• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers P
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• v.57 no.2
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• pp.140-145
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• 2008

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the fabrication of $\beta$-PVDF($\beta$-Polyvinylidene fluoride, ${\beta}-PVF_2$) organic thin films using the vapor deposition method. Vapor deposition was performed under the following conditions: the temperature of evaporator, the applied electric field, and the pressure of reaction chamber were $270^{\circ}C$, 142.4 kV/cm, and $2.0{\times}10^{-5}\;Torr$, respectively. The molecular structure of the evaporated organic thin films were evaluated by a FT-IR. The results showed that the characteristic absorption peaks of $\beta$-form crystal increase from 72% to 95.5% with an increase in the substrate temperature. In the analysis of the electric characteristics, the abnormal increases in the relative dielectric constant and the dielectric loss factor in the regions of low frequency and high temperature are known to be caused by inclusion of impurity carriers in the PVDF organic thin films. In order to analyze quantitatively the abnormalities in the conductivity mechanism caused by ionic impurities, the product of the ion density and the mobility that affect the electrical property in polymeric insulators is analyzed. In the case of a specimen produced by varying the substrate temperature from $30^{\circ}C$ to $105^{\circ}C$, the product of mobility and the ion density decreased from $4.626{\times}10^8$ to $8.47{\times}10^7/V{\cdot}cm{\cdot}s$. This result suggests that the higher the substrate temperature is maintained, the better excluded the impurities are, and the more electrically stable material can be obtained.

• Composites Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.7-15
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• 2016

The quality of polymeric automotive parts depends highly on an injection molding process, which causes various defects, such as warpage, sink marks, weld lines, shrinkage, residual stress, etc. This study is to determine the optimum processing parameters, such as packing pressure, mold temperature, melting temperature, and packing time for the manufacture of polycarbonate buttons in cars on the basis of FEM, the Taguchi method, and analysis of variance (ANOVA). As a result, the optimum processing parameters of buttons made of polycarbonate material were obtained as follows: 140 MPa of packing pressure, $105^{\circ}C$ of mold temperature, $292.5^{\circ}C$ of melting temperature and 1 second of packing time. A gain of S/N (signal to noise) ratio, 10.2, was obtained with the optimum values. Moreover, the melting temperature was found to be the most significant factor followed by the mold temperature.

• Korean Journal of Optics and Photonics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.149-154
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• 2007

Bragg reflecting waveguide devices have been fabricated on a flexible polymer substrate utilizing a post lift-off process which could Provide excellent uniformity of grating Patterns on Plastic film. The 510 m Period Bragg grating pattern is made by two methods. In the first sample the grating is fabricated by exposing the laser interference pattern on a photoresist, and then it is inscribed by $O_2$ plasma etching. The grating pattern of the second sample is formed by a PDMS soft mold imprinting process. The selective adhesion property of SU-8 material for Au and Si surfaces is utilized to prepare a 100-mm thick plastic substrate. Single mode waveguide is fabricated on the plastic substrate using polymer materials with refractive indices of 1.540 and 1.430 for the core and the cladding layers, respectively. The Bragg grating on Plastic substrate does not show any degradation in its spectral response compared to the reference sample made on a silicon wafer.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.44-52
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• 2002

Composite materials are created by combining two or more component to achieve desired properties which could not be obtained with the separate components. The use of reinforcing fillers, which can reduce material costs and improve certain properties, is increasing in thermoplastic polymer composites. Currently, various inorganic fillers such as talc, mica, clay, glass fiber and calcium carbonate are being incorporated into thermoplastic composites. Nevertheless, lignocellulose fibers have drawn attention due to their abundant availability, low cost and renewable nature. In recent, interest has grown in composites made from lignocellulose fiber in thermoplastic polymer matrices, particularly for low cost/high volume applications. In addition to high specific properties, lignocellulose fibers offer a number of benefits for lignocellulose fiber/thermoplastic polymer composites. These include low hardness, which minimize abrasion of the equipment during processing, relatively low density, biodegradability, and low cost on a unit-volume basis. In spite of the advantage mentioned above, the use of lignocellulose fibers in thermoplastic polymer composites has been plagued by difficulties in obtaining good dispersion and strong interfacial adhesion because lignocellulose fiber is hydrophilic and thermoplastic polymer is hydrophobic. The application of lignocellulose fibers as reinforcements in composite materials requires, just as for glass-fiber reinforced composites, a strong adhesion between the fiber and the matrix regardless of whether a traditional polymer matrix, a biodegradable polymer matrix or cement is used. Further this article gives a survey about physical and chemical treatment methods which improve the fiber matrix adhesion, their results and effects on the physical properties of composites. Coupling agents in lignocellulose fiber and polymer composites play a very important role in improving the compatibility and adhesion between polar lignocellulose fiber and non-polar polymeric matrices. In this article, we also review various kinds of coupling agent and interfacial mechanism or phenomena between lignocellulose fiber and thermoplastic polymer.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.1037-1043
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• 2015

Since single-use disposable plastic usage has steadily been increasing, recent trends in polymeric research point to increasing demand for eco-friend materials which reduce plastic waste. A huge amount of non-degradable polypropylene (PP)-based pots for seedling culture are discarded for transplantation. The purpose of this study is to investigate an eco-friendly biodegradable material as a possible substitute for PP pot. The blend of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) with poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) was used because of its good mechanical and flexible properties as well as biodegradation. After landfill, various properties of the blend pot were investigated by UTM, SEM, NMR and TGA. The results showed the tensile strength of the blend film rapidly decreased after 5 weeks of landfill due to degradation. From NMR data after landfill, the composition of PLA in the blend was decreased. These results indicate that the biodegradation of the blend preferentially occurs in PLA component. To investigate the effect of holes in pot bottom and side on root growth, a plant in the pot was grown. Some roots came out through holes as landfill period increases. These results indicate that the eco-friendly pot can be directly planted without the removal of pot.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.02a
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• pp.365-365
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• 2010

Similar to the superhydrophobic surfaces of lotus leaf, water strider leg is attributed to hierarchical structure of micro pillar and nano-hair coated with low surface energy materials, by which water strider can run and even jump on the water surface. In order to mimick its leg, many effort, especially, on the fabrication of nanohairs has been made using several methods such as a capillarity-driven molding and lithography using poly(urethane acrylate)(PUA). However most of those effort was not so effective to create the similar structure due to its difficulty in the fabrication of nanoscale hairy structures with hydrophobic surface. In this study, we have selected a low surface energy polymeric material of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE, or Teflon) assisted with surface modification of CF4 plasma treatment followed by hydrophobic surface coating with pre-cursor of hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) using a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE-CVD). It was found that the plasma energy and duration of CF4 treatment on PTFE polymer could control the aspect ratio of nano-hairy structure, which varying with high aspect ratio of more than 20 to 1, or height of over 1000nm but width of 50nm in average. The water contact angle on pristine PTFE surface was measured as approximately $115^{\circ}$. With nanostructures by CF4 plasma treatment and hydrophobic coating of HMDSO film, we made a superhydrophobic nano-hair structure with the wetting angle of over $160^{\circ}C$. This novel fabrication method of nanohairy structures has been applied not only on 2-D flat substrate but also on 3-D substrates like wire and cylinder, which is similarly mimicked the water strider's leg.

• Proceedings of the Korea Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry Conference
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• 2006.06b
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• pp.271-278
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• 2006

We used polymers of alternating cationic and anionic nature to build up shells on fiber surfaces, strengthen the worn-out fibers and improve paper properties made from such fibers. OCC and ONP pulps were either dipped or salted out in the cationic polyallylamine, polyacrylamide and starch solutions. After centrifugal drying, these were followed by treatments in anionic polyacrylic acid, poly-acrylamide, and starch solutions, respectively. The shell-enhanced fibers were formed into handsheets and their physical properties evaluated. The results show that building multiple shells on worn-out fiber surfaces can strengthen the fibers and paper. The simpler and more practical impregnation-centrifuging treatment provided the desired effects, whereas salting out the polymers produced somewhat superior fibers. The latter process, were impractical, however. The first pair of polymeric shells imparted marked strength improvement, whereas later layers had diminishing efficacies. Overall, the methods can improve fiber quality, attaining paper strength requirements without resorting to expensive measures. Alternate cationic polymer and filler powders were also deposited on fiber surface based on the micriparticle system in an anticipation of stiffness gains. Platy minerals, such as montmorillonite, bentonite, sericite, clay and talc were added following cationic PAM. After dewatering of polymer-pigment shelled fiber of one to 3 pairs of layers, handsheets either calendered or uncalendered were evaluated. The results indicate that regardless of calendaring, stiffness of the handsheets did not improve appreciably while certain other strength properties showed gains. We also attempted the novel starch gel filler addition method wherein tapioca starch and filers (PCC, sericite or clay) were mixed at high solids content of 50% and cooked until gelatinized. The filled handsheets were dried under various conditions and then tested for their properties. Improvements in strengths of modified filled paper were observed.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.433-439
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• 2008

An atmospheric plasma pre-treatment method was applied to polyurethane foam (density: 0.27) and rubber (butadiene rubber) to improve its contact angle and adhesion using atmospheric plate type reactor. In order to investigate the optimum reaction condition of plasma treatment, type of treatment gas (nitrogen, argon, oxygen, air), rate of gas flow ($30{\sim}100\;mL/min$), and treated time ($0{\sim}30\;s$) were examined in a plate plasma reactor. The result of the surface modification with respect to the treatment procedure was characterized by using SEM and ATR-FTIR. Due to a decrease of the contact angle of various materials, the greatest adhesion strength was achieved at optimum condition such as flow rate of 100 mL/min, reaction time of polyurethane foam 10 s and rubber 3 s for an atmosphere nitrogen gas. Consequently, the atmospheric plasma treatment reduced the wettability of the polyurethane foam and rubber also resulted in the improvement of the adhesion.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.58 no.4
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• pp.211-217
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• 2018

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are useful candidates for tissue engineering and cell therapy. Physiological cell environment not only connects cells to each other, but also connects cells to the extracellular matrix that provide mechanical support, thus exposing the entire cell surface and activating signaling pathways. Hydrogel is a polymeric material that swells in water and maintains a distinct 3-dimensional (3D) network structure by cross linking. In this study, we investigated the optimized cellular function for canine adipose tissue-derived MSCs (cAD-MSCs) using hydrogel. We observed that the expression levels of Ki67 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen, which are involved in cell proliferation and stemness, were increased in transwell-hydrogel (3D-TN) compared to the transwell-normal (TN). Also, transforming growth factor-${\beta}1$ and SOX9, which are typical bone morphogenesis-inducing factors, were increased in 3D-TN compared to the TN. Collagen type II alpha 1, which is a chondrocyte-specific marker, was increased in 3D-TN compared to the TN. Osteocalcin, which is a osteocyte-specific marker, was increased in 3D-TN compared to the TN. Collectively, preconditioning cAD-MSCs via 3D culture systems can enhance inherent secretory properties that may improve the potency and efficacy of MSCs-based therapies for bone regeneration process.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.253-261
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• 2021

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is one of the most widely adopted silicon-based organic polymeric elastomers. Elastomeric nanostructures are normally required to accomplish an explicit mechanical role and correspondingly their mechanical properties are crucial to affect device and material performance. Despite its wide application, the mechanical properties of PDMS are yet fully understood. In particular, the time dependent mechanical response of PDMS has not been fully elucidated. Here, utilizing state-of-the-art PeakForce Quantitative Nanomechanical Mapping (PFQNM) together with Force Volume (FV) and Fast Force Volume (FFV), the elastic moduli of PDMS samples were assessed in a time-dependent fashion. Specifically, the acquisition frequency was discretely changed four orders of magnitude from 0.1 Hz up to 2 kHz. Careful calibrations were done. Force data were fitted with a linearized DMT contact mechanics model considering surface adhesion force. Increased Young's modulus was discovered with increasing acquisition frequency. It was measured 878 ± 274 kPa at 0.1 Hz and increased to 4586 ± 758 kPa at 2 kHz. The robust local probing of mechanical measurement as well as unprecedented high-resolution topography imaging open new avenues for quantitative nanomechanical mapping of soft polymers, and can be extended to soft biological systems.