Increased Flame Retardant,Smoke Suppressant and Mechanical Properties of Semi-Rigid Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) Treated with Zinc Hydroxystannate Coated Dendritic Fibrillar Calcium Carbonate

Zinc hydroxystannate (ZHS) coated dendritic fibrillar calcium carbonate (ZHSCC-_D) and ZHS coated cubic calcium carbonate (ZHSCC_-C) were prepared in the water solution of cetyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB)/glycerin and in a pure water solution, respectively. Compared with the semirigid polyvinyl chloride (PVC) treated with ZHSCC_-C, when the addition level and the effective flame retardant component of ZHS were the same, the semi-rigid PVC treated with ZHSCC_-D showed a higher value of tensile strength, elongation and impact strength, and a lower smoke density rating (SDR) value than those of the semi-rigid PVC treated with ZHSCC_-C; except for the semi-rigid PVC treated with 10 g ZHSCC_-C (1:10) or ZHSCC_-D (1:10) per 100 g PVC, the semi-rigid PVC treated with ZHSCC_-D had almost the same LOI value as that of the semi-rigid PVC treated with ZHSCC_-C. The semi-rigid PVC treated with 10 g ZHSCC_-D (1:10) per 100 g PVC had the best integrated properties.     

Preparation and Properties of Natural Rubber (NR)/Polycaprolactone (PCL) Bio-Based Shape Memory Polymer Blends

Shape memory NR/PCL bio-based blends, where NR served as the reversible phase and PCL served as the switching phase, were prepared using a melt blending process. Peroxide, besides its role as a cross-linking agent to NR, was used to enhance the compatibility between NR and PCL, which was confirmed via Fourier transform infrared spectra and scanning electron microscopy analyses. With increasing peroxide content, the tensile strength increased steadily with decreasing PCL contents, up to 12.3 ± 0.8 MPa for the NR/PCL (70/30) blend at 2 phr peroxide. The shape fixing ratio decreased slightly with increasing peroxide content, especially for high NR content. The values of the shape recovery ratio were high, up to 100%, regardless of PCL content. The recovery stress was found to reach its maximum value around 60°C. In order to consider both fixing ratio (R_f) and recovery ratio (R_r) together, an additional denotation of shape memory index, R_fR_r, coupling both ratios by the product of the fixing ratio and recovery ratio, is proposed. The shape memory index (R_fR_r) reached values close to 100%, at the NR/PCL composition of 50/50 and 70/30; in particular, the highest value was for the 50/50 case regardless of peroxide concentration. The shape recovery ratio and fixing ratio remained largely unchanged even after 30 cycles of deformation and recovery processes for a typical NR/PCL/DCP (30/70/0.5) blend which, thus, outperformed all known shape memory blends in the literature.     

An adaptive approach for primitive shape extraction from point clouds

In the paper, an adaptive approach for primitive shape extraction from point clouds is presented. The approach extends RANSAC segmentation algorithm in two ways: adaptive primitive shape detection based on histogram analysis of points’ deviations from their corresponding fitted primitive shapes; getting boundary points of the fitted primitive shapes and trimming uniform points of primitive shapes according to boundaries. The data structure of a fitted primitive shape contains two parts: parameter vectors that define the primitive shape; boundary points of the primitive shape. By placing uniform points on primitive shapes and trimming away the points outside of boundaries, we got trimmed uniform points each fitted primitive shapes. Afterwards, we got mesh models of primitive shapes by exerting Delaunay algorithm on each set of trimmed uniform points. At last, we output the final model by calibrating primitive shapes’ positions and orientations and trimming primitive shapes according to their intersection lines.     

Enhanced exchange bias in magnetron-sputtered Ni–Mn–Sb–Al ferromagnetic shape memory alloy thin films

In the present study, the influence of aluminium (Al) addition on the martensite-austenite phase transformation and exchange bias of Ni–Mn–Sb films have been investigated. Ni–Mn–Sb–Al films with different Al concentration (∼0–5.6%) were deposited by co-sputtering of Ni–Mn–Sb and Al targets. Experimental results revealed the decrease in martensitic transformation temperature with increasing Al content upto a certain extent (3.3%) beyond which martensitic transformation was suppressed. Paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition temperature (T_C) also decreased with increasing Al concentration. Ni₅₀Mn_36.3Sb_10.4Al_3.3 thin film showed significant improvement in exchange bias field as compared to pure Ni_50.3Mn_36.9Sb_12.8 thin film. This enhancement in the exchange bias field H_EB = 611 Oe at 10 K is attributed to the increase of AFM-FM interactions that result from the decrease of Mn–Mn distance due to the incorporation of Al atoms. This behaviour is an additional property of the FSMA thin films apart from various other multifunctional properties and therefore, is of technological importance for their applications in magnetic storage devices.     

Comparison experiments of neon and helium buffer gases cooling in trapped ~(199)Hg~+ ions linear trap

The influences of different buffer gas, neon and helium, on199Hg+clock transition are compared in trapped199Hg+linear trap. By the technique of time domain’s Ramsey separated oscillatory fields, the buffer gas pressure frequency shifts of199Hg+clock transition are measured to be(d f /dPNe)(1/ f) = 1.8 × 10-8Torr-1for neon and(d f /dPHe)(1/ f) = 9.1 × 10-8Torr-1for helium. Meanwhile, the line-width of199Hg+clock transition spectrum with the buffer gas neon is narrower than that with helium at the same pressure. These experimental results show that neon is a more suitable buffer gas than helium in199Hg+ions microwave frequency standards because of the199Hg+clock transition is less sensitive to neon variations and the better cooling effect of neon. The optimum operating pressure for neon is found to be about 1.0 × 10-5Torr in our linear ion trap system.     

Shape and gravitational field of the ellipsoidal satellites

The shape and gravitational field of ellipsoidal satellites are studied by using the tidal theory. For ellipsoidal satellites, the following conclusions were obtained: Firstly, in the early stage of the satellite formation, strong tidal friction allowed the satellites move in a synchronous orbit and evolve into a triaxial ellipsoidal shape. Because the tidal potential from the associated primary and the centrifugal potential from the satellite spin are nearly fixed at the surface, the early satellites are the viscoelastic celestial body, and their surfaces are nearly in the hydrostatic equilibrium state. The deformation is fixed in the surface of the satellite. By using the related parameters of primary and satellite, the tidal height and the theoretical lengths of three primary radii of the ellipsoidal satellite are calculated. Secondly, the current ellipsoidal satellites nearly maintain their ellipsoidal shape from solidification, which happened a few billion years ago. According to the satellite shape, we estimated the orbital period and spinning angular velocity, and then determined the evolution of the orbit. Lastly, assuming an ellipsoidal satellite originated in the hydrostatic equilibrium state, the surface shape could be determined by tidal, rotation, and additional potentials. However, the shape of the satellite’s geoid differs from its surface shape. The relationship between these shapes is discussed and a formula for the gravitational harmonic coefficients is presented.     

Spontaneous deformation of main-chain liquid-crystalline elastomers composed of smectic polyesters

We observe the spontaneous shape change of a uniaxially deformed liquid-crystalline elastomer composed of smectic main-chain liquid-crystalline polyesters in a cyclic heating–cooling process. Although the elastomer contracts by about 115% on heating up to the isotropic phase, the sample length recovers by 55% on cooling to room temperature in the first heating–cooling process, and the elastomer exhibits an almost complete reversible deformation in the second heating–cooling process. By a comparison of the results of sample observation with those of X-ray analysis, we recognise that the strain λ was linearly coupled with the orientational order parameter S. In addition, the results of the X-ray analysis imply that a cybotactic nematic state, in which smectic clusters lie scattered in a nematic-like matrix, emerges after exposure to the isotropic phase.     

Recent Developments in Colloidal Synthesis of CuInSe2 Nanoparticles

Ternary semiconductor nanocrystals, such as CuInSe₂, are of high interest for photovoltaic application due to their relatively low toxicity and unique properties. During the last decades great success has been achieved in the colloidal synthesis of binary nanoparticles, but for ternary compounds this research is still in an early stage of development. These materials are a challenge for synthetic chemistry, because the interaction between the three components (copper, indium, and selenium) plays a major role for the production of high quality material. The purpose of this Minireview is to provide a summary of the achievements in colloidal synthesis of CuInSe₂ nanoparticles—in particular, details of reaction mechanism and its characterization possibilities, which might be useful also for the colloidal synthesis of other multicomponent systems.     

Synthesis,Characterization, Curing and Shape Memory Properties of Epoxy‐Polyether System

Epoxy resins were cured by an amine telechelic poly(tetramethylene oxide) (PTMO). The telechelic amine was synthesized from hydroxy telechelic PTMO and was characterized. The kinetics of curing of epoxy monomer by the polyether amine was studied in detail by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and rheology to optimize the cure conditions. The cured epoxy system exhibited shape memory properties where PTMO served as the switching segment. Molar ratios of the epoxy monomer and the amine were varied to get polymers with different compositions. The developed polymers were analyzed by DSC, X‐ray diffraction, and Dynamic Mechanical Thermal (DMTA) analyses. Shape memory property was evaluated by bending tests. As the concentration of epoxy resin increased, the transition temperature (T_trans) increased. The tensile strength and % elongation also increased with epoxy resin‐content. The extent of shape recovery increased with PTMO‐content with a minor penalty in recovery time. The polymer with the maximum PTMO‐content exhibited 99% shape recovery with a recovering time of 12 s.     

Identifying essential pairwise interactions in elastic network model using the alpha shape theory

Elastic network models (ENM) are based on the idea that the geometry of a protein structure provides enough information for computing its fluctuations around its equilibrium conformation. This geometry is represented as an elastic network (EN) that is, a network of links between residues. A spring is associated with each of these links. The normal modes of the protein are then identified with the normal modes of the corresponding network of springs. Standard approaches for generating ENs rely on a cutoff distance. There is no consensus on how to choose this cutoff. In this work, we propose instead to filter the set of all residue pairs in a protein using the concept of alpha shapes. The main alpha shape we considered is based on the Delaunay triangulation of the Cα positions; we referred to the corresponding EN as EN(∞). We have shown that heterogeneous anisotropic network models, called αHANMs, that are based on EN(∞) reproduce experimental B‐factors very well, with correlation coefficients above 0.99 and root‐mean‐square deviations below 0.1 Ų for a large set of high resolution protein structures. The construction of EN(∞) is simple to implement and may be used automatically for generating ENs for all types of ENMs. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.