The physical and thermal properties of modified rotational molding grade silane cross-linked polyethylene compound

This study is aimed at investigating the physical and thermal properties of the modified rotational molding grade cross-linked polyethylene compound with respect to process ability. Rotational molding grade High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) was blended at various compositions with HDPE and Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE) using twin screw extruder. The melt index of the blends was studied according to ASTM D 1238. The blended compositions were chemically cross-linked with various amount of silane cross-linking agent using two roll-mill. Water curing was then undertaken at 100°C in water bath for 4 and 8 hours. Gel content was measured according to ASTM D 2765 to determine the degree of cross-linking. For thermal analysis, only samples crosslinked with 2.0 phr silane cross-linking agent were investigated on the Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) according to ASTM D 3417. The thermal stability test of the silane Crosslinkable Polyethylene (XLPE) was performed by Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA) according to ASTM D 3850. Results on melt index (MI) indicated that the rotational molding grade HDPE blended with HDPE showed higher MI compared to that with LDPE thus improved process ability. The density of rotational molding grade HDPE with HDPE was slightly increased whereas that blended with LDPE was slightly decreased. Samples blended with HDPE, melting temperature, Tm, barely changed and degree of crystallinity, Xc, decreased with compositions. Samples with LDPE Tm and Xc decreased with compositions thus improved process ability. As the silane concentrations increased, the gel content after curing was also increased but independent of compositions. Longer curing time resulted in higher gel content. Thermal stability of the crosslinked HDPE was higher than the uncross-linked HDPE, thus silane cross-linking help to stabilize the blends

Biocomposites based on oil palm tree as packaging materials

Every parts of the oil palm tree can be utilized to form useful products, including the waste from palm oil processing either intermediates or final biomasses. Utilization oil palm wastes and palm oil product will be presented for the application in the packaging industry, especially as environmental friendly packaging materials. For the development of these new biodegradable packaging materials, product and waste from oil palm tree are compounded to form biocomposites. Empty fruit bunch, waste that is derived after palm oil extraction process, is grinded and compounded with polyethylene to form biocomposites for blow film process. Palm cooking oil (PCO) is used as processing aids/lubricant in the blown film processing of low density polyethylene with empty fruit bunch fiber (LDPE/EFB) to form biofilm. This oil ease the process ability of LDPE/EFB on the conventional blown film thermoplastic machinery. The higher the composition of the PCO the better will be the processability of LDPE/FFB as the resistance to flow is decreased. With PCO composition greater than 2% the processing parameters of LDPE can be used to process LDPE/PCO/EFB into film. Tensile properties of the biocomposite film are found to be dependent on the PCO composition and comparable to the polyethylene film at low PCO composition. As the composition of PCO in LDPE/EFB is increased the tensile strength and elongation at break of the biofilm is decreased

Characterization of injection molded high density polyethylene/rice straw biocomposite

Polymer composite have been subjected to increasing interest, study, and utilization for some decades. The increase in environmental concern rationalize the use of reduce polymeric materials, not only due to their non-biodegradab ility, but also due to their production requires large amounts of oil as raw material which is notor iously not renewable. All these issues induced to look for alternatives. Thus, the interest aris es toward polymer composites filled with natural organic fillers. Composite materials (or composites for short) are engineered materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties and which remain separa te and distinct on a macroscopic level within the finished structure. Composite materials made from plan t fibers are receiving a great deal of today attention since they are consider ed an environmentally friendly recourse. Among all reinforcing fibers, natural fibers have gained their importa nce especially for load bearing applications. Natural fiber reinforced polymer composites ar e superior over synthe tic fiber reinforced composites in certain properties like enhanced biodegradability, combustib ility, lightweight, ease of recyclability, etc. These advantages place the na tural fibers composites among high performance composites having economical and environmental advantages, with good physical properties [1]

Properties and morphology of poly(vinyl alcohol) blends with sago pith bio-filler as biodegradable composites

The effects of sago pith as a bio-filler (SPB) on the mechanical and thermal properties of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) were studied. The SPB was obtained from sago pith waste after starch extraction from sago palm. Sago pith waste was dried and ground to produce SPB. The SPB was blended with PVA in a twin-screw co-rotating extruder in order to produce PVA-SPB composites for mechanical, morphology, and thermal analyses. Blending of SPB and PVA improved the tensile modulus, whereas the tensile strength was reduced. This result occurred because SPB increased the rigidity of PVA. However, lack of interfacial adhesion between PVA and SPB caused the loss of reinforcing effects. The morphology analysis showed that a high loading of SPB (>70 wt%) tended to form clusters, as implied by the presence of elongated cavities due to droplet coalescence restricting chain mobility. Besides that, the enthalpy of melting (Delta H(m)) for 50 wt% of SPB was higher than that of PVA. This observation means that the molecular interaction forces between PVA and SPB were so great as to overtake those of the PVA itself. Thus it was concluded that 40-50 wt% of SPB was preferably blended with PVA to form a biodegradable composite in order to reduce the overall materials cost, rather than to act as a strong reinforcing filler

The effect of mercerization process on the structural and morphological properties of pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) pulp

Environmental awareness and depletion of the wood resources are among vital factors that motivate various researchers to explore the potential of agro-based crops as an alternative source of fiber material in paper industries such as writing, printing, wrapping, and packaging. Fibers from agro-based crops are available in abundance, low cost, and most importantly its biodegradability features, which sometimes referred as “ecofriendly” materials. This paper attempt to study the effect of mercerization treatment on the structural and morphological properties of pineapple leaf fiber (PALF) pulp. It was shown that the PALF pulp achieved favourable structural and morphological properties as characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometer and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The mercerized fibers (15% NaOH) achieved the best tensile properties compared to that of pristine fibers.This modification have the potential to be utilized as pulp for paper based products

Structural elucidation of tannins of spent coffee grounds by CP-MAS C-13 NMR and MALDI-TOF MS

In this study, carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance in the solid state using cross-polarization and magic angle spinning (CP-MAS 13C NMR) spectroscopic and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometric methods were applied to characterize the composition, constituent monomer and oligomeric structure of tannins of spent coffee grounds (SCG). The findings elucidated that the monomeric constituents of tannins of SCG primarily composed of catechin, gallocatechin, chebulic acid, gallocatechin-3-O-gallate and accompanied by minor amount of fisetinidin concurrently. Appreciable amount of catechin was found among the observed components. Hence, this simply implied that catechin was the main substructure of the tannins of SCG. It is expected that the present findings will serve as a platform towards a structural understanding of tannins of SCG in filling up the gaps in the field of study of SCG, and simultaneously promoting the use of SCG as a renewable resource for tannins

Cassava leaves as packaging materials

New packaging materials made from cassava leaves (CLs) were successfully prepared having desirable sheet properties. The CLs were treated with various concentrations of NaOH solution (mercerization), prior to the sheet making process. Several characterization methods were applied to elucidate the performance of the mercerized CLs. The results show that the tear index of 15% mercerized CLs is comparable to that of available paper or plastic sheets.having low moisture uptake, good wetting time, smooth sheet formation and non-toxicity. It is expected that the use of CLs as packaging material could reduce the dependency on paper and plastic based packagin

Study and characterisation of the post processing ageing of sago pith waste biocomposites

This paper reports the post-processing ageing phenomena of thermoplastic sago starch (TPS) and plasticised sago pith waste (SPW), which were processed using twin-screw extrusion and compression moulding techniques. Wide angle X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses showed that after processing, starch molecules rearranged into VH-type (which was formed rapidly right post processing and concluded within 4 days) and B-type (which was formed slowly over a period of months) crystallites. Evidence from Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses corroborated the 2-stage crystallisation process, which observed changes in peak styles and peak intensities (at 1043 and 1026 cm-1) and band-narrowing. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) studies showed that the thermal stability of plasticised SPW declined continuously for 90 days before gradual increments ensued. For all formulations tested, post-processing ageing led to drastic changes in the tensile strength (increased) and elongation at break (decreased). Glycerol and fibres restrained the retrogradation of starch molecules in TPS and SPW

Effect of Crude Palm Oil as Plasticizer on the Mechanical and Morphology Properties of Low Density Polyethylene Blown Film.

This paper presents a study on the mechanical and morphology properties of low density polyethylene (LDPE) blown film modified with crude palm oil (CPO). The effect of the crude palm oil as plasticiser on LDPE matrix has been studied. The LDPE were compounded with 1%, 3% and 5% of crude palm oil in a co–rotating twin screw extruder and pelletised. The blends were processed using blow thin film machine. The results on tensile properties were showed the gradual enhanced the elongation at break about 79% to 90% in machine direction (MD) and transverse direction (TD) and gradually decreased the tensile strength about 9%. The rupture properties of LDPE modified with CPO showed the decrement pattern due to the plastisticisation effect. The fracture mechanism of modified LDPE was also investigated from scanning electron microscope micrographs which clearly indicated the orientation strengthening consistently with the result in mechanical properties. From Fourier transmission infra–red (FTIR) spectras, the presence of CPO showed the addition peak in 1,745 to 1,747 cm−1 region indicated the physical interaction between molecular of polyolefins and CPO. These observations have important implication as an alternative environmental friendly plasticiser based from renewable resources for polymeric materials

Covid-19's impact on the physical environments of people with intellectual disabilities: a systematic literature review

COVID-19 pandemic is a public health issue. From 2019 to 2022, 4.5 million people died from the COVID-19 epidemic. Consequently, COVID-19 has put a significant strain on every single creature in this world. COVID-19 has been associated with lockdown, thus resulting in lockdown related inequities towards most people in this world, with unanticipated consequences for people with disabilities. Building in this debate, this paper aimed to discuss on the impacts of COVID-19 on the physical health of People with Intellectual Disabilities. Based on the Prisma protocol, this systematic literature review examined 28 publications from Web Sources of Science and Scopus.The study identified three themes regarding the impact of COVID-19 on the physical environment of people with intellectual disabilities namely mental health, social isolation, severe health problems, socioeconomic and psychology. This study has significant implications in understanding how PWID are impacted by COVID 19 and urged that early preventative measures should be taken since People with Intellectual Disabilities are considered a vulnerable population, therefore it is crucial to ensure that their health status are sustained