Surface and thermal characteristics of rubber‐modified aromatic polyamide

Polyamide/epoxysilane (coupling agent) composites were reacted with poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS), a condensation product of diethoxydimethylsilane (DEDMS), by a sol–gel process. Polyamide–PDMS nanocomposites were obtained. The existence of the condensation product of DEDMS and the reaction between the epoxy group and the polyamide were confirmed with Fourier transform infrared, attenuated total reflection, and wide‐scanning X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Atomic force microscopy and contact‐angle measurements showed that the surface properties of polyamide were greatly improved by the addition of PDMS. The pyrolysis temperature of polyamide with PDMS was approximately 400°C, and the pyrolysis temperature was similar to that of pure polyamide. Also, the char contents increased with the addition of PDMS. The glass‐transition temperature of polyamide with or without PDMS was approximately 140°C according to differential scanning calorimetry. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 94: 1947–1955, 2004     

High oleic acid oil suppresses lung tumorigenesis in mice through the modulation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase cascade

This study was undertaken to estimate the effect of dietary high oleic acid oil (OA) on 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK)-induced lung tumorigenesis in mice. Diet containing 10% oil was fed to mice through experimental periods. On day 30 after NNK injection (100 mg/kg body weight, i.p.), the treatment increased the level of prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂) as well as proliferating cell nuclear antigen, a marker of cell proliferation in a high linoleic acid oil (LA)-fed group but not in an OA-fed group. The NNK treatment also induced the activation of an extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk) cascade (Erk, Mek and Raf-1) in an LA-fed group. On the other hand, OA feeding abolished the NNK-induced activation of the Erk cascade. In conjugation with these events, OA feeding reduced lung tumor incidence and tumor multiplicity (percentage of mice with tumors) in mice compared with LA feeding at the 20th experimental week. These results suggest that OA suppresses lung tumorigenesis and that this suppression is correlated with the inhibition of PGE₂ production and inactivation of the Erk cascade.     

Synthesis and luminescence properties of new blue‐light‐emitting polyconjugated poly{1,1′‐biphenyl‐4,4′‐diyl‐[1‐(4‐t‐butylphenyl)]vinylene} polymers and copolymers

Three new soluble polyconjugated polymers, all of which emitted blue light in photoluminescence and electroluminescence, were synthesized, and their luminescence properties were studied. The polymers were poly{1,1′‐biphenyl‐4,4′‐diyl‐[1‐(4‐t‐butylphenyl)]vinylene}, poly((9,9‐dioctylfluorene‐2,7‐diyl)‐alt‐{1,4‐phenylene‐[1‐(4‐t‐butylphenyl)vinylene‐1,4‐phenylene]}) [P(DOF‐PVP)], and poly([N‐(2‐ethyl) hexylcarbazole‐3,6‐diyl]‐alt‐{1,4‐phenylene‐[1‐(4‐t‐butylphenyl)]vinylene‐1,4‐phenylene}). The last two polymers had alternating sequences of the two structural units. Among the three polymers, P(DOF‐PVP) performed best in the light‐emitting diode devices of indium–tin oxide/poly(ethylenedioxythiophene) doped with poly(styrene sulfonate) (30 nm)/polymer (150 nm)/Li:Al (100 nm). This might have been correlated with the balance in and magnitude of the mobility of the charge carriers, that is, positive holes and electrons, and also the electronic structure, that is, highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) levels, of the polymers. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 307–317, 2006     

Modeling and control of Wiener-type processes

We develop a simple relay feedback method to identify Wiener-type nonlinear processes. It separates the identification problem of the nonlinear static function from that of the linear dynamic subsystem to simplify the identification procedure significantly. Owing to the separation, the unmeasurable output of the linear dynamic subsystem can be obtained in a straightforward manner. Then, determining the model structure of the nonlinear static function becomes very simple and the estimates are robust to additive output noises. We can identify the whole activated region of the nonlinear static function as well as the ultimate information of the linear dynamic subsystem from only one relay feedback test. More information on the linear dynamic subsystem can be estimated by well-established linear system identification methods from additional tests. We use a nonlinear control strategy to compensate the nonlinear dynamics of the Wiener process so that the design parameters can be determined by usual tuning rules developed for linear processes and a high control performance can be achievable as in linear processes.     

Dynamic reaction inside co‐rotating twin screw extruder. I. Truck tire model material/polypropylene blends

Waste ground rubber tire (WGRT) is a complex composite containing various elastomers, carbon black, zinc oxide, stearic acid, processing oils, and other curatives. Most of the waste ground rubber tire is composed of mainly natural rubber (NR) and styrene butadiene rubber (SBR) in varying proportions. Blending it with other thermoplastic materials is difficult due to the inherent thermodynamic incompatibility. But, the compatibility can be increased by making the reactive sites in WGRT with suitable chemicals under optimum condition of shearing inside a twin screw extruder and it is said to undergo a dynamic reaction inside the extruder. To understand the mechanism of dynamic reaction process of a rubber/polyolefin blend, the blending of a truck tire model material rubber with polyolefin was first tried before it was applied to waste WGRT material. It was observed that the blends of a truck tire model rubber material and PP thermoplastic are physical mixture of two incompatible polymers in which a continuous plastic phase is largely responsible for the tensile properties. The rubber particles are the dispersed phase. The large particle size and the poor adhesion of these rubber particles are believed to be liable for the poor tensile properties. In case of blends of truck tire model material with isotactic polypropylene the tensile properties are found to be lower than that of its PP‐g‐MA counterpart which can be attributed to the reaction of the MA with the carbon black particles. A schematic representation of the possible interactions has been proposed. The effect of addition of compatibilizers such as SEBS and SEBS‐g‐MA has also been studied. The tensile and TGA studies indicate that the polarity of SEBS and SEBS‐g‐MA induces an increase in the performance characteristics for both types of polyolefins but the intensity of this increase is higher in the PP‐g‐MA based blends. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 106: 3193–3208, 2007     

Effect of low molecular weight polybutadiene as processing aid on properties of silica‐filled styrene–butadiene rubber compounds

Because silica has strong filler–filler interactions, a silica‐filled rubber compound shows a poor filler dispersion compared to a carbon black‐filled one. Improvement of the filler dispersion in silica‐filled styrene–butadiene rubber (SBR) compounds was studied using low molecular weight polybutadiene (liquid PBD) with the high content of 1,2‐unit. By adding the liquid PBD to the silica‐filled SBR compound, the filler dispersion and flow property are improved. The cure time and cure rate become faster as the 1,2‐unit content of the liquid PBD increases for the compounds containing the liquid PBD. The crosslink density increases linearly with increase in the 1,2‐unit content of the liquid PBD. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 90: 3135–3140, 2003     

Dissolution of perfluoroalkyl oligomers in lubricating oil for enhancing wear resistance and fuel economy

Perfluorobutyl-1,1,2-tri-H-1-hexene and perfluoroalkyl methacrylate have been solubilized in lubricating oil by single-step free radically grafting onto poly(ethylene-co-propylene). Perfluoroalkyl-1,1,2,2-tetra-H-ethanol and perfluoropolyether carboxylic acid were solubilized by condensing with poly[(ethylene-co-propylene)-g-glycidyl methacrylate], generating the corresponding perfluoroalkyl ether or ester, respectively. Solubilization of 1,1,2,2-tetra-H-ethanol was also achieved by condensing with poly[(ethylene-co-propylene)-g-2-isocyanoethyl methacrylate] to the corresponding perfluoroalkyl urethane. Scar diameter reductions ranged from 9.4 to 58% using perfluoro-modified graft copolymers as determined using the Four Ball Wear Test, although optimum reductions were obtained using perfluoroalkyl urethane-modified graft copolymers. Moreover, a semiquantitative correlation of scar reductions and thermal instability was determined. Sequence VI engine testing of perfluoroalkyl urethane graft copolymers containing pendant perfluoroalkyl chain lengths of 8.2 and 7.2 had an Equivalent Fuel Economy Index of 4.33 and 4.27, respectively. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

PSA performances and viscoelastic properties of SIS‐based PSA blends with H‐DCPD tackifiers

Hotmelt pressure sensitive adhesives (PSAs) usually contain styrenic block copolymers like styrene–isoprene–styrene (SIS), SBS, SEBS, tackifier, oil, and additives. These block copolymers individually reveal no tack. Therefore, a tackifier is a low molecular weight material with high glass transition temperature (T_g), and imparts the tacky property to PSA. The SIS block copolymer with different diblocks was blended with hydrogenated dicyclopentadiene (H‐DCPD tackifier), which has three kinds of T_g. PSA performance was evaluated by probe tack, peel strength, and shear adhesion failure temperature. PSA is a viscoelastic material, so that its performance is significantly related to the viscoelastic properties of PSAs. We tested the viscoelastic properties by dynamic mechanical analysis and the thermal properties by differential scanning calorimeter to investigate the relation between viscoelastic properties and PSA performance. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl PolymSci 102: 2839–2846, 2006     

Oxidative coupling of methane over Na+-ZrO2-C1-/Al2O3 catalysts

Oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) was carried out over Na⁺-ZrO₂-Cl /A1[₂O₃ catalysts in a temperature range from 1023 to 1123 K. The catalysts were prepared by impregnating the α- or γ-Al₂O₃ supports with sodium carbonate and/or zirconyl chloride. The OCM activity was examined using the catalysts prepared by three different preparation procedures. The best catalyst was the one prepared by subsequent impregnation of sodium carbonate-preimpregnated γ-Al₂O₃ with a mixed solution of sodium carbonate and zirconyl chloride. It was found that preimpregnated sodium played an important role in reducing the combustion activity of the γ-Al₂O₃. The catalyst with an optimal composition showed the highest C₂ selectivity and yield of 40.8% and 15.1%, respectively. From the X-ray diffraction analysis it was found that tetragonal ZrO₂ was formed and that NaCl existed in the catalysts with relatively high sodium contents.     

Experimental analysis of bubble mode in a plate-type absorber

An experimental analysis of ammonia-water absorption was performed in a plate-type absorber. The flow of water and ammonia gas was performed in the bubble mode. The experiments were made to examine the effects of solution flow rate and gas flow rate on the performance of the absorber. It was found that the increase of solution flow rate rarely affected the mass transfer, but improved the heat transfer. As the gas flow rate increased, slugging occurred in the bubble mode and influenced the thermal boundary layer. Finally, the results were converted into dimensionless numbers to elucidate physical phenomena and plotted as Sherwood number versus Reynolds number for mass transfer performance and Nusselt number versus Reynolds number for heat transfer performance.