Cyanoethylation of several fiber materials and their utilization as adhesive in wood-based panels
This study examines the cyanoethylation and thermoplasticity of several cyanoethylated fiber materials. Cyanoethylated pulps with a degree of substitution of 1.43 have the lowest Vicat softening point. Cyanoethylated poplar with a weight gain of 18.2 % has the lowest melting temperature. Instead of traditional adhesives, cyanoethylated materials can be used to produce wood-based panels because of their good thermoplasticity. Plywood bonded with cyanoethylated pulp has a bonding strength of 2.06 MPa and an average wood failure of 62.7 %. Wheat straw particle board containing 40 % cyanoethylated pulp has an internal bonding strength of 0.49 MPa, a modulus of rupture (MOR) of 33 MPa, and a density between 0.5 and 0.6 g cm−3. Fiberboard containing 40 % cyanoethylated pulp has an internal bonding strength of 0.53 MPa, MOR of 38 MPa, modulus of elasticity of 4,200 MPa, and a density between 0.7 and 0.8 g cm−3. Its swelling in thickness is 41 %.
Effect of solvents on cyanoethylation of cotton cellulose and its properties
The cyanoethylation of cotton fabric was carried out using aqueous sodium hydroxide with acrylonitrile in presence of solvents like acetone and ethanol in different concentrations. The modified cellulose was investigated with vertical wicking test, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetry-differential thermal analysis (TG/DTA), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The wicking height was increased for the modified cellulose. Modified cellulose had increase in crystallinity index with reduction of crystallite size. The thermal stability of the modified cellulose was also increased. The images produced using AFM technique revealed that there is appreciable difference in the surface roughness between scoured, mercerized, cyanoethylated and solvent treated samples. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011
Creating the Virtual Universe
Simulation software is important to our understanding of the universe. The intrinsic multiphysics aspects are spiced with a range of temporal scales and spatial scales, both of which cover more digits than are available in the standard hardware. This, together with the intrinsic chaotic nature of many physical processes, poses quite a challenge. To meet this challenge, researchers developed the Astronomical Multipurpose Environment (AMUSE). Instead of writing a suite of multiphysics solvers from scratch, AMUSE's developers coupled existing solvers for each physical ingredient. The result is a highly inhomogeneous collection of dedicated solvers with a homogeneous protocol that scales to supercomputers.