Sol-Gel Particulate Float Process to Make Vitreous Silica Bodies

Particulate sol-gel technology uses larger particles than that of alkoxide-derived gels and provides larger pore sizes in the gelled object. This allows relatively rapid drying and fabrication of large rods or tubular shapes. However, the formation of more complex or flat shapes, which require extensive surface contact with a mold, is more difficult. The shrinkage during drying, with the significantly greater stress of surface friction due to adhesion, frequently leads to cracking.We have demonstrated a solution to this problem by floating the gel on the surface of a dense liquid. Dry silica panels up to 28 × 40 × 0.7 cm³ were prepared in this way. The use of patterning molds allowed the fabrication of more sophisticated shapes. These bodies were sintered to transparent vitreous silica articles of near net dimensions.     

Thermodynamics of condensation of phthalonitrile with m-phenylenediamine

Conclusions The reaction of phthalonitrile condensation with m-phenylenediamine is thermodynamically allowed at temperatures from 250° to 500°K, and its equilibrium is almost completely shifted toward the formation of the macroheterocycle.Translated from Izvestiya Akademii Nauk SSSR, Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 4, pp. 779–787, April, 1984.     

Direct measurements of long-range surface forces in gas and liquid media

A modified set-up was applied to carry out direct measurements of the forces of molecular attraction of gold spheres and crossed quartz filaments in air within the region of distances from 10 to 100 nm. Some quantitative deviations from Lifshitz's theory for gold may be attributed to an insufficient reliability of the spectral data used in the calculations. The DLVO theory adequately describes the interaction of glass threads in KCl (10^?3 ÷ 10^?5 N) solutions within the region of 5 to 100 nm. At a distance smaller than 5 nm, the deviations from DLVO theory are attributable to the influence of structural forces.When the contact between crossed hydrophobized quartz threads in water is broken, the attraction forces (which exceed the molecular forces by several orders of magnitude) at a distance of up to 300 nm are detected.     

Syntheses and structures of methyltris(pyrazolyl)silane complexes of the group 6 metals

The methyltris(3,5-dimethylpyrazolyl)silane ligand, TpsMe2, was readily prepared by the metathesis reaction of methyltrichlorosilane with 3 equiv of lithium 3,5-dimethylpyrazolate. The octahedral tricarbonyl complexes (TpsMe2)M(CO)3 were synthesized either by ligand exchange with the labile nitrile adducts M(CO)3(NCR)3 (M = Cr, Mo, R = Me; M = W, R = Et) or thermally by direct substitution on the hexacarbonyls M(CO)6 (M = Cr, Mo). The three new complexes were characterized by a combination of analytical and spectroscopic techniques, including electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. They are all isostructural and display in the solid state the expected distorted octahedral geometries with facially coordinated tris(pyrazolyl)silane ligands. Crystallographic data were used to calculate the ligand cone angles (251-264 degrees) in (TpsMe2)M(CO)3 and also to estimate a value of 1.59 A for the covalent radius of octahedral W(0).     

Overview: Synchronization and patterns in complex systems

The theory of complex systems, such as neural assemblies or lattices of chaotic oscillators has generated many new problems including the synchronization or regularization of the cooperative behavior of systems consisting of chaotic elements, regular spatial patterns in "chaotic" lattices, and so on. A number of these problems were discussed at the International School in Nonlinear Science-95 (Nizhniy Novgorod, Russia). In this overview we try to formulate some of the most interesting problems that were discussed at that meeting. (c) 1996 American Institute of Physics.     

Towards a new edition of the “Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement”

The “Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement” (GUM) is an extremely important document. It unifies methods for calculating measurement uncertainty and enables the consistent interpretation and comparison of measurement results, regardless of who obtained these measurements and where they were obtained. Since the document was published in 1995, it has been realised that its recommendations do not properly address an important class of measurements, namely, non-linear indirect measurements. This drawback prompted the initiation of the revision of the GUM in the Working Group 1 of the Joint Committee for Guides in Metrology, which commenced in October 2006. The upcoming revision of the GUM provides the metrological community with an opportunity to improve this important document, in particular, to reflect developments in metrology that have occurred since the first GUM publication in 1995. Thus, a discussion of the directions for this revision is important and timely. By identifying several shortcomings of the GUM and proposing directions for its improvement, we hope this article will contribute to this discussion. Papers published in this section do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Editors, the Editorial Board and the Publisher.     

Measurement of the coefficient of thermal slip of gases and the thermophoreses velocity of large-size aerosol particles

Four different experimental methods were applied to finding the values of the thermal slip coefficient of gases. The values obtained, k_t = 1.05 ÷ 1.13, tally well with the value k_t = 1.17, calculated by Ivchenko and Yalamov (4) for the case of full accomodation, and with the value k_t′ = 1.17, derived from irreversible thermodynamics by Bakanov, Derjaguin and Roldugin (23) for the same case.