A comparison of the plasticizing efficiency of a series of molecules introduced in dry and hydrated Kraft lignin demonstrated that the plasticization mechanisms are different before and after sorption site saturation. Lignins were plasticized in two steps and glass transition decrease was determined from DSC measurements. "Specific sorption plasticizers," such as water, are very efficient in low content because of their functionality and accessibility to sorption sites. The plasticizing efficiency does not depend on the solubility parameter, and is well quantified, considering the molar concentration of donor/acceptor functions. After saturation of sorption sites (in wet conditions), the plasticizing efficiency depends on the solubility parameter, which should be close to that of the polymer matrix.

[1] Ten new heat flux determinations have been made using measurements in 22 mining exploration boreholes located at latitudes higher than 51°N in the Canadian Shield. They provide data in poorly sampled regions near the core of the North American craton where one expects the lithosphere to be thickest. The new heat flux values are all smaller than 34 mW m −2 and are among the lowest recorded so far in the shield. For all the new sites, there is no relationship between heat flux and heat production in surface rocks. In the Canadian Shield, heat flux variations occur at wavelengths <100 km and are mostly of crustal origin. Local averages in two 250 × 250 km windows located on Archean areas at high latitudes on either side of James Bay are 29 mW m −2 and 31 mW m −2 , the lowest values found so far at this scale in the Canadian Shield. S wave traveltime delays derived from tomographic models provide the additional constraints needed to resolve differences of deep lithospheric thermal structure. There is no significant correlation between average surface heat flux and traveltime delays within the Canadian Shield, confirming that variations of the surface heat flux are mostly of crustal origin. Traveltime delays cannot be explained by variations in crustal heat production only and require variations of heat supply to the lithosphere and/or radiogenic heat production in the lithospheric mantle. These variations are associated with changes of lithospheric thickness that may be as large as 80 km. The heat flux at the base of the Superior lithosphere is constrained to be 11 ± 2 mW m −2 .

Mechanical properties of binderless fiberboard are correlated to the hydrothermal history of the fibers during the board process. Water and temperature thickness gradients allow to calculate a gradient of T-Tg difference (Tg, local glass transition temperature, function of local water content; T, local temperature). This gradient explains the variation of mechanical properties within the thickness and in time. The in situ plasticization of lignin, which is supposed to increase the T-Tg difference, improves the macroscopic mechanical properties of fiberboards. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 45:809 -816, 2005.

[1] Management of eruptions requires a knowledge of lava effusion rates, for which a safe thermal proxy is often used. However, this thermal proxy does not take into account the flow dynamics and is basically time-independent. In order to establish a more robust framework that can link eruption rates and surface thermal signals of lavas measured remotely, we investigate the spreading of a hot, isoviscous, axisymmetric subaerial gravity current injected at constant rate from a point source onto a horizontal substrate. We performed laboratory experiments and found that the surface thermal structure became steady after an initial transient. We develop a theoretical model for a spreading fluid cooled by radiation and convection at its surface that also predicts a steady thermal regime. We show that, despite the model's simplicity relative to lava flows, it yields the correct order of magnitude for the effusion rate required to produce the radiant flux measured on natural lava flows. For typical thermal lava properties and an effusion rate between 0.1 and 10 m 3 s À1 , the model predicts a steady radiated heat flux ranging from 10 8 to 10 10 W. The assessed effusion rate varies quasi-linearly with the steady heat flux, with much weaker dependence on the flow viscosity. This relationship is valid only after a transient time which scales as the diffusive time, ranging from a few days for small basaltic flows to several years for lava domes. The thermal proxy appears thus less reliable to follow sharp variations of the effusion rate during an eruption.