• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.24-34
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• 2004

Transient sorption experiments were conducted among several combinations of fluoropolymers and various organic solvents. Fully fluorinated polymer tended to exhibit ideal sorption behavior, while partially fluorinated polymers showed anomalous sorption behaviors with a drastic acceleration at the final stage of uptake. Minimization of least-squares of the measured and predicted fractional uptake, which indicated the increasing degree of deviation from Fickian diffusion, gave values of 3.0${\times}$10$\^$-4/, 1.75${\times}$10$\^$-3/, 8.68${\times}$10/sup-3/, 1.75${\times}$10$\^$-2/, respectively, for perfluoroalkoxy copolymer, poly(ethylene-co-tetrafluoroethylene), poly(vinylidene fluoride), poly(ethylene-co-chlorotrifluoroethylene). From stress-strain tests, it was confirmed that non-Fickian diffusion is closely related to the significant variation of mechanical properties (such as modulus and tensile strength) of swollen polymer. Anomalous sorption behavior stemmed from non-Fickian diffusion caused by nonlinear disruption of polar inter-segmental bonds due to solvent-induced plasticization. Thus, it is imperative to investigate the diffusion behavior of swelling solvents in partially fluorinated polymers, especially for the application to barrier materials or perm-selective membranes.

• Membrane Journal
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.154-166
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• 2017

Polymeric films for gas barrier applications such as food packaging and electronic devices have attracted great interest due to their cheap, light and easy processability among gas barrier materials. Especially in electronic devices, extremely low gas permeance is necessary for maintaining the device performance. However, current polymeric barrier films still suffer from relatively high gas permeance than other materials. Therefore, there have been strong needs to enhance the gas barrier performance of polymeric barrier films while keep their own advantages. Recently, graphene is highlighted as a 2D-layered material for gas barrier applications. However, owing to the poor workability and difficulty to produce in engineering scale, graphene oxide (GO) is on the rise. GO consists of oxygen-containing functional groups on surface with intrinsic 2D-layered structure and high aspect ratio, and it can be well-dispersed in aqueous polar solvents like water, resulting in scalable mass production. Here, we prepared GO incorporated polyimide (PI) nanocomposites. PI is widely used barrier polymer with high mechanical strength and thermal and chemical stability. We demonstrated that PI/GO nanocomposites could perform as a gas barrier. Furthermore, surfactants (Triton X-100 (TX) and Sodium deoxycholate (SDC)) are introduced to enhance the gas barrier performance by improving the degree of dispersion of GO in PI matrix. As a result, TX enhanced the gas barrier performance of PI/GO nanocomposites which is similar to predicted value. This finding will provide new insight to polymer nanocomposites for gas barrier applications.

• Progress in Medical Physics
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.205-209
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• 2014

Medical polymers require sterilization and must be able to maintain material properties for a specified shelf life. Sterilization can be achieved by using gamma or e-beam exposure. In this study, accelerated aging tests of poly(ether-block-amide) (PEBA) copolymer samples is presented. PEBA copolymer samples with different polyether content that result in Shore hardness of 35D to 72D, were sterilized using e-beam radiation followed by accelerated aging at $55^{\circ}C$. E-beam sterilization effect on molecular weight and mechanical property has performed and analyzed. The average molecular weight significantly reduced as a result of ageing. The enlarged proportion of low molecular weight chains in the aged samples is consistent with the generation of degradation products produced by oxidative chain scission. Also E-beam materials have shown decreased tensile strength and elongation. Overall, this study demonstrated that the medical grade PEBA was significantly affected by radiation exposure over aging time, particularly at high irradiation doses. For medical use in case of radiation sterilization required, it is recommended to avoid Pebax material. If Pebax material must be in use for medical device, recommend to use alternate sterilization method such as Ethylene Oxide sterilization.

• Journal of Aerospace System Engineering
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.42-50
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• 2023

In this study, hexagonal ferrite powder with chemical formula SrZn_2-xCo_xFe₁₆O₂₇ was synthesized by a solid-state reaction method and its electromagnetic (EM) wave absorption characteristics were evaluated in the frequency range of 0.1-18 GHz with absorber thickness range of 0 - 10 mm. Reflection loss (RL) affecting electromagnetic wave absorption performance was calculated based on the transmission line theory using measured complex permeabilities and permittivities. RL spectra were also directly measured for some samples. They were well matched with calculated results. High-frequency complex permeability characteristics were changed gradually according to the amount of Co substitution (x). The EM wave absorption frequency band could be tuned accordingly. Hexaferrite samples with x = 1.0, 1.25, and 1.5 exhibited remarkable maximum electromagnetic wave absorption performances with minimum RL (RL_min) lowered than -50 dB. They also showed a very broad frequency band (Δf > 10 GHz) in which more than 90% of the EM wave energy absorption occurred (RL ≤ -10 dB).