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Carbon fibre reinforced (CFR) laminates were manufactured by prepreg lay-up and deposition of interlaminar carbon nanotubes (CNTs). An easy and innovative manufacturing procedure was used. CNTs were separated in solvent by ultrasonication, and poured on the woven fabric prepreg. Solvent evacuation was performed at low temperature, and dry functionalized prepregs were used for composite lamination. Laminates were cured by compression moulding on a heating plate. Peeling tests, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and dynamic mechanical analyses (DMA) were carried out on multiply samples with and without 1 wt% of interlaminar CNTs. Results show that the glass transition temperature of the resin matrix reduces because of the interaction with CNTs. Nevertheless, peeling strength shows 10% increase at room temperature.

Carbon fibre reinforced composites were manufactured by using recycled carbon fibres (CF) and carbon nanotubes (CNT). Dry fabrics were impregnated by hot melting with 1 wt% CNT filled epoxy resin to produce prepregs. Subsequently, composite laminates were manufactured by vacuum bagging and autoclave moulding. Only materials and industrial equipment were used for the laminate production. Laminates with unfilled resin and virgin CFs were also manufactured for comparison. Samples were extracted for physical and mechanical measurements. Dynamic mechanical analyses and bending tests were carried out to evaluate the interaction between CNTs, resin matrix and recycled CFs.

In recent years, the rapid development of electronic equipment led to millions of tons of waste printed circuit boards (WPCB) generated in the entire world rising important concerns regarding its recycling. Besides the metals recovery, intensively studied, the reuse of the nonmetals is especially difficult. In this study, the non-metallic fraction from the waste of printed circuit boards is used as reinforcing filler of a styrene-butadiene block-copolymer. The composites were characterized by mechanical and dynamo-mechanical analysis and thermo-gravimetry. The study aimed the reintroduction into the economic circuit of WPCB as composites suitable for the production of shoe soles injected directly on the footwear faces and as bitumen modifiers for road coverings.

Molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) beads for proto-hypericin recognition were prepared by suspension polymerization. In order to study the impact of monomers on the MIPs properties, various monomers such as acrylic acid (AA), hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA), methacrylic acid (MAA) and itaconic acid (IA) in their combinations were crosslinked with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) in the presence of a complex phyto-extract template derived from Hypericum perforatum L. The synthesized MIPs and corresponding non-imprinted polymers NIPs were characterized by infrared spectroscopy analysis, morphology and thermogravimetric analysis. High-performance liquid chromatography combined with UV–Visible spectroscopy, used to investigate the recognition properties of the MIPs for various naphthodianthrones, pointed out that the MIP IA-AA system seemed to be the most adequate for favoring quantitative rebinding of proto-hypericin and proto-pseudohypericin against competitors with similar structures, like hypericin and pseudo-hypericin, which are usually present in high quantities in the primary Hypericum perforatum L. phyto-extracts.

This paper presents experimental research results obtained from testing the compression of polymer matrix composites. The four types are analyzed by thin layers of polymer composite material of various thicknesses were subjected to the test of mechanical compression. The analyzed samples were obtained by reinforcing the siloxane rubber with FeSi powder and stretching the mixture on the metallic mesh (PM), as well as stretching the simple siloxane rubber, without reinforcing agent on the metallic mesh. The mathematical modeling of the experimental results obtained on the LFM 30kN compression tester, Walter & Sai AG was performed using the Excel program. Establishment of material was based on regression analysis performed later. The modulus of elasticity of the samples was determined according to the deformation range 0.1 ÷ 0.3%, corresponding to the maximum correlation coefficient resulting from the regression of the experimental data. Following the compression analyzes it was found that in the case of simple siloxane rubber (S) without filling, the average modulus of elasticity decreases from 80 MPa to 39 MPa for the siloxane rubber laying on the metallic mesh. For the composite material (siloxane rubber with FeSi powder addition) noted SF, the value of the module is 81, and in the case of the laying composite (siloxane rubber reinforced with silicon iron powder filler on the metallic mesh, noted PMSF), the value of the module decreases to 31 MPa. We conclude that the addition of silicon iron powder leads to an increase in the elasticity of the siloxane rubber, and its reinforcement with the metallic mesh leads to a decrease in the elasticity modulus of the siloxane rubber, as well as of the siloxane rubber reinforced with the iron powder.

Through gravimetric determinations, volume resistivity, dielectric spectroscopy, and comparative thermal analysis (TG, DTA and DTG), the interactions between the distilled water and three different types of alkyd-epoxy-melamine, epoxy and polyurethane lacquers were studied. From the experimental determinations it was found that after 700 h of immersion in water at 20 ± 2°C the alkyd-epoxy-melamine based lacquer has a maximum water uptake, respectively 1.76%, followed by the epoxy lacquer 1.4% and polyurethane 0.93%. The thermal analysis sugests that because the water retained by the investigated polymers does not change the TG diagrams in the temperature range up to 150 °C, which suggests that the weight increase of the samples during the immersion could be due to some chemical processes between the water and polymer by which the chemistry structure of the polymer changes. Through electrical measurementes one can observe that after the immersion in water (over 700 hours), dielectric loss increases and the volume resistivity (measured in DC) of the investigated lakes decreases, which is explained by the increasing of polar groups (–OH) in the polymer structure. A comparative analysis of the experimental data reveals that in electrical applications the lacquer LS (polyurethane) is superior to the lacquers L-528 (alkyd-epoxy-melamine) and LG (epoxy), because it has no mass losses (structural changes) up to 280°C it has a volume resistivity of about 21 % higher than L-G, and about 300 % higher than L-528, and has water uptake and dielectric loss substantially lower comparing to L-528 and L-G.

This paper studies the influence of the volume proportion between components on the mechanical behaviour of a hybrid resin obtained by combining the natural resin Dammar and epoxy resin. We analyse three sets of hybrid resin samples, in which we used a Dammar volume proportion of 60%, 70%, and 80% respectively and epoxy resin (employed together with its associated reinforcement in order to generate a quick process of polymerization). Following the tensile test we found the characteristic curves, the tensile strength and the elongation at break for each of the three types of resins. We also looked into the vibration damping properties of bars made of this resin. We experimentally determined the frequency and the damping coefficient of the first particular vibration mode for one bar taken out of each set of resins, with one end fixed and the other free. On the basis of the results, we calculated the loss coefficient for each type of resin.

UV curing is a photochemical process in which high-intensity ultraviolet light is used to instantly cure or ‘’dry’’ coatings, inks, adhesives and thin film technology. It has been around as a coating for wood, paper and as a clear coating via photolithography process on printed circuit boards PCBs or integrated circuit boards ICBs for years. It is fast becoming one of the most popular techniques in the paint and coatings industry. Most of the formulation use multifunctional acrylate monomers or oligomers or a mixture of them that crosslink under exposure to UV/EB radiations in a free radical process. We briefly present the advantages of EB vs. UV. A new type of formulation based on multifuctional monomer of dicyclopentadiene epoxy derivative with additional diluent as co-reactive solvent will be described and evaluated. This formulation differs from the acrylate one by the use of a cationic photoinitiator. The final product presents all the advantages of epoxy resins viz. better adherence, mechanical and thermal properties, compared to acrylate systems. Formulation has been optimized thanks to the differential scanning photocalorimetry DPC. This type of formulation is developed for additive digital manufacturing - 3D Printing (building layer by layer).

This paper presents the influence of component concentration for a class of polymeric blends with different concentration of PP (polypropylene) and PA6 (polyamide 6) and a constant concentration of additives: CaCO3, LDPE (low density polyethylene) and a compatibilizer POLYBOND® 3200. Mechanical properties has been investigated for four different test speeds, from 10 mm/min to 1000 mm/min. Young’s modulus performs in a band between 1500...1900 MPa, except for the value for PA6 at the lowest testing speed (v=10 mm/min), that is 1444 MPa. At high concentration of PA6, there were noticed voids in the longitudinal direction of the samples, forming large parallel ‘empty channels’, as the two polymers are immiscible. Except for values at low testing speed, the average values for tensile stress at break perform in a band of less than 8 MPa. The elongation at break is less than 10% for all materials, except for PA6 at the lowest testing speed, when a higher value was obtained. The lowest values were obtained for the blend with 20% PA6. For blends with 60% and 80% PA6, the difference between values, at the same testing speed, is the smallest. Energy at break has a slightly increase with the concentration of PA6. From the mechanical point of view, among the formulated blends, material D (with 80% PA6) is the most promising as has the highest values for stress and energy at break (11.8 J at v=10 mm/min and 9.6 J at v=1000 mm/min), but values are still less than those for PA6.

We analyze polymer dynamics in a fractal paradigm. Then, it is shown that polymer dynamics in the form of Schrödinger – type regimes imply synchronization processes of the polymers’ structural units, through joint invariant function of two simultaneous isomorphic groups of SL(2R) – type, as solutions of Stoka equations. In this context, period doubling, damped oscillations, self – modulation and chaotic regimes emerge as natural behaviors in the polymer dynamics. The present model can also be applied to a large class of materials, such as biomaterials, biocomposites and other advanced materials.