Bamboo fibre reinforced natural rubber composites were prepared by incorporation of different loadings of bamboo fibre. Two series of composites were studied i.e. composites with and without the presence of a bonding agent. The curing characteristics of the composites were determined and the composites were vulcanized at 150°C using a hot press. The properties of the composites such as tensile strength, tensile modulus, tear strength, elongation at break and hardness were studied. The adhesion between the bamboo fibre and the natural rubber were enhanced by the addition of bonding agent as exhibited by the tensile fracture surfaces of the composites using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The presence of bonding agent also gave shorter curing time and enhanced mechanical properties.  2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Material Properties Bamboo fibre filled natural rubber composites: the effects of filler loading and bonding agent

Recently, large quantities of oily wastewater discharged from our daily life and industries have caused serious environmental problems. In addition, frequent oil spill accidents occurred all over the world have also lead to a waste of precious resources. Oil/water separation has become a worldwide challenge for us to overcome. Nowadays, superwetting materials have attracted considerable attention. Among them, porous materials with special wettability are more popular since this kind of materials is easy to fabricate, cost saving and time saving. Moreover, by combining the design of special wettability with the proper pore size, the porous materials could achieve the separation of sundry oil/water mixtures including immiscible oil/water mixtures and stabilized emulsions. In this review, we summarized two types of superwetting porous materials for immiscible oil/water mixtures separation and emulsion separation: water blocking porous materials with superhydrophobic/superoleophilic wettability and oil blocking porous materials with superhydrophilic/underwater superoleophobic wettability. In each type, we introduce the mechanism, fabricating process, effects of oily wastewater treatment and the representative works in detail. Moreover, the smart controllable superwetting porous materials and the wastewater treatment of other pollutants are also introduced briefly.

Superwetting Porous Materials for Wastewater Treatment: from Immiscible Oil/Water Mixture to Emulsion Separation

Recent advancements in material technologies have promoted the development of various preparation strategies and applications of novel polymer–nanoclay composites. Innovative synthesis pathways have resulted in novel polymer–nanoclay composites with improved properties, which have been successfully incorporated in diverse fields such as aerospace, automobile, construction, petroleum, biomedical and wastewater treatment. These composites are recognized as promising advanced materials due to their superior properties, such as enhanced density, strength, relatively large surface areas, high elastic modulus, flame retardancy, and thermomechanical/optoelectronic/magnetic properties. The primary focus of this review is to deliver an up-to-date overview of polymer–nanoclay composites along with their synthesis routes and applications. The discussion highlights potential future directions for this emerging field of research.

A Review of the Synthesis and Applications of Polymer–Nanoclay Composites

Starch has received much attention as a promising natural material both in biomedical fields and waste water treatment due to its unique biological and adsorptive properties. Recently, the modification of starch is rapidly developed along with its growing applications. This review focuses on the ways of chemical modification of starch including cross-linking, grafting, esterification, etherification, dual modification and so on, and presents the applications of the modified starch in fields like drug delivery, tissue engineering and heavy metal and dye removal.

Recent progress in chemical modification of starch and its applications

Diamond is a metastable allotrope of carbon. Monocrystalline diamond with particle size less than 100 nm (designated as nanodiamond) has been widely studied during the past decades. Nanodiamonds have recently attracted attention owing to their exceptional mechanical and optical properties, tunable surface structure, and high specific surface area. The specific core-shell structure and abundant functional groups on its surface endow it with a variety of functional applications. Their excellent physical properties enable their application as ideal fillers in reinforcing polymer composites, resulting in superior mechanical properties, thermal stability, thermal conductivity and tribological properties. In addition to polymer composites, nanodiamonds and its composites are also widely used in sensors, optical computing, and quantum computing. As nanoscale materials, nanodiamonds and its composites are also used in electrical energy storage, wastewater treatment and bioapplications. Due to its superior biocompatibility and low cytotoxicity, nanodiamonds and its composites are now becoming crucial in biological applications. In this study, the properties of nanodiamonds and their application in polymer composites, electronics, energy, environmental areas and biological areas were analyzed.

A critical review of nanodiamond based nanocomposites: Synthesis, properties and applications

In this study, redox-initiated free radical graft copolymerization of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and methyl methacrylate (MMA) has been carried out in aqueous media to develop a novel cellulose-based copolymer. Cerium ammonium nitrate was used as the initiator in the presence of nitric acid. Effects of monomer concentration, initiator concentration, polymerization time, and polymerization temperature on the graft parameters of copolymers were studied. The successful grafting copolymerization between MCC and MMA was validated through attenuated total reflection, wide-angle X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, and thermal gravimetric analysis. In comparison to native MCC, the resultant copolymers exhibited enhanced thermal stability and better compatibility with natural rubber, suggesting its potential application as reinforcement material in rubber industry. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015, 132, 42666.

Synthesis and characterization of microcrystalline cellulose‐graft‐poly(methyl methacrylate) copolymers and their application as rubber reinforcements

Three types of modified starches (MST): Starch-g-poly(butyl acrylate) (ST-g-PBA), starch-g-poly (methyl methacrylate) (ST-g-PMMA) and starch-g-polystyrene (ST-g-PS) latexes were successfully synthesized by emulsion polymerization. These synthesized MST latexes were then directly compounded with styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) latex in order to prepare MST/SBR compounds. The vulcanization characteristics, morphology, swelling ratio, mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties were investigated. Results indicated that the incorporation of starch or MST led to both an increase in the torque values and the cure rate of SBR compounds. MST with a particle size of approximately 200–400 nm uniformly dispersed in the SBR matrix, indicating the significantly improved dispersion. MST/SBR compounds exhibited better mechanical properties compared with starch/SBR (ST/SBR) compounds. Among the MST/SBR compounds, ST-g-PMMA/SBR compounds showed optimum tensile strength, which was even higher than that of carbon black/SBR (CB/SBR) compounds with the same loading of fillers. Finally, the reinforcing mechanism of MST in the SBR matrix was discussed.

Emulsion grafting vinyl monomers onto starch for reinforcement of styrene-butadiene rubber

Natural corn starch was modified by surface grafting with poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) through emulsion copolymerization and then compounded with styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) latex in order to prepare PMMA-modified starch/SBR biocomposites. The effect of methyl methacrylate (MMA) and starch concentration on the mechanical properties, morphology, toluene swelling behavior, water absorption behavior and biodegradabil- ity of PMMA-modified starch/SBR biocomposites was investigated. Results showed that the optimum mechanical properties were achieved when the concentrations of MMA and starch were 10 and 30 phr, respectively, which could be also confirmed through the observations from FE-SEM micrographs and equilibrium welling test. Guth-Gold and Halpin-Tsai models were employed to predict the modulus of PMMA-modified starch/SBR biocomposites. Halpin- Tsai model was better fitted with the experimentally measured data than Guth-Gold model. The water absorption ratio of PMMA-modified starch/SBR biocomposites was strongly influenced by the immersion time and the starch concentration, which further caused a significant effect on the biodegradability of biocomposites.

Mechanical Performance, Water Absorption Behavior and Biodegradability of Poly(methyl methacrylate)-Modified Starch/SBR Biocomposites

In the present study, free radical graft copolymerization of acrylic monomers and microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was applied to develop a biopolymer for natural rubber reinforcements. The copolymerization was carried out in aqueous media. Cerium ammonium nitrate was employed as the initiator in the presence of nitric acid. Acrylic monomers used in the copolymer synthesis were ethyl acrylate (EA) and butyl acrylate (BA). Effects of monomer concentration, initiator concentration, polymerization time, and polymerization temperature on the obtained graft copolymers were investigated. The graft parameters were obtained by thermal gravimetric analysis method. The obtained copolymers (MCC-g-PEA, MCC-g-PBA) were characterized by attenuated total reflection, wide-angle X-ray diffraction, field-emission electron microscopy, and thermal gravimetric analysis. In comparison to native MCC, better thermal stability of graft copolymers were observed. In addition, the graft copolymers reinforced natural rubber composites were produced, and sulfur was used as the vulcanizing agent. Their vulcanization and mechanical properties were characterized. Comparing to the native MCC reinforced natural rubber composites, the copolymers reinforced natural rubber composites shows improved mechanical properties, indicating the copolymer's potential application as rubber reinforcements. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016, 133, 43087.

Xin Ge

Papers

Synthesis and characterization of microcrystalline cellulose‐graft‐poly(methyl methacrylate) copolymers and their application as rubber reinforcements

Emulsion grafting vinyl monomers onto starch for reinforcement of styrene-butadiene rubber

Mechanical Performance, Water Absorption Behavior and Biodegradability of Poly(methyl methacrylate)-Modified Starch/SBR Biocomposites

Graft copolymers of microcrystalline cellulose as reinforcing agent for elastomers based on natural rubber

Effects of silane coupling agents on the properties of bentonite/nitrile butadiene rubber nanocomposites synthesized by a novel green method