Synergic Enhancement of High-density Polyethylene through Ultrahigh Molecular Weight Polyethylene and Multi-flow Vibration Injection Molding: A Facile Fabrication with Potential Industrial Prospects

General-purpose plastics with high strength and toughness have been in great demand for structural engineering applications. To achieve the reinforcement and broaden the application scope of high-density polyethylene(HDPE), multi-flow vibration injection molding(MFVIM) and ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene(UHMWPE) are synergistically employed in this work. Herein, the MFVIM has better shear layer control ability and higher fabrication advantage for complex parts than other analogous novel injection molding technologies reported.The reinforcing effect of various filling times and UHMWPE contents as well as the corresponding microstructure evolution are investigated.When 5 wt% UHMWPE is added, MFVIM process with six flow times thickens the shear layer to the whole thickness. The tensile strength and modulus increase to 2.14 and 1.39 times, respectively, compared to neat HDPE on the premise of remaining 70% impact strength. Structural characterizations indicate that the enhancement is attributed to the improvement of shish-kebab content and lamellae compactness, as well as related to the corresponding size distributions of undissolved UHMWPE particles. This novel injection molding technology with great industrial prospects provides a facile and effective strategy to broaden the engineering applications of HDPE materials. Besides, excessive UHMWPE may impair the synergistic enhancement effect, which is also reasonably explained.     

A new high frequency dynamic mechanical analysis system: An approach to direct high frequency testing of tire tread rubber

Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA) systems are measurement devices for obtaining master curves and complex modules of viscoelastic materials, such as rubbers. The conventional DMAs measurement systems in market have several limitations, which restrict their ability for operating at high frequencies. Thus, Williams, Landel and Ferry (WLF) relation is used to produce master curves and predict the material properties at high frequencies. In conventional DMAs, experiments are done in a range of temperatures, and then a master curve is made for a chosen reference temperature by shifting the measurements data to high frequencies. Therefore, the obtained results, which are not based on direct measurements, can be inaccurate. In order to overcome this problem a new simple shear high-frequency DMA (HFDMA) system is designed and built to directly measure the dynamic mechanical properties of viscoelastic material at high frequencies and the strain levels sufficient for tire manufacturers. The new HFDMA can be used to test any viscoelastic materials which have glass transmission temperature (Tg) lower than room temperature (about 23 °C) such as the Styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR). The SBR is the base material for tire tread. The designing process of this new HFDMA is presented in this paper. The rubber specimen shape is chosen by taking into account the shear elastic wave effect, bending, buckling effect and heat generation in the specimen. The repeatability test is accomplished to ensure that the results obtained from the new HFDMA are repeatable and the repeatability uncertainty is about 0.04%. The new HFDMA is validated by comparing to the direct test results of conventional DMA at 100 Hz. The direct high frequency (5 kHz) complex shear modulus and damping factor are compared with the master curve of the conventional DMA developed by the use of WLF relation for SBR. This comparison revealed that the complex shear modulus and damping factor of the SBR obtained from the HFDMA at 5 kHz and 0.05% strain amplitude are about 7% and 6.5% higher than those obtained from the conventional DMA, respectively.     

Influence of aspect ratio and arrangement direction on the shear behavior of ellipsoids

This work studies the macroscopic and microscopic behaviors of ellipsoids under triaxial tests using 3D discrete element method (DEM) simulation. To avoid the boundary effect, a novel stress servo-controlled periodic boundary condition is proposed to maintain the confining pressure of samples during testing. The shape features of ellipsoids are investigated, including the aspect ratio of elongated/oblate ellipsoids and the initial arrangement directions of ellipsoids. The macroscopic properties of ellipsoidal particle samples, such as the deviatoric stress, volumetric strain, internal friction angle, as well as dilatancy angles are explored. Elongated and oblate ellipsoids with varying aspect ratios are investigated for the occurrence of stick-slips. In addition, it is demonstrated that the initial arrangement direction has a significant impact on the coordination number and contact force chains. The corresponding anisotropy coefficients of the entire contact network are analyzed to probe the microscopic roots of macroscopic behavior.     

Preparation and Performance of Thickened Liquids for Patients with Konjac Glucomannan-Mediated Dysphagia

The present study sought to characterize the rheological and thickening properties of Konjac glucomannan (KGM) and prepare thickening components for special medical purposes using KGM and maltodextrin as the primary raw materials and guar gum (GG), xanthan gum (XG), locust bean gum (LBG), and carrageenan (KC) as the supplemented materials. The formulation and preparation processes were optimized through single factor experiments taking sensory evaluation as an indicator. The results confirm that KGM had excellent thickening performance, reaching about 90 times its own mass. The optimal formulation process of the thickening components based on KGM was as follows: the mass concentration of the compound thickener (KGM/GG/XG/LBG/KC = 13:2:2:2:1) was 5.0–7.0 mg/mL; the maltodextrin concentration was 10.0 mg/mL; the brewing temperature of the thickening component was 60 °C with no restriction on consumption time. The rheology test results revealed that the thickening components had shear thinning characteristics, which could provide three different thickening effects of nectar-thick level (350 mPa·s), honey-thick level (1250 mPa·s), and pudding-thick level (1810 mPa·s) suitable for people with different degrees of chewing disorders. Overall, this study provides a theoretical basis and technical reference for KGM as a dietary nutrition support for patients with dysphagia.     

剪切历史对尼龙熔体结晶行为的影响

采用差示扫描量热法研究了原始聚酰胺材料在经历不同的预剪切过程或应用不同设备进行剪切后其结晶行为的变化,结果表明,原始样品经过预剪切后,结晶温度升高5～10℃,半结晶时间降低到原始样品的一半.当聚酰胺材料经历很低的剪切时其结晶温度就有很大的提高,进一步提高剪切强度,结晶温度的增加趋势变缓.偏光显微镜观察表明有剪切历史的样品,球晶尺寸减小.作为对此,聚烯烃和聚酯材料的结晶对剪切历史不敏感,剪切与非剪切样品的结晶行为基本相同,据此推测聚酰胺分子间氢键可能是这种剪切记忆效应产生的原因.     

剪切对玻璃珠填充聚丙烯结晶行为的影响

应用Linkam CSS450剪切仪、广角X射线衍射仪(WAXD)和小角X射线散射仪(SAXS)等研究了剪切对玻璃珠填充聚丙烯结晶行为的影响, 结果表明, 与纯聚丙烯相比, 填加玻璃珠的聚丙烯体系中, 玻璃珠起到成核剂的作用, 不利于β晶的生成. 玻璃珠直径较小(4 μm)时, 剪切对聚丙烯β晶的生成影响较小; 当玻璃珠直径增加到35 μm时, 剪切速率为20 s-1左右最有利于β晶生成; 剪切速率和玻璃珠直径的增加, 有利于聚丙烯片晶的取向, 而且玻璃珠含量越高, 片晶的取向程度越大.     

Hydrodynamic diffusivity of spherical particles in polymer solution

In this research experiments were performed to examine the hydrodynamic diffusion of spherical particles in a highly filled suspension. The suspension consisted of nearly monodisperse polymethylmethacrylate spheres in a density matched polymer solution. The polymer solution was prepared by dissolving 0–700 ppm of polyacrylamide in a mixture of ethyleneglycol and glycerine. The polymer solution did not show appreciable shear thinning. The particle loading was varied from 30 to 55%. The hydrodynamic diffusivity was estimated by measuring the time-dependent viscosity when the suspension was subjected to a circular Couette flow with an air bubble trapped under the rotor of the Couette apparatus. The results show that the dimensionless diffusivity (D/γ˙a ²) of particles in polymer solution is not proportional to shear rate (γ˙), as in the case of a Newtonian fluid, but that it decreases with increasing shear rate. The diffusivity also decreases with increasing polymer concentration. It is suggested that the elongational thickening behaviour and the increased lubrication force due to the first normal stress difference may be responsible for the reduction of diffusivity in the polymer solution. Received: 18 January 2000 Accepted: 6 April 2000     

剪切作用下纳米粘土对LDPE熔体粘弹响应的影响

以LDPE/EVA/纳米粘土复合体系为研究模型,考察了剪切作用下,分散良好的纳米粘土对聚合物基体熔体稳态及瞬态粘弹响应的影响.发现剪切作用下,纳米粘土增加了聚合物熔体粘弹特性对剪切速率、剪切应变及剪切作用史的依赖性,改变了相应的依赖关系.稳态剪切时,纳米粘土的加入使体系第一法向应力差(N1)在低剪切速率区变为负值,而在高剪切速率区N1与粘土的含量无关;同时就瞬态剪切应力及N1的应变依赖关系而言,复合体系明显不同于聚合物基体;预剪切对聚合物基体瞬态粘弹响应几乎没有影响,而当纳米粘土的加入量大于3wt%后,与未经预剪切的样品相比较,经预剪切的复合体系的瞬态剪切应力值、应力过冲程度以及稳态剪切应力值均明显下降,且预剪切前后复合体系达到稳态时其瞬态剪切应力差值随纳米粘土含量的增高而线性增加.此外,纳米粘土的添加对聚合物熔体受剪切作用的非线性粘弹响应存在影响.复合体系熔体呈现特异非线性粘弹响应,其缘由被认为是由于纳米粘土在聚合物基体中剥离分散,或聚合物分子链插层于粘土片层间,形成局部有序结构,受剪切作用而排列取向.     

Three-dimensional numerical simulation of drops suspended in simple shear flow at finite Reynolds numbers

A three-dimensional study of suspension of drops in simple shear flow has been performed at finite Reynolds numbers. Results are obtained using a finite difference/front tracking method in a periodic domain. The effects of the Reynolds number and the Capillary number are addressed at two volume fractions: 0.195 and 0.34. It is observed that suspensions of deformable drops exhibit a shear-thinning behavior. Similar to the motion of a single drop, drops migrate away from the walls. The effective viscosity, the first and the second normal stress differences oscillate around a mean value in all cases. The first normal stress difference increases with the Capillary number, the Reynolds number and the volume fraction. Results show that drops deform more and orient more in the flow direction as the Capillary number or the volume fraction is increased. Also, the average size of clusters is smaller than for suspension of rigid particles. The radial dependence of the pair distribution function across the channel has been studied. This dependency shows that the tendency to form clusters is reduced as the Capillary number increases or the volume fraction decreases.     

Doppler effects of an oscillating line source in shear flow with a free surface

The linearised water-wave radiation problem for the oscillating 2D submerged source in an inviscid shear flow with a free surface is investigated analytically. There is a nonzero surface velocity. The depth is infinite and the vorticity is uniform. The amplitudes radiated from the source are calculated analytically. Due to Doppler effects, there may be up to four different emitted waves, and there is resonance with zero group velocity and infinite amplitude.