The effect of silica polymorphs on the thermomechanical properties of 0, 5, 10, and 20 wt % silica particles-reinforced-based poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) composites have been studied as a function of temperature using dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). The silica polymorphs exhibited quartz (Q), cristobalite (C), and amorphous (A) phases, which were obtained by processing natural silica sand. The DMA thermomechanical properties were determined in tensile (E) and shear (G) modes. The maximum storage moduli (E 0 and G 0 ) were achieved by samples with 20 wt % silica for all type of fillers. These values increased approximately 12 times for PEG/Q, 10 times for PEG/A, and 11 times for PEG/C composites compared to the pure PEG. Furthermore, the Poisson's ratio values of the composites were filler phase dependent, that is, 0.39-0.47 for PEG/Q, 0.15-0.18 for PEG/A, and somewhat anomalous for PEG/C composites.

A series of Mn x Fe 3−x O 4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) nanoparticles was successfully synthesized via a simple coprecipitation method. The starting material was a natural magnetite purified from local iron sand. Crystallite nanoparticles were produced by drying without using a high calcination temperature. Rietveld analysis of the X-ray diffractometry (XRD) data for all samples demonstrated that the Mn ions partially substituted the Fe ions in the spinel cubic structure of the Fe 3 O 4 to form Mn x Fe 3−x O 4 phases. We applied two lognormal spherical and single mass fractal models to the analysis of the small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) data and revealed that the primary Mn x Fe 3−x O 4 particles ranged in size from 1.5 to 3.8 nm and formed three-dimensional Darminto

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Manganese (Mn)-doped black iron oxide (Fe3O4) magnetic fluids in the system of MnxFe[Formula: see text]O4 were successfully synthesized from natural magnetite (iron sand) by using co-precipitation method at room temperature. The analyses of the small angle neutron scattering (SANS) data by applying a log-normal sphere with a mass fractal models for [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] and two log-normal spheres with a single mass fractal models for [Formula: see text], 0.75 and 1 revealed that the primary particles of the MnxFe[Formula: see text]O4 fluids tended to decrease from 3.8[Formula: see text]nm to 1.5[Formula: see text]nm along with the increasing fraction of Mn contents. The fractal dimension ([Formula: see text]) increased from about 1.2 to 2.7 as the Mn contents were increasing; which physically represents an aggregation of the MnxFe[Formula: see text]O4 particles in the fluids growing up from 1 to 3 dimensions to consolidate a more compact structure. The magnetization curves of the fluids exhibited an increasing saturation magnetization from [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text], and a decreasing on [Formula: see text] and 0.75, with the maximum achievement of [Formula: see text]. These phenomena may probably be due to the combined effects, arising from cationic and dopant distributions, aggregation and its size, and also fractal dimension. Furthermore, the decrease of blocking temperature of the MnxFe[Formula: see text]O4 magnetic fluids could be associated with the reduced particle sizes, while the freezing temperature had its highest peak intensity when it collectively occurred with the blocking temperature at a similar point of about 270[Formula: see text]K.

Polyethylene glycol (PEG)/quartz (denoted as BP/Q) composites have been investigated as candidates of phase change materials (PCMs) due to their thermomechanical properties around the glass transition temperature as well as thermal properties between 30 and 600 C. Quartz (q-SiO 2 ) powders were extracted from local sand in Tanah Laut, Pelaihari, South Kalimantan, Indonesia. The composites were prepared by dispersing q-SiO 2 powders in the PEG matrix followed by the wet mixing process. The thermal properties of the composites were characterized using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), while the thermomechanical properties were examined using a dynamic mechanical analyzer (DMA) in a three-point bending mode around the PEG glass transition temperature range (−100-50 C). The morphology and interface bonding were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). From the DSC measurement, the endothermic peak of the composites showed a shift of approximately 7-12 C toward higher temperatures than that of the pure polymer. The melting enthalpy values (ΔH m ) of the BP/Q composites covered the required PCM application range, that is, between 139 and 182 J/g. The TGA of the composites showed that thermal degradation occurs in the range of 250-450 C. We found that solid-solid PCMs (ssPCMs) were successfully fabricated with the addition of 10 and 20 wt% q-SiO 2 . From DMA characterization, the BP/Q 20 wt% composite exhibited the maximum E' and the minimum energy dissipation (E"). Its E' value was approximately 250 MPa more than that of the pure PEG. The glass transition (T g ) temperatures of PEG and BP/Q composites (5, 10, and 20 wt%) were around −24.5, −19.1, −17.1, and − 5.3 C, respectively. In addition, the E" and tan δ values decreased with q-SiO 2 filler content. Furthermore, the Cole-Cole plots of the BP/Q composites revealed a better interfacial bonding between the q-SiO 2 and the PEG matrix in the composites with higher silica content. A compact morphology was shown by the BP/Q 20 wt% composite due to high silica concentration.