Abstract

Abstract

We described a two-step process to fabricate the heparinized polypropylene (PP) film using cyanuric chloride (CC) as a trifunctional reagent and poly (ethylene glycol) methacrylate (PEGMA) as a spacer. The modified PP films were characterized by attenuated total reflectance FT-IR and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy; the content of PEGMA and heparin were determined by gravimetric method and a toluidine blue assay, respectively. For the PP-g-PEGMA films, it was found that small size protein BSA tended to adsorb on the surface of low molecular weight monomer grafted PP, whereas big spindle-shaped fibrinogen tended to adsorb on the surface of high molecular weight monomer grafted PP. We gave a definition of anti-protein adsorptive factor r with two model proteins, albumin and fibrinogen. The results by platelet adhesion and plasma recalcification time (PRT) experiments indicated that the factor r could be used to quantitatively evaluate the anticoagulant tendency of PP-g-PEGMA modified films. For the PP-g-PEGMA-g-heparin modified films, the surface was proved to have a high bioactivity by the adsorption of AT III assay and very low platelet adhesion. It indicated that immobilization of heparin on the PP film with PEGMA as a spacer was an effective way to improve the hemocompatibility of PP.

Abstract

In this paper, we study the self-assembly of diblock copolymers under shear flow by combining the self-consistent field (SCF) and lattice Boltzmann (LB) method. We perform LB and SCF simulations in the same lattice, and set SCF simulation results as the input of LB, and then feedback the LB results to SCF simulation. This process is repeated until the system reaches an equilibrium state. This combined simulation method has the advantages of both LB and SCF simulations. It can thus be used to study the self-assembly of a defined copolymer in a real shear flow field. The simulative results imply that the self-assembled morphology of diblock copolymers under shear flow depends on the shear rate and shear frequency. The results correlate well with the experiment.

Abstract

We have studied the effect of shear flow on the self-assembly of ABC amphiphilic copolymers in dilute selective solutions by changing the stirring rate and the composition of the triblock copolymer. The results revealed that the self-assembled morphology strongly depends on the stirring rate and the composition of the copolymer. The self-assembled morphology formed by the ABC triblock copolymer in selective solvent is the result in a competition between the shear flow and the interfacial tension of the micelles.

Abstract

Abstract

In this Letter, we report the morphological transition of dry block copolymer vesicles into onion-like multilamellar micelles induced through heating. When the temperature is higher than the glass transition temperature of block copolymer, the vesicles can collapse, and finally form onion-like multilamellar micelles via micro phase separation. This phenomenon is observed in both A–B and A–B–A block copolymer vesicles, indicating that the technique used in this study can be an alternative method to synthesize multilamellar micelles.

Abstract

Abstract

Abstract

Compatibility of graft copolymer compatibilized two incompatible homopolymer A and B blends was simulated by using Monte Carlo method in a two-dimensional lattice model. The copolymers with various graft structures were introduced in order to study the effect of graft structure on the compatibility. Simulation results showed that incorporation of both A-g-B (A was backbone) and B-g-A (B was backbone) copolymers could much improve the compatibility of the blends. However, A-g-B copolymer was more effective to compatibilize the blend if homopolymer A formed dispersed phase. Furthermore, simulation results indicated that A-g-B copolymers tended to locate at the interface and anchor two immiscible components when the side chain is relatively long. However, most of A-g-B copolymers were likely to be dispersed into the dispersed homopolymer A phase domains if the side chains were relatively short. On the other hand, B-g-A copolymers tended to be dispersed into the matrix formed by homopolymer B. Moreover, it was found that more and more B-g-A copolymers were likely to form thin layers at the phase interface with decreasing the length of side chain. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007

The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of consecutive shear on the crystallization of an amorphous aromatic polyimide (PI) derived from 3,3′,4,4′-oxydiphthalic dianhydride (3,3′,4,4′-ODPA) and 4,4′-oxydianiline (ODA). At 260 °C, the increase of shear rate or shear time leads to the increase of crystallinity. Indeed, increasing shear rate can also accelerate the crystallization behavior. Moreover, it was found that a new melting peak appeared at higher temperature for long time or high rate sheared sample. The enhancement of crystallization behavior appears directly linked to the increase of crystal thickness. Particularly, the effect of shear temperature was investigated, and the results revealed that the crystallization of the PI was more sensitive to shear at 260 °C, which was 10° above the glass transition temperature (250 °C) of the PI. Possible mechanism was proposed to illustrate the effect of consecutive shear on the crystallization of the PI polymer. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 2344–2349, 2007

The effects of the glass-bead content and size on the nonisothermal crystallization behavior of polypropylene (PP)/glass-bead blends were studied with differential scanning calorimetry. The degree of crystallinity decreased with the addition of glass bead, and the crystallization temperature of the blends was marginally higher than that of pure PP at various cooling rates. Furthermore, the half-time for crystallization decreased with an increase in the glass-bead content or particle size, implying the nucleating role of the glass beads. The nonisothermal crystallization data were analyzed with the methods of Avrami, Ozawa, and Mo. The validity of various kinetic models for the nonisothermal crystallization process of PP/glass-bead blends was examined. The approach developed by Mo successfully described the nonisothermal crystallization behavior of PP and PP/glass-bead blends. Finally, the activation energy for the nonisothermal crystallization of pure PP and PP/glass-bead blends based on the Kissinger method was evaluated. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 102: 2026–2033, 2006

Abstract

We have used Monte Carlo simulation to study the micellization of ABC 3-miktoarm star terpolymers in a selective solvent (good to A segment, bad to B and C segments). The simulation results reveal that the self-assembled morphology is determined by the block length, molecular architecture, terpolymer concentration and insolubility of insoluble block in the solvent. In dilute solution, symmetric terpolymers (N_B = N_C = 30) tend to aggregate into a novel wormlike pearl-necklace structure linked by an alternating arrangement of B and C spheres, whereas the asymmetric terpolymers (N_B = 10, N_C = 50) are likely to aggregate into spherical or cylindrical micelles (formed by C blocks) connected with some small B spheres, when the concentration of terpolymer is relatively low (chain number is 100). However, when the concentration of terpolymer is relatively high (chain number is 250), the symmetric terpolymers tend to aggregate into a netlike structure linked by an alternation of B and C spheres, whereas the asymmetric terpolymers are likely to aggregate into wormlike micelles (formed by C blocks) connected with some of small spheres (formed by B blocks). Moreover, when the insolubility of insoluble block in the solvent is weak, the insoluble blocks aggregate into some incompact micelles. However, if we increase the insolubility of insoluble block, the resulting micelles will become more compact at first, and thereafter almost remain unchanged with further increasing the insolubility of insoluble blocks.

The blends of the polypropylene (PP-1) with various glass bead contents were prepared via melt blending. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) results indicated that the β crystal existed in PP-1 and increased with increasing glass bead content up to 6 wt %. It was generally known that the stiffness of a polymer increased with introducing rigid particles, and the stiffness of the β crystal was less than that of the α crystal. This competing effect thus leads to the tensile modulus of PP-1/glass bead blend decreasing with increasing glass bead content up to 6 wt %; thereafter, it increased with increasing glass bead content. For the purpose of comparison, the polypropylene (PP-2) without the β crystal was employed to blend with glass bead. The tensile tests showed that the modulus of the PP-2/glass bead blend increased continuously with increasing glass bead content. This result further supported that the tensile modulus behavior of PP-1/glass bead blends resulted from the competing between the filled glass bead and the induced β crystal. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 96: 1729–1733, 2005

Abstract

Compatibility of A/B and functionalized A ternary polymer mixtures was studied by Monte Carlo simulation in a two-dimensional lattice. Polymer A was a nonreactive polymer, whereas polymer B was a reactive polymer and immiscible with polymer A. Functionalized polymer A could react with the end group of polymer B, leading to the formation of block copolymers. Simulation results showed the phase domain sizes dropped considerably with increasing functionalized polymer A content, indicating that the compatibility between polymer A and B could be markedly improved with the introduction of functionalized polymer A. Moreover, it was shown that the resulting block copolymers tended to distribute at the phase interface between polymer A and B, and the block copolymer conformation depended on the structures of polymer B and functionalized polymer A. In case 1, i.e., both polymer B and functionalized polymer A were with single end group, it could be found that the block A and block B of resulting A–B copolymer inserted into polymer A and polymer B phase domains, respectively. In case 2, i.e., functionalized polymer A was with single end group and polymer B was with double end groups, it was found that the resulting A–B–A triblock copolymer tended to connect two neighbor separated polymer A phase domains. However, in case 3, namely functionalized polymer A was with double end groups and polymer B was with single end group, it was found that the resulting B–A–B triblock copolymer was likely to form a folding conformation. These lead to the different compatibilizing effects for different polymer structures. Comparing with case 1 and case 2, functionalized polymer A with double end groups (case 3) had less effective to compatibilize the A/B polymer blends. For the purpose of comparison, same simulations were carried out in a three-dimensional lattice. The results showed the compatibility behavior of the mixtures was similar to those in the two-dimensional lattice with the addition of functionalized polymer A. However, the conformation of the resulting block copolymers was different from that in the two-dimensional lattice.

Multiscale dewetting of poly(styrene-b-ethylene/butylenes-b-styrene) (SEBS) triblock copolymer thin films induced by volatile solvent vapor treatment were observed in this study. Film rupture occurred at first and produced macroscopic holes. Near-regular droplets (which represented a compromise between complete disorder and perfect order) could be formed at the last stage. The mechanism of solvent-driven dewetting was discussed by comparing with that of thermal-induced dewetting. Similar to thermal-induced dewetting, the block copolymer thin films initially break up through the nucleation of holes that perforated the films. The rapid growing holes became unstable and formed nonequilibrium fingering patterns. The films exhibit autophobic or autodewetting phenomena. The velocity of the holes growth was nearly a constant (3.3 μm/min). The stages of the dewetting were quite similar to that found for homopolymer and block copolymer thin films dewetting on solid or liquid substrates under thermal treatment. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 43: 2874–2884, 2005

A series of ¹³C-enriched maleic anhydride grafted isotactic polypropylene samples were prepared in solution at 170 °C by changes in the initial maleic anhydride content. The NMR spectra of the samples showed that the signals of the maleic anhydride attached to the tertiary carbons of the isotactic polypropylene chains increased considerably with increasing maleic anhydride content, whereas the signals of the maleic anhydride on the radical chain ends (with a single bond) arising from β scission did not. On the other hand, the signals of the maleic anhydride on the radical chain ends with double bonds increased markedly with increasing maleic anhydride content, and this suggested that β scission could occur extensively after maleic anhydride was attached to the tertiary carbons. As a result, the molecular weight of the grafted polypropylene decreased significantly with increasing maleic anhydride content in this study. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 5529–5534, 2005

The mechanical and thermal properties of glass bead–filled nylon-6 were studied by dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), tensile testing, Izod impact, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) tests. DMA results showed that the incorporation of glass beads could lead to a substantial increase of the glass-transition temperature (T_g) of the blend, indicating that there existed strong interaction between glass beads and the nylon-6 matrix. Results of further calculation revealed that the average interaction between glass beads and the nylon-6 matrix deceased with increasing glass bead content as a result of the coalescence of glass beads. This conclusion was supported by SEM observations. Impact testing revealed that the notch Izod impact strength of nylon-6/glass bead blends substantially decreased with increasing glass bead content. Moreover, static tensile measurements implied that the Young's modulus of the nylon-6/glass bead blends increased considerably, whereas the tensile strength clearly decreased with increasing glass bead content. Finally, TGA and DSC measurements indicated that the thermal stability of the blend was obviously improved by incorporation of glass beads, whereas the melting behavior of the nylon-6 remained relatively unchanged with increasing glass bead content. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 94: 1885–1890, 2004

Notch Izod impact strength of poly(propylene) (PP)/glass bead blends was studied as a function of temperature. The results indicated that the toughness for various blends could undergo a brittle-ductile transition (BDT) with increasing temperature. The BDT temperature (T_BD) decreased with increasing glass bead content. Introducing the interparticle distance (ID) concept into the study, it was found that the critical interparticle distance (ID_c) reduced with increasing test temperature correspondingly. The static tensile tests showed that the Young's modulus of the blends decreased slightly first and thereafter increased with increasing glass bead content. However, the yield stress decreased considerably with the increase in glass bead content. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) measurements revealed that the heat-deflection temperature of the PP could be much improved by the incorporation of glass beads. Moreover, the glass transition temperature (T_g) increased obviously with increasing glass beads content. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results implied that the addition of glass beads could change the crystallinity as well as the melting temperature of the PP slightly. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) measurements implied that the decomposition temperature of the blend could be much improved by the incorporation of glass beads. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Monte Carlo simulation was used to study the graft of maleic anhydride (MAH) onto linear polyethylene (PE-g-MAH) initiated by dicumyl peroxide (DCP). Simulation results revealed that major MAH monomers attached onto PE chains as branched graft at higher MAH content. However, at extremely low MAH content, the fraction of bridged graft was very close to that of branched graft. This conclusion was somewhat different from the conventional viewpoint, namely, the fraction of bridged graft was always much lower than that of branched graft under any condition. Moreover, the results indicated that the grafting degree increased almost linearly to MAH and DCP concentrations. On the other hand, it was found that the amount of grafted MAH dropped sharply with increasing the length of grafted MAH, indicating that MAH monomers were mainly attached onto the PE chain as single MAH groups or very short oligomers. With respect to the crosslink of PE, the results showed that the fraction of PE-(MAH)_n-PE crosslink structure increased continuously, and hence the fraction of PE-PE crosslink decreased with increasing MAH concentration. Finally, quantitative relationship among number average molecular weight of the PE, MAH, and DCP contents was given. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 42: 5714–5724, 2004

To study the brittle–ductile transition (BDT) of polypropylene (PP)/ethylene–propylene–diene monomer (EPDM) blends induced by size, temperature, and time, the toughness of the PP/EPDM blends was investigated over wide ranges of EPDM content, temperature, and strain rate. The toughness of the blends was determined from the tensile fracture energy of the side-edge notched samples. The concept of interparticle distance (ID) was introduced into this study to probe the size effect on the BDT of PP/EPDM blends, whereas the effect of time corresponded to that of strain rate. The BDT induced by size, temperature, and time was observed in the fracture energy versus ID, temperature, and strain rate. The critical BDT temperatures for various EPDM contents at different initial strain rates were obtained from these transitions. The critical interparticle distance (ID_c) increased nonlinearly with increasing temperature, and when the initial strain rate was lower, the ID_c was larger. Moreover, the variation of the reciprocal of the initial strain rate with the reciprocal of temperature followed different straight lines for various EPDM contents. These straight lines were with the same slope. Furthermore, a diagram at critical BDT points in three dimensions (ID, T, and initial strain rate) was given for the PP/EPDM blends. The brittle and ductile zones are clearly shown in this diagram. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 42: 1433–1440, 2004

Glass beads were used to improve the mechanical and thermal properties of high-density polyethylene (HDPE). HDPE/glass-bead blends were prepared in a Brabender-like apparatus, and this was followed by press molding. Static tensile measurements showed that the modulus of the HDPE/glass-bead blends increased considerably with increasing glass-bead content, whereas the yield stress remained roughly unchanged at first and then decreased slowly with increasing glass-bead content. Izod impact tests at room temperature revealed that the impact strength changed very slowly with increasing glass-bead content up to a critical value; thereafter, it increased sharply with increasing glass-bead content. That is, the Izod impact strength of the blends underwent a sharp transition with increasing glass-bead content. It was calculated that the critical interparticle distance for the HDPE/glass-bead blends at room temperature (25°C) was 2.5 μm. Scanning electron microscopy observations indicated that the high impact strength of the HDPE/glass-bead blends resulted from the deformation of the HDPE matrix. Dynamic mechanical analyses and thermogravimetric measurements implied that the heat resistance and heat stability of the blends tended to increase considerably with increasing glass-bead content. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 89: 2102–2107, 2003

The toughness of high-density polyethylene (HDPE)/glass-bead blends containing various glass-bead contents as a function of temperature was studied. The toughness of the blends was determined from the notch Izod impact test. A sharp brittle–ductile transition was observed in impact strength–interparticle distance (ID) curves at various temperatures. The brittle–ductile transition of HDPE/glass-bead blends occurred either with reduced ID or with increased temperature. The results indicated that the brittle–ductile-transition temperature dropped markedly with increasing glass-bead content. Moreover, the correlation between the critical interparticle distance (ID_c) and temperature was obtained. Similar to the ID_c of polymer blends with elastomers, the ID_c nonlinearly increased with increasing temperature. However, this was the first observation of the variation of the ID_c with temperature for polymer blends with rigid particles. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 39: 1855–1859, 2001