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Graphene/polymer films were prepared by casting water dispersion of graphene oxide (GO) in the presence of polystyrene (PS) latex particles. The samples were heated up to 180°C and exposed to an external electric voltage during their annealing. We observed that for the GO/PS films deposited before the electric field assisted thermal annealing the polymer latex was embedded in the graphene sheets, while the electric field assisted thermal annealing induces a phase separation with the enrichment of the PS phase above an underlying GO layer. For the films annealed under an external electric field we have also found that as the electric current passes through the GO film, GO could be recovered to reduced GO with decreased resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this work was to develop a versatile strategy for preparing multifunctional composite films with tunable properties. Novel conductive composites based on the combination of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and biodegradable poly(butylene cyclohexanedicarboxylate/diglycolate) random copolymers (P(BCEmBDGn)) are here presented. In particular, synthesized PBCE homopolymer and two copolymers containing different amounts of ether-oxygen containing co-units, P(BCE90BDG10) and P(BCE70BDG30), have been considered as matrices of SWCNTs based composites. The effect of incorporation of different amounts of SWCNTs (0.1-0.5-0.75-1 wt%) on morphological, thermal, mechanical and electrical properties was deeply investigated. The morphology of the fracture surfaces is affected by the SWCNT presence, while the increase in the SWCNT content does not provide significant microstructure modifications. The thermal properties underlined that nanotubes can act as nucleating agents, favouring the polymer crystallization process. The mechanical behavior demonstrated that the introduction of carbon nanotubes both in the case of PBCE homo - polymer and in random copolymers based formulations exerted a reinforcing effect. All composites exhibit high electrical conductivity in comparison to the neat polymers. This work demonstrates that this combinatorial approach can be used to develop materials with tunable and advanced functional properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blends of poly(lactic acid) (PLA) and poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB) plasticized with a lactic acid oligomer (OLA) added at three different concentrations (15, 20 and 30 wt% by weight), were prepared by an optimized extrusion process to improve the processability and mechanical properties of these biopolymers for flexible film manufacturing. Morphological, chemical, thermal, mechanical, barrier and migration properties were investigated and formulations with desired performance in eco-friendly films were selected. The efficiency of OLA as plasticizer for PLA_PHB blends was demonstrated by the significant decrease of their glass transition temperatures and a considerable improvement of their ductile properties. The measured improvements in the barrier properties are related to the higher crystallinity of the plasticized PLA_PHB blends, while the overall migration test underlined that all the proposed formulations maintained migration levels below admitted levels. The PLA_PHB blend with 30 wt% OLA was selected as the optimum formulation for food packaging, since it offered the best compromise between ductility and oxygen and water vapor barrier properties with practically no migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The addition of small amounts (up to 9 wt%) of chitin microsized particles, originating from shellfish waste, to carboxylated styrene-butadiene rubber (XSBR) matrix (as received and annealed to 100°C) has been studied. In particular, this study concentrated on their mechanical (creep investigation by nanoindentation and dynamical-mechanical analysis), thermal (differential scanning calorimetry and thermogravimetry) and swelling behaviour (toluene absorption) and was completed by morphological characterisation by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The results show that annealing has a limited effect on materials properties, effects which are further reduced by the addition of growing amounts of crab chitin. It should be noted that the limited filler content used in the study does not substantially modify the linear creep behaviour of XSBR for sufficiently long loading times. The thermal stability of the system does also appear to be preserved even with the maximum chitin content added, while it serves sufficiently as an effective barrier against aromatic solvent absorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comparative study on the self-assembled nanostructured morphology and the rheological and mechanical properties of four different triblock copolymers, based on poly(styrene-block-butadiene-block-styrene) and poly(styrene-blockisoprene-block-styrene) matrices, and of their respective nanocomposites with 1 wt% silver nanoparticles, is reported in this work. In order to obtain well-dispersed nanoparticles in the block copolymer matrix, dodecanethiol was used as surfactant, showing good affinity with both nanoparticles and the polystyrene phase of the matrices as predicted by the solubility parameters calculated based on Hoftyzer and Van Krevelen theory. The block copolymer with the highest PS content shows the highest tensile modulus and tensile strength, but also the smallest elongation at break. When silver nanoparticles treated with surfactant were added to the block copolymer matrices, each system studied shows higher mechanical properties due to the good dispersion and the good interface of Ag nanoparticles in the matrices. Furthermore, it has been shown that semiempirical models such as Guth and Gold equation and Halpin-Tsai model can be used to predict the tensile modulus of the analyzed nanocomposites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]