Comparative analysis of complex liquids based on a multi-experimental approach.
A parallel analysis is here presented between the results gathered by the author by means of three different experimental approaches--Dielectric analysis, Thermally Stimulated Depolarization (TSD) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC)--on some multi-component complex liquids consisting of association structures of self-assembling amphiphiles as, water-in-oil microemulsions. The highly dispersed nature of these systems was evidenced with the dielectric study: a Maxwell-Wagner relaxation was found to characterize this type of systems. The structural evolution of the system, against water addition, was well described by the orientational processes induced in the liquid samples by a nearly static electric field as in the TSD method. The investigation by DSC, besides offering a basic picture of the system's thermodynamics, allowed the measure of the specific heat, at constant pressure, at the higher order percolative phase transition. The comparison between the results obtained on samples processed with identical thermal cycles, once under the action of an impressed electric field as in TSD, and, once in the absence of any impressed electric field as in DSC, did help distinguish three main concentration intervals within which structurally different systems form namely, isotropic microemulsions and two liquid crystalline structures of lyotropic type.
Emulsions and Solubilization
Containing information useful for demonstrating the relation between the function of Hydrophilic Lipophilic Balance (HLB) and solubilization, microemulsions and emulsion stability or inversion, this book covers the effect of temperature on systems containing nonionic surfactants and studies of the surfactant as a function of temperature. The book also demonstrates how the HLB solution properties of the surfactant can be controlled to change from water-soluble to oil-soluble.
Impact of Nuclear Data Uncertainties on Transmutation of Actinides in Accelerator-Driven Assemblies
Abstract The potential impact of nuclear data uncertainties on a large number of performance parameters of reactor cores dedicated to the transmutation of radioactive wastes is discussed. An uncertainty analysis has been performed based on sensitivity theory, which underlines the cross sections, the energy range, and the isotopes that are responsible for the most significant uncertainties. To provide guidelines on priorities for new evaluations or validation experiments, required accuracies on specific nuclear data have been derived, accounting for target accuracies on major design parameters. The required accuracies (mostly in the energy region below 20 MeV), in particular for minor actinide data, are of the same order of magnitude of the achieved accuracies on major actinides. Specific requirements also concern the improvement of minor actinide data related to decay heat and effective delayed-neutron fraction assessment.