Effect of stereosequences on crystallinity and properties of zone‐drawn poly(vinyl alcohol) microfibrils

To effectively orient the molecular chains of novel syndiotactic poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) microfibrillar fiber (PVA fibril), a high‐temperature zone‐drawing method was adopted. The PVA fibrils were directly prepared from the saponification and in situ fibrillation without a spinning procedure. The maximum draw ratio of the PVA fibril increased with a decrease in the syndiotactic diad (r‐diad) content, indicating that the deformability of PVA molecules was lowered in higher syndiotactic PVA. Degree of crystal orientations up to 0.990 were achieved by stretching the PVA fibril with the r‐diad content of 65.1% and the original degree of crystal orientation of 0.902 at 250 °C close to its crystal melting temperature (T_m). When the same draw ratio was applied to the fibrils, a higher crystal orientation was achieved for the fibrils having higher syndiotacticity. Wide‐angle X‐ray data show that the longitudinal crystal sizes of drawn PVA fibrils were larger in higher syndiotacticities. The degree of crystal orientation, crystallinity, T_m, longitudinal crystal size, and tensile strength of the maximum drawn PVA fibril with a r‐diad content of 65.1% were 0.99, 0.97, 279 °C, 187 Å, and 4.66 N/tex, respectively. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 39: 1263–1271, 2001     

Improved mechanical properties of poly (vinyl alcohol) films with glycerol plasticizer by uniaxial drawing

In this work, the uniaxial stretching poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) films with glycerol as plasticizer were prepared to explore the influence of drawing temperature and drawing ratio. The structure and property were investigated with scanning electron microscope, wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction, X‐ray diffraction, differential scanning calorimetry, mechanical tests, etc. With the increase of stretching temperature, the melting and crystallization temperatures increased. The tensile strength and Young modulus of glycerol/PVA films increased first and then decreased; when the temperature was 80°C, the tensile strength and Young modulus reached to maximum values of 197.2 and 470 MPa, respectively. In addition, with the increase of draw ratio, the orientation degree of the PVA molecular chains increased, indicating the improved regularity of molecular chains. When the PVA films were stretched to 4 times, the tensile strength and Young modulus of the films reached 162 and 143 MPa, respectively, which were 4 and 1.3 times compared with those of unoriented films. These environmentally friendly PVA films with excellent mechanical properties would find wide applications in the industry such as packaging, coating, etc.     

Facile preparation of methylcellulose/poly(vinyl alcohol)physical complex hydrogels with tunable thermosensitivity

Novel complex hydrogels of methylcellulose(MC)and poly(vinyl alcohol)(PVA)with wide-spectrum thermoresponsivity were prepared via physical and mild process.Thermal phase transition of MC/PVA hydrogels exhibited two forms including sol/sol to gel/sol and sol/gel to gel/gel.The phase transition temperature of MC/PVA solution ranged from 38.7 to 60.6℃and was able to be adjusted by simply changing the feeding ratios of two components.The interior morphology of MC/PVA gels was examined with fluorescence analy...     

Deliberately designed processes to physically tether the carboxyl groups of poly(pentacosadiynoic acid) to a poly(vinyl alcohol) glassy matrix to make poly(pentacosadiynoic acid) thermochromically reversible in the matrix

In this article, we demonstrate that by tethering carboxyl groups of poly(10,12-pentacosadiynoic acid) (PDA) to a poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) matrix, PDA, which is irreversible in its pure form, becomes reversible in the thermochromism. The tethering is realized by simple but deliberately designed processes: (1) Disperse the commercially available monomer 10,12-pentacosadiynoic acid (DA) nanocrystals in a PVA aqueous solution by the "NCCM" method invented in our laboratory. (2) Anneal and dry the mixture solution at a temperature higher than the melting point of pure DA crystal. (3) Polymerize the as-annealed DA/PVA blend films by UV irradiation. After the polymerization, PDA/PVA films with completely reversible thermochromism are obtained. The reversible PDA/PVA films can be easily dissolved in water, leading to water-dispersible nanoaggregates with the reversibility. Blends of PDA with other water-soluble polymers such as poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) and poly(allyamine) (PAM), were prepared respectively, by the same processes and under the same conditions. It is found that all these nanocomposites are irreversible or partially reversible in the thermochromism; either the relatively low glassy transition temperature of the polymer matrix (in the case of PEO) or the partial ionization nature of the polymer (in the cases of PAA and PAM) is responsible for the irreversibility or the partial reversibility.     

Microstructure and free volume evaluation of poly(vinyl alcohol) nanocomposite hydrogels

A new type of organic/inorganic nanocomposite hydrogel was prepared by introducing small amount of natural montmorillonite (MOM) into a poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/sulfonated polyester (PES) system. The crystalline structure and crystallinity degree were determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and wide angle X-ray spectroscopy (WAXS). The presence of PES leads to an increase in the crystallinity degree of the PVA matrix and a significant decrease in the melting temperature. The addition of small amount of clay (1-5%) resulted in an increase of the average crystallite dimension, crystallinity degree and melting temperature, as compared to the PVA/PES system. The presence of the clay resulted in a substantial increase on the free volume size, as suggesting by positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS). This result suggests a lower packing efficiency of the PVA chain and the formation of a PVA-MOM interfacial layer. This interfacial layer and the increasing of the mobility of the PVA chain by the presence of the clay reflects also in a decrease of the glass transition temperature, determined by dynamic mechanical analysis.     

The negative biodegradation of poly(vinyl alcohol) modified by aldehydes

Due to the wide application of PVA acetals, the biodegradation of PVA modified by formaldehyde, n-butyraldehyde, glyoxaldehyde and glutaraldehyde was conducted in an intensive biodegradation environment. Spectrophotometric analysis and weight loss were used to determine the biodegradation of PVA, and the changes of the mechanical properties of PVA acetals were also studied.An obvious decrease in biodegradation levels of all the modified samples was found, and a decrease in biodegradation level with increasing degree of acetals of PVA. The biodegradation of poly(vinyl formal) is better than poly(vinyl butyral) with the same degree of acetals whereas the biodegradation levels of poly(vinyl glyoxal) are lower than poly(vinyl glutaral) which has the same degree of crosslinking. The difference between the FT-IR of the samples before and after biodegradation indicated scission of residual PVA chain during the process.     

Effect of poly(ethylene oxide) on the structure and properties of poly(vinyl alcohol)

To improve the drawability of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) thermal products, poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), a special resin with good flexibility, excellent lubricity, and compatibility with many resins, was applied, and the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction (WXRD) were adopted to study the hydrogen bonds, water states, thermal properties, crystal structure, and nonisothermal crystallization of modified PVA. It was found that PEO formed strong hydrogen bonds with water and PVA, thus weakened the intra‐ and inter‐hydrogen bonds of PVA, changed the aggregation states of PVA chains, and decreased its melting point and crystallinity. Moreover, the interactions among PVA, water, and PEO retarded the water evaporation and made more water remain in the system to plasticize PVA. The existence of PEO also slowed down the melt crystallization process of PVA, however, increased the nucleation points of system, thus made more and smaller spherulites formed. The weakened crystallization capability of PVA and the lubrication of PEO made PVA chains to have more mobility under the outside force and obtain high mechanical properties. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 48: 1946–1954, 2010     

聚乙烯醇多孔膜的制备及其对二氧化钛的负载研究

以聚乙烯醇(PVA)为聚合物基体,戊二醛为交联剂,乙酸为催化剂,聚乙二醇6000(PEG-6000)为致孔剂,制备了聚乙烯醇多孔膜(porous PVA films,PPF多孔膜);再将实验室自制的二氧化钛溶胶(TiO_2)负载于PPF多孔膜上,制备得到聚乙烯醇原位负载二氧化钛功能薄膜(PPF-TiO_2)。采用红外光谱、扫描电镜、分光光度计等分别考察了PPF多孔膜的交联条件、负载前后PPF-TiO_2功能薄膜的形貌,PPF-TiO_2功能薄膜对甲基橙的去除率。研究结果表明,为制备适宜交联度及孔径的PPF多孔膜,戊二醛浓度为5%(wt),PEG-6000用量为PVA用量的0.6倍为宜;PPF多孔膜对TiO_2负载的温度为40℃,负载时间为2h能够获得负载量为43%的PPF-TiO_2功能薄膜。此外,PPF-TiO_2功能薄膜比商品化TiO_2对甲基橙的降解率(100mg/L)更快,且具有可循环使用的优势。     

Preparation of water‐soluble,syndiotacticity‐rich,low molecular weight poly(vinyl alcohol) microfibrils in high yields with the low‐temperature polymerization of vinyl pivalate in tetrahydrofuran and saponification

To prepare water‐soluble, syndiotacticity‐rich poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) microfibrils for various industrial applications, we synthesized syndiotacticity‐rich, low molecular weight PVA by the solution polymerization of vinyl pivalate (VPi) in tetrahydrofuran (THF) at low temperatures with 2,2′‐azobis(2,4‐dimethylvaleronitrile) (ADMVN) as an initiator and successive saponification of poly(vinyl pivalate) (PVPi). Effects of the initiator and monomer concentrations and the polymerization temperature were investigated in terms of the polymerization behaviors and molecular structures of PVPi and the corresponding syndiotacticity‐rich PVA. The polymerization rate of VPi in THF was proportional to the 0.91 power of the ADMVN concentration, indicating the heterogeneous nature of THF polymerization. The low‐temperature solution polymerization of VPi in THF with ADMVN proved to be successful in obtaining water‐soluble PVA with a number‐average degree of polymerization (P_n) of 300–900, a syndiotactic dyad content of 60–63%, and an ultimate conversion of VPi into PVPi of over 75%. Despite the low molecular weight of PVA with P_n = 800, water‐soluble PVA microfibrillar fibers were prepared because of the high level of syndiotacticity. In contrast, for PVA with P_n = 330, shapeless and globular morphologies were observed, indicating that molecular weight has an important role in the in situ fibrillation of syndiotacticity‐rich PVA. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 40: 1103–1111, 2002     

聚乙烯醇/单宁共混膜的制备及其抗菌性能

采用溶液共混浇膜法制备了不同单宁含量的聚乙烯醇/单宁共混膜材料,利用扫描电镜(SEM)、广角X-射线衍射(WAXD)及示差扫描量热分析(DSC)对共混膜的结构进行了表征.结果表明,单宁和聚乙烯醇具有良好的相容性,聚乙烯醇的结晶能力及熔点均随单宁的加入量增大而稍降低.少量戊二醛的轻度交联作用使单宁在共混膜中非常稳定,在水中浸泡24 h后也仅有不到1.8%的单宁(相对膜中单宁总质量)渗出.接触法抗菌试验表明,所制备的共混膜对大肠杆菌(E.coli,CMCC 44103)、金黄色葡萄球菌(S.aureus,ATCC6538)和表皮葡萄球菌(S.epidermidis,ATCC 12228)都具有良好的抗菌能力,且随着单宁含量的升高而增强.     

Modification and characterization of semi-crystalline poly(vinyl alcohol) with interpenetrating poly(acrylic acid) by UV radiation method for alkaline solid polymer electrolytes membrane

Semi-crystalline poly(vinyl alcohol) was modified by UV radiation with acrylic acid monomer to get interpenetrating poly(acrylic acid) modified poly(vinyl alcohol), PVAAA, membrane. The stability of various PVAAA membranes in water, 2 M CH₃OH, 2 M H₂SO₄, and 40 wt% KOH aqueous media were evaluated. It was found that the stability of PVAAA membrane is stable in 40 wt% KOH solution. The PVAAA membranes were characterized by differential scanning calorimetry, X-ray diffraction, and thermogravimetry analysis. These results show that (1) the crystallinity in PVAAA decreased with increasing the content of poly(acrylic acid) in the PVAAA membranes. (2) The melting point of the PVAAA membrane is reduced with increasing the content of poly(acrylic acid) in the membrane. (3) Three stages of thermal degradation were found for pure PVA. Compared to pure PVA, the temperature of thermal degradation increased for the PVAAA membrane. The various PVAAA membranes were immersed in KOH solution to form polymer electrolyte membranes, PVAAA-KOH, and their performances for alkaline solid polymer electrolyte were conducted. At room temperature, the ionic conductivity increased from 0.044 to 0.312 S/cm. The result was due to the formation of interpenetrating polymer chain of poly(acrylic acid) in the PVAAA membrane and resulting in the increase of charge carriers in the PVA polymer matrix. Compared to the data reported for different membranes by other studies, our PVAAA membrane are highly ionic conducting alkaline solid polymer electrolytes membranes.     

Miscibility and thermal stability of poly(vinyl alcohol)/chitosan mixtures

The miscibility and the thermal behaviour of chitosan acetate (ChA) with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) have been investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Chitosan is blended with poly(vinyl alcohol) in acetic acid solution and this solution is cast to prepare the blend film. From thermal curves the thermal transitions: T_g, T_m and characteristic temperatures of decomposition: T_di, T_max have been determined and compared. The influence of the degree of PVA hydrolysis on the thermal properties of blend systems has been discussed.Based upon the observation on the DSC analysis, the melting point of PVA is decreased when the amount of ChA in the blend film is increased. Though some broadening of the transition curves could be noticed (DSC, TGA and DMA), the obtained results suggest that in the solid ChA/PVA blends the components are poorly miscible. Only PVA sample with relatively low DH = 88% and hence low degree of crystallinity shows partial miscibility with ChA of relatively low molecular weight.     

Miscibility and hydrogen-bonding interactions in biodegradable polymer blends of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) and a partially hydrolyzed poly(vinyl alcohol)

Miscibility and hydrogen-bonding interactions, as well as the morphological properties, of biodegradable polymer blends of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) and a 80% hydrolyzed poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA80) were studied using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). It was found that PHB is miscible with PVA80 in the amorphous phase over the whole composition range. PVA80 or PHB assumes the amorphous state when its content in the blend is lower than 30 or 20 wt %, respectively. Due to the heavy overlapping of C=O stretching bands from both PVA80 and PHB and the nonmeasurable peak shift in the OH stretching band region, hydrogen-bonding interactions between the OH group of PVA80 and the C=O group of PHB were not detectable at room temperature, but were observed at a higher temperature of 180 degrees C. This is because hydrogen-bonding interactions are promoted above the melting points of these two crystalline polymers, by increasing the mixing entropy and reducing the Deltachi effect. Blending PHB with PVA80 does not have a significant effect on the OH groups of PVA80 that are hydrogen bonded with each other. Instead, the C=O groups of PHB dispossess some of the OH groups that are hydrogen bonded to the C=O groups of PVA80, which gives rise to the miscibility between PVA80 and PHB in the amorphous phase.     

聚乙烯醇/羧甲基壳聚糖共混水凝胶的辐射合成及性能

采用电子加速器辐照法制备了聚乙烯醇(PVA)/羧甲基壳聚糖(CMCH)共混水凝胶;研究了PVA与CMCH的配比、辐照剂量、温度以及pH值对PVA/CMCH共混水凝胶性能的影响.实验发现,PVA与CMCH在辐照剂量为40 kGy、配比为w(PVA)/w(CMCH)=5/1的条件下可得到强度较好的PVA/CMCH共混水凝胶,该水凝胶具有一定的温度和pH敏感性:在5~20℃时具有较高的溶胀率,温度在20℃以上溶胀率较低;水凝胶在pH<4.0和pH>6.0时溶胀率均较大,而当pH为4.0~6.0时溶胀率较小.     

燃料电池用聚乙烯醇基碱性聚合物电解质膜的制备及其性能

通过在不同浓度KOH溶液中进行掺杂,制备出了聚乙烯醇(PVA)、聚乙烯醇/聚乙烯吡咯烷酮(PVA/PVP)和聚乙烯醇/聚乙二醇二甲醚(PVA/PEGDE)碱性聚合物电解质膜详细考察了膜的外观形貌、微观结构、热稳定性、离子电导率和化学稳定性等.结果表明,PVA与PVP以及PEGDE具有很好的相容性,所制备的复合膜断面致密...     

氯化镁增塑改性聚乙烯醇

以氯化镁为增塑剂, 采用流延法制备了增塑改性聚乙烯醇(PVA). 研究了氯化镁与PVA的相互作用以及氯化镁增塑改性PVA的结晶性能、 热性能和机械性能. 研究结果表明, 氯化镁能与PVA大分子发生较强的相互作用, 从而破坏PVA分子链内和链间的氢键, 降低PVA的结晶度. 氯化镁对PVA的热性能影响显著, PVA在加入氯化镁后的热分解过程由纯PVA的两段失重过程转变成三段失重过程. 氯化镁可有效增塑PVA, 其玻璃化转变温度降低, 拉伸强度下降, 断裂伸长率上升, 储能模量下降.     

Dissolution mechanism of semicrystalline poly(vinyl alcohol) in water

Changes occurring in the degree of crystallinity and lamellar thickness distribution of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) samples during dissolution in water were investigated. PVA samples of three different molecular weights were crystallized by annealing at 90, 110, and 120°C. The initial degrees of crystallinity measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and by attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) varied from 43 to 60% and the average lamellar thicknesses measured by DSC ranged from 50 to 400 Å. PVA dissolution was followed at 25, 35, and 45°C from 30 s up to 195 min. Lamellar thicknesses were determined as a function of dissolution time using DSC. There was an initial drastic decrease in the degree of crystallinity, which leveled off to a fairly constant value before reaching zero by the time the polymer dissolved completely. Increase in molecular weight led to lesser number of crystals, but with larger average lamellar thickness, which were more stable in the presence of water. Increase in crystallization temperature or decrease in dissolution temperature led to larger average lamellar thickness. Based on these findings, a dissolution mechanism involving unfolding of the polymer chains of the crystal was proposed. © 1996 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Preparation and characterization of a nanoscale poly(vinyl alcohol) fiber aggregate produced by an electrospinning method

Nanoscale poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) fiber (100–500 nm) aggregates were prepared with an electrospinning technique. Additionally, a chemical crosslinking method was used to crosslink the nanoscale PVA fiber aggregates. Differential scanning calorimetry, wide‐angle X‐ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy techniques were employed to characterize the PVA fiber aggregates. The different crosslinking densities of the PVA fiber aggregates were obtained through the control of the weight percentage of glyoxal to PVA. The crosslinking densities due to heat treatment and chemical crosslinking were studied. The influence of heat treatment could be neglected in contrast to chemical crosslinking when the curing temperature was 120 °C. The primary factor that affected the crosslinking density was the volume of the chemical crosslinking agent. The results showed that the properly crosslinked PVA fiber aggregates had better antiwater solubility and mechanical properties than the noncrosslinked PVA fiber aggregates. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 40: 1261–1268, 2002     

用UV-Vis法研究聚乙烯醇水溶液的透明度

用紫外可见分光光度计(UV-vis)测试了聚乙烯醇(PVA)水溶液和盐溶液的透明度,研究了PVA醇解度、电解质和温度对PVA溶液透明度的影响.实验结果表明,UV-Vis法是一种简便可行的测定PVA溶液透明度的方法.     

Effect of electron beam irradiation on the structural properties of poly(vinyl alcohol) formulations with triphenyl tetrazolium chloride dye (TTC)

Films of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) composites with triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC) dye were prepared and exposed to various radiation doses delivered by accelerated electrons. The results showed that at a low dose of 50 kGy, the colour difference (ΔE^*) of PVA/TTC films was increased by ∼10 times of the initial value. However, the change in colour differences did not go systematically with increasing the TTC content, in which the composite with 1.5 wt% displayed higher value than that with 3.5 wt%. The differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showed that the presence of the TTC dye caused a depression in the melting point (T_m) and heat of fusion (ΔH_f) of the PVA bulk polymer. However, the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that the presence of the TTC dye improved the thermal stability of PVA. Also, the tensile strength at break of PVA/TTC composites was improved after electron beam irradiation.