Advanced Materials Research Vol. 1113

Abstract: Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) is excellently used in various applications including wastewater treatment. It is known to have superb pigmentary properties, high adsorption in the ultraviolet (UV) region, and high stability. The objective of this paper is to study the effect of contact time of seawater desalination in the photocatalytic reaction. The hybrid TiO₂ catalysts; a mixture of TiO₂ and biomass ash, was synthesized via wet impregnation and calcined at 800 °C. The photocatalyst was then characterized by using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Braunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET). The investigation was carried out in a photoreactor equipped with UV light operated for up to six hours with catalyst to seawater weight ratio of 1:400 and stirring speed of 600 rpm. The salt concentration, turbidity and pH of the water were determined prior and after the investigation. The result indicates that the salt concentration gradually decreased more than 25% as the contact time increased up to six hours. However, there is no significant change on pH value of the water. It can be concluded that the hybrid TiO₂ is able to reduce the seawater salinity effectively.

Abstract: This paper presents a review of nanoclay as a latest technology in order to overcome problem due deterioration such as rutting, fatigue, stripping, cracking and so on. Nowadays, with increasing of traffic volume and heavy vehicle conditions of existing road totally fail in order to accommodate this situation during design period. In order to manage this problem the new technology had been create and apply. Previous researches prove that nanotechnology has potential solution to enhance the performance and durability of construction materials. Material properties were characterized using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). According to previous research there were proved that addition of nanoclay lead great improvements on permanent deformation and fatigue life of hot mix asphalt (HMA). In addition the overall performance of nanoclay as polymer modified asphalt binder was improve in terms of rutting and fatigue cracking resistance compare to non-modified asphalt binder. Therefore, nanoclay itself would be an alternative as modifier to use in the bitumen to improve the lifetime of asphalt pavements.

Abstract: Epoxidized vegetable oils based thermoset materials are widely used to develop biopolymers and to replace the fossil-fuel based polymers. In this paper, a blend of epoxy resin and epoxidized palm oil (EPO) were prepared and characterized by direct and pre-mixed methods to investigate its mechanical properties. For direct method, epoxy and EPO were mixed for 20 minutes at room temperature followed by curing for 2 hours at 100 °C. On other hand, for pre-mixed method, the EPO was reacted with hardener at 120 °C for 1 and 2 hours. Then it was mixed with epoxy resin at room temperature for 20 minutes followed by curing for 2 hours at 100 °C. Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy [FTIR] and mechanical properties tests were used to characterize the blend. FTIR showed that, a reaction of epoxide group in EPO with active hydrogen atom from hardener and produced a hydroxyl group at 3300 cm^-1. In general, the mechanical properties of epoxy resin/EPO were decreased when the amount of EPO was increased. However, at constant amount of EPO Young’s modulus, toughness, flexural strength, and flexural modulus were slightly increased when the time of EPO/hardener was increased. The mechanical properties were reduced due to the reduction of the cross linking density and effect of plasticizer.

Abstract: The tensile properties of starch fiber (SF) and native starch (NS) filled polyvinyl alcohol were investigated in this study. Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) was blend with starch fiber as well as native starch. Prior to compounding process, PVA was plasticized with 30 phr glycerol as well as 10 phr distilled water. A solution casting method was used to prepare the SF-PPVA and NS-PPVA film sheet. Based on the tensile test results SF filled PVA recorded the highest tensile strength (20.015 MPa) as compared to NS filled PVA (12.302MPa). The tensile strength of the blends film was depending to the interfacial adhesion between matrixes in the blends. In spite of that, NS filled PVA have noted the highest elongation during the test. SF and NS played important role in affecting the blends matrix through disturbing the arrangement of continuous phase of PVA.

Abstract: In this study a series of green thermoset resins have been produced from blending acrylated epoxidized palm oil (AEPO) and unsaturated polyester (UPE). The UPE/AEPO ratio was changed between 90/10 and 70/30 wt%. The curing behavior and morphology of hybrid systems were investigated by differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and Scanning electron microscope (SEM). Moreover, studies on mechanical properties were performed by tensile and flexural tests. The results revealed that, these green thermoset resins exhibit thermo mechanical properties comparable to those of commercial unsaturated polyesters.

Abstract: Previous studies show that the epoxy resin will harden in the presence of calcium hydroxide from cement hydration process under steam curing. In this study, commercially available epoxy resin without any hardener was used as a polymeric admixture to prepare epoxy-modified mortars subjected to dry, and 5 day wet followed by dry curing in tropical environment. The mortars were prepared with a mass ratio of cement to fine aggregate 1:3, water-cement ratio of 0.48 and epoxy content of 5, 10, 15 and 20% of the cement. The tests conducted were workability, setting time, compressive strength, flexural strength, and degree of hardening of epoxy resin. The results of the study show that the optimum epoxy content that produced the highest strength was 10% under wet-dry curing. However, the degree of epoxy hardening starts to decrease with an increase in epoxy content above 10%. It was also found that a significant improvement in strength development is achieved along with additional dry curing period due to gradually hardening reaction of epoxy resin with cement hydrates.

Abstract: Membrane Contactor (MC) is a well-known membrane technology to provide significant advantages required by industries. For MC, a hydrophobic membrane required as a barrier so that liquid absorbent and flue gaseous do not disperse with one another. However, the major concern in hydrophobic membrane is getting swelling by liquid after a short operating period. To minimize the swelling, this study focused on the exploration on membrane fabrication by Thermally Induced Phase Separation (TIPS). As the immersion in solvents is one of the important step to extract the diluent from membranes pores, the effect of the immersion in methanol was studied. The productions of hydrophobic microporous flat sheets were accomplished by using isotactic Polypropylene (iPP) and two type diluents: Dipenyl Ether (DPE) and Methyl Salicylate (MS). The measurement of hydophobicity of membranes produced was conducted by Test System of JY-82 Video Contact Instrument. Membranes produced were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The highest hydrophobicity obtained were 124°(three hours immersed in methanol) and 107° (two hours immersed in methanol) by DPE and MS respectively. All membranes show spherical pores, indicating that membranes were formed via liquid-liquid TIPS and strong bond alkane group by Infrared (IR) spectras show that the membranes produce did not change when undergo TIPS process.

Abstract: In this study, effect of blend compositions of irradiated polyvinyl chloride (PVC)/epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) blends was carried out. In previous work, it was reported that the mechanical properties of 50/50 composition irradiated blend had performed the highest strength with addition of 6 wt% of titanium dioxide (TiO₂). However, the combination of PVC/ENR in a certain ratio might results in optimal mechanical properties and other specific properties for the new blends formed. Thus, addition of 6 wt% TiO₂ and varies compositional range of PVC/ENR ranging from 30, 50 and 70 wt% were prepared by melt-blending technique and the effects on the mechanical properties were investigated. The blends were exposed to 0-150 kGy of electron beam irradiation before being characterized. With addition of 6 wt% TiO₂, the characterization of mechanical properties including tensile strength, impact and hardness shows increment in values for all compositions. The increments of tensile strength were fall within 6-18% and as expected 70/30 PVC/ENR blends have shown the highest value. Based on the result, it revealed tensile and impact strengths achieved the optimum value at 100 kGy, while hardness increased as the radiation dose increased. From scanning microscope electron (SEM), micrographs have illustrated the blends with addition of 6 wt% TiO₂ are smooth, continuous phase and less void appearance were seen. At higher dose rate, fracture paths were found to be continuous and penetrate deep into the material and this indicates that the failure is essentially brittle and it supports the above findings.

Abstract: The real application of nanofabrication is in the nanoindustries due to their existence in nanodimensions. In this paper, it is attempted to review on the fabrication techniques of organic and inorganic nanowires, which includes vapour and solution processes. The two commonly approached methods, with respect to solution processes are fabrication through template-assisted electrodeposition technique, and the vapour-liquid-solid (VLS) as compared to organic nanowires which are fabricated through vapour and solution processes.