A new approach of microwave treatment to augment the mechanical properties of polymeric materials

Author(s):  
Swamini Chopra ◽  
Kavita Pande ◽  
Pritamkumar S. Tupe ◽  
Kanchan Zine ◽  
Kartik Rathod ◽  
...  
2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 14

The present study portrays a novel post-processing treatment by using microwave radiations for enhancing the mechanical properties of five commonly used engineering polymers, Poly-amide (PA), Poly-butylene-terephthalate (PBT), Poly-propylene (PP), Poly-carbonate (PC), Acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS). The analysis revealed that the crystal structures of the polymers improved after the treatment due to a more favorable rearrangement of crystalline segments within the polymers. Furthermore, tensile properties and tribological performance of microwave treated polymers were found to be significantly better when compared to those of untreated counterparts. The tensile strength, elongation, and wear performance of PA increased by 51%, 286%, and 45%, respectively, only after a treatment of 20 seconds. A similar response was also exhibited by other polymers as well. It was noted that the optimum time for microwave treatment could vary depending on the different crystalline nature of the polymers. The degree of randomness in the molecular chains of semi-crystalline polymers is less; thus, it requires less treatment time. However, for amorphous polymers, as randomness increases, more time is needed. As such, post-processing microwave treatment of polymers has proven beneficial as a cost-effective, time-saving, and environment-friendly technique for enhancing material properties significantly.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 898
Author(s):  
Olga Olejnik ◽  
Anna Masek ◽  
Jakub Zawadziłło

This work considers the application of eco-friendly, biodegradable materials based on polylactide (PLA) and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), instead of conventional polymeric materials, in order to prevent further environmental endangerment by accumulation of synthetic petro-materials. This new approach to the topic is focused on analyzing the processing properties of blends without incorporating any additives that could have a harmful impact on human organisms, including the endocrine system. The main aim of the research was to find the best PLA/PHB ratio to obtain materials with desirable mechanical, processing and application properties. Therefore, two-component polymer blends were prepared by mixing different mass ratios of PLA and PHB (100/0, 50/10, 50/20, 40/30, 50/50, 30/40, 20/50, 10/50 and 0/100 mass ratio) using an extrusion process. The prepared blends were analyzed in terms of thermal and mechanical properties as well as miscibility and surface characteristics. Taking into account the test results, the PLA/PHB blend with a 50/10 ratio turned out to be most suitable in terms of mechanical and processing properties. This blend has the potential to become a bio-based and simultaneously biodegradable material safe for human health dedicated for the packaging industry.


2020 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-120
Author(s):  
Raisa A. Alekhina ◽  
Victoriya E. Slavkina ◽  
Yuliya A. Lopatina

The article presents options for recycling polymers. The use of biodegradable materials is promising. This is a special class of polymers that can decompose under aerobic or anaerobic conditions under the action of microorganisms or enzymes forming natural products such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen, water, biomass, and inorganic salts. (Research purpose) The research purpose is in reviewing biodegradable materials that can be used for the manufacture of products used in agriculture. (Materials and methods) The study are based on open information sources containing information about biodegradable materials. Research methods are collecting, studying and comparative analysis of information. (Results and discussion) The article presents the advantages and disadvantages of biodegradable materials, mechanical properties of the main groups of biodegradable polymers. The article provides a summary list of agricultural products that can be made from biodegradable polymer materials. It was found that products from the general group are widely used in agriculture. Authors have found that products from a special group can only be made from biodegradable polymers with a controlled decomposition period in the soil, their use contributes to increasing the productivity of crops. (Conclusions) It was found that biodegradable polymer materials, along with environmental safety, have mechanical properties that allow them producing products that do not carry significant loads during operation. We have shown that the creation of responsible products (machine parts) from biodegradable polymers requires an increase in their strength properties, which is achievable by creating composites based on them. It was found that the technological complexity of their manufacture and high cost are the limiting factors for the widespread use of biodegradable polymers at this stage.


Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1456
Author(s):  
Isabel Matos Oliveira ◽  
Cristiana Gonçalves ◽  
Myeong Eun Shin ◽  
Sumi Lee ◽  
Rui Luis Reis ◽  
...  

Rheumatoid arthritis is a rheumatic disease for which a healing treatment does not presently exist. Silk fibroin has been extensively studied for use in drug delivery systems due to its uniqueness, versatility and strong clinical track record in medicine. However, in general, natural polymeric materials are not mechanically stable enough, and have high rates of biodegradation. Thus, synthetic materials such as gellan gum can be used to produce composite structures with biological signals to promote tissue-specific interactions while providing the desired mechanical properties. In this work, we aimed to produce hydrogels of tyramine-modified gellan gum with silk fibroin (Ty–GG/SF) via horseradish peroxidase (HRP), with encapsulated betamethasone, to improve the biocompatibility and mechanical properties, and further increase therapeutic efficacy to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The Ty–GG/SF hydrogels presented a β-sheet secondary structure, with gelation time around 2–5 min, good resistance to enzymatic degradation, a suitable injectability profile, viscoelastic capacity with a significant solid component and a betamethasone-controlled release profile over time. In vitro studies showed that Ty–GG/SF hydrogels did not produce a deleterious effect on cellular metabolic activity, morphology or proliferation. Furthermore, Ty–GG/SF hydrogels with encapsulated betamethasone revealed greater therapeutic efficacy than the drug applied alone. Therefore, this strategy can provide an improvement in therapeutic efficacy when compared to the traditional use of drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.


Fibers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Felicia Syrén ◽  
Joel Peterson ◽  
Nawar Kadi

The versatile bast fiber jute has environmental benefits compared to glass fibers. However, for jute to be used in a composite, the fiber properties need to be altered. This study aims to improve the mechanical properties of jute yarn to make it more suitable for technical applications as a composite. To alter its mechanical properties, jute yarn was immersed in water during microwave treatment. The time and power of the microwave settings differed between runs. Two states of the yarn were tested: fastened and un-fastened. Tensile testing was used at the yarn and fiber level, followed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and microscopy. The treatment result demonstrated the ability to increase the elongation of the jute yarn by 70%. The tenacity was also increased by 34% in the fastened state and 20% in the un-fastened state. FTIR showed that no change in the molecular structure occurred. The treatments resulted in a change of yarn thickness depending on the state of the yarn. The results indicate that microwave treatment can be used to make jute more suitable for technical applications depending on the microwave treatment parameters.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 773
Author(s):  
Ahmad Safwan Ismail ◽  
Mohammad Jawaid ◽  
Norul Hisham Hamid ◽  
Ridwan Yahaya ◽  
Azman Hassan

Polymer blends is a well-established and suitable method to produced new polymeric materials as compared to synthesis of a new polymer. The combination of two different types of polymers will produce a new and unique material, which has the attribute of both polymers. The aim of this work is to analyze mechanical and morphological properties of bio-phenolic/epoxy polymer blends to find the best formulation for future study. Bio-phenolic/epoxy polymer blends were fabricated using the hand lay-up method at different loading of bio-phenolic (5 wt%, 10 wt%, 15 wt%, 20 wt%, and 25 wt%) in the epoxy matrix whereas neat bio-phenolic and epoxy samples were also fabricated for comparison. Results indicated that mechanical properties were improved for bio-phenolic/epoxy polymer blends compared to neat epoxy and phenolic. In addition, there is no sign of phase separation in polymer blends. The highest tensile, flexural, and impact strength was shown by P-20(biophenolic-20 wt% and Epoxy-80 wt%) whereas P-25 (biophenolic-25 wt% and Epoxy-75 wt%) has the highest tensile and flexural modulus. Based on the finding, it is concluded that P-20 shows better overall mechanical properties among the polymer blends. Based on this finding, the bio-phenolic/epoxy blend with 20 wt% will be used for further study on flax-reinforced bio-phenolic/epoxy polymer blends.


2017 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 414-419
Author(s):  
Mimi Azlina Abu Bakar ◽  
Siti Norazlini Abd Aziz ◽  
Muhammad Hussain Ismail

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the vital characteristic of an innovative ceramic injection molding (CIM) process for orthopedic application with controlled porosity and improved tribological and mechanical properties which were affected by complex tribological interactions, whether lubricated like hip implants and other artificial prostheses. The main objective is to maximize the usage of palm stearin as a single based binder as the function of flow properties during injection molding process. Design/methodology/approach The binder used in this present study consists of 100 per cent palm stearin manufactured by Kempas Oil Sdn Bhd and supplied by Vistec Technology Sdn Bhd. The feedstock was prepared by using a Z-blade mixer (Thermo Haake Rheomix OS) and Brabender mixer model R2400. The feedstock prepared was injection molded using a manually operated vertical benchtop machine with an average pressure of about 5-7 bars. The firing step included the temporary holds at intermediate temperatures to burn out organic binders. At this stage, the green molded specimen was de-bound using a single-step wick-debinding method. Findings The maximum content of ceramic material is applied to investigate the efficiencies of net formulation that can be achieved by ceramic materials. The longer the viscosity will change with shear rate, the higher the value of n obtained instead. From the slope of the curves obtained in Figure 3, the value of n for the feedstock was determined to be less than 1, which indicates a pseudoplastic behavior and suitability for the molding process. Moreover, high shear sensitivity is important in producing complex and intrinsic specimens which are leading products in the CIM industry. Originality/value The feedstock containing HAp powder and palm stearin binder was successfully prepared at very low temperature of 70°C, which promoting a required pseudo-plastic behavior during rheological test. The single binder palm stearin should be optimized in other research works carried out, as palm stearin is most preferred compared to other polymeric materials that provided high energy consumption when subjected to the sintering process. Besides the binder is widely available in Malaysia, low cost and harmless effect during debinding process.


1969 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 769-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Collier

Abstract Mechanical properties of semicrystalline polymeric materials are strongly influenced by the morphology into which these materials crystallize. In addition the morphology can be altered by changes in crystallization temperature and regime, crystallization pressure, melt treatment conditions, shear history, and probably other processing conditions. The mechanical properties reflect the changes in morphology not only in the initial moduli values but also the overall stress-strain relationships, including the fracture mechanism. A strong influence is noted, at least in the polymers cited, even when slight changes occur in average spherulite size, spherulitic fine structure, and in the nature of interlamellar ties. Smaller, finer textured spherulites with higher interconnections arc apparently more susceptible to yielding by neck formation and elongation to high values than are the larger, coarser textured spherulites than tend to fail by random brittle failure mechanisms at low elongations. In addition, if the chlorinated polyether (Penton) is typical of slowly crystallizing polymers, the change from spherulitic morphology obtained during crystallization from the melt to the small platelet morphology obtained during slow crystallization from quenched glassy state has a complex effect on mechanical properties. The specimens slowly crystallized from the glass exhibit initial shear and tensile moduli values higher than those exhibited for rapid crystallization from the melt and rapid crystallization from the glass, but lower than the corresponding values for slow crystallization from the melt. In addition, the only specimens of this chlorinated polyether that exhibited the ability to draw to high degrees of elongation (as a result of yielding by a necking phenomenon) were those crystallized slowly from the quenched glassy state.


Recycling ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Patrizio Tratzi ◽  
Chiara Giuliani ◽  
Marco Torre ◽  
Laura Tomassetti ◽  
Roberto Petrucci ◽  
...  

The recycling of plastic waste is undergoing fast growth due to environmental, health and economic issues, and several blends of post-consumer and post-industrial polymeric materials have been characterized in recent years. However, most of these researches have focused on plastic containers and packaging, neglecting hard plastic waste. This study provides the first experimental characterization of different blends of hard plastic waste and virgin polypropylene in terms of melt index, differential scan calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), mechanical properties (tensile, impact and Shore hardness) and Vicat softening test. Compared to blends based on packaging plastic waste, significant differences were observed in terms of melt flow index (about 10 points higher for hard plastic waste). Mechanical properties, in particular yield strain, were instead quite similar (between 5 and 9%), despite a higher standard deviation being observed, up to 10%, probably due to incomplete homogenization. Results demonstrate that these worse performances could be mainly attributed to the presence of different additives, as well as to the presence of impurities or traces of other polymers, other than incomplete homogenization. On the other hand, acceptable results were obtained for selected blends; the optimal blending ratio was identified as 78% post-consumer waste and 22% post-industrial waste, meeting the requirement for injection molding and thermoforming.


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