Moisture- and mould-proof characteristics of surface modified wood for musical instrument soundboards

Wood is the main material used for musical instrument soundboard fabrication, for practical and cultural reasons. As a natural material, however, wood is easily degraded due to moisture or fungal corrosion. Most traditional wood protection methods were devised for structural materials, and may thus not be suitable for application in musical instrument soundboard materials. In the current study, a novel nanomaterial-based modification method was applied to wood. The surface of wood was coated with polyurethane and MgAl-layered double hydroxide nanosheets after a convenient impregnation process. The modified wood exhibited improved hydrophobicity and mould-resistance, while maintaining its acoustic properties. This modified wood may facilitate the construction of soundboards with longer lifespans.

Optimization of PCL Polymeric Films as Potential Matrices for the Loading of Alpha-Tocopherol by a Combination of Innovative Green Processes

Active food packaging represents an innovative way to conceive food packages. The innovation lies in using natural-based and biodegradable materials to produce a system intended to interact with the food product to preserve its quality and shelf-life. Compared to traditional plastics, active packaging is designed and regulated to release substances in a controlled manner, mainly antimicrobial and antioxidant compounds. Conventional technologies are not suitable for treating these natural substances; therefore, the research for innovative and green techniques represents a challenge in this field. The aim of this work is to compare two different polymeric structures: nanofibrous films obtained by electrospinning and continuous films obtained by solvent casting, to identify the best solution and process conditions for subjecting the samples to the supercritical fluids impregnation process (SFI). The supports optimized were functionalized by impregnating alpha-tocopherol using the SFI process. In particular, the different morphologies of the samples both before and after the supercritical impregnation process were initially studied, identifying the limits and possible solutions to obtain an optimization of the constructs to be impregnated with this innovative green technology in the packaging field.

A Rheological Study of Fibre Reinforced Composites and The Factors That Affect Rheological Behaviour During Impregnation Process: A Review

Rheological behaviour is an important factor affecting the flow behaviour of a fluid and many aspects related to this, mainly in the manufacturing process of fiber reinforced composites, either for Newtonian fluids or non-Newtonian fluids. During impregnation process, the viscosity changes with temperatures and their strain rate, has influenced the resin flow behaviour during curing process. In this paper, a review on the rheological studies of fiber reinforced composites for both, synthetic and natural based fibers, respectively, are presented. In addition to that, this review paper highlighting a few research studies conducted in literature on the main factors that affecting the rheological quality and performance of the composites. The aims of this review, mainly to capture the trend ranging from the recent five years back and summarize the various studies via experimental, theoretical or modelling works. Furthermore, also aiming to provide an ideal baseline information in the selection of the methods regarding rheological study to ensure better quality of pre-preg product and fibre reinforced composites can be produced in the author’s future work.

Obtaining Active Polylactide (PLA) and Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) Blends Based Bionanocomposites Modified with Graphene Oxide and Supercritical Carbon Dioxide (scCO2)-Assisted Cinnamaldehyde: Effect on Thermal-Mechanical, Disintegration and Mass Transport Properties

Bionanocomposites based on Polylactide (PLA) and Polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) blends were successfully obtained through a combined extrusion and impregnation process using supercritical CO2 (scCO2). Graphene oxide (GO) and cinnamaldehyde (Ci) were incorporated into the blends as nano-reinforcement and an active compound, respectively, separately, and simultaneously. From the results, cinnamaldehyde quantification values varied between 5.7% and 6.1% (w/w). When GO and Ci were incorporated, elongation percentage increased up to 16%, and, therefore, the mechanical properties were improved, with respect to neat PLA. The results indicated that the Ci diffusion through the blends and bionanocomposites was influenced by the nano-reinforcing incorporation. The disintegration capacity of the developed materials decreased with the incorporation of GO and PHB, up to 14 and 23 days of testing, respectively, without compromising the biodegradability characteristics of the final material.

Plywood Made from Plasma-Treated Veneers: Investigation of Performance Differences between Plasma-Pretreated and Untreated Beech Veneers at Comparable Melamine Resin Load

In this study, the dimensional stability and mechanical properties of plywood made from untreated and plasma-pretreated beech veneers were compared. The wood veneers used (native and thermally modified) were impregnated with melamine resin in a simple dipping process prior to plywood production. The duration of the impregnation process was adjusted to give the same melamine resin loading for the different veneer types, with the plasma-pretreated veneers requiring only a fraction of the impregnation time compared with non-plasma-pretreated veneers. With comparable melamine loading, testing of the mechanical properties of the plywood for the different specimen collectives showed significant differences in some cases with respect to compressive strength, bending strength and tensile strength (with the associated moduli of elasticity). For example, it was shown that plywood made from plasma-pretreated native beech veneers shows an increase in bending strength of about 8%, and from plasma-pretreated and thermally modified beech veneers, there is an increase of about 10% compared to the reference.

Activated Carbon Addition Methods on the Pre-impregnation Process of Co-Mo in Y-Zeolite Ultra Stable: A Properties Exploration and Enhancement of Metals Loaded

The amount of loaded Co-Mo metal on the Y-Zeolite Ultra Stable (USY) was increased by the addition of activated carbon in the pre-impregnation process. USY modification was done by adding activated carbon to USY as much as 10 wt%. The process of adding activated carbon is carried out by three methods, i.e., grinding with sucrose binder (ACU1), without sucrose (ACU2), and conducting by ball milling (ACU3). Wet impregnation method was employed to disperse the Co and Mo, sequentially. Composites were characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and surface area analyzer (SAA). Metal dispersions were observed by X-ray fluorescence (XRF). The FTIR suggests an interaction between USY and activated car-bon, while the XRD result indicated the none structural transformation of USY zeolite. The SAA analysis showed an increased total pore radius with the activated carbon addition. The XRF confirmed the increasing of total metals dispersion of 6.25% (ACU1); 5.48%(ACU2); 5.18% (ACU3); compare to USY origin with 3.28% metals loaded.