Search results for "elastomer"
showing 10 items of 134 documents
Tapered Multiblock Star Copolymers: Synthesis, Selective Hydrogenation, and Properties
2020
Two series of well-defined multiblock four-arm tapered star copolymers with “arms” of the type poly(styrene)-block-poly(isoprene-grad-styrene), (SI/S)₄, were synthesized on a multigram scale with short reaction times. Targeted molecular weight (M) values ranged from 80 to 240 kg mol–¹ with polystyrene (PS) compositions of 40 and 60 wt %. Narrowly distributed (Đ = 1.04–1.12) copolymers were obtained regardless of M and without additional purification beyond precipitation. At sufficiently high M, members of the 40 wt % PS series possessed either a cylindrical or bicontinuous morphology, whereas the 60 wt % PS series yielded lamellae. The star copolymers outperformed their corresponding linear…
A free plate model can predict guided modes propagating in tubular bone-mimicking phantoms
2014
The goal of this work was to show that a non-absorbing free plate model can predict with a reasonable accuracy guided modes measured in bone-mimicking phantoms that have circular cross-section. Experiments were carried out on uncoated and coated phantoms using a clinical axial transmission setup. Adjustment of the plate model to the experimental data yielded estimates for the waveguide characteristics (thickness, bulk wave velocities). Fair agreement was achieved over a frequency range of 0.4 to 1.6 MHz. A lower accuracy observed for the thinnest bone-mimicking phantoms was caused by limitations in the wave number measurements rather than by the model itself.
Absorption of oxybutynin from vaginal inserts: drug blood levels and the response of the rabbit bladder.
2000
Abstract Objectives. Oxybutynin has been used for treatment of urge urinary incontinence for more than 20 years. However, one of the major problems with its use is uncomfortable anticholinergic side effects that can lead to discontinuation of treatment. Alternative forms of drug administration may reduce side effects and thus improve patient compliance. Methods. A cylinder-shaped, curved silicone elastomer insert containing oxybutynin was anchored in the vagina of female rabbits. The inserts were designed to release oxybutynin at rates of 0.5, 1.0, and 5.0 mg/day, respectively. Blood drug and metabolite levels were monitored for 1 to 7 days and cystometry was carried out after 7 days of tre…
Polylactic acid, a sustainable, biocompatible, transparent substrate material for Organ-On-Chip, and Microfluidic applications
2019
AbstractOrgan-on-chips are miniaturised devices aiming at replacing animal models for drug discovery, toxicology and studies of complex biological phenomena. The field of Organ-On-Chip has grown exponentially, and has led to the formation of companies providing commercial Organ-On-Chip devices. Yet, it may be surprising to learn that the majority of these commercial devices are made from Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), a silicone elastomer that is widely used in microfluidic prototyping, but which has been proven difficult to use in industrial settings and poses a number of challenges to experimentalists, including leaching of uncured oligomers and uncontrolled adsorption of small compounds. T…
Liquid Crystalline Elastomers—Characterization as Networks
1994
Abstract This paper summarises the properties of archiral and chiral liquid crystalline (LC) elastomers, the latter of which have found interest due to their piezoelectric properties. In addition the formation of new LC elastomers by a radical polymerization of acrylate groups covalently linked to LC polymers was investigated. This was done concerning the progress of the crosslinking reaction, concerning the influence of the crosslinking on the LC phases and concerning the network properties (swelling ratio and elastic modulus) of the resulting elastomers. It turns out that the networks prepared in this way are very soft and their crosslinking density is low. This can be explained assuming …
(Photo)crosslinkable Smectic LC Main-Chain Polymers
2007
This paper presents the synthetic route to SmA LC main-chain polymers, that can be (photo)-crosslinked without solvent in the bulk phase. They are based on soluble polymalonates, in which higher ordered phases can be suppressed by copolymerization with a laterally brominated biphenyl. Two routes were developed to incorporate the crosslinkable groups into the polyester backbone. The first consists in the incorporation of phenols into the polyester. These phenols are not reactive enough to participate in the transesterification reaction used to build up the polymer, but they can be esterified afterwards with acrylates. Thermally or photochemically created radicals then start the crosslinking.…
Electroactive Liquid Crystalline Polymers ☆
2017
As with low molecular mass liquid crystals, the polymeric liquid crystalline compounds show many possibilities for interaction with electrical fields. Charge transport via the aromatic cores allows the construction of light emitting devices, field effect transistors and photovoltaic cells. The order of the liquid crystalline phases helps to improve intramolecular charge transfer and the mobility allows easy alignment. Liquid crystalline polymers with ferroelectric phases can be used in fast switching optical devices. Their unique switching mechanism proceeds under reduced interaction with the polymer chains. The combination of liquid crystallinity with elastomer networks leads to electromec…
Free-standing smectic LC elastomer films
2001
ABSTRACTWe probe the mesophase transitions and layer structures in thin ordered smectic liquid crystalline elastomer films by means of x-ray diffraction and optical microscopy. Oriented elastomer films of submicrometer thickness are produced by crosslinking freely suspended smectic polymer films. After crosslinking, the mesomorphism is similar to that of the precursor polymer. Smectic layers align parallel to the film plane. The layer spacing increases with temperature in the SmC* phase while it decays above the SmC*-SmA transition.
Einfluss des polymerrückgrats auf eigenschaften von thermoplastischen elastomeren
1992
4-Urazoyl benzoic acid groups were statistically attached to various hydrocarbon elastomers, polar elastomers and partially crystalline polymers via a polymer-analogous reaction. DSC, FTIR, stress-strain experiments and dynamic-mechanical analysis were used to analyse whether these systems, analogous to functionalized polybutadienes, would form ordered supra-molecular structures of the polar side-groups that would lead to a thermoreversible crosslinking. While the structure formation is suppressed for elastomers with a large cross-sectional area of the chain (e.g. butyl rubber) or polar side-groups, (e.g. polychloroprene), the mechanical propertie can be controlled by balancing supermolecul…
Liquid Crystalline Elastomers
1989
Today, material science is directed towards the development of multifunctional and oriented structures. One example of such supramolecular systems are liquid crystalline (LC) elastomers which combine the properties of LC phases (the combination of order and mobility) with rubber elasticity, one of the most typical polymer properties. Their most outstanding characteristic is their mechanical orientability; strains as small as 20% are enough to obtain a perfectly oriented LC monodomain. This orientability, if LC elastomers with chiral phases are used, leads, for example, to elastomers with chiral smectic C* phases which are likely to show piezo-electric behavior.