Abstract. Some customers are reluctant to change, because the halogen-free solutions may have higher cost. This is one of the reasons that the synergistic effect is always the subject for researchers to pursue. The synergy between sepiolite and magnesium hydroxide (MH) in halogen-free flame retardant ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer was investigated in the paper through some common facilities, such as limiting oxygen index (LOI), UL-94 test, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential thermal analysis (DTA) and cone calorimeter test (CCT). In the wake of the positive results from the LOI and UL-94 tests, the CCT data indicated not only the reduction of heat release rate (HRR) and mass loss rates (MLR), but also prolonged ignition time (TTI) and depressed smoke release (SR) were observed during combustion. Simultaneously, the tensile strength and Young's modulus of the system were also much better improved with the increase of sepiolite added due to the hydrogen bonds between silanol groups attached to the sepiolite molecules and the ester groups of EVA. The synergistic mechanism has been discussed in the paper in terms of the barrier mechanism in the condensed phase.

No abstract

No abstract

A simple route is described to synthesize crosslinked polyamides (cPAs) with excellent mechanical properties at mild conditions through a Michael addition reaction coupled with bulk polycondensation. A Michael addition of methyl acrylate with 1,6-hexanediamine was conducted in a bulk state at a N−H/CC molar ratio of 1:1 under normal pressure at 50 °C, and a hexanediamine-tetraester was prepared. Bulk polycondensation of the hexanediaminetetraester with 1,6-hexanediamine and isophoronediamine was conducted at 170 °C for 1 h and then in tetrafluoroethylene mold under reduced pressure for another 8 h. A series of cPA films were prepared. The Michael addition and the polycondensation were monitored by Fourier transform infrared, 1 H NMR, and electrospray ionization mass spectrometry spectra. The cPA films were characterized with differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis, dynamic mechanical analysis, and a tensile test. These cPAs exhibited T g ranging from 37 to 61 °C, tensile strength up to 71 MPa, and strain at break of about 11%.

Bioethanol fermentation by Saccharomyces cerevisiae is often stressed by the accumulation of ethanol. Cell membrane is the first assaulting target of ethanol. Ethanol-adapted S. cerevisiae strains provide opportunity to shed light on membrane functions in the ethanol tolerance. This study aimed at clarifying the roles of cell membrane in the ethanol tolerance of S. cerevisiae through comparing membrane components between S. cerevisiae parental strain and ethanol-adapted strains. A directed evolutionary engineering was performed to obtain the ethanol-adapted S. cerevisiae strains. The parental, ethanol-adapted M5 and M10 strains were selected to be compared the percentage of viable cells after exposing to ethanol stress and cell membrane compositions (i.e., ergosterol, trehalose, and fatty acids). Compared with the parental strain, M5 or M10 strain had higher survival rate in the presence of 10% v/v ethanol. Compared with that in the parental strain, contents of trehalose, ergosterol, and fatty acids increased about 15.7, 12.1, and 29.3%, respectively, in M5 strain, and about 47.5, 107.8, and 61.5%, respectively, in M10 strain. Moreover, expression differences of genes involved in fatty acids metabolisms among the parental, M5 and M10 strains were analyzed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and results demonstrated that M5 or M10 strain had higher expression of ACC1 and OLE1 than the parental strain. These results indicated that although being exposed to step-wise increased ethanol, S. cerevisiae cells might remodel membrane components or structure to adapt to the ethanol stress.