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Polymers
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Functional Polymer Composites II
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Functional Polymer Composites II

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 October 2021) | Viewed by 11982

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Phuong Nguyen-Tri

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Physique, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), Trois-Rivières, QC G8Z 4M3, Canada
2. Laboratory of Advanced Materials for Energy and Environment, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), Trois-Rivières, QC G8Z 4M3, Canada
Interests: green chemistry; multifunctional composites; antiviral composites; polymer crystallization; nanomaterials; advanced materials for energy and environment; hybrid nanoparticles; conversion of biomass
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Tuan Anh Nguyen

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Microanalysis Department, Institute for Tropical Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam
Interests: polymer composites; conducting polymers; functional composites; nanomaterials; corrosion protection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Functional polymer composites are now making significant strides in synthesis, design, preparation, processing, and promising applications. Today, polymer composites are becoming lighter, cheaper, more durable, and more versatile. At present, great progress has been made in the design, preparation, and characterization of polymer composite materials, making them smarter and versatile. By creating new properties using suitable fillers and matrix, functional polymer composites can meet the most difficult standards of users, especially in high-tech industries. Functional polymer composites are crucial to the development of new cutting-edge technologies, especially in the fourth industrial revolution. Advances in functional polymer composites will promote human welfare by creating new solutions and materials to overcome global energy and environmental crises.

Advanced polymer composites reinforced by high-performance carbon fibers and nanofillers are popular in the automotive and aerospace industries thanks to their significant advantages, such as high specific strength to weight ratio and noncorrosion properties. In addition to the improvement of the mechanical performance, polymer composites today are designed to provide new functions dealing with antibacterial, electrical conducting, superhydrophobic, self-cleaning, self-healing, self-healing, self-actuating, biocompatibles, super-hard, solar reflective, heath monitoring and diagnosis, and high energy storage and conversion, for desired end-used applications. On the other hand, composite materials can contribute to reducing environmental issues by providing renewable energy technologies in conjunction with multifunctional, lightweight energy storage systems with high performance and noncorrosive properties. They are also used to prepare a new generation of batteries and directly contribute to H2 production or CO2 reduction in fuels and chemicals.

Following the success of the first Special Issue on a similar topic, this second volume aims to collect articles reporting on recent developments dealing with preparative methods, design, properties, structure, and characterization methods, as well as promising applications of functional polymer composites. It covers potential applications in various areas, such as anticorrosion, photocatalyst, absorbers, renewable energy, energy storage systems, structural batteries and energy devices, solar panels, smart textiles, construction, water treatment, and electrical and electronic devices. Advanced modeling, simulation, and experimentation processes involving the design, preparation, and prediction of properties of functional polymer composites as well as those performing experimental studies involving these polymer composites are welcomed.

Prof. Dr. Phuong Nguyen-Tri
Prof. Dr. Tuan Anh Nguyen
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

  • Antibacterial polymer composites
  • Properties and structure of functional polymer composites
  • Self-cleaning polymer composites
  • Functional polymer composites for H2 production and storage
  • Functional polymer composites for CO2 storage, conversion, and utilization
  • Functional polymer composites for environment
  • Photocatalytic polymer composites
  • Degradation and stability of polymer composites
  • Biodegradable polymer composites
  • Smart textiles
  • Polymer composites for structural batteries and energy devices
  • Self-actuating polymer composites
  • Shape memory polymer composites
  • Two- and three-dimensional materials-based polymer composites
  • Self-healing polymer composites
  • Photocurable polymer composites
  • Electrical conducting polymer composites
  • Nanoscale characterization of polymer composites
  • Computer simulation of polymer composite design and preparation
  • Superabsorbant polymer composites
  • Anticorrosion polymer composites
  • Renewable polymer composites.

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 1170 KiB  
Article
Delamination Behaviour of Embedded Polymeric Sensor and Actuator Carrier Layers in Epoxy Based CFRP Laminates—A Study of Energy Release Rates
by Andreas Hornig, Anja Winkler, Eric Bauerfeind, Maik Gude and Niels Modler
Polymers 2021, 13(22), 3926; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13223926 - 13 Nov 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2014
Abstract
Fiber reinforced composites combine low density with high specific mechanical properties and thus became indispensable for today’s lightweight applications. In particular, carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) is broadly used for aerospace components. However, damage and failure behaviour, especially for complex fibre reinforcement set-ups [...] Read more.
Fiber reinforced composites combine low density with high specific mechanical properties and thus became indispensable for today’s lightweight applications. In particular, carbon fibre reinforced plastic (CFRP) is broadly used for aerospace components. However, damage and failure behaviour, especially for complex fibre reinforcement set-ups and under impact loading conditions, are still not fully understood yet. Therefore, relatively large margins of safety are currently used for designing high-performance materials and structures. Technologies to functionalise the materials enabling the monitoring of the structures and thus avoiding critical conditions are considered to be key to overcoming these drawbacks. For this, sensors and actuators are bonded to the surface of the composite structures or are integrated into the composite lay-up. In case of integration, the impact on the mechanical properties of the composite materials needs to be understood in detail. Additional elements may disturb the composite structure, impeding the direct connection of the composite layers and implying the risk of reducing the interlaminar integrity by means of a lower delamination resistance. In the presented study, the possibility of adjusting the interface between the integrated actuator and sensor layers to the composite layers is investigated. Different polymer layer combinations integrated into carbon fibre reinforced composite layups are compared with respect to their interlaminar critical energy release rates GIc and GIIc. A standard aerospace unidirectionally reinforced (UD) CFRP prepreg material was used as reference material configuration. The investigations show that it is possible to enhance the mechanical properties, especially the interlaminar energy release rate by using multilayered sensor–actuator layers with Polyimide (PI) outer layers and layers with low shear stiffness in between. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Polymer Composites II)
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14 pages, 1583 KiB  
Article
Fabrication of Poly(Vinylidene Fluoride)/Graphene Nano-Composite Micro-Parts with Increased β-Phase and Enhanced Toughness via Micro-Injection Molding
by Wu Guo, Zhaogang Liu, Yan Zhu and Li Li
Polymers 2021, 13(19), 3292; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13193292 - 27 Sep 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1814
Abstract
Based on poly(vinylidene fluoride)/graphene (PVDF/GP) nano-composite powder, with high β-phase content (>90%), prepared on our self-designed pan-mill mechanochemical reactor, the micro-injection molding of PVDF/GP composite was successfully realized and micro-parts with good replication and dimensional stability were achieved. The filling behaviors and the [...] Read more.
Based on poly(vinylidene fluoride)/graphene (PVDF/GP) nano-composite powder, with high β-phase content (>90%), prepared on our self-designed pan-mill mechanochemical reactor, the micro-injection molding of PVDF/GP composite was successfully realized and micro-parts with good replication and dimensional stability were achieved. The filling behaviors and the structure evolution of the composite during the extremely narrow channel of the micro-injection molding were systematically studied. In contrast to conventional injection molding, the extremely high injection speed and small cavity of micro-injection molding produced a high shear force and cooling rate, leading to the obvious “skin-core” structure of the micro-parts and the orientation of both PVDF and GP in the shear layer, thus, endowing the micro-parts with a higher melting point and crystallinity and also inducing the transformation of more α-phase PVDF to β-phase. At the injection speed of 500 mm/s, the β-phase PVDF in the micro-part was 78%, almost two times of that in the macro-part, which was beneficial to improve the dielectric properties. The micro-part had the higher tensile strength (57.6 MPa) and elongation at break (53.6%) than those of the macro-part, due to its increased crystallinity and β-phase content. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Polymer Composites II)
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Review

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80 pages, 7507 KiB  
Review
Advanced Functional Materials for Intelligent Thermoregulation in Personal Protective Equipment
by Alireza Saidi, Chantal Gauvin, Safa Ladhari and Phuong Nguyen-Tri
Polymers 2021, 13(21), 3711; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym13213711 - 27 Oct 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 7171
Abstract
The exposure to extreme temperatures in workplaces involves physical hazards for workers. A poorly acclimated worker may have lower performance and vigilance and therefore may be more exposed to accidents and injuries. Due to the incompatibility of the existing standards implemented in some [...] Read more.
The exposure to extreme temperatures in workplaces involves physical hazards for workers. A poorly acclimated worker may have lower performance and vigilance and therefore may be more exposed to accidents and injuries. Due to the incompatibility of the existing standards implemented in some workplaces and the lack of thermoregulation in many types of protective equipment that are commonly fabricated using various types of polymeric materials, thermal stress remains one of the most frequent physical hazards in many work sectors. However, many of these problems can be overcome with the use of smart textile technologies that enable intelligent thermoregulation in personal protective equipment. Being based on conductive and functional polymeric materials, smart textiles can detect many external stimuli and react to them. Interconnected sensors and actuators that interact and react to existing risks can provide the wearer with increased safety, protection, and comfort. Thus, the skills of smart protective equipment can contribute to the reduction of errors and the number and severity of accidents in the workplace and thus promote improved performance, efficiency, and productivity. This review provides an overview and opinions of authors on the current state of knowledge on these types of technologies by reviewing and discussing the state of the art of commercially available systems and the advances made in previous research works. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Functional Polymer Composites II)
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