Renewable and improved thermoplastics

Photochemical Copper Coating on 3D Printed Thermoplastics

3D printing using thermoplastics has become very popular in recent years, however, it is challenging to provide a metal coating on 3D objects without using specialized and expensive tools. Herein, a novel acrylic paint containing malachite for coating on 3D printed objects is introduced, which can be transformed to copper via one-step laser treatment. The malachite containing pigment can be use...

Fiber–fiber interactions in carbon mat thermoplastics

Carbon mat thermoplastics (CMT) consisting of 12.7 mm long, chopped carbon fibers in a polypropylene matrix were manufactured using the wetlay technique at fiber volume fractions (FVF) from 10% to 25%, and tests simulating the compression molding process were conducted. The packing stress of the CMT followed a power law relation with FVF. A single fiber pull-out fixture was used to measure the ...

Electromechanical instabilities of thermoplastics: Theory and in situ observation.

Thermoplastics under voltages are used in diverse applications ranging from insulating cables to organic capacitors. Electromechanical instabilities have been proposed as a mechanism that causes electrical breakdown of thermoplastics. However, existing experiments cannot provide direct observations of the instability process, and existing theories for the instabilities generally assume thermopl...

Energy Sources: Non Renewable and Renewable

Simple room temperature bonding of thermoplastics and poly(dimethylsiloxane).

We describe a simple and versatile method for bonding thermoplastics to elastomeric polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) at room temperature. The bonding of various thermoplastics including polycarbonate (PC), cyclic olefin copolymer (COC), polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA), and polystyrene (PS), to PDMS has been demonstrated at room temperature. An irreversible bonding was formed instantaneously when the t...