Surface modification and physical properties of various UHMWPE‐fiber‐reinforced modified epoxy composites

Two surface modification methods—plasma surface treatment and chemical agent treatment—were used to investigate their effects on the surface properties of ultrahigh‐molecular‐weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fibers. In the analyses, performed using electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis, changes in weight, and scanning electron microscope observations, demonstrated that the two fiber‐surface‐modified composites formed between UHMWPE fiber and epoxy matrix exhibited improved interfacial adhesion and slight improvements in tensile strengths, but notable decreases in elongation, relative to those properties of the composites reinforced with the untreated UHMWPE fibers. In addition, three kinds of epoxy resins—neat DGEBA, polyurethane‐crosslinked DGEBA, and BHHBP‐DGEBA—were used as resin matrices to examine the tensile and elongation properties of their UHMWPE fiber‐reinforced composites. From stress/strain measurements and scanning electron microscope observations, the resin matrix improved the tensile strength apparently, but did not affect the elongation. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 104: 655–665, 2007     

Numerical Study of Solid-Liquid Two-Phase Flow in Stirred Tanks with Rushton Impeller (Ⅰ) Formulation and Simulation of Flow Field

Three-dimensional solid-liquid flow is mathematically formulated by means of the "two-fluid" approach and the two-phase k-ε-Ap turbulence model. The turbulent fluctuation correlations appearing in the Reynolds time averaged governing equations are fully incorporated. The solid-liquid flow field and solid concentration distribution in baffled stirred tanks with a standard Rushton impeller are numerically simulated using an improved "inner-outer" iterative procedure. The flow pattern is identified via the velocity vector plots and a recirculation loop with higher solid concentration is observed in the central vicinity beneath the impeller. Comparison of     

The inhibitive effect of poly(p‐toluidine) on corrosion of iron in 1M HCL solutions

In recent years, polymer amines have been recognized as an excellent corrosion inhibitors for iron in acid solutions. In this work, the inhibitive effect of p‐toluidine and poly(p‐toluidine) on corrosion of iron in 1M HCl has been studied by the electrochemical methods such as impedance, linear polarization, Tafel polarization techniques. The effectiveness of poly(p‐toluidine) was found to be high in comparison with that of monomer. The results showed that p‐toluidine and poly(p‐toluidine) suppressed both cathodic and anodic processes of iron dissolution in 1M HCl. The inhibition efficiency of both p‐toluidine and poly(p‐toluidine) were found to increase with the inhibitor concentrations. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2007     

Shape‐memory polyurethane/multiwalled carbon nanotube fibers

Shape‐memory polyurethane/multiwalled carbon nanotube (SMP–MWNT) composites with various multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWNT) contents were synthesized, and the corresponding SMP–MWNT fibers were prepared by melt spinning. The influence of the MWNT content on the spinnability, fracture morphology, thermal and mechanical properties, and shape‐memory behavior of the shape‐memory polymer was studied. The spinning ability of SMP–MWNTs decreased significantly with increasing MWNT content. When the MWNT content reached 8.0 wt %, the fibers could not be produced because of the poor rheological properties of the composites. The melt‐blending, extrusion, and melt‐spinning processes for the shape‐memory fiber (SMF), particularly at low MWNT contents, caused the nanotubes to distribute homogeneously and preferentially align along the drawing direction of the SMF. The crystallization in the SMF was promoted at low MWNT contents because it acted as a nucleation agent. At high MWNT contents, however, the crystallization was hindered because the movement of the polyurethane chains was restricted. The homogeneously distributed and aligned MWNTs preserved the SMF with high tenacity and initial modulus. The recovery ratio and recovery force were also improved because the MWNTs helped to store the internal elastic energy during stretching and fixing. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2007     

Physical properties and morphology of polycaprolactone/starch/pine‐leaf composites

Polycaprolactone (PCL)/starch and PCL/starch/pine‐leaf composites, which can be possibly applied as biodegradable food packaging materials with natural pine flavor, were prepared and characterized in this study. The effect of incorporating a silane coupling agent at different content levels on the physical properties and morphology of the composites was studied. To investigate the melting behavior of the composites, a differential scanning calorimetry was employed. A universal testing machine was used to investigate the tensile properties of the composites and the water absorption properties of the composites were also investigated. Scanning electron microscope was used to investigate the morphology of the composites. The physical properties and morphology of the PCL/starch and PCL/starch/pine‐leaf composites were largely affected by the composition, especially the content of the silane coupling agent. The silane coupling agent led to a much better interfacial compatibility between the PCL matrix and the fillers and resulted in better physical properties of the composites. The PCL/starch/pine‐leaf composite with the silane coupling agent showed a morphology, indicating a good interfacial adhesion between the PCL matrix and the fillers. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 103: 928–934, 2007     

A discrete model for non-wetting liquid flow from a point source in a packed bed under the influence of gas flow

A study of non-wetting flow in a packed bed under the influence of gas flow has been carried out. Departing from the usual continuum models, a discrete and deterministic model for liquid flow has been presented to model the liquid flow from single and multiple point sources. Liquid flow is modelled based on force balance approach considering gas drag, bed resistance and gravity forces. Gas flow is modelled using k-ε model for turbulent flow. An X-ray flow visualization technique, developed by our group, is used to study the liquid flow paths in the packed bed. Liquid flow path and velocity has been obtained for various liquid and gas flow rate. Flow paths obtained from the simulation results are in good agreement to those obtained from flow visualization procedure under various conditions. Also, liquid distribution at the bed bottom is reported and compared with the experimental results.     

Crystallization and melting behavior of blends comprising poly(3‐hydroxy butyrate‐co‐3‐hydroxy valerate) and poly(ethylene oxide)

Blends of poly(3‐hydroxy butyrate‐co‐3‐hydroxy valerate) (PHBV) and poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) were prepared by casting from chloroform solutions. Crystallization kinetics and melting behavior of blends have been studied by differential scanning calorimetry and optical polarizing microscopy. Experimental results reveal that the constituents are miscible in the amorphous state. They form separated crystal structures in the solid state. Crystallization behavior of the blends was studied under isothermal and nonisothermal conditions. Owing to the large difference in melting temperatures, the constituents crystallize consecutively in blends; however, the process is affected by the respective second component. PHBV crystallizes from the amorphous mixture of the constituents, at temperatures where the PEO remains in the molten state. PEO, on the other hand, is surrounded during its crystallization process by crystalline PHBV regions. The degree of crystallinity in the blends stays constant for PHBV and decreases slightly for PEO, with ascending PHBV content. The rate of crystallization of PHBV decreases in blends as compared to the neat polymer. The opposite behavior is observed for PEO. Nonisothermal crystallization is discussed in terms of a quasi‐isothermal approach. Qualitatively, the results show the same tendencies as under isothermal conditions. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 101: 2776–2783, 2006     

Preparation and properties of T300 carbon fiber‐reinforced thermoplastic polyimide composites

In this study, a series of T300 carbon fiber‐reinforced polyimide (CFRPI) composites were prepared by laminating premolding polyimide (PI) films with unidirectional carbon fiber (CF) layers. On the basis of PI systems design, the effect of CF volume fraction, processing conditions, and PI molecular structure on the properties of CFRPI composites was studied in detail. In addition, two kinds of nano‐particles, including carbon nano‐tube (CNT) and SiO₂ were filled into the premolding PI films with different concentrations. And the effect of nano‐particles on the properties of CFRPI composites was also investigated. The surface characteristic of T300 CF was measured by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The properties of premolding PI film and CFRPI composites were measured by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMTA), SANS testing machine, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and so forth. These experimental results showed that the properties of CFRPI composites were mainly affected by the premolding PI film and molding condition. The change of CF volume fraction from 55% to 65% took little effect on the mechanical properties of CFRPI composites. In addition, the incorporation of nano‐particle SiO₂ could further improve the properties of CFRPI composites, but CNT hardly improved the properties of CFRPI composites. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 646–654, 2006     

Preparation and modification of macroporous epoxy‐triethylenetetramine resin for preconcentration and removal of Hg(II) in aqueous solution

A novel macroporous resin was prepared from epoxy resin and triethylenetetramine through a polymerization with phase separation. In this experiment, the polyethylene glycol (PEG‐1000) plays a very important part. It was used as solvent, as phase‐separation reagent in the preparation processes, and as the pore‐forming reagent through removing PEG‐1000 from polymer by water‐cleaning process after completing polymerization. The prepared resin was modified by carbon bisulfide and soaked in 1 mol L^?1 NaOH. Its structure was characterized by Fourier transform‐infrared spectra, scanning electron microscopy, and elemental analysis. The adsorption characteristic of the chelating resin was studied by series of experiments. The results show that the chelating resin possesses excellent adsorption characteristic toward trace Hg(II). The recovery can come to 100% when the concentration of Hg(II) is only 0.05 ppm, and the average maximum adsorption capacity of the chelating resin for Hg(II) is 122 mg g^?1. The precision (relative standard deviation) for six replicate adsorbent extraction of 0.01 μg mL^?1 Hg(II) was 1.1%. The accuracy of the proposed procedure was verified by analyzing a standard reference material. Moreover, the chelating resin was applied to two natural samples and also got satisfactory results. That is to say, the chelating resin modified by carbon bisulfide exhibits a high chelating ability toward Hg(II) and can be used as adsorbent for preconcentration and removal of trace Hg(II) in aqueous solution. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102:2372–2378, 2006     

On Hypotheses Testing for the Selection of Spatio‐Temporal Models

Abstract. Several models have been proposed in recent years for analysing spatial data and also, to some extent, spatio‐temporal data. One of the important problems, namely the choice of an appropriate model for describing real data sets, remains unsolved. Here we consider the analysis of spatio‐temporal processes from which observations over space and time are available. We propose statistical tests for discriminating between space–time autoregressive processes and multivariate autoregressive processes. The sampling properties of the proposed tests are considered. We illustrate the methods with a real example. We use the above tests to find the best model to describe spatio‐temporal variations of hourly carbon monoxide measurements at four locations in London in January 2004.