Pre-fibrillation of pulps to manufacture cellulose nanofiber-reinforced high-density polyethylene using the dry pulp direct kneading method

The dry pulp direct kneading method is an industrially viable, low-energy process for manufacturing cellulose nanofiber (CNF)-reinforced polymer composites, where the chemically modified pulps are nanofibrillated and uniformly dispersed in the polymer matrix during melt compounding. In the present study, cellulose fibers of various sizes ranging from surface-fibrillated pulps (20 μm in width) to fine CNFs (20 nm in width) were prepared from softwood bleached kraft pulps using a refiner and a high-pressure homogenizer. These cellulose fibers were modified with alkenyl succinic anhydride and dried. The dried fibers were used as a feed material for melt compounding in the dry pulp direct kneading method to fabricate CNF-reinforced high-density polyethylene (HDPE). When surface-fibrillated pulps were employed as a feed material, the pulps were nanofibrillated and dispersed uniformly in the HDPE matrix during melt compounding. The resulting composites had much better properties—i.e., much higher tensile modulus and strength values, and much lower coefficient of thermal expansion values—than the composites produced using pulps without pre-fibrillation. However, when CNFs were used as a feed material, they were shortened and agglomerated during melt compounding, and the properties of the composites consequently deteriorated. The study concludes that surface-fibrillated pulp, which can be produced cost-effectively using a refiner on an industrial scale, is more suitable as a feed material than CNFs for melt compounding in the dry pulp direct kneading method. This finding enables the elimination of a preliminary step in the preparation of CNFs from pulps, which is a time-consuming and energy-intensive process.

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Development of Plasma Window for gas charge stripper at RIKEN RIBF

A differential pumping system with a Plasma Window (PW) has been developed for an application to a window-less He gas charge stripper. A PW with Southern Methodist University design was newly fabricated and tested off-line for evaluation of differential pumping efficiency. Switching gases for plasma seed from Ar to He was tested. It was found that the PW reduced the pressure at the first differential pumping section to 1/13 for Ar and to 1/17 for He, comparing with differential pumping without PW. At the second pumping section, the pressures were drastically reduced to 1/160 and to 1/4,520 for Ar and He, respectively. These pressure reduction factors indicate that one differentially pumped stage could be removed from a conventional differential pumping system.     

Charge strippers for Radioisotope Beam Factory at RIKEN

The accelerator complex at the RIKEN Radioisotope Beam Factory accelerates heavy ions ranging from oxygen to uranium using triple stripping system to provide the beams at required charge. In many cases, the charge strippers cause problems during high-intensity beams accelerator operation. The charge stripper problem has been most significant during uranium beam acceleration because the lifetimes of the conventional carbon foils are extremely short. We conducted extensive R&D on the first stripper and found a solution using a low-Z gas stripper. We also plan to modify a second stripper operating recently with short-lifetime carbon foils. The stripper with better parameters will be needed when the beam intensity is increased by a new injector system for acceleration of uranium beam with higher charge.     

Resolving the discrepancy of 135 MeV pd elastic scattering cross sections and relativistic effects

Three precise measurements for elastic pd scattering at 135 MeV/A have been performed with the three different experimental setups. The cross sections are described well by the theoretical predictions based on modern nucleon-nucleon forces combined with three-nucleon forces. Relativistic Faddeev calculations show that relativistic effects are restricted to backward angles. This result supports the two measurements recently reported by RIKEN and contradicts the KVI data.     

Precision measurement of vector and tensor analyzing powers in elastic deuteron-proton scattering

High-precision vector and tensor analyzing powers of elastic deuteron-proton ( d + p) scattering have been measured at intermediate energies to investigate effects of three-nucleon forces. Angular distributions in the range of 70^°-120^° in the center-of mass frame for incident-deuteron energies E _d ^lab = 130 and 180 MeV were obtained using the RIKEN facility. The beam polarization was unambiguously determined by measuring the ^12C (d, α)^10B(2⁺) reaction at 0^°. Results of the measurements are compared with state-of-the-art three-nucleon calculations. The present modeling of nucleon-nucleon forces and its extension to the three-nucleon system is not sufficient to describe the high-precision data consistently and requires, therefore, further investigation.     

Synthesis and characterization of Ti–Ni shape memory alloy thin films by pulsed laser deposition

Shape-memory alloys are crucial in various industrial fields. However, a high-quality film synthesis method has not been established yet. Here we examine optimum conditions for synthesis of thin films by pulsed laser deposition of Ti–Ni alloy target in vacuum. We investigated surface morphologies and chemical compositions of the films which were obtained under various conditions. We found that the suitable Ti/Ni ratio was obtained by adjusting the distance between the target and the substrate in vacuum. In parallel, we analyzed plasma plume by optical emission spectroscopy and time-of-flight mass spectrometry. We discuss the basic behavior of ablated particles in vacuum.     

Selective Michael Reaction Controlled by Supersilyl Protecting Group

Selective Michael reaction of organolithium reagents to supersilyl methacrylate is reported. The method was able to control a single and double Michael addition. The successful termination of the process using the supersilyl protecting group allows for the controlled, chemoselective, and diastereoselective Michael reaction.     

Structural property and function of D-erythro asymmetric chain sphingomyelins as studied by microcalorimetry and electron microscopy

D-erythro sphingomyelines (SM) having a defined acyl chain were synthesized with sphingosylphosphorylcholine as a starting material, and both a structural property and its relating phase transition phenomenon were compared between a symmetric chain length SM (palmitoyl-SM: C16-SM) and asymmetric chain length SMs (behenoyl-SM: C22-SM, lignoceryl-SM: C24-SM). Furthermore, effect of increasing a content of asymmetric chain SMs in the mixture systems of C22-SM/C16-SM, and C24-SM/C16-SM was investigated. The present calorimetric and electron microscopic studies revealed that (1) The main transition enthalpy is smaller for the asymmetric chain SMs than for the symmetric chain SM by about 3 kJ mol⁻¹, although the acyl chain length is longer for the former than for latter; (2) Relatively small size vesicles (100∼200 nm diameters) surrounded by one or more lamellae are observed for the asymmetric chain SMs, in contrast to large multilamellar vesicles (1500∼2500 nm diameters) having at least fifteen stained lamellae for the symmetric chain SM and (3) The coexisting asymmetric chain SMs cause the decrease in size and multiplicity for the MLV of the symmetric chain SM, simultaneously with a decrease in the main transition enthalpy.     

A spectroscopic study of the D(0u+) ion-pair state of Br2 by the optical-optical double-resonance technique

An optical-optical double-resonance technique has been applied to study the D(0_u⁺) ion-pair state of Br₂ in a one-photon resonant three-photon absorption. The OODR transition proceeds through the high vibrational level of the B³Π(0_u⁺) state, which compromises a large Franck-Condon shift required for the excitation of Br₂ from the X¹Σ_g⁺ state to the D(0_u⁺) state. Dunham parameters of the D(0_u⁺) state, based on a global least-squares fit of 407 transitions (v′ = 0–16, J′ = 17–115), are Y₀₀ = 49928.443(41), Y₁₀ = 134.467(19), Y₂₀ = ?8.71(27) × 10^?2, Y₃₀ = ?3.36(10) × 10^?3, Y₀₁ = 4.2382(15) × 10^?2, Y₁₁ = ?1.061(36) × 10^?4, Y₂₁ = ?2.00(27) × 10^?6, and Y₀₂ = ?1.93(11) × 10^?8 for ⁷⁹Br₂ (all in cm^?1, and 3σ in parentheses). The single rovibronic fluorescence spectrum of the D(0_u⁺) state shows a transition terminating on the X¹Σ_g⁺ ground state, and establishes the absolute v′ numbering on the basis of the Franck-Condon factor calculations. The v′ = 2 and 3 levels of the D(0_u⁺) state are strongly perturbed due to the heterogeneous interaction with the 1_u state correlating with the same ionic products of the D(0_u⁺) state at the dissociation limit, $\text{Br}{}^{\mathrm{?}}\text{(}{}^1\text{S) +}\text{Br}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{(}{}^3\text{P}{}_2\text{)}$.