Pulsed IR Heating of Thermoplastic Sheets for Thermoforming Applications

This study presents the pulsed heating strategy as an advancement of the current state of the art in industry towards the theoretically fastest method of heating a thermoplastic sheet. Experimental temperature measurements are combined with an explicit finite difference numerical model to describe the pulsed heating method and indicate its added value in IR heating of thermoplastic sheets. Different process settings are evaluated and indicate the effect of the applied heat flux and the time interval tOFF during pulsed heating. When switched off, the residual heating of the heater elements is able to partially compensate for the convective heat losses at the surface of the sheet. This results in a more uniform temperature distribution through thickness without slowing down the overall heating process. The study shows that this effect is lost when the time interval in which the heater element is switched off, increases. Applying pulsed heating opens up a large processing window to control the through-thickness temperature difference. When the total amount of applied thermal energy is taken into account, pulsed heating is able to increase the overall heating rate and simultaneously keep the temperature difference through thickness limited.

Expression of CD94 and 56(bright) on natural killer lymphocytes - the influence of exercise

This study was undertaken to determine the effects of acute intense exercise on the cell membrane-bound glycoprotein designated cluster of differentiation (CD) 94. This marker on natural killer (NK) lymphocytes contributes to control of cell function. CD94 was measured on natural killer lymphocytes from 11 adult (average 25 yrs), well-trained male subjects, (Vdot;O 2 peak mean, 5.01 L x min -1) before and immediately after a final, 4 min all-out, cycle ergometry test. Using flow cytometry, lymphocyte populations were distinguished as either having (CD94 +) or lacking (CD94 -) the cell marker. The absolute number of CD94 + and CD94 - natural killer cells increased with exercise but the mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) for CD94 decreased from pre 131, to post 117 (p = 0.01). The percentage of NK cells that were CD94 + did not change, but exercise did mobilise natural killer cells of greater MFI for the surface markers designated CD16/CD56 (pre 750 to post 1 050, p < 0.001). The latter suggests that some exercise-mobilised natural killer cells may have originated from the liver as CD56 +bright cells.