Polymer fusion properties

Since PVC is less thermally stable than many other polymers, lubricants and thermal stabilizers are always included in PVC formulations. Lubricants are typically oxidized polyethylene waxes, simple 165° melting paraffin waxes that have a range of melt temperatures. Lubricants are used to vary the fusion properties of PVC and to facilitate flow at the metal-polymer interface in the processing equipment. Thermal stabilizers are used to prevent dehydrohalogenation or unzipping of the polymer by loss of HCl which, even at well less than 1% decomposition, results in discoloration. Calcium stearate at low levels acts as an internal lubricant and enhances fusion. At higher levels it acts as an external lubricant. In addition, it has some stabilizer properties, analogous to other metal so s. 

Thermodynamic Properties. The thermodynamic melting point for pure crystalline isotactic polypropylene obtained by the extrapolation of melting data for isothermally crystallized polymer is 185°C (35). Under normal thermal analysis conditions, commercial homopolymers have melting points in the range of 160—165°C. The heat of fusion of isotactic polypropylene has been reported as 88 J/g (21 cal/g) (36). The value of 165 18 J/g has been reported for a 100% crystalline sample (37). Heats of crystallization have been determined to be in the range of 87—92 J/g (38). 

Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) is a polymer of considerable interest due to several properties, including solubility in both water and many organic solvents, non-toxicity and ability to induce cell fusion, and it has found many biological applications [59]. Despite its poor mechanical strength, attaching PEG chains onto mechanically strong materials, such as fibrils [60], is one way to harness its properties [61]. 

The artificial lipid bilayer is often prepared via the vesicle-fusion method [8]. In the vesicle fusion process, immersing a solid substrate in a vesicle dispersion solution induces adsorption and rupture of the vesicles on the substrate, which yields a planar and continuous lipid bilayer structure (Figure 13.1) [9]. The Langmuir-Blodgett transfer process is also a useful method [10]. These artificial lipid bilayers can support various biomolecules [11-16]. However, we have to take care because some transmembrane proteins incorporated in these artificial lipid bilayers interact directly with the substrate surface due to a lack of sufficient space between the bilayer and the substrate. This alters the native properties of the proteins and prohibits free diffusion in the lipid bilayer [17[. To avoid this undesirable situation, polymer-supported bilayers [7, 18, 19] or tethered bilayers [20, 21] are used. 

PTT, with three methylene units in its glycol moiety, is called an odd-numbered polyester. It is often compared to the even-numbered polyesters such as PET and PBT for the odd-even effect on their properties. Although this effect is well established for many polycondensation polymers such as polyamides, where the number of methylene units in the chemical structures determines the extent of hydrogen bonding between neighboring chains and thus their polymer properties, neighboring chain interactions in polyesters are weak dispersive, dipole interactions. We have found that many PET, PTT and PBT properties do not follow the odd-even effect. While the PTT heat of fusion and glass transition temperature have values between those of PET and PBT, properties such as modulus... 

In semi-crystalline polymers the interaction of the matrix and the tiller changes both the structure and the crystallinity of the interphase. The changes induced by the interaction in bulk properties are reflected by increased nucleation or by the formation of a transcrystalline layer on the surface of anisotropic particles [48]. The structure of the interphase, however, differs drastically from that of the matrix polymer [49,50]. Because of the preferred adsorption of large molecules, the dimensions of crystalline units can change, and usually decrease. Preferential adsorption of large molecules has also been proved by GPC measurements after separation of adsorbed and non-attached molecules of the matrix [49,50]. Decreased mobility of the chains affects also the kinetics of crystallization. Kinetic hindrance leads to the development of small, imperfect crystallites, forming a crystalline phase of low heat of fusion [51]. 

The most common applications of DSC are to the melting process which, in principle, contains information on both the quality (temperature) and the quantity (peak area) of crystallinity in a polymer [3]. The property changes at Tm are often far more dramatic than those at Tg, particularly if the polymer is highly crystalline. These changes are characteristic of a thermodynamic first-order transition and include a heat of fusion and discontinuous changes in heat capacity, volume or density, refractive index, birefringence, and transparency [3,8], All of these may be used to determine Tm [8],... 

Semiconductor clusters have traditionally been prepared by the use of colloids, micelles, polymers, crystalline hosts, and glasses. The clusters prepared by these methods have poorly-defined surfaces and a broad size distribution, which is detrimental to the properties of the semiconductor materials. The synthesis of monodisperse clusters with very well-defined surfaces is still a challenge to synthetic chemists. However, some recent approaches used to overcome these problems are (i) synthesis of the clusters within a porous host lattice (such as a zeolite) acting as a template and (ii) controlled fusion of clusters. 

The interfacial region modified by the silane has properties different from those of the bulk polyethylene. The crystallization in the interphase will be hindered due to the chemical bonds between the azidofunctional group and the polyethylene chains. Figure 6 shows this effect by a decrease of the heat of fusion (AH) with increasing number of silane layers for the composites with 20 and 50 vol% of glass. The AH values in Fig. 6 are in J/g polymer and were calculated from the values... 

In the calorimetric approach, it is necessary to know the heat of fusion of the totally crystalline polymer. This can be obtained from melting-point depression measurements, as described in the following section. The basic idea depends on the fact that the melting temperature is independent of the size of the system, since it is an intensive property. The extent to which it is depressed by the presence of solvent can be used to calculate a heat of fusion characteristic of the crystallites, irrespective of how many are present. This is therefore the heat of fusion of the 100% crystalline polymer. The fractional crystallinity in an actual sample is then the ratio of its calorimetrically measured heat of fusion per gram to that of the 100% crystalline polymer. For example, if the actual polymer has a heat of fusion of 7 cal per gram, and the 100% crystalline polymer a heat of fusion of 10 cal per gram, then the fractional crystallinity is 0.7, and the percentage crystallinity is 70%. 

Disaccharides can have similar utility to monosaccharides in DNA delivery polymers. Trehalose, a disaccharide composed of two glucose units linked via an a-(l—>1) glycosidic bond, has been shown to have cryo- and lyo-protective properties, attributed to an unusually large hydration volume [152]. As a function of these properties, trehalose has been shown to prevent aggregation and fusion of proteins and lipids [153]. Logically, incorporation of these features into a polymer backbone could afford similar characteristics to a DNA delivery system and may prevent aggregation of polyplexes in physiological serum concentrations and ionic... 

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