Dielectric and optical properties of polymer-liquid crystal composite

Dielectric properties of polymer-liquid crystal mixture, having constituent polymer, poly-butyl methacrylate (PBMA) and liquid crystal, cholesteryl nonanoate, are reported as a function of frequency and temperature. The measurement has been done in a temperature range of 300-375 K and frequency range of 100 Hz-10 MHz. The dielectric permittivity and dielectric loss shows significant changes with the addition of polymer molecules in liquid crystal. The significant feature of composite formation is that the pure liquid crystal and polymer do not show dielectric relaxation in the frequency range covered, while the composite shows relaxation peak at a particular frequency. The optical transmittance of pure liquid crystal and composite has also been measured and compared.     

Application of polymer-supported triphenyl phosphine in the palladium-catalyzed cyanation reaction under microwave conditions

A variety of aryl nitriles were prepared in excellent yields from the palladium acetate catalyzed coupling of aryl halides with Zn(CN)₂ using polymer-supported triphenyl phosphine as the ligand and dimethylformamide as solvent under microwave irradiation conditions.     

A numerical and experimental investigation of the interactions between a non‐uniform planar array of incompressible free jets

The interaction between multiple incompressible air jets has been studied numerically and experimentally. The numerical predictions have been first validated using experimental data for a single jet configuration. The spreading features of five unequal jets in the configuration of one larger central jet surrounded by four smaller equi‐distant jets, have been studied, for different lateral spacing ratios of 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5 and a central jet Reynolds number of 1.24×105 (corresponding to a Mach number of 0.16). Flow of five equal jets has also been simulated, for the sake of comparison. The jet interactions commence at an axial distance of about 3–4 diameters and complete by an axial distance of about 10 diameters for the lowest spacing ratio of 1.5. For larger spacing ratios, the length required for the start and completion of jet interaction increase. Peripheral jets bend more towards the central jet and merge at a smaller distance, when their sizes are smaller than that of the central jet. The entrainment ratio for multiple jets is higher than that for a single jet. Excellent agreement is observed between the experimental data and theoretical predictions for both mean flow field and turbulent quantities, at regions away from the jet inlet. The potential core length and initial jet development, however, are not predicted very accurately due to differences in the assumed and actual velocity profiles at the jet inlet. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Multibody dynamics of aircraft occupants seated behind interior walls

To improve aircraft crash safety, conditions critical to occupants survival during a crash must be known. In view of the importance of this problem, studies of post-crash dynamic behavior of victims are necessary in order to reduce severe injuries. In this study, crash dynamics program SOM-LA/TA, incorporating a dynamic model of the human body with a finite element model of the seat structure was used. Modifications were performed in the program for reconstruction of an occupant's head impact with the interior walls or bulkhead. A viscoelastic-type contact force model was used to represent the compliance characteristics of the bulkhead. Correlated studies of analytical simulations with impact sled test results were accomplished. A parametric study of the coefficients in the contact force model was then performed in order to obtain the correlations between the coefficients and the Head Injury Criteria. A measure of optimal values for the bulkhead compliance and displacement requirements was thus achieved in order to keep the possibility of a head injury as little as possible. This information could in turn be used in the selection of suitable materials for the bulkhead, instrument panel, or interior walls of an aircraft.     

Conductivity and dielectric properties of sol–gel derived porous zirconia

The 8-mol percentage Y₂O₃-stabilized Porous Zirconia was prepared using sol–gel method. Zirconium oxalate gel was prepared by the addition of appropriate amount of oxalic acid solution into the 1 M aqueous solution of zirconium-oxy chloride. A cubic phase zirconia powder was obtained by calcination and milling of the zirconium oxalate gel. Crystallization temperature was found about 450 °C from the Differential thermal analysis. The phase analysis by X-ray diffraction shows the presence of cubic phase. Pellets sintered at 1,350 °C were highly porous, and the electrical conductivity was found with lower value due to the porosity, and the hardness was about 8.0 GPa. Paper presented at the Third International Conference on Ionic Devices (ICID 2006), Chennai, Tamilnadu, India, Dec. 7–9, 2006.     

Charge distribution study in the alpha-particle induced fission of232Th+ effect of excitation energy

The fractional cumulative yields of¹³⁵I,¹³⁸Xe and¹⁴⁰Ba in the particle (30 MeV) induced fission of²³²Th have been determined following the growth and decay of^135gXe,^138gCs and¹⁴⁰La, respectively, employing high resolution gamma ray spectroscopy. The fractional cumulative yield values are 0.766±0.02, 0.813±0.03 and 0.991±0.004, respectively. The analysis of the data indicates a broader width of charge distribution () compared to the normally observed =0.56±0.06 for thermal neutron fission of²³⁵U.     

Electronic, cyclic voltammetry, IR and EPR spectral studies of copper(II) complexes with 12-membered N4, N2O2 and N2S2 donor macrocyclic ligands

A new series of copper(II) complexes have been synthesized with macrocyclic ligands having three different donating atoms in the macrocyclic ring. It has been shown that the stereochemistry of complexes is dependent on the coordinated anions. These complexes are characterized by various physicochemical techniques, viz. elemental analysis, molar conductance, magnetic susceptibility measurements, IR, electronic, 1H NMR and EPR spectral studies. Cyclic voltammetric behavior of the complexes has also been discussed. The observed anisotropic g-values indicate that the chloro and acetato complexes are six-coordinate tetragonal. Whereas the sulfato and nitrato complexes are found to have five-coordinate square-pyramidal and four-coordinate square-planar geometry, respectively.