The effects of corona treatment on impact and spreading of ink-jet drops on a polymeric film substrate

The effects of varying corona surface treatment on ink drop impact and spreading on a polymer substrate have been investigated. The surface energy of substrates treated with different levels of corona was determined from static contact angle measurement by the Owens and Wendt method. A drop-on-demand print-head was used to eject 38 μm diameter drops of UV-curable graphics ink travelling at 2.7 m/s on to a flat polymer substrate. The kinematic impact phase was imaged with a high speed camera at 500k frames per second, while the spreading phase was imaged at 20k frames per secoiui. The resultant images were analyzed to track the changes in the drop diameter during the different phases of drop spreading. Further experiments were carried out with white-light intetferometry to accurately measure the final diameter of drops which had been printed on different corona treated substrates and UV cured. The results are correlated to characterize the effects of corona treatment on drop impact behavior and final print quality.

Regenerative polymeric bus architecture for board-level optical interconnects

A scalable multi-channel optical regenerative bus architecture based on the use of polymer waveguides is presented for the first time. The architecture offers high-speed interconnection between electrical cards allowing regenerative bus extension with multiple segments and therefore connection of an arbitrary number of cards onto the bus. In a proof-ofprinciple demonstration, a 4-channel 3-card polymeric bus module is designed and fabricated on standard FR4 substrates. Low insertion losses (≤ -15 dB) and low crosstalk values (< -30 dB) are achieved for the fabricated samples while better than ± 6 μm -1 dB alignment tolerances are obtained. 10 Gb/s data communication with a bit-error-rate (BER) lower than 10-12 is demonstrated for the first time between card interfaces on two different bus modules using a prototype 3R regenerator. © 2012 Optical Society of America.

A polymeric regenerative optical bus for board-level optical interconnections

A scalable polymer waveguide-based regenerative optical bus architecture for use in board-level communications is presented. As a proof-of-principle demonstration, a 4-channel polymer bus formed on a FR4 substrate providing 10 Gb/s/channel data transmission is reported. © 2012 OSA.

4-Channel polymeric optical bus module for board-level optical interconnections

A 4-channel polymeric optical bus module suitable for use in board-level interconnections is presented. Low-loss and low-crosstalk module performance is achieved, while -1 dB alignment tolerances better than ± 8 μm are demonstrated. © 2012 OSA.

4-channel polymeric optical bus module for board-level optical interconnections

A 4-channel polymeric optical bus module suitable for use in board-levelinterconnections is presented. Low-loss and low-crosstalk module performance is achieved, while-1 dB alignment tolerances better than ± 8 μm are demonstrated. © OSA 2012.

A polymeric regenerative optical bus for board-level optical interconnections

A scalable polymer waveguide-based regenerative optical bus architecture for use in board-level communications is presented. As a proof-of-principle demonstration, a 4-channel polymer bus formed on a FR4 substrate providing 10 Gb/s/channel data transmission is reported. © 2012 OSA.

Evaluation of the functionality of biodegradable polymeric platforms for drug delivery systems

We present the development of a drug-loaded triple-layer platform consisting of thin film biodegradable polymers, in a properly designed form for the desired gradual degradation. Poly(dl-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA (65:35), PLGA (75:25)) and polycaprolactone (PCL) were grown by spin coating technique, to synthesize the platforms with the order PCL/PLGA (75:25)/PLGA (65:35) that determine their degradation rates. The outer PLGA (65:35) layer was loaded with dipyridamole, an antiplatelet drug. Spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) in the Vis-far UV range was used to determine the nanostructure, as well as the content of the incorporated drug in the as-grown platforms. In situ and real-time SE measurements were carried out using a liquid cell for the dynamic evaluation of the fibrinogen and albumin protein adsorption processes. Atomic force microscopy studies justified the SE results concerning the nanopores formation in the polymeric platforms, and the dominant adsorption mechanisms of the proteins, which were defined by the drug incorporation in the platforms. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Laboratory-scale fluidized bed rig for high-temperature tube wastage studies

As part of a study of the wear of candidate heat exchanger tube materials for use in fluidized bed combustors, two similar laboratory-scale rigs have been built and characterized. Specimens of selected alloys are carried on counter-rotating rotors immersed in a fluidized bed, and are exposed to particle impact velocities of up to approximately 3 ms-1 at temperatures up to 1000°C. The performance of this design of apparatus has been investigated in detail. The effects of several experimental variables have been studied, including angle of particle impact, specimen speed, position of the rotor within the fluidized bed, duration of exposure, bed material particle size, degradation of the bed material, degree of fluidization of the bed, and size of specimen. In many cases the results obtained with steel specimens at elevated temperatures are similar to those observed with polymeric specimens at low temperatures.