Category

Polymer research

(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialPolymer researchSAXSSelf-assembled materialTechnique

Fragmentation of 1,2-Polybutadiene-block-Poly(ethylene oxide) Micelles in Imidazolium-Based Ionic Liquids

Early, Julia T.; Lodge, Timothy P.

The effect of solvent selectivity on the fragmentation kinetics of spherical micelles formed by a 1,2-polybutadiene-block-poly(ethylene oxide) “BO” copolymer in five 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide-based ionic liquids (ILs), (, where n = methyl, ethyl, butyl, hexyl, and octyl) was investigated by temperature-jump dynamic light scattering (T-jump DLS),…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacterizationCustomer publicationsFibersMaterialOrientation analysisPolymer researchSAXSTechnique

Tubular Sensor with Multi-Axial Strain Sensibility and Heating Capability Based on Bio-Mimic Helical Networks

Li, Yijun; Zhang, Kailin; Nie, Min; Wang, Qi

Sensors are crucial in industrial robotics and smart production line owing to the basic needs for human–machine communication and real-time monitoring. However, a lack of versatile sensing capability and multifunctionalities are still two urgent bottlenecks for current sensors to break through. In this study, from the biomimic perspective, helical and…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacterizationCustomer publicationsFibersMaterialOrientation analysisOtherPolymer researchSAXSTechnique

Microstructure and properties of polyacrylonitrile based carbon fibers

Lu, Junshan; Li, Weiwei; Kang, Hongliang; Feng, Libang; Xu, Jian; Liu, Ruigang

The microstructure of polyacrylonitrile (PAN)-based carbon fibers with different mechanical properties was investigated. It was found that the tensile strength of the PAN-based carbon fibers generally decrease with the increase in the modulus. The properties of PAN-based carbon fiber are mainly controlled by the microstructure and microvoids. The increase in…
27 January 2020
(Hydro)gels(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialPolymer researchSAXSTechniqueWAXS

Toughening anti-overswelling semicrystalline polymer hydrogels with ultra-small hydrophobic nanoparticles

Meng, Xiaohui; Wu, Teng; Qiu, Dong

Semicrystalline polymer hydrogels (SC-gels) are intrinsically electrolyte tolerant and over-swelling resistant, emerging as promising candidates for applications in solution environments. However, SC-gels with high mechanical strength are usually brittle. In the present work, by introducing ultra-small hydrophobic nanoparticles, highly-stretchable SC-gels (15 times of its original length) with…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialPolymer researchSAXSTechnique

Effect of Macromolecular Chain Movement and the Interchain Interaction on Crystalline Nucleation and Spherulite Growth of Polylactic Acid under High-Pressure CO2

Li, Shaojie; Chen, Taoyi; Liao, Xia; Han, Weiqiang; Yan, Zhihui; Li, Junsong; Li, Guangxian

Crystallization behavior of polylactic acid (PLA) under CO2 is meaningful due to its effect on foaming behavior during CO2 foaming, while present studies mainly concentrated on overall crystallization behavior. In this study, the effect of CO2 on nucleation and spherulite growth of PLA crystals was in situ investigated separately. During…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialOtherPolymer researchSAXSSelf-assembled materialTechnique

Tailoring the pore size and permeability of isoporous membranes through blending with poly(ethylene glycol): Toward the balance of macro- and microphase separation

Yang, Cao-ying; Zhu, Guo-dong; Yi, Zhuan; Qiu, Ya-yu; Liu, Li-fen; Gao, Cong-jie

Isoporous membranes prepared from the combination of self-assembly and non-solvent induced phase inversion (SNIPS) were known for their asymmetric structures that were characterized with an isoporous top layer and porous/interconnected sublayer. This unique feature provides an opportunity to tailor the structure on toplayer and sublayer separately or synchronously by adjusting…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacterizationCustomer publicationsFractal dimensionMaterialOrientation analysisPhase analysisPolymer researchSAXSTechnique

Photo-degradation of polyethylene under stress: A successive self-nucleation and annealing (SSA) study

Liu, Qiang; Liu, Shixiang; Lv, Yadong; Huang, Yajiang; Kong, Miqiu; Yang, Qi; Li, Guangxian

Successive self-nucleation and annealing (SSA) technique based on calorimetry is utilized to reveal the effect of uniaxial tensile stress on the photo-oxidation of high density polyethylene (HDPE). Stress-induced acceleratory and inhibitory effects on HDPE are confirmed by analyzing the newly formed melting peaks at low temperatures and the gradually disappeared…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialPhase analysisPolymer researchTechniqueWAXS

Morphological Evolution of Tetrachlorinated Perylene Bisimides with Lengthy Alkyl Substituent Polycrystalline Thin Films during Reversible Phase Transitions

Xin, Rui; Wang, Shaojuan; Zeng, Cheng; Ji, Andong; Zhang, Jie; Ren, Zhongjie; Jiang, Wei; Wang, Zhaohui; Yan, Shouke

The phase behavior and related morphological evolution of thin films of lengthy alkyl substituted core-tetrachlorinated perylene bisimide (C18-4ClPBI), a large ?-conjugated molecule, have been studied. It is found that the C18-4ClPBI can exist in two different crystalline phases depending on temperature, which transform reversibly in heating and cooling processes. The…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacterizationCrystalline fractionCustomer publicationsMaterialOrientation analysisPhase analysisPolymer researchSAXSTechniqueWAXS

Transformation from form II to form I accelerated by oriented lamellae in Polybutene-1

Chen, Jinlong; Wang, Binghua; Sun, Taicheng; Xu, Jianwei; Chen, Jingbo; Zhang, Bin

Promoting the transformation from Form II to Form I in polybutene-1 (PB-1) is deemed to be crucial and demanded for commercial applications. The mechanism of phase transition is previously described in terms of thermal or mechanical stress applied between the crystalline and amorphous regions. Here, we find that the structural…
27 January 2020
(Natural) polymersApplicationCharacteristic dimensionCharacterizationCustomer publicationsMaterialPolymer researchSAXSTechniqueTemperatureWAXS

Microstructure Induced Rigidity of Polysiloxane Yielding Hierarchical Self-Assembly of Alkyl Side Chains

Sarkar, Alok; Negi, Lalit Mohan Singh; Lewis, Kenrick M.; Vasimalai, Nagamalai; Gowd, E. Bhoje; Dasgupta, Debarshi

The influence of a backbone microstructure on the side chain crystallization of a comb-like polymer is analyzed systematically using a tailor-made random versus block siloxane copolymer system. While the side alkyl chains of the random siloxane undergo a stepwise order–disorder (OD) transition to form well-ordered orthorhombic structure at low temperature,…
27 January 2020