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Mechanical and Advanced Properties of Polymers II

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2024) | Viewed by 9344

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Institute of Polymer Science and Technology (ICTP), CSIC, C/Juan de la Cierva, 3, 28006 Madrid, Spain
Interests: materials science; nanomaterials; polymer science; composites and nanocomposites; smart materials and stimuli-responsive polymers; shape memory and multi-responsive polymers; multifunctional polymers; biodegradable and biobased polymers; 3D printing; reuse and recycling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
CSIC - Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Polímeros (ICTP), 28006 Madrid, Spain
Interests: polymer science; composites and nanocomposites; smart materials and stimuli-responsive polymers; polymer gels; multifunctional polymers; antimicrobial polymers
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Further to the successful conclusion of the previous Special Issue “Mechanical and Advanced Properties of Polymers”, we are delighted to announce the second edition entitled “Mechanical and Advanced Properties of Polymers II”. This edition will continue to collect high-quality papers which are mainly dedicated to the mechanical response of polymeric materials.

Polymeric materials play a very important role in our daily life. From their first application as single-use materials, they have now become advanced “customized” systems of high technological interest. In fact, today, many applications of polymers not only have specific properties, such as mechanical and thermal properties, but also present intelligent multifunctional properties such as shape memory or the ability to repair themselves between others, thus obtaining advanced polymer systems. Most of the polymeric systems with advanced properties show high-quality mechanical properties, as thermo-mechanical cycles and mechano-dynamic cycles are generally used to study their response. Moreover, besides experimental characterization, the modeling and theoretical analysis of the mechanical and rheological response of polymers and nanocomposites are extremely important to understand and help predict the behavior of these materials. In line with this, the mechanical performance of biodegradable and reused polymers is critical in order to predict their service life as well as their end of life.

Dr. Laura Peponi
Dr. Daniel López
Dr. Marta Fernández-García
Guest Editors

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

  • polymers
  • nanocomposites
  • nanoparticles
  • mechanical properties
  • smart properties
  • shape memory
  • rheology
  • mechano-dynamical properties
  • thermo-mechanical cycles

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 4042 KiB  
Article
Influence of the Chemical Structure on the Mechanical Relaxation of Dendrimers
by Nadezhda N. Sheveleva, Andrei V. Komolkin and Denis A. Markelov
Polymers 2023, 15(4), 833; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15040833 - 8 Feb 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1491
Abstract
The rheological properties of macromolecules represent one of the fundamental features of polymer systems which expand the possibilities of using and developing new materials based on them. In this work, we studied the shear-stress relaxation of the second generation PAMAM and PPI dendrimer [...] Read more.
The rheological properties of macromolecules represent one of the fundamental features of polymer systems which expand the possibilities of using and developing new materials based on them. In this work, we studied the shear-stress relaxation of the second generation PAMAM and PPI dendrimer melts by atomistic molecular dynamics simulation. The time dependences of relaxation modulus G(t) and the frequency dependences of the storage G′(ω) and loss G″(ω) moduli were obtained. The results were compared with the similar dependences for the polycarbosilane (PCS) dendrimer of the same generation. The chemical structure of the dendrimer segments has been found to strongly influence their mechanical relaxation. In particular, it has been shown that hydrogen bonding in PAMAM dendrimers leads to an entanglement of macromolecules and the region is observed where G′(ω) > G″(ω). This slows down the mechanical relaxation and rotational diffusion of macromolecules. We believe that our comprehensive research contributes to the systematization of knowledge about the rheological properties of dendrimers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanical and Advanced Properties of Polymers II)
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15 pages, 18834 KiB  
Article
Dynamic Fracture Resistance under Plane Strain Conditions of High-Density Polyethylene Nanoclay Composites
by H. R. López-Cabrera, U. Figueroa-López, A. C. Taylor and A. Guevara-Morales
Polymers 2023, 15(4), 813; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym15040813 - 6 Feb 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2874
Abstract
Polymer nanoclay composites have received significant attention due to their substantially enhanced mechanical, thermal and barrier properties. However, the effect of these nanoclays on the dynamic fracture resistance of a polymer matrix during fast fracture events has not been documented. In this study, [...] Read more.
Polymer nanoclay composites have received significant attention due to their substantially enhanced mechanical, thermal and barrier properties. However, the effect of these nanoclays on the dynamic fracture resistance of a polymer matrix during fast fracture events has not been documented. In this study, the effect of nanoclay addition on the rapid crack propagation (RCP) resistance of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) was investigated through the high-speed double torsion test. Results showed that the addition of 1, 3, and 5% of nanoclays improved the dynamic fracture resistance under the plane strain conditions (Gd1) of HDPE up to 65%. An increase in the storage and loss modulus, and a decrease in crystallinity and melt flow index with nanoclay content was also found. Although the presence of agglomerates can hinder the enhancement of Gd1 as it promotes agglomerate fracture and debonding, the increase in energy consumption through fibrillation and crazing promoted by the nanoclay prevails, suggesting that the nanoclay’s toughening effect that has been extensively reported under quasi-static and impact tests, is also present under RCP conditions, and that the HDPE nanocomposites could be used in applications in which RCP must be prevented. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanical and Advanced Properties of Polymers II)
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15 pages, 3578 KiB  
Article
Supramolecular Polycaprolactone-Based Polyurethanes with Thermally Activated Shape-Memory Behavior
by Fabio Muscas, Valentina Sessini, Laura Peponi, Antonio Julio López, Alejandro Ureña, Rodrigo Navarro and Ángel Marcos-Fernández
Polymers 2022, 14(17), 3447; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14173447 - 24 Aug 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2093
Abstract
In this work, using supramolecular polyurethanes theories, two polycaprolactone-based polyurethanes with 2-ureido-4-[1H]-pyrimidinone (UPy) motifs capable of forming quadruple hydrogen bonds were synthetized and characterized, focusing our attention on their capability to show thermally activated shape-memory response. In particular, 1H NMR analyses confirmed [...] Read more.
In this work, using supramolecular polyurethanes theories, two polycaprolactone-based polyurethanes with 2-ureido-4-[1H]-pyrimidinone (UPy) motifs capable of forming quadruple hydrogen bonds were synthetized and characterized, focusing our attention on their capability to show thermally activated shape-memory response. In particular, 1H NMR analyses confirmed the chemical structure of the supramolecular polyurethanes, while DSC showed their totally amorphous morphology. DMTA in tensile mode was used to study their thermally activated shape-memory properties. In our case, the UPy units are the switching domains while the network formed by the segregated hard segments is the permanent domain obtained materials with excellent shape-memory response at both 100 and 85 °C. These materials are promising for multi-responsive materials where bio-based and potentially recyclable polymers with excellent shape-memory properties are needed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanical and Advanced Properties of Polymers II)
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13 pages, 5256 KiB  
Article
Effect of the Addition of MgO Nanoparticles on the Thermally-Activated Shape Memory Behavior of Plasticized PLA Electrospun Fibers
by Adrián Leonés, Laura Peponi, Stefano Fiori and Marcela Lieblich
Polymers 2022, 14(13), 2657; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym14132657 - 29 Jun 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 1760
Abstract
In this work, the thermally-activated shape memory behavior of poly(lactic acid)-based electrospun fibers (PLA-based efibers) reinforced with different amounts of magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoparticles (NPs) was studied at different temperatures. In particular, MgO NPs were added at different concentrations, such as 0.1, 0.5, [...] Read more.
In this work, the thermally-activated shape memory behavior of poly(lactic acid)-based electrospun fibers (PLA-based efibers) reinforced with different amounts of magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoparticles (NPs) was studied at different temperatures. In particular, MgO NPs were added at different concentrations, such as 0.1, 0.5, 1 and 3 wt%, with respect to the PLA matrix. The glass-transition temperature of PLA-based efibers was modulated by adding a 20 wt% of oligomer lactic acid as plasticizer. Once the plasticized PLA-based efibers were obtained and basically characterized in term of morphology as well as thermal and mechanical properties, thermo-mechanical cycles were carried out at 60 °C and 45 °C in order to study their thermally-activated shape memory response, demonstrating that their crystalline nature strongly affects their shape memory behavior. Importantly, we found that the plastificant effect in the mechanical response of the reinforced plasticized PLA efibers is balanced with the reinforcing effect of the MgO NPs, obtaining the same mechanical response of neat PLA fibers. Finally, both the strain recovery and strain fixity ratios of each of the plasticized PLA-based efibers were calculated, obtaining excellent thermally-activated shape memory response at 45 °C, demonstrating that 1 wt% MgO nanoparticles was the best concentration for the plasticized system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Mechanical and Advanced Properties of Polymers II)
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