Ben Krasnow

Sunday, January 9, 2022

Olestra (zero calorie cooking oil) - chemical synthesis and taste test

I synthesized olestra from biodiesel, sugar, and soap with a sodium metal catalyst. I also describe some of the history of olestra's development.

Procedure that I used (Example 1) https://patents.google.com/patent/US3963699A/en

Other resources: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20060047109A1/en

https://patents.google.com/patent/US4611055A/en

https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1021/ed068p476

Biodiesel: https://www.e-education.psu.edu/egee439/node/684

https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/biodiesel-production-techniques.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3anau83Qxt4

Epogee fat substitute: https://www.epogee.com/the-technology

https://healthsmartfoods.com/products/sweet-nothings-low-fat-chocolate-covered-caramel

Potassium oleate soap synthesis: https://lipidlibrary.aocs.org/documents/LipidsLibrary/Book%20II_ch03.pdf

Studies on gastro distress and calorie compensation: https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1467-789X.2002.00050.x

https://sci-hub.se/10.1006/rtph.1997.1164

https://sci-hub.se/10.1001/jama.279.2.150

Anal leakage MadTV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx9LSEjgQxY

Support Applied Science on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AppliedScience

Monday, November 22, 2021

X-ray timelapse of fluid movement in plants, stop-motion animation, sensor teardown/repair

I repaired a large digital x-ray detector and used it to record timelapse and stop-motion animations of plants, a clock, and a camera lens.

Applied Science X-ray backscatter imaging system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7ldYhzKAp4

Applied Science CT scanner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hF3V-GHiJ78

Geiger counter: https://mightyohm.com/blog/products/geiger-counter/

Linistepper motor driver: http://www.massmind.org/techref/io/stepper/linistep/lini_use.htm

Potassium iodide: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JKJWXBK

GE Rhythm user guide: https://www.bakerhughesds.com/sites/g/files/cozyhq596/files/2018-07/rhythm_rt_manual_english_rev_e.pdf

Octave (open source MATLAB alternative): https://www.gnu.org/software/octave/index

Mouse movement recorder software: https://sourceforge.net/projects/mousecontroller/

Octave and Arduino code used in this video: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vM6KSc_EhrKc8J92Yn_-PE-lZhL3gkhA?usp=sharing

Thank you for your support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AppliedScience

Thank you, Amir, for the X-ray sensor and software!

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Underwater laser cutting and silver sintering to make ceramic circuit boards

Thermal stress cracking can be completely avoided by CO2 laser cutting thin alumina sheets underwater. I also show how to formulate and apply silver paste, then sinter in a kiln to produce double-sided ceramic printed circuit boards with conductive vias.

60W CW CO2 laser at 80% power. 10mm/sec. Standard lens focal length (50mm). 2mm water above ceramic. 180 passes to cut through 0.75mm thick alumina.

Silver paste: 97% silver powder, 3% glass powder by mass. Particle size 1 micron or less. Add poly vinyl alcohol mold release until desired consistency reached.

Paste applied with 4 mil thick vinyl stencil. Dried in air 10 minutes, then rapidly brought up to 900*C, held for 10 minutes, then rapidly brought back down to room temperature. Total cycle about 45 minutes.

I measured electrical conductivity of the finished traces from my process with vinyl stencils: 4 milliohms per square at 10 micron final thickness. This is pretty close to the Dupont published spec ( less than 2 milliohm/sq at 16 micron thick)

Underwater CO2 laser cutting reference: https://sci-hub.se/10.1016/J.JEURCERAMSOC.2011.06.015

60W laser cutter: https://www.ebay.com/itm/294386493292

Ceramic sheets at McMaster: https://www.mcmaster.com/alumina/nonporous-alumina-ceramic-sheets-and-bars/

Ceramic PCB prototypes: https://ceramic-pcb.com/product/alumina-pcb-al2o3-pcb-prototypes-online/

Quickfire kiln: https://kruegerpottery.com/products/par_quikfire6

Raspberry Pi picoReflow oven controller: https://apollo.open-resource.org/mission:resources:picoreflow

Silver powder: https://www.ebay.com/itm/122525930519

Glass glaze: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0044SCR6O

Macor: https://www.mcmaster.com/materials/material~glass-mica-ceramic/

Dupont silver paste: https://www.dupont.com/content/dam/dupont/amer/us/en/transportation-industrial/public/documents/en/LF131.pdf

Binders for ceramic powder: https://digitalfire.com/article/binders+for+ceramic+bodies

PVA mold release: https://www.tapplastics.com/product/fiberglass/mold_releases/tap_pva_mold_release_liquid/67

Applied Science on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AppliedScience

Saturday, July 31, 2021

Atomic Layer Deposition of copper - If you like sputtering, you'll love this!

An explanation and demo of atomic layer deposition (ALD) of copper metal on glass. Precursors are copper(I) chloride and hydrogen, processed in a hot-wall tube quartz tube furnace.

10 torr operating pressure

500 sccm argon sweep/purge gas constantly flowing

75 sccm CuCl argon pulse gas (17 seconds including flow controller lag)

100 sccm H pulse gas (14 seconds including flow controller lag)

7 second purge time between pulses

100mm quartz tube furnace diameter

415*C deposition temperature

350*C CuCl evaporation temperature

Substrates are mostly borosilicate glass cleaned with RCA clean

The "good" samples shown in the video are about 750 cycles (about 9 hours

Main ref:

https://sci-hub.se/https://doi.org/10.1002/cvde.19970030107