Ruogu Tang

By Ruogu Tang

Antimicrobial materials have become an essential part of various fields. In the past decades, various types of antimicrobial materials were developed and practically used. Based on the feedback from the clinical usage and market, the biocompatible materials have been very welcomed due to less side effects. This chapter provides a small and general review of biocompatible polymer materials and their applications in antimicrobial fields. This chapter could be divided into several parts: starting from the background introduction of microbial threats, the first section discusses the demands of biocompatible polymers for antimicrobial applications, then, the following sections would describe the basic knowledge of biocompatible polymers, including the definition, advantages, and typical examples, the next section reviewed and discussed some approaches to apply biocompatible polymers into antimicrobial applications.

Part of the book: Antimicrobial Stewardship

By Ruogu Tang

Vulcanization is one of the most significant procedures in elastomer product processing. The components and their proportions of the curing systems significantly determined the vulcanization processes and mechanical properties of the products. To understand this effect, a model study was adopted for investigation, with sulfur curing system as the model curing system and natural rubber/styrene-butadiene rubber blends as model elastomers. By adjusting the doses of sulfur and sulfur/accelerant ratio, the entire sulfur curing systems were divided into three classifications, i.e., conventional vulcanization systems (CV), effective vulcanization systems (EV), and semi-effective vulcanization systems (SEV). Under these divisions, NR/SBR vulcanizate blends were obtained via seven specific curing systems. Upon preparation, the NR/SBR vulcanizates were thoroughly tested for mechanical properties. In a general trend, CV-based vulcanizates showed the advantages of tensile and tear strengths, EV-based vulcanizates possessed higher Young’s modulus and hardness, and SEV-based vulcanizates performed higher abrasion resistances. In addition, for each individual system, there would be an optimum sulfur/accelerant ratio by which the vulcanizates could be produced with enhanced mechanical properties.

Part of the book: Sulfur Dioxide Chemistry and Environmental Impact [Working title]