• Advances in nano research
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.127-140
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• 2024

Upon direct/indirect exposure to flame or heat, composite structures may burn or thermally buckle. This issue becomes more important in the natural fiber-based composite structures with higher flammability and lower mechanical properties. The main goal of the present study was to obtain an optimal eco-friendly composite system with low flammability and high thermal buckling resistance. The studied composite consisted of polypropylene (PP) and short abaca fiber (AF) with eggshell powder (ESP) and halloysite clay nanotubes (HNTs) additives. An optimal base composite, consisting of 30 wt.% AF and 70 wt.% PP, abbreviated as OAP, was initially introduced based on burning rate (BR) and the Young's modulus determined by horizontal burning test (HBT) and tensile test, respectively. The effects of adding ESP to the base composite were then investigated with the same experimental tests. The results indicated that though the BR significantly decreased with the increase of ESP content up to 6 wt.%, it had a very destructive influence on the stiffness of the composite. To compensate for the damaging effect of ESP, small amount of HNT was used. The performance of OAP composite with 6 wt.% ESP and 3 wt.% HNT (OAPEH) was explored by conducting HBT, cone calorimeter test (CCT) and tensile test. The experimental results indicated a 9~23 % reduction in almost all flammability parameters such as heat release rate (HRR), total heat released (THR), maximum average rate of heat emission (MARHE), total smoke released (TSR), total smoke production (TSP), and mass loss (ML) during combustion. Furthermore, the combination of 6 wt.% ESP and 3 wt.% HNT reduced the stiffness of OAP to an insignificant amount by maximum 3%. Moreover, the char residue analysis revealed the distinct differences in the formation of char between AF/PP and AF/PP/ESP/HNT composites. Afterward, dilatometry test was carried out to examine the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of OAP and OAPEH samples. The obtained results showed that the CTE of OAPEH composite was about 18% less than that of OAP. Finally, a theoretical model was used based on first-order shear deformation theory (FSDT) to predict the critical bucking temperatures of the OAP and OAPEH composite plates. It was shown that in the absence of mechanical load, the critical buckling temperatures of OAPEH composite plates were higher than those of OAP composites, such that the difference between the buckling temperatures increased with the increase of thickness. On the contrary, the positive effect of CTE reduction on the buckling temperature decreased by raising the axial compressive mechanical load on the composite plates which can be assigned to the reduction of stiffness after the incorporation of ESP. The results of present study generally stated that a suitable combination of AF, PP, ESP, and HNT can result in a relatively optimal and environmentally friendly composite with proper flame and thermal buckling resistance with no significant decline in the stiffness.

• Composites Research
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.59-64
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• 2017

Eco-convivial composites with improved properties are essential to present polymer scenario and can be made easily by replacing partially/completely renewable materials either matrix or reinforcement along with few % of additives. In these investigations, Abaca fabric have been used as reinforcement for manufacturing of Vinyl ester composites through VARTM technique and study the effect of alkali surface treatment of abaca fabric and flame retardant additives i.e., ammonium polyphosphate (APP) with halloysite nano-clay (HNT) on mechanical and flame retardant properties. The results concluded that, surface treatment deceased the hydrophilic nature of fabric and enhanced the interfacial bonding with hydrophobic matrix and eventually increased mechanical properties slightly of developed composites. Similarly, the flame retardancy of the composites improved significantly and increases the burning time by varying the wt% of filler concentration.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.372-385
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• 2014

Lignin is an abundant natural polymer in the biosphere and second only to cellulose; however, it is under-utilized and considered a waste. In this study, lignin was fabricated into nanofibers via electrospinning. The critical parameters that affected the electrospinnability and morphology of the resulting fibers were examined with the aim to utilize lignin as a resource for a new textile material. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) was added as a carrier polymer to facilitate the fiber formation of lignin, and the electrospun fibers were deposited on polyester (PET) nonwoven substrate. Eleven lignin/PVA hybrid solutions with a different lignin to PVA mass ratio were prepared and then electrospun to find an optimum concentration. Lignin nano-fibers were electrospun under a variety of conditions such as various feed rates, needle gauges, electric voltage, and tip-to-collector distances in order to find an optimum spinning condition. We found that the optimum concentration for electrospinning was a 5wt% PVA precursor solution upon the addition of lignin with the mass ratio of PVA:lignin=1:5.6. The viscosity of the lignin/PVA hybrid solution was determined as an important parameter that affected the electrospinning process; in addition, the interrelation between the viscosity of hybrid solution and the electrospinnability was examined. The solution viscosity increased with lignin loading, but exhibited a shear thinning behavior beyond a certain concentration that resulted in needle clogging. A steep increase in viscosity was also noted when the electrospun system started to form fibers. Consequently, the viscosity range to produce bead-free lignin nanofibers was revealed. The energy dispersive X-ray analysis confirmed that lignin remained after being transformed into nanofibers. The results indicate the possibility of developing a new fiber material that utilizes biomass with resulting fibers that can be applied to various applications such as filtration to wound dressing.

• Carbon letters
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• v.21
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• pp.23-32
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• 2017

A drop weight impact test was conducted in this study to analyze the mechanical and thermal properties caused by the changes in the ratio of carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) to ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) laminations. The ratios of CFRP to EVA were changed from 10:0 (pure CFRP) to 9:1, 8:2, 6:4, and 5:5 by manufacturing five different types of samples, and at the same time, the mechanical/thermal properties were analyzed with thermo-graphic images. As the ratio of the CFRP lamination was increased, in which the energy absorbance is dispersed by the fibers, it was more likely for the brittle failure mode to occur. In the cases of Type 3 through Type 5, in which the role of the EVA sheet is more prominent because it absorbs the impact energy rather than dispersing it, a clear form of puncture failure mode was observed. Based on the above results, it was found that all the observation values decreased as the EVA lamination increased compared with the CFRP lamination. The EVA lamination was thus found to have a very important role in reducing the impact. However, the strain and temperature were inversely propositional.

• Composites Research
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.191-197
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• 2020

In this study, a hybrid metals such as copper (Cu) and nickel (Ni) coated carbon fibers (Ni-Cu/CFs) was prepared by wet laid method to develop a randomly oriented sheet material for high-efficiency electromagnetic interference shielding with the enhanced durability. The prepared sheet materials show a high electromagnetic interference shielding efficiency of 69.4 to 93.0 dB. In addition, the hybrid metals coated Ni-Cu/CFs sheets showed very high durability with harsh chemical/thermal environments due to the effective corrosive and mechanical resistances of Ni surface. In this context, the Ni-Cu/CF sheet possesses longer service life than the Cu/CF sheet, that is, 1.7 times longer.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.63-68
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• 2004

Sugar-based gelator p-dodecanoyl-aminophenyl- ${\beta}$-D-aldopyranosides (1-3) have been shown to self-assemble in the presence of p-aminophenyl aldopyranosides. The hydrogel 1+4 showed the double-helical structure with 3-25 nm outer diameters, which is quite different from that of 1. The gel 2+5 revealed twisted ribbon structure with 30-50 nm in widths and a few micrometers of length whereas the gel 3+4 revealed the single and the bundled fiber structures. The difference in these gel supramolecular structures has successfully been transcribed into silica structures by sol-gel polymerization of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), resulting in the doublehelical, the twisted-ribbon, the single and the multiple (lotus-shaped) hollow fiber structures. These results indicate that novel silica structures can be created by transcription of various superstructures formed in binary gels through the hydrogen-bonding interaction, and the amino group of the p-aminophenyl aldopyranosides acts as an efficient driving force to create novel silica nanotubes. Furthermore, electron energy-loss spectroscopy (ELLS) provided strong evidence for the inner hollow structure of the double-helical silica nanotube. This is a novel and successful example that a variety of new silica structures can be created using a library of carbohydrate gel fibers as their templates.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.135-141
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• 2021

As a trend of lightening automobiles and electronic products, several studies are currently underway to replace parts of metals with resins. In particular, heterojunctions between metals and resins are now under the spotlight. This study aims to evaluate the variation in bonding strength with process conditions when the polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) polymer is bonded to a specimen of the lightweight 6061 aluminum alloy (AL6061). Conditions of the bonding surface of the AL6061 specimen, the temperature of the injection mold, and the content of the glass fiber were considered to be process variables. Bonded specimens were manufactured for different values of these variables. Bonding strength tests were then performed on these specimens and variations were analyzed in their characteristics corresponding to those of the process conditions. Fractures in these specimens were assessed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to assess the fracture surface. This was then used to analyze the fracture shape and determine whether anodizing the specimen led to the development of cracks on the joint surface. Results of the above test indicated that while the surface condition of the specimen and the temperature of the injection mold significantly influenced the strength of bonding, the content of the glass fiber did not.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.59-69
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• 2021

Electrospinning is a cost-effective and versatile method for producing submicron fibers. Although this method is relatively simple, at the theoretical level the interactions between process parameters and their influence on the fiber morphology are not yet fully understood. In this paper, the aim was finding optimal electrospinning parameters in order to obtain the smallest fiber diameter by using Taguchi's methodology. The nanofibers produced by electrospinning a solution of Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) in Dimethylformamide (DMF). Polymer concentration and process parameters were considered as the effective factors. Taguchi's L9 orthogonal design (4 parameters, 3 levels) was applied to the experiential design. Optimal electrospinning conditions were determined using the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio with Minitab 17 software. The morphology of the nanofibers was studied by a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). Thereafter, a tensile tester machine was used to assess mechanical properties of nanofibrous scaffolds. The analysis of DoE experiments showed that TPU concentration was the most significant parameter. An optimum combination to reach smallest diameters was yielded at 12 wt% polymer concentration, 16 kV of the supply voltage, 0.1 ml/h feed rate and 15 cm tip-to-distance. An empirical model was extracted and verified using confirmation test. The average diameter of nanofibers at the optimum conditions was in the range of 242.10 to 257.92 nm at a confidence level 95% which was in close agreement with the predicted value by the Taguchi technique. Also, the mechanical properties increased with decreasing fibers diameter. This study demonstrated Taguchi method was successfully applied to the optimization of electrospinning conditions for TPU nanofibers and the presented scaffold can mimic the structure of Extracellular Matrix (ECM).

• Composites Research
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.255-260
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• 2022

Lightweight hydrant tanks increase the amount of water that can be carried by fire trucks, resulting in longer water spray times during the initial firefighting process, which can minimize human and property damages. In this study, the applicability of carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites as a material for lightweight hydrant tanks was investigated. In particular, the resin for manufacturing CFRP hydrant tanks must meet various requirements, such as excellent mechanical properties, formability, and dimensional stability. In order to identify a resin that satisfies these conditions, five commercially available resins, including epoxy(KFR-120V), unsaturated polyesters(G-650, HG-3689BT, LSP8020), vinyl ester(KRF-1031) were selected as candidates, and their characteristics were analyzed to investigate the suitability for manufacturing a CFRP hydrant tank. Based on the analyses, KRF-1031 exhibited the most suitable properties for hydrant tanks. Particularly, CFRP with KRF-1031 exhibited successful results for thermal stability and elution tests.

• Advances in nano research
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.515-527
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• 2022

The application of fibers in concrete obviously enhances the properties of concrete, also the application of natural fibers in concrete is raising due to the availability, low cost and environmentally friendly. Besides, predicting the mechanical properties of concrete in general and shear strength in particular is highly significant in concrete mixture with fiber nanocomposite reinforced concrete (FRC) in construction projects. Despite numerous studies in shear strength, determining this strength still needs more investigations. In this research, Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) have been employed to determine the strength of reinforced concrete with fiber. 180 empirical data were gathered from reliable literature to develop the methods. Models were developed, validated and their statistical results were compared through the root mean squared error (RMSE), determination coefficient (R²), mean absolute error (MAE) and Pearson correlation coefficient (r). Comparing the RMSE of PSO (0.8859) and ANFIS (0.6047) have emphasized the significant role of structural parameters on the shear strength of concrete, also effective depth, web width, and a clear depth rate are essential parameters in modeling the shear capacity of FRC. Considering the accuracy of our models in determining the shear strength of FRC, the outcomes have shown that the R² values of PSO (0.7487) was better than ANFIS (2.4048). Thus, in this research, PSO has demonstrated better performance than ANFIS in predicting the shear strength of FRC in case of accuracy and the least error ratio. Thus, PSO could be applied as a proper tool to maximum accuracy predict the shear strength of FRC.