Preparation of poly(methyl methacrylate) and copolymers having enhanced thermal stabilities using sucrose-based comonomers and additives

A series of methyl methacrylate polymers have been prepared containing sucrose-based crosslinkers and additives. Thermogravimetry and long-term aging studies at 200°C show that sucrose-based alkyl and allyl ethers provide unprecedented thermal stability to linear, as well as crosslinked, poly (methyl methacrylate) or PMMA. Linear PMMA and PMMA crosslinked with trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate (TMPTMA) both degrade at 284°C. PMMA containing octa-O-crotylsucrose (1 mol %) degraded at 322°C. Depending on concentration, PMMA containing octa-O-allylsucrose (0.1-1.0 mol % and higher) degraded between 334 and 354°C, and PMMA containing 1′,6,6′-trimethacryloyl-2,3,3′,4,4′-penta-O-methylsucrose (0.1-1.0 mol %) degraded between 309 and 320°C. PMMA containing (1 mol % each) sucrose-based esters, ester-ether derivatives, all degraded at or below the degradation temperature of pure PMMA. Long-term air aging studies revealed that PMMA containing penta-O-methylsucrose trimethacrylate, octa-O-allylsucrose, and octa-O-crotylsucrose did not flow or sag after heating for 24 h at 200°C, but the polymers did show yellowing. While linear and crosslinked samples of PMMA containing compounds other than sucrose ethers lost more than 50% of their original weight within 15 h at 200°C, PMMA containing sucrose-based ethers lost about 8 and 20% of their original weight after 1 and 8.5 days, respectively. Herein we propose a unique mechanism by which saccharide ethers may be imparting this unprecedented thermal stabilization to PMMA. While tertiary hydrogens alpha to oxygens in saccharide ethers are stable to chain transfer during normal polymerization temperatures, they readily chain transfer at 200°C where PMMA is unstable. Chain transfer of these hydrogens is followed by fragmentation to produce alkyl, allyl or crotyl radicals, which combine with the macroradicals and terminate depropagation. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Quinone imines and aminophenols as precursors of new heterocycles

Cyclization of substituted quinone imines and diazabutadiene derivatives of aminophenols affords 4aH-phenoxazine or 4H-1,4-benzoxazine derivatives, which are finally transformed into the following fused heterocycles: the stable 1,4,6,8-tetra(tert-butyl)phenoxazin-10-yl radical and 7a,14a,15a, 15b-tetrahydro-14,16-dioxa-5,9-diaza-8,15-ethenohexaphene and 5a,6,11a, 12-tetrahydro[1,4]benzoxazino[3,2-b][1,4]benzoxazine derivatives. The influence of the substituents on the pathways of the reactions of intermediate benzoxazines and phenoxazines, such as oxidation, [2+4] dimerization, and the closure of the second ring, was studied. The structures of the fused heterocycles were determined by X-ray diffraction, NMR spectroscopy, and ESR. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 11, pp. 2491–2496, November, 2005.     

Theoretical study of molecular conduction: I. Effective Green's function based on perturbation theory

There have been many experimental and theoretical studies on molecular conduction, as it is a fundamental parameter in the study of molecular‐scale electronics. We have investigated the features of molecular conduction using a Green's function method, which has often been used to solve problems in quantum transport and is also effective in elucidating electron transport in molecules. We have obtained the novel effective Green's functions, including the first‐order energy corrections, by accommodating the self‐energy of the electrodes as perturbation terms. Although these approximate Green's functions only provide information on the first‐order energy corrections, they can involve the elementary properties of molecular conduction. We propose a scheme for the analysis of the relations between molecular orbitals and their roles in molecular conduction and present analytical calculations for normal and cyclic polyenes. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Quantum Chem, 2006     

NLO‐active maleimide copolymers with ­high glass transition temperatures

We synthesized some novel rigid NLO‐active maleimide copolymers bearing DR‐1 moieties ( PMPD , PHSD and PHND ). All copolymers exhibited high T_g's (190～197 °C), good solubilities for common solvents and excellent film‐forming properties. Dependence of film thickness on the d₃₃ value for the poled copolymer films induced by corona poling was investigated and it was demonstrated that in less than thickness of 0.3 µm decrease of the thickness gives rise to remarkable increase in the d₃₃ value. The poled copolymer films exhibited large d₃₃ values (270 × 10^?9 esu (film thickness 0.13 µm) for PMPD , 290 × 10^?9 esu (0.12 µm) for PHSD and 350 × 10^?9 esu (0.08 µm) for PHND ) as well as large r₃₃ values (51.0 pmV^?1 for PMPD and 60.4 pmV^?1 for PHND ) which are significantly large compared to the value of LiNbO₃ (31 pmV^?1) as a typical EO material. The d₃₃ values of the poled copolymers were kept constant even after standing 1000h at 80 °C, although a small decrease was observed at an initial stage. Further, the d₃₃ values did not change up to ca. 123 °C upon heating at the rate of 10 °C/min in all cases. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electroconduction of Potassium Orthophosphate Modified with Triple-Charged Cations

Solid electrolytes in the systems K_{3 – 3x} Me _x PO₄ (Me = Sc, Y, In, La, Nd, Gd, Tb) are synthesized. Their phase composition and the temperature and concentration dependences of their electroconductivity are studied. In all the systems there form solid solutions based on K₃PO₄, which have a high potassium cation conductance. The latter is due to the formation of potassium vacancies at substitutions 3K⁺ Me³⁺ and, at lower temperatures, to stabilization of a high-temperature -modification of potassium orthophosphate. The electroconductivity of synthesized solid solutions, which equals (4–7) × 10^–3 and 10^–1 S cm^–1 at 300 and 700°C, is similar to that of solid electrolytes K_{3 – x} P_{1 – x} E _x ^VIO₄ and K_{3 – 4x} E _x ^IVPO₄.     

Synthesis and properties of novel poly(amide-imide)s containing pendent diphenylamino groups

A new dicarboxylic acid, 2,4-bis(N-trimellitoyl)triphenylamine, bearing two preformed imide rings was synthesized from the condensation of 2,4-diaminotriphenylamine and trimellitic anhydride at 1:2 molar ratio. A series of poly(amide-imide)s (PAIs) with inherent viscosities of 0.38-0.66 dl/g were prepared by triphenyl phosphite-activated polycondensation from the diimide-dicarboxylic acid with various aromatic diamines. All the resulting PAIs were readily soluble in a variety of organic solvents and formed strong and tough films via solution casting. These PAIs have useful levels of thermal stability associated with moderately high glass-transition temperatures (259-314 °C) and 10% weight loss temperatures in excess of 530 °C in nitrogen or in air.     

Lipschitzian inverse functions,directional derivatives,and applications inC 1,1 optimization

The paper shows that Thibault's limit sets allow an iff-characterization of local Lipschitzian invertibility in finite dimension. We consider these sets as directional derivatives and extend the calculus in a way that can be used to clarify whether critical points are strongly stable inC ^1,1 optimization problems.Many fruitful discussions with colleagues D. Klatte and K. Tammer as well as with H. Th. Jongen and F. Nozicka have influenced the present investigations in a very constructive manner. For the original papers concerning the sets f(x; u), the author is indebted to Prof. L. Thibault.     

Statistical properties of aggregation with injection

We study a generalized aggregation process in which charged particles diffuse and coalesce randomly on a lattice. For one-dimensional and mean-field models, we show that there exists a statistically-invariant steady state when randomly charged particles are continuously injected. The steady-state charge distribution obeys a power law with the exponent depending both on the type of the injection and on the spatial dimension. The response of the system to a perturbation (i.e., relaxation) is characterized by either a power law decay (t ^– ,1) or a compressed exponential decay [exp(–t ),>1].     

空间展布体系中由化学反应-扩散-热传导耦合导致的温度场对称破缺

分析了由于化学反应-扩散-热传导耦合而导致的非等温非均匀体系中温度场对称破缺.研究结果表明,在一定的边界条件下,甚至是单组分化学反应-扩散-热传导体系,温度场的这种自组织进程也不可避免.作为温度场结构的一个范例,进一步从解析解及计算机模拟两个方面研究了小展布非等温的Lindeman模型;结果表明,温度场出现时空自组织的阈值不仅与本征参数有关,而且与体系的边界条件及外控约束相关,揭示出了诱发或避免这种温度场时空自组织之途径.     

Combined use of adiabatic calorimetry and heat conduction calorimetry for quantifying propellant cook-off hazards

Recent work performed at DERA (now QinetiQ) has shown how accelerating rate calorimetry (ARC) can be used to obtain time to maximum rate curves using larger samples of energetic materials. The use of larger samples reduces the influence of thermal inertia, permitting experimental data to be gathered at temperatures closer to those likely to be encountered during manufacture, transportation or storage of an explosive device. However, in many cases, extrapolation of the time to maximum rate curve will still be necessary. Because of its low detection limit compared to the ARC, heat conduction calorimetry can be used to obtain data points at, or below, the region where an explosive system might exceed its temperature of no return and undergo a thermal explosion.Paired ARC and heat conduction calorimetry experiments have been conducted on some energetic material samples to explore this possibility further. Examples of where both agreement and disagreement are found between the two techniques are reported and the significance of these discussed. Ways in which combining ARC and heat conduction calorimetry experiments can enhance, complement and validate the results obtained from each technique are examined.