Polymer International

Composite nanofibers of chitosan-poly(lactic acid) can be prepared by electrospinning. This paper reviews the antimicrobial properties and the electrospinning of chitosan. The possible antimicrobial activity mechanism of chitosan nanofibers is discussed.

Swelling is a major problem in many polymer applications. Therefore the changes of free volume and orientation of functional groups was examined on carboxyl group containing copolyimides using WAXD, PALS as well as FTIR spectroscopy.

The sandwish structured memory devices based on noncoplanar fluorinated polyimides containing aromatic side groups are fabricated and exhibit a flash type and a write-once read-many times (WORM) memory capability.

The phenomenon of reactive compatibilization was explored and their influence on final properties of PP/LDH nanocomposites is discussed. The strong interactions between organomodified-LDH and PP-g-MAH led nanocomposites with a favourable balance between structure and properties.

The hydrogen-bonded blend of biodegradable poly(propylene carbonate) with hyperbranched poly(ester amide) are investigated. The reinforcing and toughening of PPC is meanwhile realized with remarkable improvement of thermal stability.

The toughness of polypropylene random copolymer (PPR) can be largely improved when processing melt temperature increases from 180 to 250 °C.

Dielectric relaxations of ternary hybrid composites composed of polyoxymethylene, polyurethane and alumina nano-particles were studied. Relaxations were assigned and interpreted by considering the morphology of the corresponding composites.

A selection of easily available derivatives of NbCl₅ were tested as catalytic precursors in ethylene polymerization, in combination with AlMe₃-depleted MAO. The activities are comparable to the highest ones reported to date for that reaction when activated by niobium species.

A new kind of polyamide-6 based thermoplastic elastomers (TPMP) modified with hard segments of MDI and soft segments of PTMG with different mass ratios were synthesized via a novel three-step polymerization process. The effects of reaction conditions on the structural and physical properties were investigated.

Silk fibroin was functionalized with azide and was reacted with Poly(eth-ylene glycol) 2000 functionalized with acetylene to produce films via a copper mediated 1,3-cycloaddition (Click chemistry) generating a triazole linkage.

Controlled ring-opening polymerization of ε-caprolactone was carried out using in situ formed yttrium complexes. The electronic and steric effects of 8 ligands on catalytic properties were investigated by DFT calculations.

In polyamide 6, the indentation moduli at room and high temperature greatly differs. It is demonstrated that this is primarily due to the pressure dependency of this polymer.