Production of high melt strength polypropylene by gamma irradiation

High melt strength polypropylene (HMS-PP) has been recently developed and introduced in the market by the major international producers of polypropylene. Therefore, BRASKEM, the leading Brazilian PP producer, together with EMBRARAD, the leading Brazilian gamma irradiator, and the IPEN (Institute of Nuclear Energy and Research) worked to develop a national technology for the production of HMS-PP. One of the effective approaches to improve melt strength and extensibility is to add chain branches onto polypropylene backbone using gamma radiation. Branching and grafting result from the radical combinations during irradiation process. Crosslinking and main chain scission in the polymer structure are also obtained during this process. In this work, gamma irradiation technique was used to induce chemical changes in commercial polypropylene with two different monomers, Tri-allyl-isocyanurate (TAIC) and Tri-methylolpropane-trimethacrylate (TMPTMA), with concentration ranging from 1.5 to 5.0 mmol/100 g of polypropylene. These samples were irradiated with a ⁶⁰Co source at dose of 20 kGy. It used two different methods of HMS-PP processing. The crosslinking of modified polymers was studied by measuring gel content melt flow rate and rheological properties like melt strength and drawability. It was observed that the reaction method and the monomer type have influenced the properties. However, the concentration variation of monomer has no effect.     

Mechanical properties decay and morphological behaviour of biodegradable films for agricultural mulching in real scale experiment

The use of plastic materials in agriculture causes the serious drawback of huge quantities of waste. The introduction of biodegradable materials, which can be disposed directly into the soil, can be one possible solution to this problem. Biodegradable materials are actually innovative materials; therefore, their physical properties must be evaluated in relation to their functionality during the use in field. In the present research results of experimental tests carried out on biodegradable films used in strawberries protected cultivation are presented. The decay of some relevant physical parameters of biodegradable films during the cultivation period was monitored by laboratory tests (SEM analysis, mechanical tensile tests and infrared reflectance spectroscopy). Infrared spectroscopy clearly indicated that the mechanical degradation starts from the starch component of the material. Tensile tests showed that the value of elongation at break of biodegradable materials decreased in some cases by 300% after 10 days of field application.     

Physical grounds of high-sensitive room temperature detection of infrared radiation involving spherical excitons at impurities in crystals

The possibility of the IR-radiation detecting in crystals of direct-gap semiconductors, caused by effects of IR-quenching of probe visible-range radiation within the region of a crystal relative transparency, is studied both theoretically and experimentally. The comparison of some mechanisms investigated allows to conclude that the most probable explanation of the IR-quenching effect, experimentally observed in the CdS crystal, is the mechanism of probe radiation absorption with photon energy deficit with respect to exciton resonance, which is eliminated due to exchange interaction of a free exciton in the intermediate state with spherical excitons localized on manyelectron atoms of impurity.     

钾原子中多种受激辐射参与的混频过程

当双原子共振激发钾原子于６Ｓ能级时,由光泵受激辐射和电离复合受激辐射参与的六波或四波混频,产生了位于紫外和紫区的诸多相干辐射、文中对多种混频机制进行了分析和讨论,并对所测得的相干辐射线进行了标识．     

腔靶X射线辐射对称特性实验观测

在“神光”装置上用两种特殊结构的实验靶型,通过两个不同方位的诊断孔观测腔内壁Ｘ光再辐射的空间能谱结构和Ｘ光辐射总量,分别研究了与激光第一打击面完全对称和不对称的腔内壁（两个被观测位置相差９０°）Ｘ光辐射能谱和辐射能量的对称性,并对测量结果进行了简要的分析讨论．     

Classical fluids of negative heat capacity

It is shown that new parametersX can be defined such that the heat capacity C_xT(S/T)_x is negative, even when the canonical ensemble [i.e., at fixed T=(U/S)_Y and YX] is stable. This implies an extension of the classical theory of polytropes from ideal gases to general fluids. As examples of negative heat capacity systems we treat blackbody radiation and general gas systems with nonsingular _T. For the case of a simple ideal gas we even exhibit an apparatus which enforces a constraint X(p, V)=const that makes C_x<0. We then show that it is possible to infer the statistical mechanics of canonicallyunstable systems-for which even the traditional heat capacities are negative-by imposing constraints that stabilize the associated noncanonical ensembles. Two explicit models are discussed.     

Thermoanalytische Charakterisierung Strahlengehärteter Polymerfilme

Thermo-oxidative and thermo-mechanical stabilities of radiation-cured acrylates and epoxides were examined by TG, DMA and DSC.The polymeric trifunctional acrylates PETIA, TMPTA and THEIC displayed the highest temperatures of onset of degradation. The high crosslinking density of the films resulted in an almost temperature-independent complex E-modulus, as measured by DMA. With increasing degree of ethoxylation or propoxylation of the monomers, decreases in thermal stability and strength were found. For difunctional polymeric acrylates and epoxides, the glass transition temperature was measured.The average degree of curing of UV-cured epoxy films can be determined from the temperature of the maximum in the loss modulus (E_max.This revised version was published online in November 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Radiation-induced polymerization of methyl methacrylate in microemulsion with high monomer content

γ-Ray-induced polymerization of methyl methacrylate was conducted in a microemulsion stabilized by a mixture of sodium of 12-acryloxy-9-octadecenoic acid (AOA) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) with various weight ratios at room temperature. The experimental data showed that the mixture of AOA and SDS with a weight ratio 2 was an efficient surfactant system for the microemulsion containing 38.6 wt% MMA and 5.5 wt% surfactant. The effects of MMA concentration and dose rate on the polymerization kinetics and particle size are discussed.     

Axial dispersion in a liquid fluidized bed of particles akin to immobilized enzymes

The axial dispersion of a liquid fluidized bed of controlled pore silica (CPS) particles has been determined by the pulse tracer method. The CPS used was the same as for enzyme immobilization, having an average diameter of 0.436 mm and mean pore size of 37.5 nm. The fluidization liquid is α-amylase liquefied manioc starch, 30% w/v, 45°C pH=4.5. Nominal bed porosities tested were 0.7 and 0.8. The results show that the axial dispersion coefficient increases with greater superficial liquid velocities. Various available correlations tested disagree with each other to a large extent and are unable to represent collected experimental data.     

微波固相法合成钠快离子导体Na5YSi4O12

应用微波方法合固相反应难于制备的Ｎａ５ＹＳｉ４Ｏ１２纯相，讨论了微波合成条件对产物的影响，与溶胶－凝胶法相比，微波法反应速率快，选择性强，合成的样品具有特异的聚集态，缺陷和微结构，从而导致离子导电活化能下降。