Synergistic Flame Retardant Effects of Carbon Nanotube-Based Multilayer Nanocoatings

In an effort to develop highly functionalized flame retardant materials, hybrid nanocoatings are prepared by alternately depositing a positively charged polyaniline (PANi) and negatively charged montmorillonite (MMT) using the layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly technique. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are employed in polymer nanocomposites as effective reinforcement, where nanotubes are stabilized in MMT aqueous solution. The 3D structure and high density of CNTs deposited in the PANi/CNTs-MMT multilayers produce thicker and heavier coatings in comparison to the LbL assemblies without CNTs. Vertical and horizontal flame testing show that the incorporation of CNTs improves fire resistance. Additionally, cone calorimetry reveals that stacking two nanomaterials (MMT and CNTs) in a single coating shows a significant reduction in peak heat release rate (up to 51%), total smoke release (up to 47%), and total heat release (up to 37%) for the polyurethane foam. The enhancement of flame retardancy is attributed to a synergistic effect; MMT serves as a physical barrier that retards the diffusion of heat and gas. The addition of CNTs strengthens the thermal stability and high char yield. These results, coupled with the simplicity with which the LbL deposition is applied, present a viable alternative to halogen-free flame retardant nanocoatings to natural and synthetic fibers.     

Spray Coating of 2- and 3-D Solid Substrates Using a Sulfated Polysaccharide for Marine Antifouling Applications

Marine antifouling coating using functional polymers has emerged as an important tool to combat marine fouling. Owing to their natural abundance, polysaccharides represent a more sustainable option than synthetic polymers and carrageenan, a sulfated polysaccharide, is identified as a promising candidate for further research based on its excellent marine antifouling properties. However, existing research has only explored the application of carrageenan-based coatings for 2D objects, using techniques such as spin-coating. Here, a spray-coating method is proposed to apply carrageenan-based coatings to the surfaces of 2- and 3-D objects. The coated surfaces exhibit high stability under various chemical/physical stresses and high resistance to protein adsorption and marine diatom adhesion.     

Morphological Forms of α-Alumina Particles Synthesized in 1,4-Butanediol Solution

Phase-pure, monodispersed, hexagonal plates of single-crystal α-alumina (∼ 2 μm wide and ∼0.5 μm thick) have been prepared via precipitation by treating an aluminum hydrous oxide precursor in 1,4-butanediol at 300°C under autogenous vapor pressure. Present work shows that KOH is the only reagent that precipitates an aluminum hydrous oxide precursor suitable to synthesize α-alumina in 1,4-butanediol solution. In contrast, the use of NaOH or NH₄OH as the precipitating reagent for the precursor material does not yield the alpha phase. The solution pH at which the precursor materials are precipitated is also a critical factor for the formation of α-Al₂O₃. Phase-pure α-alumina powders were also only synthesized from the aluminum hydrous oxide precursors precipitated in the pH range from 10 to 10.5. The results of X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy indicate that longer reaction times promote the phase transformation from the intermediate boehmite phase to α-alumina. The complete transformation from boehmite to α-alumina requires reaction times of about 12 h.     

Effect of the dispersed phase fraction on particle size in blends with high viscosity ratio

It has been reported that for polymer blends with high viscosity ratio (>1), the size of the dispersed particles decreases with increasing volume fraction of the dispersed phase. In order to explain this effect, an equation was derived for the affine deformation of an imaginary plane of the dispersed phase in stratified two‐phase steady, simple, shear flow. The model predicts that for viscosity ratio >1, the deformation rate increases with volume fraction of the dispersed phase, and the shear stress also increases, leading to an increase of the breakup time. Therefore, the total deformation of the dispersed phase, before breakup, increases with increase of volume fraction, resulting in a decrease of the size of the dispersed phase particles. Accordingly, one can expect that in industrial mixers, the particle size of the blends should decrease as the volume fraction increases, if coalescence is suppressed. Experiments were carried out in a Haake batch mixer, using polyethylene/polyamide‐6 blends compatibilized by adding maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene. Particle size decreased up to 20 wt% polyamide‐6, at 100, 150, and 200 RPM, and increased between 20 and 30 wt%. The decrease of the particle size is mainly due to increased deformation of the dispersed phase. The increase of the particle size above 20 wt% is due to coalescence at high fractions.     

Sol-Gel Alumina Coating for Improved Cyclic Oxidation Resistance of Silicon Nitride

A 25 nm thick α-alumina layer was deposited on a turbine-grade silicon nitride by sol-gel dip coating and subsequent heat treatment in air at 1200°C. This layer had a nanometer grain structure. Silicon nitride protected by this thin layer showed a significant improvement in oxidation resistance over its uncoated counterpart after 200 cyclic exposures in air at 1250°C. The oxide layer grown on the coated silicon nitride also exhibited superior surface morphology, compared with the uncoated silicon nitride.     

Characterization and physical properties of polymethylphenylsilsesquioxane (PMPSQ) and hydroxyl‐functionalized polystyrene (PS–OH) hybrids

Polymethylphenylsilsesquioxane (PMPSQ–OH) and trimethylsilyl end‐blocked PMPSQ (PMPSQ–EC) were prepared. The thermal decomposition behavior of these polymers was studied by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and FT‐Raman spectroscopy. Hydroxyl‐functionalized polystyrene (PS–OH) was also prepared by anionic living polymerization. Thin hybrid films of PMPSQ/PS–OH with various blend ratios were obtained by spin‐coating on freshly cleaned glass. The surface morphology of the hybrid films was investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM). In 80/20 PMPSQ/PS–OH hybrid film, the PS–OH component produced a very uniformly dispersed phase. This hybrid film contained small domains of PS–OH whose size ranged from 60 to 80 nm. As the content of PS–OH was increased, the domain morphology coarsened and phase inversion took place around 50 wt %. In the phase‐inversed system, the PMPSQ‐rich phase was uniformly distributed in the PS–OH‐rich continuous phase. In addition, temperature‐dependent dielectric properties of PMPSQ/PS–OH hybrids were investigated. Relaxation of the hybrids was observed with an increasing content of the PS–OH component due to the amorphous glass transition behavior of PS–OH. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 90: 2801–2812, 2003     

Honey bees mating optimization algorithm for process planning problem

Process planning is a very important function in the modern manufacturing system. It impacts the efficiency of the manufacturing system greatly. The process planning problem has been proved to be a NP-hard problem. The traditional algorithms cannot solve this problem very well. Therefore, due to the intractability and importance of process planning problem, it is very necessary to develop efficiency algorithms which can obtain a good process plan with minimal global machining cost in reasonable time. In this paper, a new method based on honey bees mating optimization (HBMO) algorithm is proposed to optimize the process planning problem. With respect to the characteristics of process planning problem, the solution encoding, crossover operator, local search strategies have been developed. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, three experiments have been carried out, and the comparisons among HBMO and some other existing algorithms are also presented. The results demonstrate that the HBMO algorithm has achieved satisfactory improvement.     

An adaptive genetic algorithm for the time dependent inventory routing problem

In this paper we propose an adaptive genetic algorithm that produces good quality solutions to the time dependent inventory routing problem (TDIRP) in which inventory control and time dependent vehicle routing decisions for a set of retailers are made simultaneously over a specific planning horizon. This work is motivated by the effect of dynamic traffic conditions in an urban context and the resulting inventory and transportation costs. We provide a mixed integer programming formulation for TDIRP. Since finding the optimal solutions for TDIRP is a NP-hard problem, an adaptive genetic algorithm is applied. We develop new genetic representation and design suitable crossover and mutation operators for the improvement phase. We use adaptive genetic operator proposed by Yun and Gen (Fuzzy Optim Decis Mak 2(2):161–175, 2003) for the automatic setting of the genetic parameter values. The comparison of results shows the significance of the designed AGA and demonstrates the capability of reaching solutions within 0.5 % of the optimum on sets of test problems.     

Thermal behavior and the determination of the polymer-polymer interaction parameter of polycarbonate and a thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer blends

Summary The surface modification of low-density polyethylene(PE) by liquid phase photograft polymerization with acrylic acid(AA), acrylamide(AM) and glycidyl methacrylate(GMA) was described. The grafting of AA and AM was proved and characterized by electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis(ESCA). It was found that fully hydrophilic surface can be obtained in very short irradiation time. With ESCA and attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy(ATR-IR), it can be confirmed that bifunctional monomer GMA was grafted onto the PE film surface. Through further reaction with GMA grafted film, heparin and protamine were immobilized onto the grafted film surface.     

Ozonolysis of cyclododecene

Ozonolysis of cyclododecene was carried out to produce an w-formyl carboxylic acid (12-oxododecanoic acid) which is derived from zwitterion and aldehyde moiety that are formed during the reaction. The ozonolysis was performed to examine the product distribution under such reaction variables as temperature, kinds of solvent, and presence of catalyst. The yield of polymeric ozonide, which is undesirable product, was measured to be dominantly 86% without pyridine catalyst, whereas, only 10.25% with the catalyst. The optimum reaction condition was to be in MC (methylene chloride) solvent, and in the presence of equimolar olefin and pyridine catalyst at O°C, at which the yields of polymeric ozonide, 1,12-dodecanedialdehyde, 1,12-dodecanedicarboxylic acid, and 12-oxo-dodecanoic acid were 10.25%, 26.72%, 26.31%, and 36.72%, respectively.