Cooling Hardening

Thermosetting plastic A polymer that can be molded when it is first prepared but, once cooled, hardens irreversibly and cannot be remelted. 

TPs are plastics that soften when heated and upon cooling harden into products. TPs can be repeatedly softened by reheating. Their morphology, molecular structure, is crystalline or amorphous. Softening temperatures... 

Method 2 (from potassium bromide and sulphuric acid). Potassium bromide (240 g.) is dissolved in water (400 ml.) in a litre flask, and the latter is cooled in ice or in a bath of cold water. Concentrated sulphuric acid (180 ml.) is then slowly added. Care must be taken that the temperature does not rise above 75° otherwise a little bromine may be formed. The solution is cooled to room temperature and the potassium bisulphate, which has separated, is removed by flltration through a hardened Alter paper in a Buchner funnel or through a sintered glass funnel. The flltrate is distilled from a litre distilling flask, and the fraction b.p. 124 127° is collected this contains traces of sulphate. Pure constant boiling point hydrobromic acid is obtained by redistillation from a little barium bromide. The yield is about 285 g. or 85 per cent, of the theoretical. 

Method 1. From ammonium chloroplatinate. Place 3 0 g. of ammonium chloroplatinate and 30 g. of A.R. sodium nitrate (1) in Pyrex beaker or porcelain casserole and heat gently at first until the rapid evolution of gas slackens, and then more strongly until a temperature of about 300° is reached. This operation occupies about 15 minutes, and there is no spattering. Maintain the fluid mass at 500-530° for 30 minutes, and allow the mixture to cool. Treat the sohd mass with 50 ml. of water. The brown precipitate of platinum oxide (PtOj.HjO) settles to the bottom. Wash it once or twice by decantation, filter througha hardened filter paper on a Gooch crucible, and wash on the filter until practically free from nitrates. Stop the washing process immediately the precipitate tends to become colloidal (2) traces of sodium nitrate do not affect the efficiency of the catalyst. Dry the oxide in a desiccator, and weigh out portions of the dried material as required. 

The two primary types of plastics, thermosets and thermoplastics, are made almost exclusively from hydrocarbon feedstocks. Thermosetting materials are those that harden during processing (usually during heating, as the name implies) such that in their final state they are substantially infusible and insoluble. Thermoplastics may be softened repeatedly by heat, and hardened again by cooling. 

When a steel is cooled sufficiendy rapidly from the austenite region to a low (eg, 25°C) temperature, the austenite decomposes into a nonequilihrium phase not shown on the phase diagram. This phase, called martensite, is body-centered tetragonal. It is the hardest form of steel, and its formation is critical in hardening. To form martensite, the austenite must be cooled sufficiently rapidly to prevent the austenite from first decomposing to the softer stmeture of a mixture of ferrite and carbide. Martensite begins to form upon reaching a temperature called the martensite start, Af, and is completed at a lower temperature, the martensite finish, Mj, These temperatures depend on the carbon and alloy content of the particular steel. 

When a component at an austenitizing temperature is placed in a quenchant, eg, water or oil, the surface cools faster than the center. The formation of martensite is more favored for the surface. A main function of alloying elements, eg, Ni, Cr, and Mo, in steels is to retard the rate of decomposition of austenite to the relatively soft products. Whereas use of less expensive plain carbon steels is preferred, alloy steels may be requited for deep hardening. 

Because the time at high temperature is much less, austenite is produced, which is chemically inhomogeneous especially with undissolved carbides, and has a fine grain crystal size. The formation of the hard martensite requites more rapid cooling than for conventional hardening. Thus case hardening by heat treatment intrinsically requites that the surface region to be hardened be relatively thin and cooled rapidly. 

Fig. 17. Structuie of U-700 after piecipitation hardening temperature of 1168 C/4 h + 1079" C/4 h + 843 C/24 h + TGO C/IG h with air cooling from each temperature. A grain boundary with precipitated carbides is passing through the center of the electron micrograph. Matrix precipitates are y -Nij(TiAl).

In the post-dispersion process, the soHd phenoHc resin is added to a mixture of water, cosolvent, and dispersant at high shear mixing, possibly with heating. The cosolvent, frequently an alcohol or glycol ether, and heat soften the resin and permit small particles to form. On cooling, the resin particles, stabilized by dispersant and perhaps thickener, harden and resist settling and agglomeration. Both resole and novolak resins have been made by this process (25). 

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