No abstract

Via cyclic loading and unloading tests of natural/styrene-butadiene rubber (NSBR) blends at room temperature, the effects of the stretching, rate, temperature, and volume fraction of carbon black in the filled rubber on a permanent set (residual strain) were studied. The results showed that increasing the stretching, rate, and volume fraction of carbon black and reducing the temperature yielded greater residual strain. The uniaxial tensile behaviors of composites with the Mullins effect and residual strain were simulated using the ABAQUS software according to the aforementioned data. An Ogden-type constitutive model was derived, and the theory of pseudo-elasticity proposed by Ogden and Roxburgh was used in the model. It was found that the theory of pseudo-elasticity and the Ogden constitutive model are applicable to this composite, and if combined with plastic deformation, the models are more accurate for calculating the residual strain after unloading.

The cross sections of blended natural/styrene-butadiene (NSBR) composites filled with different volume fractions of carbon particles were observed using a Quanta 250 scanning electron microscope. In addition, the sizes and distributions of the carbon particles were analyzed using Nano Measurer. A two-dimensional representative volume element model (RVE) for a rubber composite reinforced with circular carbon particles was established, and the uniaxial tensile behaviors of polymer nanocomposites with different particle size distribution patterns were simulated using the ABAQUS software. The results showed the following. (1) For the random models, if the difference of particle size was larger and particle distance was closer, stress distribution would be denser as well as the stress concentration would become greater. However, if the difference of particle size was small, for the case of same particle volume fraction, the particle size has little influence on the macromechanical properties whether the average size is large or small. (2) The correlation between the volume fraction and distribution of the carbon particles revealed that when the volume fraction of carbon black particles was larger than 12%, clusters between carbon particles in the polymer nanocomposites could not be avoided and the modulus of the composites increased with an increase in the cluster number.

Some fiber types have a high aspect ratio and it is very difficult to predict their composites using traditional finite element (FE) modeling. In this study, an FE model was developed to predict the anisotropy of composites reinforced by short aramid fibers. Three fiber distribution types were studied as follows: perfectly aligned, normally distributed, and randomly distributed fibers. The elastic constants were obtained, and, for different alignment angles and parameters in the fiber orientation distribution function, their numerical results were compared to those of the Mori-Tanaka model. Good agreement was obtained; thus, the employed FE model is an excellent and simple method to predict the isotropy and anisotropy of a composite with high-aspect-ratio fibers. Therefore, the FE model was employed to predict the orientation distribution of a composite fiber with a nonlinear matrix. The predicted and experimental results agree well.

Tetrastigma hemsleyanum Diels & Gilg, a well-known traditional Chinese medicine, possesses antitumor and anti-inflammatory activity, etc. However, the anti-diabetic effect has not been determined. In our present study, a water-soluble polysaccharide, named THP with molecular weight of 93 307 Da, was isolated from T. hemsleyanum by DEAE-52 ion-exchange and Sephadex G-100 chromatography. It contains rhamnose, arabinose, mannose, glucose, and galactose in the molar ratio of 0.07:0.14:0.38:0.21:0.31. Then anti-diabetic effects of THP were examined by treating alloxan-induced diabetic mice with different doses (100, 200, and 300 mg/kg) of THP orally. The results showed that THP could decrease the blood glucose, TC, TG, LDL-C levels, increase the body weight, HDL-C, insulin levels, and enhance the activities of antioxidant enzyme system in alloxan-induced diabetic mice. Furthermore, the histopathological examination of pancreas, liver, and kidney indicated that THP could protect and reverse β-cells in diabetic mice with low damage to liver and kidney, which suggests that THP may stimulate pancreatic release of insulin and can be an effectively potential candidate for diabetes mellitus.