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A series of allyl ether functionalized hyperbranched (HB) polyester of three generations was synthesized from commercially available Boltorn (R). These modified HB polymers were homopolymerized to ...

The European Union (EU) member states have agreed on the Water Framework Directive. The vision is that all European waters will achieve "good" ecological status. Each member state has agreed to meet these commitments. In Sweden, the Environmental Protection Agency regulates the methods used for classification of the ecological status of inland and coastal waters. The aim of this study was to evaluate how these criteria (using diatoms, benthic fauna, fish, water chemistry, hydromorphology) principally affect the classification of two typical forest streams. Forestland constitutes approximately 70% of the Swedish land area and forestry is the dominating human impact on many waters. Particular attention was paid to evaluate how the classification may vary with catchment size and between years. The results indicate that there is an obvious risk that many Swedish forest streams will not achieve "good" ecological status. The classification outcome may vary between years and regarding fish status; it also seems to depend on stream size.

Incompetent patients need to have someone else make decisions on their behalf. According to the Substituted Judgment Standard the surrogate decision maker ought to make the decision that the patient would have made, had he or she been competent. Objections have been raised against this traditional construal of the standard on the grounds that it involves flawed counterfactual reasoning, and amendments have been suggested within the framework of possible worlds semantics. The paper shows that while this approach may circumvent the alleged problem, the way it has so far been elaborated reflects insufficient understanding of the moral underpinnings of the idea of substituted judgment. Proper recognition of these moral underpinnings has potentially far-reaching implications for our normative assumptions about accuracy and objectivity in surrogate decision making.

A series of well-defined methacrylate-functionalized polyester dendrimers based on 2,2-bis(methylol)propionic acid (bis-MPA) has been synthesized divergently. The thermal properties and conversion ...

Sheet moulded compound (SMC) is a highly filled, glass fibre reinforced, thermoset material used in trim and body panel automotive parts. When SMC substrates are coated with conventional thermally cured paints, inherent porosity and entrapped volatiles of the substrate result in popping ('paint pops') defects. UV curable primers (UVP) provide an order of magnitude reduction of paint defects in SMC coatings, but typically have poor adhesion. The present study investigates a series of UVPs, showing the effect of resin functionality and isocyanate additive content on the adhesion of the coatings to SMC substrates. The SMC formulation is also considered regarding how variables such as surface chemistry, morphology, surface area and degree of post-mould emissions affect UVP adhesion. The present study reveals the crucial factors involved in achieving adhesion including the importance of low post-mould emissions, high surface areas, glass fibre and other oxygen moieties on the surface, and improved wetting of the surface.

A method based on focused ion beam milling and analytical electron microscopy to investigate the nature of the tool-chip interface is presented. It is employed to study tool-chip interfaces of the rake face of a (Ti0.83Si0.17)N coated PCBN insert after turning of case-hardened steel. Analytical electron microscopy shows the presence of a smeared adhered layer on the coating, which consists of steel elements from the work-piece, oxygen, and Si and N, most likely originating from the coating. Original Publication:Axel Flink, R M Saoubi, Finn Giuliani, J Sjolen, T Larsson, Per Persson, M P Johansson and Lars Hultman, Microstructural characterization of the tool-chip interface enabled by focused ion beam and analytical electron microscopy, 2009, WEAR, (266), 11-12, 1237-1240.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.wear.2009.03.001Copyright: Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam.http://www.elsevier.com/

This study analyses the development of the economic wellbeing of Swedes aged 65 years and older from 1990. This period was characterised by Sweden's deepest and most prolonged recession since the Great Depression, but was then followed by buoyant growth. In a series of interventions from 1991 through to 1998, pensions were cut and their full price indexation abandoned. In spite of these dramatic measures, this study shows that pensioners fared better than the working-age population, but also that poverty among older Swedes increased in absolute terms. During the following years of rapid economic growth, in contrast, the growth in pensioners' income fell behind that of workers and their relative poverty increased. The analysis shows that the limited resources of many older Swedes put them close to a social poverty line. The study also shows that income inequality among older Swedes has grown with the increasing importance of capital income for the better off. We conclude that the increasing gap between better-off and worse-off older people raises issues about the future provision of expenditures on public services for them. The paper concludes that, overall, poverty among older people in Sweden remains low by international standards and that the Swedish welfare state has maintained its resilience.

It can be concluded by the study of UV primer formulations on sheet molding compound (SMC) substrates that all studied formulation parameters affect adhesion. Moreover, the dual cure approach can result in acceptable adhesion of UV primers on SMC substrates if the coating procedure and composition are well designed. Adhesion of UV cure primers as determined by the cross-cut test is significantly improved in formulations containing solvent. This is a result of enhanced wetting and interaction of the solvent with the SMC substrate, confirmed by contact angle and gravimetric swelling studies. Furthermore, sanded SMC surfaces demonstrated superior UV primer adhesion. This results from the increased surface area of the topography, confirmed by CSLM and the exposure of more oxygen moieties such as pigments and silanols at the air-substrate interface as confirmed by AFM and XPS. The UV films have a higher modulus with increasing resin functionality and resulting cross-link density which correlated with reduced adhesion in formulations without an added isocyanate functional UV monomer. This indicates that cure shrinkage may play a role in the adhesion of UV cure primers and will be investigated further. Also, the added adhesion that an isocyanate functional UV monomer provides results in a significant increase in the glass transition temperature (Tg) giving a glassier film at room temperature.

Sheet molded compound (SMC) is a highly filled, glass fiber reinforced, thermoset material used in trim and body panel automotive parts. When SMC-substrates are coated with conventional thermally c ...

A series of well-defined allyl-ether functionalized polyester dendrimers has been synthesized via the divergent approach using traditional esterification reactions. Two commercially available trifu ...

Four different fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs): rape seedmethyl ester (RME), tall oil methyl ester (TOME), and two types of linseed oilmethyl ester (Linutin) have been studied as reactive diluents ...

Novel thermo-responsive cellulose (filter paper) surfaces of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) and pH-responsive cellulose surfaces of 4-vinylpyridine (4VP) have been achieved via surface-initiated ATRP. Dual-responsive (pH and temperature) cellulose surfaces were also obtained through the synthesis of block-copolymer brushes of PNIPAAm and P4VP. With changes in pH and temperature, these "intelligent" surfaces showed a reversible response to both individual triggers, as indicated by the changes in wettability from highly hydrophilic to highly hydrophobic observed by water contact angle measurements. Adjusting the composition of the grafted block-copolymer brushes allowed for further tuning of the wettability of these "intelligent" cellulose surfaces.

Semicrystalline macromonomers based on poly(pentadecalactone), PPDL, have been synthesized by the lipase-catalyzed ring-opening of the otherwise chemically inert pentadecalactone monomer. The macromonomers were designed to have reactive thiols as end groups by the appropriate choice of initiator and chain terminator. The thiol functional macromonomers were then used together with ene monomers to give cross-linked thin films after irradiation in the molten state by UV light in the presence of a photoinitiator (Irgacure 651). Two different ene monomers were used, i.e., a tetrafunctional norbornene species and a trifunctional allyl ether maleate species, and resulted in semicrystalline cured films when cured with PPDL. An amorphous, commercially available, trifunctional thiol, trimethylolpropane tri(3-mercaptopropionate), TRIS, was also used for network formation in order to better understand the effect of crystallinity. All thiol−ene systems were found to be readily photopolymerised to high conversion. The ...

Decision making for incompetent patients is a much-discussed topic in bioethics. According to one influential decision making standard, the substituted judgment standard, a surrogate decision maker ought to make the decision that the incompetent patient would have made, had he or she been competent. Empirical research has been conducted in order to find out whether surrogate decision makers are sufficiently good at doing their job, as this is defined by the substituted judgment standard. This research investigates to what extent surrogates are able to predict what the patient would have preferred in the relevant circumstances. In this paper we address a methodological shortcoming evident in a significant number of studies. The mistake consists in categorizing responses that only express uncertainty as predictions that the patient would be positive to treatment, on the grounds that the clinical default is to provide treatment unless it is refused. We argue that this practice is based on confusion and that it risks damaging the research on surrogate accuracy.

Well-defined, allyl-ether functional, first-generation dendrimers have been synthesized. The convergent growth approach was utilized, using the anhydride of the allyl-ether terminated building bloc ...

Since enlargement the European Union has become more diverse in many socio-economic, demographic and agricultural respects. A recent research project sponsored by DG Agriculture (SERA – Study on Employment in Rural Areas) carried out a review of a broad range of regional statistics relating to rural labour markets. The results were presented within the framework of the OECD rural–urban classifi cation. A broad overview of the fi ndings confi rms the importance of two widely acknowledged processes of change, urbanisation and counter-urbanisation. Overlaying these urban-based centripetal and centrifugal processes both east–west and north–south differentiation affects particular socio-economic aspects. The net result of this complex combination of (macro-scale) processes is a tendency for accumulation of human capital in accessible signifi cantly rural (SR) regions and a depletion of the remoter, sparsely populated predominantly rural (PR) regions. The emphasis upon macro-scale patterns and trends complements the recent preoccupation of much rural development research upon localised ‘soft factors’. There is arguably scope for both in the design of rural policy. Broad spatial processes should influence resource allocation, whilst localised advantages, such as strong human and social capital, good governance, networking, clusters and networks, entrepreneurial culture, and so on, can form the basis of strategies for intervention.

The solvent content of a thermally cured coil-coating paint may be reduced by introducing a reactive diluent derived from a vegetable oil and thereby producing a coating partly based on a renewable resource. A reactive diluent acts as a solvent in the liquid paint, lowering the viscosity, and is then incorporated into the film during cure. In the present study, rape seed methyl ester (RME) has been evaluated as reactive diluent in a thermally cured hydroxyl-functional polyester/melamine system. RME has suitable diluting properties and functionality to be incorporated into the dry coating. Dynamic mechanical analysis of free standing films shows that the final film properties are affected by presence of reactive diluent, oven temperature, choice of co-solvent, and flash-off period.

We present a novel near-ambient-temperature approach to telechelic renewable polyesters by exploiting the unique properties of supercritical CO 2 (scCO 2 ). Bio-based commercially available monomers have been polymerized and functional telechelic materials with targeted molecular weight prepared by end-capping the chains with molecules containing reactive moieties in a one-pot reaction. The use of scCO 2 as a reaction medium facilitates the effective use of Candida antarctica Lipase B (CaLB) as a catalyst at a temperature as low as 35°C, hence avoiding side reactions, maintaining the end-capper functionality and preserving the enzyme activity. The functionalized polymer products have been characterized by 1 H nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization–time-of-flight mass spectrometry, gel permeation chromatography and differential scanning calorimetry in order to carefully assess their structural and thermal properties. We demonstrate that telechelic materials can be produced enzymatically at mild temperatures, in a solvent-free system and using renewably sourced monomers without pre-modification, by exploiting the unique properties of scCO 2 . The macromolecules we prepare are ideal green precursors that can be further reacted to prepare useful bio-derived films and coatings.

Decision making for incompetent patients is a much-discussed topic in bioethics. According to one influential decision making standard, the substituted judgment standard, the decision that ought to be made for the incompetent patient is the decision the patient would have made, had he or she been competent. Although the merits of this standard have been extensively debated, some important issues have not been sufficiently explored. One fundamental problem is that the substituted judgment standard, as commonly formulated, is indeterminate in content and thus offers the surrogate little or no guidance. What the standard does not specify is just how competent one should imagine the patient to be, and what else one ought to envision about the patient's hypothetical outlook and the circumstances surrounding his or her decision making. The article discusses this problem of underdetermined decision conditions.

In this paper the bonding of thin vegetable oil films on mercapto silane treated aluminium surfaces has been studied. The silane molecules are attached to the surface by metal–oxygen–silicon bonds. The coupling between the unsaturated bonds of the vegetable oil and the thiol functionalised surface was obtained through a photoinduced thiol-ene reaction. The surfaces were characterised by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Vegetable oil contains both saturated and unsaturated carbon chains. For the reactions investigated in this study it is the unsaturated carbon chains that can react by a thiol-ene reaction and the results indicate that it is possible to attach a vegetable oil to a metal surface pre-treated with a thiol functionalised silane.

A model study on the transesterification reaction between fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), e.g. methyl oleate, methyl linoleate, rape seed methyl ester and different alcohols in thin films have been ...

The present study describes the mechanical behaviour of powder coatings used under very high compressive loads in clamping force joints. Carboxyl functional polyester powder coatings cured with hydroxyl functional β-hydroxyalkylamides with variations in amount of filler have been studied. The coatings were subjected to relaxation tests in tension and in compression. The tests in compression were performed in specially designed tests developed to study the behaviour of powder coatings under compressive loads in clamping force joints. The relaxation results for the matrix were used in a unit cell in micromechanical finite element (FE) model to predict the homogenised viscoelastic properties of the particle composite. These constitutive properties were subsequently used to evaluate the behaviour on a macromechanical scale in a screw joint. The model corresponds well with experimental data at ambient temperature. When increasing the temperature above the glass transition of the coating, however, the model predictions and experimental data differ. Experiments in compression show a much lower relaxation as compared to the FE model. The relaxation simulations of the coating under compressive loads from screw joints showed a significant sensitivity to the Poisson's ratio of the polymer matrix. As the Poisson's ratio approaches 0.5, the matrix becomes hydrostatically incompressible, which resulted in a negligible relaxation of the coating at the screw joint.

The purpose of this article is to follow the development of the Swedish gender earnings gap through the 1980s and 1990s. We follow the changes in the wage gap and in factors to which it can be related year-by-year by analysing crosssectional data from Statistics Sweden (HEK) for the years 1981 and 1983–98. The results show that the unadjusted wage gap varied between 12 and 15 per cent of the average male wage up to 1989, when the differentials began to increase. During the 1990s the size of the gap was around 14–18 per cent. In a decomposition analysis we find that the measured differences in jobs and qualifications between women and men can account only for between two-fifths and three-fifths of the gender wage gap, if they are assumed to be rewarded according to the male wage function. If the female wage function is applied, even less of the differentials are explained. Differences in the educational requirements for jobs have contributed considerably to gender earnings inequality. The impact has decreased over the period studied, however, and is about half as large in the 1990s as it was in the 1980s.

Thermosetting resins based on semi-crystalline poly(dimethyl trimethylene carbonate) (PDTC) were synthesised and characterised. Polymers with linear and branched architectures were synthesised thro ...

This study describes the mechanical response of thermoset polymers under high compressive loads. The study is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the behaviour of a powder coating when used in a clamping force joint and how the properties vary when the chemical and physical structure of the coating is changed. The second part discusses the fundamental understanding of the behaviour of thermoset polymers with small thickness-to-width ratio subjected to compressive stresses, the aim being to develop mathematical material models for viscoelastic materials under high compressive loads. In the first part polyester powder coatings were used with variations in molecular weight, number of functional groups of the resin, amount and type of filler and thickness of the coating. The coatings were subjected to conventional tests for coatings and polymers and also to specially designed tests developed to study the behaviour of powder coatings in clamping force joints. The high compressive loads in a clamping force joint put high demands on the relaxation and creep resistance of the coating and the study shows the importance of crosslink density, filler content, and also coating thickness in order to achieve the desired mechanical properties of a coating. A high reactivity of the resin, facilitating a high crosslink density and hence a high Tg, is the most important property of the coating. A film with high crosslink density shows increase in relaxation time and in apparent yield strength under compression, and also an increase in relaxation modulus and storage modulus in tension at temperatures above Tg. Addition of fillers reduces the deformation during compression and tension, but also induces a lower strain at break and hence a more brittle coating. The reinforcing effect of the fillers is pronounced when increasing the crosslink density of the coating, especially in the compression tests. The effect is evident in compression even at low amounts of fillers, where the relaxation time and resistance to deformation are strongly increased. The combination of high crosslink density and addition of fillers is therefore desirable since fillers then can be used moderately in order to achieve a reinforcing effect in compression while minimising embrittlement. The study also showed that increased coating thickness will give rise to defects in the coating, especially voids and blisters due to evaporation of water formed during the curing of the polyester powder coating. These defects will give rise to stress concentrations and increased plastic deformations in the coating, impairing the properties of the clamping force joint. The results from relaxation tests in tension were used to create a micromechanical model. This model was used in finite element modelling to estimate the loss of clamping force in a screw joint and to correlate with the experimental results of the powder coatings. In the second part of the study a well-defined free radically cured vinyl ester resin was used and studied in six different geometries in order to determine the dependence of apparent mechanical properties on the particular size and shape of a sample when it is subjected to high compressive loads. Variation of the specimen thickness, boundary conditions and loading conditions reveals that the geometry of the sample has a significant effect on the mechanical performance of the polymer. The apparent modulus and the yield strength increase dramatically when the thickness-to-width ratio of the sample is reduced, whereas they decrease when the friction between the sample and the compression plate is reduced. The creep strain rate decreases when the thickness of the material is reduced and it decreases even more when the amount of material surrounding the compressed part of the sample is increased. Creep and strain recovery tests on large specimens were used to develop a mathematical model including non-linear viscoelastic and viscoplastic response of a thermoset vinyl ester. The model was used in FEM calculations where the experimental results were compared with the calculated results in order to model the trends of the material response when varying the sample geometry.

A nonlinear viscoelastic material model was used to describe the experimental behaviour of thin vinyl ester specimens Subjected to compression in thickness direction. The stress-dependent material ...

Studies of the drying of two linseed oils with different fatty acid patterns, oil A (74.2% linoleic acid) and oil B (55.2% of linolenic acid), show that the structural variations and the addition of the methyl ester of oil A as a reactive diluent (0, 20 and 40wt%) influenced the drying performance and final film properties of the oils. The incorporation of reactive diluents reduced the effects of surface sealing for oil B at higher temperatures and increased the through-drying rate of oil B. Softer coatings were obtained for both oils when using a reactive diluent. Chemical reactions induced by the wood substrates are shown to affect the drying.

The present study describes the mechanical behavior of powder coatings used under very high compressive loads in clamping force joints.

Organic-inorganic hybrid materials consisting of nanosized silica particles with surface grafted PS or PS-b-PMMA were synthesized using ATRP. These hybrid materials were used in the fabrication of ...

The oxidative drying of two different linseed oil coatings with either high content of linoleic or linolenic fatty acids have been studied. The curing performance has been followed by a combination ...

A radiation curable resin has been synthesized from a hydroxy functional hyperbranched polyether onto which an epoxy functional fatty acid, vernolic acid, has been attached. The resin was cationica ...

ToF-SIMS has been used to analyse an aluminium surface treated with a vegetable oil using a mercapto silane as a coupling agent between the aluminium substrate and the vegetable oil. The coupling between the vegetable oil and the mercapto silane was obtained through a photoinduced thiol-ene reaction using UV-radiation. The ToF-SIMS results show that the desired thiol-ene reaction has taken place between the unsaturated parts of the vegetable oil and the thiol groups of the mercapto silane via the thiol-ene reaction forming a surface film.

This study investigates if anaerobic digestion residues contain substances with negative impact on microbial processes in soil. Effects of residues and organic extracts of residues were assessed with two soil bioassays—substrate induced respiration (SIR) and potential ammonia oxidation (PAO). Laboratory incubations were performed, and residues from two lab-scale digesters and seven full-scale digesters, at different application rates, were mixed into agricultural topsoil. Additions of intact, dried residues displayed negligible effects on SIR and PAO, indicating that total microbial biomass and ammonia oxidising populations (AOB) were not affected by the amendments. However, removal of inorganic and particulate constituents in the residues by the extraction procedure rendered some of them inhibitory to PAO. Thus, substances inhibiting AOB were present in the anaerobic digestion residues, although generally they had minor effects on heterotrophic soil microorganisms.

Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is not an unusual disease in an elderly population. The clinical outcome has improved over time. It has been suggested that elderly SAH patients would benefit from endovascular aneurysm treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate technical results and clinical outcome in a series of elderly SAH-patients treated with endovascular coil embolization. Sixty-two patients (> or = 65 years) presenting with aneurysmal SAH underwent early endovascular coil embolization at Uppsala University Hospital between September 1996 and December 2000. In all 62 cases included in the study, endovascular coil embolization was considered the first line of treatment. Admission variables, specific information on technical success, degree of occlusion and procedural complications, and outcome figures were recorded. Clinical grade on admission was Hunt and Hess (H&H) I-II in 39%, H&H III in 27% and H&H IV-V in 34% of the patients. The proportion of posterior circulation aneurysms was 24%. Coil embolization was successfully completed in 94%. The degree of occlusion of the treated aneurysm was complete occlusion in 56%, neck remnant in 21%, residual filling in 11%, other remnant in 5% and not treated in 6%. The rate of procedural complications was 11%. Outcome after 6 months was favorable in 41%, severe disability in 36% and poor in 22%. Favorable outcome was achieved in 57% of the H&H I-II patients, 47% of the H&H III patients and 17% of the H&H IV-V patients. Endovascular aneurysm treatment can be performed in elderly patients with SAH with a high level of technical success, acceptable aneurysm occlusion results, an acceptable rate of procedural complications and fair outcome results.

Thermosetting resins with semi-crystalline grafts have been synthesized. An amorphous resin with epoxide groups was first functionalized with hydroxyl groups using 2,2-bis(methylol) propionic acid, ...

The reactivities and reaction rates of the thiol-ene coupling reaction of 2-ethyl-(hydroxymethyl)-1,3-propanediol trimercapto acetate and 2-ethyl-(hydroxymethyl)-1,3-propanediol trimercapto propion ...

An increased demand for new and improved coating systems, both due to environmental as well as performance reasons, have appeared during the last decades. Techniques such low temperature curing powder coatings, radiation curable systems, and high solids have gained an increased interest and obtained significant market shares. Although improved in many aspects, these systems still have limited use in certain applications due to technical reasons. One way to change the properties of thermoset resins that has obtained significant interest during the last decade is by changing the molecular architecture of the resin. An example of polymers which exhibit different properties compared to conventional linear structures are highly branched, dendritic, polymers [1-3]. These polymers, for example, exhibit a higher solubility and lower melt viscosity compared to their linear counterparts. They can also be tailored with respect to functionality and polarity to adjust the properties for certain applications. Coating resins based on hyperbranched polymers have been described both for liquid UV-curable systems as well as powder coatings [4-6]. This presentation will focus on how properties of resins based on dendritic polymers can be tailored and how this can applied to coating systems such as powder coatings, radiation curable resins and no-solvent liquid systems. The correlation between resin structure and its properties both before and after cure will be discussed.

Ductile polymer coatings were investigated in terms of their response to uniaxial deformation and contact deformation with respect to indentation and scratching. The effects of pigmentation, contact geometry, load and speed on the mechanical response were studied. The materials have been tested with extended spherical contacts deep into the coating layer and concentrated conical contacts close to the surface. The residual deformation pattern was examined with optical microscopy, white-light interferometry and atomic force microscopy. In the case of extended spherical contacts, corresponding to small effective strains, there was a correlation between the magnitude of residual deformation and the tensile strength. In the case of concentrated conical contacts, corresponding to larger strains, the materials were ranked differently. Reproducible failure transitions were detected with increased scratch load for the conical contacts. These failure transitions could not be directly linked to uniaxial break parameters. Stratification appears to be an issue in pigmented coatings. The effect of pigmentation was increased tensile stiffness and improved scratch resistance.

The scope of this work has been to investigate storage and recovery processes in ductile polymer coatings. The effects of storage have been measured in terms of variations in mechanical response with time. The use of contact tests in combination with sophisticated surface imaging tools offered unique possibilities to monitor deformation recovery over long periods of time. The kinetics of the recovery processes has been monitored. Polyurethane coatings were found to recover in a similar fashion to a viscous liquid. By comparing the time scale of the recovery with transient tests, it was evident that this was not a viscoelastic effect. The effect of exposure to water and humidity on deformation response and recovery was significant for polyurethane coatings. In addition, high amounts of pigmentation had a great effect on recovery processes. Surface-, bulk-, and interfacial-properties were greatly affected by storage time.

This article aims to throw light on why inequality in the distribution of income in Sweden fell from the mid-i920s to the second half of the 1950s. A new database has been created by coding tax records and other documents for the city of Goteborg. In the analysis the Gini-coefficient and its changes are decomposed by income source. The information shows that in the mid1920S income in urban Sweden was fairly unequally distributed. The compression of the income distribution came about as real income at the lower end increased rapidly, while the real income of the most affluent decile remained more or less constant. Much of the initial decrease in income inequality was due to capital income decreasing in average size and in addition becoming less extremely concentrated at the top of the income distribution. From the mid-i930s onward households paid ever larger shares of their income as income taxes which caused income inequality to decrease.

The oxidation of well-defined FA derivatives has been studied with real-time IR (RTIR) and chemiluminescence (CL) techniques. Both methyl esters and model oils based on different FA have been studied to reveal the effect of functionality. The FA used were linoleic and crepenynic acid, the latter with an alkyne functionality. The purpose was to reveal how structural differences affect the oxidation and how this is monitored with CL and RTIR. Both model oils had longer oxidation induction times than the corresponding methyl esters, as seen by both IR and CL. Generally, the induction times measured with IR were shorter than those determined by CL, but the rate of oxidation did not seem to differ much between the model oils and the corresponding methyl esters. The results also imply that the higher functionality of the model oils gives a greater possibility of intramolecular addition reactions instead of chain scission during oxidation, making the model oils emit fewer low-M.W. volatiles than the methyl esters. There is also a difference between methyl crepenynate and methyl linoleate, in that the alkyne functionality seems to enhance the possibility of chain scission instead of addition reactions. The results presented imply that the CL signal can be used to monitor the oxidation and the formation of volatile compounds from a FA structure. By combining the CL measurements with RTIR data, information about the oxidation reactions can be obtained, giving a greater understanding of what reactions are occurring during oxidation and how they are related to each other.

Two ductile coating ma-terials were subjected to a combined indentation and scratch test procedure de-signed to screen a predetermined pattern of many small sample surfaces in a limited time. The screening of 50 surface spots ordered in a matrix pattern on the surface was carried out in 4.5 hr. The test provides reproducible data in terms of indentation modulus, elastic recovery, scratch penetration depth, and scratch residual depth, and also offers the possibility of detecting critical mechanical transitions such as rupture. The presented procedure produces sufficient data in a limited time scale to fulfill the requirements for a fast method to screen coating compositions.

A Tribological Study of a Novel Pre-Treatment With Linseed Oil Bonded to Mercaptosilane Treated Aluminium

The viscoelasticity of two thermally crosslinked polymer coatings was examined in terms of relaxation of the applied stress after a sudden strain. Two different transient methods were utilized: flat-ended cylindrical indentation testing of polymer film on a rigid substrate and tensile testing of a corresponding free-standing polymer film. The correlation between tensile and indentation tests was studied. The mechanical response of a viscoelastic layer deposited on a rigid substrate was investigated as a function of indentation depth. there was good agreement between the results of the tensile and indentation tests for thick film layers at moderate indentation depths. The findings indicate that the substrate influences the coating performance by reducing the viscous contribution to the stress response hand amplifying the magnitude of the equilibrium modulus for large indentation depths. The indentation method utilized here was shown to be a potentially suitable tool for the determination of Poisson's ratio of polymer films.

The use and interpretation of contact scratch tests on polymer coatings has been investigated. The influences from test parameters such as scratch speed, contact geometry and load on the deformation response were examined. Two ductile polymer coatings of commercial grade tailored for pre-painted steel applications were used as model systems. The residual deformation pattern was examined with optical microscopy, white-light interferometry, and atomic force microscopy. Free-standing coating films were also subjected to static, transient and dynamic tensile testing to find a correlation between the intrinsic coating properties and the scratch behavior. The results indicate that the use of a single set of contact parameters is insufficient to reflect the overall response of a coating material to real contact conditions. A well-designed scratch test will however give a substantial amount of useful information.

Limitation of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions has lead to the development of new coil coating systems with reduced solvent content. Reactive diluents derived from vegetable oils have been used to substitute up to 40% of the white spirit. The use of vegetable oil derivatives further reduces the handling of solvents improving the workplace environment and safety, enhances the film properties, and introduces a renewable resource in the final coating. The concept can be described as a melamine crosslinkable alkyd which is formed in parallel to the crosslinking process.

We report the stress relaxation behavior of arc-evaporated TiCxN1−x thin films during isothermal annealing between 350 and 900°C. Films with x=0, 0,15 and 0,45 each having an initial compressive in ...

A series of branched polyesters consisting of poly(epsilon-caprolactone) (PCL) (degree of polymerisation: 5-200) initiated from hydroxy-functional cores and end-capped with methylmethacrylate have ...