Polymer Engineering and Science articles from October 2006

Polymer Engineering and Science archives from October 2006

Improved toughness in HIPS obtained from different styrene/butadiene-graded block copolymers through modification of the polydispersity index of the PS block.
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION The high-impact polystyrene (HIPS) is a multiphase system that exhibits a continuous rigid polystyrene phase together with disperse rubber particles varying from 0.5 to 10 [micro]m. The manufacturing process conditions...

AC impedance analysis and EMI shielding effectiveness of conductive SBR composites.
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION AC impedance has proven to be a powerful tool in characterizing electrochemical reaction mechanisms of conducting polymers and their composites [1]. Recently, the method has been extended into the characterization of pure...

Effect of surface treatment for carbon nanotubes on morphological and rheological properties of Poly(ethylene oxide) nanocomposites.
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Polymeric materials have been widely employed as electrolyte components in lithium rechargeable batteries because they can provide flexible laminated structure by means of tailoring geometries [1]. Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO)...

Rapid crack propagation failures in HDPE pipes: structure--property investigations.
October 1, 2006... BACKGROUND When a pressurized PE pipe is subjected to a high velocity impact, a pre-existing or consequently initiated crack or flaw can propagate axially for many diameters at speeds in excess of 100 m/s. Such an event is referred to as...

High-density polyethylene/cycloolefin copolymer blends, part 2: nonlinear tensile creep.
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Resistance to creep is viewed [1-4] as a significant property of polymeric materials whenever end products are exposed to a more or less constant external force (dead load). As generally known, the range of the apparently...

Thermal behavior of gamma-irradiated amorphous poly (ethylene terephthalate) films.
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION The radiation physics and chemistry of polymeric materials has been a field of extensive research. The pioneer investigations of Charlesby [1] showed that polymers exposed to high energy radiation undergo various structural...

Recycling poly (ethylene terephtalate) wastes: properties of poly (ethylene terephtalate)/polycarbonate blends and the effect of a transesterification catalyst.
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Polymer blends have always been considered to be interesting combinations for obtaining new high-performance polymeric materials without synthesizing fully new polymers especially when the properties of two or more polymers...

Effects of filler on heat transmission behavior of flowing melt polymer composites.
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Films, spinning, pipes, and so forth are processed by extruding melted polymer from a die, and the materials are molded to a prescribed size. In this process, heat from the melted polymer is transferred by both conduction and...

Gloss and surface topography of ABS: a study on the influence of the injection molding parameters.
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION The surface roughness of thermoplastic parts is an important characteristic as it affects the optical behavior and the aesthetics. In some plastics products, such as optical discs, the surface roughness must be kept to a...

UV-curable coatings with nano-Ti[O.sub.2].
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Nanocomposite is a new kind of composite material with an ultrafine phase dispersed in 1-100 nm size and shows very interesting properties that are markedly different from the conventional ones [1-4]. Among them, composite...

Isothermal crystallization kinetics of PEEK/Vectra[R] blends by DSC and time-resolved synchrotron X-ray diffraction.
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION The investigation of polymer blends containing a thermoplastic (TP) matrix reinforced with thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer (TLCP) has attracted attention in recent years, since the unique properties of TLCP offer new...

Polylactide, nanoclay, and core-shell rubber composites.
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Biobased plastics have gained increasing momentum in recent years for the following reasons: (1) biobased plastics made from renewable natural resources such as plants are sustainable; (2) replacing petrochemical plastics with...

Toughness of high-density polyethylene in plane-strain fracture.
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION When studying the fracture resistance of very ductile materials, where a large plastic zone develops and the energy dissipation is no longer confined to a small region around the crack tip, the J-integral has been the...

Nanocomposites of syndiotactic polypropylene: phase behavior and morphology.
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION In the last few years, a great attention has been focused about polymer-nanocomposites, either from the scientific or the technological point of view [1-4]. Nanocomposites are systems in which the two components are mixed on a...

Nano-reactors for controlling the selectivity of the free radical grafting of maleic anhydride onto polypropylene in the melt.
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Functionalization of polypropylene (PP), through the grafting of unsaturated monomers such as maleic anhydride (MAH) in the presence of organic peroxide as a free radical initiator, has already received much attention. The...

Effects of silicone rubber on properties of dielectric acrylate elastomer actuator.
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Polymers are gifted with unique combination of outstanding properties coupled with easy processability and light weight. Emergence of new light weight polymers, which can respond to electrical stimulations, so-called...

Mechanical properties of the bioabsorbable polyglycolic acid--collagen nerve guide tube.
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION In order for reconnection of the resected peripheral nerve to occur, a proximal side of the axon needs to extend and reach the disconnected section. Direct reconnection by suture of the proximal and distal nerve stumps is the...

Crystalline spherulitic growth kinetics during shear for linear low-density polyethylene.
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION In most polymer processing operations, molten polymers are exposed to shear stress during processing and solidification. Moreover, the crystallization behavior of semi-crystalline polymers, like polyethylene, is significantly...

Influence of rubber content in ABS in wide range on the mechanical properties and morphology of PC/ABS blends with different composition.
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Blends of bisphenol-A-polycarbonate (PC) with acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) materials represent one of the most important classes of commercial polymer blends. Often multiphase blends require some form of...

Properties evaluation of the membranes synthesized with castor oil polyurethane and polyaniline.
October 1, 2006... INTRODUCTION Conducting polymers is a new and important class of polymeric materials, because they present some properties that are not found in conventional polymers, such as electrochemical properties. They can be used as an alternative...