Article history: Received 1 March 2011 Received in revised form 3 May 2011 Accepted 15 May 2011 Available online 19 May 2011

This review focuses on the polyesters such as polylactide and polyhydroxyalkonoates, as well as polyamides produced from renewable resources, which are currently among the most promising (bio)degradable polymers. Synthetic pathways, favourable properties and utilisation (most important applications) of these attractive polymer families are outlined. Environmental impact and in particular (bio)d...

To date, quite a few wearable electronics have entered the market, which are changing the life pattern of consumers. However, the limited lifetime and energy storage capacity have made rechargeable batteries the bottleneck in wearable technology, especially with the increase of number of wearable devices and their large distribution. To solve this problem, we demonstrate a woven-structured trib...

The use of a polymeric Torlon (polyamide-imide) gasket material in a Paris-Edinburgh pressure cell for in situ high-pressure X-ray scattering measurements is demonstrated. The relatively low bulk modulus of the gasket allows for fine control of the sample pressure over the range 0.01-0.42 GPa. The quality of the data obtained in this way is suitable for Bragg and pair distribution function anal...

The high process temperatures in combination with long building times during the laser sintering process lead to chemical and physical aging mechanisms on the polymeric feed material. The unmolten partcake material, which acts as a supporting structure, can be removed after each building process and reused for further processes. However, material as well as bulk properties are changed due to th...

Two peptides which have previously been shown to induce chemotactic motility in a number of tumor cells were tested for their ability to alter the adhesiveness of Walker Carcinosarcoma cells (A chemotactically-responsive rat tumor) and normal rat fibroblasts (which have previously been shown to be chemotactically nonresponsive). Adherence of the tumor cells to nylon fibers was increased in a do...

When processing polymers in laser sintering, material aging occurs. The consequences of these aging effects are changes of material and part properties. A reduction of surface quality and the occurrence of orange peel are often found when using a material of too high viscosity. These effects are well known when processing polyamide 12. For alternative materials there is only little knowledge on...