On the crystallization of γ-isotactic polypropylene: A high pressure study

The non-parallel chain structure determined for γ-phase isotactic polypropylene (γ-iPP) is confirmed by Rietveld analysis for highly isotactic high molecular mass iPP crystallized at 200 MPa. The new refinement shows that: (i) stereoregularity or crystallization pressure do not significantly influence the lattice dimensions; (ii) defect inclusion in γ-iPP crystals is unlikely. The α and γ forms have nearly identical bulk internal energy and density, but α-iPP should be normally kinetically favored over γ-iPP which may in turn predominate due to its greater ability to host defects at the crystalline-amorphous interface.     

Approximations in Sobolev spaces by prolate spheroidal wave functions

Recently, there is a growing interest in the spectral approximation by the Prolate Spheroidal Wave Functions (PSWFs) ${\psi }_{n,c},c>0$. This is due to the promising new contributions of these functions in various classical as well as emerging applications from Signal Processing, Geophysics, Numerical Analysis, etc. The PSWFs form a basis with remarkable properties not only for the space of band-limited functions with bandwidth c, but also for the Sobolev space $H^s([?1,1])$. The quality of the spectral approximation and the choice of the parameter c when approximating a function in $H^s([?1,1])$ by its truncated PSWFs series expansion, are the main issues. By considering a function $f\in H^s([?1,1])$ as the restriction to $[?1,1]$ of an almost time-limited and band-limited function, we try to give satisfactory answers to these two issues. Also, we illustrate the different results of this work by some numerical examples.     

Detection of rolling bearing defects using discrete wavelet analysis

In the detection of bearing faults the so much desired objective remains the extraction of the defect vibratory signature from the measured signal in which immerses the random noise and other components of the machine. In this article a denoising method of the measured signals is presented. Based on the optimization of wavelet multiresolution analysis, it uses the kurtosis as an optimization and evaluation criterion, several parameters were then selected. The experimental results show the validity of this method within the detection of several defects simulated on ball bearings. The various configurations, in which the signals were measured, allow leading to optimum conditions of its application. The application of WMRA on filtered signals allows better results than its application on wide bands signals or a simple band pass filtering.     

A family of orthonormal wavelet bases with dilation factor 4

In this paper, we study a method for the construction of orthonormal wavelet bases with dilation factor 4. More precisely, for any integer M>0, we construct an orthonormal scaling filter mM(ξ) that generates a mother scaling function ?M, associated with the dilation factor 4. The computation of the different coefficients of ²|mM(ξ)| is done by the use of a simple iterative method. Also, this work shows how this construction method provides us with a whole family of compactly supported orthonormal wavelet bases with arbitrary high regularity. A first estimate of α(M), the asymptotic regularity of ?M is given by α(M)∼0.25M. Examples are provided to illustrate the results of this work.     

Adhesive contact in the context of multi-asperity interaction

In order to analyse the scale effect of roughness and adhesion in contact between solids, we introduce in this work a 3D model of elastic contact combined with the adhesive theory. The model of roughness with different fractal dimension is introduced to study the adhesive contact in the elastic state at different length scales.The results of this study show that the scale of roughness modifies the distribution law of the contact pressure and stiffness. The introduction of the adhesive force and fractal property of roughness clearly shows the combined influence of roughness scale and adhesive force on contact stiffness.     

Finite element method for the stress analysis of isotropic cylindrical helical spring

This paper presents an efficient two nodes finite element with six degrees of freedom per node, capable to model the total behaviour of a helical spring. The formulation, which includes the shear deformation effects, is based on the assumed forces hybrid approach. The resultant forces approximation verifies exactly the resultant equilibrium equations. The developed model proves its accuracy compared with other elements. This element permits to get the distribution of different stresses along the spring and through the wire surface by only one element.     

Study of the molecular mobility of collagen

The dielectric relaxations of a biopolymer, collagen, have been studied by means of the thermally stimulated current (TSC) technique. To investigate effects of water on TSC spectra, complementary measurements by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) have been performed. In dehydrated collagen, three spectral bands were recorded in the temperature range of -180-60°C, labelled α, β₁, and γ in the order of decreasing temperature. The TSC spectrum of hydrated collagen exhibits a supplementary band labelled β₂. By using the fractional polarization method, the γ and β₁ modes have been attributed to localized movements of nonpolar (apolar) sequences and polar sequences, respectively. The α mode has been associated with delocalized movements of the collagen macromolecules. Finally the β₂ mode has been attributed to reorientations of bound water molecules inside the collagen fibers. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Effect of radial flow in the die entrance region on gross melt fracture of PDMS extrudate

The gross melt fracture defect is related to the flow instabilities developed in the contraction region. To mitigate these upstream instabilities, a convergent radial flow in the die entrance has been created. In fact, the ultimate objective of the present work is to examine the effect of the clearance width of radial flow on the appearance and development of gross melt fracture defect. So, capillary rheometer experiments were performed with linear polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) oil.As for the influence of radial flow width on the morphology of gross melt fracture defect, extrudate photographs show that this imperfection can be mitigated since its frequency is higher and amplitude smaller when the gap of radial flow decreases. Such results may be related both to shear and elongational components of radial flow. Actually, when gap width is very small compared to the external diameter of radial flow, shear deformations become more enhanced with respect to the elongational deformations and thus the helical gross melt fracture becomes more like a surface defect than volume defect.