Agency of Industrial Science and Technology

Sony Corporation

Ajinomoto Co., Ltd.

Masatoshi Iguchi

Masaru Uryu

Kunihiko Watanabe

Kunihiro Ichimura

Shigeru Yamanaka

Yoshio Nishi

Takeshi Kitano

Hisao Ichijo

Shigenobu Mitsuhashi

Ryoichi Kishi

Disclosed is an electrorheological fluid which is a uniform mixture or solution consisting of a thermotropic polymeric liquid crystal compound such as poly(4'-cyano-4-biphenyloxyhexyl acrylate) and a thermotropic low-molecular liquid crystal compound such as 4-cyano-4'-pentyl biphenyl to serve as the solvent of the polymer in a specified molar ratio. The viscosity of the liquid composition is increased as the direct-current electric field applied thereto is increased while this electrorheological effect disappears when the temperature of the composition is increased to exceed a phase transition temperature which is specific to the respective combinations of the polymeric and low-molecular liquid crystal compounds.

Electrorheological fluid

A molding material having high dynamic strength which contains bacterial cellulose having ribbon-shaped microfibrils. Such material is advantageously used as a reinforcing material for composite plastics having high strength, as high quality paper or as acoustic diaphragms for percussion instruments.

Bacterial cellulose-containing molding material having high dynamic

Needle-like single-crystals of polyoxymethylene are obtained directly from a monomer, trioxane, in the course of polymerization in solution. The method for obtaining the crystals comprises preparing an anhydrous, dilute solution of trioxane in non-polar solvents, adding thereto a specified amount of boron trifluoride or its ether complex derivatives as catalyst and subsequently adding a small specified amount of water as co-catalyst, and maintaining the mixture unstirred at a fixed temperature. The needle-like crystals, measuring 5 to 100 microns long and 1 to 3 microns across, are single crystals having a hexagonal cross-section and constituted of molecular chains extended and aligned in the direction of length with full three dimensional regularity. This single-crystal is believed to be the first example of a `polymer whisker`.

Needle-like crystals of polyoxymethylene and method for manufacture

Growing community of inventors

Sakuramura, Japan

Masatoshi Iguchi