Home About us Contact | |||
Crystal Perfection (crystal + perfection)
Selected AbstractsToughening of basalt fiber-reinforced composites with a cyclic butylene terephthalate matrix by a nonisothermal production methodADVANCES IN POLYMER TECHNOLOGY, Issue 2 2010J. Baets Abstract The interest in thermoplastic composites is growing because of their advantages over thermosets, as well as their recyclability and higher toughness. The melt viscosity of thermoplastic polymers is very high, which makes fiber impregnation difficult. This difficulty can be overcome by the in situ polymerization with cyclic butylene terephthalate (CBT). However, this leads to a brittle polybutyleneterephthalate when isothermal RTM-production is applied. To solve this problem, a nonisothermal production process for composites with CBT as matrix material was developed and the influence on the toughness was investigated. In the nonisothermal production process, different cooling rates were applied to examine their influence on the toughness of the produced composites. The difference in composites properties was related to the difference in the degree of crystal perfection, which was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Adv Polym Techn 29:70,79, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/adv.20176 [source] Crystalline morphology and dynamical crystallization of antibacterial ,-polypropylene compositeJOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE, Issue 6 2008Xin Chen Abstract The crystalline morphology and dynamical crystallization of antibacterial polypropylene composite and pure polypropylene were investigated via differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD), and real-time hot-stage optical microscopy (OM). The results reveal that the crystalline morphology of antibacterial PP composites changes with variations of the crystallization conditions and compositions. The crystalline phase consists of both ,-PP and ,-PP crystals. The content of ,-PP decreases with the increase in antibacterial agent content and cooling rate. With the addition of ,-nucleating agent, the morphologies of all dynamically crystallized antibacterial PP composites show no obvious spherulitic morphology, and the decrease of crystal perfection and the increase of nucleation density of antibacterial PP composite system could be observed. With the increase of antibacterial agent content, the overall crystallization rates of the antibacterial PP composite increase dramatically, while the content of ,-PP in all antibacterial PP composite decrease distinctly under given cooling conditions. These results can be explained by the interruptive effect of antibacterial agent on interactions of ,-nucleating agent components and the obstructing effect of antibacterial agent on the mobility of PP chains in melts. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008 [source] Photoelectric properties of lead tungstate crystalsPHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI (A) APPLICATIONS AND MATERIALS SCIENCE, Issue 14 2004R. Gamernyk Abstract Room temperature photoconductivity measurements were performed for PbWO4 crystals grown under different conditions. In the near-band-edge region three bands of photoionization absorption (310, 330 and 338 nm) were detected. The intensity of these bands depends on crystal perfection and quality. The value of a photocurrent under excitation within the 330 nm band depends on preceding irradiation of a PbWO4 crystal by a laser beam (,ex = 337 nm). The nature of defect centers related to the photoionization absorption bands is discussed. (© 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Crystallization and melting behavior of zenite thermotropic liquid crystalline polymers,POLYMER ENGINEERING & SCIENCE, Issue 2 2002K. P. Pramoda The crystallization and melting behavior of a DuPont ZeniteTM series, namely, Z 6000 and Z 8000B, thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer (TLCP) have been investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Both, non-isothermal and isothermal crystallizations were carried out. From the non-isothermal experiments, the crystallization temperature was found to be 234°C for a cooling rate of 10°C/min whereas it was only 228°C for 40°C/min for Z 8000B, and was found to be 296°C and 290°C, respectively, for Z 6000. In the isothermal experiment both the thermal and crystallization behaviors were studied as a function of the annealing temperature and annealing time. Two types of transition processes were evidence in the low temperature region of the isothermal crystallization. One is fast transition, which may be regarded as liquid crystal transition, and is characterized by the enthalpy, which is independent of annealing time. The other is slow process, related to crystal perfection, and it shows increases in the transition temperature and enthalpy, which is dependent on annealing time. [source] Structural consequences of hen egg-white lysozyme orthorhombic crystal growth in a high magnetic field: validation of X-ray diffraction intensity, conformational energy searching and quantitative analysis of B factors and mosaicityACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 3 2005Shinya Saijo A novel method has been developed to improve protein-crystal perfection during crystallization in a high magnetic field and structural studies have been undertaken. The three-dimensional structure of orthorhombic hen egg-white (HEW) lysozyme crystals grown in a homogeneous and static magnetic field of 10,T has been determined and refined to a resolution of 1.13,Å and an R factor of 17.0%. The 10,T crystals belonged to space group P212121, with unit-cell parameters a = 56.54,(3), b = 73.86,(6), c = 30.50,(2),Å and one molecule per asymmetric unit. A comparison of the structures of the 0,T and 10,T crystals has been carried out. The magnitude of the structural changes, with a root-mean-square deviation value of 0.75,Å for the positions of all protein atoms, is similar to that observed when an identical protein structure is resolved in two different crystalline lattices. The structures remain similar, with the exception of a few residues e.g. Arg68, Arg73, Arg128 and Gln121. The shifts of the arginine residues result in very significant structural fluctuations, which can have large effects on a protein's crystallization properties. The high magnetic field contributed to an improvement in diffraction intensity by (i) the displacement of the charged side chains of Arg68 and Arg73 in the flexible loop and of Arg128 at the C-terminus and (ii) the removal of the alternate conformations of the charged side chains of Arg21, Lys97 or Arg114. The improvement in crystal perfection might arise from the magnetic effect on molecular orientation without structural change and differences in molecular interactions. X-ray diffraction and molecular-modelling studies of lysozyme crystals grown in a 10,T field have indicated that the field contributes to the stability of the dihedral angle. The average difference in conformational energy has a value of ,578,kJ,mol,1 per charged residue in favour of the crystal grown in the magnetic field. For most protein atoms, the average B factor in the 10,T crystal shows an improvement of 1.8,Å2 over that for the 0,T control; subsequently, the difference in diffraction intensity between the 10,T and 0,T crystals corresponds to an increase of 22.6% at the resolution limit. The mosaicity of the 10,T crystal was better than that of the 0,T crystal. More highly isotropic values of 0.0065, 0.0049 and 0.0048° were recorded along the a, b and c axes, respectively. Anisotropic mosaicity analysis indicated that crystal growth is most perfect in the direction that corresponds to the favoured growth direction of the crystal, and that the crystal grown in the magnetic field had domains that were three times the volume of those of the control crystal. Overall, the magnetic field has improved the quality of these crystals and the diffracted intensity has increased significantly with the magnetic field, leading to a higher resolution. [source] |