Blending Technique Research Articles

PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF POLYBLEND PS WITH PVL OBTAINED USING BIS(DIBENZOYLMETHANE)ZIRCONIUM(IV) CATALYST

Polystyrene (PS) is a type of plastic that is often used in daily life as plastic bags, food containers, and medical equipment. However, PS has a drawback in that is difficult to degrade. To overcome this problem, PS plastic is modified by mixing it with biodegradable synthetic polymers such as poly(δ-valerolactone) (PVL) to produce polyblends. The PVL used in this work was produced through the polymerization of δ-VL with involve a bis(dibenzoylmethane) zirconium(IV) (bis(dibzm)2Zr) catalyst. This research was conducted to prepare a PS/PVL polyblend with various compositions to produce a more compatible polyblend. The mixing is done by using a blending technique with a PS/PVL ratio of 10/0, 10/1, 10/2, 10/3, and 10/4, respectively. The best mixing results were obtained at the PS/PVL 10/2 ratio, where the tensile strength data was 5.97 MPa and the elongation was 2.51%. In addition, the results of the Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) test indicate that there has been a secondary interaction between PS and PVL. Last, the differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) test showed that when PS was mixed with PVL, its thermal properties decreased.

ЗМІШАНЕ НАВЧАННЯ УСНОГО АНГЛІЙСЬКОГО МОВЛЕННЯ СТУДЕНТІВ-ФОЛЬКЛОРИСТІВ З ВИКОРИСТАННЯМ ТЕХНОЛОГІЇ «ПЕРЕВЕРНУТИЙ КЛАС»

Background. The dynamic societal development requires flexible, adaptive, autonomous, and analytical skills in graduates who cannot rely solely on the knowledge and abilities acquired in higher education institutions. Continuous learning, acquiring new knowledge, skills, and abilities are essential for successful professional development. Integrating autonomous and classroom work using internet resources and educational technology, particularly blended learning, provides an optimal approach for meeting these needs. However, further research is needed to explore effective ways of combining face-to-face, independent, online, and distance learning to develop language and communication competencies, especially among folklore studies majors. Purpose. The purpose of the article is to provide a theoretical justification, develop a methodology, and implement blended learning techniques for enhancing oral English production among folklore studies majors using the «Flipped Classroom» technology. Methodology. Conceptually, the study relies on the concept of continuing education, which involves educational autonomy and educational strategies that enable the continuity of education. Practically, the research was implemented in experimental training of Folklore studies majors. The participants of the research were 9 Bachelor students and an English teacher (17 years of experience). Results and Discussion. The applied technology has demonstrated positive outcomes by optimizing classroom time, enabling individualized learning trajectories, and enhancing students’ cognitive engagement through well-planned independent work. Specifically, it has contributed to developing skills such as listening to authentic texts within the field, independently selecting appropriate materials for listening exercises based on predetermined criteria and engaging in dialogues and monologues related to folklore topics. Furthermore, blended learning has also improved folklore studies majors overall oral English proficiency. The educational potential of the «Flipped Classroom» technology extends beyond this spectrum, and further research can explore practical strategies for self-regulation, self-monitoring, and students’ motivation in developing their communicative competence through the «Flipped Classroom» technolohy in higher education settings

Effectiveness of Blended Learning Techniques in Teaching Laws of Exponents

This study sought to ascertain whether blended learning techniques helped teach the laws of exponents to students in Grade 7 at Pulo National High School-Diezmo Ext., City of Cabuyao, Laguna for the SY 2021-2022. For this investigation, a quasi-experimental research approach was used. Sixty (60) seventh-grade students took part in this study. The pretest and posttest used in this study covered the fundamental idea of laws of exponents. The experimental group outperformed the comparison group on average, scoring a mean of 26.13 as opposed to 18.27 for the comparison group, according to the formative test results. The formative assessments for the two groups differed noticeably on p.01. Results from the posttest frequently improved over those from the pretest. The difference between the pretest and posttest mean scores was significant at p.01 for the experimental and comparison groups, indicating that it is very effective for both groups of students. The difference between the pretest and posttest scores for the experimental group produced a t-value of 9.525, which is significant at p.01. Based on the study's findings, the researchers concluded that blended learning is a successful intervention that may be used in the classroom to help kids get better at math.

MoSe2-FeOOH nanocomposite as hybrid electrode material for high-performance symmetric supercapacitor

Molybdenum diselenide-based composite has been considered a potential material in the supercapacitor application due to its variable oxidation states, high surface area, and electronic conductivity. This report presents the composite formation of molybdenum diselenide nanoflowers and iron oxide-hydroxide nanorods utilizing a hydrothermal route assisted by room temperature chemical blending technique. The symmetric cell designed based on prepared composite material delivers the specific capacitance of 132 F g−1 for 1 A g−1 for a 1 V voltage. It shows 100% capacitance retention for 3000 cycles and 100% coulombic efficiency for 10,000 cycles at 1 A g−1. It provides an energy density of 18.3 Wh kg−1 at 1174 W kg−1 power density. The practical application associated with the designed symmetric cell based on the composite electrode was confirmed via the illumination of the panel comprising 42 red LEDs for 10 min effortlessly without break. Additionally, a self-proposed charge mechanism has been incorporated for an enhanced understanding of the reader. The improved results indicate the point that the prepared electrode material has good capability for high-performance supercapacitors.

Mechanical, Thermal Stability and Water Absorption Properties of Recycled Thermoplastic Blend Nanocomposites: Comparison of Nanoclay and Carbon Nanotube

This present paper investigates the influenceof clay (Cloisite 10A) and multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) loading for the tensile, flexural, thermal stability and water absorption properties of recycled thermoplastic blend made from recycled high-density polyethylene (rHDPE)and recycled polyethylene terephthalate (rPET). The nanocomposites were prepared via extrusion blending technique by using extruder and compressed using hot and cold press molding machine. The findings showed that the sample with 1 phr of Cloisite 10A and 4 phr of MWCNT showedthe optimumof tensile strength at 13.9 MPa and 14.5 MPa as compared to other loadings. The flexural strength exhibited inconsistent trend with the increasing of Cloisite 10A and MWCNT content. The addition of Cloisite 10A and MWCNT-reinforced nanocomposite showed better thermal stability than pure polymer blend. As the increment of Cloisite 10A and MWCNT loading, the percentages of water uptake increased but the values were still lower than the neat thermoplastic blend.

Hydrophobic and oleophilic open-cell foams from in-situ microfibrillation blends of poly(lactic acid) and polytetrafluoroethylene: Selective oil-adsorption behaviors

Confronted with severe water contamination induced by the spillage of oils, seeking oil-selective adsorbent to recover oil from oily wastewater is extremely urgent. In particular, the functionalized polymer foams with open-cell structures are highly promising oil-selective adsorbent. Herein, a simple, effective and green method was presented to prepare open-cell poly(lactic acid) (PLA)/polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) foams with selective oil-adsorption behaviors via melt blending and supercritical CO2 batch foaming technique. The introduction of PTFE had a distinct positive influence on the melt viscoelasticity and crystallization performances of various PLA specimens. The resulted PLA/PTFE4 foam with a volume expansion ratio of 10.17 ± 0.93 and a cell density of 1.58 × 108 cells/cm3 possessed the highest open-cell content of 90.81 ± 0.78 %. Meanwhile, PLA/PTFE4 foam revealed oil/water selective adsorption capacity of 1.2–6.1 g/g for various organic solvents and oils. The adsorption capacity of PLA/PTFE4 foam for CCl4 exhibited no significant decrement during ten adsorption-desorption cycles. This research offered a guideline for the manufacture of green environmental open-cell polymer foams for oil-selective adsorption.

The influence of hybrid decorated structures on the EMI shielding properties of epoxy composites over the X-Band

This work primarily focuses on electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding characteristics of copper microparticles (CuMP), Fe3O4@CuMP, and Fe3O4 nanoparticles filled epoxy composites across the X-band. The Fe3O4@CuMP hybrids were synthesized through the water-based coprecipitation technique and analyzed by EDS and SEM. The SEM analysis of the hybrids demonstrated an excellent deposition of Fe3O4 particles on the surface of CuMP. The EDS analysis of the hybrids exhibited Cu, Fe, and O elements present in the hybrid powder sample. A set of epoxy composites containing hybrids, CuMP, and Fe3O4 particles were prepared through a resin blending technique, and its electrical and EMI shielding properties were investigated. The 12 wt% CuMP-filled epoxy composites demonstrate a frequency-dependent electrical conductivity value of 3.8 × 10−9 S/cm at 25 Hz. However, the epoxy composites containing Fe3O4@CuMP hybrids did not show a percolated electrical network and exhibited lower conductivity values than the 12 wt% CuMP-filled epoxy composite. Moreover, the hybrid composites exhibited better EMI shielding effectiveness than CuMP-filled epoxy composites containing equivalent filler loading of CuMP (i.e., 12 wt%). The hybrid composite of 1 mm thick filled with 8:12 (wt%/wt%) Fe3O4:CuMP attenuated 83.4 % of EM wave power and exhibited a SET value of 7.9 dB across X-band of 8–12.4 GHz.

Fabrication of Flexible Thermoplastic Polyurethane/Coal Hydrogasification Semi-coke Composites with Low rGO Content for High-Performance Microwave Absorption

Semi-coke (SC), a residue of coal hydrogasification, is recycled and incorporated into thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) to create composites for microwave absorption (MA). Herein, we developed porous reduced SC (rSC)–reduced graphene oxide (rGO) hybrids (SGHs) via in situ reduction of a preoxidized SC (oSC) and graphene oxide (GO) mixture. Low-content GO was introduced to considerably improve the dielectric properties of SGHs while decreasing the production cost. Then, a solution blending technique was applied to develop microwave absorbers using TPU as the matrix. The obtained TPU/SGH5 composite with a feed ratio of 5:1 (oSC:GO) showed an optimum reflection loss of −48.81 dB at a thickness of 2.5 mm and an effective absorption bandwidth of 4.30 GHz (7.74–12.04 GHz) in 2–18 GHz. However, the MA property of the obtained composites with the same amount of rSC or rGO alone was not comparable to that of the TPU/SGH5 composite. The inherent magnetism, heteroatoms, and abundance of heterogeneous surfaces of rSC and the considerable dielectric loss of rGO worked together to improve the MA performance of TPU/SGH composites. This study offers an easy and effective technical method for producing high-performance microwave absorbers with a low rGO content, illuminating the path toward achieving sustainable development by converting waste into wealth.

Controlled curing of resole phenol formaldehyde/unsaturated polyester blends and applying for steel–steel adhesive

AbstractPolymer blending technique is a promising solution for solving some critical industrial problems by gaining new desired properties for the newly formed materials. Blending various ratios of resole phenol formaldehyde (RPF)/unsaturated polyester (USPE), 10, 20, 30, to 90 wt %, were processed to optimize the mixing conditions by controlling time, temperature, and ratio of blending. In addition, the curing conditions of touch dry, full curing, shelf life, hardness and the steel–steel adhesive were investigated. The blend ratio RPF/USPE (70:30) was selected as an optimized sample at 150°C for 50 min. It was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, dynamic mechanical analysis, scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, and differential scanning calorimeter. The curing process and the interactions between RPF and USPE were studied. Durability with artificial weather aging was evaluated visually and by measuring hardness which confirmed the prepared material is fit for outdoor uses. This work introduces a strategy to control the curing process, enhance the shelf life and adhesion properties for steel–steel adhesives based on RPF/USPE blends.

Investigation of improved optical and conductivity properties of poly(methyl methacrylate)–MXenes (PMMA–MXenes) nanocomposite thin films for optoelectronic applications

Abstract Polymer matrix composites composed of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and MXenes (Ti3C2T x ) are synthesized using direct solution blending and casting techniques. MXenes are a new family of two-dimensional materials. Both optical and conductivity properties of the resulting PMMA-MXene nanocomposite thin films are studied as a function of MXene concentration, for the first time. The resulting thin films are in the micrometer range (8.10–8.80 µm) in thickness. As the concentration of MXenes increases, the PMMA embeds MXenes, causing structural disturbance but without any change in the crystal structure. The MXene thickness in single-layered structure is 15–20 nm. Optical investigations such as UV-Vis absorption, absorption coefficient, extinction coefficient, and band gap have been reported to study the light absorption of nanocomposites. Resistivity measurement associated with electrical conductivity is studied. The relationship between optical responses and electrical conductivity is discussed. When compared to pure PMMA (1 × 10−14 to 1 × 10−13 S m−1), nanocomposites have electrical conductivity that is more than 3,000 times higher. The nanocomposites containing 15 wt% MXenes had the highest conductivity of 1.35 × 10−3 S m−1. Both the conductivity improvement and tunable optical findings accelerate the route of integrating MXenes into polymers to create more promising multifunctional composites for optoelectronic applications such as conductive electrodes, thin film transistors, and logic circuits.

Durable PP/EPDM/GF/SiO2 nanocomposites with improved strength and toughness for orthotic applications

Ankle-foot orthotics need ideal specification of being light-weight, high strength, tough, stiff, and durable. Reinforced polypropylene (PP) composites with enhanced mechanical properties are the most favorable materials being used in this field, but still, it is challenging to achieve balanced blend of strength and toughness in the composites. The present study thus aims to achieve the challenging task of simultaneous improvement in stiffness and toughness in reinforced PP composites exploring the synergistic reinforcement effect of glass fibers (GFs) and nano silica (SiO2) as multiscale fillers and ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM) as impact modifier. EPDM is used as toughness modifier, addressing the brittle behavior, but at the cost of the strength of the polymer. Combined use of micro and nanofillers as reinforcement in toughened polypropylene provides a potential approach to balance the strength while maintaining the toughness. GFs could offer high strength and nanofillers offer ductile fracture to the material. PP, PP/GF, PP/EPDM/GF composites and PP/EPDM/GF/SiO2 nanocomposites are fabricated through melt blending technique and are characterized through SEM, mechanical evaluation, nanoindentation and dynamic mechanical analysis. Mechanical properties are evaluated in accordance with ASTM standards. PP/EPDM/GF/SiO2 nanocomposites exhibits remarkable enhancement in Tensile strength, tensile modulus, impact strength and percent elongation at break by 49 MPa (55% increase over PP), 2450 MPa (145% increase), 145 J/m (13% increase) and 156% (160% increase) respectively. The exceptional improvement in reduced modulus and hardness reveals good interfacial properties. Loss factor decrement reveals elastic behavior of nanocomposites suitable for thermoforming of nanocomposites for orthotic device fabrication.

Design for sorting knitwear: Exploring blended textile wastes and the relationship between sorting, recovery, and recycled blending in yarn manufacture

Background: The problem of difficult-to-recycle textile waste is an ongoing challenge. One of the issues is the lack of exchange between the recovery sector and design/manufacture of recycled materials. This paper seeks to addresses the gap in knowledge between sorting (in recovery) and blending activities (in manufacture), expanding current design strategies towards textile recovery. To achieve this, the research explores sorting practices of wool/acrylic blends in the mechanical wool recycling industry and applies this knowledge to the design of new yarns. Methods: A bricolage of methods was used to conduct this research in three parts. First, an overview of a previous study by Author1 is presented from which this research builds. Second, field research using conversation methods with the owner of a closed wool recycling company was conducted centring around their material archive. Thirdly, practice research was conducted in a spinning facility where Author1 applied knowledge from part 1 and 2 by designing four recycled yarns. This was supported by interviews with a sorter and recycler to expand on the findings. Results: Four methods of sorting and the sorting grades/thresholds that are found in the wool recycling industry are outlined, and five methods of recycled blending historically used in the wool recycling industry are established. This knowledge (sorting methods/grades and recycled blending techniques) were applied in practice and from the methods employed, the relationship between sorting in recovery and recycled blending in manufacture was established across three themes: fibre quality, fibre type and fibre colour. Conclusions: The paper concludes that understanding the link sorting and blending provides the foundations for a ‘Design for Sorting’ methodology. When lessons from each theme (quality, type and colour) are combined, this enables fibre value to be retained in recovery and thus, provides a route for longevity of our textile fibres.

A Research Framework And Evaluation Of The Efficiency Of Online Teaching Pedagogy In Individual Skill Development

This essay clarifies the knowledge and abilities needed to instruct online courses in higher education. The introduction of the study included a general review of the problems with online teaching and learning. This study looked at one training strategy for new online educators and evaluated how it affected the quality of their instruction and integration of their subject matter. The conceptual supporting was the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) model. Three information sources were utilized in a quantitatively-determined blended techniques plan: (1) the pre-and post-instructional class schedules of the educators; (2) pre-and post-preparing understudy evaluations of showing scores; and (3) the results of a subsequent web-based study. As per the review's discoveries, educators showed (a) measurably huge changes by the way they integrated components into the overhaul of their course schedules and (b) enhancements in their showing abilities as expressed without help from anyone else in the subsequent overview Three information sources were utilized in a quantitatively-determined blended techniques plan: (1) the pre-and post-instructional class prospectuses of the teachers; (2) pre-and post-preparing understudy evaluations of showing scores; and (3) the results of a subsequent web-based study. As per the review's discoveries, educators showed (a) measurably huge changes by the way they integrated components into the overhaul of their course schedules and (b) enhancements in their showing abilities as expressed without anyone else in the subsequent study. Be that as it may, there were no apparent contrasts between the pre-and post-preparing understudy appraisals of their guidance. In general, educators showed exceptionally moderate additions in their capacity to train.

Enhanced thermally conductive and dielectrical properties of EP/Co@GNP composites: A strategy via constructing hybrid filler networks using magnetic field-aided orientation

In this work, cobalt (Co) nanoparticles were successfully deposited in situ on graphene nanosheets (GNPs) via electroless plating, and epoxy (EP) resin/Co@GNP heterostructure composites were prepared by a magnetic field-aided solution blending technique. Effects of Co@GNP content and magnetic orientation on EP/Co@GNP composites’ dielectric, thermally and electrically conductive, and thermomechanical properties were extensively investigated. Our findings showed it was the synergistic effect of the “point-surface” hybrid filler and magnetic orientation that jointly led to the formation of complicated heterogeneous network, which significantly improved thermally, electrically conductive and thermomechanical properties. Infrared thermal imaging (ITI) together with SEM cross-sectional morphological observations substantiated that the effective bridging of magnetically responsive Co@GNP under magnetic field further improved the heterogeneous network. Excellent thermal conductivity and dielectrical properties of the resultant EP/Co@GNP composites provided a facile way of obtaining high performance thermally conductive materials via magnetic orientation method.

The Incredible Potential of Exosomes as Biomarkers in the Diagnosis of Colorectal Cancer.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is common cancer that is one of the leading causes of cancerrelated deaths around the world. The creation of new biomarkers for this disease is an important public health strategy for lowering the disease's mortality rate. According to new research, exosomes may be important sources of biomarkers in CRC. Exosomes are nanometer-sized membrane vesicles (30-200 nm) secreted by normal and cancer cells that transport RNA and proteins between cells and are thought to help with intercellular communication. Exosomes have been linked to CRC initiation and progression, and some differentially expressed RNAs and proteins in exosomes have been identified as potential cancer detection candidates. As a result, studying the relationship between exosomes and CRC may aid in the development of new biomarkers for the disease. This article discusses the importance of exosomes as biomarkers in the diagnosis of CRC, as well as their use in the treatment of CRC metastasis, chemoresistance, and recrudescence. The benefits and drawbacks of using exosomes as tumour markers are also discussed.

Dynamic Downscaling Simulation and Projection of Precipitation Extremes Over China Under a Shared Socioeconomic Pathway Scenario

AbstractIn this study, Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) ‐based dynamic downscaling simulation was performed over China at a horizontal resolution of 25 km. To reduce the systematic large‐scale biases from lateral boundary conditions, a dynamic blending (DB) technique was introduced in downscaling, and its performance was compared with downscaling without DB (NO_DB) as well as the driving global climate model (GCM, i.e., HadGEM3). In the present‐day simulation for verification, added values were found in DB, relative to the GCM and NO_DB, in simulating the precipitation extremes, especially over southeastern China. Possible causes responsible for this improvement were further analyzed. In the GCM, excessive moisture and atmospheric heating in the upper troposphere in conjunction with abnormally strong deep convection resulted in excessive extreme precipitation over southeastern China, while in NO_DB, insufficient moisture and atmospheric heating in the whole troposphere in conjunction with abnormally weak convection suppressed extreme precipitation there. In comparison, DB showed a closer representation of observations in terms of vertical velocity and vertical profiles of atmospheric moisture and heating, accounting for the improved simulation of extreme precipitation. In the future projection under the SSP5‐8.5 scenario, both the GCM and DB predicted that extreme precipitation would increase in most parts of China; however, DB indicated a larger increase over southeastern China relative to the GCM. Stronger moisture flux convergence over southeastern China in DB accounted for this larger increase, and in addition, the thermodynamic effect associated with more precipitable water dominated the stronger moisture flux convergence.

A novel beach litter analysis system based on UAV images and Convolutional Neural Networks

Beach litter monitoring programs play a key role in establishing effective management measures to preserve the ecological, scenic, and economic value of the coastal areas. In this study, an innovative analysis system is proposed for the automatic identification of beach debris (>2.5 cm) on aerial-photogrammetric images acquired by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) at different elevations. The workflow is based on a Convolutional Neural Network model designed for object segmentation and object recognition, and here used for instance segmentation tasks. Test cases were conducted along the Adriatic sector of the Apulia region (Italy), where the beaches have a remarkable economic importance, attracting national and international tourists, and ecological values, hosting species of high ecological value and protected areas. The results of the tests carried out in this study allowed defining 10 m as the desirable drone flight above ground. In addition, encouraging results have been obtained on the instance segmentation step, experimenting on real, synthetic and mixed data, produced by using a high-resolution blending technique. A beach litter density of 0.38 items m−2 (on 0.66 items m−2), an F-score of 0.96 and a mAP of 0.67 has been achieved on real data. A novel metric for comparing works at the state-of-the-art (SOTA) in beach litter monitoring is also introduced, named “density-normalized F-score”. The proposed methodology represents a benchmark for the definition of a standardize procedure for the indirect evaluation and monitoring of the coastal environmental status. Besides allowing the investigation of large areas with limited human effort, the proposed system enables the evaluation of the beach litter spatial distribution and magnitude, providing useful information for the assessment of tailored beach quality indices.

Environmentally Friendly Concrete Compressive Strength Prediction Using Hybrid Machine Learning

In order to reduce the adverse effects of concrete on the environment, options for eco-friendly and green concretes are required. For example, geopolymers can be an economically and environmentally sustainable alternative to portland cement. This is accomplished through the utilization of alumina-silicate waste materials as a cementitious binder. These geopolymers are synthesized by activating alumina-silicate minerals with alkali. This paper employs a three-step machine learning (ML) approach in order to estimate the compressive strength of geopolymer concrete. The ML methods include CatBoost regressors, extra trees regressors, and gradient boosting regressors. In addition to the 84 experiments in the literature, 63 geopolymer concretes were constructed and tested. Using Python language programming, machine learning models were built from 147 green concrete samples and four variables. Three of these models were combined using a blending technique. Model performance was evaluated using several metric indices. Both the individual and the hybrid models can predict the compressive strength of geopolymer concrete with high accuracy. However, the hybrid model is claimed to be able to improve the prediction accuracy by 13%.

Mechanical Properties and Equilibrium Swelling Characteristics of Some Polymer Composites Based on Ethylene Propylene Diene Terpolymer (EPDM) Reinforced with Hemp Fibers.

EPDM/hemp fiber composites with fiber loading of 0–20 phr were prepared by the blending technique on a laboratory electrically heated roller mill. Test specimens were obtained by vulcanization using a laboratory hydraulic press. The elastomer crosslinking and the chemical modification of the hemp fiber surface were achieved by a radical reaction mechanism initiated by di(tert-butylperoxyisopropyl)benzene. The influence of the fiber loading on the mechanical properties, gel fraction, swelling ratio and crosslink degree was investigated. The gel fraction, crosslink density and rubber–hemp fiber interaction were evaluated based on equilibrium solvent-swelling measurements using the Flory–Rehner relation and Kraus and Lorenz–Park equations. The morphology of the EPDM/hemp fiber composites was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy. The water absorption increases as the hemp fiber loading increases.

Toolpath generation for ultraprecision machining: Freeform surface blending

This paper is the final part in a two-part series investigating toolpath generation for freeform optics manufacturing. Building on the surface generation techniques already presented, this paper introduces a 3D blending surface that has the form of a continuous polynomial curve and is used to smoothly fill in the space between two non-intersecting, polar boundaries and two surfaces of the form Z(X,Y). The proposed blending surface renders it possible to smoothly join two surfaces defined over different domains together, as well as to smooth over the discontinuity created where two surfaces intersect. It is shown that increasing the order of the blending polynomial increases the continuity of the overall piecewise, blended surface. As a corollary, it is possible to increase the overall continuity of a toolpath along its cutting direction. To illustrate the robustness of the proposed surface blending technique, experimental data is presented for the toolpath generation, diamond machining, and measurement of a freeform microlens array. Designed with no exploitable symmetries or simplifications and very difficult to model with traditional CAD software, this surface is comprised of an array of freeform lenslets superimposed and blended onto a freeform base surface. All lenslets are individually tilted about the X and Y-axes such that they are normal to the base surface at their respective locations, and all blends have the same form as the intersection curve between each respective lenslet and base surface. Machined in brass to optical quality, this C3 continuous surface represents a general case of the proposed surface generation and blending techniques.