Polymer Engineering and Science articles from October 2007

Polymer Engineering and Science archives from October 2007

Preface.
October 1, 2007... Papers in this issue of Polymer Engineering and Science are dedicated to Prof. Richard J. Farris, the recipient of the Society of Plastics Engineers, Polymer Analysis Division, Founder's Award for 2006. Prof. Farris was granted this award to...

Screening flame retardants for plastics using microscale combustion calorimetry.
October 1, 2007... BACKGROUND Fire behavior and flame resistance of polymers and composites at the macroscopic (gram/kilogram) level are not intrinsic properties because they depend on environmental parameters, sample size, and orientation, as well as...

Discontinuous deformation in an elastic material. Part 1. Energy dissipative and storage applications.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION Internal Friction It has conventionally been believed that the maximum work required to stretch a material between two states of elongation is the area under the stress-strain curve for loading and that the work that is...

Discontinuous deformation in an elastic material. Part 2. Energy dissipative and storage applications.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION Dissipative and Storage Applications It has been established [1] that energy dissipation is possible from a perfectly elastic material. It has conventionally been believed that the maximum work required to stretch a...

How is it possible to produce highly oriented yarns of electrospun fibers?
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION Researchers all over the world have been relooking at a century old process (Cooley 1902, Morton 1902) currently known as electrospinning [1]. Probably unknown to most researchers for most of the last century, electrospinning...

Novel fire resistant matrixes for composites from cyclic poly(butylene terephthalate) oligomers.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION We have been exploring the use of cyclic ester oligomers, such as cyclic poly(butylene terephthalate) (c-PBT), as starting materials for reaction injection molding (RIM), composite reaction injection molding (CRIM), and resin...

Comparative studies of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene fiber reinforced composites.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION Historically, polyethylene (PE) was known as a low strength, low stiffness material. Conventional methods to make PE fibers, such as melt-spinning, yield only a "folded chain" molecular structure. Theory has predicted that if...

Elastomer swelling in mixed associative solvents.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION One of the most important performance parameters for elastomers in equilibrium with mixed solvents is the degree of solvent absorption or swell. As little as 20% volume swell can reduce properties such as hardness, stiffness,...

Reinforcement of epoxy networks with sulfur- and carbon-based molecular fortifiers.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION Molecular fortifiers are a class of compounds that have been shown to increase the modulus and yield stress of a variety of polymers by filling free volume and through specific physical interactions [1-13]. All of the...

A test method for studying the rolling resistance of rubber compounds.
October 1, 2007... DECAY OF OSCILLATIONS CAUSED BY A ROLLING OVER A DISSIPATIVE SUBSTRATE Consider the experimental arrangement sketched in Fig. 1. A rigid cylinder of radius R and mass M rolls backwards and forwards on a horizontal rubber surface as a...

Effect of hydroxyl content on the morphology and properties of epoxy/poly(styrene-co-allylalcohol) blends.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION The yield of thermoset (TS)/thermoplastic (TP) blends has received considerable attention during the past decade, with the main objective of improving the toughness of TS network [1-4]. These blends are usually obtained by...

Condensation kinetics of polyphthalamides. I. diamines and diacids or dimethylesters.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION The polyamides PA6 (poly[imino(1-oxohexane-1,6-diyl)]) and PA66 (poly[iminoadipoyliminohexane-1,6-diyl)]) have dominated the PA market ever since they were developed in World War II. These purely aliphatic polyamides owe their...

Condensation kinetics of polyphthalamides. II. polyesters and diamines.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION Polyethylene terephthalate (PET, poly[oxyethyleneoxyterephthaloyl]) is the success story of the last decade. Today, it dominates the markets of fibers and plastic bottles and is consumed in about the same quantity as...

The effect of multiwall carbon nanotube on the crystallization, morphology, and rheological properties of nylon 1010 nanocomposites.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION Nanocomposites are filled polymers where at least one dimension of the dispersed filler is on the nanometer. Nanoscale reinforcing particles have spurred great interest in the field of composite materials partly because of...

Sulphonic acids doped poly(N-ethyl aniline): a material for humidity sensing application.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION In the past few decades, inherently conducting polymer (ICP) polyaniline, (Pani) has been paid considerable attention because of its high electrical conductivity [1], thermal stability [2], ease of preparation method, and good...

Simultaneous stretching and static electric field poling of poly(vinylidene fluoride-hexafluoropropylene) copolymer films.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION Poly(vinylidenefluoride) (PVDF) has attracted more scientific and technological interest due to its excellent piezo- and ferroelectric properties [1-4]. PVDF is a semicrystalline polymer, which has several crystalline phases...

Rheological characterization of HDPE/sisal fiber composites.(high density polyethylene)
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION Fiber-reinforced thermoplastic composites have emerged as a major class of structural materials in the field of aerospace, automobiles, construction, etc. [1]. These materials are characterized by easy processibility, good...

Mathematical modeling of the molecular weight distribution of polypropylene produced in a loop reactor.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION Polypropylene can be produced in various reactors, such as an autoclave, fluidized-bed reactor, or loop reactor. The last one is certainly the most important at present. In a loop reactor, the polymerization takes place in a...

Dynamic and viscoelastic behavior of natural rubber/layered silicate nanocomposites obtained by melt blending.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION During the last years several works reported in literature, showed the possibility to enhance many properties of polymers by introducing within the polymeric matrix organomodified layered silicates (montmorillonite, saponite,...

Surface roughness and light transmission of biaxially oriented polypropylene films.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION Optical properties of polyolefin films such as haze and transparency are of considerable importance in packaging applications. Factors affecting these optical properties have been the focus of numerous studies [1-5]. Haze, or...

Rapid sensing of trace ionic substances with the novel porous monolith type ion exchanger.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION Recently our consciousness of "environment" and "health" is increasing. Biological and chemical sensor with a rapid response in microlevel test is required for health and environmental monitor. It is valuable to develop such a...

Effects of clay on the morphology of poly(acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene) and polypropylene nanocomposites.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION Since the report of the Toyota motors [1-3], the polymer/clay nanocomposites have been extensively studied because of its superior properties [1-20]. For example, the heat distortion temperature of the nylon/clay...

Effects of raw fiber materials, fiber content, and coupling agent content on selected properties of polyethylene/wood fiber composites.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION In recent years, wood fiber-reinforced plastic composites or so-called wood-plastic composites (WPC) have experienced double-digit growth. WPCs have emerged as a major panel product for a wide range of applications thanks to...

Numerical investigation and visualization of polymer behavior within a capillary die.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION The development of constitutive models to describe polymer behavior has made significant advances over the last two decades and entangled polymer dynamics can now be accurately predicted over a diverse range of flow regimes...

Toughening of epoxy resin with amine functional aniline acetaldehyde condensate.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION Epoxy resins are one of the most important classes of thermosetting polymers. These networks have many desirable properties, which include high tensile strength, excellent chemical and corrosion resistance, and good...

Study on grafting maleic anhydride onto polypropylene in microcolloid systems by coirradiation.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION The surface modification of polymers is an effective method to produce a wide range of materials with specific properties. Specially, radiation-induced grafting copolymerzation as a well-established technique can combine...

Preparation of intercalating agent-free epoxy/clay nanocomposites.
October 1, 2007... INTRODUCTION Since the seminal work by Toyota researchers on nylon-6/montmorillonite (MMT) clay was reported in early 1990s [1-3], inorganic layered structure-based polymer nanocomposites have been extensively investigated and shown to...