Microspheres types

The investigators studied various blends of the three polymers in order to control the rate of chain scission and thus influence the induction period and onset of drug release. None of the blends provided the desired 1-week zero-order kinetics. However, blends of different microsphere types did show promise in vitro (88). 

The consistency (fluidity) of an initial mixture depends on the binder filler weight ratio, all other parameters (binder viscosity, microsphere type, shape, size, density, and mixing conditions) being equal. The mixtures are casting compositions (viscous fluids) at small microsphere concentrations, while they become molding compositions (pastes) at higher concentrations. Thus, the fluidity of a syntactic composition depends primarily on the filler concentration and not on the binder viscosity (Fig. 1)73 ... 

Polyimide-Based Syntactic Foam (9). Three-phase syntactic foams were made using a polyimide solution (22% PI-2080 in DMF) and hollow glass microspheres (Type B-30-B, 3M Co.) which have a particle density of 0.25 to 0.30 cm and a bulk density of 0.182 g/cm . The solution and glass spheres were hand mixed and packed into a 5" x 5" mold and compacted under pressure. Variations of foam density were obtained by molding specific quantities of blend into different volumes ranging from Vi to 1" in thickness. Greater densities required higher pressures with the maximum density obtained at a pressure of about 100 psi. 

The integrity of encapsulated DNA plasmid was determined as follows. Approximately 5 mg of each microsphere type was dissolved in 500 pL chloroform and 300 pL Tris-EDTA (10 mM Tris, 5 mM EDTA, pH... 

Fig. 10.6.2. In vivo deformation of three types of calibrated microspheres. The length and width of three types of microspheres has been measured on histological slides after embolization of sheep kidneys. The microsphere deformation was calculated by the formula deformation (%) = 100 X (length-width)/width. The graph summarizes the results expressed in boxplots. A view of the deformation of each microsphere type is given below the graph...

These foams can be defined as composites consisting of hollow microspheres and a polymeric matrix. This one is made of a thermosetting (PU, PIR, PF, EP, silicone or unsaturated polyester) or of a thermoplastic (PE, PP, PVC, PS, polyimide) [56]. The microspheres can be made of silica, glass, carbon, ceramics or polymers such as PS, PE, PP, polyamide (PA), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), divinyl benzene (DVB)-maleic anhydride, and so on [56-58]. The diameter of the tiny hollow spheres is 300 mm or less [35]. They contain an inert gas such as nitrogen or a CFC. The properties of these syntactic foams depend on matrix type, microsphere type (and the contained gas), ratio matrix to microspheres, curing process, production technology. Syntactic foams can be made in combination with the conventional ones. Such a complex composite can be formnlated into a mouldable mass then shaped or pressed into cavities. 

TABLE 2.1 Properties of Various Microsphere Types of Microspheres Density Static Pressure Mean Diameter Wall Thickness... 

Uranium and mixed uranium—plutonium nitrides have a potential use as nuclear fuels for lead cooled fast reactors (136—139). Reactors of this type have been proposed for use ia deep-sea research vehicles (136). However, similar to the oxides, ia order for these materials to be useful as fuels, the nitrides must have an appropriate size and shape, ie, spheres. Microspheres of uranium nitrides have been fabricated by internal gelation and carbothermic reduction (140,141). Another use for uranium nitrides is as a catalyst for the cracking of NH at 550°C, which results ia high yields of H2 (142). 

Truly porous, synthetic ion exchangers are also available. These materials retain their porosity even after removal of the solvent and have measurable surface areas and pore size. The term macroreticular is commonly used for resins prepared from a phase separation technique, where the polymer matrix is prepared with the addition of a hq-uid that is a good solvent for the monomers, but in which the polymer is insoluble. Matrices prepared in this way usually have the appearance of a conglomerate of gel-type microspheres held together to... 

Self-Organization of Core-Shell Type Polymer Microspheres and Applications to Polymer Alloys... 

It is well known that block copolymers and graft copolymers composed of incompatible sequences form the self-assemblies (the microphase separations). These morphologies of the microphase separation are governed by Molau s law [1] in the solid state. Nowadays, not only the three basic morphologies but also novel morphologies, such as ordered bicontinuous double diamond structure, are reported [2-6]. The applications of the microphase separation are also investigated [7-12]. As one of the applications of the microphase separation of AB diblock copolymers, it is possible to synthesize coreshell type polymer microspheres upon crosslinking the spherical microdomains [13-16]. 

These core-shell type microspheres have very interesting structural features in that the cores are hardly crosslinked and the shell chains are fixed on the core surface with one end of the shell chains. The other end of the shell chains is free in good solvents for the shell chains. As the result of such a specific structure, the solubilities of the core-shell type polymer microspheres are governed by, not the core, but by the shell sequences, and the core-shell structures do not break even in the dilute solution [9,10]. 

Generally, the number of the shell chains in a microsphere ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand. The range of the diameter of the core is from 10-100 nm. Such a core-shell structure is very similar to the (AB)n type star block copolymers, which have many arms and spherical polymer micelles of the block or graft copolymers formed in selective solvents that are good for the corona sequence and bad for the core sequence. In fact, many theoretical investigations of the chain con-... 

The feature of the core-shell type polymer microspheres that differentiates them the most from the (AB)n type star block copolymers is size. The external diameters of the core-shell type polymer microspheres are generally from about 20-200 nm in the good solvents instead... 

As previously described, all microspheres discussed in this chapter were synthesized from AB type diblock copolymers. Precursor block copolymers, poly(styrene-b-4-vinyl pyridine) (P[S-b-4VP]) diblock copolymers, were synthesized using the additional anionic polymerization technique [13]. The basic properties of the block copolymers were determined elsewhere [24,25] and are listed... 

The core-shell type polymer microspheres were synthesized upon the chemical crosslinking of the spherical microdomains in the microphase separated films. The block copolymers were dissolved in 1,1,2-trichloroeth-... 

In three dimensions, Ohta and Kurokawa [32] reported that a BCC arrangement was only slightly more favored than the FCC arrangement. In fact, many BCC structures have been reported for AB type block copolymers and the blends of homopolymer-block copolymer systems [27,33-35]. However, the lattice structure of the core-shell type polymer microspheres was FCC. This FCC formation resulted in the lower viscosity of... 

The chain arrangement of this morphology was schematically proposed as in Fig. 10. The cell of the microsphere has a hexagonal surface, and the AB diblock copolymers form a bilayer between the microspheres. From this schematic arrangement, the optimal blend ratio of the AB block copolymer in this system was calculated as 0.46. This value was very close to the blend ratio of the AB type block copolymer 0.5 at which the blend showed the hexagonal packed honeycomb-like structure. 

The morphology obtained from the blend of the core-shell type microspheres and AB type block copolymers with spherical morphology is shown next [37]. Figure 12 shows the typical morphologies of the blend ob-... 

In the manufacturing of USY catalyst, the zeolite, clay, and binder are slurried together. If the binder is not active, an alumina component having catalytic properties may also be added. The well-mixed slurry solution is then fed to a spray dryer. The function of a spray dryer is to form microspheres by evaporating the slurry solution, through the use of atomizers, in the presence of hot air. The type of spray dr er and the drying conditions determine the size and distribution of catalyst particles. 

A solid emulsion is a suspension of a liquid or solid phase in a solid. For example, opals are solid emulsions formed when partly hydrated silica fills the interstices between close-packed microspheres of silica aggregates. Gelatin desserts are a type of solid emulsion called a gel, which is soft but holds its shape. Photographic emulsions are gels that also contain solid colloidal particles of light-sensitive materials such as silver bromide. Many liquid crystalline arrays can be considered colloids. Cell membranes form a two-dimensional colloidal structure (Fig. 8.44). 

The approach to standardization used by Haaijman (53) and others (66,67), in which the fluorophor is incorporated within or bound to the surface of a plastic sphere, is more versatile than the use of inorganic ion>doped spheres, since the standard can be tailored exactly to the specifications required by the analyte species. However, this approach increases the uncertainty of the measurement because the photobleaching characteristics of both the standard and the sample must be considered. The ideal approach is to employ both types of standards. The glass microspheres can be used to calibrate instruments and set instrument operating parameters on a day-to-day basis, and the fluorophor-doped polymer materials can be used to determine the concentration-instrument response function. 

Kanke, M., Geissler, R. G., Powell, D., Kaplan, A., and De-Luca, P. P., Interaction of microspheres with blood constituents. III. Macrophage phagocytosis of various types of polymeric drug carriers, J. Parent. Sci. Technol., 42, 157, 1988. 

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