The feasibility of constructing polymer/clay nanocomposites with polypeptides as the matrix material is shown. Cationic poly-L-lysine HBr (PLL) was reinforced by sodium montmorillonite clay. The PLL/clay nanocomposites were made via the solution-intercalation film-casting technique. X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy data indicated that montmorillonite layers intercalated wi...

The electrorheological properties (ER) of natural rubber (XL)/alumina (Al2O3) composites were investigated in oscillatory shear mode under DC electrical field strengths between 0 to 2 kV/mm. SEM micrographs indicate a mean particle size of 9.873 ± 0.034 μm and particles that are moderately dispersed in the matrix. The XRD patterns indicate Al2O3 is of the β-phase polytype which possesses high i...

The effects of either cooking temperature (45, 80, and 100 °C) or inclusion of seed particles on the dynamic-mechanical and sensorial properties of value-added Crimson seedless, Black Pearl, or Baresana grape-based smoothies were studied. The inclusion of seed particles resulted in significant increases of the phenolic content, both in Black Pearl and Baresana, but it did not affect in a negati...

In the field of biomechanics, little research has been performed to evaluate the effect of storage time on the material properties of ocular tissues. Twenty-four rabbit eyes were divided into six groups with storage times from 3 to 72 hr. A tensile specimen was prepared from the inferior quadrant of each sclera and was subjected to a stress relaxation test. The data were analyzed using linear v...

High cycle-life is important for shape memory materials exposed to numerous cycles, and here we report shape memory polyimide that maintained both high shape fixity (Rf) and shape recovery (Rr) during the more than 1000 bending cycles tested. Its critical stress is 2.78 MPa at 250 °C, and the shape recovery process can produce stored energy of 0.218 J g(-1) at the efficiency of 31.3%. Its high ...

The viscoelastic property and scaling behavior of acid (glucono-δ-lactone)-induced soy protein isolate (SPI) gels were investigated at various ionic strengths (0-800mM) and five protein concentrations ranging between 4% and 8% (w/w). The infinite storage modulus ( [Formula: see text] ) and the gelation start time (t(g)) which indicate the progress of gelation process exhibited strong ionic stre...

There is need for bioplastics to replace some of the total petroleum plastics used in the world, and help alleviate environmental pollution. Compounding bioplastics with Polyethylene (PE) or Polylactic acid (PLA) containing a dairy-based bioplastic resulted in composites with good mechanical properties. In this study, mass ratios of a dairy-protein-based material (DBP) ranging from 0, 5, 10 and...

We show that the electric field driven surface instability of viscoelastic films has two distinct regimes: (1) The viscoelastic films behaving like a liquid display long wavelengths governed by applied voltage and surface tension, independent of its elastic storage and viscous loss moduli, and (2) the films behaving like a solid require a threshold voltage for the instability whose wavelength a...

Conflicting experimental results have been reported for the plateau modulus in actin solutions: Analogies are often made with the viscoelastic behaviour of flexible polymers making use of the idea of entanglement as the source of the macroscopic storage modulus. We resolve apparent experimental and theoretical contradictions by pointing out the possibility of two distinct plateau regimes as a f...