SPE Library

Polymer precursors of carbon fibers made using an environmentally friendly process show mechanical and thermal properties comparable to those prepared by conventional methods.

The heavy transport industry has a significant amount of scrap generated in the manufacture of parts such as trailer bodies and structural components. Presently that scrap is landfilled. This paper presents the processing and resulting properties of recycled thermoplastic composites into useful products for reuse in transportation and related applications.

PowerPoint Presentation at Automotive Composites Conference and Exhibition

The Automotive Composites Consortium (ACC) a partnership of Chrysler Group LLC Ford Motor Company General Motors Company and the U.S. Department of Energy conducts pre-competitive research on structural and semi-structural polymer composites to advance high strength lightweight solutions in automotive technology. An ACC focal project concerning the development of a structural composite underbody was established to provide methodologies and data for each ACC member company to implement lightweight cost-effective structural composites in high volume vehicles. This objective will be fulfilled through design analysis fabrication and testing of a structural composite underbody. A key design element required for implementation of the underbody structure is an understanding of the affects of environmental temperature and impact damage on the axial fatigue performance of the SMC composite material selected for the underbody structure fabrication. Research efforts have been made on fatigue performance of different type of composite materials (Ref. 1-5). In this study specimens were tested with no damage as well as two levels of impact damage. Environmental temperatures for the undamaged specimens were -40°C 21°C and 80°C. It was observed that fatigue life increased at low temperature conditions and decreased at high temperatures. The affect of temperature had a greater influence on fatigue life than the impact damage in this study. Temperature increases as measured at the specimen surfaces were observed as test frequency increased. Similar observations were made by Bellenger et al (Ref.6). The relationship between stress loading frequency and temperature will be investigated. Optical and scanning electron microscopy will be used to examine the crack locations and characteristics for specimens tested under different conditions.

A high-molecular-weight copolymer blend based on poly(lactic acid), possessing both amorphous and crystalline segments, features excellent mechanical performance and thermal properties.

Various processing methods are tested to examine the resulting properties of nanocomposites composed of clay and polyvinyl chloride.

Microcellular injection molding can be used to fabricate lightweight, tough, and cost-effective biodegradable polymer composites.

A new catalyst complex enables a precursor polymer nanocomposite to yield a high-molecular-weight, highly crystalline poly(lactic acid)-clay nanocomposite through solid-state polymerization.

Ultrathin hybrid films form highly-ordered layered structures and 2D lattices of long alkyl chains extending from the montmorillonite surface.

Materials suitable for filtration, sensing, and other applications can be made from composite mats prepared by electrospinning crosslinked chitosan with carbon black.

Adding a compatibilizer to blends of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene terpolymer and recycled engineering plastic results in better mixing as well as products with enhanced properties.

In this paper, mesoporous silica and functionalized silicas were prepared by a green template, polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers. Three silane coupling agents, 3-triethoxysilylpropyl- amine (APTES), -methylacryloyl oxypropyl trimethoxysilane (MAPTMS) and N-[3-(trimethoxysilyl)propyl]ethylenediamine (AEAPTMS) were used for modification on pore surface. The characters of synthesized silicas were investigated in detail. The results showed that controllable pore diameters, narrow pore size distributions, high surface area and pore volume were achieved. The PAMAM template can be feasibly removed by using water extraction.

In the past few decades, Bio-plastics of plant origin and biodegradable plastics, and emulsions containing no organic solvent have drawn growing attentions as general environmentally friendly materials. Poly (lactic acid) based polyurethanes self-emulsified in 100% water were synthesized. The particle sizes of some of the emulsions were fine (less than 100nm) and they were stable for 6 months under 5oC storage condition. The low Tg sample showed good biodegradability. In this report, result of the polymerization and the emulsification, and the characteristic of the obtained emulsions were described.

The usage of waste tire rubber crumb as a dispersed phase in a thermoplastic matrix has been a topic of study for a long time. Inspite of using compatibilizers the properties achieved using polypropylene (PP) and waste ground rubber tire (GRT) crumb composites remained inferior. Devulcanized rubber (DR) being more relatively similar to virgin rubber is supposed to perform better than GRT and hence should be a better material for commercializing. This paper presents a statistical analysis of compatibility between DR and PP and also studies the effectiveness of a sulphur cure system in compatibilization.

Extrusion foaming using supercritical carbon dioxide (CO2) as the blowing agent is an economically and environmentally benign process. However, it is difficult to control the foam density and maintain the thermal insulation performance. In this study, the extrusion foaming process of bimodal polystyrene foams was investigated by using CO2 as the blowing agent and water as the co-blowing agent. Compared to the extruded foam without water as co-blowing agent, the bimodal foams exhibit better thermal insulation property and compressive performance.

Biodegradable plastics have attracted much attention in the last decade, not only because they can divert waste from landfill, but also because the biodegradable functionality meets the requirement of many applications. Poly (hydroxy butanoic acid) or PHB copolymers is one such class of plastics. This paper will review the biodegradability of these polymers in various environments including soil, fresh water, seawater, compost and anaerobic digesters. Testing methods and variables influencing biodegradation will also be discussed.

Biodegradable plastics have attracted much attention in the last decade, not only because they can divert waste from landfill, but also because the biodegradable functionality meets the requirement of many applications. Poly (hydroxy butanoic acid) or PHB copolymers is one such class of plastics. This paper will review the biodegradability of these polymers in various environments including soil, fresh water, seawater, compost and anaerobic digesters. Testing methods and variables influencing biodegradation will also be discussed.

The purpose of this work was to perform a comparative analysis of various candidate nitrile coated fabric materials supplied by potential vendors to be used as fuel storage tanks and compare the results to the currently fielded polyurethane storage tanks. Our strategy is to utilize advanced environmental ageing methods to simulate extended weathering conditions. Our results demonstrate that the nitrile coated fabrics performed well in our evaluation. Their breaking strengths are about equal to the currently fielded urethanes and they performed comparably when subjected to environmental ageing conditions.