• Carbon letters
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.325-331
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• 2010

This study investigates the effect of filler content (wt%), presence of interphase and agglomerates on the effective Young's modulus of polypropylene (PP) based nanocomposites reinforced with exfoliated graphite nanoplatelets ($xGnP^{TM}$) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The Young's modulus of the composites is determined using tensile testing based on ASTM D638. The reinforcement/polymer interphase is characterized in terms of width and mechanical properties using atomic force microscopy which is also used to investigate the presence and size of agglomerates. It is found that the interphase has an average width of ~30 nm and modulus in the range of 5 to 12 GPa. The Halpin-Tsai micromechanical model is modified to account for the effect of interphase and filler agglomerates and the model predictions for the effective modulus of the composites are compared to the experimental data. The presented results highlight the need of considering various experimentally observed filler characteristics such as agglomerate size and aspect ratio and presence and properties of interphase in the micromechanical models in order to develop better design tools to fabricate multifunctional polymer nanocomposites with engineered properties.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.556-563
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• 2000

In general, the development of thermoplastic composites has been confronted with difficult problems such as the weak bonding strength between fibers and matrix. However, now, such problems are being surmounted by the development of resins, the improvement of processes, and introduction of interphase. Especially, the introduction of interphase between fiber and matrix can help a dissipation of the impact energy and provide a good adhesion between fibers and matrix. In this study, polymeric interphase was introduced by electrodeposition, modified polypropylene was added to improve the weak bonding strength between interphase and polypropylene matrix. By evaluation of interlaminar shear strength and impact strength of the composites, it was found that composites with introduced composites showed higher mechanical properties than those of composites without interphase. Reactive polymers which have either anhydride or free acid functional group were used as interphase materials, and these polymers also behave as charge carrier in aqueous solution during the electrodeposition process. Weight gain on the carbon fibers was evaluated by changing process parameters such as concentration of solution, current density, and electrodeposition time.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.577-582
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• 2016

In this study, a multiscale method for solving a thermoelasticity problem for interphase in the polymeric nanocomposites is developed. Molecular dynamics simulation and finite element analysis were numerically combined to describe the geometrical boundaries and the local mechanical response of the interfacial region where the polymer networks were highly interacted with the nanoparticle surface. Also, the micrmechanical thermoelasticity equations were applied to the obtained equivalent continuum unit to compute the growth of interphase thickness according to the size of nanoparticles, as well as the thermal phase transition behavior at a wide range of temperatures. Accordingly, the equivalent continuum model obtained from the multiscale analysis provides a meaningful description of the thermoelastic behavior of interphase as well as its nanoparticle size effect on thermoelasticity at both below and above the glass transition temperature.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.293-301
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• 2001

Electrically conductive carbon fiber/high density polyethylene (CF/HDPE) composite films were fabricated by new method, so called electron-ion technology (EIT) and the effects of CF epoxy sizing on the volumetric resistivity. tensile strength and interphase properties of the films were investigated. While epoxy sizing increased conductivity of composite films resulting from enhanced tunneling effect it reduced interphase adhesion between CF and HDPE because polar epoxy sizing and nonpolar HDPE are incompatible. Consequently epoxy sized CF(CF(S)) caused significant reduction in the volumetric resisitivity and tensile strength of composite films when compared with unsized CF(CF(U)). Epoxy sizing reduced nucleating efficiency of CF(S), therefore CF(S)/HDPE composite films showed nonuniform transcrystalline layer when compared with CF(U)/HDPE composite films.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.50 no.6
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• pp.523-530
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• 2017

In this study, we developed the h-BN interphase for ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) through a wet chemical coating method, which has excellent price competitiveness and is a simple process as a departure from the existing high cost chemical vapor deposition method. The optimum condition for nitriding an h-BN interphase using boric acid and urea as precursors were derived, and the h-BN interphase coating through a wet method on a carbon preform of 2.5 D was conducted to apply the optimum conditions to the CMCs. In order to control the coating property via the wet coating method, four parameters were investigated such as dipping time of the specimen in the precursor solution, the ratio of boric acid and urea in the precursor, the concentration of solution where the precursor was dissolved, and the cycle of dipping and dry process. The CMCs was fabricated through polymer impregnation and pyrolysis (PIP) processes and a three-point flexural strength test was conducted to verify the role of the coated h-BN interphase.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.315-321
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• 2012

In this study, a sequential multiscale homogenization method to characterize the effective thermal conductivity of nano particulate polymer nanocomposites is proposed through a molecular dynamics(MD) simulations and a finite element-based homogenization method. The thermal conductivity of the nanocomposites embedding different-sized nanoparticles at a fixed volume fraction of 5.8% are obtained from MD simulations. Due to the Kapitza thermal resistance, the thermal conductivity of the nanocomposites decreases as the size of the embedded nanoparticle decreases. In order to describe the nanoparticle size effect using the homogenization method with accuracy, the Kapitza interface in which the temperature discontinuity condition appears and the effective interphase zone formed by highly densified matrix polymer are modeled as independent phases that constitutes the nanocomposites microstructure, thus, the overall nanocomposites domain is modeled as a four-phase structure consists of the nanoparticle, Kapitza interface, effective interphase, and polymer matrix. The thermal conductivity of the effective interphase is inversely predicted from the thermal conductivity of the nanocomposites through the multiscale homogenization method, then, exponentially fitted to a function of the particle radius. Using the multiscale homogenization method, the thermal conductivities of the nanocomposites at various particle radii and volume fractions are obtained, and parametric studies are conducted to examine the effect of the effective interphase on the overall thermal conductivity of the nanocomposites.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.20 no.9
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• pp.2782-2791
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• 1996

The effective longitudinal shear modulus(LSM) of continuous composites is studied theoretically and numerically using 3-phase unit cell model. Circular, hexagonal and rectangular shapes of reinforced fiber are considered to predict the shear modulus as a function of elastic modulus of each phase and volume fraction of interphase and reinforced fiber. It is found that rectangular fiber shape in low fiber volume fraction($v_f$<30%) and circular fiber shape in high volume fraction($v_f$>40%) shows the higher longitudinal shear modulus. Also the obtained values of LSM for rectangular array and by numerical analysis are higher than those of hexagonal array and by theoretical analysis respectively. The reinforcing effects of interphase are more significant in cases of higher fiber volume fraction and circular fiber shape. Not only the spatial distribution and shape of reinforcing fiber but also the volume of interphase have a pronounced effects on the overall LSM. It is also found that the tangent moduous of 2-and 3-phase polymer matrix composites is insensitive to the shape and distribution of reinforcing fibers.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.357-362
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• 2010

Poly(ethyleneglycol diacrylate)(PEGDA) or 2-ethylhexyl acrylate(2EHA)-based gel polymer electrolytes(GPEs) which have a solid content in the range of 8～54 wt% were synthesized and their ionic conductivity and electrochemical properties were measured at room temperature. It was observed that the ionic conductivity over $1\times10^{-3}$ S/cm was obtained in a homogeneous PEGDA-based GPE with 21 wt% of solid content. However the electrochemical stability of the GPE was lower than that of a liquid electrolyte. The presence of AIBN initiator which can produce a N2 gas during polymerization process might be the reason of this low oxidation decomposition potential. As an alternative, benzoyl peroxide was used as an initiator and GPE with enhanced electrochemical stability was obtained. Finally, the formation of stable solid electrolyte interphase on a graphite anode was evidenced by cyclic voltammetry measurement.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society For Composite Materials Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.249-251
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• 2002

It is well known that the interaction and adhesion between the glass fiber(GF) and polymer matrix has a significant effect in determining the properties of fiber-reinforced materials. Therefore, it is one of most important to modify the surface of GF with an appropriate sizing. We investigated the treatment method of GF with coupling agent to improve the interaction of the interfacial regions, and then the correlation between interfacial property and interphase microstructure was examined in an attempt to realize a proper morphology around the GF surface.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.423-430
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• 2013

In this research, a paramteric study to account for the effect of interfacial strength and nanotube agglomeration on the elastoplastic behavior of carbon nanotube reinforced polypropylene composites is performed. At first, the elastoplastic behavior of nanocomposites is predicted from molecular dynamics(MD) simulations. By combining the MD simulation results with the nonlinear micromechanics model based on the Mori-Tanaka model, a two-step domain decomposition method is applied to inversely identify the elastoplastic behavior of adsorption interphase zone inside nanocomposites. In nonlinear micromechanics model, the secant moduli method combined with field fluctuation method is used to predict the elastoplastic behavior of nanocomposites. To account for the imperfect material interface between nanotube and matrix polymer, displacement discontinuity condition is applied to the micromechanics model. Using the elastoplastic behavior of the adsorption interphase zone obtained from the present study, stress-strain relation of nanocomposites at various interfacial bonding condition and local nanotube agglomeration is predicted from nonlinear micromechanics model with and without the adsorption interphase zone. As a result, it has been found that local nanotube agglomeration is the most important design factor to maximize reinforcing effect of nanotube in elastic and plastic behavior.