• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.12 no.3_4
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• pp.181-186
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• 2000

Rheological Properties of polypropylenes having different molecular structures (linear polypropylene (PPL) and branched one (PPB)) were studied. Both the extensional flow and oscillatory shear flow properties were checked. Especially, the melt strength of polypropylenes having various shear history were investigated by using in-house-made Rheometer (called SMER). Compared to linear polypropylene, the branched polypropylene shows enhanced melt strength during extensional flow due to the retarded relaxation of molecules. When the slope of melt tension was plotted against take up speed of melt strand, the characteristic peak was observed in case of branched polypropylene, while the linear polypropylene shows only monotonously decreasing pattern. This entanglement was partially disrupted by physical forces such as shear during melt extrusion. However, the melt strength of PPB after multiple extrusion is still higher than PPL, implying the loss of elasticity during multiple extrusion is not so comprehensive. On dynamic experiments, PPB shows typical shear thinning behavior and the tangent delta of PPB is lower than PPL, reflecting high elasticity of PPB.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.153-160
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• 2004

Open microcellular foams having small-sized cell and good mechanical properties are desirable for many practical applications. As an effort to reduce the cell size, the microcellular foams combining viscosity improvers into the conventional formulation of styrene and water system were prepared via high internal phase emulsion polymerization. Since the material properties of foam are closely related to the solution properties of emulsion state before polymerization, the flow behavior of emulsions was investigated using a controlled stress rheometer. The yield stress and the storage modulus increased as viscosity improver concentration and agitation speed increased, due to the reduced cell size reflecting both a competition between the continuous phase viscosity and the viscosity ratio and an increase of shear force. Appreciable tendency was found between the rheological data of emulsions and the cell sizes of polymerized foams. Cell size reduction with the concentration of viscosity improver could be explained by the relation between capillary number and viscosity ratio. A correlative study for the cell size reduction with agitation speed was also attempted and the result was in a good accordance with the hydrodynamic theory.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.247-253
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• 1999

The growth of a spherical vapor bubble contained in a large body of upper convected Maxwell fluid is theoretically analyzed under the devolatilization condition of polymer by using a Galerkin FEM in the Lagrangian frame. Using the finite element technique, a fully explicit numerical scheme is developed both for the calculation of pressure distribution and for the tracking of bubble surface. Oscillatory behavior in bubble radius is observed during growth and the oscillatory behavior is found to be due to the interaction of mass transfer resistance and elasticity. It is found that the elasticity of fluid accelerates the growth and removal of volatile component. It is also found that the bubble growth in the devolatilization of polymers is affected by both mass transfer resistance and viscoelasticity of fluids.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.71-79
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• 2009

The incomplete saturation and the void formation during the resin infiltration into fibrous porous media in the resin transfer molding process cause failure in the final product during its service. In order to better understand flow behavior during the filling process, a finite-element scheme for transient flow simulation across the micro-structured fibrous media is developed in the present work. A volume-of- fluid (VOF) method has been incorporated in the Eulerian frame to capture the evolution of flow front and the vertical periodic boundary condition has been combined to avoid unwanted wall effect. In the microscale simulation, we investigated the transient filling process in various fiber structures and discussed the mechanism leading to the flow fingering in the case of random fiber distribution. Effects of the filling pressure, the shear-thinning behavior of fluid and the volume fraction on the flow front have been investigated for both intra-tow and the inter-tow flows in dual-scale fiber tow models.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.235-244
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• 2009

Miscible polymer blends still have heterogeneity in their component chain concentration in the segmental length scale because of the chain connectivity (that results in the self-concentration of the segments of respective chains) as well as the dynamic fluctuation over various length scales. As a result, the blend components feel different dynamic environments to exhibit different temperature dependence in their segmental relaxation rates. This type of dynamic heterogeneity often results in a broad glass transition (sometimes seen as two separate transitions), a broad distribution of the local (segmental) relaxation modes, and the thermo-rheological complexity of this distribution. Furthermore, the dynamic heterogeneity also affects the global dynamics in the miscible blends if the component chains therein have a large dynamic asymmetry. Thus, the superficially simple miscible blends exhibit interesting dynamic behavior. This article gives a brief summary of the features of the segmental and global dynamics in those blends.

• Elastomers and Composites
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.304-313
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• 2015

In this study, the anionic emulsified asphalt was prepared by dispersing asphalt particles evenly into water with combination of anionic and nonionic surfactants. Effects of NaOH and $CaCl_2$ on the phase stability of the emulsified asphalt were also investigated through zeta potential value and rheology behavior; the emulsified asphalt added with NaOH and $CaCl_2$ showed higher zeta potential value than that the asphalt with addition of only anionic and nonionic surfactants. In addition, with regard to shear thinning behaviors, it was found that pH of the emulsified anionic asphalt and $Ca^{2+}$, counter ion, affected the phase stability. SBR (styrene-butadiene-rubber) latex, EPD (water dispersed Epoxy), PU (polyurethane) and RI-10S, SBS (styrene-butadiene-styrene)-based property improvement additive, were used and studied to enhance the adhesion properties with the aggregates. RI-10S, however, was found to be only compatible with the anionic emulsified asphalt; the coating rate, adhesion and compression strength were increased with the RI-10S content.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.75-82
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• 2003

In this study, with the finite element method we numerically investigate the deformation of liquid drops surrounded by Newtonian or non-Newtonian viscous medium in the axisymmetric contraction flow. 1, 2 or 4 Newtonian or non-Newtonian drops are considered and the truncated power-law model is applied In order to describe non-Newtonian viscous behavior for both fluids. In this type of flow the drop exhibits considerably large deformation, and thus techniques of unstructured mesh generation and auto-remeshing are employed to accurately express the fluid mechanical behavior. We examine the deformation pattern of liquid drops with viscosity dependence different from that of the surrounding medium and also explain their interactions by comparing relative position or speed of drop front.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.165-173
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• 2008

Multiple particle tracking microrheology is used to characterize the viscoelastic properties of biomaterial and synthetic polymer gels near the liquid-solid transition. Probe particles are dispersed in the gel precursors, and their dynamics are measured as a function of the extent of reaction during gel formation. We interpret the dynamics using the generalized Stokes-Einstein relationship (GSER), using a form of the GSER that emphasizes the relationship between the probe particle mean-squared displacement and the material creep compliance. We show that long-standing concepts in gel bulk rheology are applicable to microrheological data, including time-cure superposition to identify the gel point and critical scaling exponents, and the power-law behavior of incipient network's viscoelastic response. These experiments provide valuable insight into the rheology, structure, and kinetics of gelling materials, and are especially powerful for studying the weak incipient networks of dilute gelators, as well as scarce materials, due to the small sample size requirements and rapid data acquisition.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.101-105
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• 2000

The crystallization behavior of homo polypropylene (PP) and PP in the PP-poly($\varepsilon$-caprolactone) (PCL) blends during isothermal crystallization has been investigated using differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and advanced rheometric expansion system (ARES). From the storage modulus data of the homo PP and PP-PCL blends during isothermal crystallization, the volume fraction of crystallized material ($X_t$) of the homo PP and PP in the PP-PCL blends was calculated using the various rheological models. The results of $X_t$ of the homo PP and PP in the PP-PCL blends from ARES measurement were compared with the results from DSC. The $X_t$ of the homo PP was found to be higher in the ARES measurement than in the DSC. The crystallization rate of the homo PP was found to be faster in the rheological measurements than in the thermal analysis. The $X_t$ of PP in the PP-PCL blends with various compositions was obtained from the thermal analysis and rheological measurements. The $X_t$ of PP in the PP-PCL blends obtained from the thermal analysis and rheological measurements are not consistent. This discrepancy of $X_t$ may be due to the morphological changes resulted from the different crystallization kinetics of PP in the PP-PCL blends.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.844-851
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• 2010

Controlling the dissolved oxygen (DO) in the fed-batch culture of the medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum led to a 2-fold increase of the maximum biomass productivity compared with uncontrolled DO conditions. By contrast, extracellular polysaccharide (EPS) production was two times higher under oxygen limitation (uncontrolled DO) than under increased oxygen availability (controlled DO). Morphologically, dispersed mycelium was predominant under controlled DO conditions, with highly branched hyphae, consistent with the enhanced culture growth noted under these conditions, whereas in the uncontrolled DO process mycelial clumps were the most common morphology throughout the culture. However, in both cultures, clamp connections were found. This is an exciting new finding, which widens the applicability of this basidiomycete in submerged fermentation. In rheological terms, broths demonstrated shear-thinning behavior with a yield stress under both DO conditions. The flow curves were best described by the Herschel-Bulkley model: flow index down to 0.6 and consistency coefficient up to 0.2 and 0.6 Pa $s^n$ in uncontrolled and controlled cultures DO, respectively. The pseudoplastic behavior was entirely due to the fungal biomass, and not to the presence of EPS (rheological analysis of the filtered broth showed Newtonian behavior). It is clear from this study that dissolved oxygen tension is a critical process parameter that distinctly influences G. lucidum morphology and rheology, affecting the overall performance of the process. This study contributes to an improved understanding of the process physiology of submerged fermentation of G. lucidum.