ABSTRACTIn this study, functional microcapsules (FMs) were designed for controlling the curing time and temperature of epoxy through modifications to thermally expandable microcapsules. The FMs were prepared with a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons and N,N‐dimethylbenzylamine in the core, and acrylonitrile (AN)—methyl methacrylate copolymer or AN–methacrylate copolymer were used for the shell. Since the FMs were intentionally designed to have thermally vulnerable polymeric shells, the catalyst in the core could be released at the designated temperature. Therefore, FMs do not activate in epoxy at room temperature; rather, the FMs only become functional when the epoxy is cured under a heated atmosphere. Released catalyst at the higher temperature was confirmed by pyrolysis gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and optical microscopy. This study shows that the results will depend on the different compositions of liquid hydrocarbons and catalyst. Particle size of the capsules was changed with different ratio of catalyst and liquid hydrocarbon at the core and type of polymeric shell. Differential scanning calorimetry and rheometer results showed that higher catalyst loading resulted lower in crystalline and shear thickening temperature, respectively. Adhesion strength of epoxy containing FMs was analyzed by lap shear strength in order to detect the void effect due to released gas from the FM. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019, 136, 47499.

Carbon fiber reinforced plastics (CFRP) have a lot of attention from industry and academia due to its excellent mechanical property. It has been used for aircraft, automotive and so on, since it can replace metallic materials and reduce total weight with increased physical properties. However, the manufacturing process and the material cost are still challenging to be commercialized in the automotive market. Therefore, many researchers are trying to minimize materials and process cost for broadening their applications. In this study, thermoset epoxy resins were used for binder of CFRP. Epoxy resins were investigated in order to figure out optimized curing speed under vacuum assisted resin transfer molding (VARTM) processing condition. Mechanical properties of CFRP with different carbon fiber orientation and woven carbon fiber were compared to mathematically simulated results. In order to develop the application of automobile component, reliability tests of CFRP were carried out. Tensile strength of CFRP is increased when the orientation angle between fiber and axis of load was decreased (90 degrees -> 0 degrees). It is considered that epoxy and carbon fiber absorbed the tensile energy because the orientation of fiber and the load bearing arc matched with axis direction. In addition, the CFRP automobile engine hood was fabricated by VARTM process. Drop weight impact tests (20kg & 100kg weight) were carried out in order to simulate crash performance of CFRP engine hoods.

ABSTRACTThermally expandable core–shell microcapsules (TEM) were fabricated with an organic steric stabilizer and an inorganic Pickering emulsifier. In order to fabricate a TEM, acrylonitrile (AN) and metacrylonitrile (MAN) were used as monomers. Halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) and poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) were used as the inorganic Pickering emulsifier and the organic stabilizer, respectively. The liquid hydrocarbon content in the core, and the thermal and expansion properties, of TEMs with two different emulsifiers were compared. The mechanical properties of polypropylene (PP) foams containing TEMs prepared with two types of stabilizers were analyzed. The TEMs polymerized with PVP showed a finer expanded cell, while those fabricated with HNTs resulted in a larger expanded cell in the PP matrix. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 44247.

: The surface properties of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) were investigated after accelerated weathering. Glossinesses, contact angles, surface free energies, thermal stability, and mechanical properties were investigated. The gloss-iness of the weathered PMMA was decreased with increasing exposure time. Contact angles and surface free energies were not overtly changed because the amount of oxygen on the surface was remained. PMMA was compounded with anti-block and antistatic agents using a co-rotating twin screw extruder to improve the durability. The PMMA composites showed bet-ter glossinesses after accelerated weathering while maintaining the contact angles, surface energy, thermal stability, and mechanical properties without significant changes.

The structure of thermally expandable microcapsule (TEMs) is consisted of a thermoplastic shell which is filled with liquid hydrocarbon at core. The shell of TEMs becomes soft when the temperature is higher than boiling temperature of liquid hydrocarbon. The shell of TEMs is expanded under the high temperature because the inner pressure of TEMs is increased by vaporization of hydrocarbon core. Therefore, the TEMs are applicable for blowing agents and light weight fillers. In this research, we fabricated the polypropylene (PP) foam by using the TEMs and chemical blowing agents and compared to their physical properties. The density of the specimen was decreased when the contents of chemical blowing agents and TEMs were increased. In addition, the mechanical properties (i.e. tensile strength and impact strength) of specimens were deteriorated with increasing amount of chemical blowing agents and TEMs. However, PP foam produced with TEMs showed higher impact strength than the one with the chemical blowing age...

Thermally expandable microcapsules (TEMs) can be expanded upon heating since the activation energy of liquid hydrocarbon at the core of the TEMs increased at high temperature. Due to this property, TEMs are widely used in the industry as blowing agents or light-weight fillers. In this article, chemical blowing agent and TEM were used for making polypropylene (PP) foams, and their mechanical properties were compared. Physical properties (tensile strength, impact strength etc.) of PP foams decreased with increasing the amount of blowing agents while weight of specimen decreased. However, PP foam produced with TEMs showed higher impact strength than the one with a chemical blowing agent. In order to figure out the difference of impact strength, the morphology of PP foamed was investigated. Expanding properties of TEM can be controlled by changing core back distance.