scholarly journals A Review on Styrene Substitutes in Thermosets and Their Composites

Polymers ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1815 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuchao Wu ◽  
Mingen Fei ◽  
Renhui Qiu ◽  
Wendi Liu ◽  
Jianhui Qiu

In recent decades, tremendous interest and technological development have been poured into thermosets and their composites. The thermosets and composites with unsaturated double bonds curing system are especially concerned due to their versatility. To further exploit such resins, reactive diluents (RDs) with unsaturated sites are usually incorporated to improve their processability and mechanical properties. Traditional RD, styrene, is a toxic volatile organic compound and one of the anticipated carcinogens warned by the National Institute of Health, USA. Most efforts have been conducted on reducing the usage of styrene in the production of thermosets and their composites, while very few works have systematically summarized these literatures. Herein, recent developments regarding styrene substitutes in thermosets and their composites are reviewed. Potential styrene alternatives, such as vinyl derivatives of benzene and (methyl)acrylates are discussed in details. Emphasis is focused on the strategies on developing novel RD monomers through grafting unsaturated functional groups on renewable feedstocks such as carbohydrates, lignin, and fatty acids. This review also highlights the development and characteristics of RD monomers and their influence on processability and mechanical performance of the resulting thermosets and composites.

2017 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 1159-1168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Animesh Sinha ◽  
Nazrul Islam Khan ◽  
Subhankar Das ◽  
Jiawei Zhang ◽  
Sudipta Halder

The effect of reactive (polyethylene glycol) and non-reactive (toluene) diluents on thermal and mechanical properties (tensile strength, hardness and fracture toughness) of diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A epoxy resin (cured by triethylenetetramine) was investigated. The thermal stability and mechanical properties of the epoxy resin modified with reactive and non-reactive diluents at different wt% were investigated using thermo-gravimetric analyser, tensile test, hardness test and single-edge-notched bend test. A minor variation in thermal stability was observed for epoxy resin after addition of polyethylene glycol and toluene at 0.5 wt%; however, further addition of reactive and non-reactive diluents diminished the thermal stability. The addition of 10 wt% of polyethylene glycol in epoxy resin significantly enhances the tensile strength (∼12%), hardness (∼14%) and fracture toughness (∼24%) when compared to that of neat epoxy resin. In contrast, major drop in mechanical performance was observed after addition of toluene in epoxy. Furthermore, fracture surfaces were investigated under field emission scanning electron microscope to elucidate the failure mechanism.


2008 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raluca Stan ◽  
Nicoleta Chira ◽  
Cristina Ott ◽  
Cristina Todasca ◽  
Emile Perez

Several catanionic organogelators derived from 1,3 :2,4-bis-O-(p-aminobenzylidene)-D-sorbitol (p-NH2-DBS) and hydroxy derivatives of natural fatty acids were synthesized, characterized and their gelation ability was evaluated. SEM observations of the xerogels formed by association of 1,3 :2,4-bis-O-(p-aminobenzylidene)-D-sorbitol and 12-hydroxystearic acid showed important modifications in the morphology and depend upon the nature of solvent as compared with the xerogels formed by each individual organogelator.


2019 ◽  
Vol 70 (10) ◽  
pp. 3469-3472

Weldability involves two aspects: welding behavior of components and safety in operation. The two aspects will be reduced to the mechanical characteristics of the elements and to the chemical composition. In the case of steel reinforcing rebar’s, it is reduces to the percentage of Cech(carbon equivalent) and to the mechanical characteristics: the yielding limit, the ultimate limit, and the elongations which after that represent the ductility class in which the re-bars is framed. The paper will present some types of steel reinforcing rebar’s with its mechanical characteristics and the welding behavior of those elements. In the current work, process-related behavior of welded reinforcement, joint local and global mechanical properties, and their correlation with behavior of normal reinforcement and also the mechanical performance resulted in this type of joints. Keywords: welding behavior, ultimate limit, reinforcing rebar’s


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1124
Author(s):  
Zhifang Liang ◽  
Hongwu Wu ◽  
Ruipu Liu ◽  
Caiquan Wu

Green biodegradable plastics have come into focus as an alternative to restricted plastic products. In this paper, continuous long sisal fiber (SF)/polylactic acid (PLA) premixes were prepared by an extrusion-rolling blending process, and then unidirectional continuous long sisal fiber-reinforced PLA composites (LSFCs) were prepared by compression molding to explore the effect of long fiber on the mechanical properties of sisal fiber-reinforced composites. As a comparison, random short sisal fiber-reinforced PLA composites (SSFCs) were prepared by open milling and molding. The experimental results show that continuous long sisal fiber/PLA premixes could be successfully obtained from this pre-blending process. It was found that the presence of long sisal fibers could greatly improve the tensile strength of LSFC material along the fiber extension direction and slightly increase its tensile elongation. Continuous long fibers in LSFCs could greatly participate in supporting the load applied to the composite material. However, when comparing the mechanical properties of the two composite materials, the poor compatibility between the fiber and the matrix made fiber’s reinforcement effect not well reflected in SSFCs. Similarly, the flexural performance and impact performance of LSFCs had been improved considerably versus SSFCs.


Coatings ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
Yin-Yu Chang ◽  
Cheng-Hsi Chung

Multi-element material coating systems have received much attention for improving the mechanical performance in industry. However, they are still focused on ternary systems and seldom beyond quaternary ones. High entropy alloy (HEA) bulk material and thin films are systems that are each comprised of at least five principal metal elements in equally matched proportions, and some of them are found possessing much higher strength than traditional alloys. In this study, CrVTiNbZr high entropy alloy and nitrogen contained CrVTiNbZr(N) nitride coatings were synthesized using high ionization cathodic-arc deposition. A chromium-vanadium alloy target, a titanium-niobium alloy target and a pure zirconium target were used for the deposition. By controlling the nitrogen content and cathode current, the CrNbTiVZr(N) coating with gradient or multilayered composition control possessed different microstructures and mechanical properties. The effect of the nitrogen content on the chemical composition, microstructure and mechanical properties of the CrVTiNbZr(N) coatings was investigated. Compact columnar microstructure was obtained for the synthesized CrVTiNbZr(N) coatings. The CrVTiNbZrN coating (HEAN-N165), which was deposited with nitrogen flow rate of 165 standard cubic centimeters per minute (sccm), exhibited slightly blurred columnar and multilayered structures containing CrVN, TiNbN and ZrN. The design of multilayered CrVTiNbZrN coatings showed good adhesion strength. Improvement of adhesion strength was obtained with composition-gradient interlayers. The CrVTiNbZrN coating with nitrogen content higher than 50 at.% possessed the highest hardness (25.2 GPa) and the resistance to plastic deformation H3/E*2 (0.2 GPa) value, and therefore the lowest wear rate was obtained because of high abrasion wear resistance.


2021 ◽  
pp. 073168442110140
Author(s):  
Hossein Ramezani-Dana ◽  
Moussa Gomina ◽  
Joël Bréard ◽  
Gilles Orange

In this work, we examine the relationships between the microstructure and the mechanical properties of glass fiber–reinforced polyamide 6,6 composite materials ( V f = 54%). These materials made by thermocompression incorporate different grades of high fluidity polyamide-based polymers and two types of quasi-UD glass fiber reinforcement. One is a classic commercial fabric, while the other specially designed and manufactured incorporates weaker tex glass yarns (the spacer) to increase the planar permeability of the preform. The effects of the viscosity of the polymers and their composition on the wettability of the reinforcements were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy observations of the microstructure. The respective influences of the polymers and the spacer on the mechanical performance were determined by uniaxial tensile and compression tests in the directions parallel and transverse to the warp yarns. Not only does the spacer enhance permeability but it also improves physical and mechanical properties: tensile longitudinal Young’s modulus increased from 38.2 GPa to 42.9 GPa (13% growth), tensile strength increased from 618.9 MPa to 697 MPa (3% growth), and decrease in ultimate strain from 1.8% to 1.7% (5% reduction). The correlation of these results with the damage observed post mortem confirms those acquired from analyses of the microstructure of composites and the rheological behaviors of polymers.


Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 1058
Author(s):  
Hikaru Okubo ◽  
Haruka Kaneyasu ◽  
Tetsuya Kimura ◽  
Patchiya Phanthong ◽  
Shigeru Yao

Each year, increasing amounts of plastic waste are generated, causing environmental pollution and resource loss. Recycling is a solution, but recycled plastics often have inferior mechanical properties to virgin plastics. However, studies have shown that holding polymers in the melt state before extrusion can restore the mechanical properties; thus, we propose a twin-screw extruder with a molten resin reservoir (MSR), a cavity between the screw zone and twin-screw extruder discharge, which retains molten polymer after mixing in the twin-screw zone, thus influencing the polymer properties. Re-extruded recycled polyethylene (RPE) pellets were produced, and the tensile properties and microstructure of virgin polyethylene (PE), unextruded RPE, and re-extruded RPE moldings prepared with and without the MSR were evaluated. Crucially, the elongation at break of the MSR-extruded RPE molding was seven times higher than that of the original RPE molding, and the Young’s modulus of the MSR-extruded RPE molding was comparable to that of the virgin PE molding. Both the MSR-extruded RPE and virgin PE moldings contained similar striped lamellae. Thus, MSR re-extrusion improved the mechanical performance of recycled polymers by optimizing the microstructure. The use of MSRs will facilitate the reuse of waste plastics as value-added materials having a wide range of industrial applications.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1021
Author(s):  
Yunzhao Li ◽  
Huaping Tang ◽  
Ruilin Lai

Resistance spot welded 1.2 mm (t)-thick 1400 MPa martensitic steel (MS1400) samples are fabricated and their microstructure, mechanical properties are investigated thoroughly. The mechanical performance and failure modes exhibit a strong dependence on weld-nugget size. The pull-out failure mode for MS1400 steel resistance spot welds does not follow the conventional weld-nugget size recommendation criteria of 4t0.5. Significant softening was observed due to dual phase microstructure of ferrite and martensite in the inter-critical heat affected zone (HAZ) and tempered martensite (TM) structure in sub-critical HAZ. However, the upper-critical HAZ exhibits obvious higher hardness than the nugget zone (NZ). In addition, the mechanical properties show that the cross-tension strength (CTS) is about one quarter of the tension-shear strength (TSS) of MS1400 weld joints, whilst the absorbed energy of cross-tension and tension-shear are almost identical.


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