• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.217-221
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• 2012

Blending films having enhanced water-resistance and barrier properties were prepared using the mixtures of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) aqueous solution and poly(ethylene-co-acrylic acid) (EAA) dispersed in water. Thermal-mechanical properties, contact angles, water-vapor transmission rates (WVTR) and oxygen transmission rates $(O_2TR)$ were measured with the content of EAA of blending films, and their water-resistance was evaluated. The tensile strength of the films was found to be $9.16{\sim}11.75\;kg/mm^2$ which showed no significant difference compared with that of PVA, and the hardness increased with the content of EAA. The glass transition temperature and melting temperature of the blending films were slightly improved. The film prepared with PVA/EAA (= 90/10), of which the swelling and solubility were measured to be 109 and 0%, respectively, showed improved water-resistance. The WVTR and $O_2TR$ for the PET film (thickness $50\;{\mu}m$) coated with PVA/EAA (= 90/10) film (thickness $2.5\;{\mu}m$) were measured to be $9.1\;g/m^2/day$ and $2.0\;cc/m^2/day$, respectively.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.272-279
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• 2012

The neutral polymer, poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA), was coated onto polyamide (PA) thin film composite reverse osmosis (RO) membranes. And then these membranes were investigated for the model foulants, bovine serum albumin (BSA), humic acid (HA), and sodium alginate (SA) whether there are aome improvement. As the operating pressure increased with 2, 4, 8 atm for BSA, HA and SA 100 ppm in feed solution, the fouling phenomena was worse for both none and PSSA coated membranes. The fouling occurred in the sequence of BSA > HA > SA due to the interactions between PVA snd functional groups of foulants, and on the other hand the fouling reduction was observed in the order of HA > BSA > SA. The observation of scanning electron microscopy photographs showed the same trend. As a result, there should be the improvement of fouling phenomena for the PVA coated RO membranes and the case of HA was shown distinct.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.820-828
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• 2000

In this study, biaxially oriented film process was used to improve barrier property of polypropylene (PP)/ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH) blends by inducing a laminar morphology of the dispersed phase in the matrix phase. In order to examine the extent of deformation during melt extrusion process, the rheological properties of the resins were measured and the viscosity ratio of the dispersed phase to the continuous phase was determined. The effects of compatibilizer content, draw ratio, and draw temperature on the oxygen permeability and morphology of biaxially drawn blend films were studied. The laminar morphology of the EVOH phase with a larger area of thinner layer induced by biaxial orientation was found to result in a significant increase in oxygen barrier property of PP/EVOH (85/15) blends by about 10 times relative to the pure PP When both PP-g-MAH and ionomer were used as the compatibilizers, there existed an optimum level of compatibilizer content for obtaining improved barrier properties with a well developed laminar structure. In addition, higher draw ratio and draw temperature were found to be more favorable processing conditions in obtaining higher barrier blends.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.225-231
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• 2013

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hybrid films containing 5 wt% pristine clay mineral were synthesized in the water solution. The various PVA hybrid films were synthesized from structurally different pristine clays: saponite (SPT), montmorillonite (MMT), hectorite (SWN), hydrophilic bentonite (PGV), and mica (Mica). The thermo-optical properties and morphologies of the PVA hybrid films were evaluated with various pristine clays. The nanostructure of the hybrid films was observed using transmission electron microscopy, which showed that the clay layers were well dispersed into the matrix polymer, although some clusters or agglomerated particles were also detected. The addition of pristine clay was more effective with regard to improving the thermal properties and gas barrier characteristics, whereas the optical transparency of the PVA hybrid films deteriorated with pristine clay.

• Clean Technology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.45-52
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• 1999

Recycling of red mud from the aluminium manufacturing process was investigated to be utilized as plastic fillers. High density polyethylene(HDPE), low density polyethylene(LDPE) and polypropylene(PP) were found to be the suitable plastic material for which red mud can be used as fillers. With the addition of red mud the plastic showed red brown color. As the ratio of amount of red mud to plastic increased, the tensile strength increased while the Izod impact strength decreased. About five percent of ethylene vinyl alcohol(EVA) was needed as an additive to prevent the lowering of impact strength. Maleic anhydride modified polypropylene was effective for reduction of impact strength lowering of PP. Mixed waste plastics containing LDPE, HDPE, PP, polystyrene and ABS could also accommodate red mud as fillers. In this case, significant loss in mechanical properties were observed due to immiscibility between the components. Ethylene propylene rubber(EPR) and styrene butadiene styrene block copolymer (SBS) could be used to improve the impact properties of the commingled waste plastics.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.225-231
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• 2014

In this study, we used polypropylene grafted with itaconic acid (PP-g-IA) as a compatibilizer to prevent phase separation phenomenon which occurs upon blending polypropylene (PP) and ethylene-vinyl alcohol copolymer (EVOH). A compatibilizer was prepared using graft copolymerization of itaconic acid (IA) onto PP where input ratio of IA was 1, 2, 5, and 10 wt.%. To confirm the structure of PP-g-IA and the graft ratio of IA onto PP, we used $^1H$ NMR and FT-IR. We tested the compatibilizer which has highest graft ratio of 1% in immiscible PP/EVOH blends. The morphologies of PP/PP-g-IA/EVOH blends were analyzed by SEM. Thermal and mechanical properties of the blends were analyzed by DSC and UTM. PP-g-IA enhanced the interfacial adhesion of PP and EVOH copolymer.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.105-110
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• 2014

It is required to improve the efficiency and the reliability of the polymer solar cells (PSCs) as the energy saving optical device for the future application of the smart farm facilities. In this study, we fabricated the bulk hetero junction PSCs with organic passivation film layer for the reliability improvement of the devices. The effects of the passivation layer on the electrical properties of the PSCs were studied. The materials of passivation layer are composed of poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) and ammonium dichromate, and the passivation films were fabricated by the spin coating method on the P3HT:$PC_{61}BM$/LiF/Al substrate. The prepared structure of the device is the glass/ITO/PEDOT:PSS/P3HT:$PC_{61}BM$/LiF/Al/passivation layer. The performances of the PSCs with the organic passivation film showed better electrical properties compared with the PSCs without passivation layers. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) values of passivated PSCs decreased from 3.0 to 1.3% after air exposure for 140 hrs. In contrast, the PCE values for the devices without passivation decreased sharply from 3.5 to 0.1% under the same exposure condition.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.431-449
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• 2020

Structural property of most hydrogels is soft, resulting in low mechanical performance that limits their usage in the biomedical applications. For overcoming the drawback, cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) were adopted in this study. Effects of CNCs on characteristics and drug delivery performance of poly (vinyl alcohol) based hydrogels were explored. FT-IR results showed that the fabricated hydrogels had semi-IPN (semi-interpenetrating polymer network) by formation of acetal and aldehyde bridge. Water absorption and swelling ratio decreased with increasing CNCs content, and the hydrogels with CNCs showed better viscoelastic performance than the without CNCs. Also, CNCs mostly improved the ability of the hydrogel to absorb the drug and the sustainability of the drug release. These results demonstrated that incorporating CNCs into the hydrogel systems can be a good alternative to improve drug delivery performance and mechanical property of the hydrogels.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.587-592
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• 2013

In this study, we prepared pelletized porous carbon adsorbent (PCA) according to the different pyrolysis temperature using activated carbon and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as a binder for the removal of toluene, which is one of the representative volatile organic compounds (VOCs). We investigated physical characteristics of PCA using FE-SEM, BET, TGA and evaluated their adsorption capacity for toluene using GC. It was confirmed that the formability of pellets composed of the activated carbon, PVA and solvent of mass mixing ratio was 1 : 0.2 : 0.8 was the most outstanding. Toluene adsorption capacity was evaluated by measuring the maximum time when more than 99% of toluene adsorbed on the pellet. The specific surface area of the adsorbent pyrolyzed at $300^{\circ}C$ was measured as 4.7 times in $941.9m^2/g$ compared to that of the unpyrolyzed pellet. Micropore volume and toluene adsorption capacity of PCA increased fivefold to be 0.30 cc/g and thirteenfold to be 26 hours compared to that of the unpyrolyzed pellet, respectively. These results were attributed to the change of pore size and specific surface area due to the PVA content and the different pyrolysis temperature.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.129-138
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• 2012

The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effectiveness of experimental 2.26% fluoride-polyvinyl alcohol (F-PVA) tape in inhibition of enamel demineralization using enamel surface microhardness (SMH) analysis and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examination. Enamel specimens (n=60) randomly assigned to four groups: control group, F-PVA tape group, fluoride varinish (F-varnish) group, casein phosphopeptide-amorphous calcium phosphate (CPP-ACFP) group. After topical application, pH-cycling was processed. Then, SMH was measured and the percentage loss of surface microhardness (%SML) was calculated. For the SEM examination, five sample specimens in each group were treated and the morphologic character was evaluated. After pH-cycling, the SMH values of the enamel specimens of F-PVA tape and F-varnish group were significantly higher than that of CPP-ACFP group, there was no significant difference between F-PVA tape and Fvarnish group. With SEM examination, enamel surfaces in the F-PVA tape group and F-varnish group showed numerous spherical and ovoid crystals formed on the enamel surface were also observed. The density of crystals was higher than that of both control group and CPP-ACFP group. F-PVA tape is effective in inhibition of enamel demineralization. Also, F-PVA tape's inhibition of enamel demineralization is comparable to that of F-vanish and greater than that of CPP-ACFP.