* It has been rumored that a bumble bee has such aerodynamic deficiencies that it should be incapable of flight. Fiberglass-reinforced polymer com posites, similarly, have two (apparently) insurmountable obstacles to per formance: 1) Water can hydrolyze any conceivable bond between organic and inorganic phase, and 2) Stresses across the interface during temperature cycling (resulting from a mismatch in thermal expansion coefficients) may exceed the strength of one of the phases. Organofunctional silanes are hybrid organic-inorganic compounds that are used as coupling agents across the organic-inorganic interface to help overcome these two obstacles to composite performance. One of their functions is to use the hydrolytic action of water under equilibrium condi tions to relieve thermally induced stresses across the interface. If equilib rium conditions can be maintained, the two problems act to cancel each other out. Coupling agents are defined primarily as materials that improve the practical adhesive bond of polymer to mineral. This may involve an increase in true adhesion, but it may also involve improved wetting, rheology, and other handling properties. The coupling agent may also modify the inter phase region to strengthen the organic and inorganic boundary layers.

This volume chronicles the proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Silanes and Other Coupling Agents held under the aegis of MST Conferences, LLC in Orlando, FL, June 11-13, 2003. Silanes have been used for about half a century as coupling agents / adhesion promoters to promote adhesion between dissimilar materials in a variety of situations, e.g., coating technology, adhesive bonding, and reinforced composites. However, recently silanes have found other applications, for example, as corrosion inhibitors. Lately there has been tremendous R&D activity in understanding the mechanisms by which silanes work as well as in devising new and improved silanes. This volume contains a total of 16 papers which were properly peer reviewed, revised and edited. The book is divided into two parts: 1. Silane Coupling Agents; and 2. Other Coupling Agents / Adhesion Promoters. Topics covered include: sterically hindered silanes; silane hydrolysis; silane oligomers; adsorption of silanes and their surface characterization; structure of bis-silane water-barrier films; silanes for improving adhesive bonding of aluminim, elastomer-to-metal adhesive bonds, and adhesion in silica-filler tire-tread compounds; electrodeposition of bis-silanes; silanes to provide corrosion resistance and as corrosion fatigue inhibitors; silane and other treatments for musical instrument strings; cyclic azasilanes as coupling agents for nanotechnology; hybrid polymers based on silanes for coating textile fabrics; plasma copolymers as adhesion promoters; organophosphate adsorption; and activation of wood fibres. This volume and its predecessors containing bountiful information should serve as a reference source for the latest R&D activity in the arena of coupling agents. Anyone interested or involved in promoting adhesion between dissimilar materials for any application should find this volume of great use and value.

The topic of silanes and other coupling agents/adhesion promoters is of tremendous contemporary interest because of their application in many and varied technologically important areas ranging from coatings to reinforced composites to dentistry to biomedical (e.g., for bonding nucleotides to the so-called a gene chipsa ). In addition to their tra

This book chronicles the proceedings of the Fifth International Symposium held on this topic in Toronto. A total of 26 papers covering many ramifications of silanes and other coupling agents are included in this book. The topics covered include: various ways to deposit silanes; silane adsorption; investigation of interfacial interactions between si

This book is an extended version of the proceedings of the Symposium on Polymer Composites, Interfaces, which was held under the auspices of the Division of Polymer Chemistry, American Chemical Society (ACS) during the annual ACS meeting in Seattle, March, 1983. The importance of the interface in composite materials has been recognized since the inception of modern composite technology. Specifically, silane coupling agents were developed for glass fiber reinforced compOSites at a very early date. Ever since then the diversity of composite materials and the development of various surface treatment methods have led to the establishment of an "interface art." A trial-and-error approach has dominated the interfacial aspects of composite technology until very recently. With the advent of modern analytical techniques for surface characterization, it became possible to study detailed surface and interface structures. It was hoped that this symposium would catalyze such a fundamental and scientific approach in composite studies. For this reason, the symposium was structured to verify the influence of interfacial structures on the mechanical and physical performance of composites and to improve our knowledge of the microstructure of composite interfaces. As the word ·composite" indicates, interdisciplinary interaction is indispensable for proper understanding of multiphase systems.

This valuable guide to compounding elastomers with precipitated silica covers principles, properties, mixing, testing and formulations from a practical perspective. This handbook and reference manual will serve those who work on part design, elastomer formulation, manufacturing and applications of elastomers. Ample discussion of compound specifications adds to the usefulness of this book to practitioners. Comparisons of carbon black and silica compounds throughout the book allow readers to select the most suitable formulation for applications ranging from tires to electrical insulation to shoe soles. The author has over forty years of experience in the rubber industry highlighted by his 39 years at the PPG Rubber Research laboratories. A highlight of the book is the inclusion of studies conducted by the author which greatly adds to the richness of the contents.

Bioconjugate Techniques, 2nd Edition, is the essential guide to the modification and cross linking of biomolecules for use in research, diagnostics, and therapeutics. It provides highly detailed information on the chemistry, reagent systems, and practical applications for creating labeled or conjugate molecules. It also describes dozens of reactions with details on hundreds of commercially available reagents and the use of these reagents for modifying or cross linking peptides and proteins, sugars and polysaccharides, nucleic acids and oligonucleotides, lipids, and synthetic polymers. A one-stop source for proven methods and protocols for synthesizing bioconjugates in the lab Step-by-step presentation makes the book an ideal source for researchers who are less familiar with the synthesis of bioconjugates More than 600 figures that visually describe the complex reactions associated with the synthesis of bioconjugates Includes entirely new chapters on the latest areas in the field of bioconjugation as follows: Microparticles and nanoparticlesSilane coupling agentsDendrimers and dendronsChemoselective ligationQuantum dotsLanthanide chelatesCyanine dyesDiscrete PEG compoundsBuckyballs,fullerenes, and carbon nanotubesMass tags and isotope tagsBioconjugation in the study of protein interactions