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Progress in Polymeric Nanocomposites, Hybrid Composites, Microplastics: Opportunities, Applications and...
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Progress in Polymeric Nanocomposites, Hybrid Composites, Microplastics: Opportunities, Applications and Sustainability

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2021) | Viewed by 9743

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The number of available applications of polymeric nanocomposites and hybrid composites increases on a daily basis in advanced fields, taking the form of lightweight, civil, medical, and mechanical engineering applications, as well as gas separation. This is due to the unique properties resulting from mixing and hybridization processes such as superhydrophilic, permeability, pseudo-ductile, etc. Meanwhile, the challenges of microplastics are increasing due to the fact that they contain many toxic elements, which makes it the most polluted element in plastic waste. Therefore, this Special Issue has been launched to discuss the challenges and potential applications of these elements. In addition, the issue will examine the possibility of integrating the production and recycling process of these composites and elements into the circular economy strategy, thus achieving the principle of sustainability.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • fiber–hybrid composites
  • carbon fiber
  • fiberglass
  • carbon fiber
  • hybrid fibers
  • polymeric nanocomposites
  • membranes
  • microplastics
  • recycling
  • sustainability
  • circular economy

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 2360 KiB  
Article
Experimental Analysis of Heat-Affected Zone (HAZ) in Laser Cutting of Sugar Palm Fiber Reinforced Unsaturated Polyester Composites
by Fathi Masoud, S. M. Sapuan, Mohd Khairol Anuar Mohd Ariffin, Y. Nukman and Emin Bayraktar
Polymers 2021, 13(5), 706; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym13050706 - 26 Feb 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2183
Abstract
In this paper, the influence of processing input parameters on the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of three different material thicknesses of sugar palm fiber reinforced unsaturated polyester (SPF-UPE) composites cut with a CO2 laser was investigated. Laser power, traverse speed, and gas pressure [...] Read more.
In this paper, the influence of processing input parameters on the heat-affected zone (HAZ) of three different material thicknesses of sugar palm fiber reinforced unsaturated polyester (SPF-UPE) composites cut with a CO2 laser was investigated. Laser power, traverse speed, and gas pressure were selected as the most influential input parameters on the HAZ to optimize the HAZ response with fixing all of the other input parameters. Taguchi’s method was used to determine the levels of parameters that give the best response to the HAZ. The significance of input parameters was also determined by calculating the max–min variance of the average of the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) ratio for each parameter. Analysis of variation (ANOVA) was used to determine each input parameter’s contribution to the influence on HAZ depth. The general results show that the minimum levels of laser power and the highest levels of traverse speed and gas pressure gave the optimum response to the HAZ. Gas pressure had the most significant effect on the HAZ, with contribution decreases as the material thickness increased, followed by the traverse speed with contribution increases with the increase in material thickness. Laser power came third, with a minimal contribution to the effect on the HAZ, and it did not show a clear relationship with the change in material thickness. By applying the optimum parameters, the desired HAZ depth could be obtained at relatively low values. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Polymeric Nanocomposites, Hybrid Composites, Microplastics: Opportunities, Applications and Sustainability)
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15 pages, 6025 KiB  
Article
Catalytic Pyrolysis Kinetic Behavior and TG-FTIR-GC–MS Analysis of Metallized Food Packaging Plastics with Different Concentrations of ZSM-5 Zeolite Catalyst
by Justas Eimontas, Nerijus Striūgas, Mohammed Ali Abdelnaby and Samy Yousef
Polymers 2021, 13(5), 702; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym13050702 - 26 Feb 2021
Cited by 47 | Viewed by 3169
Abstract
Recently, the pyrolysis process has been adapted as a sustainable strategy to convert metallized food packaging plastics waste (MFPW) into energy products (paraffin wax, biogas, and carbon black particles) and to recover aluminum. Usually, catalysts are used in pyrolysis treatment to refine pyrolysis [...] Read more.
Recently, the pyrolysis process has been adapted as a sustainable strategy to convert metallized food packaging plastics waste (MFPW) into energy products (paraffin wax, biogas, and carbon black particles) and to recover aluminum. Usually, catalysts are used in pyrolysis treatment to refine pyrolysis products and to increase their yield. In order to study the effect of a catalyst on the formulated volatile products, this work aims to study the pyrolysis behavior of MFPW in presence of catalyst, using TG-FTIR-GC–MS system. The pyrolysis experiments were conducted with ZSM-5 Zeolite catalyst with different concentrations (10, 30, and 50 wt.%) at different heating rates (5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 °C/min). In addition, TG-FTIR system and GC-MS unit were used to observe and analyze the thermal and chemical degradation of the obtained volatile compounds at maximum decomposition peaks. In addition, the kinetic results of catalytic pyrolysis of ZSM-5/MFPW samples matched when model-free methods, a distributed activation energy model (DAEM), and an independent parallel reaction kinetic model (IPR) were used. The TGA-DTG results showed that addition of a catalyst did not have a significant effect on the features of the TGA-DTG curves with similar weight loss of 87–90 wt.% (without taking the weight of the catalyst into account). Meanwhile, FTIR results manifested strong presence of methane and high-intensity functional group of carboxylic acid residues, especially at high concentration of ZSM-5 and high heating rates. Likewise, GC-MS measurements showed that Benzene, Toluene, Hexane, p-Xylene, etc. compounds (main flammable liquid compounds in petroleum oil) generated catalysts exceeding 50%. Finally, pyrolysis kinetics showed that the whole activation energies of catalytic pyrolysis process of MFPW were estimated at 289 kJ/mol and 110, 350, and 174 kJ/mol for ZSM-5/MFPW samples (10, 30, and 50 wt.%, respectively), whereas DAEM and IPR approaches succeeded to simulate TGA and DTG profiles with deviations below <1. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Polymeric Nanocomposites, Hybrid Composites, Microplastics: Opportunities, Applications and Sustainability)
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14 pages, 2536 KiB  
Article
Modeling of Metalized Food Packaging Plastics Pyrolysis Kinetics Using an Independent Parallel Reactions Kinetic Model
by Samy Yousef, Justas Eimontas, Nerijus Striūgas and Mohammed Ali Abdelnaby
Polymers 2020, 12(8), 1763; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/polym12081763 - 06 Aug 2020
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 3460
Abstract
Recently, a pyrolysis process has been adapted as an emerging technology to convert metalized food packaging plastics waste (MFPWs) into energy products with a high economic benefit. In order to upscale this technology, the knowledge of the pyrolysis kinetic of MFPWs is needed [...] Read more.
Recently, a pyrolysis process has been adapted as an emerging technology to convert metalized food packaging plastics waste (MFPWs) into energy products with a high economic benefit. In order to upscale this technology, the knowledge of the pyrolysis kinetic of MFPWs is needed and studying these parameters using free methods is not sufficient to describe the last stages of pyrolysis. For a better understanding of MFPWs pyrolysis kinetics, independent parallel reactions (IPR) kinetic model and its modification model (MIPR) were used in the present research to describe the kinetic parameters of MFPWs pyrolysis at different heating rates (5–30 °C min−1). The IPR and MIPR models were built according to thermogravimetric (TG)-Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR)-gas chromatography−mass spectrometry (GC-MS) results of three different types of MFPWs (coffee, chips, and chocolate) and their mixture. The accuracy of the developed kinetic models was evaluated by comparing the conformity of the DTG experimental results to the data calculated using IPR and MIPR models. The results showed that the dependence of the pre-exponential factor on the heating rate (as in the case of MIPR model) led to better conformity results with high predictability of kinetic parameters with an average deviation of 2.35% (with an improvement of 73%, when compared to the IPR model). Additionally, the values of activation energy and pre-exponential factor were calculated using the MIPR model and estimated at 294 kJ mol−1 and 5.77 × 1017 kJ mol−1 (for the mixed MFPW sample), respectively. Finally, GC-MS results illustrated that pentane (13.8%) and 2,4-dimethyl-1-heptene isopropylcyclobutane (44.31%) represent the main compounds in the released volatile products at the maximum decomposition temperature. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Progress in Polymeric Nanocomposites, Hybrid Composites, Microplastics: Opportunities, Applications and Sustainability)
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