Polymer Engineering and Science articles from August 2006

Polymer Engineering and Science archives from August 2006

Preface.(polymer nanocomposites)(Editorial)
August 1, 2006... This issue of Polymer Engineering and Science (PES) contains selected papers presented during the Third International Symposium on Polymeric Nanocomposites (PNCs), held at the Industrial Materials Institute (IMI) of the National Research...

Influence of melt-blending conditions on structural, rheological, and interfacial properties of polyamide-12 layered silicate nanocomposites.
August 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Organoclay polymer nanocomposites are attractive because they offer the potential to improve mechanical properties [1-5], thermal properties, [2, 6] and barrier properties significantly [2, 7]. This can be achieved at very low...

Effect of rotational speed of twin screw extruder on the microstructure and rheological and mechanical properties of nanoclay-reinforced polypropylene nanocomposites.
August 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Polymer nanocomposites have been extensively studied during the last two decades. The interest toward nanoscopic fillers in polymeric materials has originated from the fact that when using nanosized fillers instead of a...

Characterization and mechanical properties of poly(lactic acid)/poly([epsilon]-caprolactone)/organoclay nanocomposites prepared by melt compounding.
August 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Polymer/clay nanocomposites have been widely used in academia and in industry. When nanofillers such as clay platelets are completely dispersed in a polymer matrix, they often exhibit remarkable improvement in material...

Polypropylene--clay nanocomposites: influence of low molecular weight polar additives on intercalation and exfoliation behavior.
August 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Polymer nanocomposites based on clay are two-phase materials in which clay particles are dispersed towards the nanometer (nm) range in the polymer matrix. The most commonly used clays are smectite group minerals...

Synthesis of polymer-embedded noble metal clusters by thermolysis of mercaptides dissolved in polymers.
August 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Surface and confinement effects produce in nanosized metals novel optical, magnetic, and electronic properties that can be exploit for technological applications simply by embedding these nanostructures (quantum-dots) into...

Polymer layered silicate/carbon nanotube nanocomposites: the catalyzed polymerization approach.
August 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Homogeneously dispersing rigid particles in polymer matrices represents a very common and widely used method that allows for readily increasing the stiffness of the so-obtained composite materials. Depending on the intrinsic...

An infrared method to assess organoclay delamination and orientation in organoclay polymer nanocomposites.
August 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Smectite clays are layered, platy, hydrophilic silicate materials [1]. In the dry state, several nanosized clay layers are normally stacked on top of each other and these stacks, or tactoids, are agglomerated into particles....

Extensional flow mixer for polymer nanocomposites.
August 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Currently, the production of polymeric nanocomposites (PNCs) is based mainly on the reactive method, i.e., polymerization of given monomer(s) in the presence of preintercalated mineral or synthetic clay [1-3]. Only the resin...

Nanomechanics of single-walled carbon nanotubes as composite reinforcement.
August 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Carbon nanotubes [1] exhibit exceptional physical properties: small size, low density, high stiffness, high strength, and excellent electronic and thermal properties [2-7]. Of particular interest are their mechanical...

PP-based nanocomposites with various intercalant types and intercalant coverages.(polypropylene )
August 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Since the pioneering work of Toyota research group on polyamide-6 (PA-6)--clay nanocomposites (NCs) [1], clay-containing polymer NCs, which comprise a polymeric matrix and dispersed nanoclays, have attracted more and more...

Conductive polypropylene/clay/polypyrrole nanocomposites.
August 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION New classes of emerging nanomaterials, nanocomposites, are being intensively studied. Nanostructured materials, silicas, carbon nanotubes, nanospheres, and ceramic nanofibres are frequently used as fillers in polymer matrices...

Development of nanoparticle-polysiloxane composites for spacecraft applications.
August 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Satellites, in order to be protected against strong thermal variations, use thermal control coatings. The thermal subsystem uses mainly and as often as possible, passive control solutions. To do this, qualified cold, neutral,...

Effect of crystallization on intercalation of clay-polyolefin nanocomposites and their performance.
August 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Polymer nanocomposites, which consist of a polymer matrix reinforced by nanoscale reinforcements, have received much attention for more than a decade because of their improved properties, compared with neat polymers [1, 2]....

Melt processing effects on the structure and mechanical properties of PA-6/clay nanocomposites.
August 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Polymer/clay nanocomposites are materials composed of a polymer matrix and nanometer-size clay particles. They exhibit significant improvements in tensile modulus and strength and reduced permeability to gases and liquids, as...

Epoxy nanocomposites curing by microwaves.
August 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION A nanocomposite is defined as a dispersion of nanometer-size particles in a single or multicomponent matrix [1]. Nanocomposites may contain three categories of dispersed materials: particles (metal, metal oxide, and other...

Characterization and tensile properties of ternary blends with PA-6 nanocomposites.
August 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION In recent years, polymer-inorganic clay minerals nanocomposites have reached great interest, since they frequently exhibit synergistically hybrid properties derived from the individual components. The area of nanocomposites...

Morphology and properties of organoclay modified polycarbonate/poly(methyl methacrylate) blend.
August 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Over the past few years, big efforts have been devoted to polymer/clay nanocomposites because of their concurrent improved properties when compared to those of the neat polymers or conventional micro- and macro-composites [1,...