Abstract
Modelling the influence of high-energy ionising radiation on the properties of materials with polymeric matrix using advanced artificial intelligence tools plays an important role in the research and development of new materials for various industrial applications. It also applies to effective modification of existing materials based on polymer matrices to achieve the desired properties. In the presented work, the effects of high-energy electron beam radiation with various doses on the dynamic mechanical properties of melamine resin, phenol-formaldehyde resin, and nitrile rubber blend have been studied over a wide temperature range. A new stiffness-temperature model based on Weibull statistics of the secondary bonds breaking during the relaxation transitions has been developed to quantitatively describe changes in the storage modulus with temperature and applied radiation dose until the onset of the temperature of the additional, thermally-induced polymerisation reactions. A global search real-coded genetic algorithm has been successfully applied to optimise the parameters of the developed model by minimising the sum-squared error. An excellent agreement between the modelled and experimental data has been found.
Highlights
Cross-linked resins and their blends that are susceptible to brittle failure can be effectively toughened by blending them with various elastomers [1]
The dynamic mechanical response of virgin and high-energy electron beam (EB)-cured samples of the tested PMX3 resin-rubber blend mechanical for EB radiation dosesof ofvirgin
A new stiffness-temperature model based on Weibull statistics of the secondary bonds breaking during the relaxation transitions has been developed to quantitatively describe changes in the storage modulus as a function of temperature and radiation dose until the onset temperature of the additional, thermally-induced polymerisation of uncured parts of the blend
Summary
Cross-linked resins and their blends that are susceptible to brittle failure can be effectively toughened by blending them with various elastomers [1]. A blend of melamine resin and phenol-formaldehyde resin with nitrile rubber—which combines the thermal and dimensional stability and easy of moulding of phenolics with the wide range of colourability of melamine resins and the toughness as well as the flexibility of elastomers—is commonly used as a polymeric matrix for various composite systems in a number of practical applications, in the automotive industry [4]. The curing of the resin-rubber blends by high-energy ionising radiation, such as electron beam (EB) and gamma rays radiation, as well as the modification of polymers sensitive to radiation in order to achieve the desired properties in general, in many practical applications, can be an efficient, relatively inexpensive and more environmentally friendly alternative to traditional thermal curing [5]
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