Anti-Gnawing, Thermo-Mechanical and Rheological Properties of Polyvinyl Chloride: Effect of Capsicum Oleoresin and Denatonium Benzoate

Anti-rodent polymer composites were prepared using non-toxic substances denatonium benzoate (DB) and capsicum oleroresin (CO) mixed with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) matrix. DB is mixed in zinc stearate (ZnSt) called DB/ZnSt, and CO, providing burning sensation, is impregnated in mesoporous silica named SiCO. There are three sets of sample: Blank, composites Set I and Set II. Set I consists of DB/ZnSt at concentration of 1.96 wt% and SiCO at concentration of 12.16 wt%, 14.47 wt%, 18.75 wt% and 23.53 wt%. Set II comprises SiCO at the same amount of Set I. The anti-rodent composites studied are anti-gnawing, surface morphology, thermo-mechanical and rheological properties. Anti-rodent testing is analyzed by one-way blocked analysis of variance (ANOVA) and compared with Tukey test with a 95% level of significance, presenting good anti-gnawing efficiency. The best rat-proof sample is II.4, consisting of SiCO 23.53 wt%, which presents percentage of weight loss from gnawing at 1.68% compared to weight loss of neat PVC at 59.74%. The addition of SiCO at concentration ranging from 12.16 to 23.53 wt% reduces tensile strength around 25–50%, elongation at break strength around 2–23%, shear storage modulus (G′) around 30%, shear loss modulus (G″) shear viscosity (η) and glass transition (Tg) around 43% compared to Blank. The increase in SiCO concentration slightly improves the thermal stability of PVC composites around 3%, but the addition of DB/ZnSt at 1.96 wt% slightly reduces those properties.

Influence of ingredients on the properties of the flame retardant compound based on polyethylene

In this paper, the effects of a flame retardant system combining ATH/MPP (aluminum hydroxide/melamine phosphate) and the other additives such as zinc stearate (ZnSt) on some properties of flame retardant PE compound based on LDPE were studied. The total flame retardant content was 35% by weight. Mechanical properties (tensile at break, elongation at break), thermal stability, and fire resistance were determined by the respective methods ASTM D638, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and UL-94 test. The obtained results showed that using the combination of ATH/MPP has increased the fire resistance and thermal stability of the PE compound. The sample CT7 (15%ATH/20%MPP/2%ZnSt) achieved the best fire resistance. The mechanical properties increased slightly when increasing the content of MPP and reached the maximum for samples containing only MPP. The SEM micrographs showed that the addition of zinc stearate improved the dispersion of ATH and MPP in the PE matrix. The effect of flame retardant additives and zinc stearate on the melt index value of the PE compound was also surveyed.

Effects of additives on the cure kinetics of vinyl ester pultrusion resins

Pultrusion is a highly efficient composite manufacturing process. To accurately describe pultrusion, an appropriate model of resin cure kinetics is required. In this study, we investigated cure kinetics modeling of a vinyl ester pultrusion resin (Atlac 430) in the presence of aluminum hydroxide (Al(OH)3) and zinc stearate (Zn(C18H35O2)2) as processing additives. Herein, four different resin compositions were studied: neat resin composition, composition with Al(OH)3, composition comprising Zn(C18H35O2)2, and composition containing both Al(OH)3 and Zn(C18H35O2)2. To analyze each composition, we performed differential scanning calorimetry at the heating rates of 5, 7.5, and 10 K/min. To characterize the cure kinetics of Atlac 430, 16 kinetic models were tested, and their performances were compared. The model based on the [Formula: see text]th-order autocatalytic reaction demonstrated the best results, with a 4.5% mean squared error (MSE) between the experimental and predicted data. This study proposes a method to reduce the MSE resulting from the simultaneous melting of Zn(C18H35O2)2. We were able to reduce the MSE by approximately 34%. Numerical simulations conducted at different temperatures and pulling speeds demonstrated a significant influence of resin composition on the pultrusion of a flat laminate profile. Simulation results obtained for the 600 mm long die block at different die temperatures (115, 120, 125, and 130 °C) showed that for a resin with a final degree of cure exceeding 95% at the die exit, the maximum difference between the predicted values of pulling speed for a specified set of compositions may exceed 1.7 times.

The Synergistic Microbiological Effects of Industrial Produced Packaging Polyethylene Films Incorporated with Zinc Nanoparticles

Zinc compounds in polyolefin films regulate the transmission of UV-VIS radiation, affect mechanical properties and antimicrobial activity. According to hypothesis, the use of zinc- containing masterbatches in polyethylene films (PE) with different chemical nature—hydrophilic zinc oxide (ZO) and hydrophobic zinc stearate (ZS)—can cause a synergistic effect, especially due to their antimicrobial properties. PE films obtained on an industrial scale containing zinc oxide and zinc stearate masterbatches were evaluated for antimicrobial activity against E. coli and S. aureus strains. The morphology of the samples (SEM), composition (EDX), UV barrier and transparency, mechanical properties and global migration level were also determined. SEM micrographs confirmed the good dispersion of zinc additives in the PE matrix. The use of both masterbatches in one material caused a synergistic effect of antimicrobial activity against both bacterial strains. The ZO masterbatch reduced the transparency of films, increased their UV-barrier ability and improved tensile strength, while the ZS masterbatch did not significantly change the tested parameters. The global migration limit was not exceeded for any of the samples. The use of ZO and ZS masterbatch mixtures enables the design of packaging with high microbiological protection with a controlled transmission for UV and VIS radiation.

Synthesis of CdSe/ZnS Nanoparticles with Multiple Photoluminescence

The CdSе/ZnS nanostructures of Core-Shell type, that have multi-wave emission, are described and a scheme of possible energy transitions in the studied system is presented. CdSe nuclei were synthesized by mixing cadmium and selenium precursors without creating an inert atmosphere. The cadmium complex with sulphanilamide was used as a cadmium precursor and simultaneously as a stabilizing ligand. To grow the shell, zinc stearate and thiourea were gradually added to the solution of cadmium selenide nuclei in octadecene at 200°C. TEM studies show that the obtained CdSe/ZnS nanoparticles have the shape close to tetrahedral with an effective diameter up to 10 nm. The thickness of the ZnS shell is about 3-4 nm. From the absorption spectra of the CdSe/ZnS nanoparticles, it is clear that the shell growth leads to a sharp increase in the absorption in the short wavelentgh area, which means the formation of a wide gap ZnS material. The obtained CdSe/ZnS nanostructures emit three fluorescence peaks in the visible range. They are attributed to exciton transitions in the nucleus, recombination at defects of the boundary between the core and the shell, and recombination at defects of the shell. Such property provides CdSe/ZnS nanocrystals with a wide range of functionalities.