In situ compatibilization of low-density polyethylene and polydimethylsiloxane rubber blends using ethylene–methyl acrylate copolymer as a chemical compatibilizer

The effect of the ethylene–methylacrylate copolymer as a chemical compatibilizer in the 50:50 blend of low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and polydimethylsiloxane rubber (PDMS) has been studied in detail. Ethylene–methylacrylate (EMA) reacted with PDMS rubber during melt-mixing at 180°C to form EMA-grafted PDMS rubber (EMA-g-PDMS) in situ, which acted as a compatibilizer in the LDPE–PDMS rubber blend. An optimum proportion of the compatibilizer (EMA) was found to be 6 wt % based on results of dynamic mechanical analysis, adhesion studies, and phase morphology. Lap shear adhesion between the phases increased significantly on incorporation of 6 wt % of EMA. Dynamic mechanical analysis showed a single glass transition (T_g) peak at ?119°C. This was further supported by X-ray diffraction studies, which exhibited a remarkable increase in the degree of crystallinity and phase morphology and showed a drastic reduction in the size of the dispersed phase at the optimum concentration of EMA. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A critical comparison of various data processing methods in simple uni-axial compression testing

The paper compares the error associated with various data processing methods to obtain true stress–plastic strain data from the load–deformation curves generated from uni-axial compression tests. Towards this end, uni-axial compression tests have been conducted on three representative materials viz. modified 9Cr–1Mo ferritic steels, alloy D9 (a titanium modified austenitic stainless steel) and 316L(N) austenitic stainless steel in wide ranges of temperatures and strain rates. It has been observed that the absolute average error associated with maximum true plastic strain calculation in all the three materials is always more than 5% and sometimes as high as 42.1% if the elastic region is removed either from the load–stroke curve or engineering stress–strain curve to get the true stress–plastic strain curve. However, the absolute average error associated with plastic strain calculation is always less than 5% if the elastic region is removed from the true stress–strain curve.     

Boron Deteriorates the Thermal Stability of Nanostructured Silicon

Silicon - Guided by Darling et al. model for nanostructure stability, Boron was chosen for stabilizing nanostructured silicon. The Si-4 at.% B alloy was synthesized by high energy ball...