Ioan I. Negulescu

Sliding wear behavior of PTFE composites

The tribological behavior of polytetrafluroethylene (PTFE) and PTFE composites with filler materials such as carbon, graphite, E glass fibers, MoS 2 and poly-p-phenyleneterephthalamide (PPDT) fibers, was studied. The present filler additions found to increase hardness and wear resistance in all composites studied. The highest wear resistance was found for composites containing (i) 18% carbon + 7% graphite, (ii) 20% glass fibers + 5% MoS2 and (iii) 10% PPDT fibers. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was utilized to examine composite microstructures and study modes of failure. Wear testing and SEM analysis showed that three-body abrasion was probably the dominant mode of failure for PTFE + 18% carbon + 7% graphite composite, while fiber pull out and fragmentation caused failure of PTFE + 20% glass fiber + 5% MoS2 composite. The composite with 10% PPDT fibers caused wear reduction due to the ability of the fibers to remain embedded in the matrix and preferentially support the load. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) analysis was also performed to study the relative heat absorbing capacity and thermal stability of the various composites in an effort to correlate these properties to the tribological performance. The results indicated that composites with higher heat absorption capacity exhibited improved wear resistance. The dominant interactive wear mechanisms during sliding of PTFE and its composites are discussed in view of the present findings.

Maleated wood-fiber/high-density-polyethylene composites: Coupling mechanisms and interfacial characterization

Chemical coupling of maleated polyethylene (MAPE) copolymers at the interface in wood-fiber/high-density-polyethylene (HDPE) composites was investigated in this study. FTIR and ESCA analyses presented the evidence of a chemical bridge between the wood fiber and polymeric matrix through esterification. The feature peak of esterification occurred in the range between 1800 and 1650 cm−1 at FTIR spectra. Succinic and half succinic esters were the two primary covalent bonding products to cross-link the wood fiber and thermoplastic matrix. Maleated composites had a remarkable shift on most O1s and C1s spectra in respect to the wood, HDPE, and untreated composites. The binding energy of maleated composites at C1s and O1s spectra was around 282 eV and 530 eV, respectively. The mass concentration of chemical components at the interface was related to the coupling agent type, structure, and concentration. According to the FTIR and ESCA analyses, the coupling mechanisms of MAPEs were proposed. The interfacial morphology in wood-fiber/HDPE composites was illustrated with the pinwheel models based on SEM observations.

Natural fibers for automotive nonwoven composites

Two types of nonwoven composites, uniform and sandwich structures, are produced using bagasse, kenaf, ramie, and polypropylene (PP) fibers. The experimental uniform composites include kenaf/PP (70/30), bagasse/PP (50/50), and ramie/PP (70/30). The experimental sandwich composites include kenaf/bagasse/kenaf and ramie/kenaf/ramie. A comparative study of these experimental composites is conducted in terms of mechanical properties, thermal properties, and wet properties. Composite tensile and flexural properties are measured using a desktop tensile tester. Composite thermal properties are characterized using dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Water absorption and thickness swelling of the composites are evaluated in accordance with an ASTM method. Scanning electron microscopy is used to examine the composite bonding structures. Statistical method of ANOVA is used for the comparative analysis. The study finds that the uniform structures have higher tensile strength and modulus, as well as higher flexural yielding stress and modulus than the sandwich structures. In terms of the wet properties, the uniform composites have less water absorption but higher swelling rate than the sandwich composites. The DMA results show that the uniform composites feature a higher softening temperature (140 C) and melting temperature (160 C), in contrast to the sandwich composites with the softening point 120 C and melting point 140 C. Within the uniform structure group or sandwich structure group, the composite thermal mechanical properties did not differentiate very much among the different natural fibers, indicating that the composite thermal mechanical strength was largely dependent upon the thermal property of the polypropylene bonding fiber.

Characterizing Polyester Fabrics Treated in Electrical Discharges of Radio-Frequency Plasma

Polyester (PET) swatches are treated with an electrical discharge plasma of a reactive atmosphere (tetrachlorosilane) to graft chlorosilane groups, subsequently hydrolyzed to very hydrophilic hydroxysilane groups. The Kawabata evaluation system for fabrics (KES-FB), high resolution microscopy, and surface tension measurements are used to investigate the physical properties of the fabrics before and after plasma exposure. The results show that the surface parameters are considerably modified by the treatment.

Rheology of cellulosic N-methylmorpholine oxide monohydrate solutions of different degrees of polymerization

Preparation and shear and elongational rheology of cellulose solutions of different degrees of polymerization (DP) in N-methylmorpholine oxide monohydrate (lyocell) were investigated. The dissolution process takes place in two stages, depending on the content of low and high DP fractions from the dissolving pulp blends. The influence of the DP of cellulosic chains on elongational and shear viscosity is greater at low deformation rates. Low DP solutions behave more like viscous fluids and the increase of the chain length brings about an increase of the elastic component. Orientation induced by the convergence flow is enhanced by the higher DP cellulosic chains.

Porous Carbon Nanofibers from Electrospun Biomass Tar/Polyacrylonitrile/Silver Hybrids as Antimicrobial Materials

A novel route to fabricate low-cost porous carbon nanofibers (CNFs) using biomass tar, polyacrylonitrile (PAN), and silver nanoparticles has been demonstrated through electrospinning and subsequent stabilization and carbonization processes. The continuous electrospun nanofibers had average diameters ranging from 392 to 903 nm. The addition of biomass tar resulted in increased fiber diameters, reduced thermal stabilities, and slowed cyclization reactions of PAN in the as-spun nanofibers. After stabilization and carbonization, the resultant CNFs showed more uniformly sized and reduced average diameters (226-507 nm) compared to as-spun nanofibers. The CNFs exhibited high specific surface area (>400 m(2)/g) and microporosity, attributed to the combined effects of phase separations of the tar and PAN and thermal decompositions of tar components. These pore characteristics increased the exposures and contacts of silver nanoparticles to the bacteria including Gram-positive Staphylococcus aureus and Gram-negative Escherichia coli, leading to excellent antimicrobial performances of as-spun nanofibers and CNFs. A new strategy is thus provided for utilizing biomass tar as a low-cost precursor to prepare functional CNFs and reduce environmental pollutions associated with direct disposal of tar as an industrial waste.

Supramolecular structures in nanocomposite multilayered films

We investigate the multilayered structures of poly(ethylene)oxide/montmorillonite nanocomposite films made from solution. The shear orientation of a polymer-clay network in solution combined with simultaneous solvent evaporation leads to supramolecular multilayer formation in the film. The resulting films have highly ordered structures with sheet-like multilayers on the micrometer length scale. The polymer covered clay platelets were found to orient in interconnected blob-like chains and layers on the nanometer length scale. Inside the blobs, scattering experiments indicate the polymer covered and stacked clay platelets oriented in the plane of the film. The polymer is found to be partially crystalline although this is not visible by optical microscopy. Atomic force microscopy suggests that the excess polymer, which is not directly adsorbed to the clay, is wrapped around the stacked platelets building blobs and the polymer also interconnects the polymer-clay layers. Overall our results suggest the re-intercalation of clay platelets in films made from exfoliated polymer-clay solutions as well as the supramolecular order and hierarchical structuring on the nanometer, via micrometer to the centimeter length scale.

Effect of organic carbon, C:N ratio and light on the growth and lipid productivity of microalgae/cyanobacteria coculture

Current culture methods based on monocultures under phototrophic regimes are prone to contamination, predation, and collapse. Native cultures of multiple species are adapted to the local conditions and are more robust against contamination and predation. Growth, lipid and biomass productivity of a Louisiana native coculture of microalgae (Chlorella vulgaris) and cyanobacteria (Leptolyngbya sp.) in heterotrophic and mixotrophic regimes were investigated. Dextrose and sodium acetate at C:N ratios of 15:1 and 30:1 under heterotrophic (dark) and mixotrophic (400 μmol m−2 s−1) regimes were compared with autotrophic controls. The carbon source and C:N ratio impacted growth and biomass productivity. Mixotrophic cultures with sodium acetate (C:N 15:1) resulted in the highest mean biomass productivity (156 g m−3 d−1) and neutral lipid productivity (24.07 g m−3 d−1). The maximum net specific growth rate (U) was higher (0.97 d−1) in mixotrophic cultures with dextrose (C:N 15:1) but could not be sustained resulting in lower total biomass than in mixotrophic cultures with acetate (C:N 15:1), with a U of 0.67 d−1. The ability of the Louisiana coculture to use organic carbon for biomass and lipid production makes it a viable feedstock for biofuels and bioproducts.

Investigation of asphalt mixture strength at low temperatures with the bending beam rheometer

A new strength test method for asphalt mixture at low temperatures is presented in this paper. The method uses a modified bending beam Rheometer (BBR), capable of applying loads at different rates. Two major factors, that can significantly affect strength, were analysed: cooling medium and specimen size. Similar strength values were obtained in air and potassium acetate and significantly lower values were obtained in ethanol. Preliminary investigation with sodium fluorescein (FL) indicates the fluorescing marker diffused in mixtures when ethanol was used. The failure distributions of BBR mixture beams and of larger beams (LBs) were analysed using histogram testing and size effect theory. Different Weibull moduli were obtained for BBR and for the LB, which indicates that BBR beams may be too small to capture the representative volume element of the material.

Kinetics modeling of dynamic pyrolysis of bagasse fibers.

The thermal decomposition mechanism of raw and treated bagasse fibers was modeled with three parallel independent first-order reactions. The kinetic parameters and pseudo components which best fit the experimental dynamic pyrolysis rate of bagasse was determined by means of the Matlab program using the least-square method. The calculated rate of thermal decomposition for each bagasse sample was consistent with experimental pyrolysis rate very well. A method was adopted to calculate the contents of cellulose, hemicelluloses, and lignin for bagasse fiber based on the dynamic pyrolysis model. The calculated contents of the untreated bagasse fiber agreed very well with some reported values from the literature. The effect of treatment conditions on the bagasse fiber compositions was also studied. From the three-dimensional plot for each of the three components, it could be observed that bagasse fibers treated under the intermediate alkaline condition could achieve the higher content of cellulose.