• Composites Research
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.190-196
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• 2024

The bipolar plate is a crucial element of the vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) as it serves as both the electrical conduit and the structural support for the cell within the VRFB stack. Although, the graphite material is primarily used for the bipolar plate due to its excellent electrical conductivity, a significant limitation of performance of the VRFB is present due to high interfacial contact resistance (ICR) arises between the electrode and bipolar plate in the cell stack. This study aims to develop an integrated electrode-bipolar plate assembly that will address the limitations of the ICR. The integrated assembly was constructed using a single carbon felt with thermoplastic and thermoset polymers utilizing hot press method. Experimental results verify that the bipolar plate assembly exhibits reduced area specific resistance (ASR) due to the continuous electrical path. Additionally, from the charge/discharge cell test results, the integrated assembly shows improved cell performance. Therefore, the developed integrated electrode-bipolar plate assembly can serve as a substitute for the conventional bipolar plate and electrode assembly.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.211-220
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• 2024

Polylactic acid or polylactide (PLA) is a biodegradable thermoplastic that can be produced from renewable material to create various components for industrial purposes. In 3D printing technology, PLA is used due to its good mechanical, electrical, printing properties, environmentally friendly and non-toxic properties. However, the physical properties and excellent electrical insulation properties of PLA have limited its application. In this study, with the carbon black (CB) as filler added into PLA, the lattice spacing and morphology were investigated by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM), respectively. The physical properties of PLA-carbon composite were evaluated by using tensile test, shore D hardness test and density and voids measurement. Impedance test was conducted to investigate the electrical properties of PLA-Carbon composites. The results demonstrate that the inclusion of carbon black as filler enhances the physical properties of the PLA-carbon composites, including tensile properties, hardness, and density. The addition of carbon black also leads to improved electrical conductivity of the composites. Better enhancement toward the electrical properties of PLA-carbon composites is observed with 1wt% of carbon black in N774 grade. The N550 grade with 2wt% of carbon black shows better improvement in the physical properties of PLA-carbon composites, achieving 10.686 MPa in tensile testing, 43.330 in shore D hardness test, and a density of 1.200 g/cm3 in density measurement. The findings suggest that PLA-carbon composites have the potential for enhanced performance in various industrial applications, particularly in sectors requiring improved physical and electrical properties.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.225-228
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• 2018

Plasticizers added to thermoplastic polymers are known to shorten the life of products due to the elution to outside, and some of them are harmful to our environment and human body. Since the use of phthalate plasticizers suspected of being carcinogens has been gradually prohibited, there is a need for environmentally friendly plasticizers that can replace them. Most of the substances have a low compatibility with resin, high cost and lack of safety verification. Therefore, in this study, four kinds of norbornene dialkyl ester compounds possessing excellent physical properties, which are also reported as safe compounds from the toxicity evaluation, were added to PVC resin to evaluate the possibility of human exposure by leaching, and also the potential usage as plasticizer candidates alternative to commercial ones including DEHP, DINCH and DOTP. The test was carried out according to the American standard test method (ASTM). The results showed that di-2-ethylhexyl-5-norbornene-2,3-dicarboxylate (DEHN) in aqueous solvents and diisopentyl-5-norbornene-2,3-dicarboxylate (DIPN) compounds in oil solvents were superior or equivalent to DEHP. In addition, all four norbornene compounds showed lower values than 100 ppm, which is considered to have an influence on the environment, indicating that the polar norbornene structure affects the elution.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.724-734
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• 1999

The adhesion characteristics of the thermoplastic resins such as PE, PP PVC, PET and PS were investigated on the surfaces of conventional steel (SS41), steel (SS41P) treated with ultrasonic waves and the SS41P coated with several ceramic powders (SS41PC) by the plasma spray. Alumina (Al$_2$O$_3$), alumina titania (Al$_2$O$_3$95%, TiO$_2$ 5%) and zirconia yttria (ZrO$_2$ 95%, $Y_2$O$_3$5% ) were used for the materials plasma spray The morphologies, surface hardness, surface roughness, and contact angles on SS41, SS41P, and SS41PC were examined. The tensile shear strength and peel strength of the polymers which were attached to the surfaces of ceramics coated on SS41P also were measured. The tensile shear strength and peel strength of polymers adhered to ceramic surface coated on steel were found to be stronger than those of conventional steel. The tensile shear strength and peel strength of the polymers adhered on the surfaces of ceramics coated steel increased in the following order PE > PET > PP > PS > PVC. The high adhesion strength of PE may be attributed to the surface roughness and its anchor effect on the ceramic surface.

• Korean Journal of Dental Materials
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.311-320
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the flow ability of the thermoplasticized Gutta Percha in different temperatures. Four Gutta Percha products were classified by its hardness (soft, medium, and hard) and were experimented by the Rheometer (Melt flow indexer MFI-10, DAVENPORT, England) measuring apparatus, in $(23{\pm}2)^{\circ}C$, and in a relative humidity of ($50{\pm}5$) %, following the guidelines of ISO 1133-1:2011. The heating temperature ranged from $108^{\circ}C$, $160^{\circ}C$ to $200^{\circ}C$, and the load at 2.16 kg and 3.8 kg. The Gutta Percha was cut in 5 mm to be suitable for the rheometer pressurization process. After the experiment was conducted with a preheating time of 5 minutes, a cutting time of 5-240 seconds, and a sample of 10 grams, the Gutta Percha did not show any changes in fluidity for $108^{\circ}C$, $160^{\circ}C$, but showed a change in its flow ability in $200^{\circ}C$. Also, the Gutta Percha did not show any changes in its fluidity when it was pressurized by 2.16 and 3.8 kilograms. Therefore, this experiment shows that the heating temperature and the cut-off time showed a significance while measuring the melt flow rate.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.127-134
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• 2005

The relationships among mechanical properties, rheological properties, and morphology by reactive extrusion based on commingled pckaging film wastes contains polypropylene (PP) pckaging film system [PP/polyethylene (PE)/aluminum (Al)/poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET)] and Nylon packaging film system[Nylon/PE/linear-low density polyethylene (LLDPE)] were investigated to improve the compatibility and toughness of these wastes using various compatibilizers such as ethylene vinylacetate (EVA), styrene-ethylene/butylene-styrene triblock copolymer (SEBS), styrene-ethylene/butylene-styrene-graft-maleic anhydride copolymer (SEBS-g-MA), polyethylene-graft-maleic anhydride (PE-g-MA), polypropylene-graft-maleic anhydride (PP-g-MA) , polyethylene-graft-acrylic acid (PE-g-AA) and polypropylene-graft-acrylic acid (PP-g-AA). Compared with simple melt blend system, the blends showed improvement of about $50\%$ increase in physical properties when SEBS and EVA were added. However, SEBS-g-MA thermoplastic elastomer which is highly reactive with amine terminal group of nylon, resulted in about $200\%$ increase in impact strength. This compatibilization effect resulted from the increase of interfacial adhesion and the reduction of domain size of dispersed phase in PP/Nylon blend system.

• Composites Research
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.122-127
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• 2018

Sandwich composites of carbon fiber reinforced plastic(CFRP) and polymer foam will be used to automobile and aerospace industry according to increasing importance of light weight. In this study, mechanical and heat resistance properties of sandwich composites were compared with type of polymer foam (polyethylene terephthalate(PET), polyvinylchloride(PVC), epoxy and polyurethane). All types of polymer foams were degraded to 30, 60, 120, 180 minutes in $180^{\circ}C$. After heat degradation, the polymer foams were observed using optical microscope and compressive test was performed using universal testing machine(UTM). Epoxy foam had the highest compressive property to 2.6 MPa and after thermal degradation, the mechanical property and structure of foam were less changed than others. Epoxy foam had better mechanical properties than other polymer foams under high temperature. Because the epoxy foam was post cured under high temperature. As the results, Epoxy foam was optimal materials to apply to structures that thermal energy was loaded constantly.

• Journal of Adhesion and Interface
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.29-34
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• 2015

Hydrocarbon resins, which are defined as low molecular weight, amorphous, and thermoplastic polymers, are widely used as tackifier for various types of adhesives, as processing aids in rubber compounds, and as modifiers for plastics polymers such as isotactic polypropylene. Typically, hydrocarbon resins are non-polar, and thus highly compatible with non-polar rubbers and polymer. However, they are poorly compatible with polar system, such as acrylic copolymer, polyurethanes, and polyamides. Moreover, recently the raw materials of hydrocarbon resin from naphtha cracking had been decreased because of light feed cracking such as gas cracking. To overcome this problem, in this study, novel hydrocarbon resins were designed to have a highly polar chemical structure which material is sustainable. And, it was successfully synthesized by Diels-Alder reaction of dicyclopentadiene monomer and sorbic acid from blueberry as renewable resources. Acrylic resins were formulated with various tackifiers solution including sorbic acid grafted hydrogenated dicyclopentadiene hydrocarbon resins in acrylic adhesive and rolling ball tack, loop tack, $180^{\circ}$ peel adhesion strength, and shear adhesion strength were measured. The properties depend on the softening point and polar content of tackifiers.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.84-88
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• 1999

Purpose :To develop a method for verifying a treatment setup in stereotactic radiotherapy by ma- tching portal images to DRRs. Materials and Methods : Four pairs of orthogonal portal images of one patient immobilized by a thermoplastic mask frame for fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy were compared with DRRs. Portal images are obtained in AP (anteriorfposterior) and lateral directions with a target localizer box containing fiducial markers attached to a stereotactic frame. DRRs superimposed over a planned iso-center and fiducial markers are printed out on transparent films. And then, they were overlaid over onhogonal penal images by matching anatomical structures. From three different kind of objects (isgcenter, fiducial markers, anatomical structure) on DRRs and portal images, the displacement error between anatomical structure and isocenters (overall setup error), the displacement error between anatomical structure and fiducial markers (irnrnobiliBation error), and the displacement error between fiducial markers and isocenters (localization error) were measured. Results : Localization error were 1.5$\pm$0.3 mm (AP), 0.9$\pm$0.3 mm (lateral), and immobilization errors were 1.9$\pm$0.5 mm (AP), 1.9$\pm$0.4 mm (lateral). In addition, overall setup errors were 1.0$\pm$0.9 mm (AP), 1.3$\pm$0.4 mm (lateral). From these orthogonal displacement errors, maximum 3D displacement errors($\sqrt{(\DeltaAP)^{2}+(\DeltaLat)^{2}$)) were found to be 1.7$\pm$0.4 mm for localization, 2.0$\pm$0.6 mm for immobilization, and 2.3$\pm$0.7 mm for overall treatment setup. Conclusion : By comparing orthogonal portal images with DRRs, we find out that it is possible to verify treatment setup directly in stereotactic radiotherapy.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.165-171
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• 2002

Purpose : In order to perform craniospinal irradiation (CSI) in the supine position on patients who are unable to lie in the prone position, a new simulation technique using a CT simulator was developed and its availability was evaluated. Materials and Method : A CT simulator and a 3-D conformal treatment planning system were used to develop CSI in the supine position. The head and neck were immobilized with a thermoplastic mask in the supine position and the entire body was immobilized with a Vac-Loc. A volumetrie image was then obtained using the CT simulator. In order to improve the reproducibility of the patients' setup, datum lines and points were marked on the head and the body. Virtual fluoroscopy was peformed with the removal of visual obstacles such as the treatment table or the immobilization devices. After the virtual simulation, the treatment isocenters of each field were marked on the body and the immobilization devices at the conventional simulation room. Each treatment field was confirmed by comparing the fluoroscopy images with the digitally reconstructed radiography (DRR)/digitally composite radiography (DCR) images from the virtual simulation. The port verification films from the first treatment were also compared with the DRR/DCR images for a geometrical verification. Results : CSI in the supine position was successfully peformed in 9 patients. It required less than 20 minutes to construct the immobilization device and to obtain the whole body volumetric images. This made it possible to not only reduce the patients' inconvenience, but also to eliminate the position change variables during the long conventional simulation process. In addition, by obtaining the CT volumetric image, critical organs, such as the eyeballs and spinal cord, were better defined, and the accuracy of the port designs and shielding was improved. The differences between the DRRs and the portal films were less than 3 mm in the vertebral contour. Conclusion : CSI in the supine position is feasible in patients who cannot lie on prone position, such as pediatric patienta under the age of 4 years, patients with a poor general condition, or patients with a tracheostomy.