ABSTRACT
Low density composites of sodium montmorillonite and poly(amide-imide) polymers have been created using an ice templating method, which serves as an alternative to the often-difficult foaming of high temperature/high performance polymers. The starting polymer was received in the poly(amic acid) form which can be cured using heat, into a water insoluble amide-imide copolymer. The resulting materials have densities in the 0.05 g/cm³ range and have excellent mechanical properties. Using a tertiary amine as a processing aid provides for lower viscosity and allows more concentrated polymer solutions to be used. The concentration of the amine relative to the acid groups on the polymer backbone has been found to cause significant difference in the mechanical properties of the dried materials. The synthesis and characterization of low density versions of two poly(amide-imide) polymers and their composites with sodium montmorillonite clay are discussed in the present work.
ABSTRACT
Bombardier beetles (Brachinini) use a rapid series of discrete explosions inside their pygidial gland reaction chambers to produce a hot, pulsed, quinone-based defensive spray. The mechanism of brachinines' spray pulsation was explored using anatomical studies and direct observation of explosions inside living beetles using synchrotron x-ray imaging. Quantification of the dynamics of vapor inside the reaction chamber indicates that spray pulsation is controlled by specialized, contiguous cuticular structures located at the junction between the reservoir (reactant) and reaction chambers. Kinematics models suggest passive mediation of spray pulsation by mechanical feedback from the explosion, causing displacement of these structures.
