Modification of Particle Filled Polymers with High Energy Electrons Under In-Stationary Conditions of Melt Mixing

Summary: Polymer modification with high energy electrons is well-established in polymer industry and used for degradation, cross-linking, grafting, curing, and polymerization. These applications use local and temporal precise input of energy in order to generate excited atoms or molecules and ions for subsequent molecule changes via radical induced chemical reactions. In the present study, high energy electrons have been used to modify polyolefine (polyethylene and polypropylene) systems in presence of a grafting agent under stationary and in-stationary conditions. Polymer modification with high energy electrons under stationary conditions characterizes a process where required absorbed dose is applied to polymers in solid state and at room temperature. Polymer modification with high energy electrons under in-stationary conditions is a novel process where required absorbed dose is applied in molten state during melt mixing process. In this novel process, the penetration depth of electrons is limited to a part of mixing volume. The total mixing volume is modified due to the change of polymer mass within the penetration depth of electrons during mixing process. A 1.5 MeV electron accelerator has been directly coupled to a banbury mixing chamber in order to study this novel process. In comparison to the stationary process, the main differences are working at higher temperature, absence of any crystallinity, intensive macromolecular mobility as well as intensive mixing during dose application. The influence of both processes on mechanical properties and flame resistance of polymer composites is discussed.     

聚乙烯/炭黑复合材料导电体系的结构形态

将导电填料（例如炭黑）加入绝缘的聚合物基体即得到导电复合材料,两组混全物的电阻率随导电填料体积分数的变化而改变,电阻率与导电填料体积分数的关系称为渗流曲线,可分为三个主要区域：低导电填料含量区域,复合材料的电阻率很大,聚合物的电阻率占主导;渗流区域,导电填料含量少量的增加会引起复合材料电阻率很大的提高;高导电填料区域,复合材料电阻率很大的提高;高导电填料区域,复合材料电阻率主要由导电填料的电阻率决定,对于导电复合材料已有大量的实验和理论工作来解释导电复合材料已有大量的实验和理论工作来解释导电填料含量和复合材料各组分的形貌对电性能的影响,其中有效介质普适方程（GEM方程）已经对大量的渗流曲线进行了精确的拟合。聚乙烯／炭黑复合材料中由于炭黑的大量分布很难观测其微观形貌,本文对不同辐照交联程度和不同环境温度下聚乙烯／炭黑复合材料的渗流曲线进行分析,试图找出GEM方程各参数与复合材料各组分形貌的关系,为导电复合材料的设计和制备提供理论基础。     

SCATTERING FUNCTION OF POLYMER BLENDS

For a system of flexible polymer molecules, the concepts of two concentrations, namely the segmental and the molecular concentrations, have been proposed in this paper. The former is equivalent to the volume fraction. The latter can be defined as the number of the gravity centers of macromolecules in a unit volume. The two concentrations should be correlated with each other by the conformational function of the polymer chain and should be discussed in different thermodynamic equations. On the basis of these concepts it has been proved that the Flory-Huggins entropy of mixing should be the result of the mixing “ideal gases of the gravity centers of macromolecules“. The general correlation between the free energy of mixing and the scattering function (structural factor) of polymer blends has been studied based on the general fluctuation theory. When the Flory-Huggins free energy of mixing is adopted, the de Gennes scattering function of a polymer blend can be derived.     

聚并苯纳米颗粒与聚丙烯复合制备新型抗静电阻燃材料

用聚并苯纳米颗粒作为新型导电填料代替导电炭黑和石墨等, 制备出具有抗静电阻燃性能的纳米聚并苯/聚丙烯复合材料. 测定了复合材料的渗流转变区, 讨论了纳米聚并苯含量对复合材料体积电阻率和表面电阻率的影响. 实验结果表明, 所制备复合材料的渗流转变发生在纳米聚并苯质量分数为16.7%-28.6%范围内, 当纳米聚并苯含量为28.6%时, 体积电阻率下降至2.09×107 Ω·cm. 另外, 阻燃性能研究结果表明, 当纳米聚并苯质量分数为23.1%时, 复合材料在空气中可以自熄, 因而可应用于矿井中抗静电阻燃塑料管道.     

Time resolved alteration process of oxide glasses

Dissolution of oxide glasses by water has been studied by small angles X-ray scattering. It is shown that the altered residual surface layer due to dissolution and recondensation of Si atoms is a porous material with nanometer size pores. Based on five elements oxide glass (18NaO2-17B2O3-4CaO-yZrO2-(61-y)SiO2 with y=0, 1, 2, 4 and 8) the experiment highlights a strong influence of insoluble element on both the kinetic of alteration and the structure of the altered layer. It is shown that above 2% Zr content, the fraction of porous volume and the surface of exchange in the altered layer pass through a maximum value in the first hours of alteration corresponding to an overshoot of Si lixiviation without recondensation as the saturation limit is not reached. When the saturation limit is reached the porous volume fraction is just below the fraction of volume occupied primarily by the sodium and the boron.     

Thermodynamic and structural investigations of liquid magnesium-thallium alloys

The thermodynamic and microscopic structure of MgTl liquid alloy at 923 K has been studied by using regular associated solution model. The free energy of mixing, heat of mixing, entropy of mixing, activity, concentration fluctuations in long-wavelength limit S_CC(0) and the Warren-Cowley short-range parameter α₁ have been determined. The analysis suggests that this alloy is of a moderately interacting nature. The theoretical analysis reveals that the pairwise interaction energies between the species depend on temperature and there is a tendency of unlike atoms pairing (Mg-Tl) in liquid MgTl alloys at all concentration. The observed asymmetry in the properties of mixing of MgTl alloy in molten state is successfully explained by assuming MgTl complex on the basis of regular associated solution model.     

Effects of interadsorbate interactions on surface resistivity: oxygen on sulfur-predosed Cu(100)

Measurements of surface resistivity as a function of coverage for oxygen adsorbed on sulfur-predosed Cu(100) films reveal two types of interactions between sulfur and oxygen: S-O repulsion and short-range suppression of the surface resistivity change induced by oxygen adsorption. The repulsive interaction causes oxygen atoms to first occupy adsorption sites far from the sulfur atoms, beyond second-nearest-neighbor sites, where the oxygen-induced surface resistivity is unaffected by sulfur. As a result the low-coverage variation of surface resistivity with oxygen coverage is indistinguishable from the linear dependence observed for oxygen on clean Cu(100). As the oxygen coverage increases, oxygen begins to occupy sites close to sulfur. At the nearest-neighbor sites, the resistivity change due to added oxygen is completely suppressed, and the sample resistance levels off, remaining unchanged even as oxygen continues to adsorb. This resistivity suppression may involve both a reduction of oxygen's direct effect on the resistivity and an oxygen-induced reduction in the resistivity due to the already adsorbed sulfur. With increasing sulfur precoverage both the maximum resistivity change and the oxygen coverage at which the leveling occurs decrease, because the number of sites unaffected by sulfur is reduced. Both the sulfur-oxygen repulsion and the resistivity suppression presumably arise from a through-metal coupling involving adsorbate-induced modifications of the local electronic structure.     

Understanding mixing of Ni and Pt in the Ni/Pt(111) bimetallic catalyst via molecular simulation and experiments

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations employing embedded atom method potentials and ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) experiments were carried out to study the mixing process between the Ni and Pt atoms in the Ni/Pt(111) bimetallic system. The barrier for a Ni atom to diffuse from the top surface to the subsurface layer is rather high (around 1.7 eV) as calculated using the nudged elastic band (NEB) method. Analysis of the relaxation dynamics of the Ni atoms showed that they undergo diffusive motion through a mechanism of correlated hops. At 600 K, all Ni atoms remain trapped on the top surface due to large diffusion barriers. At 900 K, the majority of Ni atoms diffuse to the second layer and at 1200 K diffusion to the bulk is observed. We also find that smaller Ni coverages and the presence of Pt steps facilitate the Ni-Pt mixing. By simulated annealing simulations, we found that in the mixed state, the Ni fraction oscillates between layers, with the second layer being Ni-richer at equilibrium. The simulation results at multiple time scales are consistent with the experimental data.     

Electrical and mechanical behavior of filled elastomers 2: The effect of swelling and temperature

In this work the effect of swelling and temperature on the resistivity of highly carbon black filled elastomers under strain is investigated. This work shows that swelling, even to a modest extent of less than 10%, causes a marked increase in the electrical resistivity. The effect of a linear expansion due to swelling is much more marked than an equivalent linear tensile extension on the electrical resistivity. The increase in electrical resistivity with swelling is also much greater than the increase due to a reduction in the volume fraction of the carbon black alone. The increase in resistivity depends somewhat upon the chemical nature of the swelling agent. There is a relatively small effect of temperature induced volume change on resistivity, contrasting markedly with the large effect of a volume increase due to swelling. These observations suggest that on swelling there is a preferential migration of the solvent to the rubber/filler interfaces. This will push the carbon black aggregates apart and lead to a dramatic increase in the resistivity across the interface. There are also indications that at elevated temperatures the filler/rubber interactions are reduced. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 2161–2167, 2004     

聚合物体系散射函数的热力学基础

利用链段浓度和链头浓度的概念，根据热力学涨落理论，给出了聚合物二元共混体系ｄｅＧｅｎｎｅｓ散射函数的一个普遍的热力学证明，指出了这个函数和Ｆｌｏｒｙ－Ｈｕｇｇｉｎｓ共混自由能公式一样，也依赖于忽略构象涨落的假设．     

基于液态合金短程序的混合构型熵新模型

基于液态合金化学短程序与拓扑短程序发展了一个新的混合构型熵计算模型, 从这个模型可以导出用来描述等原子直径随机混合物的理想混合熵. 通过将该模型应用于一些理想的和真实的液态二元合金, 可以看到化学短程序减小了混合构型熵, 而原子尺寸差异的影响则较为复杂. 当大原子进入小原子基体时, 混合构型熵增大; 而当小原子进入大原子基体时, 混合构型熵减小. 在这些合金中, 共晶成分处并没有出现混合构型熵极大值.     

Association of poly(4-hydroxystyrene)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) in aqueous solutions: block copolymer nanoparticles with intermixed blocks

Association behavior of diblock copolymer poly(4-hydroxystyrene)-block-poly(ethylene oxide) (PHOS-PEO) in aqueous solutions and solutions in water/tetrahydrofuran mixtures was studied by static, dynamic, and electrophoretic light scattering, (1)H NMR spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and cryogenic field-emission scanning electron microscopy. It was found that, in alkaline aqueous solutions, PHOS-PEO can form compact spherical nanoparticles whose size depends on the preparation protocol. Instead of a core/shell structure with segregated blocks, the PHOS-PEO nanoparticles have intermixed PHOS and PEO blocks due to hydrogen bond interaction between -OH groups of PHOS and oxygen atoms of PEO and are stabilized electrostatically by a fraction of ionized PHOS units on the surface.     

Synthesis,structural trends,and physical and electronic properties of the reduced molybdenum oxides R(4)Mo(4)O(11) (R = Nd-Tm and Y) containing infinite chains of trans-edge-shared octahedral clusters

The new compounds R(4)Mo(4)O(11) (R = Y, Nd, Sm-Tm) have been synthesized as crystalline powders by solid-state reaction in a sealed molybdenum crucible at 1400 degrees C. Single crystals suitable for X-ray structure determinations and resistivity measurements were also prepared. The R(4)Mo(4)O(11) compounds crystallize in the orthorhombic space group Pbam with four formulas per unit cell. The crystal structure of these compounds is based on infinite chains of trans-edge-shared molybdenum octahedra, which are widely separated by the rare-earth cations that are in monocapped trigonal prismatic coordination of oxygen atoms. Consequently, adjacent metallic chains do not share oxygen atoms and the shortest interchain Mo-Mo distance is greater than 7 A. Within the infinite chains, a strong pairing between the apical Mo atoms occurs, leading to a pattern of alternating short and long distances between these atoms. Resistivity measurements on single crystals show that the R(4)Mo(4)O(11) compounds are small band gap semiconductors, and magnetic susceptibility studies are in agreement with the presence of R(3+) ions. In addition, antiferromagnetic orderings have also been observed for the R(4)Mo(4)O(11) compounds with R = Gd-Tm below 5 K. Theoretical calculations confirm the stabilization of the structure by the distortion and agree with the resistivity and magnetic measurements.     

Study on hydrogen and carbon monoxide produced by radiation degradation of N,N-dimethylhydroxylamine

This paper reports the study of hydrogen and carbon monoxide produced by radiation degradation of N, N-dimethylhydroxylamine (DMHA). The results show that when the concentration of DMHA is between 0.1M–0.5M and the dose is between 10–1000 kGy, the volume fraction of hydrogen is very high and increases with the dose. The volume fraction of hydrogen is little dependent on the concentration of DMHA at lower dose but increases with increasing concentration of DMHA at higher dose. The volume fraction of carbon monoxide is very low.     

One-step process to make electrically conductive thermoplastic vulcanizates filled with MWCNTs

Electrically conductive thermoplastic vulcanizates(TPVs) filled by multi-walled carbon nanotubes(MWCNTs) are prepared by a simple one-step melt mixing process,based on linear low density polyethylene(LLDPE) and ultrafme full-vulcanized rubber particles(UFRP).An ideal morphology with controlled localization of MWCNTs in continuous LLDPE matrix and appropriate size of finely-dispersed UFRP can be achieved at the same time.The controlled localization of MWCNTs in the continuous phase facilitates the formation of conductive pathway,and thus the volume resistivity of the as-prepared LLDPE/UFRP/MWCNTs thermoplastic vulcanizates is significantly decreased.The results show that both the blend ratio of LLDPE/UFRP and the loading of MWCNTs have remarkable effect on the volume resistivity.Significantly, the electrically conductive TPVs exhibit good mechanical properties duo to the fine dispersion of UFRP in LLDPE.The added MWCNTs are capable of imparting reinforcement effects to thermoplastic vulcanizates with just a slight loss of stretchability and elasticity.     

Excess volume of mixing of some polar and nonpolar liquids with propylene carbonate

The excess volume of mixing as a function of composition has been measured at 30°C and 40°C for mixtures of propylene carbonate with nitrobenzene, chlorobenzene, benzene, toluene, cyclohexane, dioxane, carbon tetrachloride, and chloroform. The highly polar nitrobenzene forms an ideal mixture with propylene carbonate. Chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, dioxane, chlorobenzene, benzene, and toluene give negative volume changes on mixing. In mixtures with cyclohexane,V _m ^E is positive at lower mole fractions of cyclohexane but becomes negative as the mole fraction of cyclohexane increases.     

Templated assembly of sulfide nanoclusters into cubic-C3N4 type framework

Here we report a new type of nanocluster superlattice in which each four-connected cluster ([M4In16S31],6- M = Fe, Co, Zn, and Cd) alternates with a three-connected sulfur anion (S2-) to form a rare and yet theoretically important non-centrosymmetric and non-interpenetrating (3,4)-connected net topologically identical to that of the hypothetical cubic carbon nitride type net. These materials have a ring size consisting of 16 tetrahedral atoms. Because of the large cluster size and the elimination of structural intergrowth, the volume fraction of the inorganic framework is as low as 38%. A strong photoluminescent emission has also been observed.     

CB/HDPE导电复合体系中Kerner-Nielson方程修正及电渗流与粘弹渗流的相关性

随着导电填料含量的增加,聚合物导电复合材料的电导率呈现非连续的递增.当填料含量达到渗流阈值并导致渗流现象出现时,导电填料相互聚集并形成网络,体系电导率急剧增大,关于此类电渗流现象已有很多报道^[1～4].填充类导电复合材料的结构和性能与其粘弹性密切相关.近年来,由于炭黑填充使得许多光学方法失效,流变学方法受到了广泛重视.最新的研究发现,非均相结构的出现和演化对浓度的依赖性有着特征流变响应,是一种粘弹渗流现象^[5～7].     

Effects of chemical modifications and MMT nanoclay addition on transport phenomena of naturally woven coconut sheath/polyester nanocomposites

Studies on the behavior of molecular transport properties such as thermal conductivity, gas permeability, volume and surface resistivity have been carried out for the naturally woven coconut sheath (CS) fiber reinforced composites with the addition of nanoclay and chemical treatment of fiber. The compression molding technique was used to fabricate the coconut sheath/clay reinforced hybrid composites. The morphological studies such as X-ray diffractogram (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) have been carried out for polyester nanocomposites and coconut sheath fiber. The decreased gas permeability, thermal conductivity and volume and surface resistivity have been observed with increasing the weight percentage of nanoclay in polyester matrix. In chemical modifications, the alkali and silane treated coconut sheath reinforced composites have shown great influence on the transport properties due to the increasing hydrophilic nature by the topographical changes at the fiber surface. Dielectric strength has also been reported in this paper for all types of composites. Infra-red (IR) spectra have also been taken to study the physical and chemical structural changes of treated coconut sheath.     

加工工艺对气相生长碳纤维填充聚苯乙烯复合体系导电逾渗与动态流变特性的影响

研究了加工工艺对气相生长碳纤维(VGCF)填充聚苯乙烯(PS)复合体系导电逾渗与动态流变特性的影响.结果表明,低转速、短时间混合有利于VGCF形成较为完善的逾渗网络结构,其复合体系逾渗阈值低、导电性能好.使用作者提出的两相模型描述VGCF/PS复合体系的流变特性,发现低转速、短时间(30 r/min、5 min)混合条...