Gloss Finish Research Articles

Dosimetric Analysis of Rhizophora-based Phantom Material in Radiation Therapy Applications Using Monte Carlo GATE Simulation.

This study aims to determine the percentage depth dose (PDD) of a phantom material made from soy-lignin bonded Rhizophora spp. particleboard coated with a gloss finish by using Monte Carlo Geant4 Application for Tomographic Emission (GATE) simulation. The particleboard was fabricated using a hot pressing technique at target density of 1.0 g·cm-3 and the elemental fraction was recorded for the simulation. The PDD was simulated in the GATE simulation using the linear accelerator Elekta Synergy model for the water phantom and Rhizophora phantom, and the results were compared with the experimental PDD performed by several studies. Beam flatness and beam symmetry were also measured in this study. The simulated PDD for Rhizophora and water was in agreement with the experimental PDD of water with overall discrepancies of 0% to 8.7% at depth ranging from 1.0 to 15.0 cm. In the GATE simulation, all the points passed the clinical 3%/3 mm criterion in comparison with water, with the final percentage of 2.34% for Rhizophora phantom and 2.49% for the water phantom simulated in GATE. Both the symmetries are all within the range of an acceptable value of 2.0% according to the recommendation, with the beam symmetry of the water phantom and Rhizophora phantom at 0.58% and 0.28%, respectively. The findings of this study provide the necessary foundation to confidently use the phantom for radiotherapy purposes, especially in treatment planning.

Sustainable and Repulpable Barrier Coatings for Fiber-Based Materials for Food Packaging: A Review

Due to the inherent hydrophilic nature and porosity of the paper fibers, hydrophobic polymeric materials, waxes, and inorganic fillers have been widely utilized as coatings and fillers, respectively, on a fiber-based substrate. Coatings also impart oxygen, aroma, and oil barrier properties desirable for food packaging applications. In addition, coatings improve the functional properties and characteristics of paper, including reduced water absorbance, enhanced surface finish, gloss finish, printability, readability, dimensional stability of the substrate, and antimicrobial performance. Such functional properties are highly desirable for consumer packaging applications. However, such coatings may limit the repulpability, recyclability, biodegradability, and compostability of paper and paperboard. In addition, the contamination of the substrate by-product also limits the recyclability of the fiber-based substrates, and the paper, paperboard, or corrugated material ends up in landfill sites. This review focuses on bioderived, biodegradable, compostable, and functional organic, inorganic, and hybrid hydrophobic coatings, which promote the circular economy by improving the repulpability or reduces carbon footprints.

Estimation of linear and mass attenuation coefficients of soy-lignin bonded Rhizophora spp. particleboard as a potential phantom material using caesium-137 and cobalt-60.

In this study, linear and mass attenuation coefficients of fabricated particleboards intended for use as phantom material were estimated using 137Cs and 60Co radiation sources. Particleboards made of Rhizophora spp. wood trunk bonded with soy flour and lignin were fabricated at a target density of 1.0gcm-3, with and without gloss finish coating. Elemental composition of the particleboards was obtained by means of energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. Experimental setups were simulated via the GATE Monte Carlo (MC) package, with particle histories of 1 × 106-1 × 107. Linear and mass attenuation coefficients obtained from measurements and GATE simulations were compared and discussed. The percentage differences between the measured and simulated linear and mass attenuation coefficients of the samples were reasonably small (2.05-4.88% for 137Cs and 3.24-5.38% for 60Co). It is shown that all the particleboards have the potential to be used as phantom materials as the attenuation coefficients measured were in good agreement with those of water (calculated with XCOM) and with those simulated with the GATE toolkit. The use of gloss finish coating also did not show any significant effect on the attenuation coefficient of the phantom material. Verification of experimental results via GATE simulations has been shown crucial in providing reliable data for energy transmission studies. Based on the results achieved in this study, it is concluded that the studied material-Rhizophora spp. wood trunk bonded with soy flour and lignin including gloss finish coating-can be used in radiation dosimetry studies.

The “Executive Cardiac Health Checkup”

PROLOGUE: The “Executive Master Cardiac Health Checkup” (wonder who made that up the first time!) patient makes his entrance into the cardiologist’s outpatient (OP) chamber. It doesn’t require the deductive skills of our friend in Baker street to identify that he has recently returned from either the USA or its neighbor across the Niagara. He looks healthy as a fresh cucumber. And smells even better (Calvin Klein probably). I offer him a smile, a seat, and my hand. He mistakes the intention of my third gesture and hurriedly thrusts a package on to my unsuspecting hand—the colourful and fancy looking Investigation File (gloss finish for the extra effect). “Doctor, all the test reports are here. Blood tests, ECG, Echo are all done. They wouldn’t let me do the TMT without seeing you,” he complained. I thank the technician silently in my mind for having followed my standing instruction faithfully (I have had my share of trouble with unsolicited treadmill tests). I tell him calmly that I wish to talk to him first about his health, then proceed with a clinical examination, and would then give my full attention to the reports in the file. He is clearly not happy. He gives a few not-so-furtive glances at his oversized watch to indicate that he didn’t have much time to waste. POST SCRIPT: After the evaluation, I happily gave the gentleman a “clean chit” and congratulated him on the excellent condition of his heart. He didn’t look as happy as I wanted him to feel though. “Doctor, can I do the TMT now?,” he asked impatiently. One should know when a battle is lost. I smiled, and wrote “Routine check up, No risk factors” against the indication column on the TMT form. The patient proudly came back with the “Negative TMT.” This time, he was smiling from ear to ear, “Thank you Doc, I will be back next year around Christmas for the same check-up.” So much for evidence-based medicine!

Effect of Viscosity on the Characteristic Properties of Solvent Free Patent Finished Leathers

Patent leather is a well-known leather type having a mirror-bright gloss finish and is produced from goat, calf, cattle, and corrected grain crust leathers by the use of patent finishing technique. Due to the emission limitations of volatile organic compounds, now water-based finishing applications are used in leather industry instead of solvent-based systems and still there has been no information in literature to reveal the effect of viscosity on the characteristic properties of patent leathers. Therefore, in the present study, water-based patent leathers differentiated in viscosity were investigated in terms of surface reflectance, tensile strength and elongation at break, to and fro rubbing fastness, distension and strength of surface, heat resistance, flexing resistance, air permeability, colorfastness to water spotting tests and scanning electron microscopy displays prior and subsequent to ageing process. The results of the study revealed that the patent film with 194.46cSt viscosity (S2) viscosity provided comparatively better results.

Influence of the Varnishing "Surface" Coverage on Optical Print Characteristics

Varnishing is often used to protect or decorate the print, but it can also influence the print’s colour appearance. Therefore, varnishing should enhance the print role, while colour change should be kept as low as possible. The aim of this paper is to evaluate inkjet UV LED varnishing by estimating optical print characteristics. Prepared offset prints were UV LED varnished in different surface coverage values (SCV) with a matte and gloss finish. The prints were evaluated by measuring gloss and colour coordinates. Secondly, varnishing was performed in a different SCV, which enabled assessing the optimal SCV, i.e. the most cost-efficient varnishing. The printing process was conducted in a standardized and controlled laboratory environment, regulated via the ISO 12647-2:2013 norm to ensure that the black colour was reproduced in the standard tolerance. The results showed that the colour difference is negligible (stays in the ISO tolerances), regardless of the varnishing SCV. On the other hand, the optimal printing gloss is at the SCV of 100%.

Investigation on suitable coating material for soy-lignin bonded Rhizophora spp. particleboard for medical physics applications

A phantom material was prepared with different percentages of soy-lignin bonded with Rhizophora spp. particleboard and different coating materials, including epoxy resin, gloss wood finish, and a mixture of epoxy resin and gloss wood finish. A set of samples without coating was prepared for comparison. Each sample was bonded with 6% or 12% soy-lignin adhesives. The aim was to investigate the suitability of different coating materials at low energy range. The water absorption, thickness swelling, surface roughness, and mass attenuation coefficients of the samples with various coating materials were examined. Water absorption and thickness swelling of the samples coated with different coating materials followed a similar trend, but only one sample (coated with gloss wood finish) was within the recommended value of 12% according to JIS A 5908 (2003). Surface roughness testing revealed that the sample coated with gloss finish was smoother than other coated and non-coated samples. The mass attenuation coefficient of the sample coated with gloss finish was similar to that of water, indicating its suitability as a coating material for the Rhizophora spp. particleboard in medical physics applications.

A gloss finish in a tough environment

A gloss finish in a tough environment

New gloss finish for cross-border trains

New gloss finish for cross-border trains

High gloss finish: The impact of surface roughness on gloss

The cured finishes always contain certain irregularities that result from the technique and conditions of application. For this reason, in order to achieve smooth high gloss finished surfaces, it is necessary to polish ('rub-out') surfaces coated with high gloss finish. Rubbing means sanding the finished surfaces with very fine abrasive grits. In this paper we explored how each phase of the polishing process affect the surface roughness and the gloss of coated surface. The surface roughness was expressed by the parameters: Ra, Rz and Rt, and the gloss was determined by reflectometer (measurement angles 20˚ and 60˚). The results showed that through the stages of polishing, surface roughness decreased, while gloss of finished surface increased. The high value of the coefficient of determination (R2 = 0,984) indicated the linear dependence between the roughness parameter Ra and gloss of finished surface (at measuring angle of 60˚). The comparison of gloss results obtained by two measuring angles, confirmed the need for using the angle of 20˚ when determining the gloss of high gloss surfaces, since universal angle of 60˚ did not provided insight to small differences in the gloss that appeared as a result of polishing.

Effects of cavity surface temperature on mechanical properties of specimens with and without a weld line in rapid heat cycle molding

Rapid heat cycle molding (RHCM) is a recently developed injection molding technology to enhance surface esthetic of the parts. By rapid heating and cooling of mold cavity surfaces in molding process, it can greatly alleviate or even eliminate the surface defects such as flow mark, weld line, glass fiber rich surface, silver mark, jetting mark, and swirl mark, and also improve gloss finish and dimensional accuracy without prolonging the molding cycle. Besides surface esthetic, mechanical property is also a very import issue for the molded plastic part. The aim of this study is focusing on the effects of the cavity surface temperature just before filling, Tcs, in RHCM on the mechanical strength of the specimen with and without weld line. Six kinds of typical plastics including polystyrene (PS), polypropylene (PP), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene/polymethylmethacrylate (ABS/PMMA), ABS/PMMA/nano-CaCO3 and glass fiber reinforced polypropylene (FRPP) are used in experiments. The specimens with and without a weld line are produced with the different Tcs on the developed electric-heating RHCM system. Tensile tests and notched Izod impact tests are conducted to characterize the mechanical strength of the specimens molded with different cavity surface temperatures. Simulations, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and optical microscope are implemented to explain the impact mechanism of Tcs on mechanical properties.

Original Sinning, and: Missing You Again, and: Back Story

Original Sinning, and: Missing You Again, and: Back Story Marjorie Stelmach (bio) Original Sinning I Remember earlier that same day? The smell of green, the bright young sun, God’s huge hands pressed on the sky’s clear glass, his fatherly forehead (unfurrowed as yet) leaning down? Remember how the whole sky filled with his mouth—agape? How his flattened palms and porous face appeared to crack (or would have, had the two been looking up): life-line splintered, love-line crazed, eyes glazed? That classic Primal Scene. It all came apart so swiftly after that: sweat and labor, sons, a dark fertility of soil, veins seething with ores, with leaves and leavings, with freezings and thaws, till even Adam could till without toil, having mastered the art of the forge. Leisure, now, and all the time in the world for kissing, for telling. [End Page 129] II Ages pass in these pursuits, while God catches his breath. At which point, all of us, you and me, catch hell. Static bristles; ozone burns in our lungs; lightning slices our eyes like the slick skin of an apple. Rain. More rain. III At long last: California. I told you he’d leave you the garden, the voice in the apple tree sneers. Big deal. Here’s my offer:How much space do you people figureyou’ll need in the long run?Oh yeah, and about that ozone: still want to live forever? IV Plus ça change . . . , sighs God in a Francophile mood, leaning only a fraction of his old weight on the antique glass. [End Page 130] Missing You Again Always the departed—their sand-dollar eyelids, their folded hands—lie still and let us fill one last time with their faces, a shade removed from ours. Their wishes have been seen to and the washing of their flesh. There is music or not—just as they asked. We’ve come to touch them goodbye with our eyes, now they’ve moved beyond our voices. Neither family nor the bereaved, we emerge together, a group of fellow-workers, to stand, blinking, just outside the double doors, astonished at how everything is suddenly so vertical, so deeply three-dimensional, the cars in the lot dazzling, the lot itself expanding with our exhalations. We stand waiting for our eyes to adjust, while parking spaces empty and are filled in a seemly manner under a weak, workday sun, and the boulevard streams with a suddenness of souls— some living, some long departed some so newly gone they shine in our pupils, grow palpable in the cups of our palms— that are filling now with keys, as we open our car doors and gaze a moment more across our gently mounded roofs: all the way to the horizon there are people missing. [End Page 131] Back Story after a yard-sale photograph On the far bank, far downstream, she stands effaced in failing light, her dark hair blurred against the shore’s black verticals, her crimson skirt a tucked bulk, her white limbs bared, her feet and ankles lost in the long, silver water. Does there have to be a story here, Heart? How to prevent the alchemy: cloth to blood, pine trunks to a sinister witness, the river’s glint to the lengthening slip of a knife? Must her flesh bruise with the pressure of prints on the gloss finish? And must it be again my face shining back from the scene of her violation? [End Page 132] Marjorie Stelmach Marjorie Stelmach is the author of three volumes of poetry, most recently Bent upon Light (U of Tampa P). She served, until her recent retirement, as the director of the Howard Nemerov Writing Scholars Program at Washington University in St. Louis. Copyright © 2012 University of Nebraska Press

Photo-Quality Print Media

This paper will describe a photo-quality print media comprising a specially developed image-receiving surface layer (IRL) that accepts the printing ink/colorant material from the appropriate printing process, and serves to embed it in the glossing step, providing for better image protection and better image properties without additional coatings or a lamination step. The IRL is extrusion coated as an extruded monolayer or coextruded along with other layers to both sides of the base. The backside of the media can be tailored for specific applications (writability before and after printing, fuser oil management in electrophotographic applications, etc.).A unique advantage of the IRL is the fact that its final surface finish can easily be altered for specific applications. This media can provide a matte surface for printing directed to specified applications. Alternatively, the same material can be glossed to an even gloss finish by passing the printed media through a glossing unit, such as a belt fuser, to yield a highly glossed printed surface without additional coatings. Such versatility, an unprecedented and unobvious technical advance in the world of printed media, is a unique economic advantage offered by the media described here.

An Economic Appraisal of the U. S. Tung Oil Economy

Tung has been a preferred natural drying oil because of the high gloss finish, durability and water resistance qualities which it imparts to paint, varnish and lacquer products. However, increased competition from chemical synthetics, combined with lower prices for other natural oils since the early 1950's, has brought a decline of domestic tung oil consumption from 72.4 million pounds in 1950-51 to around 32 million pounds in 1968–69.The mandatory support program, initiated in 1948, obligates the Commodity Credit Corporation to support tung oil prices to growers at a minimum 65 percent of parity or at 24.3 cents per pound in 1968. Large accumulations of CCC stocks, close to 63 million pounds in 1966, triggered a change in CCC inventory policy.

PRODUCTS and PROCESSES: PROVIDING INDUSTRY WITH THE MEANS TO COMBAT CORROSION

Aluminium Satin Etch Solution An immersion etching solution, Noralbryte, is said to be capable of removing or obliterating dielines and similar draw marks, shallow scratches and similar damage from the surface of extruded metal and rolled sheet. It is also possible to remove superficial shallow corrosion damage from such surfaces. As the process gives a smooth satin gloss finish, it is particularly suited as a pretreatment prior to anodising. The full processing sequence affords a very high protective finish for such parts as window frames, curtain walling, shop fronts, etc., as well as parts made from sheet and strip.