The article describes the mechanical properties of biodegradable composites. The composites were made using biodegradable plastics like polylactic acid reinforced with Pinus roxburghii needles. The composites were characterized by their tensile strength, flexural strength, Rockwell hardness, thermal stability, and FTIR analysis as well as morphological and water absorption behavior. The composites possessed high tensile and flexural strength on addition of 8.77% fibers. The tensile and flexural strength increased 1.7 and 3.5 times, respectively, in comparison to virgin PLA. Biodegradation studies revealed that the composites have the capability to degrade in the natural environment. These results reveal that pine needles can be prospective candidates for use in natural fiber‐reinforced polymer composites. POLYM. COMPOS., 39:1339–1349, 2018. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers

Bisphenol-A polycarbonate (PC) and poly(butylene terephthalate) (PBT) were melt blended with ethylene-n-butylacrylate-glycidylmethacrylate terpolymer (E-BA-GMA) at various proportions in order to study the effects of compatibilizers on mechanical, thermal and flow properties of blends. Furthermore, on the basis of this study, PC and PBT were melt-blended at 60/40 proportion with three different compatibilizers viz., ethylene-n-butylacrylate copolymer (E-BA), E-BA-GMA and random copolymer of ethylene and glycidylmethacrylate (E-GMA) at 3 phr loading in a co-rotating twin screw extruder. Tensile, flexural and impact tests were carried out on injection molded samples of PC/PBT blends. The notched izod impact strength increases enormously (similar to 2-3 times) on addition of any one of the three compatibilizers, and elongation at break (%) also improves tremendously (3, 5 and 4 times) on incorporation of E-BA, E-BA-GMA and E-GMA copolymer, respectively while other mechanical properties decreases slightly (3%-8%) on addition of any one of these compatibilizers. The heat deflection temperature (HDT) raises similar to 8 degrees C-9 degrees C on addition of either E-BA-GMA or E-GMA, while E-BA shows a negative effect on HDT. The melt flow index diminishes significantly (similar to 5%-20%) on incorporation of these compatibilizers. The morphology studies via scanning electron microscopy of these four blends were carried out to confirm the mechanical results.

Research is striving for achieving a target of fully biodegradable polymer product and in that direction an effort has been made and presented in this paper. The combination of thermoplastic starch based natural polymers and typical in use synthetic polymers has been done to develop biodegradable polymeric materials. The first and foremost use of these materials could be in industry for packaging applications. The materials developed during study are Biodegradable plastics with varying characteristics. Different types of biodegradable polymer compositions were prepared using modified potato starch with different poly olefins through melt processing technique on laboratory scale. Efforts have been made to utilize various modifiers available as on date like Glycerol, Sorbitol and Urea introduce thermoplastic properties in starch then these processed thermoplastic starches were melt processed in Haake Rheocord with polyolefin’s like LDPE, LLDPE, HDPE and PP. The system thus prepared has been characterized through methods available as on date. Water Absorption studies were also conducted on samples thus prepared and biodegradation through soil burial method was performed on laboratory scale. Observations were that modification of starch leads to an increase in the thermoplastic character in sample blends thus prepared along-with increased thermal stability in starch. During comparison study of different modifiers it was observed that GTPS blend gives better mechanical, thermal and chemical properties than STPS and UTPS blends. During Biodegradation study the observations were that biodegradability got enhanced with the increased % of TPS in blends. Since, starch concentration associates with the degradation through microorganism, higher concentration of TPS causes considerable compatibility between bacterial phase and chemical strength of plastic. Whereas, starch being less crystalline and hydrophilic in nature compared to LDPE, is more prone to microbial attack.

In this work, we present a domain specific Information Retrieval (IR) system that identifies query and document topics and use them for better documents retrieval. We focus on retrieving documents having the specific types of information as that of the user query related to the tourism domain. Based on our past experience in handling tourism specific information, we observed that the query intent in the tourism domain largely span over a few major types. Based on this observation, we present an approach for document retrieval based on query and documents type identification. To do this, we have identified the major types (topics) in the tourism domain and built an ontology of the tourism domain. We developed a document classifier to identify the topic of web documents, and a query classifier to identify the topic of the user query, both pertaining to the tourism domain. The proposed IR system performs document retrieval by matching the type of user query with the matching type of documents. The experimental results show that the tourism specific topic identification of queries and documents improves the retrieval of documents having more specific information to satisfy user queries in the tourism domain.

This paper presents a part of research on the mechanical properties of compatibilized Poly (ethylene-co-vinyl acetate) (EVA)/ high density polyethylene (HDPE)/ organo modified montmorillonite (OMMT) nanocomposites prepared by melt mixing technique. Use of maleic anhydride grafted polyethylene (MA-g-PE) as Compatibilizer improves compatibility of EVA and HDPE. Blends containing EVA/HDPE blend with 2 phr MA-g-PE shows optimum properties. It observes that the addition of nanoclay improves the mechanical properties like tensile strength, flexural modulus, abrasion resistance and hardness of compatibilized nanocomposites systems. The morphology is studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The optimized properties occurrs at clay loading levels of 4 phr with MA-g-PE system.

The compatibilized poly ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA)/high density polyethylene (HDPE) /organomodified montmorillonite (OMMT) blend nanocomposites were prepared in a co-rotating twin-screw extruder followed by injection molding. Montmorillonite clay was modified by octadecylamine and aminopropyltriethoxysilane to make it organophilic. Maleic anhydride grafted high-density polyethylene was used as a Compatibilizer. Nanoclay was added in different proportions to the selected EVA/HDPE blend composition. The concentration of nanoclay was varied from1 to 5 phr in the polymer blend. The resulting nanocomposites were evaluated in terms of their water absorption behavior. Moisture absorption behavior of compatibilized blends is lower than their corresponding blend. On adding the nanoclay the moisture absorption behavior of blend nanocomposites changed at 4 phr nanoclay loading.

In this present work, study of mechanical and optical properties of PP/HDPE/EVA/PLA (80/20/5/4) blend reinforced with nano alumina (Al2O3) particles is investigated. In the production process co-rotating twin screw extruder are utilized. Reinforced films are produced with 0.5, 1, 1.5 and 2 phr Al2O3 contents .The screw speed of the extruder is maintained at 150 rpm. After post extrusion, cast films are prepared. Mechanical performance analysis are done in order to examine the change in tensile strength, burst strength, tear strength and kinetic coefficient of friction of the polymeric films. Optical properties are performed for obtaining the data of haze and transmittance. The morphology is studied by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). These results are related to the Al2O3 dispersion, to the type of the different composite formulations with PP/HDPE/EVA/PLA polymer matrix. It has been found that at 0.5 Phr loading of Al2O3 in PP/HDPE/EVA/PLA (80/20/5/4) blend has shown the highest burst and tear strength. On the other hand, the tensile strength shows decreasing order on Al2O3 loading 0.5 to 2 phr. Optical properties such as maximum value of transmittance and haze are also observed as loading of 0.5 Phr of Al2O3 in PP/HDPE/EVA/PLA (80/20/5/4) blend.

The present investigation deals with the preparation and characterization of nanocomposites of poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) containing nanosized nickel filler up to 3wt% loading. Characterization of the developed nanocomposites has been carried out by various advanced analytical techniques. Thermogravimetric analysis study depicts that the prepared nanocomposites exhibit enhanced thermal stability. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) technique has been utilized to investigate the viscoelastic deformation of nanocomposites. From DMA studies, it has been demonstrated that with the increase in nano-nickel content, the stiffness of nanocomposites decreases and a very minute change in glass transition temperature (T-g) has been noticed. The resulting nanocomposites show the optimum improvement in Young's modulus, tensile strength, flexural strength and flexural modulus. Scanning electron microscopy study reveals that he dispersion of nano-nickel particulates is uniform throughout the PEEK matrix.

In order to determine and optimize structure property relationship in polymer blends, knowledge of microscopic morphology is essential. However, much of this microscopic morphology and physical property information work have not been yet done and is not readily available particularly using conventional characterization techniques. In the present study, the capability of topographic and force modulation or phase atomic force microscopy (AFM) for determining the detailed microstructure of bromo butyl (BIIR) and polychloroprene (CR) blends is evaluated. The modulation contrast obtained in this analysis of the blends allows distinguishing a phase and related morphology with ease and good specificity.AFM studies of the BIER and CR blends in the presence and absence of compatibilizer chlorinated polyethylene (CPE) reveal that the CPE is acting as an efficient compatibilizer. In the presence of CPE as compatibilizer in the blends, the topo image demonstrates the single phase characteristics. Phase image indicates the uniformity in the phase distribution and has been observed in histogram plot which ultimately results in reduction of mean and rms deviations.

Blends of compatibilized polypropylene (PP) and high density polyethylene (HDPE) with or without polylactic acid (PLA) were investigated to determine the influence of the addition of PLA on blend properties. Ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) was used as a compatibilizer for PP/HDPE (80/20) blends. The compositions were prepared by co-rotating a twin screw extruder with six zones of temperatures ranging from 160 to 200 degrees C along the barrel to dye. The screw speed of the extruder was maintained at 200rpm. Mechanical properties like tensile strength, elongation at break, burst strength, tear strength, and coefficient of friction were determined. Optical properties like haze and transmittance were also reported. The morphology was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Tensile properties and burst strength of the film were found to be maximum at 4wt.% of PLA incorporated into the compatibilized PP/HDPE blend. Tear strength showed decreasing order on the PLA loading of 4, 8, 12, and 16wt.% when tested in both the machine and transverse directions. Coefficient of friction of the film was found to be the lowest at 4wt.% PLA loading into the blend when compared with other compositions. Optical property such as haze was increased and the value of transmittance was decreased as the loading of PLA wt.% increased. SEM showed that the presence of 4wt.% PLA and EVA improves the dispersion of HDPE into PP.

Random polypropylene copolymer is blended with 2–10% nano-calcium carbonate (nCaCO3) with and without maleic anhydride-grafted ethylene–propylene rubber ([EPR] MA- g-EPR) using two different titanate- and silane-coupling agents. The nanocomposites were prepared with fatty acid (oleic and stearic acid) surface-treated and -untreated nCaCO3and random polypropylene. Surface-treated nCaCO3and EPR (MA- g-EPR) were used as a modifier in nanocomposites and characterized with the help of X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses. The physicochemical properties like density, melt flow index and heat distortion temperature were evaluated beside their mechanical properties (tensile, flexural and impact strength). It was found that the favorable surface development is taking place at the interface of coupling agent and surface-treated nCaCO3, and this linkage is responsible for tensile properties. The untreated nCaCO3shows more reinforcement with matrix for the reason that there is no long alkyl group present at the interface. Beyond a certain limit, increased trends of nCaCO3in composite do not show more reinforcing effect due to agglomeration of nCaCO3.

Extraction and separation of constituents from Ipomoea palmata have carried out adopting various chemical routes. Extracted and separated compounds have been identified by various spectroscopic techniques such as UV, and 1HNMR.Thease techniques revel that that two compound can be as 4-hydroxy-2-(3, 7- dimethyl-octa, 2-6, diphanyle) 6-methoxy acetophenones and 4,6-dihydroxy, -2-0-(4 hydroxy butyl ) acetophonone, whose melting points are 2250C and 2800C respectively. Elemental analysis and molecular weight determination (M+ 302) of compound –I (M.P. 2250C) have established that compound has molecular formula as C19H26O3 while compound II (MP. 2800C) depict its molecular formula as C12H16O5. These compound have potential application in various industries like medicine, beverages etc.

The compatibility has been considered to be a fundamental property in polymer blends deciding their practical utility. Determination of the ultrasonic velocity and absolute viscosity of solution blends of bromo butyl rubber (BIIR) and acrylonitrile-co-butadiene rubber (NBR) blends with the help of ultrasonic interferometer and viscometer in various blend ratios with and without the presence of chlorinated polyethylene (CM) as compatibilizer have been the main objective of the present study. It has been demonstrated that ultrasonic velocity depicts a non-linear behaviour with variation in blend ratio without the compatabilizer. The addition of compatibilizer results in appreciable enhancement of the ultrasonic velocity and it varies linearly with blend composition. Absolute viscosity versus blends ratio plot follows the same trend as has been observed in ultrasonic velocity versus blend ratio plot. These studies reveal that CM acts as an efficient compatibilizer for this blend system. SEM studies also confirm the compatibilization effect of CM on BIIR/NBR blend.

Thyroid hormones play an important role in the physical development, neuronal growth and influence various metabolic processes of the newborn. Their deficiency or a defect in thyroid hormone receptor activity may present as congenital hypothyroidism. This may lead to irreversible mental and physical growth retardation. Interestingly majority of the neonates with congenital hypothyroidism appear to be normal. These facts led us to review this entity in infancy. Therefore, initiation of early treatment becomes essential. Levothyroxine is the drug of choice and its dosage should be adjusted with biochemical hormone assays. The untoward effects of congenital hypothyroidism are largely reversible, if treated before the age of 6 weeks, a very easily affordable help in curtailing the morbidity among these newborns. Genetic counseling and routine examination of siblings is very essential.

Polyelectrolyte membrane (PEM) is an important part of PEM fuel cell. Nafion is a commercially known membrane which gives the satisfactory result in PEM fuel cell operating at low temperature. Present research paper includes functionalization of Poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) polymer with phosphonic acid group. The functionalization was done with the help of nickel-based catalyst. Further, the polymer was characterized by the FTIR, EDAX, DSC, TGA, and 1H NMR, and it was found that PEEK polymer was functionalized with phosphonic acid group with good thermal stability in comparison to virgin PEEK. Finally, the thin films of functionalized polymer were prepared by solution casting method, and proton conductivity of film samples was measured by impedance spectra whose value was found satisfactory with good thermal stability in comparison to commercially available Nafion membrane.