Dans le contexte de la production d’éthanol cellulosique, la cellulose doit être hydrolysée par voie chimique ou enzymatique. Dans ce procédé d’hydrolyse, la partie cristalline de la cellulose est plus difficilement fragmentable, ce qui entraîne des coûts supplémentaires dues au temps de traitement plus élevé ou à la quantité supplémentaire de produits chimiques nécessaires. Dans l’optique de réduire les coûts de l’hydrolyse tout en recherchant une voie pour valoriser la cellulose cristalline, l’idée de fabriquer des composites polymères/cellulose est attrayante. L’objectif du présent travail a donc été de valider si la cellulose microcristalline tirée d’un processus d’hydrolyse acide pourrait mener à de nouveaux matériaux composites à valeur ajoutée. Un obstacle anticipé dans le projet a été la faible adhésion de la cellulose, hydrophile et polaire, aux polymères généralement beaucoup moins polaires. Le développement de composites performants et l’atteinte de teneurs élevés en cellulose microcristalline a donc inclus, sur le plan chimique, l’objectif de comparer divers traitements de surface de la cellulose qui permettrait de pallier aux défis anticipés. La méthodologie utilisée dans ce projet a consisté à développer et optimiser un protocole de modification chimique sur de la cellulose microcristalline commerciale à l’échelle laboratoire. Les celluloses modifiées ont été soumises à une caractérisation par analyse de l’angle de contact pour caractériser l’hydrophobicité des fibres, par spectrométrie photoélectronique X pour l’analyse de la composition chimique des fibres, par granulométrie laser pour mesurer la longueur des différentes fibres et microscopie optique pour l’observation de la longueur des fibres. Toutes les techniques ont été utilisées afin de comparer les propriétés des celluloses modifiées à celles de la cellulose de référence. La cellulose de référence et les celluloses modifiées chimiquement ont ensuite été mélangées à des concentrations de 0 à 50% avec du polyéthylène de basse densité à l’état fondu en utilisant un mélangeur interne de type Brabender®. Les composites ont été caractérisés par microscopie électronique à balayage pour analyser la morphologie de mélange sur les surfaces de rupture et l’homogénéité du mélange, par des analyses rhéologiques afin d’obtenir la viscosité en fonction du cisaillement et par des essais de traction afin de déterminer leur Module de Young, leur résistance à la traction et leur élongation à la rupture. Ces caractéristiques permettent de prévoir la performance des composites dans des applications structurales.

No description available.

No description available.

Various aspects of the surface chemistry of a ruthenium (1010) single crystal have been investigated under ultra-high vacuum conditions, employing the techniques of Auger Electron Spectroscopy, Low Energy Electron Diffraction, Multimass Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy, photoemission spectroscopies and work function measurements. The studies were undertaken with a view towards the applicability of ruthenium and iron-ruthenium alloys to the ammonia synthesis, though work relevant to the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis was also performed. The interactions of the gases nitrogen, hydrogen and ammonia with the clean surface were all explored. Molecular nitrogen was found to have an extremely low sticking probability of less than 10<SUP>-9</SUP> at room temperature, but surface nitrogen atoms were deposited via two separate means, using either a mixture of nitrogen ions or nitrogen atoms themselves as the impinging species. Both chemisorbed and bulk implanted states were thereby observed. Hydrogen uptake at 310 K saturated at small doses but an estimate of 256 kJ mol<SUP>-1</SUP> was made for the Ru-H bond strength from thermal desorption traces. Ammonia readily adsorbed at and above room temperature. Partial dissociation occurred at 300 K, the extent of fragmentation increasing as the crystal temperature was raised. Strong electron beam perturbations of the adlayer occurred, accelerating the rate of adsorption and resulting in the appearance of otherwise unobservable LEED patterns. The behaviour of the model promoter potassium was relatively typical of alkali metal/transition metal systems, though the anisotropic substrate potential was found to induce a series of interesting one dimensionally incoherent compressed overlayer structures. A further striking observation was the occurrence of substantial bulk dissolution of potassium following small doses at 430 K. The promoting effects of potassium on CO adsorption were investigated and interpreted interms of a recent modification of the Blyholder model, which combines indirect, through metal and direct, through space interactions. Finally, the deposition of iron on Ru(10bar 10) was studied. At 300 K the iron film grew in a metastable layer by layer mode, which rapidly rearranged on heating to either an alloy phase or a regime of 3D crystallites lying above one or two iron monolayers. Adsorption at elevated temperatures produced essentially the same results as heating layers deposited at room temperature.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The work described in this thesis is concerned with the study of ph-ysisorbed phases by x-ray diffraction using a conventional sealed x-ray tube source. Diffraction data has been collected for a number of adsorption systems using graphite, a montmorillonite clay (Gel White) and zeolite rho as the substrate. It is well known that phases of unique two-dimensional character can be formed on the surface of graphite, and the structure of adsorbed benzene and hexaflurobenzene on graphite have been studied in this thesis. Contrary to current theoretical predictions the >/7x T/7R19" commensurate structure of submonolayer benzene has been confirmed. Submonolayer hexaflurobenzene appears to form a striped domain structure based upon the commensurate x3 lattice in which the molecules are incommensurate with the surface. ' In contrast to the homogeneous surface of graphite, the surface of a clay is microporous and heterogenous, and this gives rise to broad diffraction lines from an adsorbed phase. Despite this, the surface area of Gel White has been deduced from the evolution of the diffraction pattern of a krypton adlayer as a function of krypton loading. The formation of bulk krypton is readily identified and the small size of the three-dimensional crystallites suggests that they are formed within the micropores of the clay. The structure of adlayers of krypton and xenon within the interlayer spacing of Al-pillared Gel White has been studied in order to determine the mean inter-pillar separation. At all the coverages studied, xenon forms a close packed single layer structure whilst krypton appears to form a more complex bilayer phase. A tentative suggestion as to the mean pillar separation from this work is 30X. The adsorption site of krypton, xenon and CH3CI within zeolite rho has been determined using the method of x-ray Rietveld whole profile refinement. The principal site of adsorbed krypton and xenon is at the centre of the octagonal prism. The chlorine atom of CH3CI sits in the centre of the face of the octagonal prism and the methyl group is slightly displaced from the centre of the prism. 37-5354 Hydrodynamics of liquid encapsulation czochralski crystal growth Hicks, T.W. Bristol Ph.D. 1989 Dig. Certain aspects of crystal growth from a melt are investigated. We begin by describing the methods of producing single crystals. Particular emphasis is placed on the need for a better understanding of the hydrodynamics of the encapsulant region of the Liquid Encapsulation Czochralski (LEG) technique. We also introduce the basic physical processes which govern crystal growth. In Chapter 2 we develop a mathematical model of the encapsulant region of the LEC crystal growth system. The equations and boundary conditions that govern the encapsulant flow are formed using a vorticity-stream-function approach, after which the problem is recast in a dimensionless form. In Chapter 3 the equations of motion are represented in a finite difference form and a numerical method for solving the time-marching problem presented by the parabolic equations is developed. The elliptic stream-function equation is solved at each time level using the successive over-relaxation technique. Solutions of the model equations for the growth of GaAs crystals through B3O3 encapsulant are presented in Chapter 4. In all cases considered the flow field tends towards a steady state. For shallow encapsulants, the heat transfer in the encapsulant is conduction dominated, but for deeper encapsulants, advective heat transfer can be significant. In the last chapter we investigate the effect of Soret diffusion on the morphological stability of a freezing interface using linear stability theory. A Soret flux directed towards the interface has a destabilising effect. Over-stable modes of instability exist for very low crystal growth rates, but we are unable to find conditions under which the overstable mode is the most unstable.