Universität Stuttgart
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Item Open Access Triazole-based cross-linkers in radical polymerization processes: tuning mechanical properties of poly(acrylamide) and poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) hydrogels(2018) Götz, Tobias; Schädel, Nicole; Petri, Nadja; Kirchhof, Manuel; Bilitewski, Ursula; Tovar, Günter E. M.; Laschat, Sabine; Southan, AlexanderTriazole-based cross-linkers with different spacer lengths and different functional end groups (acrylamides, methacrylamides, maleimides and vinylsulfonamides) were synthesized, investigated for cytotoxic and antibacterial activity, and incorporated into poly(acrylamide) (PAAm) and poly(N,N-dimethylacrylamide) (PDMAAm) hydrogels by free radical polymerization. Hydrogels prepared with different cross-linkers and cross-linker contents between 0.2% and 1.0% were compared by gel yields, equilibrium degrees of swelling (S) and storage moduli (G’). Generally with increasing cross-linker content, G’ values of the hydrogels increased, while S values decreased. The different polymerizable cross-linker end groups resulted in a decrease of G’ in the following order for cross-linkers with C4 spacers: acrylamide > maleimide > methacrylamide > vinylsulfonamide. Longer cross-linker alkyl spacer lengths caused an increase in G’ and a decrease in S. Independent of the cross-linker used, a universal correlation between G’ and equilibrium polymer volume fraction phi was found. For PAAm hydrogels, G’ ranged between 4 kPa and 23 kPa and and phi between 0.07 and 0.14. For PDMAAm hydrogels, G’ ranged between 0.1 kPa and 4.9 kPa and and phi between 0.02 and 0.06. The collected data were used to establish an empirical model to predict G’ depending on phi. G’ of PAAm and PDMAAm hydrogels is given by G' = 4034 kPa * phi^2.66 and G' = 4297 kPa * phi^2.46, respectively.Item Open Access Charged triazole cross-linkers for hyaluronan-based hybrid hydrogels(2016) Martini, Maike; Hegger, Patricia S.; Schädel, Nicole; Minsky, Burcu B.; Kirchhof, Manuel; Scholl, Sebastian; Southan, Alexander; Tovar, Günter E. M.; Boehm, Heike; Laschat, SabinePolyelectrolyte hydrogels play an important role in tissue engineering and can be produced from natural polymers, such as the glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan. In order to control charge density and mechanical properties of hyaluronan-based hydrogels, we developed cross-linkers with a neutral or positively charged triazole core with different lengths of spacer arms and two terminal maleimide groups. These cross-linkers react with thiolated hyaluronan in a fast, stoichiometric thio-Michael addition. Introducing a positive charge on the core of the cross-linker enabled us to compare hydrogels with the same interconnectivity, but a different charge density. Positively charged cross-linkers form stiffer hydrogels relatively independent of the size of the cross-linker, whereas neutral cross-linkers only form stable hydrogels at small spacer lengths. These novel cross-linkers provide a platform to tune the hydrogel network charge and thus the mechanical properties of the network. In addition, they might offer a wide range of applications especially in bioprinting for precise design of hydrogels.Item Open Access Microwave beam broadening due to turbulent plasma density fluctuations within the limit of the Born approximation and beyond(2018) Köhn, Alf; Guidi, L.; Holzhauer, Eberhard; Maj, O.; Poli, E.; Snicker, A.; Weber, H.Plasma turbulence, and edge density fluctuations in particular, can under certain conditions broaden the cross-section of injected microwave beams significantly. This can be a severe problem for applications relying on well-localized deposition of the microwave power, like the control of MHD instabilities. Here we investigate this broadening mechanism as a function of fluctuation level, background density and propagation length in a fusion-relevant scenario using two numerical codes, the full-wave code IPF-FDMC and the novel wave kinetic equation solver WKBeam. The latter treats the effects of fluctuations using a statistical approach, based on an iterative solution of the scattering problem (Born approximation). The full-wave simulations are used to benchmark this approach. The Born approximation is shown to be valid over a large parameter range, including ITER-relevant scenarios.Item Open Access Experimental and numerical study of turbulence in fusion plasmas using reflectometry synthetic diagnostics(2018) Zadvitskiy, Georgiy; Tovar, Günter (Prof. Dr.)Anomalous energy and particle transport is closely related to micro-turbulence. Therefore plasma turbulence studies are essential for successful operation of magnetic confinement fusion devices. This thesis deals with the development of interpretative models for Ultra-Fast Swept Reflectometry (USFR), a diagnostic used for the measurement of turbulence radial wave-number spectra in fusion devices. While the interpretation of reflectometry data is quite straightforward for small levels of turbulence, it becomes much trickier for larger levels as the reflectometer answer is no longer linear with the turbulence level. It has been shown for instance that resonances due to probing field trapping can appear in turbulent plasma and produce jumps of the signal phase. In the plasma edge region the turbulence level is usually high and can lead to a non-linear regime of the reflectometer response. The loss of probing beam coherency and beam widening when the probing beam crosses the edge turbulence layer can affect USFR core measurements. Edge turbulence with a long correlation length leads to small beam widening and strong distortion of the probing wave phase. However backscattering effects from turbulence with short correlation lengths are also able to cause reflectometer signal change. To study turbulence wave-number spectra as well as reflectometer signal phase variations, signal amplitude variations can be analized. Unlike signal phase variation, amplitude does not suffer from resonant jumps, and can give more clear qualitative evaluation of turbulence structure. In the case when the turbulence amplitude peaked in the edge region, it can be detected as spectral peak near local Bragg resonance wave-number. USFR with a set of receiving antennas arranged poloidally was proposed to obtain more information on the edge turbulence properties. A displacement of the spectral peak appears when the receiving antenna is misaligned with the emitting one. Peak displacement measurements could provide additional information on probing beam shaping and turbulence properties and help in coherent mode observation as well. A 2D full wave code was applied as a synthetic diagnostic to Gysela gyro-kinetic code data to study Tore-Supra tokamak core turbulence. Radial correlation lengths computed from the amplitude of multi-channel fixed frequency reflectometry signals 5have shown good agreement with the turbulence correlation length directly computed from the simulation. The synthetic diagnostic was then applied to analyse the correlation length and wave-number spectra obtained by USFR in the ASDEX-Upgrade tokamak. A comparison between 1D and 2D results have shown different behaviour. However correlation lengths measured with UFSR signals are in the same order with turbulence ones.Item Open Access Investigation of tungsten exposed to fusion relevant intense H/He particle fluxes and thermal loads(2016) Lemahieu, Nathan; Tovar, Günter (Prof. Dr.)