Fine characterization of the ethylene and ethane sorption in poly(amide 12-block-tetramethylenoxide) copolymer/AgBF4 membranes

Ethylene/ethane sorption characteristics were determined for dry Pebax™ (poly(amide 12-block-tetramethylenoxide) copolymer)/AgBF₄ membranes by using an electronic microbalance. The membranes containing 0.7 and 22 wt.% AgBF₄ showed a dual-mode sorption isotherm. The ethane isotherms for all the membranes were of the Henry-type, which is the normal sorption for gases in rubbery polymers. The abnormal presence of Langmuir sorption sites only for ethylene in the rubbery copolymer, never reported sofar, is attributed to the silver-based specific complexation sites. The silver salt which dissolved in limited amounts in the rubbery copolymer had a much smaller Langmuir sorption capacity than the salt that crystallized in the copolymer. The sorption kinetics indicate that the crystallized salt did adsorb slowly ethylene according to a zeroth-order kinetics, but not ethane. The gas uptake kinetics resulting from a step of the pressure surrounding the copolymer exhibited one stage for ethane but two stages for ethylene. For the latter, there was first a fast Fickian sorption stage, then a drift of the zeroth-order sorption of ethylene on salt crystals, which contributes for a large part to the total uptake. The zeroth-order sorption suggests that the sorbed ethylene amount in the second-stage is independent of the crystal-surface coverage. The value of the Fickian diffusion coefficient calculated by fitting the kinetics with a solution of the second Fick’s law was 5 × 10⁻¹² m²/s for both ethylene (the first stage) and ethane, and is typical for small organic compounds in a rubbery material.     

Ageing of Conductive Polyaniline/Poly(Ethylene-co-Vinylacetate) Composites Studied by Thermal Methods

The long-term environmental ageing of conductive composite films containing ethylene-co-vinyl-acetate (EVA) copolymer and a complex of polyaniline (PANI) and dodecylbenzenesulfonic acid (DBSA) was studied by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). We assume that both phase separation and crosslinking of PANI main chains occur in the systems. On the other hand, the competition between PANI–DBSA complex self-organization and crystallization of EVA matrix result in structural changes and formation of continuous conductive network, responsible for significantly increased (ca five orders of magnitude) electrical conductivity of the aged films. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Copolymerization of ethylene and non-conjugated diene using homogenous catalyst

Ethylene and different amounts of 1,7-octadiene were copolymerized using the metallocene catalyst system ethylidene-bis(fluorenyl) zirconium dichloride and methylaluminoxane (MAO) at both 50 and 90 °C. The catalyst activity has slightly increased with the addition of low amounts of the diene in relation to the homopolymerization of ethylene. The obtained polymers were characterized according to their melting temperature (T_m) and crystallinity degree (x_c) by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Weight-average molecular weight (M_w) and polydispersity were determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). Diene contents in the copolymer were obtained through the FTIR spectroscopy. The results indicated that at polymerization temperature of 90 °C, crosslinking bonds in the obtained copolymers were low, differently from what was observed at 50 °C. The diene content in the copolymer achieved more than 3 mol% and the comonomer conversion was around 15%. Moreover, the obtained copolymers have M_w around 100,000 and large polydispersity.     

IMPACT PROPERTIES OF METALLOCENE - CATALYZED ETHYLENE-α-OLEFIN COPOLYMERS

The impact properties of two selected metallocene-catalyzed ethylene-butene copolymers and one conventionalcopolymer were evaluated using Izod impact test. It is found that the metallocene-catalyzed copolymer shows superior impactproperties. This result was explained on the basis of the more homogeneous inter-molecular composition distribution andnarrower molecular weight distribution, which leads to more homogeneous morphology with fewer defects. Stepwisecrystallization improves the impact properties, especially in the crack propagation process, to a large extent. This is due to thedecrease of entanglements by stepwise crystallization, which is advantageous for the chain slip and shear. The polymer withheterogeneous intra-molecular composition distribution exhibits a more evident improvement of impact properties understepwise crystallization.     

STUDY ON STYRENE-BUTADIENE BLOCK COPOLYMER FOR THE MODIFICATI0N OF TIRE TREAD

This paper mainly deals with the design and synthesis of a novel styrene-butadieneblock copolymer. When this copolymer is used in the tread portion of tyres, it can improvewet skid resistance and reduce rolling resistance without sacrificing its general physical-mechanical properties. The visco-elastic curve of tire tread using the novel copolymer asits rubber portion was showed. Reactivity ratios for two monomers in the polymerizingsystem were calculated. The diagrams of differelitial, integral and finite difference calculithroughout the whole molecular chain were presented. The influence of the micro- andmacro-structure of the copolymer chain on wet skid resistance and rolling resistance wasdiscussed     

尼龙1010／尼龙6共聚物的表观相图研究

采用显微熔点法和ＤＳＣ测定了尼龙１０１０／尼龙６共聚物的表观相图；分析了投料比与链节结构单元含量的关系。最低熔点时尼龙１０１０／尼龙６的理论重量投料比为６０／４０，摩尔比为３３．３／６６．７，实验结果与此相近。     

EVA-g-VC的结构和动态粘弹性

本文研究了聚乙烯-醋酸乙烯酯(EVA,VAc:14％)与氯乙烯(VC)接枝共聚物(EVA-g-VC)的相结构和分子结构。接枝物EVA-g-VC由游离EVA、均聚PVC和EVA-VC接枝高分子三者组成,EVA呈连续相,PVC呈分散微粒。EVA-g-VC中EVA的含量越高,PVC粒子体积越小。实验结果表明,接枝物中“凝胶”的EVA玻璃化温度,随投料比(VC/EVA)的减小而升高;另外随VC/EVA减小,凝胶中PVC的含量和PVC的分子量也减小。这些结果说明,VC/EVA较小时得到的接枝物中,EVA上VC接枝点的数目较多,而PVC接枝链的长度较短。EVA-VC是不相容两相——EVA和PVC的“粘着剂”,其作用表现在:VC/EVA越小,接枝物中EVA和PVC的玻璃化温度越靠近。     

富含纤维素类农作物秆与丙烯酸接枝共聚制备高倍率吸水树脂

用棉花秆、麦秆和玉米秆等富含纤维素类农作物秆与丙烯酸接枝共聚制备了高倍率的吸水树脂. 研究了不同水质(去离子水、自来水及雨水)对接枝产物吸水性能的影响. 采用棉花秆、麦秆、玉米秆与丙烯酸的接枝产物对去离子水的吸水倍率分别为930, 790和630 g/g, 对自来水的吸水倍率分别为670, 350和250 g/g, 用玉米秆/地瓜淀粉混合物制备的接枝产物对雨水的吸水倍率为540 g/g. 为棉花秆、 麦秆及玉米秆等富含纤维素的农作物秆的深加工与应用开辟了一条途径.     

Nitroxide mediated living radical polymerization of styrene onto poly (vinyl chloride)

Nitroxide‐mediated ‘living’ free radical polymerisation (LREP) was employed for the first time to prepare graft copolymer by having arylated poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC‐Ph) as a backbone and polystyrene (PS) as branches. The graft copolymerization of styrene was initiated by arylated PVC carrying 2,2,6,6‐tetramethyl‐1‐piperidinyloxy (TEMPO) groups as a macroinitiator. Thus, the arylated PVC was prepared in the mild conditions and these reaction conditions could overcome the problem of gelation and crosslinking in polymers. Then, 1‐hydroxy TEMPO was synthesized by the reduction of TEMPO with sodium ascorbate. This functional nitroxyl compound was coupled with brominated arylated PVC (PVC‐Ph‐Br). The resulting macro‐initiator (PVC‐Ph‐TEMPO) for ‘living’ free radical polymerization was then heated in the presence of styrene to form graft copolymer. DSC, GPC, ¹HNMR, and FT‐IR spectroscopy were employed to investigate the structure of the polymers. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Application of the essential work of fracture concept to nanostructured polymer materials

The first part of the paper deals with a critical discussion of the methodical basis of essential work of fracture (EWF) concept with respect to the specimen geometry (especially the notch depth) and application to polymers. In the second part, an in situ testing device, which combines a tensile testing machine with an optical strain-field measuring system, has successfully demonstrated possibility of characterization of fracture behaviour of polystyrene-polybutadiene block copolymers and block copolymer/homopolymer blends as examples of nanostructured polymer materials. It has been shown that knowledge of the time evolution of the strain field close to the crack tips leads to a simple verification of the basic precondition for the applicability of the EWF concept, the precondition “plastic zone coalescence-before-stable crack propagation”.