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Fusion Science and Technology
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Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
Kentaro Yamanaka, Keiji Nagai, Nobukatsu Nemoto, Kaori Nomura, Tomonori Shimoyama, Kei Tanji, Tomoya Tanji, Mitsuo Nakai, Takayoshi Norimatsu
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 51 | Number 4 | May 2007 | Pages 665-672
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1461
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper deals with a new foam material containing polysytrene and its oxirane derivative. A monomer, 4-vinylphenyloxirane (M1), was prepared from 4-chlorostyrene. Polystyrene-based copolymers using styrene and M1 were prepared by free radical copolymerization using azo-bis(isobutyronitrile) (AIBN) as an initiator. The solutions of the obtained polystyrene-based copolymers in 4-chlorotoluene were gelated by the addition of a cationic initiator, which caused crosslinking via ring-opening polymerization of the pendant cyclic moieties. SEM images of the dried gel show various foam structures. The formation mechanism of the micro- and nano-structure was explained from the view point of the affinity of the monomer unit and the solvent. The homopolymer of 4-vinyphenylolxirane showed the finest and most uniform structure.