Detecting Insect Infestation: A Novel Application of Carbon/Polyethylene-co-vinyl Acetate Sensors

2010 ◽  
Vol 1253 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanchana Anuruddika Weerakoon ◽  
Bryan A Chin
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Black ◽  
Vinyl Acetate ◽  
Active Layer ◽  
Carbon Concentration ◽  
Insect Infestation ◽  
Carbon Particles ◽  
Plant Volatile ◽  
Polymer Sensors ◽  
Conducting Pathway ◽  
Cost Efficient

AbstractPlants, when attacked by herbivores emit plant volatile compounds as a defensive mechanism to protect themselves from herbivores and parasites. Secreting these volatiles is not only toxic towards these insects but also aids enemies of the herbivores to recognize infested plants to locate their prey. A low mass fraction carbon black/polyethylene-co-vinylacetate composite sensor was designed and fabricated to detect insect infestation. This sensor was cost efficient, easy to fabricate and was highly stable in air. When an organic vapor is present, the carbon/polymer active layer swells creating a discontinuity in the conducting pathway between adjacent carbon particles, increasing the resistance of the film. When the analyte is no longer present, the polymer will return to its original state, showing a decrease in resistance. A variety of Carbon/black polymer sensors with varying chemical characteristics could be created by using different polymer matrices. Polyethylene-co-vinyl acetate was chosen as the best polymer for this particular application based on its swelling ability in the presence of plant volatiles compared to other polymers. When the carbon concentration of the active layer was low enough to be near the percolation threshold, the sensor can be used as a “chemical switch”. The resistance of the sensor increased significantly mimicking a “switch off” response when exposed to the analyte vapor. When the analyte vapor was no longer present the sensor returned back to its original condition, showing a “switch on” response. The percolation point was obtained when the carbon concentration of the carbon/polymer composite was kept between 0.5-1 wt%. The sensor was tested and found to be sensitive to a variety of volatile organic compounds emitted during insect infestation including γ-terpinene, α-pinene, p-cymene, farnesene, and limonene and cis-hexenyl acetate.

scholarly journals Screen-Printed, Pure Carbon-Black Thermocouple Fabrication and Seebeck Coefficients

Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 403 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Offenzeller ◽  
Marcel Knoll ◽  
Bernhard Jakoby ◽  
Wolfgang Hilber
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Black ◽  
Screen Printing ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Carbon Particles ◽  
Seebeck Coefficients ◽  
Pure Carbon ◽  
Printing Inks ◽  
Available Carbon ◽  
Cost Efficient ◽  
Stable Linear

Thermocouples classically consist of two metals or semiconductor components that are joined at one end, where temperature is measured. Carbon black is a low-cost semiconductor with a Seebeck coefficient that depends on the structure of the carbon particles. Different carbon black screen-printing inks generally exhibit different Seebeck coefficients, and two can therefore be combined to realize a thermocouple. In this work, we used a set of four different commercially available carbon-black screen-printing inks to print all-carbon-black thermocouples. The outputs of these thermocouples were characterized and their Seebeck coefficients determined. We found that the outputs of pure carbon-black thermocouples are reasonably stable, linear, and quantitatively comparable to those of commercially available R- or S-type thermocouples. It is thus possible to fabricate thermocouples by an easily scalable, cost-efficient process that combines two low-cost materials.

Electrical and mechanical behavior of carbon black-filled poly(vinyl acetate) latex-based composites

2001 ◽  
Vol 41 (11) ◽  
pp. 1947-1962 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime C. Grunlan ◽  
William W. Gerberich ◽  
Lorraine F. Francis
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Black ◽  
Mechanical Behavior ◽  
Vinyl Acetate

Microscopy of Pigment-Elastomer Systems

1963 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 1175-1229 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. M. Hess ◽  
F. P. Ford
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Black ◽  
Present Review ◽  
The Real ◽  
Carbon Particles

Abstract Rubber technologists have always been fascinated by the remarkable effects produced in rubber by carbon black. Many people have contributed to an understanding of these phenomena. We have referred to some, but by no means all of such individuals' efforts in this review. In retrospect, it may not be inappropriate to recall some observations made 40 years ago by Ellwood Spear. In a remarkably perceptive paper on carbon black reinforcement, published in 1923, he said: “It is believed that the rubber is adsorbed on the surface of the carbon particles and that adsorption … is the real cause of the effect of carbon black in rubber”. And further: “The distinction between mere fillers … and those substances which reinforce rubber to an appreciable degree, lies in the hypothesis that the latter adsorb rubber strongly, whereas the former form a very weak union with it”. There are perhaps few chemists, physicists, rubber compounders, or microscopists who will disagree with these observations. But the measure of their success in unravelling the mysteries of carbon reinforcement of rubber will be the real facts they are able to find in support of such speculations. We hope that the present review will be helpful to others in their search for such facts. If we have succeeded in answering a few questions as well as in evoking some new ones, then perhaps our efforts will have been worthwhile.

scholarly journals Electrical and thermal conductivity of ethylene vinyl acetate composite with graphene and carbon black filler

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 ◽  
pp. 24-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sohrab Azizi ◽  
Eric David ◽  
Michel F. Fréchette ◽  
Phuong Nguyen-Tri ◽  
Claudiane M. Ouellet-Plamondon
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Conductivity ◽  
Carbon Black ◽  
Vinyl Acetate ◽  
Ethylene Vinyl Acetate

Segregated Networks of Carbon Black in Poly(vinyl acetate) Latex: Influence of Clay on the Electrical and Mechanical Behavior

2008 ◽  
Vol 209 (23) ◽  
pp. 2399-2409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sethu M. Miriyala ◽  
Yeon Seok Kim ◽  
Lei Liu ◽  
Jaime C. Grunlan
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Black ◽  
Mechanical Behavior ◽  
Vinyl Acetate

MODIFIED GUTH–GOLD EQUATION FOR CARBON BLACK–FILLED RUBBERS

2013 ◽  
Vol 86 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Fukahori ◽  
A. A. Hon ◽  
V. Jha ◽  
J. J. C. Busfield
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Black ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Solid Particles ◽  
Carbon Particles ◽  
Filler Volume Fraction ◽  
Rigid Filler ◽  
Bound Rubber ◽  
Small Volume Fraction ◽  
Filled Rubbers ◽  
Good Agreement

ABSTRACT The modulus increase in rubbers filled with solid particles is investigated in detail here using an approach known widely as the Guth–Gold equation. The Guth–Gold equation for the modulus increase at small strains was reexamined using six different species of carbon black (Printex, super abrasion furnace, intermediate SAF, high abrasion furnace, fine thermal, and medium thermal carbon blacks) together with model experiments using steel rods and carbon nanotubes. The Guth–Gold equation is only applicable to such systems where the mutual interaction between particles is very weak and thus they behave independently of each other. In real carbon black–filled rubbers, however, carbon particles or aggregates are connected to each other to form network structures, which can even conduct electricity when the filler volume fraction exceeds the percolation threshold. In the real systems, the modulus increase due to the rigid filler deviates from the Guth–Gold equation even at a small volume fraction of the filler of 0.05–0.1, the deviation being significantly greater at higher volume fractions. The authors propose a modified Guth–Gold equation for carbon black–filled rubbers by adding a third power of the volume fraction of the blacks to the equation, which shows a good agreement with the experimental modulus increase (G/G0) for six species of carbon black–filled rubbers, where G and G0 are the modulus of the filled and unfilled rubbers, respectively; ϕeff is the effective volume fraction; and S is the Brunauer, Emmett, Teller surface area of the blacks. The modified Guth–Gold equation indicates that the specific surface volume ()3 closely relates to the bound rubber surrounding the carbon particles, and therefore this governs the reinforcing structures and the level of the reinforcement in carbon black–filled rubbers.

Reinforcement of Butyl with Carbon Black. II. Thermally vs. Chemically Oxidized Blacks

1964 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 1034-1048 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. Gessler
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Black ◽  
Chemical Reactivity ◽  
Preceding Paper ◽  
Strain Curve ◽  
Convincing Evidence ◽  
Stress Strain Curve ◽  
Stress Strain ◽  
Carbon Particles ◽  
Vulcanized Rubber ◽  
Oxygen Functionality

Abstract The effect of oxidized blacks on the stress-strain properties and bound-rubber content of butyl and SBR was discussed in the preceding paper. Oxidized blacks, when compared with similar untreated blacks, were shown to have a greatly increased reinforcing capacity in butyl. Oxygen functionality on carbon black, it was therefore concluded, is essential in butyl to produce the chemical reactivity which is required between polymer and black if high-order reinforcement is to be obtained. Oxygen functionality on carbon black, it was also demonstrated, is not only not required for enhanced reinforcement in SBR, but it is in fact a deterrent, because it exerts severe restraining effects on the cure of the resulting vulcanizates as well. These interesting results were proposed to provide qualitative but convincing evidence that carbon-polymer bonding, which we believe is requisite to reinforcement, is achieved by different mechanisms in butyl and SBR. In butyl, the unique sensitivity of the stress-strain curve to reinforcing effects was used to speculate on the disposition of carbon blacks in “filled” and reinforced vulcanizates, respectively. With oxidized blacks, reinforcement effects were pictured as stiffening effects which, starting with the gum vulcanizates, caused the stress-strain curve to be shifted without intrinsic changes in its shape. The resulting “reinforced gum,” it was suggested, derived its physical characteristics from the fact that carbon black was included in the vulcanized rubber network. With untreated blacks, in “filled” systems, carbon black was pictured as being enmeshed or entangled in an independently formed vulcanized rubber network. The stiffening effects in this case were attributed to viscous contributions arising from steric restrictions which the occluded carbon particles were thought to impose on both initial movements and the subsequent orientation of network chains when the sample was extended.

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