Properties of lactic acid based polymers and their correlation with composition

Attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy of proteins and lipids in biological membranes.

Moisture and ageing strongly influence the dielectric properties of oil/paper insulation system of power transformer. Moisture measurement in oil sample generally gives inconclusive information since oil/paper moisture equilibrium is temperature dependent and takes a long time to be in equilibrium. Direct moisture measurement of paper sample is not practicable for in-service transformers. The measurement and evaluation of the "dielectric response" and conductivity is one possible way of diagnosing a transformer insulation condition. In a recent research project, polarization and depolarization current measurement has been used for assessing the condition of oil/paper insulation. The polarization and depolarization current (PDC) analysis is a nondestructive dielectric testing method for determining the conductivity and moisture content of insulation materials in a transformer. On the basis of this analysis it is possible to take further actions like oil-refurbishment, drying or replacement of the winding of the transformer. This paper presents a description of the PDC technique with the physical and mathematical background and some results of PDC measurements on several transformers. Analyses and interpretation of the field test data are also presented in this paper.

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Investigation of polarization and depolarization current measurements for the assessment of oil-paper insulation of aged transformers

The radiation chemistry of fluoropolymers

Polycarbonate urethanes (PCNUs) have been used as a replacement for traditional biomedical polyether-urethanes due to their reported resistance to oxidative biodegradation. However, relatively little is known about their hydrolytic stability in the presence of inflammatory derived enzymes. This has in part motivated the current study relating to the effect of hard segment chemistry and the microdomain structures generated by such chemistry, on the cholesterol esterase (CE) catalyzed hydrolysis of PCNUs. The bulk structures of the studied materials were characterized using gel permeation chromatography (GPC), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) for their bulk structures, and attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) for their subsurface structures. 14C-labeled PCNUs were incubated with CE (400 units/mL), for a period of 10 weeks (pH 7.0 at 37 degrees C), and radiolabel release was used to monitor the degradation. The results showed that all of the polymers synthesized in this study were susceptible to CE-catalyzed hydrolytic degradation, and that the extent of degradation was highly dependent on the nature of hard segment interactions within the polymer and at the surface. More specifically, the degree of phase separation and soft segment crystallinity were found to be less important in comparison to the hydrogen bonding among the carbonate and urethane linkages. The rank of the different chemical groups' susceptibility to hydrolysis was as follows: nonhydrogen bonded carbonate > nonhydrogen bonded urethane > hydrogen bonded carbonate > hydrogen bonded urethane. The findings suggest that the degree of hydrogen bonding, when processed into a polyurethane material could be an important parameter to consider in the design of new biostable polyurethane products.

Enzyme-induced biodegradation of polycarbonate-polyurethanes: dependence on hard-segment chemistry.

Determination of reactivity ratios from analysis of triad fractions—analysis of the copolymerization of styrene and acrylonitrile as evidence for the penultimate model

Polymerisation kinetics of allyl monomers at low conversions

An electron spin resonance analysis on γ-irradiated poly(glycolic acid) and its copolymers with lactic acid

The mechanism of radiation-induced structural changes in nitrile rubber with different acrylonitrile contents were investigated by ESR, NMR, and FTIR. To investigate new structures solid-state NMR methods had to be used due to crosslinking of the irradiated rubbers, and higher probe temperatures were used to obtain better resolution. The radicals generated on the acrylonitrile groups were found to abstract hydrogen from the adjacent butadiene units resulting in the formation of allylic radicals. These allylic radicals reacted to form intermolecular crosslinks and cyclisation. Cyclisation of the butadiene units were found to occur in the initial stages of the irradiation. Radiation yields of radicals increased with acrylonitrile content from 1.42, 1.58, to 2.42 for 18, 30, and 45% acrylonitrile rubbers. The radiation yields for intemolecular crosslinking were higher in rubbers with higher acrylonitrile contents, giving G values of 17.8, 21.3, and 24.5 for 18, 30, and 45% acrylonitrile rubbers, respectively. However, the crosslink clustering was found to be less in the rubbers with a higher acrylonitrile content.

An investigation of radiation-induced structural changes in nitrile rubber

Infrared transmission spectra of polymer films, such as films of poly(styrene), are characteristically complicated by the presence of interference fringes (Fig. 1). These fringes have proven useful, where film thickness is to be determined, but generally their presence is unwanted, because they may obscure small spectral features and make quantification difficult.

D. J. T. Hill

Papers

Determination of reactivity ratios from analysis of triad fractions—analysis of the copolymerization of styrene and acrylonitrile as evidence for the penultimate model

Polymerisation kinetics of allyl monomers at low conversions

An electron spin resonance analysis on γ-irradiated poly(glycolic acid) and its copolymers with lactic acid

An investigation of radiation-induced structural changes in nitrile rubber

Suppression of Interference Fringes in the Infrared Spectra of Thin Polymer Films