly affected by surfactant-induced wettability alteration. Water flows forward along the pore wall in the water-wet rocks and moves forward along the center of the pores in the oil-wet rocks during the surfactant flooding. For the intermediate-wet system, water uniformly moves forward and the contact angle between the oil–water interface and the pore surface is close to 90°. The direction of capillary force is consistent with the direction of water flooding for the water-wet surface. While for the oil-wet surface, the capillary force direction is opposite to the water-flooding direction. The highest oil recovery by water flooding is obtained at close to neutral wetting conditions and the minimal oil recovery occurs under oil-wet conditions.     

The Synergistic Effect of a Mixed Surfactant (Tween 80 and SDBS) on Wettability Alteration of the Oil Wet Quartz Surface

The synergistic effect of a new combination of Tween 80 and sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) surfactants has been studied for wettability alteration of a reservoir rock. The contact angle decreased substantially for the aqueous solution of the mixed surfactant on a crude oil aged quartz substrate when compared to water and individual surfactants viz. SDBS and Tween 80. This established synergism between anionic and non-ionic surfactants. The optimal salinity for reduction of the contact angle has been figured out. The rheological effect of the mixed surfactant solution on the wettability alteration has been investigated. Adsorption of crude components at the solid–fluid interfaces has been observed to visualize the activity at the micro scale. Quantification of adsorption for the mixed surfactant on sand has been studied to meet the economical aspect. Reaction aspects of the mixed surfactant–quartz–crude oil system have been interpreted from FTIR. Functional groups present in the system have also been enquired.     

Front Cover: Creating Hydrophobic Foils From Biopolymer Blends Using Mechanical Microimprinting (ChemPhysChem 20/2023)

The surface topography of biodegradable polymer foils is modified by mechanical imprinting on a submillimeter length scale. The created patterns strongly influence the wetting behavior and allow the preparation of hydrophobic surfaces with controlled solid-liquid interaction. A detailed analysis of anisotropic surface patterns reveals that the observed effect arises from a combination of topographical and compositional changes that are introduced to the surface. As a main result it is found that an individual combination of material and structure is required for the production of water-repellent biopolymer foils that are highly attractive for packaging applications.     

分子动力学模拟研究方解石表面润湿性反转机理

利用分子动力学模拟技术从分子尺度探究方解石表面润湿性反转机理.首先,研究方解石表面润湿性反转过程;而后,从原油分子-方解石表面与原油分子-原油分子/水分子相互作用两个方面系统揭示方解石表面润湿性反转机理.结果:(1)水分子能够驱离方解石表面弱吸附的非极性分子造成润湿性的改变,但不能驱离强吸附的极性分子使润湿性反转难以实现;(2)原油分子极性越强与方解石表面相互作用越强,极性分子与方解石表面之间主要为静电力,非极性分子与方解石表面之间主要为范德华力;(3)原油分子极性越相近分子之间的相互作用越强,分子极性相差越大分子之间的相互作用越弱.非极性分子之间主要是范德华力,极性分子之间主要是静电力;(4)原油分子在方解石表面和水分子的共同作用下形成乙酸-吡啶-水-甲苯-己烷的稳定吸附序列.本研究为靶向提高采收率技术的设计与应用提供理论基础.     

Interfacial studies of uncoated and coated NiTi particles in SnPbAg matrix

Uncoated and copper electroless coated fine NiTi superelastic particles have been incorporated into liquid SnPbAg matrix. The wettability of the Cu coating by the molten alloy was determined with a wetting balance. The composite interfaces have been investigated by Auger Spectroscopy. Uncoated NiTi reacted with the matrix to form Ni-Sn intermetallics, whereas the Cu layer of coated particles behaved as a sacrificial layer, leading to a small interfacial zone containing neither Cu-Sn nor Ni-Sn intermetallics. The mechanical characterisation of Cu-coated NiTi/SnPbAg composites shows a reinforcement of the composite material compared to the monolithic matrix, and also an unusual increase of the elongation at rupture. These results can be interpreted in terms of the superelastic properties of the NiTi SMA particles.     

Modification of Polyimide in Barrier Discharge Air-Plasmas: Chemical and Morphological Effects

Chemical and physical modifications of polyimide (PI) surfaces caused by an air plasma have been studied. The plasma-induced surface changes of PI were investigated by using a local dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) in air at atmospheric pressure and room temperature as a function of the plasma exposure time and plasma power, while the excitation frequency was kept constant at about 130 kHz. The first results obtained in this work suggest that DBDs operating in air at atmospheric pressure can be an efficient alternative plasma source for surface treatment of polymers: a short time air plasma treatment of few seconds leads to chemical and physical changes including the rise of wettability, surface oxidation, and enhancement of surface roughness. Therefore, this simple kind of dry surface treatment seems to be an effective, low cost method for production of well-adhering subsequent layers such as metal films, paints, glues, etc. on DBD pretreated polymers.     

Influence of Vapor Phase Pretreatments of Epoxy Surfaces on the Nucleation of MOCVD Copper Thin Films

Vapor phase pretreatments of epoxy composite material reinforced with carbon fibers were carried out prior to the growth of Cu thin films by metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) using Cu (hfa)(COD) as copper precursor. These dry surface oxidation processes include H₂O/UV, O₂/UV and O₂/Plasma treatments. Oxygen plasma method is the most efficient to oxidize the surface and it has the greatest effect to improve the wettability of epoxy samples. As a consequence, the higher hydrophilicity of the plasma-modified epoxy surface induces a higher nucleation density in the Cu film. Furthermore, this treatment reduces drastically the induction period observed for the growth of the metal. Even though the O₂/UV pretreatment incorporates almost the same amount of oxygen in the epoxy surface than the plasma treatment, the functional groups are different, as revealed by XPS analyses, and the surface is less hydrophilic. Correlations between oxidation, wettability and nucleation density of the Cu films are discussed.