Aneta Raszkowska-Kaczor

• Łukasiewicz Research Network - Institute for Engineering of Polymer Materials and Dyes

Four methods for assessing the antibacterial activity of natural additives with antibacterial properties intended for polymeric materials have been described: in solution, in the form of a film (agar test; bacterial culture test) and in accordance with ISO 22196. Natural additives such as berberine, quercetin, caffeic acid, curcumin and hops were t...

Active food packaging is a significant trend in recent years in the food industry. This paper presents the results of studies on selected properties of a mixture of polylactide and polycaprolactone containing 1 or 5 wt.% of tannic acid. The function of tannic acid was to improve the miscibility of the polymers used and to give the obtained composit...

The objective of the study was to examine the mechanical and electrostatic properties of poly(vinyl chloride) intended for use in protective footwear. The poly(vinyl chloride) material was made with graphite (flake side dimensions 5 and 10 µm) additive in weight concentration variants from 0.5 to 10.0%. The influence of incorporating graphite in th...

The comparison of some changes occurring in the physical properties of poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) due to its modification with Laponite (LAP) was the objective of this study. The PBS composites, containing from 1 to 7 wt% LAP, were prepared by co-rotating twin screw extrusion. The geometrical surface structure of the samples’ fractures and the...

The article presents a strength analysis of adhesive joints formed by using a PP-g-MAH-based primer. Primer coated polypropylene substrates were bonded with polyethylene foam coated with acrylic adhesive. During the study, we focused our attention on several aspects: concentration of PP-g-MAH in primer solution, the degree of grafting of polypropyl...

High filled polylactide/multiwall carbon nanotube composites were subjected to multiple extrusions using single-screw and twin-screw extruders. Samples of the processed composites were characterized by SEM, XRD, Raman, and FTIR spectroscopy. Thermal and rheological properties were investigated by DSC and MFR analyses. Subsequent extrusions resulted...

Introduction Carvacrol is an essential oil extracted from oregano which can be used as a natural additive in poultry litter and could have a positive impact not only on production rates but also on the quality of poultry meat. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of the addition of carvacrol to litter on weight gain and the occurrence o...

Co-rotating twin-screw extrusion is an energy consuming process that is generally not fully optimised to a specific polymer. From the point of view of the efficiency of the extrusion process, the starting material should be characterised by small grain sizes in comparison to the screw channel area, small surface area to volume ratio and small inter...

Twin-screw extrusion is a crucial method for the direct inserting of carbon micro-and nanomaterials into a polymer matrix using a dry procedure. The study aimed to determine the influence of the parameters of the twin-screw extruder plasticizing system on the dispersion homogeneity and distribution of graphite filler in the polylactide polymer matr...

The polymer processing industry is paying more attention to biodegradable materials synthesized from renewable sources. One of the most popular of them is polylactide (PLA). Except the material from which a given product is made, particularly important is the process of manufacturing a polymer material, processing, use by the consumer, and finally,...

The main purpose of the work is to determine the influence of the screw diameter on the parameters of the single screw extrusion process, such as power consumption, torque, throughput, the actual temperature of the melt on the extruder die, as well as phase s with the use of a laboratory single-screw extruder.. The research was carried out with the...

The method of obtaining polymer composites with a graphite filler using a kneading mixer was presented. The best mixing parameters (rotational speed and temperature) were determined, allowing to obtain composites with the best filler dispersion in the polymer matrix. A series of graphite/polylactide (PLA) masterbatches were made. The following comp...

To assess the impact of graphite fillers on the thermal processing of graphite/poly(lactic acid) (PLA) composites, a series of the composite samples with different graphite of industrial grade as fillers was prepared by melt mixing. The average size of the graphite grains ranged between 100 µm and 6 µm. For comparative purposes, one of the carbon f...

The aim of this study was to ascertain whether the combined action of metal nanoparticles (silver, copper, zinc oxide, iron oxide) would ensure the appropriate biocidal properties oflow-density polyethylene (LDPE) against pathogenic microorganisms. According to the research hypothesis, appropriately selected concentrations of the applied metal nano...

The need for the development of new biodegradable materials and modification of the properties the current ones possess has essentially increased in recent years. The aim of this study was the comparison of changes occurring in poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) due to its modification by high-energy electron beam derived from a linear electron accelerator...

The research objective of this study was to verify the effectiveness of selected rhizosphere strains in accelerating the biodegradation of plastics in cultivated soil. The study was a continuation of experiments conducted in compost soil. The experiments confirmed the ability of the two bacteria and fungi strains in biodegradation of polylactide (P...

Medium-substituted esters of starch and higher fatty acids, structurally identified in the first part of paper were subjected to further analyses, mainly to check application potential. In order to determine the possibility of using the esters in the packaging industry, the glycerol-plasticized starch esters were extruded on a single screw extruder...

The results of studies on the uncrosslinked fraction of blends of polylactide and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PLA/PBAT) are presented. The blends were crosslinked by using the electron radiation and triallyl isocyanurate (TAIC) at a concentration of 3 wt %. Two kinds of samples to be investigated were prepared: one contained 80 wt % PL...

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of starch granules enriched with carvacrol and mixed with straw pellets (as poultry litter) on the mortality of larvae and adults of the lesser mealworm, Alphitobius diaperinus Panzer, a cosmopolitan pest inhabiting chicken houses in vast numbers worldwide. Additionally, the effect of starch granu...

An experimental protocol of preparation of homogeneous and nanocomposite chitosan (Ch) based membranes supported on polyamide-6 (PA6) films was developed and described in detail. Montmorillonite (MMT) and Cloisite 30B (C30B) nanoclays were used as nanofillers to improve mechanical properties of chitosan films. The surface, mechanical, and transport...

The swelling degree (Xs) and gel fraction (Fz) of the blends of polylactide (PLA) and poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) crosslinked by using electron radiation in the presence of triallyl isocyanurate (TAIC) have been determined. The effects of radiation dose and weight ratio of both components of the blend on the values of Xs and Fz w...

Investigation of the effect of electron radiation and foaming agent on some properties of poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) was the aim of the present paper. The mass flow rate, weight-average molecular weight of irradiated PBAT as well as the morphological structure of foamed samples, their density, tensile strength, and specific stre...

This study reports the influence of aliphatic-aromatic co-polyesters (AAC) on selected polylactide (PLA) properties. Processing, mechanical as well as thermal properties were determined. In addition, there were examined changes occurring in the surface geometrical structure of sample fractures. It was found that PLA as modified with AAC exhibited t...

Investigation of the effect of electron radiation and triallyl isocyanurate (TAIC) on the functional properties of poly(ε-caprolactone) (PCL) films was the aim of the present paper. The mechanical properties from static tensile tests, resistance to strain at elevated temperatures, permeability of oxygen and water vapor, shrinkage, luminous transmit...

Comparison of some changes occurring in polylactide (PLA) due to its modification by glass filler being in the form of microspheres (GM) was the objective of the present study. Mechanical and thermal properties, density, mass flow rate, and were determined. In addition, there were examined surface free energy and changes in the surface geometrical...

A method to prepare chemically crosslinked polyethylene foams from a mixture consisting of polyethylene, foaming agent, crosslinking agent, antioxidant and flame retardant was discussed in this paper. The extrusion was carried out using a twin-screw extruder (temperature of barrel zones: 100, 110, 125 and 125 °C). Crosslinking process of the extrud...

Polypropylene was filled with talc, chalk and their mixts. (up to 30%) by extrusion in corotating twin screw extruder at 195°C. The composite showed improved flexural strength, and elasticity, storage and loss modulus. The mixt. of fillers was more efficient than the individual ones

Com. polylactide was mixed with com. chain extending agent (1-5%) and com. azodicarbonamide-contg. blowing agent (1-4%) and extruded at 150-218 degrees C in a single-screw extruder. The lowest d. 0.48 g/cm(3) was achieved for polylactide contg. 5% of the chain extender and 2% of the blowing agent.

A review, with 33 refs., of process parameters and compns. of blends.

A review, with 40 refs., of process parameters and compns. of blends.

Chem. crosslinked polyethylene foams were prepd. by foaming the blowing agents and optionally a crosslinkig coagent-contg. polymer films at 230°C for 5 min to det. the effect of the blowing agents and the crosslinking coagent on the apparent d. and hardness of the foams. The increase in blowing agent content (up to 36%) resulted in a decrease in d....

A hybrid rotating film pertractor, HRP, with discs made of cation-exchange polymers (perfluorosulfonated polymer, sulfonated poly(ether ether ketone), and sulfonated polysulfon) was constructed. The pertractor properties were tested in the recovery and separation of Zn(II) with the use of a liquid membrane composed of di(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric ac...