• Clean Technology
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.180-185
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• 2009

The ethylene-propylene rubber (EPDM) scrap generated from automobile weatherstrip manufacturing process was used to make a thermoplastic elastomer through blending with polypropylene. The surface activated EPDM powder was obtained by the high temperature and shear pulverizer. The addition of surfactant resulted in more surface activated EPDM powder and the optimum loading amounts of surfactant was 1.5 phr. Maleic anhydride was grafted onto polypropylene by reactive blending to give functionalized polypropylene. The wetting property between EPDM scrap and polypropylene was improved by the addition of poly (ethylene-co-acrylic acid) as a compatibilizing agent. Poly(ethylene-co-acrylic acid) decreased the surface tension of polypropylene and thus would contribute to the wettability with EPDM powder.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.61-65
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• 2001

Thermoplastic nanocomposites based on the copolymers of polypropylene (PP)-polystyrene (PS) and organically modified montmorillonite (org-MMT) were produced by using power ultrasonic wave in an intensive mixer. Owing to the unique action of the ultrasonic wave, free radicals of styrene monomers and macroradicals of PP were generated, by which copolymers of PP and PS were formed. Another important aspect of using ultrasonic wave during the mixing process was to enhance nano-scale dispersion of org-MMT by destructing the agglomerates of org-MMT in the polymer matrix. Optimum conditions for the in-situ copolymerization and melt intercalation were studied with various concentrations of styrene monomer, sonication time and different kinds of clay. It was found that a novel attempt carried out in this study yielded further improvement in the mechanical performance of the nanocomposites compared to those produced by the conventional melt mixing process.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.60 no.10
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• pp.1881-1887
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• 2011

In this work the recyclable new polyethylene(PE) and polypropylene(PP), which are thermoplastic, have been investigated as the eco-friendly insulating candidates to replace the cross-linked polyethylene (XLPE). The temperature dependence of conductivities of these materials has been measured and its effects on electric field and space charge distribution in polymeric insulated power cable under temperature gradient have been calculated. It is shown that the sensitivity of conductivity to temperature change has more critical influence to determine the electric field distribution in the power cable than the absolute value of conductivity does and it can be said that the temperature dependence is one of most important factors for the power cable design.

• The Korean Journal of Rheology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.57-64
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• 1998

A pultrusion resin impregnation (PRI) die, which has been developed recently in our laboratory, was used to pre-pare various composite system. The continuous fiber reinforced composites of glass fiber/polypropylene(GFPP) and glass fiber/polyamide 6 (GFPA) were first manufactured by means of the PRI die and then cut into chopped pellets of predet-ermined length. These pellets and either virgin or modified thermoplastic resin were melt-mixed by a twin screw extruder to prepare GF/PA/PP and GF/PA/PPMA system. The mechanical properties of these blends were investigated and discussed in terms of their morphological observations. These preliminary results revealed that this new impregnation die could be suc-cessfully applied to produce prepregs suitavle for the final shaping process.

• The Journal of Advanced Prosthodontics
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.453-462
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• 2017

PURPOSE. The purpose of this study was to investigate the in vitro cytotoxicity of thermoplastic denture base resins and to identify the possible adverse effects of these resins on oral keratinocytes in response to hot water/ food intake. MATERIALS AND METHODS. Six dental thermoplastic resin materials were evaluated: three polyamide materials (Smile tone, ST; Valplast, VP; and Luciton FRS, LF), two acrylic materials (Acrytone, AT; and Acryshot, AS), and one polypropylene resin material (Unigum, UG). One heat-polymerized acrylic resin (Vertex RS, RS) was chosen for comparison. After obtaining extracts from specimens of the denture resin materials (${\phi}=10$ mm and d=2 mm) under different extraction conditions ($37^{\circ}C$ for 24 hours, $70^{\circ}C$ for 24 hours, and $121^{\circ}C$ for 1 hour), the extracts (50%) or serial dilutions (25%, 12.5%, and 6.25%) in distilled water were co-cultured for 24 hours with immortalized human oral keratinocytes (IHOKs) or mouse fibroblasts (L929s) for the cytotoxicity assay described in ISO 10993. RESULTS. Greater than 70% viability was detected under all test conditions. Significantly lower IHOK and L929 viability was detected in the 50% extract from the VP ($70^{\circ}C$) and AT ($121^{\circ}C$) samples (P<.05), but only L929 showed reduced viability in the 50% and 25% extract from LF ($37^{\circ}C$) (P<.05). CONCLUSION. Extracts obtained from six materials under different extraction conditions ($37^{\circ}C$, $70^{\circ}C$, and $121^{\circ}C$) did not exhibit severe cytotoxicity (less than 70% viability), although their potential risk to oral mucosa at high temperatures should not be ignored.

• Composites Research
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.68-75
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• 2024

Polypropylene (PP), a thermoplastic resin with excellent mechanical, thermal, chemical, and water resistance properties, has been attracting attention due to its economic efficiency and recyclability. However, repeated processing of thermoplastic resins can lead to property degradation, and the point at which quality degradation occurs varies depending on the processing conditions. In this study, we evaluated the performance changes of composite materials with repeated processing by blending PP resin with various additives and conducting extrusion and injection processes repeatedly. In addition, we evaluated the mechanical properties of composite materials to evaluate the effect of MFI value change during repeated processing on fiber impregnation in composite material processing.

• Composites Research
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.192-198
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• 2021

Due to enormous market growing of electric vehicles without combustion engine, reducing unwanted BSR (buzz, squeak, and rattle) noise is highly demanded for vehicle quality and performance. Particularly, innerbelt weatherstrips which not only block wind noise, rain, and dust from outside, but also reduce noise and vibration of door glass and vehicle are required to exhibit high damping properties for improved BSR performance of the vehicle. Thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs), which can be recycled and have lighter weight than thermoset elastomers, are receiving much attention for weatherstrip material, but TPEs exhibit low material damping and compression set causing frictional noise and vibration between the door glass and the weatherstrip. In this study, high damping EPDM (ethylene-propylene-diene monomer)/PP (polypropylene) thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPV) were investigated by varying EPDM/PP ratio and ENB (ethylidene norbornene) fraction in EPDM. Viscoelastic properties of TPV materials were characterized by assuming that the material damping is directly related to the viscoelasticity. The optimum material damping factor (tanδ peak 0.611) was achieved with low PP ratio (14 wt%) and high ENB fraction (8.9 wt%), which was increased by 140% compared to the reference (tanδ 0.254). The improved damping is believed due to high fraction of flexible EPDM chains and higher interfacial slippage area of EPDM particles generated by increasing ENB fraction in EPDM. The stick-slip test was conducted to characterize frictional noise and vibration of the TPV weatherstrip. With improved TPV material damping, the acceleration peak of frictional vibration decreased by about 57.9%. This finding can not only improve BSR performance of electric vehicles by designing material damping of weatherstrips but also contribute to various structural applications such as urban air mobility or aircrafts, which require lightweight and high damping properties.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.1563-1565
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• 2008

Hydrophobic plastic plates employing nano surface features are injection molded using thermoplastic materials. A variotherm molding process is devised for filling the nano pores and releasing the molded nano features from the master. The size of the molded nano surface features are about 100nm in diameter and 200nm in height. The size of the molded plate is about 30mm x 30mm and the thickness is 1mm. As molding materials, Polypropylene, PMMA, COC and PC are employed, which are all typical commodity thermoplastic materials. The mold temperature(stamper temperature) is investigated as a major processing parameter for molding high aspect ratio nano surface features. Almost fully molded nano features are fabricated above a certain level of mold temperature depends on the employing material. The contact angles on the injection molded plates are measured to estimate the hydrophobicity and found to have higher contact angle up to 180% compared to the blank plate with no surface features.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.86-93
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• 2001

For solving the environmental problem of the waste EPDM and for new TPE blend materials, we developed a new kind of TPE material using a co-rotating twin screw extruder. To improve the mechanical properties of TPE material such as tensile strength, elongation at break, and modulus of the blend, PP and waste EPDM powder were blended with different screw configurations. The mechanical properties of the blends and morphology of the TPE were investigated. As the number of kneading disc and left-handed screw element increased, dynamic vulcanization of the material was increased because the shear stress and residence time of blends increased.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.199-205
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• 2018

Purpose: This study evaluated the effect of nonthermal plasma treatment on the bond strength of autopolymerizing relining resin to the injection molded thermoplastic denture base resins (TDBRs) with different surface treatments. Materials and methods: Acrylic Resin (Acrytone), Polyester (Estheshot-Bright), Polyamide (Valplast) and Polypropylene (Weldenz) were subjected to various surface treatments: No treatment, Nonthermal plasma, Sandblasting, Sandblasting and nonthermal plasma. Specimens were bonded using an autopolymerizing relining resin. Shear bond strength was tested using universal testing machine with crosshead speed of 1 mm/min. Statistical analysis by two-way analysis of variance with Tukey's test post hoc was used. Results: Acrytone showed significantly higher shear bond strength value among other TDBR group while Weldenz had the lowest. The sandblasting and nonthermal plasma condition had significantly higher shear bond strength value in all of the resin groups (P < .05). Conclusion: The use of nonthermal plasma treatment showed limited effect on the shear bond strength between TDBRs and relining resin, and combination of nonthermal plasma and sandblasting improved the shear bond strength between TDBR and reline material.