Radiation processing for synthesis of structural materials

Radiation engineered nanogels as platforms for medical diagnostics and therapeutic nanodevices

A scalable, single step, synthetic approach for the manufacture of biocompatible, functionalized microgels and nanogels has been developed. Pulsed EB irradiation of PVP aqueous solutions, at relatively low energies per pulse and doses within the sterilization dose range, has led to a variety of ‘as-born’ sterile, functional nanostructures that exhibit a combination of favourable properties which make them suitable as biomedical nanocarriers. Reactive functional groups have been generated by graft copolymerization of functional acrylic monomers. These groups can be used to attach fluorescent probes to the NPs, to bioconjugate ligands of specific cell receptors and to incorporate therapeutics…

Carbon fibre composite materials produced by gamma radiation induced curing of epoxy resins

It is well known that ionizing radiation can initiate polymerization of suitable monomers for many applications. In this work an epoxy dlfunctional monomer has been used as matrix of a carbon fibre composite in order to produce materials through gamma radiation, for aerospace and advanced automotive applications. Radiation curing has been performed at different absorbed doses and, as comparison, also thermal curing of the same monomer formulations has been done. Furthermore some Irradiated samples have been also subjected to a post Irradiation thermal curing in order to complete the polymerization reactions. The properties of the cured materials have been studied by moisture absorption isot…

E-beam curing of epoxy based blends in order to produce high performance composites

In this work, blends of a difunctional epoxy monomer and a thermoplastic toughening agent are E-beam irradiated at two different dose rates and two different total absorbed doses. The influence of the processing conditions on the thermal properties and on the morphology of the obtained matrices has been investigated. In particular, it is shown how the increase of the dose rate causes an increase of the temperature during irradiation, thus inducing a simultaneous thermal and radiation curing. On the contrary, at low-dose rate the system mainly undergoes to radiation curing, thus making the cured material very sensible to a post-irradiation thermal treatment with a significant improvement of …

NEURODEGENERATION IN MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS: COMPARISON BETWEEN CLINICAL, NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL, MRI,AND OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY PARAMETERS

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) enables rapid, non-invasive in vivo measurement of retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, reflecting axonal density within the optic nerve. There is still lack of concordance about the use of OCT in clinical routine as a surrogate measure of brain atrophy. Objective: To investigate the role of OCT as possible predictor of disability, cognitive impairment and neurodegeneration in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). MATERIAL AND METHODS We recruited patients affected by MS according to validated criteria at the Neurological Department of the University of Palermo. Patients performed Stratus OCT- 3 Zeiss to assess RNFL and GCS measurements.…

Studies of network organization and dynamics of e-beam crosslinked PVPs: From macro to nano

Abstract In this work the influence of poly(N-vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) concentration in water on the organization and dynamics of the corresponding macro-/nanogel networks has been systematically investigated. Irradiation has been performed at the same irradiation dose (within the sterilization dose range) and dose rate. In the selected irradiation conditions, the transition between macroscopic gelation and micro-/nanogels formation is observed just below the critical overlap concentration (∼1 wt%), whereas the net prevalence of intra-molecular over inter-molecular crosslinking occurs at a lower polymer concentration (below 0.25 wt%). Dynamic–mechanical spectroscopy has been applied as a cl…

Mode I fracture toughness behaviour of epoxy resincarbon fiber composites cured by ionising radiation

In this work Mode I fracture toughness behavior of Electron Beam cured unidirectional CFRP laminates is investigated by means of standardized Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) tests. A matrix system, comprising a DGEBA epoxy monomer and a typical initiator of cationic polymerization, was used and panel samples assembled by hand lay-up. Curing was achieved by 20 to 40 minutes irradiation on a pulsed 10 MeV Electron Beam accelerator. One batch of resin was also mixed with 10 phr of a PES thermoplastic monomer in order to enhance the matrix toughness. The influence of fibre-matrix adhesion, matrix toughening and matrix crosslinking density on the mode I delamination behavior have been investigated …

Crystallization Behaviour at High Cooling Rates of Two Polypropylenes

Phase distribution of quenched samples of two isotactic polypropylenes, having different molecular weight distributions, was evaluated by a deconvolution procedure of WAXD spectra. The dependence on cooling rate of the two resins shows the low molecular weights rich polymer is characterized by a faster kinetics with an α-monoclinic to mesomorphic transition taking place at higher cooling rates.

Epoxy resin-thermoplastic blends cured by ionising radiation. Structure/properties relationships

Radiation curing of an epoxy resin based blend is carried out in order to produce polymer matrices for high-performance composites. A suitable choice of both curing process and formulation parameters allows to irradiate at about 60°C. Moreover hydrothermal ageing is performed on cured materials and their properties have been evaluated