Application of Imaging for the study of Polymeric Material
Polymeric materials, composite emulsions and suspensions are widely used in industry. Their formulation, production optimization and defects removal are some of the main issues on the production. The three-dimensional structure of different foams has been extracted by means of x-ray μCT (computerized micro tomography) and synthetic parameters describing the architecture have been defined and evaluated. The micro-architecture has been correlated with the material production process parameters and final macro performances, thus allowing the production process optimization and the target composite performance achievement.
Industrial polymeric foam: rendering of the cell microarchitecture for two foams with different chemical formulation
Industrial polymeric foam: study of the cell volume distribution
THE LAB
ELETTRA SINCROTRONE TRIESTE
Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste participates to InCIMa4 projects with three laboratories focused on the techniques of X-ray Imaging and vibrational spectroscopies for chemical analysis.
Application of foam production techniques on laboratory scale
The increasing social awareness to sustainability reinforces the necessity for the industry to develop eco-friendly and sustainable materials to decrease the environmental impact of their products. An example for an environmentally friendly substitute are tannin-based foams, which are a very promising green alternative to commonly used oil-derived materials for foam production. Sometimes, their material properties have been not documented in detail yet. However, it is necessary to characterize the materials for the development of new materials and/or products.
[Ref: Sepperer T, Neubauer J, Eckardt, J, Schnabel T, Petutschnigg A, Tondi G (2019) Pollutant absorption as a possible end-of-life solution for polyphenolic polymers. Polymers 11:911, doi:10.3390/polym11050911]
Different tannin-based foams and a possible application of pollutant absorption
FT-IR sectra of different samples
THE LAB
SALZBURG UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES – Forest Products Technology & Timber Constructions Dep.
Salzburg University of Applied Sciences participates to InCIMa4 projects with three laboratories dedicated on techniques for processing and analysing of natural raw materials (e.g. wood, straw, bark, etc).
Application of Raman Spectroscopy in the study of nylon 6,6 relaxation process
Nylon is among the most important plastic material for engineering, such as for application as high-strength fiber or at elevated temperature as well as used for textiles and carpets, automotive parts and food packaging. Moreover, this semi- crystalline polymeric material has been widely studied with respect to thermal processes associated with its molecular structure, and therefore can be used as reference material. The characterization of polymers is highly important for the development of new polymeric materials, whereas the selection and design of new materials strongly depends on their thermal properties. In this study, Raman spectroscopy has been used to investigate the relaxation process of Nylon at specific temperatures (ranging from -120oC and 120oC) to demonstrate the validity of this technique compared with conventional techniques such as DSC, DRM, DMA and DMTA. The results of the measurements with Raman spectroscopy showed temperature dependent changes for the three major relaxation processes, known as γ, β and α in a fashion quite similar to those obtained via macroscopic method for thermodynamic and mechanical quantities. In addition, the Raman scattering signal was able to deliver information directly from the source where these processes occur (molecular level) and the sample does not need to undergo any special chemical or physical pre-treatment.
[Ref: 10.1016/j.polymer.2016.10.058]
– Product using Nylon 6,6 –
The figure shows the Raman peaks associated with different molecules and the three pronounced regions (T γ, T β ,Tα ) whose temperature range can be attributed, in order of increasing temperature, to the occurrence of γ, β and α relaxation processes
THE LAB
UNIVERSITY OF SALZBURG – Department of Chemistry and Physics of MaterialsRAMAN SPECTROSCOPY LAB
Raman spectroscopy is a non-destructive vibrational spectroscopic method based on the interaction of light with the electron shell.