Inverse gas chromatography for natural fibre characterisation: Identification of the critical parameters to determine the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller specific surface area.

Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) is an alternative technique to determine the specific surface area of natural fibres. Natural fibres have a complex surface chemistry and unique microstructure that challenge the current capabilities to perform surface characterisation. This study investigated the influence of multiple parameters on the measured Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) specific surface area for samples of flax, kenaf and BioMid(®) cellulose fibres using IGC. The BET surface area of kenaf and flax differed with 0.51m(2)g(-1) and 1.35m(2)g(-1) respectively, the former being similar to the cellulose fibres (0.54m(2)g(-1)). The data was calculated under conditions where the BET equation showed good linearity (R(2)⩾0.995). Repeatability was excellent so that two runs sufficed to obtain representative BET surface area values. The findings showed the choice of solvent was important for all specimens to avoid any misleading data comparison due to molecular orientation effects that impact the adsorbent-adsorbate interactions. The higher surface area of the flax sample, and its higher variability, was correlated with a higher surface roughness observed under optical microscopy. Packing the chromatography column with long or chopped fibres produced results that were statistically insignificant.

Modelling the impact testing of prescription lenses.

Lenses are tested in an impact test in which a steel ball is dropped from a height onto the centre of the lens. This causes the lens to deform until the stress in the lens reaches a point at which fracture occurs. A survey of the literature was carried out and analytical models of the load/deflection and of the deflection/stress relationships were selected. A mathematical model of the impact test on lenses was developed. This model consisted of calculating the load-deflection relationship of a lens loaded at a central point, combined with calculating the deflection at which fracture occurred. From this model the impact energy required to deform a lens to fracture was obtained. This was held to be equal to the minimum kinetic energy of an impactor, less losses, that would be needed to cause lens fracture. As the losses are small, the calculated energy was used as an estimate of the impact strength of the lens. These values were then compared to those established by experiment. The impact energies predicted by the model were a close approximation of the experimental results for the lenses tested.