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EDITORIAL

Xianhong Wang
Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.3, No.2, pp. 81-81, 2015, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2015.634104
Abstract This article has no abstract. More >

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Zhiqiang Sun, Ranlong Duan, Han Zhang, Xuan Pang^*, Xianhong Wang, Xuesi Chen
Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.3, No.2, pp. 82-90, 2015, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2014.634133
Abstract A series of bimetallic Salen aluminum (III) complexes with different steric substituents were synthesized. These complexes were used as catalysts to produce polylactide in the ring-opening polymerization of racemic lactide. A kinetic research of polymerization demonstrated that the steric substituents on the phenolate ring of the complexes had remarkable infl uence on the stereoselectivity and the polymerization activity. The highest stereoselectivity was obtained with bulky substituent on the ortho position of the salicylidene moieties. Kinetic studies using all these complexes indicated that the polymerizations were fi rst-ordered with respect to lactide monomers. All these complexes gave highly isotactic polylactides with… More >

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Xiaoqing Zhang^*, Simon Schmidt^φ, Nick Rigopoulos, Januar Gotama, Eustathios Petinakis
Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.3, No.2, pp. 91-100, 2015, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2014.634135
Abstract The behavior of a biodegradable CO₂ -based polymer polypropylene carbonate (PPC) as polymer matrix of wood fi ber (WF) composites was examined and compared with that of using poly(lactic acid) (PLA) as the matrix. The PPC/WF composites displayed poor mechanical properties as compared to PLA/WF composites because PPC is an amorphous polymer with low T_g and poor thermal stability. However, when PPC was used in conjunction with PLA in WF composites, the mechanical strength and modulus of the composites could match or even exceed the level of PLA/WF composites. The strong intermolecular interactions between PPC and WF and those between… More >

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Shunjie Liu^1,2, Yusheng Qin^1,*, Xianhong Wang^1,*, Fosong Wang¹
Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.3, No.2, pp. 101-112, 2015, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2014.634140
Abstract Precursors with sharp crystalline transition temperature have attracted signifi cant attention in the fi eld of shape-memory materials; however, seldom have reports been related to amorphous ones with industrial application prospects. This study introduced a new family of amorphous CO₂ -based hydroxyl-telechelic three-armed oligo(carbonate-ether) triol (Triol) with controllable molecular weight (M_n) and carbonate unit content (CU), which was coupled with PEG and 1,6-hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI) to afford crosslinked polyurethanes (PU) networks with well-defi ned architecture. A crosslinking point was provided by Triol and PEG was used to afford networks some crystallinity. The resulting networks were characterized using attentuated total refl… More >

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Yadong Liu¹, Guangcheng Huang^1,2, Yuanyuan Pang^1,2, Miaomiao Han¹, Shengxiang Ji^1,*
Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.3, No.2, pp. 113-119, 2015, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2014.634141
Abstract In this work, we report a one-pot synthesis of amphiphilic miktoarm cellulose graft copolymers, cellulose (-graft-oligo(L-lactide))-graft-oligo(N-isopropylacrylamide) (Cell(-g-OLLA)-g-ONIPAM), with dual side chains of oligo(L-lactide) and oligo(N-isopropylacrylamide) using 2-bromoisobutyl bromide functionalized cellulose (Cell(-OH)-Br) as the macroinitiator, by simultaneously conducting ring-opening polymerization and atom transfer radical polymerization using Cu/CuBr/PMDETA/Sn(Oct)₂ as the catalytic system. The chemical structures and thermal properties of Cell(-g-OLLA)-g-ONIPAMs were characterized with ¹ H and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, differential scanning calorimetry and thermal gravimetric analysis. Cell (-g-OLLA)-g-ONIPAM could self-assemble into micelles in the aqueous solution as confi rmed by environmental scanning electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering analyses. The… More >

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Jiang Min, Lu Tingting, Zhang Qiang, Chen Ying, Zhou Guangyuan^*
Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.3, No.2, pp. 120-141, 2015, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2014.634139
Abstract Novel copolyesters were successfully synthesized from terephthalic acid (TPA), 2,5-furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) and ethylene glycol, 1,3-propanediol, 1,4-butanediol, 1,6-hexanediol and 1,8-octanediol via direct esterifi cation method by using tetrabutyl titanate (TBT) as catalyst. The copolyesters were characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹ H-NMR), gel permeation chromatography (GPC), X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and tensile tests. The results of GPC showed that all of the copolyesters had high molecular weight, with an average molecular weight (Mw) more than 1×10⁴ g/mol. The results of ¹ H-NMR showed that the copolyesters were random copolymers which compositions were well… More >

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X. Li¹, A. Pizzi^1,2,*, X. Zhou^3,*, V. Fierro⁴, A. Celzard⁴
Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.3, No.2, pp. 142-150, 2015, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2014.634117
Abstract Tannin/furanic foams, typically 95% composed of materials of natural origin such as prorobinetinidin/ profi setinidin tannins and furfuryl alcohol, are potential alternatives to oil-based synthetic foams such as phenol-formaldehyde, and polyurethane foams. This article describes the development of second generation tannin/furanic foams, which are not only formaldehyde free, but also use nonvolatile, nontoxic aldehydes. Both glyoxal and glutaraldehyde were tried to substitute formaldehyde in tannin/furanic foams. The physical properties of these new foams are described and discussed. It was found that glutaraldehyde can totally substitute formaldehyde during tannin/furanic foam preparation, but that glyoxal cannot. The optimized proportion to prepare such… More >

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Pronob Gogoi, Dhaneswar Das, Shyamalima Sharma, Swapan K. Dolui^*
Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.3, No.2, pp. 151-159, 2015, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2014.634129
Abstract Alkyd resins based on Jatropha curcas oil with different molar ratios of phthalic anhydride (PA) and maleic anhydride (MA) were prepared by alcoholysis followed by polyesterifi cation reaction. The progress of the reaction was traced by the determination of acid value at regular time intervals. From the kinetic study the extent of the reaction was found in the range of 52.4–61.2%. The prepared resins were blended with a commercially available fast-curing epoxy resin in order to improve the properties like curing time, chemical resistance, tensile strength, and thermal stability. The morphology study of the blends showed good compatibility of alkyd… More >

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