• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
• /
• v.41 no.6
• /
• pp.430-434
• /
• 2004

The values of fracture energy and mechanical flexural strength of Fiber Reinforced Cement (FRC) with polypropylene (PP) fiber modified by Ion Assisted Reaction (JAR), by which functional groups were grafted on the surface of PP fiber, was improved about 2 times as those of fracture energy and flexural strength of cement reinforced by untreated PP fiber. PP fiber was irradiated in O$_2$ environment by Ar$\^$+/ ion. The contact angle of PP treated by IAR decreased largely when compared with untreated PP. From this result, we expected that surface energy and interfacial adhesion force of treated PP fiber increased. The strain hardening occurred in the strain-stress curve of FRC including PP treated by IAR when compared with that of FRC with untreated PP. These enhanced mechanical properties might be due to strong interaction between hydrophilic group on modified PP fiber and hydroxyl group in cement matrix. This hydrophilic group on surface modified PP fiber was confirmed by XPS analysis. We clearly observed hydration products that were fixed at modified PP fiber due to the strong adhesion force of interface in cement reinforced modified PP by SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) study.

• Journal of the Korea institute for structural maintenance and inspection
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.118-125
• /
• 2013

The synthetic fibers including Polyvinyl alcohol and Polyethylene fibers have been successfully used in the manufacture of high ductile fiber reinforced cementitious composites. Polypropylene (PP) fiber has also been used in composites, not for the purpose of achieving a high level of tensile ductility but to improve the fire resistance performance of concrete exposed to high temperatures. This paper discusses the method for enhancing the performance of composites supplemented with PP fiber. Five types of mixture proportions were designed with high volume fly ash for testing the performance of composites. Type I cement and fly ash F were used as binding materials. The water-to-binder ratio was 0.23~0.25, and the amount of PP fiber used was 2 vol%. Polystyrene bead were also used to increase the tensile ductility of composites. A series of experiments including slump, density, compression and uniaxial tension tests were performed to evaluate the performance of cementitious composites supplemented with PP fiber. From the test results, it was exhibited that the performance of composites supplemented with PP fiber can be enhanced by adopting the mechanics and statistics theory.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Building Construction
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.235-243
• /
• 2020

In recent years, the use of high-strength concrete has increased with increasing height and enlarging scale of the buildings However, it has been pointed out that the use of high-strength concrete is the most serious problem compared to ordinary concrete in terms of the spalling of concrete cross sections caused by fires. For this reason, fiber cocktail methods, which are made of polypropylene fibers, nylon fibers, etc., are mainly used to improve the fire resistance performance. However, the majority of research on high-strength concrete to which the fiber cocktail method was applied is mainly focused on the effect of reducing spalling, and few studies have investigated and analyzed the effect of micropores produced by melting PP fibers on the long-term durability of high-strength concrete after a fire. Therefore, in this study, the effect of micropores on the depth of carbonation was examined through carbonation tests and microstructure analysis, assuming high-strength concrete to which fiber-mixed construction method was applied, which caused fire damage.

• Food Science and Preservation
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.767-775
• /
• 2014

The shelf-life of fresh mushrooms is notably limited because their browning, texture change, and decay are too fast after immediately harvest. Especially, the best management for extending golden needle mushroom's shelf-life is modified atmosphere packaging under pressure vacuum at cold storage. In this study, three types of films, $20{\mu}m$ polyethylene+polypropylene (PE+PP), oriented polypropylene (OPP), and low density polyethylene (LDPE) were tested to extend the shelf-life of golden needle mushrooms. Mushrooms were packed under pressure vacuum and stored at $10^{\circ}C$ for 2 weeks. The golden mushrooms in LDPE film as a commercial packaging, were highly perishable and immediately proceed deterioration as browning, elongation, fluctuation of respiratory quotient (RQ) and softening within 7 days after packaging. On the other hand, the mushrooms in OPP and PE+PP film shown that shelf-life were extend to 14 days from 7 days, causing delay breakup of vacuum and maintenance of color, length, and RQ during storage. The breakup of vacuum in PE+PP film was faster few days than OPP film packaging. This present study indicated that the golden needle mushrooms by OPP packaging under pressure vacuum treatment might be extended the shelf-life until approximately 14 days during cold storage.

• Composites Research
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.127-133
• /
• 2022

Polypropylene (PP) has been received great attention as a next-generation high-voltage power cable insulation material that can replace cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE). However, the PP cannot be used alone as an insulation material because of its high elastic modulus and vulnerability to impact, and thus is mainly utilized as a form of a copolymer with rubber phases included in the polymerization step. In this paper, a soft PP-based blend was prepared through melt-mixing of impact PP, polyolefin elastomer, and propylene-ethylene random copolymer. The elastic modulus and impact strength of the blend could properly be decreased or increased, respectively, by introducing elastomeric phases. Furthermore, the blends showed a high storage modulus even at a temperature of 100℃ or higher at which the XLPE loses its mechanical properties. In addition, the blend was found to be effective in suppressing the space charge compared to the pristine PP as well as XLPE.

• Advances in nano research
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.127-140
• /
• 2024

Upon direct/indirect exposure to flame or heat, composite structures may burn or thermally buckle. This issue becomes more important in the natural fiber-based composite structures with higher flammability and lower mechanical properties. The main goal of the present study was to obtain an optimal eco-friendly composite system with low flammability and high thermal buckling resistance. The studied composite consisted of polypropylene (PP) and short abaca fiber (AF) with eggshell powder (ESP) and halloysite clay nanotubes (HNTs) additives. An optimal base composite, consisting of 30 wt.% AF and 70 wt.% PP, abbreviated as OAP, was initially introduced based on burning rate (BR) and the Young's modulus determined by horizontal burning test (HBT) and tensile test, respectively. The effects of adding ESP to the base composite were then investigated with the same experimental tests. The results indicated that though the BR significantly decreased with the increase of ESP content up to 6 wt.%, it had a very destructive influence on the stiffness of the composite. To compensate for the damaging effect of ESP, small amount of HNT was used. The performance of OAP composite with 6 wt.% ESP and 3 wt.% HNT (OAPEH) was explored by conducting HBT, cone calorimeter test (CCT) and tensile test. The experimental results indicated a 9~23 % reduction in almost all flammability parameters such as heat release rate (HRR), total heat released (THR), maximum average rate of heat emission (MARHE), total smoke released (TSR), total smoke production (TSP), and mass loss (ML) during combustion. Furthermore, the combination of 6 wt.% ESP and 3 wt.% HNT reduced the stiffness of OAP to an insignificant amount by maximum 3%. Moreover, the char residue analysis revealed the distinct differences in the formation of char between AF/PP and AF/PP/ESP/HNT composites. Afterward, dilatometry test was carried out to examine the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of OAP and OAPEH samples. The obtained results showed that the CTE of OAPEH composite was about 18% less than that of OAP. Finally, a theoretical model was used based on first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) to predict the critical bucking temperatures of the OAP and OAPEH composite plates. It was shown that in the absence of mechanical load, the critical buckling temperatures of OAPEH composite plates were higher than those of OAP composites, such that the difference between the buckling temperatures increased with the increase of thickness. On the contrary, the positive effect of CTE reduction on the buckling temperature decreased by raising the axial compressive mechanical load on the composite plates which can be assigned to the reduction of stiffness after the incorporation of ESP. The results of present study generally stated that a suitable combination of AF, PP, ESP, and HNT can result in a relatively optimal and environmentally friendly composite with proper flame and thermal buckling resistance with no significant decline in the stiffness.

• Macromolecular Research
• /
• v.17 no.2
• /
• pp.110-115
• /
• 2009

The electrical, morphological and rheological properties of melt and dry mixed composites of poly ethylene (PE)/graphite (Gr), polypropylene (PP)/Gr and PP/nickel-coated carbon fiber (NCCF) were investigated as a function of filler type, filler content and processing temperature. The electrical conductivities of dry mixed PP/NCCF composites were increased with decreasing processing temperature. For the melt mixed PP/NCCF composites, the electrical conductivities were higher than those of the melt mixed PE/Gr and PP/Gr composites, which was attributed to the effect of the higher NCCF aspect ratio in allowing the composites to form a more conductive network in the polymer matrix than the graphite does. From the results of morphological studies, the fillers in the dry mixed PP/NCCF composites were more randomly dispersed compared to those in the melt mixed PP/NCCF composites. The increased electrical conductivities of the dry mixed composites were attributed to the more random dispersion of NCCF compared to that of the melt mixed PP/NCCF composites. The complex viscosities of the PP/Gr composites were higher than those of the PP/NCCF composites, which was attributed to the larger diameter of the graphite particles than that of the NCCF. Furthermore, the fiber orientation in the 'along the flow' direction during melt mixing was attributed to the decreased complex viscosities of the melt mixed PP/NCCF composites compared those of the melt mixed PP/Gr composites.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.6 no.8
• /
• pp.786-795
• /
• 1996

The fiber reinforced thermoplastics(FRTP) were prepared with polypropylene fiber(PP) as matrix and polyvinyl alchol(VF), aramid(KF) or polyamide fiber(PAF) as the reinforcing materials using the integrated fiber mixing apparatus. The reinforced thermoplastic sheets were prepared by com¬pression molding and their morphology, rheological and mechanical properties were characterized. In the morphological properties of composites, the wettability of the reinforced thermoplastics were decreased in proportion to the content of fibers. At low angular frequency, the viscosity of PAF /PP and VF/PP composite was increased with the content of reinforced fiber. However at high frequency the viscosity of composite reinforced with 5~20wt% fiber, was shown the reduced values which approaches that of the neat matrix. The mechanical properties of the composite were changed with the content of reinforecd fiber, and VF/PP and KF/PP composite had better properties than PAF/PP system.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.1361-1366
• /
• 2010

This research aims to develop polymer composites which can be used for PEMFC separators by injection molding process. Considering the moldability and stiffness, we used PPS(Poly(phenylene sulfide)) and PP(Polypropylene) as base resin. In order to improve electrical conductivity and physical properties, we chose glass fiber, carbon fiber, carbon black, and both expanded graphite and synthetic graphite. The 3 type composites are prepared for injection molding of PEMFC separators. and CAE(Computer Aided Engineering) analysis was conducted to optimize injection processing parameters(injection pressure, heat time, mold temperature etc.). We did successfully fabricate the separators by injection molding, and measure the electrical conductivity of the samples by using four point probe device. Conclusively, PP/SG/CB composite showed better both electrical conductivity and moldability than the others.

• Computers and Concrete
• /
• v.14 no.3
• /
• pp.299-313
• /
• 2014

Effects of polypropylene (PP) fibers, steel fibers (SF) and hybrid on the properties of highstrength fiber reinforced self-consolidating concrete (HSFR-SCC) under different volume contents are investigated in this study. Comprehensive laboratory tests were conducted in order to evaluate both fresh and hardened properties of HSFR-SCC. Test results indicated that the fiber types and fiber contents greatly influenced concrete workability but it is possible to achieve self consolidating properties while adding the fiber types in concrete mixtures. Compressive strength, dynamic modulus of elasticity, and rigidity of concrete were affected by the addition as well as volume fraction of PP fibers. However, the properties of concrete were improved by the incorporation of SF. Splitting tensile and flexural strengths of concrete became increasingly less influenced by the inclusion of PP fibers and increasingly more influenced by the addition of SF. Besides, the inclusion of PP fibers resulted in the better efficiency in the improvement of toughness than SF. Furthermore, the inclusion of fibers did not have significant effect on the durability of the concrete. Results of electrical resistivity, chloride ion penetration and ultrasonic pulse velocity tests confirmed that HSFR-SCC had enough endurance against deterioration, lower chloride ion penetrability and minimum reinforcement corrosion rate.