Studies on Comonomer Compositional Distribution of Poly(propylene carbonate-propylene oxide) Copolymer and Its Effect on the Thermal,Mechanical and Oxygen Barrier Properties of Fractions

Poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC) was synthesized by the alternating copolymerization of carbon dioxide and propylene oxide (PO). However, during the polymerization, two by-products tended to produce cyclic propylene carbonate (CPC) and a polyether (PE) segment. The excess PO repeat units (PE segment) can easily insert into the PPC backbone and eventually produce the PPC–PO copolymer. The production of CPC and PE segments affected the increase of polymer chain length. In order to investigate the effects of the existence of PE segments, CPC, and molecular weight of fractions on the physical properties of PPC–PO copolymer, a series of fractions with narrow molecular weight distribution were obtained by repeated fractionation. Based on a solvent/non-solvent (chloroform/n-heptane) mixture, an original PPC–PO sample was fractionated into nine fractions with number–average molecular weights (M_n) from 0.34 × 10⁵ to 5.56 × 10⁵ and PE content from 0.4 to 15 mol%. The M_n of PPC–PO fractions decreased with the increase of PE content in the PPC–PO backbone, and the thermal and mechanical properties of the PPC–PO copolymers were affected by their M_n and PE contents. Furthermore, the lower the PE content, the higher the M_n value. Higher M_n means better tensile and lower oxygen permeability of PPC–PO copolymer.     

Adhesion enhancement in polystyrene/polyethylene blends by corona treatment and triblock copolymer addition

A comparative study of interfacial effects due to styrene-butadiene-based triblock copolymer (SEBS) addition and to corona treatment has been investigated for blends of polyethylene (PE) and polystyrene (PS). Blends of PS/PE covering a wide range of weight composition have been prepared in the molten state. Scanning electron microscopy demonstrated that moderate amounts of SEBS copolymer addition (2-5%) resulted in finer particle dispersion and in better interfacial adhesion between PE and PS phases. Tensile strength and elongation at break were also significantly improved. In the case of corona treatment of both polyethylene and polystyrene, the tensile strength of the blends increased while their elongation at break remained almost unchanged. The same trend was found when small amounts of corona-treated blend (5%) were added to the non-modified PS/PE blends. Rheological measurements revealed that corona treatment resulted in a decrease of dynamic shear viscosity of both PE and PS. From a view-point of morphological and mechanical properties, the triblock copolymer was found to be the more efficient modifier. Nevertheless, much higher tensile strengths, but lower elongations at break were obtained when the blends were modified by corona-treated SEBS copolymer. The results suggest that a combination of the two modification methods may be a promising route to enhance performance properties in the immiscible PS/PE system.     

Epitaxial crystallization of crystalline polymers on the surface of drawn polytetrafluoroethylene

Crystallization of crystalline polymers on the surface of drawn polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) was studied. Further, cold-drawn polyethylene (PE) was heat treated in contact with drawn PTFE, holding their drawing axes at right angles to each other, and then the morphological change of PE at the interface was studied. Molecular orientation in the surface layer of the PE was examined by observing the molecular orientation of polycaprolactone (PCLn) crystallized on the PE surface.

It was found that PE, PCLn, and nascent nylon 6 crystallize epitaxially on drawn PTFE, which is well known as a polymer having a low energy surface. Intermolecular interaction between PTFE and the overgrown crystalline polymers was explained on the basis of their crystal structures. The molecular orientation of PE in the interfacial region changes from the drawing direction of PE to the drawing direction of PTFE during annealing. It is proposed that PE partially melts during annealing, and nuclei of PE with their c-axis parallel to the molecular axis of PTFE are formed at the interface. Consequently, PE lamellar crystals with their c-axis perpendicular to the original drawing direction grow in the interfacial region between PE and PTFE.     

Domain-enhanced interlayer coupling in ferroelectric/paraelectric superlattices

We investigate the ferroelectric phase transition and domain formation in a periodic superlattice consisting of alternate ferroelectric (FE) and paraelectric (PE) layers of nanometric thickness. We find that the polarization domains formed in the different FE layers can interact with each other via the PE layers. By coupling the electrostatic equations with those obtained by minimizing the Ginzburg-Landau functional, we calculate the critical temperature of transition Tc as a function of the FE/PE superlattice wavelength Lambda and quantitatively explain the recent experimental observation of a thickness dependence of the ferroelectric transition temperature in KTaO3/KNbO3 strained-layer superlattices.     

The Effect of Benzoyl Peroxide and Divinyl Benzene on the Properties of Cross-Linked Recycled Polyolefin Blends

The effect of peroxide cross-linking on the properties and morphology of recycled polyethylene (PE)/polypropylene (PP) blends was characterized. The addition of benzoyl peroxide (BPO) decreased the melt flow rate (MFR) and increased the impact strength of the recycled polymer blends. Divinyl benzene (DVB) is often used as a cross-linking agent assistant. Compared with BPO modification, the addition of BPO together with DVB improved the cross-linking efficiency and further increased the impact strength of the recycled polymer blends. The effect of BPO content on the MFR and the mechanical properties was also studied with the DVB content fixed. However, chemical cross-linking slightly reduced the thermal stability of the polymer blends. The morphology of the modified and unmodified polymer blends showed that with the addition of BPO, with or without DVB, the compatibility of the PE/PP blends was improved, resulting in enhanced impact strength.     

Collapse of spherical polyelectrolyte brushes in the presence of multivalent counterions

We consider the interaction of multivalent counterions with spherical polyelectrolyte brushes (SPB). The SPB result if linear polyelectrolyte (PE) chains (contour length: 60 nm) are densely grafted to colloidal spheres of 116 nm in diameter. Dispersed in water, the surface layer consisting of chains of the strong PE poly(styrene sulfonic acid) (PSS) will swell. We demonstrate that successive addition of trivalent ions (La3+) leads to a collapse in which the surface layer is shrinking drastically. All findings are discussed on the base of a theoretical mean-field approach using the Donnan equilibrium. The ion exchange and a strong binding of trivalent ions by PE chains is followed up by a drop in the osmotic pressure inside the brush. This reduction is the driving force for the collapse. The strong ion-chain correlation is discussed with results obtained from molecular dynamics simulations.     

Isolating mechanisms that influence measures of the precedence effect: theoretical predictions and behavioral tests

This study tests how peripheral auditory processing and spectral dominance impact lateralization of precedence effect (PE) stimuli consisting of a pair of leading and lagging clicks. Predictions from a model whose parameters were set from established physiological results were tested with specific behavioral experiments. To generate predictions, an auditory nerve model drove a binaural, cross correlation computation whose outputs were summed across frequency using weightings derived from past physiological studies. The model predicted that lateralization (1) depends on stimulus center frequency and the inter-stimulus delay (ISD) between leading and lagging clicks for narrowband clicks and (2) changes differently with lead click level for different ISDs. Behaviorally, subjects lateralized narrowband and wideband click pairs whose stimulus parameters were chosen based on modeling results to test how peripheral processing and frequency dominance contribute to lateralization of PE stimuli. Behavioral results (including unique measures with the lead attenuated relative to the lag) suggest that peripheral interactions between leading and lagging clicks on the basilar membrane and strong weighting of cues around 750 Hz influence lateralization of paired clicks with short ISDs. When combined with auditory nerve adaptation, which emphasizes onset information, lateralization of PE click pairs with a short ISD can be well predicted.     

芴-咔唑新型共聚物/PVK掺杂体系的电致发光特性研究

研究了新型的芴-咔唑共聚物(PFC)与聚乙烯咔唑(PVK)掺杂体系的光致发光和电致发光特性.制备了结构分别为indium-tin-oxide(ITO)/PVK:PFC/bathocuproine(BCP)/tris-(8-hydroxylquinoline)-aluminum (Alq₃) /Mg:Ag，ITO/PFC/BCP/Alq₃/Mg∶Ag和ITO/PVK/BCP/Alq₃/Mg∶Ag的三种有机电致发光器件.对器件的光电特性进行了测试.结果表明，掺杂体系中的PVK有效地抑制了固态膜中PFC激基缔合物的形成.掺杂器件在不同的外加电场作用下发生发光层位置的移动，通过调节外加电场，可以获得从绿光到蓝光的可见光发射.当外加电压大于7V时，掺杂器件的蓝色发光亮度达到1650cd/m²，推测其中可能存在从PVK到PFC的能量传递过程.     

Electrical characterization of Au/poly (linoleic acid)-g-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PLiMMA)/n-Si diode in dark and under illumination

In this study, poly (linoleic acid)-g-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PLiMMA) graft copolymer is used as an interfacial layer in a Schottky diode for the first time. Au/poly (linoleic acid)-g-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PLiMMA)/n-Si diode was fabricated and main electrical characteristics of the diode were investigated using I–V measurements in dark and under illumination at room temperature. Ideality factor (n), barrier height (Φ_B0) and serial resistance (R_s) values of the diode were found as 2.8, 0.87 eV and 8096 Ω for dark, and 6.3, 0.71 eV and 676 Ω for 100 mW/cm² illumination intensity. Also, the reasons of deviation from ideal thermionic emission theory were investigated using Cheung&Cheung method and Card&Rhoderick's function which are used for calculating voltage dependence of barrier height (Φ_B(V)), series resistance (R_s) and number of surface states (N_ss) of the Au/PLiMMA/n-Si diode.     

Iterative unfolding for Bonner sphere spectrometers using the MSANDB code – Sensitivity analysis and dose calculation

Since many decades, Bonner sphere spectrometers (BSSs) are routinely used for assessment of neutron spectra over a wide energy range from some meV to GeV. Typically, a spectrometer consists of a neutron detector sensitive to thermal neutrons located inside moderating polyethylene (PE) spheres of various sizes. Based on the response functions of the detector/sphere systems that must be calculated by Monte Carlo codes, an unfolding procedure is applied to deduce the present neutron spectrum from the count rates of the detectors. To start the unfolding procedure, a guess spectrum is required that includes some prior information on the physics of the investigated neutron spectrum, and that is iteratively modified to match the measured count rates. For the present investigation, a BSS-system consisting of an ³He proportional counter and seventeen spheres containing PE or a combination of PE and lead is used. The system is used for example to measure secondary neutrons from cosmic radiation at mountain altitudes, or from high-energy accelerators outside the radiation shielding. A systematic study was performed to quantify the influence of the chosen guess spectrum and the number of iteration steps on the unfolded neutron spectrum, and on integral quantities deduced such as total neutron fluence or ambient dose equivalent. It turned out that none of these changes resulted in dose quantities that were more than a few percent different to those deduced when the optimised start spectrum was used. Similarly, use of the two different response matrices available for our BSS system provided similar values for the ambient dose equivalent.     

Three different low-temperature plasma-based methods for hydrophilicity improvement of polyethylene films at atmospheric pressure

Three different low-temperature plasma-based methods were used to improve the surface hydrophilicity of polyethy- lene （PE） films, and all the modification processes were carried out by employing an atmospheric pressure plasma jet （APPJ） system. （a） PE films were directly modified by APPJ using a gas mixture of He and 02. （b） Acrylic acid （AA） was introduced into the system and a polymer acrylic acid （PAA） coating was deposited onto the PE films. （c） AA was grafted onto the PE surface activated by plasma pre-treatment. It was found that the hydrophilicity of the PE films was significantly improved for all the three methods. However, the samples modified by Process （a） showed hydrophobicity recovery after a storage time of 20 days while no significant change was found in samples modified by Process （b） and Process （c）. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FTIR） results indicated that the most intensive C=O peak was detected on the PE surface modified by Process （c）. According to the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） analysis, the ratios of oxygen-containing polar groups for samples modified by Process （b） and Process （c） were higher than that modified by Process （a）.     

含磁电弹夹层的压电/压磁声子晶体带隙特性研究

将具有力电磁耦合性能的夹层引入到压电/压磁声子晶体中,在保持单胞长度为固定值的情况下,分别改变磁电弹夹层的厚度、磁电弹夹层中压电材料的体积分数和磁电弹夹层中压电材料的种类;并利用传递矩阵法和Bloch定理,得到波数k与频率ω的色散关系;通过色散关系图分析不同的磁电弹夹层对压电/压磁声子晶体带隙特性的影响.研究发现:当磁电弹夹层厚度增加时,带隙的中心频率上升,带隙宽度变宽;当磁电弹夹层中压电材料体积分数增加时,带隙中心频率下降,第一带隙宽度变窄,第二带隙宽度增加,第三带隙宽度保持不变;当磁电弹夹层中的压电材料种类不同时,带隙的中心频率和带隙宽度有明显的改变;磁电弹夹层对压电/压磁声子晶体带隙中心频率的影响在高频区比低频区更显著.     

Effect of Composition on Chain Dimensions of Styrene-Methylmethacrylate Random Copolymers under Theta Condition

Rotational-isomeric-state (RIS)-Metropolis Monte Carlo simulations are performed on poly(styrene-ran-methylmethacrylate) random copolymers to study the intrinsic unperturbed (θ-condition) dimensions. Mean-squared end-to-end distance (?r²?_o ), mean-squared radius of gyration (?s²?_o ), and characteristic ratio (C_n) have been calculated for these copolymers constituted by different overall chemical compositions (styrene fractions 0.29, 0.56, and 0.70). Calculations were carried out with chains of 500 repeating units. With an increase in the styrene content there is an increase in ?r ²? _o, `, and C_n, in agreement with experimental observations. An increase in the fraction of trans conformational states in the backbone torsion angles is found to be responsible for the exhibited chain expansion behavior. The dimensions calculated by the Monte Carlo simulations agree well with experimental values reported in the literature.     

From imaging to dosimetry: GEANT4-based study on the application of Medipix to neutron dosimetry

An application of Medipix2 using a newly developed segmented multiple thickness polyethylene (PE) converter for fast neutron detection is presented. The system has the ability to provide an energy independent response for the dose equivalent for fast neutrons. The application of weighting factors to each defined thickness of PE allows for a flattening of the response of the detector system for dosimetry applications. Six PE converter segments were applied, and their thicknesses and weighting factors were optimised to obtain the required energy independent detector response. The study performed by means of GEANT4. Its suitability for neutron dosimetry was studied with respect to a previously published work.     

聚合物及其混合物的太赫兹介电性质测定与分析方法

聚合物材料因其对太赫兹波的高透过率以及良好的塑形能力在太赫兹研究中扮演了重要的角色,由于材料的介电特性直接关系着折射率、极化率等重要性质,不同的应用场合通常需要材料呈现出特殊的太赫兹介电响应,一方面可以选取不同的聚合物材料,另一方面可以通过多种聚合物的混合实现材料介电性质的调制。聚合物材料合理的选取和设计建立在材料太赫兹介电精确表征之上,然而利用太赫兹时域光谱系统(THz-TDS)对聚合物材料进行透射式太赫兹介电表征时,材料内部空气孔隙的存在会影响表征结果的复现性,同时也会影响共混聚合物介电性质的分析和预测。因此以Landau, Lifshitz, Looyenga(LLL)模型为基础提出了考虑空气影响的介电分析模型,并选取了在太赫兹研究中广泛使用的聚合物材料聚乙烯(PE)和聚四氟乙烯(PTFE)对模型的有效性和稳定性加以验证,展开了两种材料单质和混合物两方面的介电分析。在太赫兹波透射样品之后的相位变化信息中提取出样品的介电常数,同一种物质制备的样片间太赫兹介电谱存在明显差异,使用包含气隙影响的LLL模型处理实验数据后,样品介电常数中空气的介电影响被移除,从而得到了两种材料的本征介电常数,在此基础上,使用测得的本征介电常数和混合物样品中两种材料的体积占比信息代入包含气隙影响的LLL模型计算得到了不同配比混合物的太赫兹介电常数的模拟值,并与THz-TDS实验获取的实验值进行了对比。利用所提出的有效介质模型,聚乙烯和聚四氟乙烯在10～40 cm-1波段内移除空气影响后的平均介电常数为2.315±0.003（±0.13%）和2.109±0.003（±0.14%）,在不同重量、不同厚度的单组份样品间模型测定的聚合物介电常数保持了良好的重复性,在对混合物的太赫兹介电性质测定与分析中,利用模型计算的混合物介电常数模拟值与THz-TDS测定的介电常数实验值保持了高度线性相关,其相关系数为0.964 3,全局相对误差为1.08%,体现了模型的可靠性。提出的介电分析模型可以扩展到更多的高分子材料单质及其混合物的太赫兹介电性质表征中,对太赫兹波段的共混聚合物材料设计具有参考价值。     

Enrichment of poly(methyl methacrylate) and its graft copolymer of polybutadiene on the surface of polypropylene blends

Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and its graft copolymer of polybutadiene were used as the macromolecular surface modifiers of polypropylene. The enrichment and diffusion of the modifiers onto the surface of polypropylene blends were investigated using FTIR-ATR, CDA and SEM. It has been found that the selective aggregation of the modifier component on the surface of polypropylene was mainly affected by the content, molecular weight and size of the segregated domains. Lower content and higher surface energy die were in favor of the enrichment of the additive. PMMA with higher molecular weight showed larger domain phase and lower diffusion velocity which resulted in less enrichment on the surface of PP blends.     

The study of compatibility of polyethylene and polypropylene by using irradiated polyethylene wax

The modification of the compatibility between polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP) by using irradiated PE wax (PE wax) is the purpose of this study. In this part, polymer blends based on various ratios of PE and PP were blended with 2.5% PE wax in all the blend ratios to determine the optimum ratio of the blend to be compatabilized. The influence of PE wax as a compatibilizing agent for PE and PP blend was investigated through the measurements of thermal, mechanical and morphological properties. The PP/PE blends modified by this method showed higher mechanical properties than those of the unmodified blends. Also, stress and strain of the modified blend having ratio (60/40) PP/PE blend recorded the maximum mechanical behavior. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs of modified blends showed an indication of strong interfacial adhesion and a smooth continuous surface in which giving a support to the effect of irradiated PE wax as a tool for improving the compatibility.     

Dynamic behavior and complexity of modulated optical micro ring resonator

The dynamic behavior of an optical micro ring resonator (OMRR) with an amplitude modulator positioned in the micro ring is investigated quantitatively by adopting a recently introduced quantifier, the permutation entropy (PE). The effects of modulation depth are focused on, and the roles of input power are considered. The two-dimensional (2D) maps of PE showing dependence on both modulation depth and input power are presented as well. PE values nearly increase with modulation depth. On the other hand, the optimal value of input power is achieved when the PE reaches its maximum. Thus, PE can successfully quantify the dynamics of modulated OMRR. Selecting the parameters in the region with high PE values would contribute to the complexity-enhanced OMRR-based chaotic communication systems.     

Miscibility,Crystallization, and Morphology of the Double-Crystalline Blends of Insulating Polyethylene and Semiconducting Poly(3-Butylthiophene)

A series of crystalline semiconducting poly(3-butylthiophene) (P3BT)/crystalline insulating polyethylene (PE) blends were prepared and the miscibility, crystallization, and structure/morphology were investigated. Even though phase separation was observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), several pieces of evidence indicated that limited miscibility should be present in PE/P3BT blends: small changes in both T_m and crystallinity of PE phase and a small portion of PE being dissolved in P3BT. The study of PE isothermal crystallization kinetics revealed that the introduction of P3BT significantly influenced the nucleation mechanism and growth geometry, i.e., PE was transformed from three-dimensional (3D) spherulitic to two-dimensional (2D) disc crystals. A striking reduction of nucleation density and an obvious ringed morphology of PE spherulites (2D) in PE/P3BT blends were also observed by polarized optical microscopy; it is proposed that the limited miscibility between PE and crystalline P3BT favors the formation of ringed PE spherulite in the blends. Additionally, preferred orientation of PE lamellae, with their b-axis largely constrained to the thin film plane, was observed by X-ray diffraction in PE/P3BT blend films. It is evidenced that the PE orientation was due to the b-axis being the crystal growth direction, which can only be in film plane.