Erythrina Stavila, Katja Loos^*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.3, No.4, pp. 268-280, 2015, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2015.634102

Abstract The selective and specific features of enzymes have drawn an enormous amount of attention for use as in-vitro catalysts in polymerization reactions. Various studies on the enzymatic synthesis of polyesters, polycarbonates, polysaccharides, polypeptides, and polyamides have been performed and some have been implemented on an industrial scale. Particularly in the synthesis of polyester and polyamides, lipases are the most used enzymes as catalysts for their polymerization. Polyamides are considered to be one of the largest engineering polymer families used in the automotive, electrical and electronics, and consumer goods industries; thus the enzymatic synthesis of polyamides will have a tremendous impact… More >

Günter Wuzella¹, Arunjunai Raj Mahendran¹, Andreas Kandelbauer^2,*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.8, No.5, pp. 499-512, 2020, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2020.09615

Abstract Here, we report the mechanical and water sorption properties of a green composite based on Typha latifolia fibres. The composite was prepared either completely binder-less or bonded with 10% (w/w) of a bio-based resin which was a mixture of an epoxidized linseed oil and a tall-oil based polyamide. The flexural modulus of elasticity, the flexural strength and the water absorption of hot pressed Typha panels were measured and the influence of pressing time and panel density on these properties was investigated. The cure kinetics of the biobased resin was analyzed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) in combination with the iso-conversional… More >

Rui Hou¹, Zhihuang Zhang¹, Guangzhao Zhang¹, Donglin Tang^1,2,3,*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.8, No.4, pp. 397-403, 2020, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2020.08912

Abstract It has been proved that introducing isocyanurate into polymer chains could improve the flame retardancy of polymers. We describe in this work the synthesis and the thermal property study of three thermoplastic polyisocyanurates, which are polyisocyanuratoamide (PICA-6), polyisocyanurato(ester amide) (PICEA-6) and polyisocyanurato(urea ester) (PICUE-6). These polymers show similar and improved thermal stability with the existence of isocyanurate rings. PICA-6 is more crystalizable than the rest two and the melting temperature is found to be around 240°C but it still crystalizes slowly. For PICEA-6 and PICUE-6, only glass transition can be observed on the DSC traces. The glass transition temperature follows… More >

B. Benobeidallah¹, A. Benhamida¹, A. Dorigato^2,*, A. Sola³, M. Messori³, A. Pegoretti²

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.7, No.1, pp. 89-102, 2019, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2019.00136

Abstract Various amounts (up to 10 wt%) of palygorskite nanofibers functionalized by 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) coupling agent were used to reinforce polyamide 11 nanocomposites prepared by melt compounding. The covalent bonding of the silane on the palygorskite surface was confirmed by infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. X-ray diffraction revealed the retention of the α-form of polyamide crystals upon the addition of both natural and silane treated palygorskite nanorods. All the investigated nanocomposites showed an improvement of the thermal stability, especially when surface treated palygorskite nanofibers were considered. Tensile tests and dynamic mechanical thermal analyses on the prepared materials evidenced how the incorporation… More >

Regina Jeziorska*, Agnieszka Abramowicz, Agnieszka Szadkowska, Anna Pasnik and Ewa Spasowka

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.6, No.7, pp. 772-783, 2018, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2018.634114

Abstract Poly(phenylene oxide)/renewable polyamide 11 (PPO/PA11 20/80) blends toughened with glycidyl methacrylate grafted ethylene-n-octene copolymer (GEOC) were prepared in a co-rotating twin-screw extruder. The reaction between GEOC and PPO/PA11 blend was analyzed by gel content tests. The morphology of PPO/PA11/GEOC blends was observed by scanning electron microscope. The SEM results showed that PPO formed the continuous phase, though it is a minority component of blends. With increasing GEOC content from 5 to 15 wt% the morphology of the blends transformed from droplet-matrix to co-continuous structure, in which both PA11 and PPO phases are continuous. The blend with co-continuous morphology had better… More >