Natural fiber reinforced polymer composites: history, types, advantages and applications

Nowadays, the use of natural fiber reinforced polymer-based composites is gradually increasing day by day for their many advantages for civil engineering construction applications. Due to their many advantages for polymer-based composite materials are widely used in civil construction, automobiles, aerospace, and many others. Natural fibers such as jute, kenaf, pineapple, sugarcane, hemp, oil palm, flax, and leaf, etc. are cheap, environmentally friendly, renewable, completely and partially biodegradable which can be utilized to obtain new high-performance polymer materials. These composites are having satisfactory mechanical properties (i.e. tensile properties, flexural stress-strain behavior, fracture toughness, and fracture strength) which make them more attractive than other composites. Due to easy availability and renewability, natural fibers can be used as an alternative of synthetic fibers as a reinforcing agent. The aim of this paper is to review different natural fibers reinforced based polymer composites with mechanical characterization, applications, also shows the opportunities, challenges and future demand of natural composite material towards civil applications.

Research with KNbO_(3) Bulk and Surface Properties Based on Density Functional Theory

The geometrical structure optimization,band structure,density of states,and charge density contour of potassium niobate(KNbO_(3))in the bulk[100]direction and(100)surface are calculated and analyzed using density functional theory.The elastic constants,which can describe the bonding characteristics and structural stability,are also computed,and the dielectric function,which can be used to calculate all the other optical properties of the material,is evaluated.Local density approximation functional analysis using CASTEP software is also employed.Several similarities and differences are observed in the properties of the KNbO_(3) bulk and surface.Almost all of the calculated results for the bulk sample are twice those of the surface sample.The results are consistent with the experiment.

不同尺寸橡胶/帘线H型拉拔试验界面参数的归一化处理评价方法

H型拉拔试验被广泛应用于橡胶/帘线复合材料界面粘结强度的估算.然而,目前的国际标准只要求在橡胶/帘线H型拉拔试验中记录拔出力的大小,并强调从不同尺寸的样品中获得的结果不具有可比性.在本文中,我们研究了不同尺寸橡胶/帘线试验样品的H拔出结果的可比性,并提出了一种归一化的评价方法来处理这些结果.分别对尺寸为5 mm、6.4 mm、10 mm的试验样品进行橡胶/帘线H拉拔试验(尺寸为7.5 mm、8.5 mm的试件结果作为支撑性试验).在试验结果的基础上,采用有限元法内聚单元模型对界面粘结强度进行了分析,所得出的内聚力参数比国际标准中所规定的拔出力更能准确地反映界面粘结性能.因此,采用内聚单元法能够更合理地比较不同橡胶/帘线试样的界面粘结强度.我们首先基于6.4 mm尺寸样品的试验结果建立有限元模型,并确定满足条件的内聚单元参数,然后将其应用于其他尺寸的样品模型.尽管试验样品的尺寸大小在变化,但在保持内聚单元参数不变的前提下,模拟结果与试验结果仍然保持良好的一致性,这表明内聚参数不受样本尺寸的影响.在此基础上,我们提出了一种归一化方法,使不同尺寸样品的橡胶/帘线H拉拔试验的结果具有了可比性.本文提出的归一化方法是对现有国际、国内标准实验方法的扩展.

EFFECT OF POLYANILINE AS A SURFACE MODIFIER OF TiO_2 NANO-PARTICLES ON THE PROPERTIES OF POLYVINYL CHLORIDE/TiO_2 NANOCOMPOSITES

Surface of TiO2 nanoparticles was modified with the in situ chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline. Polyaniline modified TiO2 nanoparticles （PANI-TiO2） were characterized with the FT-IR, XRD, SEM and TEM techniques. Results confirmed that PANI was grafted successfully on the surface of TiO2 nanoparticles, therefore agglomeration of nanoparticles decreased dramatically. Polyvinyl chloride nanocomposites filled with 1 wt%-5 wt% of PANI-TiO2 and TiO2 nanoparticles were prepared via the solution blending method. PVC nanocomposites were analyzed with FT-IR, XRD, SEM, TG/DTA, DSC and tensile test techniques. Effect of PANI as surface modifier of nanoparticles was discussed according to the final properties of PVC nanocomposites. Results demonstrated that deposition of PANI on the surface of TiO2 nanoparticles improved the interfacial adhesion between the constituents of nanocomposites, which resulted in better dispersion of nanoparticles in the PVC matrix. Also PVC/PANI-TiO2 nanocomposites showed higher thennal resistance, tensile strength and Young＇s modulus compared to those of unfilled PVC and PVC/TiO2 nanocomposites.

pH-responsive Polymersome Based on PMCP-b-PDPA as a Drug Delivery System to Enhance Cellular Internalization and Intracellular Drug Release

Choline phosphate （CP） as a novel zwitterion possesses specific and excellent properties compared with phosphorylcholine （PC）, as well as its polymer, such as poly（2-（methacryloyloxy）ethyl choline phosphate） （PMCP）, has been studied extensively due to its unique characteristics of rapid cellular internalization via the special quadrupole interactions with the cell membrane. Recently, we reported a novel PMCP-based drug delivery system to enhance the cellular internalization where the drug was conjugated to the polymer via reversible acylhydrazone bond. Herein, to make full use of this feature of PMCP, we synthesized the diblock copolymer poly（2-（methacryloyloxy）ethyl choline phosphate）-b-poly（2- （diisopropylamino）ethyl methacrylate） （PMCP-b-PDPA）, which could self-assemble into polymersomes with hydrophilic PMCP corona and hydrophobic membrane wall in mild conditions when the pH value is 〉 6.4. It has been found that these polymersomes can be successfully used to load anticancer drug Dox with the loading content of about 11.30 wt%. After the polymersome is rapidly internalized by the cell with the aid of PMCP, the loaded drug can be burst-released in endosomes since PDPA segment is protonated at low pH environment, which renders PDPA to transfer from hydrophobic to hydrophilic, and the subsequent polymersomes collapse thoroughly. Ultimately, the ＂proton sponge＂ effect of PDPA chain can further accelerate the Dox to escape from endosome to cytoplasm to exert cytostatic effects. Meanwhile, the cell viability assays showed that the Dox-loaded polymersomes exhibited significant inhibitory effect on tumor cells, indicating its great potential as a targeted intracellular delivery system with high efficiency.

Preparation and Properties of High-performance Polyimide Copolymer Fibers Derived from 5-Amino-2-(2-hydroxy-5-aminobenzene)-benzoxazole

A series of polyamic acid copolymers(co-PAAs) with para-hydroxyl groups was synthesized using two diamine monomers,namely p-phenylenediamine(p-PDA) and 5-amino-2-(2-hydroxy-5-aminobenzene)-benzoxazole(m-pHBOA), of different molar ratios through copolymerization with 3,3′,4,4′-biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride(BPDA) in N,N-dimethyacetamine(DMAc). The co-PAA solutions were used to fabricate fibers by dry-jet wet spinning, and thermal imidization was conducted to obtain polyimide copolymer(coPI) fibers. The effects of the m-pHBOA moiety on molecular packing and physical properties of the prepared fibers were investigated.Fourier transform infrared(FTIR) spectroscopic results confirmed that intra/intermolecular hydrogen bonds originated from the hydroxyl group and the nitrogen atom of the benzoxazole group and/or the hydroxyl group and the oxygen atom of the carbonyl group of cyclic imide. As-prepared PI fibers displayed homogenous and smooth surface and uniform diameter. The glass transition temperatures(Tgs) of PI fibers were within 311-337 °C. The polyimide fibers showed 5% weight loss temperature(T5%) at above 510 °C in air. Twodimensional wide-angle X-ray diffraction(WXRD) patterns indicated that the homo-PI and co-PI fibers presented regularly arranged polymer chains along the fiber axial direction. The ordered molecular packing along the transversal direction was destroyed by introducing the m-pHBOA moiety. Moreover, the crystallinity and orientation factors increased with increasing draw ratio. Small-angle X-ray scattering(SAXS) results showed that it is beneficial to reduce defects in the fibers by increasing the draw ratio. The resultant PI fibers exhibited excellent mechanical properties with fracture strength and initial modulus of 2.48 and 89.73 GPa, respectively, when the molar ratio of p-PDA/m-pHBOA was 5/5 and the draw ratio was 3.0.

Mechanical Properties of Polyimide/Multi-walled Carbon Nanotube Composite Fibers

A series of polyimide（PI）/multi-walled carbon nanotube（MWCNT） composite fibers were prepared by copolymerizing a mixture of monomers and carboxylic-functionalized MWCNTs, followed by dry-jet wet spinning, thermal imidization, and hot-drawing process. The content of the carboxylic groups of MWCNTs significantly increased when treated with mixed acid, whereas their length decreased with treatment time. Both the carboxylic content and length of MWCNTs influenced the mechanical properties of the composite fibers. Fiber added with 0.1 wt% MWCNTs treated for 4 h exhibited the best mechanical properties, i.e., 1.4 GPa tensile strength and 14.30% elongation at break, which were 51% and 32% higher than those of pure PI fibers, respectively. These results indicated that a suitable MWCNT content strengthened and toughened the resultant PI composite fibers, simultaneously. Moreover, raising draw ratio resulted in the increase of tensile strength and tensile modulus of the composite fibers.

Effect of Molecular Weight and Processing Additive on the Performance of Low Bandgap Polymer Solar Cells

In this work, we synthesized a low bandgap polymer polysilole（-2,6-diyl-alt-5-octylthieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6- dione） （PDTSTPD） with different molecular weights （Mn）. The devices based on PDTSTPD/PC71BM composite are prepared and the dependence of power conversion efficiency （PCE） of the devices on the M,1 of conjugated poly- mers is addressed. We found the hole mobility of PDTSTPD is dependent on the Mn of the polymer, which should be the main reason contributing to the drastic difference of device performance, i.e. the PCE of the device using 10 kDa polymer is only 0.52%, in contrast to 2.3% for 24 kDa polymer device. This PCE data is then further improved to 5.0% via using 1,8-diiodoctane as processing additive to achieve an optimized morphology for the photoactive layer with an appropriate length-scale of phase separation for both exciton dissociation and charge transportation.

Effect of Draw Ratio on the Morphologies and Properties of BPDA/PMDA/ODA Polyimide Fibers

3,3,4,4-Biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride/pyromellitic dianhydride/4,4-oxydianiline（BPDA/PMDA/ODA） polyimide copolymer fibers with different draw ratios were prepared from the imidization of polyacrylic acid（PAA） fibers via a dry-jet wet-spinning process.Their morphologies,microcrystal orientations,thermal stabilities,and mechanical properties were investigated via scanning electron microscopy（SEM）,wide angle X-ray diffraction（WAXD）,thermogravimetric analysis（TGA）,and tensile experiments.In order to acquire fibers with better mechanical performance,we aimed at obtaining the optimal draw ratio.Drawing during thermal imidization resulted in a decreased diameter of fiber from 25.8 μm to 16.9 μm corresponding to draw ratio from 1 to 3.5.WAXD results show that the degree of the orientation of the undrawn sample is 64.1％,whereas that of the drawn sample is up to 82％.The as-spun fiber and those with different draw ratios all exhibit high thermal stabilities,i.e.,the temperature at a mass loss of 5％ can reach as high as 570 ℃.The tensile strengths and tensile modulus of the fibers increase with the draw ratios,and the maximum tensile strength and modulus are 0.90 and 12.61 GPa,respectively.

Synthesis and AO Resistant Properties of Novel Polyimide Fibers Containing Phenylphosphine Oxide Groups in Main Chain

A series of co-polyimide(PI)fibers containing phenylphosphine oxide(PPO)group were synthesized by incorporating the bis(4-aminophenoxy)phenyl phosphine oxide(DAPOPPO)monomer into the PI molecular chain followed by dry-jet wet spinning.The effects of DAPOPPO molar content on the atomic oxygen(AO)resistance of the fibers were investigated systematically.When the AO fluence increased from 0to 3.2×1020the mass loss of the fibers showed the dependence on DAPOPPO molar content in co-PI fibers.The PI fiber containing 40%DAPOPPO showed lower mass loss compared to those containing 0%and 20%DAPOPPO.At higher AO fluence,the higher DAPOPPO content gave rise to dense carpet-like surface of fibers.XPS results indicated that the passivated phosphate layer was deposited on the fiber surface when exposed to AO,which effectively prevented fiber from AO erosion.With the DAPOPPO content increasing from 0%to 40%,the retentions of tensile strength and initial modulus for the fibers exhibited obvious growth from 44%to 68%,and 59%to 70%,after AO exposure with the fluence of 3.2×1020The excellent AO resistance benefits the fibers for application in low Earth orbit as flexible construction components.

AO-resistant Properties of Polyimide Fibers Containing Phosphorous Groups in Main Chains

A series of polyimide fibers containing phosphorus element derived from （3-aminophenyl） methyl phosphine oxide （DAMPO） diamine was exposed to an artificial atomic oxygen environment which simulated the space environment in low earth orbit （LEO）. The mass loss, surface morphology, chemical composition, and mechanical properties of the fibers before and after atomic oxygen （AO） exposure were compared in detail with a blank sample. Results showed that the phosphor-containing fibers demonstrated lower mass change and less tensile strength reduction. SEM results showed that the fibers with phosphorous element had relatively dense surface after AO exposure. Meanwhile, XPS results indicated that a passivated phosphate layer, which could protect the following under-layer from attacking by AO, was formed on the surface of the fibers. These results indicated that the incorporation of diamine （DAMPO） into the main chains could protect the fibers for avoiding further erosion from AO exposure. Hence, the phosphor-containing PI fibers exhibits potential application in space fields.

Synthesis and Properties of Novel Polyimide Fibers Containing Phosphorus Groups in the Side Chain (DATPPO)

A series of polyamic acid copolymers(co-PAAs) containing phosphorous groups in the side chains were synthesized from [2,5-bis(4-aminophenoxy) phenyl] diphenylphosphine oxide(DATPPO) and 4,4′-oxydianiline(ODA) with 3,3′,4,4′-biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride(s-BPDA) through the polycondensation in N,N′-dimethyacetamide(DMAc). The co-PAA solutions were spun into fibers by a dry-jet wet spinning process followed by thermal imidization to obtain co-polyimide(co-PI) fibers. FTIR spectra and elemental analysis confirmed the chemical structure of PI fibers. SEM results indicated that the resulting PI fibers had a smooth and dense surface, a uniform and circle-shape diameter. The thermogravimetric measurements showed that with the increase of DATPPO content, the resulting PI fibers possessed high decomposition temperature and residual char yield, indicating that the PI fibers had good thermal stability. The corresponding limiting oxygen index(LOI) values from the experiment results showed that the co-PI fibers possessed good flame-retardant property. Furthermore, the mechanical properties of the co-PI fibers were investigated systematically. When the DATPPO content increased, the tensile strength and initial modulus of the co-PI fibers decreased. However, the mechanical properties were improved by increasing the draw ratio of the fibers. When the draw ratio was up to 2.5, the tensile strength and initial modulus of the co-PI fibers reached up to 0.64 and 10.02 GPa, respectively. The WAXD results showed that the order degree of amorphous matter increased with increased stretching. In addition, the SAXS results displayed that valuably drawing the fibers could eliminate the voids inside and lead to better mechanical property. WAXD revealed that the orientation of the amorphous polymer influenced the mechanical properties of the fibers.

Promotion Mechanism of H2O for Stereoselectivity in Pd(Ⅱ)-catalyzed C—H Aryiation of Diarylphosphinamides with Arylboronic Acids

On the basis of a series of control experiments and nuclear magnetic resonance analyses,it is discovered that Boc-protected amino acid ligand coordinated to Pd center is partly replaced by N,N-dimethylformamide,and H2O can inhibit coordination of N,N-dimethylformamide to Pd center.The novel action mechanism perfectly explains H2O promotion for stereoselectivity in Pd(II)-catalyzed C—H aryiation of diarylphosphinamides with arylboronic acids.

Preparation and Properties of Imidazole-containing Polyimide/Silica Hybrid Films

Imidazole-containing polyimide/silica（PI/SiO2） hybrid films were prepared from 3,3＇,4,4＇-biphenyltetra- carboxylic dianhydride（BPDA） and 2,2＇-di（p-aminophenyl）-5,5＇-bibenzimidazole in N,N-dimethylacetamide（DMAc） by sol-gel method and thermal imidization. The hybrid film with high silica mass fraction up to 40% was transparent. Scanning electron microscope（SEM） and transmission electron microscope（TEM） results of the film indicate a ho- mogeneous dispersion of silica nanoparticles in the polyimide matrix. One hybrid film PI/SiO2 with 15% SiO2 exhi- bits better mechanical properties with a tensile strength of 222 MPa, an elongation at break of 12%, and a tensile modulus of 5.66 GPa. The reinforced mechanism on mechanical Drooerties was also studied.

Hydrogels with Dynamically Controllable Mechanics and Biochemistry for 3D Cell Culture Platforms

Many cell-matrix interaction studies have proved that dynamic changes in the extracellular matrix(ECM)are crucial to maintain cellular properties and behaviors.Thus,developing materials that can recapitulate the dynamic attributes of the ECM is highly desired for threedimensional(3 D)cell culture platforms.To this end,we sought to develop a hydrogel system that would enable dynamic and reversible turning of its mechanical and biochemical properties,thus facilitating the control of cell culture to imitate the natural ECM.Herein,a hydrogel with dynamic mechanics and a biochemistry based on an addition-fragmentation chain transfer(AFCT)reaction was constructed.Thiol-modified hyaluronic acid(HA)and allyl sulfide-modifiedε-poly-L-lysine(EPL)were synthesized to form hydrogels,which were non-swellable and biocompatible.The reversible modulus of the hydrogel was first achieved through the AFCT reaction;the modulus can also be regulated stepwise by changing the dose of UVA irradiation.Dynamic patterning of fluorescent markers in the hydrogel was also realized.Therefore,this dynamically controllable hydrogel has great potential as a 3 D cell culture platform for tissue engineering applications.