Research Institute of Cosmic and Aviation Materials (Russia)

The study describes antifouling coatings with low surface energy designed to prevent marine biological fouling. A non-biocidal enamel has been synthesized from film-forming epoxy made on the basis of aromatically conjugated hydroxyphenylene and modified with pre-fluoropolyester fluids. The results of laboratory and field tests are presented; a pilot industrial production of enamel is organized.

The low flux of the ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR) at the highest energies provides a challenge to answer the long standing question about their origin and nature. A significant increase in the number of detected UHECR is expected to be achieved by employing Earth's moon as detector, and search for short radio pulses that are emitted when a particle interacts in the lunar rock. Observation of these short pulses with current and future radio telescopes also allows to search for the even lower fluxes of neutrinos with energies above $10^{22}$ eV, that are predicted in certain Grand-Unifying-Theories (GUTs), and e.g. models for super-heavy dark matter (SHDM). In this contribution we present the initial design for such a search with the LOFAR radio telescope.

Increase in FeO content lowers the initial melting temperature of primary slags in the blast furnace and prevents the formation of stable surface coatings. That increases the thermal loads on the coolers in the bosh and bosh extension and correspondingly increases the heat losses. The FeO content in the primary slags is determined by the indirect reduction. In the present work, means of reducing the thermal loads on the coolers in the bosh and bosh extension are assessed. Decrease in the gas temperature at the furnace periphery is accompanied by change in the degree of indirect reduction. Hence, the peripheral temperature may be regarded as an indicator of the degree of indirect reduction. A model of the gas temperature and the reducing effect of the gas at the furnace periphery is developed and may be used to optimize the thermal state of the furnace shaft in the peripheral zone.