Taoxi Wang¹, Zhuo Liu^1,2, Fu Jian¹, Xing Shen¹, Chen Wang¹, Huwei Bian³, Tao Jiang^3,*, Wei Min Huang⁴

Journal of Polymer Materials, Vol.42, No.1, pp. 81-94, 2025, DOI:10.32604/jpm.2025.061047 - 27 March 2025

Abstract This paper presents the development of a thermoplastic shape memory rubber that can be programmed at human body temperature for comfortable fitting applications. We hybridized commercially available thermoplastic rubber (TPR) used in the footwear industry with un-crosslinked polycaprolactone (PCL) to create two samples, namely TP6040 and TP7030. The shape memory behavior, elasticity, and thermo-mechanical response of these rubbers were systematically investigated. The experimental results demonstrated outstanding shape memory performance, with both samples achieving shape fixity ratios (R_f) and shape recovery ratios (R_r) exceeding 94%. TP6040 exhibited a fitting time of 80 s at body temperature (37°C), More >

Shuang Si, Qian Tang, Xingong Li^*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.9, No.12, pp. 2209-2222, 2021, DOI:10.32604/jrm.2021.015506 - 22 June 2021

Abstract This study investigated the characteristics of wood fiber/polycaprolactone composite after an artificial accelerated thermo-oxidative aging treatment. The effect of time, temperature and humidity during the treatment on their mechanical, chemical and morphology properties were evaluated. The composite was prepared from melted wood fibers and modified polycaprolactone by a molding process. A temperature and humidity controllable test chamber was used for the thermo-oxidative aging of the composite. The thermo-oxidative aging caused surface of the composite to be much more rougher and even a few cracks and holes appeared on it. According to the spectra of Fourier… More > Graphic Abstract

Yasemin Kaptan, M.Sc.^1,*, Yüksel Avcıbaşı-Güvenilir¹

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.6, No.6, pp. 619-629, 2018, DOI:10.32604/JRM.2018.00142

Abstract Surface-modified rice husk ash was used as an inorganic support material for immobilization of Candida antarctica lipase B. (3-aminopropyl) trimethoxysilane was used for surface modification. Immobilization of CALB was performed via both physical adsorption and cross-linking. PCL synthesis was carried out by using these immobilized enzymes, free enzyme and Novozyme 435®. Molecular weight distribution of polymer samples was obtained by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and chain structures of the polymer samples were observed by hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance (1H-NMR). The highest monomer conversion is generally obtained by using cross-linked enzyme, around 90%. PDI values for More >

D. Puglia^1*, F. Dominici¹, M. Badalotti², C. Santulli³, J.M. Kenny¹

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.4, No.3, pp. 199-205, 2016, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2016.634102

Abstract In this work, cocoa bean shells (CBS), which were ground, then sieved to less than 150 μm and dried in a vacuum oven, have been introduced in a polycaprolactone (PCL) matrix in three different amounts, 10, 20 and 30% wt. The obtained composites were tested under tensile loading, which indicated an enhanced rigidity with a slight decrease of strength with respect to the neat polymer and a reduced elongation, particularly evident for composites with 30 wt% CBS, where final collapse took place for strains only slightly exceeding the yielding point. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) indicated More >