The effects of coating formulation on thermal characteristics of coating layers were systematically studied for xerographic toner fusion on coated papers. Model coatings were formulated using three types of ground calcium carbonate and one kaolin pigments, each mixed with 6, 10, 18, and 25 pph of styrene butadiene latex binder. Porosity was found to be a key parameter for coating thermal conductivity adjustment, and was determined by the latex concentration. The particle size distribution and morphology of pigments also affect the overall thermal characteristics of coating layers. Print qualities on model coated papers were evaluated by print gloss measurement, toner adhesion test, and pair-wise visual ranking, and it was proved that print gloss is reduced with increasing bulk thermal conductivity of coating layers. The coating layer consisted of Covercarb HP pigment and 10 pph of latex was found to have the best performance in the three print quality evaluation tests.

The effects of coating formulation on thermal characteristics of coating layers were systematically studied for xerographic toner fusion on coated papers. Model coatings were formulated using three types of ground calcium carbonate and one kaolin pigments, each mixed with 6, 10, 18, and 25 pph of styrene butadiene latex binder. Porosity was found to be a key parameter for coating thermal conductivity adjustment, and was determined by the latex concentration. The particle size distribution and morphology of pigments also affect the overall thermal characteristics of coating layers. Print qualities on model coated papers were evaluated by print gloss measurement, toner adhesion test, and pair-wise visual ranking, and it was proved that print gloss is reduced with increasing bulk thermal conductivity of coating layers. The coating layer consisted of Covercarb HP pigment and 10 pph of latex was found to have the best performance in the three print quality evaluation tests.

The creping process and the conditions on the Yankee cylinder dryer are key factors in a tissue paper mill, and they therefore need to be kept under good control in order to maintain a high and uniform quality. To this end it would be valuable to be able to make on-line measurements of Yankee coating thickness as well as the crepe structure of the tissue paper. The adhesion of paper to the cylinder affects the creping process and more information about the parameters that affect the adhesion is therefore of interest. To perform trials on a full scale or in a pilot plant is very costly and laboratory creping equipment is therefore sought after in order to be able to measure the adhesion force. The coating layer for use on the cylinder was analysed. It contained a large amount of carbohydrates and could not be considered transparent. The thickness of the coating layer was measured on a laboratory cylinder with a method based on fluorescence. An optical brightener was added to the coating chemicals and the coating layer was subjected to UV-radiation. The intensity of the light emitted by the optical brightener was measured and gave an indication of the thickness of the coating layer. The equipment has to be further investigated before it is possible to implement the new sensor on-line. New creping equipment and an adhesion method were developed for use on a laboratory scale. The equipment can operate with different creping angles and the force needed to crepe the paper can be measured. The highest creping force was obtained for papers of high grammage, low dryness at adhesion, high drainability, high fines content and high hemicellulose content. A more direct method is to analyse the structure of the produced paper. Measurements were made on a tissue paper with an optical fibre sensor while the paper was travelling at low speed. The collected signal was mathematically analysed and the characteristic wavelength was calculated for different paper samples. These values were close to the wavelengths measured with an off line method by a commercial crepe analyser. / Baksidestext The creping process is the heart of tissue paper manufacture. To control the process better, on-line measurements of paper structure and coating thickness are sought after. The creping is highly dependent on the adhesion of the paper to the Yankee dryer. To be able to measure the adhesion, laboratory creping equipment was also required. Different pulp parameters affect the adhesion and some of them have been investigated in this work. The coating on the Yankee cylinder consisted mainly of fiber fragments and could not be considered as transparent, which had to be considered when choosing a method to measure coating thickness. A method based on the light emitted from an optical brightener in the coating when subjected to UV-irradiation was used, but has to be further improved before it can be used on-line. A new laboratory creping method was developed to determine the adhesion between paper and metal, and the force needed to scrape off the paper with a doctor blade was measured. The highest creping force was obtained for papers made of pulp with a high drainability, high fines content and high hemicellulose content. An optical method using reflected light to measure crepe wavelength on-line was developed. The paper travelled under a sensor and the light collected was mathematically analyzed to determine the most common wavelength.

Fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have become an attractive alternative to conventional methods for external-strengthening of civil infrastructure, particularly as applied to flexural strengthening of reinforced concrete (RC) members. However, durability of the bond between FRP composite and concrete has shown degradation under some aggressive environments. Although numerous studies have been conducted on concrete members strengthened with FRP composites, most of those studies have focused on the degradation of FRP material itself, relatively few on bond behavior under repeated mechanical and environmental loading. This thesis investigates bond durability under accelerated environmental conditioning of two FRP systems commonly employed in civil infrastructure strengthening: epoxy and polyurethane systems. Five environments were considered under three different conditioning durations (3 months, 6 months, and 1 year). For each conditioning environment and duration (including controls), the following were laboratory tested: concrete cylinders, FRP tensile coupons, and FRP-strengthened concrete flexural members. Numerical investigations were performed using MSC MARC finite element software package to support the outcomes of durability experimental tests. Precise numerical studies need an accurate model for the bond between FRP and concrete, a linear brittle model is proposed in this work that is calibrated based on nonlinear regression of existing experimental lap shear data. Results of tensile tests on FRP coupons indicate that both epoxy and polyurethane FRP systems do not degrade significantly under environmental exposure. However, flexural tests on the FRP strengthened concrete beams indicate that bond between FRP and concrete shows significant degradation, especially for aqueous exposure. Moreover, a protective coating suppresses the measured degradation. Also, experimental load-displacement curves for control beams show excellent agreement with numerical load-displacement curves obtained using the proposed bond iii model. Finally, a bond-slip model is predicted for concrete leachate conditioned beams by matching load-displacement curves for those beams with numerical load-displacement curves.

Tato práce se zabývá možnostmi kvantitativního zobrazování ve skenovacím (transmisním) elektronovém mikroskopu (S|T|EM) společně s jejich korelativní aplikací. Práce začíná popisem metody kvantitativního STEM (qSTEM), kde lze stanovenou lokální tloušťku vzorku dát do spojitosti s ozářenou dávkou, a vytvořit tak studii úbytku hmoty. Tato metoda byla použita při studiu ultratenkých řezů zalévací epoxidové pryskyřice za různých podmínek (stáří, teplota, kontrastování, čištění pomocí plazmy, pokrytí uhlíkem, proud ve svazku). V rámci této části jsou diskutovány a demonstrovány možnosti kalibračního procesu detektoru, nezbytné pozadí Monte Carlo simulací elektronového rozptylu a dosažitelná přesnost metody. Metoda je pak rozšířena pro použití detektoru zpětně odražených elektronů (BSE), kde byla postulována, vyvinuta a testována nová kalibrační technika založená na odrazu primárního svazku na elektronovém zrcadle. Testovací vzorky byly různě tenké vrstvy v tloušťkách mezi 1 až 25 nm. Použití detektoru BSE přináší možnost měřit tloušťku nejen elektronově průhledných vzorků jako v případě qSTEM, ale také tenkých vrstev na substrátech - qBSE. Obě výše uvedené metody (qSTEM a qBSE) jsou založeny na intenzitě zaznamenaného obrazu, a to přináší komplikaci, protože vyžadují správnou kalibraci detektoru, kde jen malý posun úrovně základního signálu způsobí významnou změnu výsledků. Tato nedostatečnost byla překonána v případě qSTEM použitím nejpravděpodobnějšího úhlu rozptylu (zachyceného pixelovaným STEM detektorem), namísto integrální intenzity obrazu zachycené prstencovým segmentem detektoru STEM. Výhodou této metody je její použitelnost i na data, která nebyla předem zamýšlena pro využití qSTEM, protože pro aplikaci metody nejsou potřeba žádné zvláštní předchozí kroky. Nevýhodou je omezený rozsah detekovatelných tlouštěk vzorku způsobený absencí píku v závislosti signálu na úhlu rozptylu. Obecně platí, že oblast s malou tloušťkou je neměřitelná stejně tak jako tloušťka příliš silná (použitelný rozsah je pro latex 185 - 1 000 nm; rozsah je daný geometrií detekce a velikostí pixelů). Navíc jsou v práci prezentovány korelativní aplikace konvenčních a komerčně dostupných kvantitativních technik katodoluminiscence (CL) a rentgenové energiově disperzní spektroskopie (EDX) spolu s vysokorozlišovacími obrazy vytvořenými pomocí sekundárních a prošlých elektronů.