Structural, electrical and optical properties of Ga-doped ZnO films on PET substrate

The effects of O₂ plasma pretreatment on the properties of Ga-doped ZnO films on PET substrate were studied. Ga-doped ZnO films were fabricated by RF magnetron sputtering process. To improve surface energy and adhesion of PET substrate, O₂ plasma pretreatment process was used prior to GZO sputtering. With increasing O₂ plasma treatment time, the contact angle decreases and the RMS surface roughness increases significantly. The transmittance of GZO films on PET substrate in a wavelength of 550 nm was 70-84%. With appropriate O₂ plasma treatment, the resistivity of GZO films on PET substrate was 3.4 × 10⁻³ Ω cm.     

3D Slicer as an image computing platform for the Quantitative Imaging Network

Quantitative analysis has tremendous but mostly unrealized potential in healthcare to support objective and accurate interpretation of the clinical imaging. In 2008, the National Cancer Institute began building the Quantitative Imaging Network (QIN) initiative with the goal of advancing quantitative imaging in the context of personalized therapy and evaluation of treatment response. Computerized analysis is an important component contributing to reproducibility and efficiency of the quantitative imaging techniques. The success of quantitative imaging is contingent on robust analysis methods and software tools to bring these methods from bench to bedside.     

Y2O3/ZrO2复合泡沫陶瓷烧结的初步研究

本文采用有机泡沫浸渍法制备了Y2O3/ZrO2双层复合、Y2O3/Y2O3-ZrO2/ZrO2三层复合及Y2O3和ZrO2单相泡沫陶瓷,分析了两种复合泡沫陶瓷层间的结合及各层显微结构随烧结温度的变化,并与单相氧化物陶瓷进行了对比。结果表明:双层复合陶瓷层间有较大缝隙,这是因为两种氧化物陶瓷烧结不同步造成的。三层复合陶瓷中Y2O3-ZrO2混合中间层的存在减弱了Y2O3、ZrO2烧结不同步引起的层间应力,层间结合明显改善,并大大减少了泡沫陶瓷表面宏观裂纹。两种复合陶瓷的ZrO2内层的烧结程度都低于单相ZrO2,这主要是因为先于ZrO2烧结的Y2O3外层阻碍了内部气体的排出从而阻碍ZrO2的烧结所致。     

Electron-Beam-Induced Radiation Effects on Siloxane Foam

Summary: Two types of siloxane foam were irradiated by an electron beam at room temperature. Changes in the chemical structure of the samples were determined by Fourier-transform infrared resonance. The gaseous products from the irradiated samples were analyzed by gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy. Electron spin resonance was used to analyze the free radicals, and the compression properties were determined by a universal material tester. The results indicated that the effect of absorbed dose on the mechanical properties of polymethylvinyl siloxane foam was more pronounced than that for polymethylphenylvinyl siloxane foam. The yield of gases evolved from the radiation degradation of polymethylvinyl siloxane foam was higher than that from polymethylphenylvinyl siloxane foam. The free-radical signal from polymethylphenylvinyl siloxane foam was stronger and lasted longer than that from polymethylvinyl siloxane foam after irradiation.     

Rheological Study Bringing New Insights into PET/PC Reactive Blends

Summary: Extruded poly(ethylene terephthalate)/polycarbonate (PET/PC) blends, with/without cobalt catalyst and at different polymer ratios, were prepared. Rheological behaviour was discussed in terms of storage (G′) and loss (G″) moduli, loss tangent (Tan δ) and viscosity (η). Both G′ and G″ increased as a function of frequency for all blends. PET was the matrix in the blends with 80 and 50 wt% of polyester but in the PC rich-blend an inversion was observed. In all cases, lower Tan δ values were achieved at high frequencies. The viscosity behaviour showed a catalyst dependency. PET dictated the rheological properties of the blends without catalyst whereas PC governed blends with catalyst. Alcoholysis and acidolysis reactions plus a transesterification reaction occurred on the interface was dependent on the matrix component. These reactions seem to occur at higher extent in blends in which PET is the matrix but the inverse happened in the PC rich-blend.     

Chemical recycling of post-consumer PET wastes by glycolysis in the presence of metal salts

Chemical recycling of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) has been the subject of increased interest as a valuable feedstock for different chemical processes. In this work, glycolysis of PET waste granules was carried out using excess ethylene glycol in the presence of different simple chemicals acting as catalysts, namely zinc acetate, sodium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate, sodium sulphate and potassium sulphate. Comparable high yields (≈70%) of the monomer bis(2-hydroxyethyl terephthalate) were obtained with zinc acetate and sodium carbonate as depolymerisation catalysts at 196 °C with a PET:catalyst molar ratio of 100:1 in the presence of a large excess of glycol. The purified monomer was characterised by elemental analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, infrared spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance. These results revealed that, although the intrinsic activity of zinc acetate was significantly higher than that of sodium carbonate, this latter salt could indeed act as an effective, eco-friendly catalyst for glycolysis. Also an exploratory study on the application of this catalytic recycling technology for complex PET wastes, namely highly coloured and multi-layered PET, was performed.     

Improvement in gas permeability of biaxially stretched PET films blended with high barrier polymers: The role of chemistry and processing conditions

Improvement in oxygen gas barrier properties of polyester/polyamide blends used in packaging industry is the main objective of the present study. For this purpose poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)/poly(m-xylene adipamide) (nylon-MXD6) (95/5 w/w) and poly(ethylene terephthalate-co-isophthalate) copolymer (PETI)/MXD6 (95/5 w/w) blends have been prepared with a PET copolymer which consists of 5 wt.% sodium sulfonated isophthalate (PET-co-5SIPA) as compatibilizer and a carboxyl-terminated polybutadiene (CTPB) as filler by using a co-rotating intermeshing twin screw extruder. The effects of chemical architecture and morphology on oxygen gas permeability and processability were analyzed by using a range of characterization techniques including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), oxygen gas permeability analyzer, and a special computer controlled uniaxial stretching system that provides real-time measurement of true stress, true strain and birefringence. The morphological analysis revealed that PET-co-5SIPA was an effective compatibilizer for both PET/MXD6 and PETI/MXD6 blends. DSC analysis and spectral-birefringence technique were used to understand the thermal and stress-induced crystallization behavior of the blends. Morphological analysis of the films after biaxial stretching indicated that the spherical nylon phase was converted to 75 nm thick disks during stretching (aspect ratio L/W = 6) that creates a tortuous pathway for oxygen ingress. Stretching enhanced the barrier properties of PET/MXD6 and PETI/MXD6 blends.     

Plastified poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)-toner microfluidic chip by direct-printing integrated with electrochemical detection for pharmaceutical analysis

Rapid separation and determination of acetaminophen and its hydrolysate with end-channel electrochemical (EC) detection integrated on a plastified poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)-toner microchip capillary electrophoresis (CE) system was investigated. In this separation and detection system, a Pt ultramicroelectrode integrated on a three-dimensional adjustor was used as working electrode. Factors influencing the separation and detection were investigated and optimized. Results show that acetaminophen and p-aminophenol can be well separated within 84 s with R.S.D. < 1% for migration time and R.S.D. < 3.6% for detection current for both analytes. Detection limits for both analytes are determined to be 5.0 μM (S/N = 3). This method has been successfully applied to the detection of trace p-aminophenol in paracetamol tablets. The results demonstrate that the PET-toner microchips can obtain better performance than PDMS microfluidic devices but at much lower cost.     

Determination of intrinsic viscosity of poly(ethylene terephthalate) using infrared spectroscopy and multivariate calibration method

A methodology was developed to determine the intrinsic viscosity of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) using diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) and multivariate calibration (MVC) methods. Multivariate partial least squares calibration was applied to the spectra using mean centering and cross validation. The results were correlated to the intrinsic viscosities determined by the standard chemical method (ASTM D 4603-01) and a very good correlation for values in the range from 0.346 to 0.780 dL g⁻¹ (relative viscosity values ca. 1.185-1.449) was observed. The spectrophotometer detector sensitivity and the humidity of the samples did not influence the results. The methodology developed is interesting because it does not produce hazardous wastes, avoids the use of time-consuming chemical methods and can rapidly predict the intrinsic viscosity of PET samples over a large range of values, which includes those of recycled materials.     

Synthesis and non‐isothermal crystallization kinetics of poly(ethylene terephthalate)‐co‐poly(propylene glycol) copolymers

Poly(ethylene terephthalate)‐co‐poly(propylene glycol) (PET‐co‐PPG) copolymers with PPG ratio ranging from 0 to 0.90 mol% were synthesized by the melt copolycondensation. The intrinsic viscosity, structure, non‐isothermal crystallization behavior, nucleation and spherulitic growth of the copolymers were investigated by Ubbelohde viscometer, Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (¹H‐NMR), differential scanning calorimetry, and polarized optical microscopy, respectively. The non‐isothermal crystallization process of the copolymers was analyzed by Avrami, Ozawa, Mo's, Kissinger, and Dobreva methods, respectively. The results showed that the crystallizability of PET was apparently enhanced with incorporating a small amount of PPG, which first rose and then reduced with increasing amount of PPG in the copolymers at a given cooling rate. The crystallization mechanism was a three‐dimensional growth with both instantaneous and sporadic nucleation. Particularly, PET‐co‐PPG containing 0.60 mol% PPG exhibited the highest crystallizability among all the copolymers. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.