• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.143-150
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• 2007

Hardness of rubbery materials, which is important for dimensional stability and product performance, was investigated upon temperature change in this study. A newly developed IRHD (International Rubber Hardness Degree) tester was used to measure the hardness changes of NR and SBR specimens at various temperatures and the hardness values were compared with the Young's modulus. The harness and Young's modulus of NR and SBR showed an abrupt change near the glass transition temperatures. The hardness and Young's modulus were increased by increasing temperature due to the increased random chain conformation of molecules. The effect of temperature on hardness and Young's modulus of NR and SBR specimens filled with carbon black and silica was decreased by increasing filler content.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.159-167
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• 2007

Hydraulic actuators are used widely for industrial machinery. The seal made from elastomer is used as a core part of the actuator, NBR(nitrile butadiene rubber) materials with high quality of oil resistance and abrasion resistance is used widely, requiring excellent characteristic of sealing. According to applied circumstances, the actuators for industrial machinery are used under different temperature situations. In this study, three different kinds of NBR, which is Hs70, 80, 90 are determined as one of hydraulic materials. An experimental investigation is performed to confirm the non-linearity under different temperature ($-10^{\circ}C,\;20^{\circ}C,\;80^{\circ}C,\;100^{\circ}C$) situation, material constants for finite element analysis and plastic deformation in accordance with Load-unload.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.223-230
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• 2015

Bacterial infection is one of the most common and universal cause of disease spreading associated with medical and surgical environment. Antimicrobial function of plasticized polyvinyl chloride (PVC) will be useful for making hygienic environments. Here, we synthesized the PVC composite by the addition of inorganic bacteriocide containing silver, zinc and zeolite. And we investigated the growth inhibition rate for Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae which were analyzed in the presence of PVC composite with different doses of inorganic bacteriocide (1~15 wt%). Bacterial proliferation was significantly inhibited by 3 wt% of inorganic bacteriocide containing PVC composite. And we found the inhibition of bacterial biofilm formation by 5 wt% of inorganic bacteriocide containing PVC composite by the observation of scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Our data suggested that the antimicrobial effect of inorganic bacteriocide was caused by disturbing the bacterial biofilm formation.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.341-345
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• 2014

In this study, self-actuated photocatalyst that titanium dioxide doped by more than two transition metal was coated PU foam. The antibacterial and antifungal activity of self-actuated photocatalyst coated PU foam was characterized without light. The antibacterial property of self-actuated photocatalyst coated PU foam was shown to be reduced more than 96%, and the antifungal property was shown to be reduced more than 99.9%. The durability of self-actuated photocatalyst coated PU foam tested by Weather-O-meter showed the 7% reduction of formaldehyde decomposition from 96.5% before test to 89.8% after test. The observation of surface of PU foam coated with self-actuated photocatalyst showed that the catalyst was firmly attached to the surface of polyester fiber without separation.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.330-335
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• 2014

Niobium pentoxide ($Nb_2O_5$) nanoparticles were synthesized using niobium (V) chloride and pluronic F108NF as the precursor and templating agent, respectively. The $Nb_2O_5$-graphene nanocomposites were placed in an electric furnace at $700^{\circ}C$ and calcined under Ar atmosphere for 2 h. The morphology, crystallinity, and photocatalytic degradation activity of the samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and UV-vis spectroscopy. The $Nb_2O_5$-graphene nanocomposites acted as a photocatalyst in the photocatalytic degradation of organic dyes under 254 nm UV light; the organic dyes used were methylene blue (MB), methyl orange (MO), rhodamine B (RhB), and brilliant green (BG). The photocatalytic degradation kinetics for the aforesaid dyes were determined in the presence of the $Nb_2O_5$-graphene nanocomposites.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.305-312
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• 2014

Most of military supersonic aircraft use an afterburner. It plays an important role in performing unusual duties for supersonic flight, takeoff, and combat situations. Recently, repetitive fuel leakage from the inner piston packing rubber of afterburner fuel pump in an aircraft J85-GE-21 turbojet engine has happened. These failures have only happened in one manufacturer's parts of two manufacturers. Thus, the cause of these failures was investigated through the comparative analysis for both the failed and the unfailed with two different manufacturers using various analysis methods. The failure analysis was performed using analysis methods such as swelling or swelling ratio, total sulfur content, polymer identification, loading and surface area of carbon black, and hardness. Consequently, the main cause of this failure was identified to be insufficient loading of carbon black as a reinforcing agent, together with small surface area of carbon black and somewhat low sulfur content.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.293-304
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• 2014

Rubber air spring (RAS) is a special suspension device for the industries of automobile, railroad car and other transportation. A RAS serves as a spring component with the elastic effect of compression and expansion of air in a composite rubber bag. The main component of RAS is the rubber sleeve. Rubber sleeve is the composite which is made up of combination of chloroprene rubber (CR) and nylon 6 cord, and the adhesive strength between CR and nylon 6 cord is very important. In this study, considering the effects of additives in rubber sleeve, various physical properties were tested to find the optimal combination of composition and conditions. Further, in order to select the optimum orientation of the reinforcing fibers, numerical analysis was performed using the finite elements method. After assembling all components of RAS, it was mounted on an actual vehicle, and then it was tested air leakage, fatigue life and fundamental properties.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.284-292
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• 2014

Polymer has low mechanical strength than metal. In particular, the impact strength is very weak. Impact modifier reinforced polymers are frequently used. Impact strength of reinforced polymer is changed according to content and distribution of impact modifier. In this study, izod impact test has been simulated to analyze the mechanism of impact modifier reinforced Nylon 6. Computational results were compared for numbers and distributions of impact modifier. As the total volume of rubber particles decreased, the stress at the notch increased for the simulation model that the volume decreases as particle number increases. As the surface area of particle sphere increased, the stress and difference of principle stress increased for the simulation model that the total surface increases as particle number increases.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.275-283
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• 2014

Butyl rubber is used as an adhesive and it is mainly used in the form of sheets. The goal of this study is to design an extrusion die for the butyl rubber sheets using computer simulation. The extrusion die for the butylrubber sheets consists of manifold area and land area. In the manifold area, flows are spread from the entrance of the extrusion die to the land area. In the land area, flows become stable to the flow direction and uniform sheet can be obtained. Island area is being installed in the land area to get uniform flow. Four parameters, angle of manifold, length of manifold, length of land and island, were examined in the computer simulation. The optimum geometry of the extrusion die is derived which has a uniform flow in the width direction of the die.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.267-274
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• 2014

Self vulcanizable blend system for magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) has been studied by dispersing magneto responsible particle (MRP) on elastomeric matrix. Chloroprene rubber was modified with maleic anhydride (MAH) using heat and pressure which is called dynamic maleation process. The optimum graft ratio of MAH was found at 10 phr contents and reaction temperature of $100^{\circ}C$. This could be confirmed by FT-IR analysis. Epoxided natural rubber (ENR) was blended with modified CR-g-MAH for self vulcanization. The optimum amounts of ENR was 30 wt% in terms of scorch time and curing rate. MRE was manufactured by electromagnetic equipment and orientation of MRE was confirmed by SEM. Finally, it was found that the tensile strength of anisotropic-MRE was higher than that of isotropic-MRE and the hardness was reverse.