All Outputs (55)

RAFT polymerisation of renewable terpene (meth)acrylates and the convergent synthesis of methacrylate-acrylate-methacrylate triblock copolymers (2021)
Journal Article
Atkinson, R. L., Monaghan, O., Elsmore, M. T., Topham, P. D., Toolan, D. T. W., Derry, M. J., Taresco, V., Stockman, R., De Focatiis, D. S., Irvine, D. J., & Howdle, S. M. (2021). RAFT polymerisation of renewable terpene (meth)acrylates and the convergent synthesis of methacrylate-acrylate-methacrylate triblock copolymers. Polymer Chemistry, 12(21), 3177-3189. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1py00326g

Terpenes are ideal candidates for sustainable polymer feedstocks, due to their natural abundance and availability from existing waste streams. Previously, we have shown that a range of terpene(meth)acrylate monomers can be synthesised from the most c... Read More about RAFT polymerisation of renewable terpene (meth)acrylates and the convergent synthesis of methacrylate-acrylate-methacrylate triblock copolymers.

UV-curable silicone materials with tuneable mechanical properties for 3D printing (2021)
Journal Article
Foerster, A., Annarasa, V., Terry, A., Wildman, R., Hague, R., Irvine, D., De Focatiis, D. S., & Tuck, C. (2021). UV-curable silicone materials with tuneable mechanical properties for 3D printing. Materials and Design, 205, Article 109681. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2021.109681

In this paper, we present the development of a family of novel, UV-curable, highly flexible, 3D printable silicone-based materials, the mechanical properties of which can be tuned simply by varying the ratio of the polymerisable reagents within the f... Read More about UV-curable silicone materials with tuneable mechanical properties for 3D printing.

Analysis of contact area in a continuous application-and-peel test method for prepreg tack (2021)
Journal Article
Choong, G., Endruweit, A., & De Focatiis, D. (2021). Analysis of contact area in a continuous application-and-peel test method for prepreg tack. International Journal of Adhesion and Adhesives, 107, Article 102849. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijadhadh.2021.102849

The relationship between prepreg tack and the degree of intimate contact (DoIC) between prepreg and a rigid substrate was explored in the context of a continuous application-and-peel test method. Tack for a unidirectional prepreg tape was characteris... Read More about Analysis of contact area in a continuous application-and-peel test method for prepreg tack.

Durability enhancement of low ice adhesion polymeric coatings (2020)
Journal Article
Memon, H., De Focatiis, D. S., Choi, K.-S., & Hou, X. (2021). Durability enhancement of low ice adhesion polymeric coatings. Progress in Organic Coatings, 151, Article 106033. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.porgcoat.2020.106033

Icephobic performance of low-ice adhesion polymeric coatings has been studied intensively for passive ice protection. However, limited efforts were conducted to identify strategies for enhancing the durability of the coatings to maintain low ice adhe... Read More about Durability enhancement of low ice adhesion polymeric coatings.

Combined roles of temperature and humidity on cure of a silicone elastomer (2020)
Journal Article
Elsmore, M. T., & De Focatiis, D. S. (2021). Combined roles of temperature and humidity on cure of a silicone elastomer. Polymer Testing, 93, 106967. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2020.106967

A study of the cure kinetics of a one-part water-scavenging silicone elastomer was carried out under conditions of controlled humidity and temperature using rectangular bars subjected to oscillatory torsional shear. Characteristic cure times were obt... Read More about Combined roles of temperature and humidity on cure of a silicone elastomer.

Modeling non-linear rheology of PLLA: comparison of Giesekus and Rolie-Poly constitutive models (2020)
Journal Article
Stępień, M., Choong, G. Y., De Focatiis, D. S., & Figiel, Ł. (2020). Modeling non-linear rheology of PLLA: comparison of Giesekus and Rolie-Poly constitutive models. International Journal of Biobased Plastics, 2(1), 13-28. https://doi.org/10.1080/24759651.2020.1808367

Rheological models for biobased plastics can assist in predicting optimum processing parameters in industrial forming processes for biobased plastics and their composites such as film blowing, or injection stretch-blow molding in the packaging indust... Read More about Modeling non-linear rheology of PLLA: comparison of Giesekus and Rolie-Poly constitutive models.

A phenomenological constitutive model for the viscoelastic deformation of elastomers (2020)
Journal Article
Annarasa, V., Popov, A. A., & De Focatiis, D. S. A. (2020). A phenomenological constitutive model for the viscoelastic deformation of elastomers. Mechanics of Time-Dependent Materials, 24(4), 463-479. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11043-020-09452-2

This study proposes a one-dimensional constitutive model for elastomeric materials based on recent observations regarding the separation of elastic and viscous contributions in uniaxial cyclic tensile experiments on EPDM rubber. The focus is on captu... Read More about A phenomenological constitutive model for the viscoelastic deformation of elastomers.

Adaptation of material deposition parameters to account for out-time effects on prepreg tack (2020)
Journal Article
Smith, A., Endruweit, A., Choong, G., De Focatiis, D., & Hubert, P. (2020). Adaptation of material deposition parameters to account for out-time effects on prepreg tack. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 133, Article 105835. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2020.105835

A single-stage peel method was employed to determine the relationship between key processing parameters and tack for a standard aerospace carbon/epoxy prepreg subjected to various levels of room-temperature out-time. The temperature-dependent viscoel... Read More about Adaptation of material deposition parameters to account for out-time effects on prepreg tack.

An adaptable flexural test fixture for miniaturised polymer specimens (2020)
Journal Article
Choong, G. Y., Canciani, A., & De Focatiis, D. S. (2020). An adaptable flexural test fixture for miniaturised polymer specimens. Polymer Testing, 85, Article 106430. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.polymertesting.2020.106430

An adaptable flexural test fixture is proposed to characterise the mechanical properties of miniature beam specimens (≤10 mg) at ambient conditions or in the presence of fluids at elevated temperatures. The fixture is validated using representative a... Read More about An adaptable flexural test fixture for miniaturised polymer specimens.

Intrinsic dependence of ice adhesion strength on surface roughness (2020)
Journal Article
Memon, H., Liu, J., De Focatiis, D. S., Choi, K.-S., & Hou, X. (2020). Intrinsic dependence of ice adhesion strength on surface roughness. Surface and Coatings Technology, 385, Article 125382. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.surfcoat.2020.125382

The roles of surface roughness on icephobicity including ice adhesion strength have been long debated in icephobicity studies. However, the direct/systematic influence of surface roughness on ice adhesion strength while keeping other surface characte... Read More about Intrinsic dependence of ice adhesion strength on surface roughness.

A novel criterion for the prediction of meso-scale defects in textile preforming (2019)
Journal Article
Matveev, M. Y., Endruweit, A., De Focatiis, D. S., Long, A. C., & Warrior, N. A. (2019). A novel criterion for the prediction of meso-scale defects in textile preforming. Composite Structures, 226, Article 111263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compstruct.2019.111263

© 2019 The Authors In numerical simulations of reinforcement preforming, fabrics are often modelled using continuum approaches with homogenised material properties in order to reduce the computational costs. To predict the occurrence of meso-scale de... Read More about A novel criterion for the prediction of meso-scale defects in textile preforming.

In-situ icing and water condensation study on different topographical surfaces (2019)
Journal Article
Memon, H., Liu, J., Weston, N., Wang, J., De Focatiis, D., Choi, K.-S., & Hou, X. (2019). In-situ icing and water condensation study on different topographical surfaces. Cold Regions Science and Technology, 165, Article 102814. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.coldregions.2019.102814

Icephobicity is intrinsically affected by rough asperities and the surface voids provide anchoring points for the ice. The anchor of ice is likely to form on the surface under high humidity conditions. In-situ water condensation and icing observation... Read More about In-situ icing and water condensation study on different topographical surfaces.

Challenges to the industrial melt-processing of conductive plastics (2019)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Choong, G. Y. H., De Focatiis, D. S. A., Lidgett, M. J., Thornton, M. J., & Clifford, M. J. Challenges to the industrial melt-processing of conductive plastics. Presented at Proceedings of the Europe/Africa Conference Dresden 2017 – Polymer Processing Society PPS, Dresden, Germany

In this work, we investigate the relationship between the timescales available for polymer mobility during processing and post-processing and the electrical resistivity of melt-processed thermoplastics filled with carbon nanoparticles. Post-process a... Read More about Challenges to the industrial melt-processing of conductive plastics.

The development of a novel technique for small ring specimen tensile testing (2018)
Journal Article
Kazakeviciute, J., Rouse, J., De Focatiis, D., & Hyde, C. (2019). The development of a novel technique for small ring specimen tensile testing. Theoretical and Applied Fracture Mechanics, 99, 131-139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tafmec.2018.11.016

The wide scale use of small specimens in routine testing programs could significantly reduce material resource requirements (factors of 10 are easily achievable). This is a major benefit to situations where there is not enough material to manufacture... Read More about The development of a novel technique for small ring specimen tensile testing.

Characterisation of tack for uni-directional prepreg tape employing a continuous application-and-peel test method (2018)
Journal Article
Endruweit, A., Choong, G. Y., Ghose, S., Johnson, B. A., Younkin, D. R., Warrior, N. A., & De Focatiis, D. S. (2018). Characterisation of tack for uni-directional prepreg tape employing a continuous application-and-peel test method. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 114, 295-306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2018.08.027

Employing a test method with coupled application and peel phases, tack was characterised for a UD prepreg tape. Different aspects of tack were explored by varying test parameters and material condition. In addition, different surface combinations wer... Read More about Characterisation of tack for uni-directional prepreg tape employing a continuous application-and-peel test method.

Frictional behaviour of non-crimp fabrics (NCFs) in contact with a forming tool (2018)
Journal Article
Avgoulas, E. I., Mulvihill, D. M., Endruweit, A., Sutcliffe, M. P., Warrior, N. A., De Focatiis, D. S., & Long, A. C. (2018). Frictional behaviour of non-crimp fabrics (NCFs) in contact with a forming tool. Tribology International, 121, 71-77. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.triboint.2018.01.026

Microscopic observation and analysis are used to examine the role that contact conditions play in determining the frictional behaviour of non-crimp fabrics (NCFs). The true fibre contact length is measured over a range of normal pressures. For the NC... Read More about Frictional behaviour of non-crimp fabrics (NCFs) in contact with a forming tool.

Processing and properties of PLA-HA nanocomposites: The effect of particle morphology and dispersants (2017)
Presentation / Conference Contribution
Tomczynska, M. M., Ward, M., Choong, G. Y. H., Walton, K., De Focatiis, D. S. A., Grant, D. M., Irvine, D. J., & Parsons, A. J. (2016, July). Processing and properties of PLA-HA nanocomposites: The effect of particle morphology and dispersants. Presented at 32nd International Conference of the Polymer Processing Society (PPS-32), Lyon, France

Biodegradable polylactic acid nanocomposites for orthopaedic implants require optimum particle dispersion and high molecular weight in load bearing applications. Novel coated hydroxyapatite nanoparticles can offer new opportunities for enhanced dispe... Read More about Processing and properties of PLA-HA nanocomposites: The effect of particle morphology and dispersants.

The Roles of Blending and of Molecular Weight Distribution on Craze Initiation (2017)
Journal Article
Sánchez-Valencia, A., Smerdova, O., Hutchings, L. R., & De Focatiis, D. S. A. (2017). The Roles of Blending and of Molecular Weight Distribution on Craze Initiation. Macromolecules, 50(23), 9507-9514. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.7b01289

Craze initiation stress was measured in three-point bending isochronal creep tests on a series of entangled bimodal blends of polystyrenes of narrow dispersity, on three polystyrenes of broad dispersity, and on four blends of polystyrenes of broad di... Read More about The Roles of Blending and of Molecular Weight Distribution on Craze Initiation.

Can a combination of poly(ethylene glycol) and dense phase carbon dioxide improve processing of polylactide? A high pressure rheology investigation (2017)
Journal Article
Pepper, K., Masson, T., De Focatiis, D. S., & Howdle, S. M. (in press). Can a combination of poly(ethylene glycol) and dense phase carbon dioxide improve processing of polylactide? A high pressure rheology investigation. Journal of Supercritical Fluids, 133(1), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.supflu.2017.10.014

High temperature melts or use of organic solvents are not practicable approaches for encapsulating protein based or thermally labile drugs into degradable polymers. Here, we demonstrate that poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) in combination with supercritic... Read More about Can a combination of poly(ethylene glycol) and dense phase carbon dioxide improve processing of polylactide? A high pressure rheology investigation.

Double diaphragm forming simulation for complex composite structures (2017)
Journal Article
Chen, S., McGregor, O., Endruweit, A., Elsmore, M., De Focatiis, D., Harper, L., & Warrior, N. (2017). Double diaphragm forming simulation for complex composite structures. Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, 95, 346-358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2017.01.017

A finite element (FE) model has been developed to simulate the double diaphragm forming (DDF) process, to identify potential defects when forming complex 3D preforms from 2D biaxial non-crimp fabric plies. Three different metrics have been introduced... Read More about Double diaphragm forming simulation for complex composite structures.