• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.90-95
• /
• 2014

Nylon66 extrudates as a function of the extrusion number were prepared by a twin screw extruder. Chemical structures, thermal properties, melt index, crystal structures, mechanical properties such as the tensile strength, elongation at break and impact strength, and rheological property were measured by FT-IR, $^1H$-NMR, melt indexer, DSC, TGA, XRD, universal tensile tester, Izod impact tester, and rheometer. FT-IR and $^1H$-NMR characterizations indicated that the number of extrusions did not affect the chemical structure. The decrease in the molecular weight was checked by the melt index of extrudates. There were no effects of the thermal history on the melting and degradation temperature. The tensile and impact strength and modulus were found to be similar, regardless of the number of extrusions, but the elongation decreased significantly. The complex viscosity of extrudates at low frequencies decreased with the extrusion number. No structural changes after extrusion were confirmed from the fact that there was no change in the slope and shape of G'-G" plot.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
• /
• v.48 no.2
• /
• pp.34-45
• /
• 2016

Global warming and climate change have been caused by combustion of fossil fuels. The greenhouse gases contributed to the rise of temperature between $0.6^{\circ}C$ and $0.9^{\circ}C$ over the past century. Presently, fossil fuels account for about 88% of the commercial energy sources used. In developing countries, fossil fuels are a very attractive energy source because they are available and relatively inexpensive. The environmental problems with fossil fuels have been aggravating stress from already existing factors including acid deposition, urban air pollution, and climate change. In order to control greenhouse gas emissions, particularly CO2, fossil fuels must be replaced by eco-friendly fuels such as biomass. The use of renewable energy sources is becoming increasingly necessary. The biomass resources are the most common form of renewable energy. The conversion of biomass into energy can be achieved in a number of ways. The most common form of converted biomass is pellet fuels as biofuels made from compressed organic matter or biomass. Pellets from lignocellulosic biomass has compared to conventional fuels with a relatively low bulk and energy density and a low degree of homogeneity. Thermal pretreatment technology like torrefaction is applied to improve fuel efficiency of lignocellulosic biomass, i.e., less moisture and oxygen in the product, preferrable grinding properties, storage properties, etc.. During torrefacton, lignocelluosic biomass such as palm kernell shell (PKS) and empty fruit bunch (EFB) was roasted under an oxygen-depleted enviroment at temperature between 200 and $300^{\circ}C$. Low degree of thermal treatment led to the removal of moisture and low molecular volatile matters with low O/C and H/C elemental ratios. The mechanical characteristics of torrefied biomass have also been altered to a brittle and partly hydrophobic materials. Unfortunately, it was much harder to form pellets from torrefied PKS and EFB due to thermal degradation of lignin as a natural binder during torrefaction compared to non-torrefied ones. For easy pelletization of biomass with torrefaction, pellets from PKS and EFB were manufactured before torrefaction, and thereafter they were torrefied at different temperature. Even after torrefaction of pellets from PKS and EFB, their appearance was well preserved with better fuel efficiency than non-torrefied ones. The physical properties of the torrefied pellets largely depended on the torrefaction condition such as reaction time and reaction temperature. Temperature over $250^{\circ}C$ during torrefaction gave a significant impact on the fuel properties of the pellets. In particular, torrefied EFB pellets displayed much faster development of the fuel properties than did torrefied PKS pellets. During torrefaction, extensive carbonization with the increase of fixed carbons, the behavior of thermal degradation of torrefied biomass became significantly different according to the increase of torrefaction temperature. In conclusion, pelletization of PKS and EFB before torrefaction made it much easier to proceed with torrefaction of pellets from PKS and EFB, leading to excellent eco-friendly fuels.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.52 no.3
• /
• pp.382-387
• /
• 2014

The PC/ABS blends were manufactured with high shear rate processing. Changes of the blend morphology were analyzed according to the screw speed and processing time. To find optimal conditions of the high shear rate processing of the PC/ABS blend, blend morphology and size of the dispersed phase, ABS, were observed with a SEM. Also, tensile properties of the PC/ABS blends were measured to investigate the effect of the high shear rate process with the screw speed of 500 rpm to 3000 rpm for processing times of 10s to 40s. Especially, to observe the dispersed phase of the PC/ABS blend clearly, fracture surfaces of the PC/ABS blend were etched with chromic acid solution. As screw speed and processing time increase, dispersed phase size of the PC/ABS blend decreases and mechanical properties of the blend decrease as well. Especially, at screw speed over than 1000 rpm of high shear rate processing, mechanical properties of the PC/ABS blends decrease drastically due to the degradation of the blend during the high shear rate processing. Consequently, the optimal condition of screw speed of the high shear processing of the PC/ABS blend is set at 1000rpm, in this study. Under optimal condition, the PC/ABS blend has relatively high mechanical properties with the relatively stable micro-structure having nanometer scale dispersed phase.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Nondestructive Testing
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.220-225
• /
• 2014

Generally, the nonlinearity of ultrasonic waves is measured using a nonlinear parameter ${\beta}$, which is defined as the ratio of the second harmonic's magnitude to the power of the fundamental frequency component after the ultrasonic wave propagates through a material. Nonlinear parameter ${\beta}$ is recognized as an effective parameter for evaluating material degradation. In this paper, we evaluated the nonlinear parameter of Al6061-T6 which had been subjected to an artificial aging heat treatment. The measurement was using the transmitted signal obtained from contact-type transducers. After the ultrasonic test, a micro Vickers hardness test was conducted. From the result of the ultrasonic nonlinear parameter, the microstructural changes resulting from the heat treatment were estimated and the hardness test proved that these estimates were reasonable. Experimental results showed a correlation between the ultrasonic nonlinear parameter and microstructural changes produced by precipitation behavior in the material. These results suggest that the evaluation of mechanical properties using ultrasonic nonlinear parameter ${\beta}$ can be used to monitor variations in the mechanical hardness of aluminum alloys in response to an artificial aging heat-treatment.

• Polymer(Korea)
• /
• v.30 no.3
• /
• pp.259-265
• /
• 2006

Small intestinal submucosa (SIS) consists of some growth factors which can stimulate cell activity, and PVA has been widely utilized in the area of wound dressing as hydrogel which is easy to be removed from wounds. In this study, native SIS sheets were coated with PVA by immersing them into 2, 4, and 10 wt% of PVA solution and then lyophilized on two type of molds to endow the prepared wound dressing with easy removal property from wounds. The mechanical properties were examined through tensile test. Moreover, enzymatic degradation, water uptake, and in vitro test were carried out to characterize the prepared SIS sheets. The tensile strength of the SIS sheets coated with PVA (PVA-SIS) were decreased, whereas the elongation were increased. Degradation ratio of the PVA-SIS sheets was decreased compare to native SIS. Water uptake ability was improved at 2 and 4 wt% of PVA. The degree of fibroblast attachment was lower than the native SIS sheets. In conclusion, this study suggests that the PVA coated SIS sheets have a potential for the applications of wound dressing and biodegradable injectable materials.

• Progress in Medical Physics
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.205-209
• /
• 2014

Medical polymers require sterilization and must be able to maintain material properties for a specified shelf life. Sterilization can be achieved by using gamma or e-beam exposure. In this study, accelerated aging tests of poly(ether-block-amide) (PEBA) copolymer samples is presented. PEBA copolymer samples with different polyether content that result in Shore hardness of 35D to 72D, were sterilized using e-beam radiation followed by accelerated aging at $55^{\circ}C$. E-beam sterilization effect on molecular weight and mechanical property has performed and analyzed. The average molecular weight significantly reduced as a result of ageing. The enlarged proportion of low molecular weight chains in the aged samples is consistent with the generation of degradation products produced by oxidative chain scission. Also E-beam materials have shown decreased tensile strength and elongation. Overall, this study demonstrated that the medical grade PEBA was significantly affected by radiation exposure over aging time, particularly at high irradiation doses. For medical use in case of radiation sterilization required, it is recommended to avoid Pebax material. If Pebax material must be in use for medical device, recommend to use alternate sterilization method such as Ethylene Oxide sterilization.

• Elastomers and Composites
• /
• v.46 no.2
• /
• pp.164-170
• /
• 2011

In this study, silicone rubber filled with environmentally-friendly perlite was prepared by mechanical mixing in order to improve thermal properties, such as heat and fire resistances. We found that the properties of silicone rubber composites depended on perlite concentration by various characterization methods. Thermogravimetric analysis(TGA) indicated that the initial degradation temperature of silicone/perlite composite was higher than that of pristine silicone rubber. The gas torch test showed that the opposite side temperature of composite materials was remarkably low as compared to that of pristine silicone rubber. In addition, the composites containing 5 wt% and 10 wt% of perlite showed remarkable thermal stability at elevated temperatures according to the results of both fireproof furnace tests under the RABT condition and carbonization furnace tests. The images from a scanning electron microscope(SEM) showed the degree of dispersion of perlite in silicone rubber. Finally, it was confirmed that limited oxygen index(LOI) was increased with perlite concentration.

• Membrane Journal
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.341-347
• /
• 2009

Nanohybrid based on environmentally friendly and biodegradable polymer, poly propylene carbonate (PPC) and cloisite 20B (PPC/C-20B) have been synthesized by solution blending method and their morphology, thermal and water absorption properties have been evaluated. The structure of PPC/C-20B nanohybrid was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The thermal property of PPC and PPC/C-20B nanohybrid were investigated by thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimetric (DSC). The experimental results demonstrated that nanohybrid showed the highest thermal stability in TGA and DSC. TGA tests revealed that the thermal decomposition temperature ($T_{d50%}$) of the nanohybrid increased significantly, being $23^{\circ}C$ higher than that of pure PPC while DSC measurements indicated that the introduction of 5 mass% of clay increased the glass transition temperature from 21 to $30^{\circ}C$. Further the water absorption capacity of the PPC was significantly decreased by the incorporation of clay. Water absorption cause degradation of the coating by the moistures and affect the physical and mechanical performance. This result indicates that organic modifiers have effect on thermal and water absorption capacity of PPC and are of importance for the practical process and application of PPC.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.634-639
• /
• 1998

$Y_2O_3$ and $Nb_2O_5$ co-doped zirconia composites containing 10~30 vol% $Al_2O_3$ with two different particle sizes were sintered for 5 h at $1550^{\circ}C$ to evaluate low-temperature phase stability of the composite using X-ray diffractometry after heat-treatments for 1000 h at $250^{\circ}C$ in air or for 5 h at $180^{\circ}C$ in 0.3 MPa $H_2O$ vapor pressure. No tetragonal to monoclinic phase transformation during degradation, so called enhanced low-temperature phase stability, was observed for all composites. It is concluded that Nb addition to the composite for the phase stability is more effective than $Al_2O_3$ addition. The optimum combination of strength (670 MPa) and fracture toughness ($7.1{\textrm} {MPam}^{1/2}$) were obtained for the composite containing 20 vol% of $Al_2O_3$ with 2.8 $\mu$m to 0.2 $\mu$m, the flexural strength increases but the fracture toughness decreases.

• Journal of the Earthquake Engineering Society of Korea
• /
• v.3 no.1
• /
• pp.55-66
• /
• 1999

This paper presents an analytical prediction of the hysteresis behavior of reinforced concrete long column with rectangular section under the cyclic loading state. The mechanical characteristic of cracked concrete and reinforcing bar in concrete has been modeled, considering the bond effect between reinforcing bar and concrete, the effect of aggregate interlocking at crack surface and the stiffness degradation after the crack has taken place. The strength increase of concrete due to the lateral confining reinforcement has been also taken into account to model the confined concrete. The formulation of these models for concrete and reinforcing bar has been based on the smeared crack concept that the stress-strain relationship of reinforced concrete element would be defined using the average values. In addition to the material nonlinear properties, the algorithm for large displacement problem that may give an additional deformation has been formulated using total Lagrangian formulation. The analytically predicted behavior was compared with test result and they showed good agreement in overall behavior.