Investigation on Mechanical Properties of CMSLDS/Acrylate Copolymeric Blending Films for Warp Sizing

Carboxymethyl starch with lower degree of substitution was, blended with acrylate copolymer for revealing the relation between mechanical properties and chemical structure of blending film. Effects of carboxymethylation of starch, acrylate constituent units of acrylate copolymers, and copolymer content of the film on the properties were investigated. The mechanical properties were evaluated in terms of tensile strength, breaking elongation, abrasion resistance, and flex-fatigue resistance. Film morphology was examined with X-ray diffraction （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, and atomic force microscope （AFM）. It was found that the properties depended on the degree of substitution of carboxymethyl starch, chemical structure of acrylate units, and content of acrylate copolymer. Phase-separation of the two ingredients occurred within film matrix and the separation was decreased after starch carboxymethylation. Breaking elongation and flex-fatigue resistance of the film reached maximmns when acrylate copolymer content was 50%. Excessively increasing the content of acrylate copolymer reduced the film properties.

Influence of Poly（methyl metacrylate） Addition on Resistive Switching Performance of P3HT/P（VDF-TrFE） Blend Films

Organic semiconducting/ferroelectric blend films attracted much attention due to their electrical bistability and rectification properties and thereof the potential in resistive memory devices. Blend films were usually deposited from solution, during which phase separation oc- curred, resulting in discrete semiconducting phase whose electrical property was modulated by surrounding ferroelectric phase. However, phase separation resulted in rough surface and thus large leakage current. To further improve electrical properties of such blend films, poly（methyl metacrylate） （PMMA） was introduced as additive into P3HT/P（VDF-TrFE） semiconducting/ferroelectric blend films in this work. It indicated that small amount of PMMA addition could effectively enhance the electrical stability to both large electrical stress and electrical fatigue and further improve retention performance. Overmuch PMMA addition tended to result in the loss of resistive switching property. A model on the configuration of three components was also put forward to well understand our experimental observations.

Compatibility and Properties of Biodegradable Blend Films with Gelatin and Poly(vinyl alcohol)

The blend films with gelatin and poly（vinyl alcohol） （PVA） were prepared by a solution casting method. The compatibility between gelatin and PVA in the blend films was investigated. The transmittance, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy （FTIR）, x-ray diffraction （XRD）, thermogravimetry analysis （TG）, and differential scanning calorimetry （DSC） were employed to characterize the resultant blend films. According to optic result, the opacity of the blend film at the ratio of 20/80 （w/w, Gel to PVA） was the lowest, indicating the best compatibility between Gel and PVA at the ratio. The results oflR, XRD, DSC, and TG revealed an intensive interaction and good compatibility between them in the blend film at the ratio. The mechanical properties and solubility showed that PVA content in the blend films obviously affected the elongation at break and solubility. The mechanical properties and water resistance of gelatin film may be improved by the introduetion of PVA.

Preparation and Characterization of Chitosan/Carboxymethylated Konjac Glucomannan Blend Films

In order to improve the mechanical and water swelling properties of the chitosan (CS) film, a series of transparent films were prepared by blending 2%(weight) chitosan acetic acid solution with 1.5%(weight) carboxymethylated konjac glucomannan (CMKGM) aqueous solution according to predetermined ratio and drying at 30°C. The morphological structure, miscibility, thermal stability, mechanical properies, and swelling capacity of the blend films were studied by infrared (IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential thermal analysis (DTA), scanning electron micrograph (SEM), and measurements of the mechanical properties and swelling properties. The results demonstrated that there was strong interaction and good miscibility between CS and CMKGM resulted from intermolecular hydrogen bonding and electrostatic force. The mechanical properties in dry state and wet state, thermostability, and water swelling properties of the blend films were obviously improved. The best values of the tensile strength in the dry and wet state achieved 89 MPa and 49 MPa, respectively, when the CMKGM content was 30%(weight). The CS/ CMKGM blend films provided promising biomedical applications.

Simulation of Morphologies and Mechanical Properties of A/B Polymer Blend Film

The effects of blend composition and micro-phase structure on the mechanical behavior of A/B polymer blend film are studied by coupling the Monte Carlo(MC) simulation of morphology with the lattice spring model(LSM) of micro mechanics of materials.The MC method with bond length fluctuation and cavity diffusion algorithm on cubic lattice is adopted to simulate the micro-phase structure of A/B polymer blend.The information of morphology and structure is then inputted to the LSM composed of a three-dimensional network of springs to obtain the mechanical properties of polymer blend film.Simulated results show that the mechanical response is mainly affected by the density and the composition of polymer blend film through the morphology transition.When a force is applied on the outer boundary of polymer blend film,the vicinity of the inner cavities experiences higher stresses and strains responsible for the onset of crack propagation and the premature failure of the entire system.

PROPERTIES OF SILK FIBROIN/POLY(ETHYLENE GLYCOL)400 BLEND FILMS

The blend film of silk fibroin (SF) and poly(ethylene glycol)400 (PEG400) with a blend ratio of 2/1 (wt/wt) wasprepared simply by dropping a little PEG400 into the SF solution and then casting the mixed aqueous solution at 50℃. Theresulting film exhibited much better mechanical properties in the dry and wet state than SF itself, owing to theconformational change of SF in the blends from the random coil to the β-sheet structure and intermolecular hydrogen bondformation between SF and PEG400. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that the initial thermal decomposition temperatureof the blend film was 170℃, which was 80℃ lower than that of SF (250℃) and 20℃ higher than that of PEG400 (150℃),and indicated a Strong interaction between two components of the blend. No crystalline peaks were observed in the X-raydiffraction curve of the blend film. Cell culture test showed that SF/PEG400 was a suitable substrate for the growth of humanumbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC).

Preparation and Investigation on Novel Biodegradable Films Based on Konajac Glucomannan and Palmitoylated Konjac Glucomannan

Konjac glucomannan(KGM) has been generally used in food,film-former and biomedical applications,especially in the edible packing films due to its excellent film-forming ability,good biocompatibility and biodegrade-ability.It has the common flaws of natural polymers,such as low mechanical properties and poor antimicrobial activity,which severely limit their applications.In this paper,novel biodegradable films(NBF) of KGM with palmitoylated KGM(PKGM) were prepared by using the solventcasting technique.The structure,thermal and mechanical properties of the NBF were investigated.The results suggested that a strong hydrogen bonding was formed in NBF,which resulted in good miscibility between KGM and PKGM.The tensile strength and elongation at break of the NBF were enhanced significantly with the increase of PKGM in a certain range.With the addition of 0.75%PKGM by weight,tensile strength and elongation at break of NBF were improved largely to 117.12 MPa and 14.39%.From this work,we hope to provide one of the promising ways to design new edible food films and coatings materials with good mechanical properties.

A study of chitosan blend film as a carrier of corneal endothelial cells

In order to evaluate the cytocompatibility and biocompatibility of a new kind of chitosan blend film as a carrier of corneal endothelial cell, rabbit corneal endothelial cells cultured in vitro were breeded onto the film. After a cell monolayer formed, the scanning electron micrography was performed. After inplanted into anterior chamber, slit lamp observation, thickness metering, specular microscopy and HE staining were performed at random time after operation to evaluate the biocompatibility. Inflmmnation in anterior, thickness of cornea, cell density, hexagonality and cell size of the surgical cornea were taken as the indexes of biocompatibility. The cultured cells exhibited a confluent monolayer 10 days after incubation, which proved the satisfactory cytocompatibility of this film. Biocompatibility assay results suggested the implantation feasibility of the film as a carder of corneal endothelial cells.

Mixed P3HT/PCBM Organic Thin-Film Transistors： Relation between Morphology and Electrical Characteristics

The mixed P3HT （poly（3-hexylthiophene）） and [6,6]-PCBM （phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester） organic thin films were investigated for electronic structure using UV-Vis spectrophotometer and PESA （photo-electron spectroscopy in air）. Furthermore, ESR （electron spin resonance） and AFM （atomic force microscopy） were used to investigate the surface morphology and molecular orientation, respectively. ESR analysis indicated the molecular orientation of the P3HT crystalline in the blend thin films, which the crystalline oriented normal to the substrate with distribution of 35°. AFM images indicated that the surface morphology of P3HT film was affected by the presence of PCBM nanoparticles. Solution-processed OTFTs （organic thin-film transistors） based on P3HT/PCBM blend thin film in a top source-drain contact structure was fabricated, and the electrical characteristics of the devices were also investigated. A unipolar property with p-channel characteristics were obtained in glove box measurement.

MONTE CARLO SIMULATION OF TRIBLOCK COPOLYMER/HOMOPOLYMER BLEND FILMS

The morphologies of triblock copolymer/homopolymer blend films, ABA/A and ABAIB, confined between two neutral hard walls were studied via Monte Carlo （MC） simulation on a simple .cubic lattice. The effects of φh （the volume fraction of homopolymer） and Md/Mb （the molecular weight of homopolymer in relation to that of the corresponding blocks in the copolymer） on the morphologies were investigated in detail.

Novel Membranes Regenerated from Blends of Cellulose/Gluten Using Ethylenediamine/Potassium Thiocyanate Solvent System

Current industrial methods for dissolution of cellulose in making regenerated cellulose products are relatively expensive,toxic and dangerous and have environmental problems coming with the hazard chemical wastes.To solve these problems,a novel ethylenediamine and potassium thiocyanate(ED/KSCN)solvent system was developed,that is economical,ecofriendly,and highly efficient.The ED/KSCN solvent system was proven to be a suitable solvent for fabricating cellulose(blended with other polymers)membranes.In this study,gluten was used to develop nonporous membranes with cellulose.The method of casting these membranes provided better ones than the former researchers’techniques.These composite membranes’physical and mechanical properties were studied by analysis of morphology,viscosity,crystallinity,thermal behaviors,tensile properties and water absorption of membranes.Results showed that membranes are nonporous,uniform,strong,flexible,ecofriendly and renewable.Mechanical and physical properties were influenced by the ratio of cellulose/gluten.By blending 40% gluten,the tensile strength of cellulose membrane dropped to 15.89 MPa from 35.11 MPa.However,its elongation at break increased from 35.3% to 57.02% accordingly.

Reactive processing of poly(lactic acid)/poly(ethylene octene) blend film with tailored interfacial intermolecular entanglement and toughening mechanism

In order to obtain a uniform and effectively toughened poly(lactic acid)film by blending with low content of poly(ethylene octene)(POE)with high elasticity,the tailored interfacial intermolecular interaction and entanglement between the two phases of the PLA/POE blend was innovatively constructed via the facile reactive melt blending process through the reaction of the epoxy/anhydride groups grafted on the POE chains with the end groups of PLA chains(PLA/GPOE-MPOE).It was observed that POE domains were embedded tightly in PLA matrix with a fuzzy interface and abundant interface transition area,and the impact fractured surface of the blend showed an obvious plastic deformation with less occurrence of fibrillation of PLA matrix or interfacial de-bonding.Compared with neat PLA and directly blended PLA/POE blends,the PLA/GPOE-MPOE blend exhibited much higher complex viscosity/storage modulus,much lower tanδvalues in the terminal region,and obvious strain-hardening behavior.The deviation in viscoelastic behavior of PLA/GPOE-MPOE from linear PLA indicated the enhanced molecular entanglement between the long-branched chains,resulting in an enhancement of the stretching ability during biaxial drawing of the blend.Uniform PLA/GPOE-MPOE films with draw ratio as high as 7×7 were obtained through biaxial stretching,which showed much higher tensile strength and the elongation at break than that of neat PLA and PLA/POE film.This work provides a facile method for fabricating toughening PLA films with application potentials.

Preparation of LDPE-Acetylated/Butyrylated Starch Blend Blow Films and Characterization

Development of modified plastics has been studied through the LDPE-acylated starch blend films to examine the effect of different acyl groups and degrees of substitution （DS） on properties of films. Corn starch was modified with acetyl and hutyryl groups and films were prepared by blending acylated starch with low density polyethylene （LDPE）. Systematic studies were done to observe the effect of acyl groups, DS and starch concentration on the properties and biodegradability of the blend films. It was observed that blend films containing 5% acetylated and butyrylated starches of high DS （2.5, 1.7） maintained 75% and 83% of tensile strength of LDPE films. Thermal analysis results indicated that acetylated and butyrylated starch blend films decomposed at 370℃ and 389℃ which were higher than the decomposition temperature of native starch film （349℃）. Scanning electron micrographs of blend films containing high DS acylated starch showed well dispersed starch particles due to improvement in dispersion between starch and LDPE. Water absorption capacity of high DS acetylated and butyrylated starch blend films （4.18% and 3.76%, respectively） was lower than that of native starch films （5%）. This study has an advantage because of blown films prepared can be integrated with the present manufacturing systems without any other requirement.

Convenient and inexpensive determination of optical constants and film thickness of blended organic thin film

This work presents the study of optical constants and film thickness of blended organic thin films, emphasizing on the modeling procedure with modified genetic algorithm aided by absorption or transmittance spectra of both pure materials and the blends. Taking the blending of copper phthalocyanine(Cu Pc) and fullerene(C60) as an example, a simple, convenient and low-cost method for the determination of the optical constants and film thickness of blended organic thin films was demonstrated. New scheme for optical modeling of blended organic thin film was proposed by introducing peak energies of Cody-Lorentz oscillators of the pure materials, which were determined by fitting the film absorption of pure materials. These oscillators of pure materials could be recognized in the transmittance spectrum of their blends, and were further used as the initial searching ranges in the simulation of blended films. As a result, the constraint bounds of the unknown parameters were significantly reduced and modeling efficiency as well as fitting accuracy was improved. For instance, the fitting of the transmittance curves of blended films with different blending ratios reached reliable results in comparison with extinction coefficients obtained from experiment.

Mechanical behavior and wrinkling patterns of phaseseparated binary polymer blend film

The wrinkling of phase-separated binary polymer blend film was studied through combining the Monte Carlo(MC)simulation for morphologies with the lattice spring model(LSM)for mechanical properties.The information of morphology and structure obtained by use of MC simulation is input to the LSM composed of a three-dimensional network of springs,which allows us to determine the wrinkling and the mechanical properties of polymer blend film,such as strain,stress,and Young’s modulus.The simulated results show that the wrinkling of phase-separated binary polymer blend film is related not only to the structure of morphology,but also to the disparity in elastic moduli between polymers of blend.Our simulation results provide fundamental insight into the relationship between morphology,wrinkling,and mechanical properties for phase-separated polymer blend films and can yield guidelines for formulating blends with the desired mechanical behavior.The wrinkling results also reveal that the stretching of the phase-separated film can form the micro-template,which has a wide application prospect.

Modification on crystallization of poly（vinylidene fluoride） （PVDF） by solvent extraction of poly（methyl methacrylate） （PMMA） in PVDF/PMMA blends

The crystallization modification of poly（vinylidene fluoride） （PVDF） was investigated for the blend films of PVDF and poiy（methyl methacrylate） （PMMA）. The mass crystallinity （Xc） and further, the β-phase content （F（β）） of PVDF, were studied for the asprepared blend films with different mass ratios. In addition, the variations of Xc and F（β） were systematically probed once the PMMA component was removed from the related blend systems. DSC, FTIR and XRD measurements all indicated that 1）Xc, F（β） and even the content of a-phase （F（a）） decreased with the addition of PMMA; 2） with the extraction of PMMA, both Xc and F（β） increased while F（a） decreased. It is worth noting that the increase of Xc and F（β） depended on the relative amount of extracted PMMA （EpMMA）, i.e., the more PMMA was removed, the more Xc and F（β） increased. These results reveal the hindrance effect from the PMMA constituent to the crystallization of PVDF, and consequently, this restriction would be released when the PMMA was extracted.

The improved performance in the ternary bulk heterojunction solar cells

The ternary blend films have been fabricated via adding 4,4'-N,N'-dicarbazole-biphenyl(CBP,a hole transport material widely used in organic light emitting diodes) into the poly(3-hexylthiophene):[6,6]-phenyl C 61-butyric acid methyl ester(P3HT:PCBM).Despite the wide bandgap(3.1 eV) of the CBP,the solar cell utilizing the optimized P3HT:PCBM:CBP blend film showed an increase of 16% in power conversion efficiency and 25% in short-circuit current than the compared standard P3HT:PCBM blend film.This is attributed to the fact that the addition of the CBP could enhance the aggregation of the P3HT chains and thereby reduce the hole-electron recombination at the interface of P3HT and PCBM.We provide a simple,effective way to improve the performance of P3HT based bulk heterojunction solar cells.