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The complex shear modulus of immiscible polymer blends was measured by a frequency sweep experiment for polystyrene (PS)/low density polyethylene (LDPE) and poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA)/LDPE blends at constant composition (13.5/86.5 vol %) and compared with the prediction model of Palierne. Different morphologies of each blend were also prepared using a rheometer with a constant shear rate and different strain. There was morphological dependency on the complex shear modulus at constant temperature. However, this dependency disappeared at specific temperatures in the frequency sweep ex-periment. There seemed to be a specific temperature like critical flow temperature (T cf ) of amorphous polymer. The difference in morphology affected the complex shear modulus of blends below the specific temperature, T cf , but did play a major role in determining the complex shear modulus of blends at over specific temperature. A new method may be needed to determine the critical flow temperature of an amorphous polymer via the measurement of a complex shear modulus for immiscible polymer blends.

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Unsaturated polyester (UP) resin is one of the major thermosetting resins and is very useful as a matrix resin of composite material for its processibility. UP resin, however, has several shortcomings: it is weak in alkalis, volume shrinkage occurs during the crosslinking reaction of the oligomeric UP resin with a styrene monomer, and it is also brittle. The mechanical properties of UP resin can be enhanced by blending it with various materials. In this study, polyurethane (PU) was used as a modifier to improve the toughness of the UP resin. The effect of the polyol molecular weight as a PU soft segment and the PU contents on the toughness of PU-modified UP resins were studied. A UP/PU polymer network may occur through a reaction between an isocyanate group in the methyl diisocyanate (MDI) and a hydroxyl one in the UP molecules. The maximum toughness was observed at approximately 2 wt % of the PU content. These results can be rationalized by the incorporation of a rubbery PU segment into a brittle UP resin.

In order to establish cost-effective monitoring strategies for soil vapor extraction (SVE), a simplified model for multi-component mass transfer of a complex liquid mixture in porous media and gas sensor are proposed and experimentally evaluated. The basic task for the cost-effective monitoring of SVE is to decide how to predict the performances of venting systems in terms of the contaminant vapor removal rate and the time required to accomplish the clean-up specification. The method includes classifying of individual components of a complex mixture on the basis of gas chromatographic (GC) profile and treating each resulting group as a pseudo-single compound. BTEX components of gasoline were selected for model input and the remainders were divided into 4 groups based on their GC retention times. The model proposed in this study is capable of predicting with accuracy volatilization behaviors of gasoline components in soil and the gas sensor (FIGARO TGS 823) was tested by GC-FID to toluene and TPH-GRO(Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon-Gasoline Range Organics) gas samples. A VOC gas sensor was developed which recognizes TPH-GRO concentrations between 250 and 50 ppm. The developed gas sensor test and proposed model can be used as a valuable tool for the cost-effective monitoring for SVE systems.