Search results for "Gradation"
showing 10 items of 1275 documents
Improvement of the mechanical properties of photo-oxidized films after recycling
2002
Mechanical recycling of post-consumer plastics gives rise, in most cases, to secondary materials with mechanical properties worse than those of the reclaimed polymer. This is mostly due to the thermomechanical treatment undergone during the melt reprocessing operations. In this work, low density polyethylene films have been photo-oxidized in artificial accelerated ageing conditions and then the brittle films have been melt reprocessed. It is shown that the secondary material, after reprocessing, shows mechanical properties, in particular elongation at break, better than those of the photo-oxidized films. This behaviour has been attributed to the fact that the melt reprocessing has the effec…
Closed-loop recycling. A case study of films for greenhouses
2010
Abstract The degradation undergone by plastic films used for greenhouse coverage is the main cause of the worsening of the processability, of the mechanical properties and of the durability of secondary materials obtained by their recycling. This means that this secondary material cannot be processed to produce films for the same applications (closed-loop recycling). In this work different strategies are proposed to improve the processability, some mechanical properties and the resistance to photo-oxidation of these secondary materials. In particular, homopolymer blends or multilayer films where the secondary material is used in combination with virgin polymer give the best results.
Time-resolved rheology as a tool to monitor the progress of polymer degradation in the melt state - Part I: Thermal and thermo-oxidative degradation …
2015
Abstract Thermal and thermo-oxidative degradation of polyamide 11 (PA11) in the melt state (T = 215 °C) are studied by resorting to time-resolved mechanical spectroscopy. Such an approach allows to elude the changes in the rheological properties occurring while testing, thus enabling the rigorous study of polymer degradation in the melt state. Different concurrent degradation reactions in oxidative (air) and non-oxidative (N2) environment are promptly guessed by studying the time evolutions of rheological functions. In particular, changes in the zero-frequency complex viscosity reflects changes in the average molecular weight, while the appearance of a yield stress in the complex viscosity …
Durability of a strach-based biodegradable polymer
2007
Abstract The photo-oxidation and the photo-stabilization of a commercial biodegradable polymer have been investigated in order to establish the possibility of using this polymer as raw material for films for agriculture. The degradation has been followed by measuring the mechanical properties as a function of photo-oxidation time and in particular by following the elongation at break. The virgin polymer, made from maize starch and a synthetic biodegradable polyester, shows poor resistance to the UV irradiation as observed by the fast decay of the elongation at break, but the presence of small amounts of conventional UV stabilizers strongly improves the durability of this polymer. The UV sta…
Polymer mechanical recycling: downcycling or upcycling?
2004
Recycled plastics are considered as materials with physical, mechanical and aesthetic properties worse than the virgin ones. In fact, this is true because degradation during lifetime and during the recycling operations changes the structure and the morphology of the polymers and then the final properties of the secondary material. Several “strategies” are under investigation, and in some cases also applied, in order to avoid further degradation during recycling and, if possible, to repair the macromolecules broken during lifetime and then to restore or to improve the initial properties. In this paper the more important techniques, already used in industry or under investigation, according …
Natural Anti-oxidants for Bio-polymeric Materials
2017
In this work, three different bio-polymers, i.e. a commercial starch-based polymer (Mater-Bi®) a bio-polyester (PLA), and a bio-polyether (PEO) were additivated with quercetin, a natural flavonoid antioxidants, in order to formulate biobased films for eco-sustainable packaging and outdoor applications. The photo-oxidation behavior of unstabilized and quercetin stabilized films has been evaluated and compared with that of films additivated with a commercial synthetic light stabilizer. Obtained results show that quercetin molecules are able to slow down the photodegradation rate of all investigated bio-polymeric films, opening new avenues in the formulation of fully renewable polymer-based sy…
Copolyamides from adipic and truxillic acids: Synthesis and characterization by direct pyrolysis in the mass spectrometer
1977
The synthesis of a series of polyamides and copolyamides containing α-truxillic and adipic units in the chain is reported. The thermal degradation of these polymers was investigated by direct pyrolysis in the ion source of a mass spectrometer. Thermal degradation reactions were followed directly by this method by detecting the thermal- and electron-impact-induced fragments. The results obtained show a good correlation between the intensity of mass peaks characteristic of truxillic and adipic moieties and the composition of the copolyamides, as ascertained by elemental analysis. This is an important result since it shows the potential of the direct pyrolysis method in the analysis of copolym…
Tuning of biodegradation rate of PLLA scaffolds via blending with PLA
2009
Blends of Poly-L-Lactic Acid (PLLA) with Poly-Lactic Acid (PLA) in different proportions (95/5, 90/10, 80/20, 70/30 and 60/40) were utilized in order to realize biodegradable and biocompatible scaffolds for soft tissue engineering applications. The scaffolds were produced via thermally induced phase separation (TIPS) starting from ternary systems where dioxane was the solvent and water the non-solvent. Morphology was evaluated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (average pore size and interconnection). Foams’ apparent density was also evaluated (porosity ranges from 87% to 92%). Moreover an in vitro biodegradation test of scaffolds was set-up in order to verify the rate of degradation of the va…
[1] Neoglycoproteins from synthetic glycopeptides
1994
Publisher Summary Saccharide side chains of glycoproteins influence the physicochemical properties of the biomacromolecules and their stability against proteolytic degradation. Saccharide side chains of glycoproteins also play important roles as ligands in biological recognition and in the organized distribution of these compounds within multicellular organisms. Carbohydrate-lectin interactions are important, for example, in viral infections and for the recruitment and invasion of leukocytes into injured tissues. Although in a number of processes carbohydrates were revealed to be decisive recognition labels, in other biological selections peptide sequences proved to be the recognized areas.…
Thermomechanical degradation of PLA-based nanobiocomposite
2015
Nanobiocomposites are a new class of biodegradable polymer materials with nanometric dispersion of inert particles in a biodegradable polymer matrix that show very interesting properties often very different from those of conventional- filled polymers and also biodegradability. An important issue in the applications of the biodegradable polymers is their easy degradability during processing due to the thermomechanical stress or to the presence of humidity. In this work, the thermomechanical degradation behavior of a nanobiocomposite made by a PLA-based blend and an organomodified montmorillonite has been investigated. The degradation kinetics has been followed by means of rheological, mecha…