Research on Polymer Processing Technology

A special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717). This special issue belongs to the section "Materials Processes".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2024) | Viewed by 6801

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
College of Advanced Manufacturing, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China
Interests: mechanical design and theory research direction: polymer processing technology; mechanical design and manufacturing; battery thermal management

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Guest Editor
College of Physics and Electronic Information, Gannan Normal University, Ganzhou 341000, China
Interests: material calculation; artificial intelligence; machine learning; computational simulation methods

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Guest Editor Assistant
Jiangxi Province Key Laboratory of Precision Drive & Control, Nanchang Institute of Technology, Nanchang 330099, China
Interests: polymeric materials; polymer processing technology; mechanical design and manufacturing

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

With the steady improvement of people's living quality and level, the pace of industrialization development is constantly advancing; therefore, the social development of process technology has put forward more stringent standards and requirements. Polymer materials cannot only be widely used, but can also realize the steady improvement of work efficiency. Polymer material refers to a polymer composition and polymer material, is a relatively high-molecular-weight compound construction of new materials, the structure of the material itself has significant modification, whether it is malleable or plasticity is relatively strong, so the material can be processed and adjusted more reasonably.

This Special Issue on “Recovery and Utilization of Polymeric Materials” aims to cover recent advances in the development and application of processing and recycling of polymer materials. Topics include, but are not limited to, methods and/or applications in the following areas:

  • Processing technology of polymer materials;
  • Polymer material forming processing technology;
  • Polymer dynamic reaction;
  • Recycling and processing of waste polymer materials;
  • Thermal analysis of polymer materials processing process;
  • Composite material processing technology.

Prof. Dr. Xingyuan Huang
Prof. Dr. Mengshan Li
Guest Editors

Dr. Shiyu Jiang
Guest Editor Assistant

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. Processes is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly 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 2400 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

  • polymer materials
  • forming processing technology
  • dynamic reaction
  • recycling and processing
  • thermal analysis
  • composite material

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 10683 KiB  
Article
Barrier, Mechanical, Thermal, and Rheological Properties of Plasticized Biopolymeric Films Manufactured by Co-Extrusion
by Heidy Lorena Calambás Pulgarin and Carolina Caicedo
Processes 2024, 12(3), 524; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12030524 - 6 Mar 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1289
Abstract
The thermal, rheological, mechanical, and barrier properties of flat biopolymeric films processed by extrusion with different proportions of plasticizer and surfactant were evaluated. In the first stage, pellets were developed through twin-screw extrusion using a temperature profile in the ascending step process. These [...] Read more.
The thermal, rheological, mechanical, and barrier properties of flat biopolymeric films processed by extrusion with different proportions of plasticizer and surfactant were evaluated. In the first stage, pellets were developed through twin-screw extrusion using a temperature profile in the ascending step process. These samples were analyzed using rotational rheology analysis to understand the viscoelastic transitions through the behavior of the storage and loss modulus, as well as the incidence of complex viscosity concerning concentration. The interaction among the components was analyzed under infrared spectroscopy after the two processing stages, revealing the miscibility of the mixture due to the action of the surfactant. The degradation temperatures increased by more than 20 °C, generating thermal stability, and the temperatures related to polymer transitions were determined. In the second stage, co-extrusion was carried out using pellets from the blend with a melt flow index (MFI) suitable for this process. The samples TPS50-PLA50-T5 and TPS75-PLA25-T5-A10 presented MFI values of 2.27 and 1.72 g/10 min, respectively. These samples were co-extruded for the production of films, impacting the physical properties. The resistance to traction, Young’s modulus, and elongation showed limited effectiveness of plasticizer and surfactant, with high resistance and elongation values (4.276 MPa and 2.63%) in the TPS50-PLA50-T5 film. Additionally, morphological analysis showed the detailed action of the plasticizer on the regular shapes of threads as a product of deformation during material processing. The barrel properties exhibited limited biopolymer–plastic–tensile miscibility, resulting in different water vapor permeability for the TPS75-PLA25-T5-A10 film on each side (a difference of two orders of magnitude). The contact angle corroborated the effect, with values in each case ranging from 103.7° to 30.3°. In conclusion, we assert that biopolymeric films, when modified with plasticizers and surfactants, can be tailored for various applications within the packaging sector while maintaining control over each film. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Polymer Processing Technology)
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18 pages, 3173 KiB  
Article
Optimizing Chitin Extraction and Chitosan Production from House Cricket Flour
by Andrea Espinosa-Solís, Angélica Velázquez-Segura, Carlos Lara-Rodríguez, Luz María Martínez, Cristina Chuck-Hernández and Lucio Rodríguez-Sifuentes
Processes 2024, 12(3), 464; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12030464 - 25 Feb 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2293
Abstract
Chitin and its derivative, chitosan, have diverse applications in fields such as agriculture, medicine, and biosensors, amongst others. Extraction is primarily conducted from marine sources, such as crustaceans, which have been the focus of process optimization studies. However, there are other sources that [...] Read more.
Chitin and its derivative, chitosan, have diverse applications in fields such as agriculture, medicine, and biosensors, amongst others. Extraction is primarily conducted from marine sources, such as crustaceans, which have been the focus of process optimization studies. However, there are other sources that are more readily available, such as insects, where insufficient research has been conducted. The house cricket (Acheta domesticus) is a promising source for chitin extraction because of its high chitin content, availability, and short lifespan. Modern chemical chitin extraction methods have not been standardized due to the use of different reagents, molar concentrations, temperatures, and reaction times across publications. Therefore, in this study, the composition of Acheta domesticus cricket flour was determined: 2.62% humidity, 4.3% ash content, 56.29% protein, 13.35% fat, 23.44% carbohydrates, and 15.71% crude fiber content. After a drying, defatting, demineralization, deproteinization, and bleaching process, chitin extraction was performed, and chitosan was obtained via a deacetylation reaction. The demineralization process was standardized at 30 °C for 3 h using HCl 2 M, resulting in 95.85 ± 0.012%. The deproteinization process was optimized at 80 °C for 45 min using NaOH 2.56 M, yielding 43.23 ± 1.25%. Finally, the identity and physicochemical characteristics of the compounds were confirmed and determined through characterization with Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, X-ray Diffraction, Scanning Electron Microscopy, and Differential Scanning Calorimetry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Polymer Processing Technology)
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14 pages, 14942 KiB  
Article
Polyimide (PI) Composite Spunlace Nonwovens for Hygiene Material with Excellent Comfort and Antimicrobial Properties
by Hao Lu, Minggang Lin, Tan Li, Hongjie Zhang, Lili Feng and Chuyang Zhang
Processes 2024, 12(2), 354; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr12020354 - 8 Feb 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1426
Abstract
Nonwoven fabrics with appropriate hydrophilicity and potent antimicrobial properties hold important promise for hygiene applications. However, existing materials with certain limitations and complex manufacturing steps, along with the unavoidable use of chemicals in the process, are limited to a certain extent in terms [...] Read more.
Nonwoven fabrics with appropriate hydrophilicity and potent antimicrobial properties hold important promise for hygiene applications. However, existing materials with certain limitations and complex manufacturing steps, along with the unavoidable use of chemicals in the process, are limited to a certain extent in terms of the balance between comfort and antimicrobial properties. In this paper, a polyimide (PI) fiber was reported to be used for the preparation of PI composite nonwoven fabrics (5-P), which can effectively enhance the surface hydrodynamic and antimicrobial properties of the nonwoven by a one-step plasma treatment on one side. After treatment, the one-sided water contact angle (WCA) changed from 121.5° to 68.5°, and the permeation volume from 0.7 to 2.1 g, with a relative increase of 181.9%. Meanwhile, the reverse osmosis amount was only 0.5 g, achieving rapid permeation while keeping a low reverse osmosis amount. The antimicrobial experiment showed that plasma-treated 5-P exhibited 64.3% and 91.6% inhibitory properties against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, respectively. Notably, the production process of antimicrobial 5-P was fast and efficient without the addition of any chemicals. This method has great potential for the industrial preparation of antimicrobial comfort materials on a large scale, which is competitive in the medical, sanitary materials, and personal care fields. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Polymer Processing Technology)
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14 pages, 11336 KiB  
Article
Influence of Gas Inlet Slit Width on Gas-Assisted Plastic Micro-Tube Extrusion
by Shuiquan Chen, Xingyuan Huang, Bin Liu and Xiaohui Zhang
Processes 2023, 11(7), 2025; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr11072025 - 6 Jul 2023
Viewed by 1300
Abstract
In the process of the double-layer gas-assisted extrusion of plastic micro-tubes, the external size and surface quality of the micro-tubes are greatly affected by the size of the assisting gas inlet slit inside the mold. Therefore, in this experiment, a two-phase flow model [...] Read more.
In the process of the double-layer gas-assisted extrusion of plastic micro-tubes, the external size and surface quality of the micro-tubes are greatly affected by the size of the assisting gas inlet slit inside the mold. Therefore, in this experiment, a two-phase flow model was established based on a compressible gas and a non-compressible melt. The Polyflow finite element solution software module was used to solve the velocity field, temperature field, pressure field, and section size of the melt under the condition of double-layer gas-assisted extrusion in a mold under different gas inlet slit widths. The results show that, with an increase in the width of the gas inlet slit, the melt outlet velocity increases, the surface temperature increases, wall thickness shrinkage increases, and interior diameter expansion increases. In the process of gas-assisted extrusion, the thickness of the air cushion is affected by adjusting the size of the gas inlet slit, and, hence, changes the shape and size of the plastic micro-tubes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Research on Polymer Processing Technology)
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