The Effect of the Melt Viscosity and Impregnation of a Film on the Mechanical Properties of Thermoplastic Composites
Generally, to produce film-type thermoplastic composites with good mechanical properties, high-performance reinforcement films are used. In this case, films used as a matrix are difficult to impregnate into tow due to their high melt viscosity and high molecular weight. To solve the problem, in this paper, three polypropylene (PP) films with different melt viscosities were used separately to produce film-type thermoplastic composites. A film with a low melt viscosity was stacked so that tow was impregnated first and a film with a higher melt viscosity was then stacked to produce the composite. Four different composites were produced by regulating the pressure rising time. The thickness, density, fiber volume fraction (Vf), and void content (Vc) were analyzed to identify the physical properties and compare them in terms of film stacking types. The thermal properties were identified by using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and dynamical mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA). The tensile property, flexural property, interlaminar shear strength (ILSS), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were performed to identify the mechanical properties. For the films with low molecular weight, impregnation could be completed fast but showed low strength. Additionally, the films with high molecular weight completed impregnation slowly but showed high strength. Therefore, appropriate films should be used considering the forming process time and their mechanical properties to produce film-type composites.
Lay-Up and Consolidation of a Composite Pipe by In Situ Ultrasonic Welding of a Thermoplastic Matrix Composite Tape
In this work, the potential of preformed thermoplastic matrix composite tapes for the manufacturing of composite pipes by filament winding assisted by in situ ultrasonic welding was evaluated. Unidirectional tapes of E-glass-reinforcedamorphous poly (ethylene terephthalate) were laid up and consolidated in a filament winding machine that was modified with a set-up enabling ultrasonic welding. The obtained composite specimens were characterized by means of morphological and dynamic mechanical analysis as well as void content evaluation, in order to correlate welding parameters to composite properties.
Synthesis and chemical recycling of novel poly(ester-urethane)s using an enzyme.
A series of enzymatically recyclable poly(ester-urethane)s consisting of a biodegradable diurethane moiety as a hard segment and an ester moiety as an enzymatically cleavable linkage was chemo-enzymatically prepared by two routes. The poly(ester-urethane) was prepared by a) the ring-opening polymerization of a cyclic ester-urethane monomer synthesized via the transesterification reaction of biodegradable diurethanediol and dicarboxylate ester using lipase and b) the direct polycondensation of a diurethanediol and a dicarboxylate ester. A significantly higher molecular-weight poly(ester-urethane) having the highest molecular weight (Mw) of 101,000 was produced by the ring-opening polymerization of the cyclic ester-urethane monomer when compared with that produced by the polycondensation of the dicarboxylate ester with diurethanediol. The poly(ester-urethane) was readily degraded by lipase into the corresponding cyclic oligomers; the oligomers were readily repolymerized by the ring-opening polymerization using lipase for chemical recycling.