Jia, Chenfei; Liao, Xia; Zhu, Jingjun; An, Zhu; Zhang, Qiongwen; Yang, Qi; Li, Guangxian
Creep-resistant behavior of beta-polypropylene with different crystalline morphologies
β-Phase isotactic polypropylene (β-iPP) specimens with different contents of β-phase nucleating agent were employed to investigate the deformation-induced microstructure evolution during creep behavior. Morphological investigations by SEM showed that the crystalline morphologies of β-iPP were controlled by the content of the β-phase nucleating agent, namely, well-developed β-spherulites induced…
Crowding-Controlled Cluster Size in Concentrated Aqueous Protein Solutions: Structure, Self- and Collective Diffusion
Braun, Michal K.; Grimaldo, Marco; Roosen-Runge, Felix; Hoffmann, Ingo; Czakkel, Orsolya; Sztucki, Michael; Zhang, Fajun; Schreiber, Frank; Seydel, Tilo
We investigate the concentration-controlled formation of clusters in β-lactoglobulin (BLG) protein solutions combining structural and dynamical scattering techniques. The static structure factor from small-angle X-ray scattering as well as de-Gennes narrowing in the nanosecond diffusion function D(q) from neutron spin echo spectroscopy support a picture of cluster formation. Using neutron…
Crack growth mechanism of styrene-butadiene rubber filled with silica nanoparticles studied by small angle X-ray scattering
Weng, Gengsheng; Chang, Aijun; Fu, Kun; Kang, Jian; Ding, Yaxuan; Chen, Zhongren
The crack growth mechanism of rubber composites has not been explored clearly. Here, we focus on the microstructure evolution of styrene-butadiene rubber/silica (SBR/silica) composites during crack propagation. Two groups of SBR/silica composites are constructed. The silica nanoparticles used in the two groups have different sizes but the same surface properties.…
Converting Carbohydrates to Carbon-Based Photocatalysts for Environmental Treatment
Hu, Zhuofeng; Shen, Zhurui; Yu, Jimmy C.
Carbohydrates in biomass can be converted to semiconductive hydrothermal carbonation carbon (HTCC), a material that contains plenty of sp2-hybridization structures. Under solar light illumination, HTCC generates photoexcited electrons, holes, and hydroxyl radicals. These species can be used for photocatalytic treatment such as water disinfection and degradation of organic pollutants. The…
Controlling the generation of bilayer and multilayer vesicles in block copolymer/epoxy blends by a slow photopolymerization process
Puig, J.; Ceolín, M.; Williams, R. J. J.; Schroeder, W. F.; Zucchi, I. A.
Vesicles are a highly attractive morphology to achieve in micellar dispersions of block copolymers (BCP) in epoxy thermosets due to the fact that small amounts can affect a large volume fraction of the matrix, a fact that is important for toughening purposes. However, generating vesicles in epoxy matrices requires operating…
Controlling Crystal Microstructure To Minimize Loss in Polymer Dielectrics
Miranda, Daniel F.; Zhang, Shihai; Runt, James
A model semicrystalline polymer, poly(ethylene naphthalate) (PEN), was used to examine how morphological factors inhibit chain segment relaxations that contribute to dielectric loss. This was achieved by manipulating the extent of crystallization and the crystalline microstructure through a combination of annealing and uniaxial drawing and investigating the effects on dielectric…
Control of the Porous Structure of Polystyrene Particles Obtained by Nonsolvent Induced Phase Separation
Bianco, Antonino; Burg, Stephanie L.; Parnell, Andrew J.; Fernyhough, Christine M.; Washington, Adam L.; Hill, Christopher J.; Smith, Patrick J.; Whittaker, David M.; Mykhaylyk, Oleksandr O.; Fairclough, J. Patrick A.
Porous polystyrene microspheres were produced by a process of nonsolvent induced phase separation (NIPS) from ternary polymer–solvent–nonsolvent (polystyrene–toluene–ethanol) systems and characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) techniques. This study provides evidence for a link between the structural morphology of the porous polystyrene…
Comprehension of direct extraction of hydrophilic antioxidants using vegetable oils by polar paradox theory and small angle X-ray scattering analysis
Li, Ying; Fabiano-Tixier, Anne Sylvie; Ruiz, Karine; Rossignol Castera, Anne; Bauduin, Pierre; Diat, Olivier; Chemat, Farid
Since the polar paradox theory rationalised the fact that polar antioxidants are more effective in nonpolar media, extractions of phenolic compounds in vegetable oils were inspired and achieved in this study for obtaining oils enriched in phenolic compounds. Moreover, the influence of surfactants on the extractability of phenolic compounds was…
Composite bottlebrush mechanics: α-internexin fine-tunes neurofilament network properties
Kornreich, M.; Malka-Gibor, E.; Laser-Azogui, A.; Doron, O.; Herrmann, H.; Beck, R.
Neuronal cytoplasmic intermediate filaments are principal structural and mechanical elements of the axon. Their expression during embryonic development follows a differential pattern, while their unregulated expression is correlated to neurodegenerative diseases. The largest neurofilament proteins of medium (NF-M) and high molecular weight (NF-H) were shown to modulate the axonal architecture…
Cold Crystallization of PDMS and PLLA in Poly(l-lactide-b-dimethylsiloxane-b-l-lactide) Triblock Copolymer and Their Effect on Nanostructure Morphology
Nagarajan, S.; Gowd, E. Bhoje
Poly(l-lactide-b-dimethylsiloxane-b-l-lactide) (PLLA-b-PDMS-b-PLLA) triblock copolymer was synthesized by ring-opening polymerization of l-lactide using bis(hydroxyalkyl)-terminated PDMS as a macroinitiator. The block copolymer was immiscible in the melt, and the melt morphology was preserved upon cooling the melt to −120 °C. It was also observed that at moderate cooling rates PDMS and PLLA…