Development of new lubricating grease formulations using recycled LDPE as rheology modifier additive

The recovery of plastic waste but also its applicability in product development may be an incentive to industry, since the use of such plastics represents a cheaper source of raw material. The aim of the present paper is to study the feasibility of recycling polyolefins as additives to improve the rheological properties of lithium 12-hydroxystearate lubricating greases. The effects that both soap and recycled low-density polyethylene (LDPE) concentration exert on the rheology of lithium lubricating greases and its relationship with grease microstructure are discussed in this work. In this way, different lubricating grease formulations were manufactured by modifying the concentration of lithium 12-hydroxystearate and content of recycled LDPE, according to a RSM statistical design. These lubricating greases were rheologically characterized through small-amplitude oscillatory shear (SAOS) and viscous flow measurements. In addition to these, scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) observations and mechanical stability tests were also carried out. Recycled LDPE was found to be an effective additive to modify grease rheology, acting as filler in the soap entangled microstructure. The values of both apparent viscosity and viscoelastic functions in the linear viscoelastic region increase with soap and recycled polymer concentrations. However, the addition of recycled LDPE distort the microstructural network of these greases resulting greases with less relative elastic characteristics and poorer mechanical properties as LDPE content increases.     

单向应力条件下松弛时间率相关的非线性粘弹性本构模型

基于单向拉伸实验研究和内变量理论 ,提出了一种新的简单的一维非线性粘弹性本构关系 .对两种粘弹性材料 ,即高密度聚乙烯和聚丙烯进行了不同加载速率作用下的拉伸实验研究 ,实验结果表明 ,两种材料的应力应变关系与加载速率相关 ;对材料的应力应变实验数据进行拟合发现 ,材料的松弛时间具有很强的应变率相关性 ,当应变率发生数量级变化时 ,材料的松弛时间也发生数量级的变化 .采用内变量理论 ,导出了在单轴应力条件下松弛时间率相关的非线性粘弹性本构关系的迭代形式 ,并给出其收敛条件 .当采取一次迭代形式时 ,本构关系退化为松弛时间率相关的Maxwell模型 .数值拟合的结果表明 ,一次迭代形式的本构关系就可以很好地拟合和预测实验结果 .     

Electrokinetic characterization of a microporous non-commercial polysulfone membrane: phenomenological coefficients and transport parameters

Electrical and electrokinetic phenomena (electrical resistance, streaming potential and membrane potential) in a porous polysulfone membrane was studied in the framework of the linear thermodynamics of irreversible processes and the phenomenological coefficients were determined for different concentrations of NaCl and MgCl₂ solutions (10⁻³M<5×10⁻²M). From experimental values, other characteristic membrane parameters such as the concentration of fixed charge in the membrane (=−3×10⁻³M), the ionic transport numbers and permeabilities through the membrane (t(Na⁺)=0.392 and t(Mg⁺²)=0.363; P(Na⁺)=3.5×l0⁻⁸m/sec and P(Mg⁺²)=2.9×10⁻⁸m/sec) were also obtained. Membrane surface-electrolyte solution interface was characterized by zeta potential values. The effect of both salt concentration and pH on zeta potential results was also studied.     

Structure and properties of (1−x)(0.6Pb(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.4Pb (Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3)-xPbTiO3 thin films with perovskite phase promoted by polyethylene glycol

The preferential formation of a pyrochlore structure is a knotty problem in the preparation of Pb(Zn_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃ (PZN)-based thin film materials and its presence is significantly detrimental to the dielectric and piezoelectric properties. In this study, 40 mol% of PZN was replaced with Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃ (PMN) for obtaining a perovskite composition around a morphotropic phase boundary (MPB), (1−x)(0.6PZN-0.4PMN)-xPT ((1−x)PZMN-xPT, PT: PbTiO₃) where x = 0.23. The thin films with this composition were prepared with a polyethylene glycol (PEG) modi-fied sol-gel method on LaAlO₃ substrates. The microstructural evolution of the films on heat treatment was examined with X-ray diffraction. With the aid of PEG, the formation of the pyrochlore phase was suppressed and the perovskite phase formed directly from the amorphous gel film. The multilayer films with a thickness around 0.25 μm showed a single perovskite phase without any detectable pyrochlore structure. Microscopic images showed uniform grain size of a few tens of nanometers. The role of the polymer dramatically promoting the perovskite phase was investigated with the aid of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and thermal analysis. The dielectric constant of the obtained film was 4160 at 1 kHz. The film demonstrated typical ferroelectric hysteresis loops and exhibited excellent piezoelectric performance.     

Radiolytic unsaturation decay in polyethylene. Part II—the effect of irradiation temperature, thermal history and orientation

The decay rate of vinyl unsaturation in high-density polyethylenes irradiated at temperatures from about 310 to 450 K, changes significantly in the melting range up to the crystalline melting point as does free radical mobility and the polymer crystallinity. However, orienting the polymer, or slow cooling or quenching from the melt, prior to irradiation, do not alter the decay process or its rate, although they do alter the rate of increase of insoluble gel and of elastic modulus in the molten state. It is suggested that, below 340 K, the marked deviations from a first-order decay result from the limited mobility of polymeric free radicals in the crystalline phase and from scavenging, by vinyl groups, segregated into the amorphous phase, of radiolytic hydrogen atoms (H). In the melting range, the mobility of polymeric free radicals increases as the crystallinity decreases, reducing the importance of scavenging, so vinyl decay approximates more closely to a first-order relation. In the melt, the vinyl decay relation is not changed qualitatively by H atom scavenging, but the effective vinyl concentration is lower, so the decay rate drops sharply.     

Optimization of tetramethoxysilane-derived sol gel entrapment protocol stabilizes highly active chlorophyllase

Entrapment of membrane proteins is a challenging task compared to that involving soluble proteins. Chlorophyllase, a membrane protein, was successfully entrapped in tetramethoxysilane-derived sol-gel. Pre-gel sol typically consists of an aqueous suspension of chlorophyllase, precursors including tetramethoxysilane and/or methytrimethoxysilane, and sodium fluoride as catalyst. To obtain a highly active entrapped enzyme preparation, the effects of various immobilization parameters, including the chemical compositions of pre-gel sol (water/silane ratio, precursor type and proportions, enzyme loading, sodium fluoride concentration), and sol-gel process parameters (aging and drying time and approach) have been investigated. Chlorophyllase demonstrated the highest activity in gel derived from a pre-gel sol with water/silane ratio of 30 and enzyme loading of 0.257 mg_protein/g_gel, and showed moderately lower activity in organically modified sol-gel than that in hydrophilic sol-gel. The effects of water/silane ratio and precursor combinations on the activity of entrapped chlorophyllase were also studied by examining the pore morphology of gel via nitrogen adsorption-desorption. Longer aging time leads to an entrapped chlorophyllase preparation with higher activity. Chlorophyllase preparation demonstrated negligible activity after air-drying for 12 h while lyophilized chlorophyllase preparation demonstrated 8, 4 and 4 times higher activity than air-dried, vacuum-dried and solvent-dried preparations. Chlorophyllase demonstrated 30% higher activity in the improved sol-gel protocol than that from a non-optimized sol-gel protocol developed in a previous study.     

Purification of plasmid DNA vectors by aqueous two-phase extraction and hydrophobic interaction chromatography

The current study explores the possibility of using a polyethyleneglycol(PEG)-ammonium sulphate aqueous two-phase system (ATPS) as an early step in a process for the purification of a model 6.1 kbp plasmid DNA (pDNA) vector. Neutralised alkaline lysates were fed directly to ATPS. Conditions were selected to direct pDNA towards the salt-rich bottom phase, so that this stream could be subsequently processed by hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC). Screening of the best conditions for ATPS extraction was performed using three PEG molecular weights (300, 400 and 600) and varying the tie-line length, phase volume ratio and lysate load. For a 20% (w/w) lysate load, the best results were obtained with PEG 600 using the shortest tie-line (38.16%, w/w). By further manipulating the system composition along this tie-line in order to obtain a top/bottom phase volume ratio of 9.3 (35%, w/w PEG 600, 6%, w/w NH4)2 SO4), it was possible to recover 100% of pDNA in the bottom phase with a three-fold increase in concentration. Further increase in the lysate load up to 40% (w/w) with this system resulted in a eight-fold increase in pDNA concentration, but with a yield loss of 15%. The ATPS extraction was integrated with HIC and the overall process compared with a previously defined process that uses sequential precipitations with iso-propanol and ammonium sulphate prior to HIC. Although the final yield is lower in the ATPS-based process the purity grade of the final pDNA product is higher. This shows that it is possible to substitute the time-consuming two-step precipitation procedure by a simple ATPS extraction.     

光降解性聚乙烯薄膜降解过程的表征

用全反射傅里叶红外光谱、Ｘ射线光电子能谱和示差扫描量热仪研究了含光敏剂的低密度聚乙烯薄膜在光降解过程中降解速率的变化规律，结果表明，光降解性聚乙烯薄膜在降解过程初期，降解速率很小，光敏剂显示抗氧化剂性能；降解２４ｈ后，降解速率迅速增加，直至薄膜破坏，光敏剂显示光引发剂性能。作为对比，同时研究了光敏剂和其它两种添加剂对聚乙薄膜光解速率的协同效应和两种添加剂体系显示的性能。     

Interactions of dicarboxylic porphyrins with membranes in relation to their ionization state

The interactions of dicarboxylic porphyrins with membrane systems are discussed with particular emphasis on the effect of the charge of the porphyrin and the nature of the side-chains. The incorporation of hematoporphyrin or related dicarboxylic porphyrins within small unilamellar vesicles as membrane models is favored by a decrease of the pH in the range of physiological pH values. This effect might play an important role in the retention of porphyrins by tumors, which are more acidic than normal tissues. Kinetics studies also show that the partition of the porphyrin between the lipidic bilayer and the aqueous phase is governed by its release rate rather than by its incorporation rate.     

Synthesis and characterisation of poly[2,2-(m-phenylene)-5,5-bibenzimidazole] as polymer electrolyte membrane for high temperature PEMFCs

Intermediate-high molecular weight poly[2,2-(m-phenylene)-5,5-bibenzimidazole] has been produced by mixing 3,3′,4,4′-tetraminobiphenyl and isophthalic acid in polyphosphoric acid as polycondensing agent and triphenyl phosphite as catalyst. Polymers with intrinsic viscosities close to 1 were measured in 97% sulphuric acid. Membranes were prepared by solution casting and subsequently immersed in phosphoric acid in order to gain ionic conductivity. These membranes were characterised by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analyses, methanol permeation and conductivity measurements. Levels of acid and water absorbed by the membranes were measured and the kinetic of this process was studied. Finally, doped membranes were tested in an actual fuel cell setup, obtaining also information about gases crossover from the open circuit potential. Acceptably reproducible molecular weights between 115,000 and 190,000 were obtained allowing the casting of mechanically stable membranes, which showed a great affinity towards phosphoric acid, high thermal stability, and a conductivity of 0.039 S/cm at 190 °C with the membrane equilibrated in saturated air at 60 °C. Open circuit potential of a PBI membrane was 0.99 V, close to those of commercial perfluorinated membranes. A H₂/O₂ fuel cell with dry gases was able to produce a maximum power output of 0.22 W/cm² at 175 °C.