Biobased epoxy reactive diluents prepared from monophenol derivatives: effect on viscosity and glass transition temperature of epoxy resins.

The use of reactive diluents is undeniably of paramount importance to develop epoxy resins which would meet more demanding and restrictive processes and applications in terms of viscosity and glass transition temperature. In the context of developing resins with low carbon impacts, 3 natural phenols namely carvacrol, guaiacol and thymol were selected and converted into monofunctional epoxies using a general glycidylation procedure. Without advanced purification, the developed liquid-state epoxies showed very low viscosities of 16 cPs to 55 cPs at 20 °C, which could be further reduced to 12 cPs at 20 °C when purification by distillation is applied.

Continuous Bamboo Fibers/Fire-Retardant Polyamide 11: Dynamic Mechanical Behavior of the Biobased Composite.

A biobased composite was generated from bamboo fibers (BF) and a polyamide 11 (PA11) matrix. In order to fulfill security requirements, a PA11 already containing a flame retardant (FR) was chosen: This matrix is referred as PA11-FR. In this work, the effects of flame retardant (melamine cyanurate) on the composite properties were considered.

Dynamic mechanical properties of oral mucosa: Comparison with polymeric soft denture liners.

The purpose of this work was to characterize the viscoelastic behaviour of oral mucosa and compare it with the dynamic mechanical properties of different soft liners. For this purpose, a sample of pig oral mucosa and six commercialized soft liner samples have been investigated. A comparison was also carried with the first suitable hard rubber for dental prosthetics: vulcanite.

Dynamic mechanical properties of a biomimetic hydroxyapatite/polyamide 6,9 nanocomposite.

A biomimetic composite of nanohydroxyapatite (nHap) and semicrystalline polyamide 6,9 (PA 6,9) was synthesized by thermally induced phase separation. The nHap powder was dispersed in a polymer matrix with a low ratio ranging 1-10 wt %. The mean size of the nHap, determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was approximately 100-200 nm (length), 40-60 nm (width).