Recent Developments in Epoxy/Graphite,Epoxy/Graphene,and Epoxy/Graphene Nanoplatelet Composites: A Comparative Review

Development in graphite, graphene, and graphene nanoplatelet composites with epoxy matrix is presented here. Graphite and its modified forms propose exclusive properties to composites. Graphene has developed as subject of huge scientific attention due to excellent electron transport, mechanical properties, and high surface area. When combined appropriately with epoxy, these atomically thin carbon sheets can expressively progress physical properties even at very small loading. Epoxy/graphene nanoplatelet nanocomposite with enhanced properties was also reported. We summarized and compared electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties of epoxy composites derived from these three nanofillers. Potential of carbon fillers with epoxy matrix is also discussed.     

Progress on Epoxy/Polyamide and Inorganic Nanofiller-Based Hybrids: Introduction,Application, and Future Potential

An efficient method to obtain better properties of epoxy-based nanocomposites is to introduce thermoplastic polymer such as polyamide into thermosetting resin. Combined effect of both polymers provides extra-bonding sites for nanofiller dispersion. This review mainly covers inorganic nanofiller dispersed epoxy/polyamide nanocomposite and their applications. To understand interaction between thermoset epoxy and thermoplastic polyamide, knowledge of structure, synthesis, and categorization is worth important. Addition of inorganic nanofiller such as layered silicate and metal oxide results in enhanced thermomechanical, physiochemical, and anticorrosive properties of resultant nanocomposite. These nanocomposites have applications as protective coatings, adhesives, insulators in electrical devices, and in aerospace industries.     

Technical Relevance of Epoxy/Clay Nanocomposite with Organically Modified Montmorillonite: A Review

This review covers almost all known categories of compounds used for nanoclay surface modification with special emphasis on organic modification of layered silicate montmorillonite. Commonly used organic modifiers include quaternary ammonium ions, quaternary phosphonium ions, and amino acids. Dispersion of organomodified nanoclays in epoxy is particularly focused upon in this article. Epoxy-based materials are used as convenient matrices for montmorillonite dispersion since years due to superior properties of resulting polymeric nanocomposites, such as mechanical strength, electrical conductivity, flammability, and thermal stability. Owing to their high performance epoxy nanocomposites have endless applications in aerospace, automotives, construction, electrical, adhesives, and coating industries.     

Recent Developments in Different Types of Flame Retardants and Effect on Fire Retardancy of Epoxy Composite

In this review, main focus is on the different types of fire retardants, their properties, and pertinent potential. Both inorganic (titania, silica, and zinc oxide) and organic (graphite, graphene, and graphene nanoplatelet) compounds have been discussed as flame inhibitors. Among various sorts of fire retardants, halogen-based flame inhibitors possess outstanding features. Consequently influence of fire retardant on the performance of epoxy composite has been discussed. It was noted that significant enhancement occurs by addition of organic and inorganic fillers in epoxy matrix. However, halogen additives impart better flame resistance to epoxy composite. Toward the end of this review, potential of halogen-containing fire retardant is discussed.     

Effect of tartrazine dye on micellisation of cationic surfactants: conductometric,spectrophotometric, and tensiometric studies

The interactions between anionic dye (tartrazine) and cationic surfactants (dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide) have been studied by conductometric, spectrophotometric, and tensiometric techniques. The conductance and surface tension of dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide in pure water as well as in aqueous tartrazine when plotted with surfactant concentration gave values of the critical micelle concentration at different temperatures. As well as increasing the length of the carbon chain of surfactants, the presence of tartrazine reduces the critical micelle concentration. From specific conductivity data, the counterion dissociation constant, standard free energy, enthalpy, entropy of micellisation, surface excess concentration, surface tension at critical micelle concentration, minimum area per molecule, surface pressure at critical micelle concentration, and Gibbs energy of adsorption were evaluated. Spectroscopic studies reveal that the binding of dye to micelles brings a bathochromic shift in dye absorption spectra that indicates dye–surfactant interaction.     

Slope instability analysis in Phyllitic rock in the Lesser Himalayan using three different modeling approach

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - The numerical methods for slope stability problems always have a serious concern related to their continuum and discontinuum nature. In...     

Performance analysis of three advanced controllers for polymerization batch reactor: An experimental investigation

The performances of three advanced non-linear controllers are analyzed for the optimal set point tracking of styrene free radical polymerization (FRP) in batch reactors. The three controllers are the artificial neural network-based MPC (NN-MPC), the artificial fuzzy logic controller (FLC) as well as the generic model controller (GMC). A recently developed hybrid model (Hosen et al., 2011a. Asia-Pac. J. Chem. Eng. 6(2), 274) is utilized in the control study to design and tune the proposed controllers. The optimal minimum temperature profiles are determined using the Hamiltonian maximum principle. Different types of disturbances are introduced and applied to examine the stability of controller performance. The experimental studies revealed that the performance of the NN-MPC is superior to that of FLC and GMC.