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Amorphous Fraction (amorphous + fraction)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Polymers and Materials Science	80%

Selected Abstracts

Effect of thorium on the growth and capsule morphology of Bradyrhizobium

ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, Issue 10 2003
Mónica Santamaría
Summary The thorium effect on Bradyrhizobium growth was assayed in liquid media. Th4+ inhibited the growth of Bradyrhizobium (Chamaecytisus) BGA-1, but this effect decreased in the presence of suspensions of live or dead bacterial cells. Th4+ induced the formation of a gel-like precipitate when added to a dense suspension of B. (Chamaecytisus) BGA-1 cells. Viable Bradyrhizobium cells remained in suspension after precipitate formation. Thorium was recovered in the precipitate, in which polysaccharide, lipopolysaccharide and proteins were also found. After Th4+ addition, the morphology of B. (Chamaecytisus) BGA-1 or Bradyrhizobium japonicum USDA 110 sedimented cells studied by scanning electron microscopy changed from an entangled network of capsulated bacteria to uncapsulated individual cells and an amorphous precipitate. Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy showed that thorium was mainly in the amorphous fraction. Precipitate was also formed between B. (Chamaecytisus) BGA-1 and Al3+, which was also toxic to this bacterium. Precipitate induced by Th4+ or Al3+ was found in all Bradyrhizobium and Sinorhizobium strains tested, but not in Rhizobium, Salmonella typhimurium, Aerobacter aerogenes or Escherichia coli. These results suggest a specific defence mechanism based on metal precipitation by extracellular polymers. [source]

Sorption and Diffusion of Propylene and Ethylene in Heterophasic Polypropylene Copolymers

MACROMOLECULAR SYMPOSIA, Issue 1 2007
Michael Bartke
Abstract Summary: Sorption experiments of ethylene and propylene in different polypropylene powder samples, both homopolymer and heterophasic copolymers with different rubber content, have been carried out in a high-pressure magnetic suspension balance at 10 bars pressure and 70,°C. The gross solubilities measured can be well correlated with the rubber content of the polymer samples. Solubility of ethylene and propylene in the rubber phase differ from solubility in the amorphous fraction of the homopolymer, especially the concentration ratio of propylene to ethylene differs significantly between rubber phase and amorphous fraction of the homopolymer. From the slope of monomer uptake, information on kinetics of mass-transfer can be gained. No significant differences were observed in terms of mass-transfer for ethylene and propylene. With increasing rubber content, effective diffusion coefficients increased slightly. By combined sorption studies with powder samples and compressed films, information about both effective diffusion coefficients and the effective length scale of diffusion could be gained. It could be shown, that the particle radius is not the characteristic length of diffusion in the studied powder samples. Mass transfer of nearly all samples could be described by a constant diffusion length of 120 to 130 µm, independently on particle size. This indicates that the effective scale of diffusion in polymer particles is in between microparticle and macroparticle scale used in classical particle modeling. [source]

Study of the thermal behaviour of alipharomatic polyesters around the glass,rubber transition region by thermomechanical analysis: the mobile and rigid amorphous fraction

POLYMER INTERNATIONAL, Issue 2 2007
George Karayannidis
Abstract The objective of this work was the study using thermomechanical analysis (TMA) of a peculiar behaviour, which was observed some years ago, around the glass,rubber transition region in some thermoplastic alipharomatic polyesters. For this purpose a series of nine alipharomatic polyesters was prepared by the two-stage melt polycondensation method in a glass batch reactor and subjected to TMA in both penetration and expansion mode. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was additionally used and the results are discussed focusing mainly on the first derivative curve of TMA thermograms in the penetration mode. From this curve, which shows two distinct peaks, the first peak could be attributed to the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the mobile amorphous fraction, since the value coincides with that obtained from DSC and is due to the abrupt shrinkage of the amorphous part of the sample. The second peak (up to 40 °C higher than Tg) is due most probably to the softening of the rigid amorphous fraction and the passage of the polymeric sample from the glass region to the cold crystallization region. When the sample is more crystalline than amorphous then the first peak is smaller or is completely absent. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry [source]

Aging Effects on the Phase Composition and Chain Mobility of Isotactic Poly(propylene)

MACROMOLECULAR MATERIALS & ENGINEERING, Issue 10 2008
Cristian Hedesiu
Abstract Changes in phase composition and chain mobility in injection-molded isotactic poly(propylene), crystallized from the melt with slow cooling rate and subsequently quenched, associated with aging at temperature well above Tg for 150 and 1 000 h, are studied using time-domain 1H solid-state NMR and XRD. All sample exhibit physical aging when exposed to elevated temperatures, and the physical aging kinetics was observed to depend on the morphology of the homopolymer iPP and aging temperatures. The significant increase in the tensile modulus in time was observed for injection-molded iPP. The observed property changes induced by aging are attributed to microstructural changes within the semi-rigid and amorphous fractions. [source]