The imperative for composite materials possessing high thermal conductivity and electrical insulation has recently come to the forefront to address the heat dissipation challenges in high-integration and high-power systems. Notably, while carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have garnered attention for their outstanding physical properties, they are inherently limited by aggregation and non-uniform dispersion due to van der Waals forces. To overcome these aforementioned drawbacks and achieve multifunctionality, a hybrid filler strategy utilizing CNTs in conjunction with two-dimensional materials, ceramic fillers, and other components is attracting significant interest. This review provides an in-depth analysis of the theoretical background of the hybrid filler strategy, its principal components, manufacturing processes, and the resulting changes in the thermal conductivity, electrical insulation, and mechanical properties of the composites. Furthermore, it comprehensively presents recent research trends and highlights the potential value of these materials in diverse applications such as electronic devices and batteries. Through this, we aim to propose a directional framework for the development of next-generation, high-performance composite materials.
Tocopherol-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) were incorporated into hydrogels formulated with various polymeric thickeners. The stability, rheological properties, and texture of the hydrogel formulations were compared according to the type of polymeric thickener, and the effects of interactions between polymers and NLCs on the final hydrogel properties were investigated. The Herschel-Bulkley model was applied to the shear rate-shear stress curves of the hydrogel formulations to calculate rheological parameters such as the shear-thinning index and yield stress. In formulations based on alkyl acrylate crosspolymers, nonpolar van der Waals interactions between the alkyl chains of the polymer and the fatty acid chains of the phospholipids constituting the NLC strengthened the network structure, leading to increased viscosity and hardness of the formulations. In contrast, the cationic polymer chitosan induced aggregation and complex formation through electrostatic interactions with the anionic surfactants contained in the NLCs, resulting in decreased formulation stability.
In this study, an antibacterial polymer was successfully synthesized by copolymerization using poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) and 2,2',6,6'-tetra-tert-butyl-4,4'-dihydroxybiphenyl (BP-264). Covalent incorporation was supported by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-Vis spectroscopy (appearance of a BP-264 absorption band near 295 nm in PVC-BP-264), and H-1/C-13 nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra with corrected chemical-shift assignments for tertbutyl, aromatic, and phenolic signals. GPC showed a modest change in molecular-weight distribution after modification (M-n 4.60 & times;10(4) g mol(-1), M-w 9.40 & times;10(4) g mol(-1)). Mechanical testing demonstrated improved ductility while maintaining strength: PVC-BP-264 reached a tensile strength of about 19 MPa and elongation at break of about 270%, accompanied by a slight decrease in modulus to about 1.9 GPa. Preliminary antibacterial screening by agar disk diffusion against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus revealed clear growth-inhibition zones for PVC-BP-264 compared with PVC. Overall, this study provides a chemistry-driven route to antibacterial PVC with a favorable balance of mechanical performance.
This study explores the optimization of organomodified montmorillonites (OMMT)-Cloisite 20A (20A), MAX CT 4260 (CT), and Cloisite SE 3000 (SE)-in combination with alumina trihydrate (ATH) for enhancing natural rubber (NR) formulations used in conveyor belt cover applications. The combined effects of OMMT and ATH on the mechanical, thermal, and flame-retardant properties of NR compounds were systematically evaluated. Morphological characteristics were examined using wide angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Polymer-filler and filler-filler interactions were assessed via rubber process analyzer (RPA), Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and standard mechanical testing. Flame retardancy and thermal stability were analyzed through limiting oxygen index (LOI), UL-94 horizontal flammability tests, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Additionally, thermal degradation kinetics were investigated using iso-conversional models-Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose (KAS), Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO), and Friedman's method. The results reveal a synergistic enhancement in both flame retardancy and thermal stability with the OMMT-ATH hybrid system, demonstrating its potential as a high-performance filler combination for NR-based conveyor belt cover compounds.
Starch is a polysaccharide biopolymer whose structure-rheology relationships influence its functional behavior, including in vitro digestibility; however, small datasets often limit the accuracy of quantitative predictions. Here, the in vitro digestibility (0-1) of ten starch samples was modeled using molecular features (A-and B1-chain fractions and amylose content) and pasting/rheological features. Four tabular data-augmentation methods (FastML preset, Gaussian copula, tabular variational autoencoder, and conditional tabular generative adversarial network) were benchmarked using quality metrics, and the optimal approach generated 200 synthetic samples for model training. random forest, support vector regression, XGBoost, lightGBM, and neural network were optimized through grid search. Among these, the neural network demonstrated the best predictive performance (R-2 = 0.907). SNAP (Shapley Additive Explanations) analysis was then applied to interpret the trained model, identifying consistency index, setback viscosity, and peak viscosity as dominant contributors, highlighting the roles of gel strength and viscosity recovery. This frame-work offers a data-driven tool for the rapid screening and design of starch-based materials through small-sample exper-iments.
