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FTIR Analysis (ftir + analysis)
Selected AbstractsPolyacrylate/(carboxymethylcellulose modified montmorillonite) superabsorbent nanocomposite: Preparation and water absorbencyJOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE, Issue 1 2008Haixia Qiu Abstract Montmorillonite (MMT) was modified with carboxymethylcellulose (CMC). The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and FTIR analyses showed that the CMC chains had intercalated into the MMT sheets, and the strong chemical interaction between the ether bonds from CMC and SiO bonds from MMT was the driving force for intercalation. Polyacrylate (PAA)/modified MMT superabsorbent nanocomposites were fabricated by effectively dispersing the modified MMT in acrylic acid solution and polymerizing the acid. The superabsorbent composites were characterized by XRD, TEM, and FTIR. The influence of modified MMT, weight ratio of CMC to MMT, and modified MMT content in the nanocomposites on the water absorbency was investigated. Results showed that the introduction of pure MMT could decrease the water absorbency of the gel, but adding modified MMT could not only effectively increase the water absorbency of the gel, but also improve its water retention ability. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008 [source] Conducting nanocomposites of polyacrylamide with acetylene black and polyanilinePOLYMER COMPOSITES, Issue 4 2009Pramod Kumar Verma A conducting nanocomposite of polyacrylamide (PAA) with acetylene black was prepared via Na2AsO3 -K2CrO4 redox initiated polymerization of acrylamide in water containing a suspension of acetylene black. FTIR analyses confirmed the presence of PAA in the nanocomposites. The composite possessed lower thermal stability than AB and exhibited three stages of decomposition upto 430°C. DSC thermogram revealed three endotherms due to minor thermal degradation (at ,100°C), melting and decomposition (at ,230°C) and major decomposition (at ,430°C). TEM analyses indicated the formation of globular composite particles with sizes in 30,70 nm range. In contrast to the very low conductivity of the base polymer the composite showed a dramatic increase in conductivity (0.19,6.0 S/cm) depending upon AB loading. Log (conductivity) ,1/T plot showed a change in slope at ,127°C indicating the manifestation of an intrinsic conductivity region and an impurity conductivity region. The activation energy for conduction as estimated from the slope of region I was 0.008 eV/mol. The C,V plot was linear showing a metallic behavior. For comparison in conductivity PAA-polyaniline composite was also prepared which however displayed much lower conductivity values. POLYM. COMPOS., 2009. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers [source] A new composite sorbent for water and dye uptake: Highly swollen acrylamide/2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid/clay hydrogels crosslinked by 1,4-butanediol dimethacrylatePOLYMER COMPOSITES, Issue 1 2009Semiha Kundakci A novel type of highly swollen hydrogels based on acrylamide (AAm) with 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid (AMPS) and clay such as bentonite (Bent) crosslinked by 1,4-butanediol dimethacrylate (BDMA) was prepared by free radical solution polymerization in aqueous media. Water uptake and dye sorption properties of polyelectrolyte AAm/AMPS hydrogels and AAm/AMPS/Bent composite hydrogels were investigated as a function of composition to find materials with swelling and sorption properties. FTIR analyses were made. Swelling experiments were performed in water and dye solution at 25°C, gravimetrically. Highly swollen AAm/AMPS and AAm/AMPS/Bent hydrogels were used in experiments on sorption of water-soluble monovalent cationic dye such as Lauths violet "LV, (Thionin)." Swelling of AAm/AMPS hydrogels was increased up to 1,920,9,222% in water and 867,4,644% in LV solutions, while AAm hydrogels swelled 905% in water and swelling of AAm/AMPS/Bent hydrogels was increased up to 2,756,10,422% in water and 1,200,3,332% in LV solutions, while AAm/Bent hydrogels swelled 849% in water. Some swelling kinetic and diffusional parameters were found. Water and LV diffusion into hydrogels was found to be non-Fickian in character. For sorption of cationic dye, LV into AAm/AMPS and AAm/AMPS/Bent hydrogel was studied by batch sorption technique at 25°C. The amount of the dye sorbed per unit mass removal effiency and partition coefficient of the hydrogels was investigated. The influence of AMPS content in the hydrogels to sorption was examined. POLYM. COMPOS., 2009. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers [source] EVIDENCE FOR THE USE OF EGYPTIAN BLUE IN AN 11TH CENTURY MURAL ALTARPIECE BY SEM,EDS, FTIR AND SR XRD (CHURCH OF SANT PERE, TERRASSA, SPAIN)ARCHAEOMETRY, Issue 2 2010A. LLUVERAS The present study shows the analysis performed on pigment samples taken from Sant Pere (Terrassa, Catalonia, Spain), a remarkable church built in the Romanesque style. On the basis of the results obtained from the analysis, an interesting discussion arises after finding evidence of Egyptian blue in one of the samples, a discovery that was not expected due to the time period of the samples. The pigments were identified by the combined use of FTIR and SEM with an EDS facility. For the blue pigment, since the EDS and FTIR analyses suggested the possible presence of cuprorivaite, micro-XRD experiments using synchrotron radiation were run. [source] Studies toward a universal dye for textile fibresCOLORATION TECHNOLOGY, Issue 5 2004Potjanart Suwanruji A new organic dye was synthesised as part of an approach to producing a dye that could be applied to any of a variety of widely used fibre types. The dye synthesised is best described as a disperse-reactive dye and was obtained from a sequence of reactions that used an acid yellow dye as a starting compound. Dichlorotriazine was used as the reactive group in the target dye and the chemical structures of the new dye and its precursors were confirmed using 1H NMR, mass spectrometry and FTIR analyses. In the neutral form, the dye was suitable for polyester, nylon and wool fibres. When the pH was adjusted to 9 it dyed cotton, albeit in a pastel shade only. By adding N, N -dimethylethylenediamine to the dyebath, the dye could be applied to acrylic fabric at pH 5. The fastness of the dyed fibres was also evaluated. [source] Synthesis, growth and characterization of single crystals of pure and thiourea doped L-glutamic acid hydrochlorideCRYSTAL RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY, Issue 1 2007R. Sathyalakshmi Abstract L(+)Glutamic acid hydrochloride [HOOC (CH2)2CH(NH2) COOH·HCl], a monoamino dicarboxylic acid salt of L-Glutamic acid was synthesized and the synthesis was confirmed by FTIR analysis. Solubility of the material in water was determined. Pure and Thiourea doped L-Glutamic acid hydrochloride crystals were grown by low temperature solution growth using solvent evaporation technique. XRD, UV-Vis-NIR analyses were carried out for both pure and thiourea doped crystals. The crystals were qualitatively analyzed by EDAX analysis and the presence of thiourea was confirmed. The cell parameters of L-Glutamic acid hydrochloride have been determined as a = 5.151 Å, b = 11.79 Å, c = 13.35 Å by X-ray diffraction analysis and it crystallizes in orthorhombic space group P212121. UV-Vis-NIR spectra analysis showed good optical transmission in the entire visible region for both pure and doped crystals. Micro hardness of both pure and doped crystals has been determined using Vickers micro hardness tester. The SHG efficiencies of both pure and doped crystals were determined using Kurtz powder test and pure L-Glutamic acid hydrochloride crystal was found to possess better efficiency than thiourea doped L-Glutamic acid hydrochloride crystals. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Antheraea assama Silk Fibroin-Based Functional Scaffold with Enhanced Blood Compatibility for Tissue Engineering Applications,ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS, Issue 5 2010Naresh Kasoju Abstract The architecture and surface chemistry of a scaffold determine its utility in tissue engineering (TE). Conventional techniques have limitations in fabricating a scaffold with control over both architecture and surface chemistry. To ameliorate this, in this report, we demonstrate the fabrication of an Antheraea assama silk fibroin (AASF)-based functional scaffold. AASF is a non-mulberry variety having superior qualities to mulberry SF and is largely unexplored in the context of TE. First, a 3D scaffold with biomimetic architecture is fabricated. The scaffold is subsequently made blood compatible by modifying the surface chemistry through a simple sulfation reaction. EDX and FTIR analysis demonstrate the successful sulfation of the scaffold. SEM observations reveal that sulfation has no any effect on the scaffold architecture. TGA reveals that it has increased thermal stability. The sulfation reaction significantly improves the overall hydrophilicity of the scaffold, as is evident from the increase in water holding capacity; this possibly enhances the blood compatibility. The enhancement in blood compatibility of the sulfated scaffold is determined from in vitro haemolysis, protein adsorption and platelet adhesion studies. The sulfated scaffold is non-toxic and supports cell adhesion and growth, as revealed by indirect and direct contact-based in vitro cytotoxicity assays. This study reveals that the AASF-based functional scaffold, which has biomimetic architecture and blood-compatible surface chemistry, could be suitable for TE applications. [source] Synthesis and properties of starch-graft-acrylic acid/Na-montmorillonite superabsorbent nanocomposite hydrogelsJOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE, Issue 1 2008Ebru Al Abstract The graft copolymerization of acrylic acid (AA) onto starch was carried out with monomer/starch weight ratio = 1.5. Cerium ammonium nitrate (CAN) and N,N,-methylenebis acrylamide (NMBA) were used as initiator and crosslink agent, respectively. Na-montmorillonite was used as nanoparticles. Starch- graft -acrylic acid/Na-MMT (S -g-AA/MMT) nanocomposite hydrogels were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and FTIR analysis. The effect of Na-MMT content in nanocomposite hydrogels on the swelling behavior was investigated. Increasing the Na-MMT/monomers ratio up to 1% causes an increment in water absorbency, which indicates that Na-MMT can improve the ability of water absorbency but further increase of Na-MMT causes a decrease in water absorbency. In addition, we describe the removal of safranine T from aqueous solutions using S -g-AA/MMT nanocomposite hydrogels. Effects of various parameters such as treatment time, initial dye concentration, and amount of the Na-MMT were investigated. The Freundlich equations were used to fit the equilibrium isotherms. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008 [source] Nonisothermal cure kinetics of DGEBA with novel aromatic diamineJOURNAL OF APPLIED POLYMER SCIENCE, Issue 5 2007M. Ghaemy Abstract The effect of the molar ratio of diglycidyl ether of a bisphenol-A based epoxy (DGEBA) and synthesized 4-phenyl-2,6-bis(4-aminophenyl)pyridine (PAP) as curing agent during nonisothermal cure reaction by the Kissinger, Ozawa, and isoconversional equations was studied. The cure mechanism was studied by FTIR analysis. Kinetic analysis of the curing reaction of DGEBA at two different concentrations (42 and 32 phr) of the curing agent was studied by using DSC analysis. With an increasing PAP content, the pre-exponential factor increased by increasing collision probability between epoxide and primary or secondary amine groups in noncataltyic or catalytic modes. The activation energy also increased because of the increasing content of crosslink density. The activation energies obtained from three equations were in good agreement. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 103: 3076,3083, 2007. [source] Separation and recovery of cellulose and lignin using ionic liquids: a process for recovery from paper-based wasteJOURNAL OF CHEMICAL TECHNOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY, Issue 12 2009Huma Lateef Abstract BACKGROUND: The production of paper makes use of cellulose and lignin as a raw material, and almost all cellulose and lignin production comes from raw wood materials, contributing to deforestation and resulting in potential environmental harm. It is therefore beneficial to develop technologies for cellulose and lignin recovery for re-use and sustainability of resources. RESULTS: Three imidazolium based ionic liquids (ILs), 1-(2-cyanoethyl)-3-methylimidazolium bromide (cyanoMIMBr), 1-propyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide (propylMIMBr) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (butylMIMCl), were synthesised by microwave technology and fully characterised by mass spectrometry, thermogravimetric differential scanning calorimetry, thin layer chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopies. Cellulose and lignin were soluble in all three ILs with solubility being greatest in cyanoMIMBr. Regeneration of cellulose and lignin was achieved from saturated solutions of cellulose in IL and lignin in IL for all three ILs. The ILs propylMIMBr and butylMIMBr have been used for the first time in the separation and recovery of cellulose and lignin and regeneration of the IL from a mixture of cellulose and lignin in IL. FTIR analysis confirms successful recovery. CONCLUSIONS: This work demonstrates the ability of ILs to separate and recover cellulose and lignin from a mixed system. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry [source] Production of B4C coatings by CVD method in a dual impinging-jet reactor: Chemical yield, morphology, and hardness analysisAICHE JOURNAL, Issue 11 2009Mustafa Karaman Abstract ,-rhombohedral boron carbide (B4C) was deposited on a tungsten substrate from a BCl3H2CH4 gas mixture in a dual impinging-jet chemical vapor deposition reactor. On-line FTIR analysis of the product stream proved the formation of BHCl2 and HCl as by products, in a competing parallel reaction. A maximum of 13% chemical yield of boron carbide was observed, and the yield was found to have increasing trend with an increase in temperature. XRD analysis proved the existence of rhombohedral B4C phase at 1300°C without any other B4C phases or impurities. At this temperature, the formation of 5-fold icosahedral boron carbide crystals up to 30 micron sizes was observed. Such highly symmetric crystalline regions were observed to have a very high hardness value of 4750 kg/mm2 as revealed from the microhardness analysis. The change in product morphology at low substrate temperatures resulted in a decrease in the hardness values. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2009 [source] Characterization of antibody aggregation: Role of buried, unpaired cysteines in particle formationJOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES, Issue 2 2010Stephen R. Brych Abstract Proteins are susceptible to degradation upon exposure to a variety of stresses during product manufacturing, transportation and storage. In this study, we investigated the aggregation properties of a monoclonal antibody during agitation stress. Agitation exclusively led to insoluble aggregates, or particle formation. Removal or modification of the air,liquid interface with a surfactant (e.g., polysorbate) abrogated particle formation. The supernatant postagitation was analyzed using SE-HPLC, FTIR, and AUC analyses and revealed no changes in conformation and aggregation profile when compared to the nonagitated antibody sample. The antibody particles were comprised of a combination of nonnative intermolecular disulfide-linked covalent as well as noncovalent interactions. Analysis of the antibody's unpaired cysteines revealed that the nonnative intermolecular disulfide bonds were formed through buried cysteines, which suggested at least partial unfolding of the antibody domains. FTIR analysis indicated that the particulated antibody maintained significant native-like secondary structure suggesting that particle formation led to minimal structure changes, but capable of exposing free cysteines to solvent to form the nonnative intermolecular disulfide bonds. The results presented in this study indicate the importance of the interactions between the antibody and the air,liquid interface during agitation in the formation of particles and suggests that reduced disulfide bonds may play a significant role in the particulation reaction. This phenomenon can be applicable to other proteins with similar free cysteine and structural characteristics. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association J Pharm Sci 99:764,781, 2010 [source] Temperature scanning FTIR analysis of secondary structures of proteins embedded in amorphous sugar matrixJOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCES, Issue 9 2009Koreyoshi Imamura Abstract Heat-induced changes in secondary structures of five proteins (bovine serum albumin, BSA; human serum albumin, HSA; myoglobin; ribonuclease A, RNase A; and, ,-lactoglobulin, ,-Lg) in an amorphous sugar matrix were analyzed by temperature-scanning Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to elucidate the mechanism of heat-induced conformational change of solid-phase proteins. Three sugars, trehalose, maltose, and dextran (MW 6000), were used. Loss of ,-helices due to increasing temperature was observed for BSA, HSA, and myoglobin, which are rich in ,-helices. RNase A showed a marked decrease in predominant secondary structural components (,-sheet) with increasing temperature. However, no noticeable changes in the content of secondary structures, except for a slight loss of ,-helices, were observed for ,-Lg, which is also ,-sheet-rich. These heat-induced conformational changes were significant at temperatures above the glass transition temperature. The heat-induced conformational change in BSA dried with sugar appeared time-independent and was clearly different from that due to dehydration and from the thermal conformational change for a solution of BSA. In particular, differences in secondary structural components that increased due to loss of ,-helices were noted. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. and the American Pharmacists Association J Pharm Sci 98:3088,3098, 2009 [source] Cefuroxime axetil solid dispersions prepared using solution enhanced dispersion by supercritical fluidsJOURNAL OF PHARMACY AND PHARMACOLOGY: AN INTERNATI ONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACEUTICAL SCIENCE, Issue 12 2005Seoung Wook Jun Cefuroxime axetil (CA) solid dispersions with HPMC 2910/PVP K-30 were prepared using solution enhanced dispersion by supercritical fluids (SEDS) in an effort to increase the dissolution rate of poorly water-soluble drugs. Their physicochemical properties in solid state were characterized by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy. No endothermic and characteristic diffraction peaks corresponding to CA were observed for the solid dispersions in DSC and PXRD. FTIR analysis demonstrated the presence of intermolecular hydrogen bonds between CA and HPMC 2910/PVP K-30 in solid dispersions, resulting in the formation of amorphous or non-crystalline CA. Dissolution studies indicated that the dissolution rates were remarkably increased in solid dispersions compared with those in the physical mixture and drug alone. In conclusion, an amorphous or non-crystalline CA solid dispersion prepared using SEDS could be very useful for the formulation of solid dosage forms. [source] FTIR-spectroscopic characterization of humic acids and humin fractions obtained by advanced NaOH, Na4P2O7, and Na2CO3 extraction proceduresJOURNAL OF PLANT NUTRITION AND SOIL SCIENCE, Issue 4 2007Michael Tatzber Abstract Aim of our study was the development of the methodological basis for the characterization of humic fractions of a long-term field experiment. Humic acids (HAs) were extracted from three layers of a nontilled soil using three different extractants (1 M NaOH, 0.1 M Na4P2O7, 1 M Na2CO3), and the humin fraction was enriched. NaOH as extractant for FTIR analysis of humic substances yields higher resolved IR spectra, especially in the important regions of stretching vibrations including aromatic and aliphatic groups and in the fingerprint area including amides, aliphats, and aromats than the other extractants. The NaOH extraction has lower extraction yields as compared to Na4P2O7 and Na2CO3 and represents a different part of the soil organic matter (SOM). This is reflected by lower C : N ratios and higher E4 : E6 and fulvic acid,to,humic acid ratios as compared to the other extractants. The FTIR band areas of HA fraction obtained by NaOH showed an increase of the aromatic and carbonyl groups and a decrease of amide groups with increasing soil depth. Aliphatic groups showed contradicting results: The bands of the stretching vibrations increased, and the band of the bending vibrations decreased. We assume that band interactions in the bending vibrations were responsible for that phenomenon under the assumption of an increase of aliphatic groups with increasing soil depth. The IR bands of the enriched humin fraction showed a decreasing trend in case of both aliphatic bands deriving from stretching vibrations and an increase of aromatic characteristics with depth. Our study led to the conclusion that HA fractions obtained by 1 M NaOH represent a small and dynamic fraction indicated by the measured yields in combination with values of Nt, C : N, E4 : E6 ratios, and ratios of fulvic acids (FA) to HA. The humin fraction has a high contribution to the total organic C and represents a more stabilized fraction of SOM which still shows changes in its aromatic and aliphatic characteristics with soil depth. [source] Styrene/1,3-butadiene copolymerization by C2 -symmetric group 4 metallocenes based catalystsJOURNAL OF POLYMER SCIENCE (IN TWO SECTIONS), Issue 4 2008Mariagrazia Napoli Abstract C2 -symmetric group 4 metallocenes based catalysts (rac -[CH2(3- tert -butyl-1-indenyl)2]ZrCl2(1), rac -[CH2(1-indenyl)2]ZrCl2(2) and rac -[CH2(3- tert -butyl-1-indenyl)2]TiCl2(3)) are able to copolymerize styrene and 1,3-butadiene, to give products with high molecular weight. In agreement with symmetry properties of metallocene precatalysts, styrene homosequences are in isotactic arrangements. Full determination of microstructure of copolymers was obtained by 13C NMR and FTIR analysis and it reveals that insertion of butadiene on styrene chain-end happens prevailingly with 1,4- trans configuration. In the butadiene homosequences, using zirconocene-based catalysts, the 1,4- trans arrangement is favored over 1,4- cis, but the latter is prevailing in the presence of titanocene (3). Diad composition analysis of the copolymers makes possible to estimate the reactivity ratios of copolymerization: zirconocenes (1) and (2) produced copolymers having r1 × r2 = 0.5 and 3.0, respectively (where 1 refers to styrene and 2 to butadiene); while titanocene (3) gave tendencially blocky styrene,butadiene copolymers (r1 × r2 = 8.5). The copolymers do not exhibit crystallinity, even when they contain a high molar fraction of styrene. Probably, comonomer homosequences are too short to crystallize (ns = 16, in the copolymer at highest styrene molar fraction). © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 1476,1487, 2008 [source] Sulfanilic Acid: A Novel Consolidation Agent for Al2O3 in Aqueous MediaJOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CERAMIC SOCIETY, Issue 2 2006Jingxian Zhang A new solidifying agent, 4-aminobenzene sulfonic acid (sulfanilic acid), is reported in this paper. The consolidation process and mechanism were followed using on viscoelastic, FTIR, SEM, and Hg porosimetry measurements. It was shown that the Al2O3 slurries with PAA-Na as dispersant exhibited a high degree of particle stabilization. After the addition of sulfanilic acid, we observed an exponential increase in the storage modulus (G,) as a function of consolidation time. Correspondingly, Al2O3 slurries exhibited a transition from a viscous to an elastic state (in 62 min). FTIR analysis indicated that the consolidation process might follow two steps: first, the adsorption of sulfanilic acid on the Al2O3 particle surface; second, the acid,base interaction between the adsorbed PAA-Na molecules and the sulfanilic acid molecules. This interaction could possibly induce the formation of three-dimensional networks through a bridging or charge neutralization mechanism. The as-consolidated Al2O3 green samples were homogeneous, with the relative green density being 54.69%. Results showed that it was feasible to introduce sulfanilic acid for the consolidation of Al2O3 slurries in aqueous media. [source] Mechanical and tribological characterization of CNx films deposited by d.c. magnetron sputteringPHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI (C) - CURRENT TOPICS IN SOLID STATE PHYSICS, Issue 11 2007L. Ipaz Abstract Carbon nitride (CNx) thin films were deposited onto silicon and steel substrates at 400 °C from a carbon target by d.c. magnetron sputtering system. The composition, structural, and mechanical properties of deposited films were investigated as a function of argon/nitrogen concentration and sputtering power, by means of Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman Spectroscopy (RS), and nanoindentation. The EDS and Elastic Forward Analisys Analysis (EFA) showed that the nitrogen concentration in the CNx deposited films varied between 16% and 28% at depending on nitrogen concentrations in argon/nitrogen gas mixture, and deposition power. FTIR analysis indicated the presence of 2266 and 2278 cm,1 stretching peaks associated with CN triple bonds of nitriles and isocyanides, 1640 cm,1 and 1545 cm,1 associated with the C=C and C=N bonds. The thickness of the CNx deposited films varied between 0.4 and 0.8 µm at different sputtering powers. The hardness and Young's modulus were investigated by depth sensing nanoindentation method. The obtained hardness and Young's modulus increased from 4 to 17 GPa, and from 50 to 170 GPa, respectively; when the nitrogen content in the deposited films diminished between 28 and 12%. On the other hand, the friction and wear tests were done using a pin-on-disc tribometer. The friction tests showed values of 0.05 and 0.4 in dry air and humid atmosphere; respectively. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Characterization and properties of activated nanosilica/polypropylene composites with coupling agentsPOLYMER COMPOSITES, Issue 11 2009Ong Hui Lin In this work, nanosilica/polypropylene composites containing 1 wt% of silica nanoparticles were prepared by melt mixing in a Thermo Haake internal mixer. Prior compounding, nanosilica was subjected to surface activation using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution. The effectiveness of the activation process was evaluated by measuring the amount of hydroxyl groups (OH) on the surface of nanosilica via titration method and supported by FTIR analysis. Two coupling agents namely 3-aminopropyl triethoxysilane (APTES) and neopentyl (diallyl)oxy, tri(dioctyl) phosphate titanate (Lica 12) were used for surface treatment after activation process. The mechanical properties of polypropylene matrix reinforced with silica nanoparticles were determined by tensile and impact test. Hydroxyl groups on the nanosilica surface played an important role in enhancing the treatment with silane coupling agents. To increase the amount of hydroxyl groups on the nanosilica surface, the optimum concentration of NaOH is 1 mol%. Tensile strength, tensile modulus, and impact strength of nanosilica/PP composites improved with activation process. As the coupling agent is concerned, APTES coupling agent is more pronounced in enhancing the mechanical properties of the composites when compared with Lica 12 coupling agent. POLYM. COMPOS., 2009. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers [source] | |||||||||||||||||||