[Objective] The research aimed to find the optimal condition of corn starch production in the laboratory and analyze the soaking effect.[Method] The orthogonal test was used to determine the suitable technological con...[Objective] The research aimed to find the optimal condition of corn starch production in the laboratory and analyze the soaking effect.[Method] The orthogonal test was used to determine the suitable technological condition.By the light microscope and the scanning electron microscope,the soaking effect was analyzed.[Result] The suitable soaking condition was：soaking time 48 h,soaking temperature 55 ℃ and SO2 concentration 0.2%.The microscopic analysis result was that the protein matrix was sufficiently decomposed in the suitable soaking condition.The soaking effect had the positive correlation with the decomposed degree of protein matrix.[Conclusion] The research provided the basis for the soaking technics research of corn starch in the laboratory.展开更多
For understanding the function of tonoplast protein in plant cell signal pathway, we have identified an integral protein kinase activity from the highly purified tonoplast isolated from maize ( Zea mays L.) root by...For understanding the function of tonoplast protein in plant cell signal pathway, we have identified an integral protein kinase activity from the highly purified tonoplast isolated from maize ( Zea mays L.) root by a new nonradioactive method in which a color labeled peptide was used as substrate. The protein kinase was Ca 2+ _dependent and CaM and phosphatidylserine_independent, like the calmodulin_like domain protein kinase (CDPK) in many plants. The optimal pH value and Ca 2+ concentration were 6.5 and 10 μmol/L, respectively. According to the optimal pH value and the effect of detergent, it could be inferred that the active site of this protein kinase is oriented toward the cytoplasm. Zn 2+ had no obvious effect on its activity, indicating that this protein kinase has no zinc_finger domain that exists in some mammalian protein kinases. At the same time, when tonoplast proteins were prephosphorylated in the presence of Ca 2+ and ATP, both the ATP_hydrolysis and the proton_transport activity of vacuolar H +_ATPase were stimulated. This stimulation could be reversed by an alkaline_phosphatase. These results indicate that a Ca 2+ _dependent protein kinase was located in the tonoplast, and a Ca 2+ _dependent phosphorylation, probably caused by this kinase, activated the vacuolar H +_ATPase activity. These results are helpful for further research on the function of CDPK in the course of signal transduction in plants.展开更多
A special nanobubble generation system has been developed for evaluating the effect of nanobubble on froth flotation. In this study, an eight-factor five-level Central Composite Experimental Design was conducted for i...A special nanobubble generation system has been developed for evaluating the effect of nanobubble on froth flotation. In this study, an eight-factor five-level Central Composite Experimental Design was conducted for investigating eight important parameters governing the median size and the volume of nanobubbles. These process parameters included surfactant concentration, dissolved oxygen (O2) content, dissolved carbon dioxide gas (CO2) content, pressure drop in cavitation tube nozzle, <50 nm hydrophobic particle concentration, <50 nm hydrophilic particle concentration, slurry temperature and the time interval after nanobubble generation. The properties, stability and uniformity of nanobubbles were investigated. The study of the produced nanobubble’s effects on the characteristics of microbubble solutions and millimeter scale bubble solutions was performed in a 50.8 mm column.展开更多
In macrophages, the accumulation of cholesteryl esters synthesized by the activated acyl-coenzyme A:cholesterol acyltransferase-1 (ACAT1) results in the foam cell formation, a hallmark of early atherosclerotic lesions...In macrophages, the accumulation of cholesteryl esters synthesized by the activated acyl-coenzyme A:cholesterol acyltransferase-1 (ACAT1) results in the foam cell formation, a hallmark of early atherosclerotic lesions. In this study, with the treatment of a glucocorticoid hormone dexamethasone (Dex), lipid staining results clearly showed the large accumulation of lipid droplets containing cholesteryl esters in THP-1-derived macrophages exposed to lower concentration of the oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL). More notably, when treated together with specific anti-ACAT inhibitors, the abundant cholesteryl ester accumulation was markedly diminished in THP-1-derived macrophages, confirming that ACAT is the key enzyme responsible for intracellular cholesteryl ester synthesis. RT-PCR and Western blot results indicated that Dex caused up-regulation of human ACAT1 expression at both the mRNA and protein levels in THP-1 and THP-1-derived macrophages. The luciferase activity assay demonstrated that Dex could enhance the activity of human ACAT1 gene P1 promoter, a major factor leading to the ACAT1 activation, in a cell-specific manner. Further experimental evidences showed that a glucocorticoid response element (GRE) located within human ACAT1 gene P1 promoter to response to the elevation of human ACAT1 gene expression by Dex could be functionally bound with glucocorticoid receptor (GR) proteins. These data supported the hypothesis that the clinical treatment with Dex, which increased the incidence of atherosclerosis, may in part due to enhancing the ACAT1 expression to promote the accumulation of cholesteryl esters during the macrophage-derived foam cell formation, an early stage of atherosclerosis.展开更多
Hydrodynamic cavitaion venturi tube technique is used for pico and nano bubble generations in coal column flotation. In order to determine the optimal design of hydrodynamic cavitation venture tube for pico and nano b...Hydrodynamic cavitaion venturi tube technique is used for pico and nano bubble generations in coal column flotation. In order to determine the optimal design of hydrodynamic cavitation venture tube for pico and nano bubble generation, a four-factor three-level Central Composite Design of Experimental was conducted for investigating four important design parameters of cavitation venturi tube governing the median size and the volume of pico and nano bubbles. The test results showed that maximum volume of pico and nano bubbles, 65–75%, and minimum mean pico and nano bubble size,150–240 nm, were achieved at the medium ratio of the diameter of outlet of the venturi-tube and diameter of throat(3–4), medium outlet angle(11–13°), high inlet angle(26–27°) and high ratio of the length of the throat and the diameter of throat(2.3–3). Study the effects of the producing pico and nano bubbles on fine coal flotation was performed in a 5 cm diameter 260 cm height flotation column. The optimal percentage of pico and nano bubbles was about 70%, which produced maximum combustible material recovery of 86% with clean coal ash content of 11.7%.展开更多
Coal is the world's most abundant fossil fuel.Coal froth flotation is a widely used cleaning process to separate coal from mineral impurities.Flotation of coarse coal particles,ultrafine coal particles and oxidize...Coal is the world's most abundant fossil fuel.Coal froth flotation is a widely used cleaning process to separate coal from mineral impurities.Flotation of coarse coal particles,ultrafine coal particles and oxidized coal particles is well known to be difficult and complex.In this paper,the nanobubbles' effects on the flotation of the varying particle size,particle density and floatability coal samples were evaluated using a bank of pilot scale flotation cells,a laboratory scale and a pilot scale specially designed flotation column.The parameters evaluated during this study include the flow rate ratio between the nanobubble generator and the conventional size bubble generator,the superficial air velocity,collector dosage,frother concentration,flotation feed rate,feed solids concentration,feed particle size,and the superficial wash water flow rate,etc.The results show that the use of nanobubbles in a bank of mechanical cells flotation and column flotation increased the flotation recovery by 8%～27% at a given product grade.Nanobubbles increased the flotation rate constants of 600～355,355～180,180～75,and 75～0 microns size coal particles by 98.0%,98.4%,50.0% and 41.6%,respectively.The separation selectivity index was increased by up to 34%,depending on the flotation feed characteristics and the flotation conditions.展开更多
The flotation process is a particle-hydrophobic surface-based separation technique. To improve the essential flotation steps of collision and attachment probabilities, and reduce the step of detachment probabilities b...The flotation process is a particle-hydrophobic surface-based separation technique. To improve the essential flotation steps of collision and attachment probabilities, and reduce the step of detachment probabilities between air bubbles and hydrophobic particles, a selectively designed cavitation venturi tube combined with a static mixer can be used to generate very high numbers of pico and nano bubbles in a flotation column. Fully embraced by those high numbers of tiny bubbles, hydrophobic particles readily attract the tiny bubbles to their surfaces. The results of column flotation of Pittsburgh No. 8 seam coal are obtained in a 5.08 cm ID and 162 cm height flotation column equipped with a static mixer and cavitation venturi tube, using kerosene as collector and MIBC as frother. Design of the experimental procedure is combined with a statistical two-stepwise analysis to determine the optimal operating conditions for maximum recovery at a specified grade. The effect of independent variables on the responses has been explained. Combustible material recovery of 85–90% at clean coal product of 10–11% ash is obtained from feed of 29.6% ash, with a much-reduced amount of frother and collector than that used in conventional column flotation. The column flotation process utilizing pico and nano bubbles can also be extended to the lower limit and upper limit of particle size ranges, minus 75 lm and 300–600 lm, respectively, for better recovery.展开更多
A novel method combining visualization particle tracking with image-based dynamic light scattering was developed to achieve the in situ and real-time size measurement of nanobubbles(NBs).First,the in situ size distrib...A novel method combining visualization particle tracking with image-based dynamic light scattering was developed to achieve the in situ and real-time size measurement of nanobubbles(NBs).First,the in situ size distribution of NBs was visualized by dark-field microscopy.Then,real-time size during the preparation was measured using image-based dynamic light scattering,and the longitudinal size distribution of NBs in the sample cell was obtained in a steady state.Results show that this strategy can provide a detailed and accurate size of bubbles in the whole sample compared with the commercial ZetaSizer Nano equipment.Therefore,the developed method is a real-time and simple technology with excellent accuracy,providing new insights into the accurate measurement of the size distribution of NBs or nanoparticles in solution.展开更多
Fine particle flotation has been one of the main problems in many mineral processing plants.The bubble particle collision rate is very low for fine particles,which reduces flotation efficiency.Also,the existence of sl...Fine particle flotation has been one of the main problems in many mineral processing plants.The bubble particle collision rate is very low for fine particles,which reduces flotation efficiency.Also,the existence of slimes is,generally,detrimental to the flotation process,affecting the selectivity and the quality of the concentrates.Besides,it causes an increase in reagents consumption.Hence,in most of processing plants,some of these particles are transmitted to the tailing ponds to reduce the effects of these problems and increase the selectivity of the process.Esfordi phosphate plant in Iran loses more than 30%of its capacity as particles with d 80 finer than 30μm.These fine particles with 15.9%P_(2)O_(5)content are transferred to tailing dam.Processing of fine particles is very important for phosphate industry from economic and environmental aspects.This study addressed the processing of fine tailings(slimes)from a phosphate ore concentrator via flotation,despite the traditional view that ultrafine particles do not float.Phosphate flotation performances in the presence and absence of nanobubbles(NBs)in both mechanical and column cells were compared according to the metallurgical results of the process.NBs(generated by hydrodynamic cavitation)have interesting and exclusive properties such as high stability,durability and high surface area per volume,leading to increase of their utilization in mining-metallurgy and environmental areas.The results of this study revealed that,in the absence of NBs,a concentrate containing 26.9%P_(2)O_(5)with a recovery of 29.13%was obtained using mechanical cells in comparison to 31.6%P_(2)O_(5)with a recovery of 32.74%obtained using column flotation.In the presence of NBs,the recoveries of the concentrate of the mechanical and column flotation increased to 40.49%and 41.26%with 28.47%and 30.43%P_(2)O_(5)contents,respectively.Comparative study showed that the column flotation was almost more efficient for processing the phosphate ore in the presence of the NBs,and had thicker froth layer compared to the mechanical flotation.展开更多
We examine the effect of adding mesons fo(975)and φ(1020)as well as the variety of U(the potential well depth ofin nuclear matter)from -10 MeV to -28 MeV on the extent of the particles participation and the propertie...We examine the effect of adding mesons fo(975)and φ(1020)as well as the variety of U(the potential well depth ofin nuclear matter)from -10 MeV to -28 MeV on the extent of the particles participation and the properties of the neutron star in the relativistic mean field model.We find that considering the contribution of fo and φ mesons,the equation of state of the neutron star turns soft,the maximum mass reduces while the corresponding radius increases.hyperons appear at lower density as Ubecomes deeper,and the variety of Uhas little effect on the equation of state and the properties of the neutron star.展开更多
Microcellular injection molding of neat isotactic polypropylene(iPP) and isotactic polypropylene/nano-calcium carbonate composites(i PP/nano-CaCO_3) was performed using supercritical carbon dioxide as the physical blo...Microcellular injection molding of neat isotactic polypropylene(iPP) and isotactic polypropylene/nano-calcium carbonate composites(i PP/nano-CaCO_3) was performed using supercritical carbon dioxide as the physical blowing agent. The influences of filler content and operating conditions on microstructure morphology of i PP and i PP/nano-CaCO_3 microcellular samples were studied systematically. The results showed the bubble size of the microcellular samples could be effectively decreased while the cell density increased for i PP/nano-CaCO_3 composites, especially at high CO_2 concentration and back pressure, low mold temperature and injection speed, and high filler content. Then Moldex 3D was applied to simulate the microcellular injection molding process, with the application of the measured ScCO_2 solubility and diffusion data for i PP and i PP/nano-Ca CO_3 composites respectively. For neat i PP, the simulated bubble size and density distribution in the center section of tensile bars showed a good agreement with the experimental values. However, for i PP/nano-CaCO_3 composites, the correction factor for nucleation activation energy F and the pre-exponential factor of nucleation rate f_0 were obtained by nonlinear regression on the experimental bubble size and density distribution. The parameters F and f_0 can be used to predict the microcellular injection molding process for i PP/nano-CaCO_3 composites by Moldex 3D.展开更多
文摘[Objective] The research aimed to find the optimal condition of corn starch production in the laboratory and analyze the soaking effect.[Method] The orthogonal test was used to determine the suitable technological condition.By the light microscope and the scanning electron microscope,the soaking effect was analyzed.[Result] The suitable soaking condition was：soaking time 48 h,soaking temperature 55 ℃ and SO2 concentration 0.2%.The microscopic analysis result was that the protein matrix was sufficiently decomposed in the suitable soaking condition.The soaking effect had the positive correlation with the decomposed degree of protein matrix.[Conclusion] The research provided the basis for the soaking technics research of corn starch in the laboratory.
文摘For understanding the function of tonoplast protein in plant cell signal pathway, we have identified an integral protein kinase activity from the highly purified tonoplast isolated from maize ( Zea mays L.) root by a new nonradioactive method in which a color labeled peptide was used as substrate. The protein kinase was Ca 2+ _dependent and CaM and phosphatidylserine_independent, like the calmodulin_like domain protein kinase (CDPK) in many plants. The optimal pH value and Ca 2+ concentration were 6.5 and 10 μmol/L, respectively. According to the optimal pH value and the effect of detergent, it could be inferred that the active site of this protein kinase is oriented toward the cytoplasm. Zn 2+ had no obvious effect on its activity, indicating that this protein kinase has no zinc_finger domain that exists in some mammalian protein kinases. At the same time, when tonoplast proteins were prephosphorylated in the presence of Ca 2+ and ATP, both the ATP_hydrolysis and the proton_transport activity of vacuolar H +_ATPase were stimulated. This stimulation could be reversed by an alkaline_phosphatase. These results indicate that a Ca 2+ _dependent protein kinase was located in the tonoplast, and a Ca 2+ _dependent phosphorylation, probably caused by this kinase, activated the vacuolar H +_ATPase activity. These results are helpful for further research on the function of CDPK in the course of signal transduction in plants.
基金the Florida In-stitute of Phosphate Research (FIPR)the Center for Advanced Separation Technologies (CAST)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos.50921002 and 90510002) for the financial support
文摘A special nanobubble generation system has been developed for evaluating the effect of nanobubble on froth flotation. In this study, an eight-factor five-level Central Composite Experimental Design was conducted for investigating eight important parameters governing the median size and the volume of nanobubbles. These process parameters included surfactant concentration, dissolved oxygen (O2) content, dissolved carbon dioxide gas (CO2) content, pressure drop in cavitation tube nozzle, <50 nm hydrophobic particle concentration, <50 nm hydrophilic particle concentration, slurry temperature and the time interval after nanobubble generation. The properties, stability and uniformity of nanobubbles were investigated. The study of the produced nanobubble’s effects on the characteristics of microbubble solutions and millimeter scale bubble solutions was performed in a 50.8 mm column.
基金supported by grants of the Major State Basic Research Development program of China(No.2002CB513000)National Scienses Foudation Center(No.30393110)+1 种基金State Science and Technology Committee(SSTC)(NO.02DJ14068)Chinese Academy of Science to Bo Liang LI,and NIH grant HL36709 to Ta Yuan CHANG.
文摘In macrophages, the accumulation of cholesteryl esters synthesized by the activated acyl-coenzyme A:cholesterol acyltransferase-1 (ACAT1) results in the foam cell formation, a hallmark of early atherosclerotic lesions. In this study, with the treatment of a glucocorticoid hormone dexamethasone (Dex), lipid staining results clearly showed the large accumulation of lipid droplets containing cholesteryl esters in THP-1-derived macrophages exposed to lower concentration of the oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL). More notably, when treated together with specific anti-ACAT inhibitors, the abundant cholesteryl ester accumulation was markedly diminished in THP-1-derived macrophages, confirming that ACAT is the key enzyme responsible for intracellular cholesteryl ester synthesis. RT-PCR and Western blot results indicated that Dex caused up-regulation of human ACAT1 expression at both the mRNA and protein levels in THP-1 and THP-1-derived macrophages. The luciferase activity assay demonstrated that Dex could enhance the activity of human ACAT1 gene P1 promoter, a major factor leading to the ACAT1 activation, in a cell-specific manner. Further experimental evidences showed that a glucocorticoid response element (GRE) located within human ACAT1 gene P1 promoter to response to the elevation of human ACAT1 gene expression by Dex could be functionally bound with glucocorticoid receptor (GR) proteins. These data supported the hypothesis that the clinical treatment with Dex, which increased the incidence of atherosclerosis, may in part due to enhancing the ACAT1 expression to promote the accumulation of cholesteryl esters during the macrophage-derived foam cell formation, an early stage of atherosclerosis.
基金West Virginia State Coal and Energy Research Bureau(WVCERB)the Department of Mining Engineering,West Virginia University
文摘Hydrodynamic cavitaion venturi tube technique is used for pico and nano bubble generations in coal column flotation. In order to determine the optimal design of hydrodynamic cavitation venture tube for pico and nano bubble generation, a four-factor three-level Central Composite Design of Experimental was conducted for investigating four important design parameters of cavitation venturi tube governing the median size and the volume of pico and nano bubbles. The test results showed that maximum volume of pico and nano bubbles, 65–75%, and minimum mean pico and nano bubble size,150–240 nm, were achieved at the medium ratio of the diameter of outlet of the venturi-tube and diameter of throat(3–4), medium outlet angle(11–13°), high inlet angle(26–27°) and high ratio of the length of the throat and the diameter of throat(2.3–3). Study the effects of the producing pico and nano bubbles on fine coal flotation was performed in a 5 cm diameter 260 cm height flotation column. The optimal percentage of pico and nano bubbles was about 70%, which produced maximum combustible material recovery of 86% with clean coal ash content of 11.7%.
文摘Coal is the world's most abundant fossil fuel.Coal froth flotation is a widely used cleaning process to separate coal from mineral impurities.Flotation of coarse coal particles,ultrafine coal particles and oxidized coal particles is well known to be difficult and complex.In this paper,the nanobubbles' effects on the flotation of the varying particle size,particle density and floatability coal samples were evaluated using a bank of pilot scale flotation cells,a laboratory scale and a pilot scale specially designed flotation column.The parameters evaluated during this study include the flow rate ratio between the nanobubble generator and the conventional size bubble generator,the superficial air velocity,collector dosage,frother concentration,flotation feed rate,feed solids concentration,feed particle size,and the superficial wash water flow rate,etc.The results show that the use of nanobubbles in a bank of mechanical cells flotation and column flotation increased the flotation recovery by 8%～27% at a given product grade.Nanobubbles increased the flotation rate constants of 600～355,355～180,180～75,and 75～0 microns size coal particles by 98.0%,98.4%,50.0% and 41.6%,respectively.The separation selectivity index was increased by up to 34%,depending on the flotation feed characteristics and the flotation conditions.
基金provided by West Virginia State Coal and Energy Research Bureau (CERB)the Department of Mining Engineering,West Virginia University
文摘The flotation process is a particle-hydrophobic surface-based separation technique. To improve the essential flotation steps of collision and attachment probabilities, and reduce the step of detachment probabilities between air bubbles and hydrophobic particles, a selectively designed cavitation venturi tube combined with a static mixer can be used to generate very high numbers of pico and nano bubbles in a flotation column. Fully embraced by those high numbers of tiny bubbles, hydrophobic particles readily attract the tiny bubbles to their surfaces. The results of column flotation of Pittsburgh No. 8 seam coal are obtained in a 5.08 cm ID and 162 cm height flotation column equipped with a static mixer and cavitation venturi tube, using kerosene as collector and MIBC as frother. Design of the experimental procedure is combined with a statistical two-stepwise analysis to determine the optimal operating conditions for maximum recovery at a specified grade. The effect of independent variables on the responses has been explained. Combustible material recovery of 85–90% at clean coal product of 10–11% ash is obtained from feed of 29.6% ash, with a much-reduced amount of frother and collector than that used in conventional column flotation. The column flotation process utilizing pico and nano bubbles can also be extended to the lower limit and upper limit of particle size ranges, minus 75 lm and 300–600 lm, respectively, for better recovery.
基金The National Key Research and Development Program of China(No.2017YFA0104302)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51832001,61821002,81971750).
文摘A novel method combining visualization particle tracking with image-based dynamic light scattering was developed to achieve the in situ and real-time size measurement of nanobubbles(NBs).First,the in situ size distribution of NBs was visualized by dark-field microscopy.Then,real-time size during the preparation was measured using image-based dynamic light scattering,and the longitudinal size distribution of NBs in the sample cell was obtained in a steady state.Results show that this strategy can provide a detailed and accurate size of bubbles in the whole sample compared with the commercial ZetaSizer Nano equipment.Therefore,the developed method is a real-time and simple technology with excellent accuracy,providing new insights into the accurate measurement of the size distribution of NBs or nanoparticles in solution.
基金Project supported by Iran Mineral Processing Research Center(IMPRC)。
文摘Fine particle flotation has been one of the main problems in many mineral processing plants.The bubble particle collision rate is very low for fine particles,which reduces flotation efficiency.Also,the existence of slimes is,generally,detrimental to the flotation process,affecting the selectivity and the quality of the concentrates.Besides,it causes an increase in reagents consumption.Hence,in most of processing plants,some of these particles are transmitted to the tailing ponds to reduce the effects of these problems and increase the selectivity of the process.Esfordi phosphate plant in Iran loses more than 30%of its capacity as particles with d 80 finer than 30μm.These fine particles with 15.9%P_(2)O_(5)content are transferred to tailing dam.Processing of fine particles is very important for phosphate industry from economic and environmental aspects.This study addressed the processing of fine tailings(slimes)from a phosphate ore concentrator via flotation,despite the traditional view that ultrafine particles do not float.Phosphate flotation performances in the presence and absence of nanobubbles(NBs)in both mechanical and column cells were compared according to the metallurgical results of the process.NBs(generated by hydrodynamic cavitation)have interesting and exclusive properties such as high stability,durability and high surface area per volume,leading to increase of their utilization in mining-metallurgy and environmental areas.The results of this study revealed that,in the absence of NBs,a concentrate containing 26.9%P_(2)O_(5)with a recovery of 29.13%was obtained using mechanical cells in comparison to 31.6%P_(2)O_(5)with a recovery of 32.74%obtained using column flotation.In the presence of NBs,the recoveries of the concentrate of the mechanical and column flotation increased to 40.49%and 41.26%with 28.47%and 30.43%P_(2)O_(5)contents,respectively.Comparative study showed that the column flotation was almost more efficient for processing the phosphate ore in the presence of the NBs,and had thicker froth layer compared to the mechanical flotation.
基金The project supported in part by the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China under Grant No.2002032169+2 种基金National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No.10275037the Foundation for Doctorate Training Program of China under Grant No.2001005
文摘We examine the effect of adding mesons fo(975)and φ(1020)as well as the variety of U(the potential well depth ofin nuclear matter)from -10 MeV to -28 MeV on the extent of the particles participation and the properties of the neutron star in the relativistic mean field model.We find that considering the contribution of fo and φ mesons,the equation of state of the neutron star turns soft,the maximum mass reduces while the corresponding radius increases.hyperons appear at lower density as Ubecomes deeper,and the variety of Uhas little effect on the equation of state and the properties of the neutron star.
基金Supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China(2012AA040211)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(21306043)+2 种基金the Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education of China(2012007412001920130074110013)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
文摘Microcellular injection molding of neat isotactic polypropylene(iPP) and isotactic polypropylene/nano-calcium carbonate composites(i PP/nano-CaCO_3) was performed using supercritical carbon dioxide as the physical blowing agent. The influences of filler content and operating conditions on microstructure morphology of i PP and i PP/nano-CaCO_3 microcellular samples were studied systematically. The results showed the bubble size of the microcellular samples could be effectively decreased while the cell density increased for i PP/nano-CaCO_3 composites, especially at high CO_2 concentration and back pressure, low mold temperature and injection speed, and high filler content. Then Moldex 3D was applied to simulate the microcellular injection molding process, with the application of the measured ScCO_2 solubility and diffusion data for i PP and i PP/nano-Ca CO_3 composites respectively. For neat i PP, the simulated bubble size and density distribution in the center section of tensile bars showed a good agreement with the experimental values. However, for i PP/nano-CaCO_3 composites, the correction factor for nucleation activation energy F and the pre-exponential factor of nucleation rate f_0 were obtained by nonlinear regression on the experimental bubble size and density distribution. The parameters F and f_0 can be used to predict the microcellular injection molding process for i PP/nano-CaCO_3 composites by Moldex 3D.
