The electronic devices that play a vital role in our daily life are primarily based on silicon and are thus rigid, opaque, and relatively heavy. However, new electronics relying on polymer semiconductors are opening up new application spaces like stretchable and self-healing sensors and devices, and these can facilitate the integration of such devices into our homes, our clothing, and even our bodies. While there has been tremendous interest in such technologies, the widespread adoption of these organic electronics requires low-cost manufacturing techniques. Fortunately, the realization of organic electronics can take inspiration from a technology developed since the beginning of the Common Era: printing. This review addresses the critical issues and considerations in the printing methods for organic electronics, outlines the fundamental fluid mechanics, polymer physics, and deposition parameters involved in the fabrication process, and provides future research directions for the next generation of printed polymer electronics. A primary advantage of polymer semiconductors compared to silicon-based semiconductors lies in its capability of being solution-processed for the large-scale fabrication of electronics that can be flexible, stretchable, implantable, biodegradable, and self-healing. Here, Gu and Shaw et al. review recent developments in meniscus-guided coating that can control thin-film morphology.
Although there are various strategies for solid‐state polymer lithium batteries (SSPLBs) manufacturing, the most promising is the in situ polymerization process. The in situ polymerization process inherits good liquid electrolyte/electrode interfacial contact and is compatible with existing lithium‐ion batteries manufacturing processes, making it easy to achieve scale‐up production. However, most of the current studies on the in situ polymerization process are based on lab‐level coin cells, while practical pouch cells are much less studied. There is a huge difference between lab‐level coin SSPLBs and practical pouch SSPLBs. Here, as a complement to the existing reports and reviews, a systematic review of the challenges and design principles of in situ polymerization process for fabricating practical pouch SSPLBs is provided to enable a comprehensive understanding and strategic guidance for practical SSPLBs applications. This review thoroughly discusses recent advances regarding the fabrication of SSPLBs using in situ polymerization process and presents the existing challenges and future outlook for the fabrication of practical SSPLBs by in situ polymerization processes. Furthermore, the critical issues of electrode materials for manufacturing practical SSPLBs are highlighted during the in situ polymerization process, and an attempt is made to call more attention to the performance of the practical pouch SSPLBs.
Abstract Elastomers are a unique and important class of polymers that enjoy applications in virtually every industry, including healthcare, aerospace, automotive, and apparel. However, due to inherent physical, thermal, and mechanical properties of elastomers, the additive manufacturing (AM) of elastomers remains challenging. These challenges are discussed in the context of various AM processes, including powder bed fusion, material extrusion, and vat photopolymerization. This review provides an in-depth discussion of the current state of silicone and polyurethane polymers for AM, and also discusses polyesters/polycarbonates, liquid crystalline elastomers, and monomer compositions that provide elastomeric properties upon photocuring. Finally, the current state of common, commercially-available elastomers for AM is provided, as well as an outlook for this rapidly progressing field. We expect this review to be useful for any research involved with the additive manufacturing of elastomers.
This review presents first, rather succinctly, what are the important points to look out for when preparing good wood composites, the main types of wood composites manufactured industrially, and the mainly oil-derived wood composite adhesives and binders that dominate and have been dominating this industry. Also briefly described are the most characteristic biosourced, renewable-derived adhesives that are actively researched as substitutes. For all these adhesives, synthetic and biosourced, the reviews expose the considerable progresses which have occurred relatively recently, with a host of new approaches and ideas having been proposed and tested, some even implemented, but with even many more already appearing on the horizon.
Injection molding is one of the most widely employed manufacturing processes for the mass production of polymer products, owing to its high efficiency, reproducibility, and versatility [...]
Daniel J. Jolly, Eoin J. O’Gorman, Dannielle Senga Green
et al.
Abstract Non-plastic microfibres, here defined as anthropogenically manipulated fibres of cellulosic or animal origin such as wool, cotton and rayon, have been increasingly recognised as a significant component of anthropogenic microparticle pollution in aquatic environments. Emerging attention has also been brought to the ecological ramifications of non-plastic microfibres and their associated chemical additives. However, environmental anthropogenic microparticle surveys have often omitted both plastic and non-plastic microfibres, with greater attention being placed on microplastic fragments, films, and spheres. This lack of attention has potentially led to the underestimation of non-plastic microfibre pollution in aquatic environments and biota. Through a comprehensive systematic review, we collate and analyse published literature (2011–2024) on non-plastic microfibre occurrence in aquatic animals and the associated ecological impacts. This review demonstrates that plastic and non-plastic microfibres, when looked for, are a significant component of anthropogenic microparticle (AMP) loading in aquatic biota across environments, habitats and feeding strategies. Greatest loading appears in freshwater environments with some cases accounting for 100% of detected anthropogenic microparticles, despite relatively limited study focus. The ecological impacts of non-plastic microfibres may also elicit varied effects on biota, depending on the context and nature of exposure, although targeted experiments are scarce in the literature. This review highlights the underestimation and potential misidentification of non-plastics due to methodological limitations, inconsistent reporting, and lack of focus. Here we emphasise that future research should develop standardised anthropogenic microparticle survey methodologies that incorporate non-plastic particles and microfibres, with greater effort placed on understanding microfibre pollution in aquatic biota. Further exploration into the ecological impact of non-plastics is crucial to understanding and mitigating the risks associated with these pollutants.
Environmental pollution, Polymers and polymer manufacture
We study the effective dynamics of a polymer quantized scalar field living on an effective polymer quantized homogeneous and isotropic background. We use a presureless dust field as an internal clock, and work with volume variables. Our results show how the quantum bounce in the early universe is affected as the initial conditions and various physical parameters -- including the scalar field polymer scale -- are varied. We also find, generically, that there is asymmetric evolution across the bounce.
Electrospinning is one of the most important methods used for the production of nanostructured materials. Electrospun nanofibers are used in a wide spectrum of applications such as drug delivery systems, filtration, fog harvesting, tissue engineering, smart textiles, flexible electronics, and more. Control of the manufacturing process is essential for further technology developments. In electrospinning, relative humidity is a crucial parameter that influences nearly all the properties of the collected fibers, such as morphology, mechanical properties, liquid retention, wetting properties, phase composition, chain conformation, and surface potential. Relative humidity is a determining component of a reliable process as it governs charge dissipation and solvent evaporation. This review summarizes the electrospinning process and its applications, phase separation processes, and impact of relative humidity on the properties of polymer fibers. We investigated relative humidity effects on both hydrophilic and hydrophobic polymers using over 20 polymers and hundreds of solvent systems. Most importantly, we underlined the indisputable importance of relative humidity in process repeatability and demonstrated its impact on almost all aspects of fiber production from a solution droplet to an electrospun network.
Macromolecules can gain special properties by adopting knotted conformations, but engineering knotted macromolecules is a challenging task. Here we surprisingly observed that knotting can be very effectively produced in active polymers. When one end of an actively reptative polymer is anchored, it can undergo continual self-knotting as a result of intermittent giant conformation fluctuations and the outward reptative motion. Once a knot is formed, it migrates to the anchored point due to a non-equilibrium ratchet effect. Moreover, when the active polymer is grafted on the end of a passive polymer, it can function as a self-propelling soft needle to either transfer its own knots to the passive polymer or directly braid knots on the passive polymer. We further show that these active needles can create inter-molecular bridging knots between two passive polymers. Our finding highlights the non-equilibrium effects in modifying the dynamic pathways of polymer systems, which have potential applications in macromolecular topology engineering, e.g., manipulating topological states of proteins and nucleic acids, as well as macromolecular braiding.
We consider inhomogeneous polymers driven by energy-consuming active processes which encode temporal patterns of athermal kicks. We find that such temporal excitation programs, propagated by tension along the polymer, can effectively couple distinct polymer loci. Consequently, distant loci exhibit correlated motions that fold the polymer into specific conformations, as set by the local actions of the active processes and their distribution along the polymer. Interestingly, active kicks that are canceled out by a time-delayed echo can induce strong compaction of the active polymer.
M. Revilla‐León, Matthew J. Meyers, A. Zandinejad
et al.
OBJECTIVES Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies can be used to fabricate 3D-printed interim dental restorations. The aim of this review is to report the manufacturing workflow, its chemical composition, and the mechanical properties that may support their clinical application. OVERVIEW These new 3D-printing provisional materials are typically composed of monomers based on acrylic esters or filled hybrid material. The most commonly used AM methods to manufacture dental provisional restorations are stereolithography (SLA) and material jetting (MJ) technologies. To the knowledge of the authors, there is no published article that analyzes the chemical composition of these new 3D-printing materials. Because of protocol disparities, technology selected, and parameters of the printers and material used, it is notably difficult to compare mechanical properties results obtained in different studies. CONCLUSIONS Although there is a growing demand for these high-tech restorations, additional information regarding the chemical composition and mechanical properties of these new provisional printed materials is required. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE Additive manufacturing technologies are a current option to fabricate provisional dental restorations; however, there is very limited information regarding its chemical composition and mechanical properties that may support their clinical application.
Łukasz Pejkowski, Jan Seyda, Krzysztof Nowicki
et al.
Reinforcing the materials used in 3D printing with different fillers like short and continuous fibers or micro and nanoparticles is a common way of increasing their mechanical properties. In real applications, parts manufactured from reinforced polymers may be exposed to loadings of various rates. However, there is relatively little data on the rate-depended behavior of 3D printed materials and components available in the literature. The present study aims to provide some basic information about the mechanical behavior of PA12 polyamide and its composites manufactured by filament deposition technology. 3D printed specimens were tested under the monotonic tensile loading of various strain rates and subjected to creep and creep recovery tests. The results showed an important strain rate effect in the case of all tested materials. Reinforced materials exhibited improved mechanical properties. The highest tensile strength and creep resistance were achieved for the carbon fiber reinforced material, in the case of which the damage mechanism consisted of carbon fibers breaking before pulling out from the polymer matrix.