Applications interacting with fundamental research

Over several decades, extensive research has been undertaken on the fundamental theory and the mechanisms involved in detonation. Extensive information on this research is in the literature [10]. But of the three fundamental combustion phenomena — deflagration, explosion, and detonation — only detonation has not found exploitation in practical civilian or military applications to the extent that this phenomenon warrants. This is partly due to the fact that the science and technology involved is very complex due to the intense and fast energy release rates and their interaction with the confinement prescribed by the... 

Microwave heating techniques have been widely used in textile chemistry. This paper presents a state-of-the-art review of microwave technologies and industrial applications. The characteristics of microwave interactions with textile materials are outlined together with microwave fundamentals in the heat-setting process. Further more, the limitations in current imderstanding are included as a guide for potential users and for future research and development activities. 

Since the fundamental studies of the Russian schools of Dubinin and Kiselev were carried out in the 1960s, the change in the approach of science toward application and concerns about environmental pollutions, directed the focus of scientific research toward studies of the adsorption of VOCs on carbons from the point of view of the feasibility of the removal process. Of course, this feasibility is related to the strength of the interactions, especially important at low concentrations, and the adsorption capacity (for high concentrations). Since that time also more has been done to understand specific interactions with the carbon surfaces, especially those decorated with functional groups containing heteroatoms [62, 63]. 

The Springer Series on Atomic, Optical, and Plasma Physics covers in a comprehensive manner theory and experiment in the entire field of atoms and molecules and their interaction with electromagnetic radiation. Books in the series provide a rich source of new ideas and techniques with wide applications in fields such as chemistry, materials science, astrophysics, surface science, plasma technology, advanced optics, aeronomy, and engineering. Laser physics is a particular connecting theme that has provided much of the continuing impetus for new developments in the field. The purpose of the series is to cover the gap between standard undergraduate textbooks and the research literature with emphasis on the fundamental ideas, methods, techniques, and results in the field. 

I could complete this book thanks to the cooperation and interaction with others. For about 40 years, I worked in the scientifically fertile environment of the Laboratory of Physical Chemistry and Colloid Science of Wageningen University, where I was involved in fundamental research with an open eye for applications, especially in the fields of food and health as well as soil and water. I greatly benefited from collaboration and discussions with colleagues, in particular Hans Lyklema, Martien Cohen Stuart, Gerard Fleer, Frans Leermakers, Arie de Keizer, Mieke Kleijn, Luuk Koopal, and Pieter Walstra. 

Polymer-surfactant interactions study is increasingly popular from a fundamental research point of view as well as in the industrial world where already numerous applications have been reported in the field of detergency, oil recovery, flotation, drug delivery, cosmetic formulation, and so forth. In many cases, the polymers are now used in combination with surfactants. 

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