Iranian Polymer Journal 

About: Iranian Polymer Journal is an academic journal published by Springer Science+Business Media. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Polymer & Ultimate tensile strength. It has an ISSN identifier of 1026-1265. Over the lifetime, 1221 publications have been published receiving 13945 citations.

Theoretical Description of Hydrogel Swelling: A Review

Abstract: During the past decades, hydrogels have been introduced suitable as novelmaterials for a variety of applications such as biomedical engineering, sanitaryproducts, agriculture, bioseparation, enhanced oil recovery, etc. They havebeen successfully used as superabsorbent materials and in drug delivery, cellencapsulation and tissue repair due to their high water content and consequentbiocompatibility. Considering the fact that water retention in the hydrogels provides asuitable drug diffusion pathway; many hydrogel-based networks have been designedand fabricated as intelligent carriers of drugs. The rate and degree of hydrogel swellingare the most important parameters which control the release patterns of solvents anddrugs from these polymeric networks. Therefore, the precise account of hydrogelbehaviour as well as mathematical description of equilibrium swelling, dimensionalchanges due to solvent uptake, desorption and drug release profiles were the mainobjectives in many investigations. The objective of this manuscript is to give a briefreview on existing mathematical models and theories in the field of hydrogel swellingas well as the description of the drug release mechanism from swelling-controllednetworks. The most important properties of hydrogels relevant to their swellingbehaviour as well as kinetics and thermodynamic of swelling are also presented.

Preparation and application of chitin and its derivatives: a review

Abstract: Chitin the second most abundant polysaccharide is synthesized by an enormous number of living organisms including fungi and insects. These biopolymers have found many applications in different areas such as: packaging material, membrane for removal of metal ions, dyes and pigments in waste water engineering; anti-cholesterol, fat binding, preservative and food additive in food industry; seed and fertilizer coating, controlled agrochemical release in agriculture; surface treatment, photographic paper in pulp and paper industry; moisturizer, body creams and lotions in cosmetics and toiletries. It has also found wide applications in biomedical such as tissue engineering, drug delivery, wound dressing, scaffolds, cancer diagnosis, etc. The majority of these versatile applications are coming of its non-toxicity, biocompatibility and biodegradability. Chitin is also easily processed as gel, membrane, and nanofiber. This review emphasizes an extensive bibliography of recent basic and applied research and investigations on the aspects of this interesting biopolymer including the recovery, preparation, modification and application of chitin and its derivatives and related compounds. A new class of biocompatible and biodegradable chitin-based polyurethane (PU) elastomer was also introduced and reviewed in this study and it was found that by incorporation of chitin into the PU elastomer backbone, biocompatibility and degradation rate of the final elastomer improved. PUs are one of the synthetic biocompatible polymers with excellent physical and mechanical properties. Combination of this polymer with chitin resulted to a new tailor-made biocompatible and biodegradable polymer with improved properties. These polymers have potential applications in various applications including biomedical.

Li+ ion conduction mechanism in poly (ε-caprolactone)-based polymer electrolyte

Abstract: In this work, solid polymer electrolytes based on poly(ɛ-caprolactone) (PCL) with lithium bis(oxalato)borate as a doping salt were prepared by solution cast technique using DMF as a solvent. The electrical DC conductivity and dielectric constant of the solid polymer electrolyte samples were investigated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy over a frequency range from 50 Hz to 1 MHz. It was found that the DC conductivity increased with increase in the salt concentration to up to 4 wt% and thereafter decreased. Dielectric constant versus salt concentration was used to interpret the decrease in DC conductivity with increase in salt concentration. The DC conductivity as a function of temperature follows Arrhenius behavior in low temperature region, which reveals that ion conduction occurs through successful hopping. The curvature of DC conductivity at high temperatures indicates the contribution of segmental motion to ion conduction. High values for dielectric constant and dielectric loss were observed at low frequencies. The plateau of dielectric constant and dielectric loss at high frequencies can be observed as a result of rapid oscillation of the AC electric field. The HN dielectric function was utilized to study the dielectric relaxation. The experimental and theoretical data of dielectric constant are very close to each other at low temperatures. At high temperatures, the simulated data are more deviated from the experimental curve of dielectric constant due to the dominance of electrode polarization. The non-unity of relaxation parameters (α and β) reveals that the relaxation processes in PCL-based solid electrolyte is a non-Debye type of relaxation.

Thermal stability of natural fibers and their polymer composites

Abstract: Natural fiber-based composites are applied in many structural engineered products from civil constructions to automobile manufacturing due to the properties such as low density, high aspect ratio, biodegradability and ease to work. During the past decades such composites have been thoroughly studied for their mechanical properties and failure behavior and their properties compared with those of synthetic fiber-based composites. Other properties, such as the thermal behavior of natural fibers and composites, have also been studied because they determine the performance of their products possible. It deals with the effect of temperature on adhesive curing, effect of high temperature and fire damage during fabrication. Further, the thermal properties have equal importance in structural applications such as temperature transfer from end to end, load capacity at specific temperature, material behavior and dimensional stability at high temperature. In this respect the isothermal and non-isothermal thermogravimatric analyses are discussed and the improtance of glass transition temperature is studied during prepapration of composites to ensure their ultimate properties. Although there are several works that have been done on thermal behavior, especially thermogravimetric analysis of natural fibers and their composites, there is no review article available specially focused on natural fiber-based composites, hybrid composites, and nanocomposites. The aim of this review was to focus on the advances in the comprehension of thermogravimetric behavior of natural fibers and compare the effect of natural fibers as reinforced materials in polymer composites.