Umami taste components in chicken-spices blends and potential effect of aroma on umami taste intensity

In this study,umami taste intensity(UTI)and umami taste components in chicken breast(CB)and chickenspices blends were characterized using sensory and instrumental analysis.Our main objective was to assess the aroma-umami taste interactions in different food matrices and reconcile the aroma-taste perception to assist future product development.The impact of key aroma,including vegetable-note"2-pentylfuran",meaty"methional",green"hexanal",and spicy-note-estragole and caryophyllene"on UTI was evaluated in monosodium glutamate and chicken extract.We found that spices significantly decreased UTI and umami taste components in CB.Interestingly,the perceptually similar odorants and tastants exhibited the potential to enhance UTI in food matrices.Methional was able to increase the UTI,whereas spicy and green-note components could reduce the UTI significantly.This information would be valuable to food engineers and formulators in aroma selection to control the UTI perceived by consumers,thus,improving the quality and acceptability of the chicken products.

Solid-state NMR of vulcanized natural rubber/butadiene rubber blends:Local organization and cross-linking heterogeneities This article is part of the virtual special issue“Solid-state NMR studies on polymers and biological solids”

Elastomer blends,among which natural rubber(NR)and butadiene rubber(BR),are involved in many components of the automotive/tire industry.A comprehensive understanding of their mechanical behavior requires,among other features,a detailed description of the crosslink density in these mixtures.In the case of vulcanized immiscible blends,the distribution of the cross-link density within each of the NR-and BR-rich domains is key information,but difficult to determine using the conventional approaches used for one-component crosslinked elastomers.In this study,the vulcanization within NR/BR blends is investigated using a robust^(1)H double-quantum(DQ)MAS recoupling experiment,BaBa-xy16.Two kinds of cross-linked NR/BR blends were considered with two different microstructures for the BR component.The bulk organization of the resulting blends was first probed by analyzing the^(1)H spin-lattice relaxation behavior.In a second step,BaBa-xy16 was used to investigate,in a selective way,the cross-link heterogeneities within NR/BR blends.In particular,for immiscible NR/BR mixtures,the distribution of the cross-link density between both phases was compared and the observed differences were discussed.

Investigating Transport Properties of Environmentally Friendly Azeotropic Binary Blends Based on Evaporation in Auto-Cascade Refrigeration

The exploration of performance and prediction of environmentally friendly refrigerant physical properties represents a critical endeavor.Equilibriummolecular dynamics simulationswere employed to investigate the density and transport properties of propane and ethane at ultra-low temperatures under evaporative pressure conditions.The results of the density simulation of the evaporation conditions of the blends proved the validity of the simulation method.Under identical temperature and pressure conditions,increasing the proportion of R170 in the refrigerant blends leads to a density decrease while the temperature range in which the gas-liquid phase transition occurs is lower.The analysis of simulated results pertaining to viscosity,thermal conductivity,and self-diffusion coefficient reveals heightened deviation levels within the phase transition temperature zone.This increase in deviation attributed to intensified molecular activity.In terms of uncovering the physical mechanism of gas-liquid phase transition,the work illustrates the macroscopic phenomenon of the intensified existing disorder during phase transitions at the molecular level.Molecular dynamics simulations analyzing the thermophysical properties of refrigerant blends from a microscopic point of view can deepen the comprehension of the thermal optimization of refrigeration processes.

The Effectiveness of the Havriliak-Negami Model in Predicting the Master Curves of the Asphalt Blends with SBS Triblock Copolymer and Organic-Montmorillonite at Different Temperatures and Frequencies

The dynamic viscoelastic properties of asphalt AC-20 and its composites with Organic-Montmorillonite clay (OMMt) and SBS were modeled using the empirical Havriliak-Negami (HN) model, based on linear viscoelastic theory (LVE). The HN parameters, α, β, G0, G∞and τHN were determined by solving the HN equation across various temperatures and frequencies. The HN model successfully predicted the rheological behavior of the asphalt and its blends within the temperature range of 25˚C - 40˚C. However, deviations occurred between 40˚C - 75˚C, where the glass transition temperature Tg of the asphalt components and the SBS polymer are located, rendering the HN model ineffective for predicting the dynamic viscoelastic properties of composites containing OMMt under these conditions. Yet, the prediction error of the HN model dropped to 2.28% - 2.81% for asphalt and its mixtures at 100˚C, a temperature exceeding the Tg values of both polymer and asphalt, where the mixtures exhibited a liquid-like behavior. The exponent α and the relaxation time increased with temperature across all systems. Incorporating OMMt clay into the asphalt blends significantly enhanced the relaxation dynamics of the resulting composites.

Formulation of Motor Oil from Blends of Rubber Latex Cup Bottom Oil (RLBO) and Used Frying Oil (UFO)

Most motor oils are made from mineral oils derived from petroleum, the reserves of which are limited and exhaustible. The aim of this study is to produce and characterize motor oil formulations based on mixtures of rubber latex cup bottom oil (RLCBO) and used frying oil (UFO). The results show that these formulations have a density between 0.91 and 0.92. These densities evolve linearly with the proportion of cup bottom oil and temperature. Similarly, the kinematic viscosity of the blends follows an exponential relationship with temperature. By plotting the logarithm of these kinematic viscosities against the inverse of the temperature, we were able to determine the activation energy of the various blends and deduce that the formulations behave Newtonian.

Effects of two modification methods on the mechanical properties of wood flour/recycled plastic blends composites: addition of thermoplastic elastomer SEBS-g-MAH and in-situ grafting MAH

The effect of maleic anhydride grafted styrene-ethylene- buty-lene-styrene block copolymer （SEBS-g-MAH） and in-situ grafting MAH on mechanical, dynamic mechanical properties of wood flour/recycled plastic blends composites was investigated. Recycled plastic polypro-pylene （PP）, high-density polyethylene （HDPE） and polystyrene （PS）, were mixed with wood flour in a high speed blender and then extruded by a twin/single screw tandem extruder system to form wood flour/recycled plastic blends composites. Results show that the impact properties of the composites were improved more significantly by using SEBS-g-MAH compatibilizer than by using the mixtures of MAH and DCP via reactive blending in situ. However, contrary results were ob-served on the tensile and flexural properties of the corresponding com-posites. In General, the mechanical properties of composites made from recycled plastic blends were inferior to those made from virgin plastic blends, especially in elongation break. The morphological study verified that the interfacial adhesion or the compatibility of plastic blends with wood flour was improved by adding SEBS-g-MAH or in-situ grafting MAH. A better interfacial bonding between PP, HDPE, PS and wood flour was obtained by in-situ grafting MAH than the addition of SEBS-g-MAH. In-situ grafting MAH can be considered as a potential way of increasing the interfacial compatibility between plastic blends and wood flour. The storage modulus and damping factor of composites were also characterized through dynamic mechanical analysis （DMA）.

Post treatment preparation of hybrid metal halide perovskite nanocrystal-embedded polymethylmethacrylate blends with enhanced stablity

Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites have been the subject of recent intense interest due to advances in photovoltaic and other optoelectronic applications. However, their poor stability limits commercial market application We enhance water stability by post treatment preparation of hybrid metal halide perovskite nanocrystal-embedded polymethylmethacrylate （PM- MA） blend films. Through blending process without any cleaning of nanocrystals, crystalline hybrid organic-inorganic perovs-kite nanocrystals were incorporated into PMMA matrix with well-dispersion Passivation of PMMA on the surface of the per-ovskite nanocrystals results in decreased traps and a long photoluminescence （PL） lifetime despite the bromine vacancies in the crystal lattice. Moreover, such color purity and inherent high transmittance for fluorescence emission of perovskite nanocrystals will endow the films with promising potentials in diverse practice photonic applications.

Melting Behavior of PA6 and PA6/PE Blends Crystallized from Amorphous State

Aim To investigate the melting behavior of polyamide 6 in polyamide 6/polyethy lene blends crystallized from amorphous state. Methods DSC was used to test effects of annealing temperature, annealing time, DSC scan rate, and the step wise annealing on the melting peaks of the ice water quenched specimens. Results and Conclusion Varied melting peaks of PA6 component were obtained. The degree of perfection and the crystallization degree of PA6 crystals decreased in the blends, and the crystallization degree of PA6 increased with the increasing of the annealing time. The height of the upper melting peak of reference PA6 is higher than that in blends.

Effect of Thermal Treatment on the PA-6 in the Blends

Aim To investigate the multiple melting behavior of polyamide 6(PA 6) in polyamide 6/linear low density polyethylene blends crystallized from the crystal amorphous state. Methods\ The effects of annealing temperature, annealing time, heating rate, and the step wise annealing were measured by DSC. Results and Conclusion\ There exists a critical heating rate affecting the middle temperature melting peak. When annealed at the temperature close to the melting peak, the main melting peak of PA 6 shifted to a higher temperature. Within a short time, annealing time has much effect on neat PA 6 but little effect on PA 6 in the blends. Addition of PE results in a decreasing in the height of melting peak. These phenomenon show that the melting behavior of PA 6 was affected by PE, compatibilizer, as well as thermal treatment.

IMPROVED PROPERTIES OF METALLOCENE-CATALYZED LINEAR LOW-DENSITY POLYETHYLENE/POLYPROPYLENE BLENDS DURING ULTRASONIC EXTRUSION

Metallocene-catalyzed linear low-density polyethylene/polypropylene （mLLDPE/PP） blends were prepared by ultrasonic extrusion in this work. Their extrusion processing behaviors were estimated by online measured data, such as the die pressure and flow rate. Crystallization and mechanical properties of the blends were also investigated. The results show that the addition of PP improves the processing behaviors of mLLDPE, but has little effect on its mechanical properties. On the other hand, the addition of mLLDPE improves the impact strength of PP, but has little effect on its processing behavior. The processing behaviors and mechanical properties of mLLDPE/PP blends get further improved due to the presence of ultrasonic oscillation during extrusion. Compared with PP-rich blends, the apparent viscosity drop of mLLDPE-rich blends is more sensitive to ultrasonic oscillation. The ultrasonic oscillation affects the crystal nucleation, while barely the other crystalline behaviors of the blends.

THE EFFECT OF BLENDING SEQUENCE ON PHASE MORPHOLOGY OF NYLON 6/ABS/SMA BLENDS

The preparation process-dependent phase morphology of blends composed of nylon 6 and acrylonitrile-butadiene- styrene(ABS)over a composition range of 30-70 wt% using a styrene-maleic anhydride(SMA)copolymer as the compatibilizing agent with a constant content(5phr)was investigated.The results of the scanning electron microscope (SEM)observation revealed that compared with the binary blends of nylon 6 and ABS,the existence of SMA caused a composition shift of phase inversion to a higher weight fraction of ny...

Preparation and emission characteristics of ethanol-diesel fuel blends

The preparation of ethanol-diesel fuel blends and their emission characteristics were investigated. Results showed the absolute ethanol can dissolve in diesel fuel at an arbitrary ratio and a small quantity of water(0.2%) addition can lead to the phase separation of blends. An organic additive was synthesized and it can develop the ability of resistance to water and maintain the stability of ethanol-diesel-trace amounts of water system. The emission characteristics of 10%, 20%, and 30% ethanol-diesel fuel blends, with or without additives, were compared with those of diesel fuel in a direct injection(DI) diesel engine. The experimental results indicated that the blend of ethanol with diesel fuel significantly reduced the concentrations of smoke, hydrocarbon(HC), and carbon monoxide(CO) in exhaust gas. Using 20% ethanol-diesel fuel blend with the additive of 2% of the total volume, the optimum mixing ratio was achieved, at which the bench diesel engine testing showed a significant decrease in exhaust gas. Bosch smoke number was reduced by 55%, HC emission by 70%, and CO emission by 45%, at 13 kW/1540 r/min. However, ethanol-diesel fuel blends produced a few ppm acetaldehydes and more ethanol in exhaust gas.

SUPER POLYOLEFIN BLENDS ACHIEVED VIA DYNAMIC PACKING INJECTION MOLDING:MORPHOLOGY AND PROPERTIES

As a long-term project aimed at developing super polyolefin blends, in this paper we summarize our work on themechanical reinforcement and phase morphology of polyolefin blends achieved by dynamic packing injection molding(DPIM). The main feature of this technology is that the specimen is forced to move repeatedly in the model by two pistonsthat move reversibly with the same frequency during cooling, which results in preferential orientation of the dispersed phaseas well as the matrix. The typical morphology of samples obtained via DPIM is a shear-induced morphology with a core inthe center, an oriented zone surrounding the core and a skin layer in the cross-section areas. Shear-induced phase dissolutionat a higher shear rate but phase separation at low shear rates is evident from AFM examination of LLDPE/PP (50/50) blends.The super polyolefin blends having high modulus (1.9-2.2 GPa), high tensile strength (100-120 MPa) and high impactstrength (6 times as that of pure HDPE) have been prepared by controlling the phase separation, molecular orientation andcrystal morphology.

EFFECTS OF COMPATIBILIZERS ON THE MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF LOW DENSITY POLYETHYLENE/LIGNIN BLENDS

Low density polyethylene(LDPE)/lignin blends were prepared using melt blending.Two kinds of compatibilizers, ethylene-vinylacetate(EVA) which is softer than LDPE and polyethylene grafted with maleic anhydride(PE-g-MA) which is harder than LDPE were used to improve the interfacial adhesion.Scanning electron microscope(SEM) was used to investigate the dispersion of lignin in LDPE matrix.The results showed that both of the compatibilizers could improve the interaction between the low density polyethylene and l...

Blends of Poly(lactic acid) with Thermoplastic Acetylated Starch

Blends of poly（lactic acid）（PLA） and thermoplastic acetylated starch（ATPS） were prepared by means of the melt mixing method. The results show that PLA and ATPS were partially miscible, which was confirmed with the measurement of Tg by dynamic mechanical analysis（DMA） and differrential scanning calorimetry（DSC）. The mechanical and thermal properties of the blends were improved. With increasing the ATPS content, the elongation at break and impact strength were increased. The elongation at break increased from 5% of neat PLA to 25% of the blend PLA/ATPS40. It was found that the cold crystallization behavior of PLA changed evidently by addition of ATPS. The cold crystallization temperature（Tcc） of each of PLA/ATPS blends was found to shift to a lower temperature and the width of exothermic peak became narrow compared with that of neat PLA. The thermogravimetry analysis（TGA） results showed that the peak of derivative weight for ATPS moved to higher temperature with increasing PLA content in PLA/ATPS blends. It can be concluded that PLA could increase the thermal stability of ATPS. The rheological measurement reveals the melt elasticity and viscosity of the blends decreased with the increased concentration of ATPS, which was favorable to the processing properties of PLA.

Rheological Properties of Polymers: Structure and Morphology of Molten Polymer Blends

The article reviews a brief literature on the rheological properties of polymer melts and blends. Experimental results on polymer blends are summarized. Technically, vital types of multi-phase polymers such as compounds and blends are discussed. The importance of the rheological properties of polymer mixtures in the development of the phase structure is discussed. And the importance of considering the stress and/or strain history of a material sample in a rheological investigation is discussed. Finally, the outlook on the past, present and future developments in the field of polymer rheology are given. The review concludes with a brief discussion on the opportunities and challenges in the field of polymer blends and blend rheology.

STUDIES ON MISCIBILITY OF POLY (ε-CAPROLACTONE) AND ALIPHATIC POLYCARBONATE BLENDS AND DETERMINATION OF THEIR INTERACTION PARAMETER

In this paper the miscibility of poly (ε-caprolactone) (PCL) and aliphatic polycarbonate (APC) is studied by using DSC. The results show that PCL and APC are miscible in all ranges of composition. The interaction parameter between the polymers is calculated from the melting point depression data. Using optical microscope, the shapes of the PCL spherulites in the blends are observed.

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF THE LOW CYCLE FATIGUE CRACK PROPAGATION IN PC/ABS POLYMER BLENDS

Low cycle fatigue crack propagation (FCP) behavior of two PC/ABSblends with a weight ra- tio of PC to ABS being 80/20 and 60/40,respectively, is investigated. Experiments are carried out by usingstandard compact tension (CT) specimens. The fracture surfaces areexamined with a scanning electron mi- croscope (SEM). It is shownthat the FCP resistance of PC/ABS blend with 20/100 ABS particles ishigher than that of PC/ABS blend with 40/100 ABS particles. It isfound that proper ABS particle content can result in the tougheningof PC/ABS blends through particle cavitation and shear yielding inmatrix.

MISCIBILITY AND MORPHOLOGY OF THIN FILMS OF BLENDS OF POLYSTYRENE WITH BROMINATED POLYSTYRENES: EFFECTS OF VARYING THE MOLECULAR WEIGHT, BROMINATION DEGREE AND ANNEALING

Thin films of incompatible polymer blends can form a variety of structures during preparation and subsequent annealing process. For the polymer blend system consisting of polystyrene and poly（styrene-co-p-bromo-styrene）, i.e., PS/PBrxS, its compatibility could be adjusted by varying the degree of bromination and the molecular weight of both components comprised. In this paper, surface chemical compositions of the cast and the annealing films were investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy （XPS） and contact angle measurement; meanwhile, surface topographical changes are followed by atomic force microscopy （AFM）. In addition, substantial attention was paid to the effect of annealing on the morphologic variations induced by phase separation and/or dewetting of the thin film. Moreover, the influences of the molecular weight, Mw, as well as the brominated degree, x%, on the sample surface are explored systematically, and the corresponding observations are explained in virtue of the Flory-Huggins theory, along with the dewetting of the polymer thin film.

Crystalline Morphology and Crystallization Characteristics of In-situ Blends of Anionic Polyamide 6 with Noncrystallizable Semiaromatic Polyamide Copolymer

A noncrystallizable semiaromatic polyamide copolymer（NSAP） was dissolved in molten caprolactam, and PA6/ NSAP blends were produced in-situ via the anionic ring-opening polymerization of caprolactam. The presence of a single loss tangent（tanS） peak measured by means of dynamic mechanical analysis（DMA） proves the miscibility between PA6 and NSAP in the blends. It was found that there existed drastic changes in the crystallographic form and crystallization kinetics for the in-situ blends, e.g. , when 20% NSAP was added, nearly all crystallites existed in the ,y form and the crystallization could hardly occur upon cooling even at a rate of 2.5 ℃/min. Moreover, cold crystallization appears during the subsequent heating, and its melting point is 40 ℃ lower than that of the virgin system. On the other hand, the size of the spherulites only decreases modestly. It is suggested that the introduction of irregular stiff segments originated from NSAP into PA6 macromolecule chain, which resulted from transamidation during the polymerization play a dominant role in the drastic change of crystallization kinetics and the resultant morphology of the in-situ blends.