TY - CHAP A1 - Herz, Jonas A1 - Sigrüner, Michael A1 - Krekemeyer, Markus A1 - Kazmi, Monis A1 - Schuster, Jens A1 - Muscat, Dirk A1 - Strübbe, Nicole T1 - INVESTIGATION OF AN INNOVATIVE WOOD-PLASTIC HYBRID LAID FABRIC FOR THE REPLACEMENT OF STEEL REINFORCEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTIONS T2 - SAMPE Europe 2021 Conference, Baden/Zürich, 29. - 30. Sept. 2021 KW - wood-plastic hybrid fabric Y1 - 2021 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Herz, Jonas A1 - Sigrüner, Michael A1 - Walter, David A1 - Muscat, Dirk A1 - Strübbe, Nicole T1 - Coextruded Polymeric Bicomponent Fibers for Concrete Reinforcements T2 - SAMPE Europe Conference Proceedings 2022, Hamburg, 15. - 17. Nov. 2022 KW - Coextrusion KW - Bicomponent Fibers KW - Concrete Reinforcement KW - Polypropylene Y1 - 2022 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Herz, Jonas A1 - Schusser, Verena A1 - Muscat, Dirk A1 - Strübbe, Nicole T1 - Cold-Drawn Wood-Filled Polybutylene Succinate Macro-Fibers as a Reinforcing Material for Concrete JF - Polymers N2 - The corrosive behavior of steel reinforcements causes issues in the concrete industry. To overcome this issue, alternative noncorrosive reinforcements such as polymer fibers could be used. However, as environmental protection becomes more important, sustainability must also be considered in the solution. An alternative to polymers based on raw oil is bio-based polymers. This study investigates the suitability of polymer fibers produced from polybutylene succinate together with cellulose and wood fillers as concrete reinforcements. Different mixtures of polybutylene succinate, cellulose, and wood fillers were created, and fibers were produced using a multiple drawing process. The fibers were tested using tensile tests, a single-fiber pull-out test, contact angle measurements, reflected light microscopy, density measurements, and thermogravimetric analysis. The fillers were shown to decrease the mechanical properties as the particle size and filler amount increased, resulting in a reduction in Young’s modulus and tensile strength of 55% and 70%, respectively, while adhesion to concrete increased with particle size from 0.31 ± 0.02 N/mm2 without filler to 0.90 ± 0.10 N/mm2 for the best-performing material combination. Reflected light microscopy images show changes in the fiber surface before and after pull-out. The fiber density decreased from 1.26 ± 0.05 g/cm3 to 0.91 ± 0.04 g/cm3 with an increasing filler amount and particle size for a compound with 10 weight percent of wood filler 1. The fiber thermal stability decreased slightly with the addition of filler. The greatest effect was a reduction in the temperature to ≈58 °C at 1% weight loss when 10 weight percent of wood was added. This study proves the possibility of using bio-based materials as concrete reinforcements. KW - fibers KW - compounding KW - extrusion KW - multiple drawing KW - polybutylene succinate KW - microcrystalline cellulose KW - wood particles KW - concrete Y1 - 2025 U6 - https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17030403 VL - 17 IS - 3 PB - MDPI CY - Basel ER - TY - GEN A1 - Krey, Adrian A1 - Zenz, Vitus A1 - Widera, Karolin A1 - List, Manuela A1 - Muscat, Dirk A1 - Strübbe, Nicole ED - Ediciones Uniandes, T1 - Reactive Extrusion of Lignocellulosic Biomass to Produce Biopolymer Monomers using High-Energy Radiation and Catalytic Acids T2 - Proceedings of the 39th International Conference of the Polymer Processing Society (PPS-39) N2 - The increasing prevalence of bio-based and biodegradable plastics as an alternative to traditional plastics derived from crude oil is a noteworthy trend. Polybutylene succinate (PBS), a plastic produced from succinic acid, is among the promising materials for the future. However, the production of bio-based succinic acid through biotechnical processes in controlled environments presents challenges. This process leads to increased costs and is currently not economically competitive compared to crude oil-based succinic acid production. In addition to succinic acid, levulinic acid is another monomer produced in the same process. A novel approach to the digestion of biomass has been developed to address the issue of biotechnological production of bio-based platform chemicals. This innovative process employs microwave radiation, pressure, and temperature to convert wood residues into succinic acid and levulinic acid. Various catalyst concentrations and biomass ratios were tested in a batch process, with high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC/MS) analyses revealing the formation of succinic acid, levulinic acid, formic acid, and 2 oxoglutaric acid. The results demonstrate that microwaves combined with a metal salt catalyst can be used to produce platform chemicals from lignocellulosic biomass. To further advance the continuous production of PBS, a twin-screw extruder was modified and adapted after the successful results obtained from the batch processes. This setup enables additional experiments to evaluate the transferability of batch process results to continuous reactions, facilitating the scale-up and economic viability of the overall PBS production process in the future. KW - Succinic Acid KW - Levulinic Acid KW - Biopolymer KW - Microwave KW - Wood Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.51573/Andes.PPS39.SS.BBB.6 SP - 329 EP - 337 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Herz, Jonas A1 - Lorenz, Katharina A1 - Muscat, Dirk A1 - Strübbe, Nicole T1 - Polymeric core-shell and mono-material fibers for concrete reinforcement T2 - AIP Conference Proceedings N2 - A reinforcement of concrete structures is needed because of the low tensile strength of concrete. Corrosion of the usually used steel reinforcments cause issues during time. Therfore, alternative reinforcements produced from non-corosive materials - like polymer fibers - become more interesting. A polymer fiber has to reach high mechanical properties and a good bonding ability to concrete. Both properties can be influenced by the selection of polymer and the used production process. Two polymers, polypropylene and aliphatic polyketone are tested within this study. First mono-material fibers of each material are produced and tested, later the materials are combined in a core-shell fiber. All fibers are produced by standard extrusion or coextrusion and a later drawing process. The mechanical properties are determined by tensile tests. The calculation of interfacial shear strength from single fiber pull-out tests allows an evaluation of the bonding ability. Additionally, fiber surface before and after pull-out is examined using reflected light microscopy. Contact angle measurements are done to evaluate possible influences of the surface energy and polarity. Density measurements are used to compare weight potential of the different mono-material and core-shell fibers. The results show good mechanical properties for all fiber materials. The interfacial shear strength is ≈ 2-3 times higher for fibers with polyketone compared to the ones with polypropylene at the fibers surface, which can be explained by higher surface energy and polarity of the polyketone compared to polypropylene and different surface deformation during pull-out. Lower densities are reached by fibers containing polypropylene. KW - polymer fibers KW - concrete reinforcement KW - core-shell fiber KW - coextrusion KW - polypropylene KW - polyketone Y1 - 2024 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0204946 VL - 3158 IS - 1 ER - TY - RPRT A1 - Strübbe, Nicole A1 - Muscat, Dirk A1 - Sigrüner, Michael T1 - FHprofUnt 2016: Entwicklung maßgeschneiderter Polymerfasern zur Verbesserung der Lebensdauer und der mechanischen Eigenschaften von Beton (Conplasite) : Erfolgskontrollbericht FHprofUnt 2016: Projekt Conplasite : Berichtszeitraum: 01.08.2018-31.07.2021 Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.2314/KXP:185433476X ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Sigrüner, Michael A1 - Hüsken, Götz A1 - Pirskawetz, Stephan A1 - Herz, Jonas A1 - Muscat, Dirk A1 - Strübbe, Nicole T1 - Pull-out behavior of polymer fibers in concrete JF - Journal of Polymer Science N2 - The bond between polymer fibers and the surrounding cementitious matrix is essential for the development of concrete reinforcement. The single fiber pull-out test (SFPT) is the standard characterization technique for testing the bond strength. However, the different phases of debonding cannot be distinguished by the SFPT. This study investigates the debonding of different polymer fibers from the surrounding cementitious matrix with a modified SFPT and proposes methods to change the SFPT setup to generate more valuable information on the debonding mechanism. The SFPT was equipped with linear variable differential transformers (LVDT), digital image correlation (DIC) and acoustic emission (AE) analysis. The results demonstrate that the modified SFPT allows a better understanding of the different phases of debonding during fiber pull-out. Furthermore, bond strength values calculated by different methods reveal that the chemical bond of the investigated polymers is not different as reported by previous studies. Deformation measurements performed using LVDTs and DIC are suitable measuring techniques to characterize the debonding mechanism in SFPT. A correlation between recorded AE and debonding phases was not found. KW - acoustic emission KW - bond behavior KW - polymer fibers KW - pull-out Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/pol.20230264 VL - 61 IS - 21 SP - 2708 EP - 2720 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Schusser, Verena A1 - Sigrüner, Michael A1 - Bogner, Stefan A1 - Muscat, Dirk A1 - Strübbe, Nicole T1 - Effect of Fillers on the Mechanical Properties of Drawn Polypropylene Fibers T2 - International Conference on Composite Materials Belfast 2023 (ICCM 23), 30 July - 4 August 2023 KW - Filler Reinforcement KW - Filament KW - Fiber Draw Down Y1 - 2023 ER -