Disclosed is a method for evaluating liquid leakage properties of water-absorbing resin particles. The method includes, in the following order: disposing a water-absorbing layer formed from the water-absorbing resin particles along an inclined plane inclined with respect to a horizontal plane; injecting a test solution which is in the form of liquid droplets and contains water into the water-absorbing layer exposed; and measuring a diffusion distance which is a distance in which the test solution injected into the water-absorbing layer diffuses along the inclined plane in a predetermined time. An angle of inclination formed by the horizontal plane and the inclined plane is 25 degrees or larger and 40 degrees or smaller.

A catalyst includes at least one of a porous or particulate material having a plurality of active sites that attract reactants thereto. The active sites have a spacing within a predetermined range so as to enable a chemical reaction to be enhanced through use of potential energy of intermolecular adsorption compression or intramolecular adsorption stretching of one or more reactants to decrease the activation energy barrier or by adsorption compression of one or more reaction products leading to an increased desorption rate for the reaction product molecule and thereby an increased overall rate of reaction.

Automated apparatuses for use in examining gas sorption materials are described. Devices utilize a noncontact magnetic induction heating approach for controlling the temperature of tested materials. The apparatuses can be used to generate single or multiple isotherms simultaneously. The apparatuses can examine nanogram or microgram-scale quantities of materials of interest and can do so automatically and unattended. Pressure-composition isotherms can be provided through use of disclosed apparatuses in a period of a few hours.

Compatibility in polymer compounds is determined by the kinetics of mixing and chemical affinity. Compounds like reinforcing filler/elastomer blends display some similarity to colloidal solutions in that the filler particles are close to randomly dispersed through processing. Applying a pseudo-thermodynamic approach takes advantage of this analogy between the kinetics of mixing for polymer compounds and true thermally driven dispersion for colloids. The results represent a new approach to understanding and predicting compatibility in polymer compounds based on a pseudo-thermodynamic approach.

Compatibility in polymer compounds is determined by the kinetics of mixing and chemical affinity. Compounds like reinforcing filler/elastomer blends display some similarity to colloidal solutions in that the filler particles are close to randomly dispersed through processing. Applying a pseudo-thermodynamic approach takes advantage of this analogy between the kinetics of mixing for polymer compounds and true thermally driven dispersion for colloids. The results represent a new approach to understanding and predicting compatibility in polymer compounds based on a pseudo-thermodynamic approach.

Automated apparatuses for use in examining gas sorption materials are described. Devices utilize a noncontact magnetic induction heating approach for controlling the temperature of tested materials. The apparatuses can be used to generate single or multiple isotherms simultaneously. The apparatuses can examine nanogram or microgram-scale quantities of materials of interest and can do so automatically and unattended. Pressure-composition isotherms can be provided through use of disclosed apparatuses in a period of a few hours.

In a method of measuring parameters of superabsorbents, the absorption capacity of superabsorbents is determined under pressure, by reducing the pressure applied to a sample of the superabsorbent stepwise and determining the absorption capacity at each pressure. In addition, the rise in absorption capacity after a reduction in pressure is measured as a function of time and this is used to calculate the swelling constant k or the characteristic swelling time τ. Swelling constant or characteristic swelling time or the magnitude of the difference in absorption capacity at two different pressures are used to determine further parameters of the superabsorbent.

A quality control method for the preparation of dry compressed gas cylinder including passivating and/or preparing the compressed gas cylinder with the technique to be validated, filling the passivated/prepared compressed gas cylinder with gaseous carbon dioxide to a normal working pressure, wherein the gaseous carbon dioxide has a known .sup.18O isotope ratio, maintaining the pressurized gas cylinder at ambient temperature for a first predetermined period of time, and gradually emptying the pressurized gas cylinder, while simultaneously measuring the .sup.18O isotopic ratio, wherein a predetermined variation in the measured isotopic ratio of .sup.18O indicates a properly prepared cylinder.

A sample vessel assembly to carry out a sorption analysis in a container provided with a cooling liquid. The sample vessel assembly includes a sample vessel configured to be suspended within the container. The sample vessel has a sample holding region at a sample end of the vessel to hold a sample to be analyzed. A wick is disposed on the sample vessel and surrounds the sample holding region. The wick extends from the sample holding region to project toward a bottom of the container and draw the cooling liquid over the sample holding region when the sample vessel is disposed in an analysis position in the container.

A method and a system for measuring the pore structure of tight sandstone are provided. The method comprises the following steps: carrying out the desorption experiment of a core sample saturated by a specific gas containing isotope element to obtain the pressure of the specific gas and the total isotope ratio at each sampling moment; acquiring a single isotope ratio of each pore diameter at each sampling moment according to a physical model containing pore diameter parameter and the pressure of the specific gas at each sampling moment; and obtaining the proportion of a pore of each pore diameter in the core sample. The method and the system for measuring the pore structure of the tight sandstone provided by the disclosure can quickly obtain the pore distribution of the tight sandstone without damaging a sample.