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Polymers
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Polymers, Reactive Processing and Related Materials
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Polymers, Reactive Processing and Related Materials

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Processing and Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 November 2021) | Viewed by 5503

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Rosica Mincheva

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Laboratory of Polymeric and Composite Materials, University of Mons, Place du Parc 23, 7000 Mons, Belgium
Interests: controlled/living polymerizations; polycondensation; biopolymers and biobased polymers; functional polymers; self-assembly; nanoparticles; reactive processing; (nano)composites; end-of-life scenario; circular economy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the increasing demand for novel nature-compatible polymer materials, energy- and time-efficient easily industrializable methods, and a circular economy, reactive processing (RP) progressively becomes the method of choice for both academy and industry. Indeed, the recently developed concepts for solventless chemical reactions performed in an easily scalable, versatile, and fast technology for a multitude of monomers and polymers allow the design of polymer blends and (nano)composites with application-tailored performances and ecological relevance. Solid and highly viscous reaction mixtures are processed with surprisingly high efficiency. This innovative organic synthesis approach brings process intensification and decreases the environmental impact.

This special issue aims to report on the progress of recent cutting-edge research in this rapidly expanding field. Manuscripts (including critical reviews) about the fundamentals and novel applications in RP development and applications are encouraged as well as manuscripts on related polymeric (nano)materials.

Dr. Rosica Mincheva
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Reactive processing
  • Solventless reactions
  • Process intensification
  • Circular economy
  • Natural and biobased polymer blends and (nano)composites
  • Related polymeric (nano)materials

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 1428 KiB  
Article
Static Culture Combined with Aeration in Biosynthesis of Bacterial Cellulose
by Nadezhda A. Shavyrkina, Ekaterina A. Skiba, Anastasia E. Kazantseva, Evgenia K. Gladysheva, Vera V. Budaeva, Nikolay V. Bychin, Yulia A. Gismatulina, Ekaterina I. Kashcheyeva, Galina F. Mironova, Anna A. Korchagina, Igor N. Pavlov and Gennady V. Sakovich
Polymers 2021, 13(23), 4241; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13234241 - 3 Dec 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2061
Abstract
One of the ways to enhance the yield of bacterial cellulose (BC) is by using dynamic aeration and different-type bioreactors because the microbial producers are strict aerobes. But in this case, the BC quality tends to worsen. Here we have combined static culture [...] Read more.
One of the ways to enhance the yield of bacterial cellulose (BC) is by using dynamic aeration and different-type bioreactors because the microbial producers are strict aerobes. But in this case, the BC quality tends to worsen. Here we have combined static culture with aeration in the biosynthesis of BC by symbiotic Medusomyces gisevii Sa-12 for the first time. A new aeration method by feeding the air onto the growth medium surface is proposed herein. The culture was performed in a Binder-400 climate chamber. The study found that the air feed at a rate of 6.3 L/min allows a 25% increase in the BC yield. Moreover, this aeration mode resulted in BC samples of stable quality. The thermogravimetric and X-ray structural characteristics were retained: the crystallinity index in reflection and transmission geometries were 89% and 92%, respectively, and the allomorph Iα content was 94%. Slight decreases in the degree of polymerization (by 12.0% compared to the control―no aeration) and elastic modulus (by 12.6%) are not critical. Thus, the simple aeration by feeding the air onto the culture medium surface has turned out to be an excellent alternative to dynamic aeration. Usually, when the cultivation conditions, including the aeration ones, are changed, characteristics of the resultant BC are altered either, due to the sensitivity of individual microbial strains. In our case, the stable parameters of BC samples under variable aeration conditions are explained by the concomitant factors: the new efficient aeration method and the highly adaptive microbial producer―symbiotic Medusomyces gisevii Sa-12. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymers, Reactive Processing and Related Materials)
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23 pages, 14660 KiB  
Article
Effects of Modified Thermoplastic Starch on Crystallization Kinetics and Barrier Properties of PLA
by Apoorva Kulkarni and Ramani Narayan
Polymers 2021, 13(23), 4125; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13234125 - 26 Nov 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 2721
Abstract
This study reports on using reactive extrusion (REX) modified thermoplastic starch particles as a bio-based and biodegradable nucleating agent to increase the rate of crystallization, percent crystallinity and improve oxygen barrier properties while maintaining the biodegradability of PLA. Reactive blends of maleated thermoplastic [...] Read more.
This study reports on using reactive extrusion (REX) modified thermoplastic starch particles as a bio-based and biodegradable nucleating agent to increase the rate of crystallization, percent crystallinity and improve oxygen barrier properties while maintaining the biodegradability of PLA. Reactive blends of maleated thermoplastic starch (MTPS) and PLA were prepared using a ZSK-30 twin-screw extruder; 80% glycerol was grafted on the starch during the preparation of MTPS as determined by soxhlet extraction with acetone. The crystallinity of PLA was found to increase from 7.7% to 28.6% with 5% MTPS. The crystallization temperature of PLA reduced from 113 °C to 103 °C. Avrami analysis of the blends showed that the crystallization rate increased 98-fold and t1/2 was reduced drastically from 20 min to <1 min with the addition of 5% MTPS compared to neat PLA. Observation from POM confirmed that the presence of MTPS in the PLA matrix significantly increased the rate of formation and density of spherulites. Oxygen and water vapor permeabilities of the solvent-casted PLA/MTPS films were reduced by 33 and 19% respectively over neat PLA without causing any detrimental impacts on the mechanical properties (α = 0.05). The addition of MTPS to PLA did not impact the biodegradation of PLA in an aqueous environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymers, Reactive Processing and Related Materials)
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