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Association was found between indices of spirometry and BMI in non-asthmatic obese group along with a gender disparity.

Novel thermally cross-linked and sulphur-vulcanized TPVs based on S-EB-S and S-SBR blends have registered good mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties with reduced hardness suitable for automotive applications.

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Phase selective and thermodynamically controlled dispersion of filler particles into the dynamically vulcanized rubber/plastic blends depicting higher abundance of carbon black in the thermoplastic phase with the progressive filler addition.

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Thermoplastic vulcanizates (TPVs), which are a special class of elastomer alloy, prepared by dynamic vulcanization possess unique morphology of finely dispersed micron-size cross-linked elastomeric particles in a continuous thermoplastic matrix. The present study investigates the microstructure formation of elastomeric phase and its associated morphological changes during reprocessing of TPVs based on poly[styrene-b-(ethylene-co-butylene)-b-styrene] triblock co-polymer (S-EB-S) and solution polymerized styrene butadiene elastomer (S-SBR) by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Semi-efficient and efficient sulfur-based curing systems have been adopted to cure the elastomeric phase and a comparative study has been made to demonstrate and explain the effect of reprocessing on the melt rheology and dynamic viscoelasticity of the TPVs. The present work also provides a better insight and guidance to control the microstructure of the cross-linked elastomeric phase to prepare selectively co-continuous or dispersed phase morphology.

For the past few decades, butyl rubber (IIR) and its derivatives have been used primarily in air barrier applications. Recently other synthetic rubbers like hydrogenated acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (HNBR) has attracted attention for its air barrier properties. A blend of brominated butyl rubber (BIIR) and HNBR can be a potential and novel material with improved technical features as well as excellent processing behavior. In this article, laponite (RD) and bentonite (MT) nano-clays have been used to prepare BIIR-HNBR blend based nanocomposites. A detailed investigation of nanocomposite morphology has been done using the transmission electron microscope results. The improvement in terms of mechanical and gas barrier properties of BIIR-HNBR nano-clay composites over BIIR-carbon black composites have been explored in detail. The air impermeability of BIIR-HNBR blends shows a 20% improvement compared to the reference composite. The results clearly demonstrate the usefulness and effectiveness of the material in gas barrier applications.