We report the discovery of a family of organic compounds, substituted 1,3,5-benzenetrisamides, thatsdepending on subtle details of their chemical structuresare capable of selectively and extremely efficiently nucleating the growth of the common R-crystal modification of the major industrial polymer isotactic polypropylene (i-PP), rendering this normally turbid material highly transparent ("clarified") at exceedingly low concentrations (as low as a weight fraction of 0.0002), inducing the mechanically distinct, tough i-PP β-polymorph, or promoting growth of hybrids of both crystallographic modifications with heretofore unknown combinations of the above desirable optical-mechanical properties. In addition, these trisamide-based compounds exhibit excellent thermal stability and do not feature absorption of visible light, adding to a most favorable set of characteristics that provides marked benefits over the presently employed nucleating/clarifying agents.

Tris-2,3-dimethyl-hexylamide of trimesic acid (TATA) is an new type of b-nucleating agent for isotactic polypropylene (iPP). The crystallization, melting characteristics, and the supermolecular structure of iPP nucleated with TATA were studied on the samples crystallized under nonisothermal and isothermal conditions. The b-nucleating ability of TATA was rather high even at low concentration. It was established that TATA possessed dual nucleating ability generating samples with mixed (a and b) polymorphic compositions. The b-content showed an maximum value at low concentrations (10-100 ppm) of TATA. The b-content decreased with increasing concentration of TATA in the higher concentration range. The highest b-content (about 80%) was achieved at the crystallization temperature T c ¼ 110-120 C at low concentration of TATA. The crystallization curves registered at constant cooling rate or under isothermal condition have a single peak in spite of the formation of two polymorphic modifications. The crystallization isotherms cannot be linearized according to the Avrami equation because of simultaneous crystallization of the a-and b-forms, having different nucleation and growth rate. It was also found that the b-content increased with increasing conversion during isothermal crystallization because of the higher growth rate of the b-phase. The b-phase formed in the presence of TATA consist of lamellar crystallites. In the early stage of the crystallization, hedritic structure is formed.

Additive manufacturing has become one of the forefront technologies in fabrication, enabling products impossible to manufacture before. Although many materials exist for additive manufacturing, most suffer from performance trade-offs. Current materials are designed with inefficient human-driven intuition-based methods, leaving them short of optimal solutions. We propose a machine learning approach to accelerating the discovery of additive manufacturing materials with optimal trade-offs in mechanical performance. A multiobjective optimization algorithm automatically guides the experimental design by proposing how to mix primary formulations to create better performing materials. The algorithm is coupled with a semiautonomous fabrication platform to substantially reduce the number of performed experiments and overall time to solution. Without prior knowledge of the primary formulations, the proposed methodology autonomously uncovers 12 optimal formulations and enlarges the discovered performance space 288 times after only 30 experimental iterations. This methodology could be easily generalized to other material design systems and enable automated discovery.

Abstract. This study is devoted to the investigation of the effect of molecular mass on the α-, β-and γ-crystallization tendency of isotactic polypropylene (iPP). The crystalline structure was studied by wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) and by polarised light microscopy (PLM). The melting and crystallization characteristics were determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results indicate clearly that iPP with low molecular mass crystallizes essentially in α-modification. However, it crystallizes in β-form in the presence of a highly efficient and selective β-nucleating agent. The α-and β-modifications form in wide molecular mass range. The decreasing molecular mass results in increased structural instability in both α-and β-modifications and consequently enhanced inclination to recrystallization during heating. The formation of γ-modification could not be observed, although some literature sources report that γ-form develops in iPP with low molecular mass.

Bisphenol A glycidyl methacrylate (BisGMA) is well established as photocurable resin in dental restoratives and 3D printing. At present there are raising concerns regarding the estrogen‐mimicking bisphenol A (BPA) contamination of health care and consumer products. It is an important challenge to substitute BPA‐based resins for bio‐based cycloaliphatic monomers while lowering resin viscosity without sacrificing high stiffness and glass temperature. Particularly high viscosity is critical for 3D printing by photopolymerization. Unlike BPA the cyclic monoterpene limonene, extracted from citrus fruit peels, is safe in human uses. Herein it is reported on limonene‐based dimethacrylate (LDMA) tailored for 3D printing application and derived from limonene oxide (LO) and methacrylic acid (MA). Residual MA is converted into glycerol dimethacrylate (GDMA) serving as an in situ reactive diluent. The influences of temperature, catalysts, MA/LO stoichiometry, and the addition of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) and magnesium oxide on the LDMA‐based resin performance are elucidated. As compared to BisGMA (560 Pa s) LDMA‐based resins exhibit significantly lower viscosity (5–117 Pa s) governed by the MA/LDMA molar ratio and the GMA addition. At 30 wt% LDMA content photocured resin yields thermosets having high Young’s Modulus (3.4–3.7 GPa), tensile strength (88–98 MPa), and glass transition temperature (119–135 °C), surpassing the performance of the corresponding BisGMA‐based resins.