Photo‐oxidation of polystyrene/clay nanocomposites under accelerated UV exposure: Effect on the structure and molecular weight

The present work investigates the effects of photo‐oxidation under accelerated UV conditions on the structure, the molecular weight and the morphology of polystyrene (PS)/organophilic montmorillonite (OMMT) at various clay contents: 2.5, 5, and 7 wt %. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, viscosimetry and scanning electron microscopy were used to evaluate the extent of degradation of nanocomposite samples in comparison with neat PS, up to 216 h of exposure. The study has shown that the formation rates of both carbonyl and hydroperoxide groups increase with exposure time, being much higher for PS/OMMT nanocomposites. Moreover, it is also observed that all samples exhibit a large increase in the scission index, however less pronounced for neat PS. These results clearly indicate the formation of low molecular weight products that could arise from chain scission. Further, the photo‐oxidation rate seems to be more affected by the presence of clay, which acts as a catalyst, rather than by the variation of clay contents. Finally, the degraded materials exhibit eroded surface. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2009     

Mechanical and thermal properties of compatibilized polypropylene reinforced by woven doum

In this work, the development and the mechanical characterization of a doum textile composite based on a polypropylene matrix were carried out. Mechanical and rheological tests were effectuated, to illustrate the effect of woven fibers on the mechanical and viscoelastic properties at 0°, 15°, 30°, and 45° directions. The woven fibers were treated and the matrix was melted to a coupling agent to assure compatibility between the fibers and the polymer. The composites with long fiber are generally used as film and the main properties is the tensile. In this study, our goal was to improve the tensile properties. Results have shown that tensile properties exhibited a significant increase when compared to the polypropylene. However, it was observed that the stress direction has no influence on the thermal properties of the composite. Also, this article evaluates models that predict the stiffness of the composites at different stress directions to be compared to the experiments. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 130: 4347–4356, 2013     

Thermal oxidation of tin layers and study of the effect of their annealings on their structural and electrical properties

The main objective of this article is the control of tin dioxide preparation process on glass substrate. Layers of pure tin with thicknesses of 500 and 1000 Å are first deposited. Their enrichment with oxygen is ensured by thermal annealing for 1 and 2 h in a continuous tube furnace with temperatures varying between 300 and 500 °C.The tin film formed by vacuum evaporation has tetragonal crystalline structure, and is composed of grains of various sizes separated by grain boundaries. After annealing in oxygen, the formed phases consist of a mixture of SnO and SnO₂ crystalline mixtures and sometimes amorphous tin oxide. The more the time or the temperature of annealing, the more the quantity of SnO₂ and SnO. For an annealing at 500 °C for 10 h the size of grains increases more than annealing for 2 h. This is confirmed by the study of their micrographs.The electrical resistivity of these layers, measured by the 4 point method, is correlated to the size of the oxide particles: the smaller the particle size, the lower the electrical resistivity.     

Influence of the history of a melt on the electrical resistivity of cadmium–antimony liquid alloys

Miller, Paces and Komarek (MPK) [Trans. Metall Soc. AIME 230 (1964) 1557] observed an influence of the history of a melt on the electrical resistivity of several cadmium–antimony alloys. In this work we complete the experimental work of MPK with new accurate experiments in order to verify the existence of the phenomenon and to precise by defining the conditions where it appears. We used three important improvements on the experimental design of MPK. First we used quartz cells instead of pyrex cells used by MPK so allowing the heating of the melt well above the temperature of 530 °C attained by MPK. Secondly our experimental design allows to mix mechanically the liquid alloy in order to achieve a macroscopic homogeneity of the melt. Finally we measure simultaneously the thermopower of the Cd₆₀–Sb₄₀ liquid alloy. The time evolution of our experiment is fully described with our conclusions.