• Composites Research
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.63-68
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• 2018

Thermoplastic composite has been limitedly used in high performance aerospace industry due to relatively low mechanical properties even though it has various advantages. But, thermoplastic aromatic polymer composite has recently been researched and utilized much. In this study, PEEK and PPS neat resin film as representative thermoplastic aromatic polymer were processed through continuous heating, cooling and reheating cycle. Property change such as glass transition temperature and melting temperature were identified and crystallinity variation by different cooling rate were evaluated. In the first (heating) run, polymer specimens were kept for 5 minutes at higher temperature than melting point to remove previous thermal history, and crystallization reaction was controlled by adjusting cooling rate to 2, 5, 10, 20 and $40^{\circ}C/minute$ in the second (cooling) run. In the third (heating) run, specimen crystallinity were verified by measuring the melting enthalpy. The initial specimens containing high portion of amorphous structure exhibited cold crystallization and clear glass transition in the first run whereas they did not show in the third run due to the increase of crystalline structure portion. As cooling rate decreases through the second cooling run, the crystallinity of the specimen increased. PEEK polymer had 21.9~39.3% crystallinity depending on cooling rate change whereas PPS polymer showed 29.1~31.2%.

• Journal of Astronomy and Space Sciences
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.441-450
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• 2005

The organic material is one of the most popular material for the satellites and the spacecrafts in order to perform the thermal management, and to protect direct exposure from the space environment. The present paper observes material property changes of organic material under the space environment by using ground facilities. One of the representative organic thermal management material of satellites, 2 mil ITO(Indium Tin Oxide) coated aluminized KAPTON was selected for experiments. In order to investigate the single parametric effect of protons in space environment, MC-50 cyclotron system in KIRAMS(Korea Institute of Radiological and Medical Science) was utilized for the ion beam irradiation of protons and ion beam dose was set to the Very Large August 1972 EVENT model, the highest protons occurrence near the earth orbit in history. The energy of ion beam is fixed to 30MeV(mesa electron volt), observed average energy, and the equivalent irradiance time conditions were set to 1-year, 3-year, 5-year and 10-year exposure in space. The procedure of analyses includes the measurement of the ultimate tensile strength for the assessment of quantitative degradation in material properties, and the imaging analyses of crystalline transformation and damages on the exposed surface by FE-SEM(Field Emission Scanning Electron Spectroscopy) etc.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.151-158
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• 2007

MWNTs have been widely investigated due to unique properties of such as good electrical conductivity and thermal stability in polymer composites industries. This paper established the procedure to fabricate PMMA/MWNT composites by a modular intermeshing co-rotating twin screw extruder with L/D ratio of 42. The electrical properties of PMMA/MWNT composites with different content of MWNT have been investigated. A sheet resistance percolation was observed at 4 wt% of MWNT for the melt processed composites. Sheet resistance of PMMA/MWNT composite film containing 4 wt% of MWNT was nearby $10^4{\Omega}/sq$ and this shows the possibility of potential application to EMI (Electronic Magnetic Interference) shielding materials. The characteristics of composites were analyzed by TGA, DSC, and SEM. In addition, MFI (Melt Flow Index) has been measured to analyze the rheological property.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.383-401
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• 2024

The research comprehensively studies the axial compression performance of T-shaped concrete-filled thin-walled steel tubular (CTST) long columns after fire exposure. Initially, a series of tests investigate the effects of heating time, load eccentricity, and stiffeners on the column's performance. Furthermore, Finite Element (FE) analysis is employed to establish temperature and mechanical field models for the T-shaped CTST long column with stiffeners after fire exposure, using carefully determined key parameters such as thermal parameters, constitutive relations, and contact models. In addition, a parametric analysis based on the numerical models is conducted to explore the effects of heating time, section diameter, material strength, and steel ratio on the axial compressive bearing capacity, bending bearing capacity under normal temperature, as well as residual bearing capacity after fire exposure. The results reveal that the maximum lateral deformation occurs near the middle of the span, with bending increasing as heating time and eccentricity rise. Despite a decrease in axial compressive load and bending capacity after fire exposure, the columns still exhibit desirable bearing capacity and deformability. Moreover, the obtained FE results align closely with experimental findings, validating the reliability of the developed numerical models. Additionally, this study proposes a simplified design method to calculate these mechanical property parameters, satisfying the ISO-834 standard. The relative errors between the proposed simplified formulas and FE models remain within 10%, indicating their capability to provide a theoretical reference for practical engineering applications.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.59 no.2
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• pp.51-63
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• 2024

Polypropylene (PP) is a commodity plastic that is widely used owing to its cost-effectiveness, lightweight nature, easy processability, and outstanding chemical and thermomechanical characteristics. However, the imperative to address energy and environmental crises has spurred global initiatives toward a circular economy, necessitating sustainable alternatives to traditional fossil-fuel-derived plastics. In this study, we conducted a series of comparative investigations of bio-based polypropylene (bio-PP) blends with current PP of the same and different grades. An extrusion-based processing methodology was employed for the bio-PP composites. Talc was used as an active filler for the preparation of the composites. A comparative analysis with the current petroleum-based PP indicated that the thermal properties and tensile characteristics of the bio-PP blends and composites remained largely unaltered, signifying the feasibility of bio-PP as a potential substitute for the current PP. To achieve a higher Young's modulus, elongation at break (EAB), and melt flow index (MFI), we prepared different composites of PP of different grades and bio-PP with varying talc contents. Interestingly, at higher biomass contents, the composites exhibited higher MFI and EAB values with comparable Young's moduli. Notably, the impact strengths of the composites with various biomass and talc contents remained unaltered. In-depth investigations through surface analysis confirmed the uniform dispersion of talc within the composite matrix. Furthermore, the moldability of the bio-PP composites was substantiated by comprehensive rheological property assessments encompassing shear rate and shear viscosity. Thus, from these outcomes, the fabricated bio-PP-based composites could be an alternative to petroleum-based PP composites for sustainable automobile applications.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.764-769
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• 2013

Starch was grafted by poly(methyl methacrylate) through the emulsion polymerization method. Modified starch/(acrylonitrile-butadiene rubber) (NBR) compounds were prepared by a latex blend method. The morphology, thermal properties and mechanical properties of the modified starch/carbon black/NBR composites were investigated with the change of starch concentration. The mechanical properties of the composites were improved by the addition of modified starch. But, when the concentration of modified starch was higher than 40 phr, the mechanical properties were deteriorated due to the poor dispersion of modified starch. At the same ratio of starch to carbon black, the composite showed a synergistic reinforcing effect by the good dispersion and high cross-linking density. In addition, the tensile strength, storage modulus, hardness, swelling and other properties were the best.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.168-175
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• 2016

The surface of glass fiber bundle was modified with functionalized silanes and phenolic resin to improve the tensile strength as well as the adhesion of glass fiber to matrix phenolic resin. The surface modification of reinforcing glass fiber can play a significant role in controlling whole composite characteristics. We applied surface modification of glass fiber with two different functionalized silanes, such as glycidyltrimethoxysilane(G-silane) and aminopropyltriethoxysilane (A-silane), and phenol formaldehyde(PF) resin in one pot or separated process under different coating compositions and temperatures. Thermal treatment temperature is very important factor to improve the mechanical properties of modified glass fiber. Modified glass fiber bundle treated at $170^{\circ}C$ showed the highest tensile strength of $10.05g_f/D$. Surface analyses by scanning electron microscope(SEM) and FT-IR spectroscopy were used to characterize the surface coatings on glass fiber bundles. Mechanical property changes as functions of treatment conditions and coupling agent types were also explained.

• Composites Research
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.94-101
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• 2017

Ultra-high temperature ceramics (UHTC) such as $ZrB_2$, ZrC, $HfB_2$, HfC and TaC has been recently actively investigated for the application as components such as nose-cone, rocket nozzle and leading edge of hypersonic systems. However, the application has been limited by various reasons. The brittleness of the materials and consequent low thermal shock resistance is one of the reasons. The property can be improved through the fabrication of ceramic matrix composites. In this paper, the concept of UHTC and the fabrication process and testing of UHTC-based ceramic matrix composites (UHTC-CMC) were briefly reviewed. Also, international activities regarding the fabrication of UHTC-CMC were summarized and a UHTC-CMC project, which was performed in Korea, was introduced.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Railway
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.1059-1066
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• 2009

Recently, the amount of thermosetting plastic wastes has increased with the production of reinforced plastic composites and causes serious environmental problems. The epoxy resins, one of the versatile thermosetting plastics with excellent properties, cannot be melted down and remolded as what is done in the thermoplastic industry. In this research, a series of experiments that decompose epoxy resin and recover carbon fibers from carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composites applied to railway vehicles was performed. We experimentally examined various decomposition processes and compared their decomposition efficiencies and mechanical property of recovered carbon fibers. For the prevention of tangle of recovered carbon fibers, each composites specimen was fixed with a Teflon supporter and no mechanical mixing was applied. Decomposition products were analyzed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), gas chromatography mass spectrometer (GC-MS), and universal testing machine (UTM). Carbon fibers could be completely recovered from decomposition process using nitric acid aqueous solution, liquid-phase thermal cracking and pyrolysis. The tensile strength losses of the recovered carbon fibers were less than 4%.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.39-44
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• 2009

Polymer substrates were fabricated by using poly (phenylene ether) as a base resin, N,N'-m-phenylenedimaleimide (PDMI) as a crosslinking agent and decabromodiphenylethane as a flame retardant. The effects of crosslinking agent and flame retardant on physical properties such as dielectric property of the substrate were investigated. Thermal curing feature of PDMI with or without an initiator was analyzed by DSC, and then, PPE-PDMI test compositions were designed based on this result. Composite sheets were cast by film coater, laminated under vacuum and pressure, and then, the changes of dielectric constant, dielectric loss, peel strength, solder heat resistance and inflammability according to increasing amount of PDMI and flame retardant were evaluated, Dielectric constant and dielectric loss showed increasing trend with increasing amount of PDMI and flame retardant, but solder heat resistance and inflammability were improved. Peel strength was obtained higher than 1 kN/m when PDMI above 10 wt% was added, but slightly decreased as the amount of flame retardant increased. From the measured gel contents, the reaction mechanism of PPE-PDMI system was deduced to the formation of network structure by crosslinking PDMI with PPE rather than the formation of semi-IPN structure. In conclusion, the polymer composite substrate materials with dielectric constant of 2.52$\sim$2.65 and dielectric loss below 0.002 at 1 GHz were obtained and they will be proper for high frequency applications.