Encyclopedia of Wood (2007)

Waldo Library’s Science Reference section has just received the 2007 edition of the Encyclopedia of Wood, published by the Forest Products Laboratory of the U.S. Forest Service. This fine reference book contains all the major engineering properties of wood: structural, physical, mechanical, commercial, chemical, as well as listing all the many different ways that wood can be used. This is an essential resource for all engineerings. Our copy is in Science Reference at call number: TA 419 .W78 2007. Note: this is the updated version of the Wood Engineering Handbook (1999) which is freely available on the web. You can browse some of the 2007 edition at Google Books.

Concrete Canoe 2009

I would like to present the following link to an article by Paula Davis in Tuesday’s Kalamazoo Gazette entitled “Can You Float a Concrete Canoe?” This article discusses the work of a group of students in the student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers at the College of Engineering, creating a concrete canoe out of concrete created from recycled or reused materials to enter into a regional engineering contest. You can access the article either via the link above or the URL below – you probably should access it soon as I don’t know how long MLIVE keeps stuff free.

http://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2009/03/can_you_float_a_concrete_canoe.html

PGM Database – Materials property data

The PGM Database, sponsored by Anglo Platinum, Johnson Matthey and the International Platinum Association is an open access (i.e. free to use) materials property database that focuses in particular on the metals Platinum, Palladium, Rhodium, Iridium, Osmium and Ruthenium. Information for these and other metals and their alloys includes melting point, boiling point, electrical and thermal conductivity, fundamental atomic data, chemical and mechanical data as well as some historical information. All data points appear to have references to the original literature documenting that data.

You can search for, browse by metal and alloy, as well as select metals and alloys based upon chosen properties. The URL for this site is http://www.platinummetalsreview.com/jmpgm/index.jsp

SPE Online Technical Library

In case you are not aware of this, the Society of Plastics Engineers has an online searchable database to their journals and ANTEC conference proceedings.  The SPE Online Technical Library, which currently allows free searching (full text is available to only subscribers), is located at URL: www.4plasticsresearch.org/.   By the way, Waldo Library has most of the ANTEC conference proceedings in print format from 1983-2004 (missing 2003) in the General Stacks, call number TP 986 .A1 S5725. We also have a set from 2007 in CD-ROM. For other years, please see Dr. Paul Engelmann, Chair of the IME department at CEAS.

Materials Science – Sage Full Text Journals

Waldo Library subscribes to the following materials science journals in full text for the years indicated via the Sage Full Text Materials Science Journals platform:

• High Performance Polymers (1991-current)
• International Journal of Damage Mechanics (1992-current)
• Journal of Bioactive and Compatible Polymers (1986-current)
• Journal of Biomaterials Applications (1989-current)
• Journal of Cellular Plastics (1965-current)
• Journal of Composite Materials (1967-current)
• Journal of Elastomers and Plastics (1969-current)
• Journal of Industrial Textiles (1971-current)
• Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures (1990-current
• Journal of Plastic Film and Sheeting (1985-current)
• Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites (1982-current)
• Journal of Sandwich Structures & Materials (1999-current)
• Journal of Thermoplastic Composite Materials (1988-current)
• Mathematics and Mechanics of Solids (1996-current)
• Structural Health Monitoring (2002-current)

You can access these journals via the link above or from the Waldo Library homepage.  If accessing from off-campus, you will need to enter your BroncoNet ID and password.

Journal of Physical Chemistry C – NEW in 2007

This is news to me, although it may not be news to you in chemical engineering and materials science. The American Chemical Society started a new “Journal of Physical Chemistry” this year – with the name Journal of Physical Chemistry C. According to the blurb on the ACS Journals site, this new journal (which already has 33 issues for the year, so I’m a little late with this post) will cover “research on nanoparticles, nanostructures, surfaces, interfaces, catalysis, electron transport, optical and electronic devices, and energy conversion and storage.” I would think that this new journal would be highly relevant to those of you doing research in nanotechnology and fuel cell technology. All WMU faculty and students have access to this journal via the ACS Web Editions link from the Waldo Library homepage. The links above will get you the full text of the articles if you are on campus. Those of you accessing this journal from off-campus will be prompted to enter your Bronco Net ID and password.

There are eighteen articles in the latest issue (no. 33) that deal with nanotechnology – including the following:

• The Role of Metal Contact in the Sensitivity of Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes to NO2 – R. Larciprete, L. Petaccia, S. Lizzit, and A. Goldini
• Computational Design of a Rectifying Diode Made by Interconnecting Carbon Nanotubes with Peptide Linkages – Mohammad Khazaei, Sang Uck Lee, Fabio Pichierri, and Yoshiyuki Kawazoe
• Controllable Synthesis of CuS Nanostructures from Self-Assembled Precursors with Biomolecule Assistance – Benxia Li, Yi Xie, and Yi Xue
• Molecular Dynamics of Ice-Nanotube Formation Inside Carbon Nanotubes – Junichiro Shiomi, Tatsuto Kimura, and Shigeo Maruyama
• Three-Dimensionally Ordered Macroporous Gold Structure as an Efficient Matrix for Solid-State Electrochemiluminescence of Ru(bpy)32+/TPA System with High Sensitivity – Wei Gao, Xing-Hua Xia, Jing-Juan Xu, and Hong-Yuan Chen
• Magnetic Particles as Labels in Bioassays: Interactions between a Biotinylated Gold Substrate and Streptavidin Magnetic Particles – Randy De Palma, Chengxun Liu, Francesca Barbagini, Gunter Reekmans, Kristien Bonroy, Wim Laureyn, Gustaaf Borghs, and Guido Maes
• ZnFe2O4 Nanocrystals: Synthesis and Magnetic Properties – Changwa Yao, Qiaoshi Zeng, G. F. Goya, T. Torres, Jinfang Liu, Haiping Wu, Mingyuan Ge, Yuewu Zeng, Youwen Wang, and J. Z. Jiang
• Photoswitchable Semiconductor Bismuth Sulfide (Bi2S3) Nanowires and Their Self-Supported Nanowire Arrays – Haifeng Bao, Xiaoqiang Cui, Chang Ming Li, Ye Gan, Jun Zhang, and Jun Guo
• Theoretical Study of the Electronic Structure of GaAs Nanotubes – Chanchal Ghosh, Sougata Pal, Biplab Goswami, and Pranab Sarkar