Open Access
EDITORIAL
Open Access
ARTICLE
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 >
Open Access
ARTICLE
Xiaoqing Zhang*, Simon Schmidtφ, 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 Tg
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 >
Open Access
ARTICLE
Shunjie Liu1,2, Yusheng Qin1,*, Xianhong Wang1,*, 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 (Mn) 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 >
Open Access
ARTICLE
Yadong Liu1, Guangcheng Huang1,2, Yuanyuan Pang1,2, Miaomiao Han1, Shengxiang Ji1,*
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 >
Open Access
ARTICLE
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 >
Open Access
ARTICLE
X. Li1, A. Pizzi1,2,*, X. Zhou3,*, 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 >
Open Access
ARTICLE
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 >
Login
Register
Submit a Paper
Propose a Special lssue