Aymen Ben Mabrouk

Institut Préparatoire aux Etudes d'Ingénieurs de Sfax | IPEIS · Department of Chemistry

Chitin nanocrystals (ChNCs) produced by hydrochloric acid hydrolysis of chitin were used as stabilizing agent for oil-in-water (O/W) emulsification of soybean oil (SO), acrylated soybean oil (ASO), and epoxidized soybean oil (ESO). The emulsion stability, droplet size, and rheology of the emulsion were found to be significantly affected by the oil...

Soap-free emulsion polymerization of vinyl acetate (AVM) in the presence of cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) was performed using persulfate/metabisulfite as initiator. The effect of the addition of MPEG comonomer on the locus of CNCs with respect to polymer particles was investigated. It was shown that the presence of MPEG strongly favors the accumula...

Cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) from oxidized never dried Eucalyptus pulps have been produced by using twin screw extrusion (TSE) and high pressure homogenizer (HPH), and their properties were compared. CNFs from TSE are produced at 10% solid content and then diluted to 1% for purpose of comparison against HPH. The nanosized fraction (NF) was around 9...

Waterborne acrylic–cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) nanocomposite latexes have been successfully synthesized via one-pot miniemulsion polymerization. A cationic copolymer and a low amount of anionic surfactant were used to promote the stabilization process and prevent the aggregation during storage. The effect of the CNFs content and the amount of adde...

In the present work, the dielectric properties of nanocomposites based on poly(styrene-Co-2-ethyl hexylacrylate) copolymer (StHA) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) and γ-methacryloxypropyl triethoxysilane (MPS) as a coupling agent were investigated. Four relaxation processes were detected: the β relaxation, the α relaxation, the electrode polarizat...

Hybrid waterborne alkyd–acrylic dispersions with solid content of 40%, free from any surfactant and exempt of any organic solvent, were successfully synthesized by a melt co-condensation reaction between an acrylic prepolymer bearing carboxylic groups and a long-oil alkyd resin. Spontaneous emulsification of the ensuing hybrid resin was achieved by...

Efficient surface functionalization of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) with hydroxyl butyl acrylate monomer (HBA) was carried on under mild condition using N,N′-carbonyldiimidazole as an activator. The grafting of the acrylic monomer was shown to bring about the high yield grafting of polymer chains on the functionalized CNC during in situ polymerizat...

Efficient surface functionalization of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) with hydroxyl butyl acrylate monomer (HBA) was carried on under mild condition using N,N′-carbonyldiimidazole as an activator. The grafting of the acrylic monomer was shown to bring about the high yield grafting of polymer chains on the functionalized CNC during in situ polymerizat...

The potential of starch nanoparticles (SNPs) to stabilize emulsion droplets during miniemulsion polymerization was investigated. We showed that while starch nanoplatelets were not sufficient to stabilize the monomer droplets by themselves, they did provide a synergistic stabilization effect when used together with a cationic surfactant, reducing th...

The microstructure and chemical composition of alfa (Stipa tenacissima) were investigated. The polysaccharide and lignin contents were around 70 and 20 wt%, respectively. From the bleached and delignified fibers, two types of nanosized cellulosic particles were extracted, namely cellulose nanocrystals and microfibrillated cellulose (MFC). The forme...

The microstructure and chemical composition of alfa (Stipa tenacissima) were investigated. The polysaccharide and lignin contents were around 70 and 20 wt%, respectively. From the bleached and delignified fibers, two types of nanosized cellulosic particles were extracted, namely cellulose nanocrys-tals and microfibrillated cellulose (MFC). The form...

Stable film-forming nanocomposite particles with diameters ranging from 120 to 300 nm, based on polybutylmethacrylate (PBMA) and cellulose whiskers in water dispersions, were successfully synthesized in one step through mini-emulsion polymerization. The nanocomposite dispersion with a solid content of 25 wt.% and up to 5 wt.% of nanofiller loading...

A one-step method was used to prepare stable aqueous nanocomposite dispersions based on cellulose whiskers extracted from the rachis of the date palm tree and a poly(styrene-co-2-ethyl hexylacrylate) copolymer via miniemulsion polymerization. A reactive silane, i.e., methacryloxypropyl triethoxysilane was added to stabilize the dispersion and favor...

A stable aqueous nanocomposite dispersion containing cellulose whiskers and a poly(styrene-co-hexylacrylate) matrix was prepared via miniemulsion polymerization. We were able to prepare a stable dispersion with a 20 wt % solid content and a cellulose whiskers content ranging from 1 up to 5 wt % based on polymer content. To avoid particle agglomerat...