S.K. Pankaj¹, C. Bueno-Ferrer¹, N.N. Misra¹, L. O’Neill², Paula Bourke¹, P.J. Cullen^3*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.5, No.1, pp. 14-20, 2017, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2016.634105

Abstract This work aims to analyze the effects of cold atmospheric air plasma treatment of antimicrobial chitosan film with different levels of thymol. Optical characterization of the dielectric barrier discharge showed the generation of reactive nitrogen and oxygen species by the system. A significant increase (p < 0.05) in the surface roughness was observed after cold plasma treatment of the films. No significant difference (p > 0.05) was observed in the thermal profile of the plasma-treated films. A significant increase (p < 0.05) in the thymol diffusion coefficient was observed after the plasma treatment for all the active films. More >

Dragomir Vassilev^1*, Nadezhda Petkova², Milena Koleva¹, Panteley Denev²

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.4, No.1, pp. 24-30, 2016, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2015.634125

Abstract This article presents the results obtained by the ultrasound-assisted synthesis of sucrose and fructooligosaccharides (FOS) esters with fatty acids (palmitic and 10-undecylenic), the identifi cation of the products and the study of their possible application as plasticizers in plastics processing. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (¹H and ¹³C NMR) spectroscopy were used to identify the synthesized carbohydrate esters. The plasticizing effect of the sucrose palmitate applied in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) was evaluated by the glass transition temperatures; the decrease of the T_g with the increase of the ester content could be accepted as confi rmation of… More >