Insight on Castor Oil Based Polyurethane and Nanocomposites: Recent Trends and Development

Castor oil has gained momentous attention as a valuable bio-based monomer and a potential alternative to the current petrobased polyol for synthesizing polyurethane due to the presence of inherent hydroxyl group. In spite of its huge potentiality very little has been reviewed regarding the development of polyurethane from castor oil. This review thus highlights the recent trends and development in the field of polyurethane and its nanocomposite based on castor oil including its biodegradability and weatherability studies. Further, this review also provides an insight regarding the utilization of castor oil based polyurethane and its nanocomposite for coating application.     

Flow pattern transition in gas‐liquid downflow through narrow vertical tubes

The present report studies on the flow pattern transitions during vertical air water downflow through millichannels (0.83 ≤ Eötvös no. ≤ 20.63). Four basic flow patterns namely falling film flow, slug flow, bubbly flow, and annular flow are observed in the range of experimental conditions studied and their range of existence has been noted to vary with tube diameter and phase velocities. Based on experimental observations, phenomenological models are proposed to predict the transition boundaries between adjacent patterns. These have been validated with experimental flow pattern maps from the present experiments. Thus the study formalizes procedure for developing a generalized flow pattern map for gas‐liquid downflow in narrow tubes. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 792–800, 2017     

Vegetable fillers for electric stimuli responsive elastomers

Dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) have been studied widely in recent years for artificial muscle applications, but their implementation into production is limited due to high operating voltages required. The actuation behavior of dielectric elastomer under an applied electric field is predicted by Maxwell's pressure and thickness strain equations. According to these equations, the best electromechanical response is achieved when the relative permittivity is high and elastic modulus is low. The potential source for additives increasing the relative permittivity of rubbers can be vegetable powders that have much higher dielectric constant than common elastomers. In the present research, the dielectric and actuation properties of polyacrylate rubber (ACM) were studied after the addition of different vegetable‐based fillers such as potato starch, corn starch, garlic, and paprika. The results were compared to ACM filled with barium titanate. The compounds containing vegetable fillers showed higher relative dielectric permittivity at 1 Hz frequency than the compounds containing barium titanate due to higher interfacial polarization. The actuation studies showed that lower electric fields are required to generate certain actuation forces when the starches and garlic are used in the rubber instead of barium titanate. Therefore, the vegetable‐based fillers can be used to improve actuation performance of DEAs. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 45081.     

Structural and Optical Properties of Tunable Warm‐White Light‐Emitting ZrO2:Dy3+–Eu3+ Nanocrystals

A series of Dy³⁺–Eu³⁺‐codoped ZrO₂ nanocrystals with tetragonal and cubic symmetry was synthesized via a wet chemical reaction. When the Eu³⁺‐doping content was fixed, the crystal structure could be stabilized from the mixed phase to single cubic phase by simply adjusting the content of Dy³⁺. The cubic ZrO₂:Dy³⁺–Eu³⁺ nanoparticles exhibited spherical and nonagglomerated morphology. The effective phonon energy of cubic ZrO₂:5%Dy³⁺–5%Eu³⁺ was calculated to be 445 cm^?1, which is lower than the previously reported results. Extensive luminescence studies of ZrO₂:Dy³⁺–Eu³⁺ as a function of Dy³⁺ content demonstrated that the dopant concentration and its site symmetry play an important role in the emissive properties. Under 352 nm excitation, the increment of Dy³⁺ concentration in ZrO₂:Dy³⁺–Eu³⁺ led to an increase in orange (590 nm) and red (610 nm) emissions of Eu³⁺ ions, which are attributed to the ⁵D₀→⁷F_J(J = 1, 2) transitions of Eu³⁺ ions. This increment is possibly due to the efficient energy transfer (ET) ⁴F_9/2:Dy³⁺→⁵D₀:Eu³⁺. The phosphors can generates light from yellow through near white and eventually to warm white by properly tuning the concentration of Dy³⁺ ions through the ET and change in site symmetry. These phosphors may be promising as warm‐white‐/yellow‐emitting phosphors.     

Contribution of organomodified clay on hybrid microstructures and properties of epoxidized natural rubber‐based nanocomposites

Influence of organic modifying agent of clay on dispersion, distribution, hybrid microstructure formation, and associated performance properties of epoxidized natural rubber‐based composites was evaluated. Binary and ternary composites of carbon black (CB) and two organomodified layered silicates (i.e., nanomer I30E and Cloisite 30B) were prepared and characterized based on small angle X‐ray scattering, transmission electron microscopy, hydrodynamic swelling, tensile measurement, and dynamic mechanical analyses. Greater extent of exfoliation and “nanounit” formation was noted in ternary composites containing nanomer I30E, which was reflected in higher interfacial roughness (d_s = 2.82) and lower radius of gyration (R_g = 205 Å). Morphological observations suggested higher nanomer I30E–CB interactions than that of Cloisite 30B–CB. The interplatelet distance in Cloisite 30B (d = 1.83 nm) stacks was lower than that of nanomer I30E (d = 2.26 nm). These two factors jointly contributed in higher breakdown of nanomer I30E stacks by CB than that of Cloisite 30B stacks. Greater exfoliation and nanounit formation in I30E–CB‐filled nanocomposite was also reflected in increased degree of crosslinking (n = 20 × 10^?5%), tensile modulus/strength, half height width of damping peak (20.3°C), and filler effectiveness (C = 0.33). POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2013. © 2012 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Use of Raw and Acid-Treated MnO2 as Catalysts for Oxidation of Dyes in Water: A Case Study with Aqueous Methylene Blue

Catalytic wet oxidation has become one of the best options for mineralization of dyes in water. In this work, mineralization of methylene blue in water was tried by using raw and acid-treated (0.50, 0.75, and 1.00 N H₂SO₄) MnO₂ as oxidation catalysts. Fourier transform infrared, scanning electron microscopy, surface area and cation exchange capacity measurements were used to characterize the catalysts. The acid-treated materials showed large increases in surface area while changes in other surface characteristics were moderate in nature. The oxidative destruction of the dye was possible at near room temperature and the process was optimized with respect to interaction time, dye concentration, catalyst loading, pH of the medium, and temperature. The dye (1.0 mg/L) was oxidized to the extents of 88.5%, 96.5%, 96.8%, and 97.7% with corresponding chemical oxygen demand (COD) reduction of 64.7%, 86.4%, 87.2%, and 88.2% by raw MnO₂, 0.50, 0.75, and 1.00 N acid-treated MnO₂(catalyst loading 2.5 g/L), respectively. The reduction in COD indicated oxidation of the dye to simpler organic compounds achieving mineralization to a large extent. The oxidation followed first-order kinetics and the catalysts could be used up to six repeated runs without much change in activity. Analysis of the intermediate products of oxidation helped in proposing the potential pathways for oxidative conversion of methylene blue.     

Silicone Rubber Compatibilized Syndiotactic Polystyrene and Thermotropic Liquid Crystalline Polymer (Vectra A950) Blend

Blends of syndiotactic polystyrene (s-PS), thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer (Vectra A-950), and silicone rubber with two different loading levels, have been prepared through melt processing in internal mixer at 285°C. Silicone rubber was used as a compatibilizer for this blend system. The effect of silicon rubber on crystalline, dynamic mechanical, rhelogical, thermal properties, and phase morphology of the (s-PS/TLCP) blend has been investigated in details. With the addition of compatibilizer the viscosity of the blend system increased to an order of magnitude. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMTA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results showed that the glass transition temperature (T_g) of the blend, in presence of silicone rubber, shifted towards lower temperature region. From FTIR analysis it is evident that the ‘C=O’ stretching frequency has shifted towards lower side. SEM analysis suggested that, the TLCP domain size is reduced in ternary blend in comparison to binary blend system.     

Flow Behavior of Polyblend-Crosslinkable Polyethylene and Ethylene-Vinyl Acetate Copolymer and Their Morphology

The commercial application of polymer blends is undoubtedly the result of extensive research in this field. However, sometimes poor performance results from incompatibility of components in the blends, which in turn affects processibility. Processing is in large part simply flow and forming of compounds. A major problem often encountered in industry is batch-to-batch variation of viscosity and elastic memory of the compound, two characteristics which largely determine the compound's processability and dimensional stability. Efficient and quality production require reproducibility in the processing stages [1–4]. If a polymer melt is sheared mechanically, it can then be processed in a less elastic and less viscous state provided that the recovery of a more fully entangled, equilibrium state is not too fast [5]. Mechanical shear may reduce entanglement density r6–81. Shear modifications are manifested in changes in viscosities, die swell, die entrance pressure losses, melt fracture, etc. Various methods have also been developed over the years for rheological characterisation of polymer melts (9–17).