Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Publication
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Engineering
Fabrication And Characterization Of Cellulose Nanocrystal Enhanced Sustainable Polymer Nanocomposites Through Surface Chemistry And Processing, Shane X. Peng
Open Access Dissertations
Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) belong to a class of cellulose based nanomaterials that are extracted from renewable and sustainable sources and have excellent mechanical and thermal properties. While applications for CNCs have been expanding, one of the challenges of utilizing CNCs is to overcome their low dispersibility in hydrophobic polymers. In the present work, several approaches are utilized to improve the interfacial compatibility and overall performance of CNC/epoxy and CNC/polyamide nanocomposite.
For a two-part epoxy system, a novel approach was taken to disperse CNC in epoxy matrix by pre-formulating CNC into the hardeners. Three types of hardeners were evaluated for their …
Effect Of Humidity On The Creep Response Of Cellulose Nanocrystals Films, Marianne C. Valone
Effect Of Humidity On The Creep Response Of Cellulose Nanocrystals Films, Marianne C. Valone
Open Access Theses
Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are a derivative of cellulose, the Earth’s most abundant source of a sustainable polymer. There are many applications for CNCs such as batteries, antimicrobial films, flexible displays and drug delivery. This research is focused on CNCs films and the mechanical properties once humidity was introduced.
The creation of self-aligned CNCs films was utilized to perform dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) testing. The Forest Products Lab (FPL) in Madison, Wisconsin provided the CNCs used. Both 3.5 wt.% and 9.1 wt.% films were made and tested. A DMA method was created to test the creep response of the CNCs films …