Polymer

Standard fused filament fabrication (FFF)-based 3-D printers fabricate parts from thermopolymers, such as polylactic acid (PLA). A new range of metal based PLA composites are available providing a novel range of potential engineering materials for such 3-D printers. Currently, limited material data, specifically thermal property characterization is available on these composites. As a result, the application of these materials into functional engineered systems is not possible. This study aims to fill the knowledge gap by quantifying the thermal properties of copperFill, bronzeFill, magnetic iron PLA, and stainless steel PLA composites and provide insight into the technical considerations of FFF composite 3-D printing. Specifically, in this study the correlation of the composite microstructure and printing parameters are explored and the results of thermal conductivity analysis as a function of printed matrix properties are provided. Considering the relative deviation from the filament raw bulk analysis, the results show the printing operation significantly impacts the resultant component density. Experimentally collected thermal conductivity values, however, do not correlate to the theoretical models in the literature and more rigorous quantitative exercises are required to determine true percent porosity to accurately model the effect of air pore volume fraction on thermal conductivity. Despite this limitation, the thermal conductivity values provided can be used to engineer thermal conductivity into 3-D printed parts with these PLA-based composites. Finally, several high-value applications of such 3-D printed materials that look metallic, but have low thermal conductivity are reviewed.

In order to assist researchers explore the full potential of distributed recycling of post-consumer polymer waste, this article describes a recyclebot, which is a waste plastic extruder capable of making commercial quality 3-D printing filament. The device design takes advantage of both the open source hardware methodology and the paradigm developed by the open source self-replicating rapid prototyper (RepRap) 3-D printer community. Specifically, this paper describes the design, fabrication and operation of a RepRapable Recyclebot, which refers to the Recyclebot's ability to provide the filament needed to largely replicate the parts for the Recyclebot on any type of RepRap 3-D printer. The device costs less than $700 in mate rials and can be fabricated in about 24 h. Filament is produced at 0.4 kg/h using 0.24 kWh/kg with a diameter ±4.6%. Thus, filament can be manufactured from commercial pellets for <22% of commercial filament costs. In addition, it can fabricate recycled waste plastic into filament for 2.5 cents/kg, which is <1000X commercial filament costs. The system can fabricate filament from polymers with extrusion temperatures <250 °C and is thus capable of manufacturing custom filament over a wide range of thermopolymers and composites for material science studies of new materials and recyclability studies, as well as research on novel applications of fused filament based 3-D printing.

Because of their mechanical properties and low density, flax fibers seem to be competitive with glass fibers. However, these fibers present a non-uniformity in many of their characteristics (non-constant diameter along the fiber, variable length, presence of defects). This leads to a dispersion of their mechanical properties. This study focuses on the development of fully biodegradable green composites based on poly (lactic acid) (PLA) and poly (butylene succinate) (PBS) matrix reinforced by flax fibers to determine their elastic characteristics and to analyze their tensile and flexural failure in order to evaluate the influence of the processes on the mechanical properties. The main task is to incorporate flax fibers of several millimeters into the polymer matrix and study of the influence of the twin-screw extrusion and single-screw extrusion which are used for the elaboration of the compound and after the injection of the materials. The first objective is to identify the optimal parameters of the manufacturing processes which permit to elaborate satisfactory products presenting acceptable mechanical properties. The study aims to understand the effect of the introduction of flax reinforcements from a thermal and mechanical point of view. From the main results, the thermal analyses show that the introduction of 20% PBS into the PLA matrix improves the thermal stability of PLA and increases the onset temperature of decomposition. The mechanical characterizations have shown that the stiffness of the resulted composites has been improved after the incorporation of the flax fibers from 1457MPa to 4353MPa compared to the matrix. On the contrary, a decrease in deformation rate was observed owing the addition of flax fibers from 4.4% to 1.9%. These preliminary results show the possibility to develop new bio-composites which are thermoplastic, recyclable, with configurable mechanical properties depending on the selected matrix.

The melting behavior of restrained isotactic polypropylene fibers is examined quantitatively in terms of the influence the anisotropic structural state of the polymer has on the observed properties. Two endotherm peaks are observed to occur in some of the samples. The formation and location of the multiple peaks are determined by the orientation of the noncrystalline chains, and is independent of the fabrication path used to achieve that orientation. Above a certain minimum orientation of the noncrystalline chains, multiple endotherm peak formation occurs. The high-temperature endotherm (T2M) extrapolates to an ultimate melting point for fully oriented noncrystalline chains of 220°C, while the lower-temperature endotherm (T1M) extrapolates to an ultimate melting point of 185°C. Noncrystalline chain orientation influences the endotherm temperature through its changing configurational entropy. It is shown quantitatively that the noncrystalline polymer must be considered as plastically deformed, since rubber elasticity theory is not followed as predicted. The melting behavior of isothermally crystallized samples are also reported to further elucidate the nature of the observed endotherms.

In this article, the chemistry of interfacial adhesion between different additive systems has been dealt with to develop a high performance nanocomposite and in the process, a comprehensive study on the reinforcing effect of nanosilica has been carried out. The base polymer was considered as the blends of Poly ethersulfone (PES) and thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer (TLCP). A novel polymeric compatibilizer, polyphosphazene elastomer, has been utilized and the interchain crosslinking has been explained. Results of experimental investigations demonstrate that the nanofillers play an important role in reducing the interfacial tension. However, the presence of Polyphosphazene elastomer, acted as compatibilizer further reducing the interfacial tension through the inter-molecular interaction. The nanocomposites, thus developed, have better thermal stability and improved rheological properties. In addition, it has also been observed that Polyphosphazene elastomer impart flexibility in the composite. POLYM. COMPOS., 2010. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers

The quantitative investigation of the radical scavenging properties of polyaniline (PANI) upon reaction with excess of the stable DPPH radical (a 4:1 ratio of DPPH to aniline units in the polymer) was carried out using 15 N and 13 C solid state NMR spectroscopy. During the ...

Boron doped and undoped Poly(vinyl) alcohol/Zirconium-yttrium acetate (PVA/Zr-Y) nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning using PVA as a precursor. The effect of boron doping was investigated in terms of solution properties, morphological changes and thermal properties. The effect of boron doping on calcined yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) fibers were evaluated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. XRD
analysis revealed varying amounts of monoclinic and tetragonal zirconia present in the undoped fibers calcined at 800oC. The average crystallite sizes of the undoped YSZ were increased from 9.28 to 22.79 nm with calcining temperature increasing from 250 to 800 °C. The crystallite size was enhanced with boron doping. The systematic evolution of morphological features in the spun and the processed fibers were employed by scanning electron microscopy.

In preparation for studying the hydrolytic degradation of Estane® 5703 and related poly(ester urethane) elastomers, the absorption (solubility) and diffusion of water in these polymers have been examined experimentally and modeled theoretically. Weight gain and loss experiments have been carried out. The amount of water absorbed per gram of sample was linear at low relative humidities (RHs) but curved upward at higher RHs. This curvature was not fit by Henry's law or the Flory–Huggins equation but was easily fit by a water-cluster model. Diffusion coefficients were determined by fitting the time dependence of the sample weights, and the diffusion appeared Fickian to within experimental uncertainty. The similarity of related polymers was used to determine the approximate temperature dependence of the absorption. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 40: 181–191, 2002

Advanced modulation formats can enable >40 Gb/s data rates in waveguide-based optical interconnects without the need for high-specification optoelectronic components. Record 56Gb/s PAM-4 data transmission is demonstrated over a 1 m-long multimode polymer waveguide.

A novel sulfonated diamine monomer, 1,4-bis(4-aminophenoxy)-naphthyl-2,7-disulfonic acid (BAPNDS), was synthesized. A series of sulfonated polyimide copolymers were prepared from BAPNDS, 1,4,5,8-naphthalenetetracarboxylic dianhydride (NTDA) and nonsulfonated diamine 4,4′-diaminodiphenyl ether (ODA). Flexible, transparent, and mechanically strong membranes were obtained. The membranes displayed slightly anisotropic membrane swelling. The dimensional change in thickness direction was larger than that in planar. The novel SPI membranes showed higher conductivity, which was comparable or even higher than Nafion 117. Membranes exhibited methanol permeability from 0.24 × 10−6 to 0.80 × 10−6 cm2/s at room temperature, which was much lower than that of Nafion (2 × 10−6 cm2/s). The copolymers were thermally stable up to 340 °C. These preliminary results have proved its potential availability as proton-exchange membrane for PEMFCs or DMFCs.