Treatment of PVC using an alternative low energy ion bombardment procedure

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Surface Modification of Polycarbonate by Atmospheric-Pressure Plasma Jets

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Surface characteristics analysis of polypropylene treated by dielectric barrier discharge at atmospheric pressure

Polypropylene (PP) samples were treated by Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) in order to modify their surface characteristics. The XPS analysis reveals that the DBD treatment added oxygen atoms to the PP surface. These polar groups cause increase in the wettability as shown by water contact angle measurements. The formation of low-molecular-weight oxidized materials (LMWOMs) in the form of small nodules on the PP surface was observed by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The presence of oxygen polar groups on the PP surface was also confirmed by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). All analysis were performed before and after rinsing the treated samples in water and showed that the LMWOM can be removed from the surface by polar solvents.

Analysis of Semi-solid Processing for Metal Matrix Composite Synthesis Using Factorial Design

The main goal in this work is to conduct a quantitative analysis of the mechanical stir casting process for obtaining particulate metal matrix composites. A combined route of stirring at semi-solid state followed by stirring at liquid state is proposed. A fractional factorial design was developed to investigate the influence and interactions of factors as: time, rotation, initial fraction and particle size, on the incorporated fraction. The best incorporations were obtained with all factors at high levels, as well as that very long stirring periods have no strong influence being particle size and rotation the most important factors on the incorporated fraction. Particle wetting occurs during stirring at semisolid state, highlighting the importance of the interactions between particles and the alloy globularized phase. The role of the alloying element Mg as a wettability-promoting agent is discussed. The shear forces resulting from the stirring system is emphasized and understood as the effect of rotation itself added to the propeller blade geometry.

Aplicação de sabões de ácidos graxos epoxidados como inibidores de corrosão em oleoduto

Corrosion usually occurs in pipelines, so that it is necessary to develop new surface treatments to control it. Surfactants have played an outstanding role in this field due to its capacity of adsorbing on metal surfaces, resulting in interfaces with structures that protect the metal at low surfactant concentrations. The appearance of new surfactants is a contribution to the area, as they increase the possibility of corrosion control at specific conditions that a particular oil field presents. The aim of this work is to synthesize the surfactants sodium 12 hydroxyocadecenoate (SAR), sodium 9,10-epoxy-12 hydroxyocadecanoate (SEAR), and sodium 9,10:12,13-diepoxy-octadecanoate (SEAL) and apply them as corrosion inhibitors, studying their action in environments with different salinities and at different temperatures. The conditions used in this work were chosen in order to reproduce oil field reality. The study of the micellization of these surfactants in the liquid-gas interface was carried out using surface tensiometry. It was observed that cmc increased as salt concentration was increased, and temperature and pH were decreased, while cmc decreased with the addition of two epoxy groups in the molecule. Using the values of cmc and the Gibbs equation, the values of Gibbs free energy of adsorption, area per adsorbed molecule, and surface excess were calculated. The surface excess increases as salt concentration and temperature decreases, increasing as pH is increased. The area per adsorbed molecule and the free energy of adsorption decrease with salt concentration, temperature, and pH increase. SAXS results showed that the addition of epoxy group in surfactant structure results in a decrease in the repulsion between the micelles, favoring the formation of more oblong micellar structures, ensuring a better efficiency of metal coverage. The increase in salt and surfactant concentrations provides an increase in micellar diameter. It was shown that the increase in temperature does not influence micellar structure, indicating thermal stability that is advantageous for use as corrosion inhibitor. The results of inhibition efficiency for the surfactants SEAR and SEAL were considered the best ones. Above cmc, adsorption occurred by the migration of micelles from the bulk of the solution to the metal surface, while at concentrations below cmc film formation must be due to the adsorption of semi-micellar and monomeric structures, certainly due to the presence of the epoxy group, which allows side interactions of the molecule with the metal surface. The metal resistance to corrosion presented values of 90% of efficiency. The application of Langmuir and Frumkin isotherms showed that the later gives a better description of adsorption because the model takes into account side interactions from the adsorbing molecules. Wettability results showed that micelle formation on the solid surface occurs at concentrations in the magnitude of 10-3 M, which isthe value found in the cmc study. This value also justifies the maximum efficiencies obtained for the measurements of corrosion resistance at this concentration. The values of contact angle as a function of time suggest that adsorption increases with time, due to the formation of micellar structures on metal surface

Efeito da desinfecção por aerossóis sobre a capacidade de umedecimento de moldes de poliéter por gesso tipo IV

A desinfecção de todo e qualquer molde obtido é medida de biossegurança obrigatória na atividade clínica. Tão importante quanto a desinfecção é a seleção do método e da solução desinfetante a ser utilizada para cada material de moldagem. É imperativo que a capacidade de reprodução de detalhes, a estabilidade dimensional e o grau de umedecimento (ou molhabilidade) não sejam criticamente afetados. O propósito deste trabalho foi avaliar o grau de umedecimento de uma marca comercial de poliéter (Impregum F) por três diferentes marcas comerciais de gesso tipo IV (Herostone, Durone e Polirock), após sua desinfecção por aerossóis de hipoclorito de sódio 1% (líquido de Milton) ou glutaraldeído 2% (Glutalabor II). Foram confeccionados 45 moldes de poliéter, os quais, em grupos de 15, receberam aerossóis de água (Grupo Controle), Líquido de Milton ou Glutalabor II. em seguida, sobre a superfície dos moldes foram confeccionados modelos de gesso tipo IV, em número de 5 para cada marca de gesso. Após seu seccionamento mediano e preparo da superfície de corte, os modelos foram levados ao microscópio Carl Zeiss para leitura do ângulo de contato. Os resultados obtidos permitiram concluir que: a) a capacidade de umedecimento do poliéter por diferentes marcas comerciais de gesso tipo IV variou para os gessos estudados; b) o gesso Durone adaptou-se melhor aos moldes de poliéter do que os gessos Herostone e Polirock; c) a desinfecção dos moldes com aerossóis de hipoclorito de sódio 1% (líquido de Milton) ou glutaraldeído 2% (Glutalabor) não afetou a adaptação entre os gessos e o poliéter.

Trajectory of neutron-neutron-C-18 excited three-body state

The trajectory of the first excited Efimov state is investigated by using a renormalized zero-range three-body model for a system with two bound and one virtual two-body subsystems. The approach is applied to n-n-C-18, where the n-n virtual energy and the three-body ground state are kept fixed. It is shown that such three-body excited state goes from a bound to a virtual state when the n-C-18 binding energy is increased. Results obtained for the n-C-19 elastic cross-section at low energies also show dominance of an S-matrix pole corresponding to a bound or virtual Efimov state. It is also presented a brief discussion of these findings in the context of ultracold atom physics with tunable scattering lengths. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Trajectory of virtual, bound and resonant Efimov states

The pole trajectory of Efimov states for a three-body alpha alpha beta system with alpha alpha unbound and alpha beta bound is calculated using a zero-range Dirac-delta potential. It is shown that a three-body bound state turns into a virtual one by increasing the alpha beta binding energy. This result is consistent with previous results for three equal mass particles. The present approach considers the n-n-(18)C halo nucleus. However, the results have good perspective to be tested and applied in ultracold atomic systems, where one can realize such three-body configuration with tunable two-body interaction.

LARGE ATOMIC and NUCLEAR THREE-BODY SYSTEMS: SCATTERING and BINDING

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Neutron-C-19 scattering near an Efimov state

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Theoretical Models for Surface Forces and Adhesion and Their Measurement Using Atomic Force Microscopy

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Response of human alveolar bone-derived cells to a novel poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene)/barium titanate membrane

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Design of hierarchical porous aluminas by using one-pot synthesis and different calcination temperatures

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Investigations on the stability of plasma modified silicone surfaces

In this work it was investigated the effect of the exposure to different plasmas on the wettability of silicone samples. We have observed that oxygen. argon, and hydrogen glow discharges are quite effective in reducing the water contact angle of such polymer. However, indifferently to efficiency of the treatment, practically all the modified surfaces recovered great part of their original hydrophobicity. We have investigated this hydrophobic recovery using surface energy measurements and theoretical simulations based on the exponential decay of the population of polar groups on the surface. According to our results such recovery can be attributed to the decrease of polar species at the interface water-polymer surface.

A low-voltage low-power analog memory cell with built-in 4-quadrant multiplication

An accurate switched-current (SI) memory cell and suitable for low-voltage low-power (LVLP) applications is proposed. Information is memorized as the gate-voltage of the input transistor, in a tunable gain-boosting triode-transconductor. Additionally, four-quadrant multiplication between the input voltage to the transconductor regulation-amplifier (X-operand) and the stored voltage (Y-operand) is provided. A simplified 2 x 2-memory array was prototyped according to a standard 0.8 mum n-well CMOS process and 1.8-V supply. Measured current-reproduction error is less than 0.26% for 0.25 muA less than or equal to I-SAMPLE less than or equal to 0.75 muA. Standby consumption is 6.75 muW per cell @I-SAMPLE = 0.75 muA. At room temperature, leakage-rate is 1.56 nA/ms. Four-quadrant multiplier (4QM) full-scale operands are 2x(max) = 320 mV(pp) and 2y(max). = 448 mV(pp), yielding a maximum output swing of 0.9 muA(pp). 4QM worst-case nonlinearity is 7.9%.