Composites: Part A 64 (2014) 139–146

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Composites: Part A
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compositesa

Study on short ramie fiber/poly(lactic acid) composites compatibilized

by maleic anhydride
Tao Yu a,b, Ning Jiang a, Yan Li a,⇑
a
School of Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Tongji University, 1239 Siping Road, Shanghai 200092, PR China
b
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Polymers, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Short ramie fiber reinforced poly(lactic acid) (PLA) composites without and with maleic anhydride (MA)
Received 5 November 2013 were developed. The influence of PLA-g-MA as a compatibilizer on the properties of the composites was
Received in revised form 7 May 2014 studied. The tensile, flexural and impact strength of the composites have improvements with the addition
Accepted 10 May 2014
of PLA-g-MA. The morphology of fracture surface evaluated by SEM indicates that the composites with
Available online 22 May 2014
the addition of PLA-g-MA can get better adhesion between the fiber and the matrix. And the Vicat soft-
ening temperature and the degradation temperature of the composites are increased with the addition of
Keywords:
PLA-g-MA. However, PLA-g-MA leads the glass transition temperature (Tg) decrease according to the DSC
A. Polymer–matrix composites (PMCs)
B. Interface
results.
B. Mechanical properties Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
B. Thermal properties

1. Introduction
With the growing environmental awareness and shortage of
natural resource, biodegradable and compostable materials are
produced and used in increasing amounts in the areas of life and
industry [1,2]. Natural fiber reinforced thermoplastic composites
are widely used as the biocomposites due to the considerations
of developing an environmental friendly material and good perfor-
mance in terms of strength [3,4]. Natural fibers have different ori-
gins such as ramie [5], jute [6], hemp [7], sisal [8], kenaf [9] and
flax [10]. These fibers are mainly made of cellulose, hemicelluloses,
lignin and pectins, with a small quantity of extractives [2]. Natural
fiber as a candidate to replace currently used glass or aramid fiber
has many advantages such as high specific strength and modulus,
recyclable, low density and low pollutant emissions [11,12]. Often,
polyolefin thermoplastics such as polypropylene and polyethylene
have been used as the matrix polymer [8,13]. Poly(lactic acid)
(PLA) as a linear aliphatic thermoplastic polyester produced from
renewable resources could be produced either by ring-opening
polymerization of lactide or by polycondensation of the lactic acid
monomers, and the monomer is obtained from the fermentation of
corn, etc. [14,15]. PLA provides good aesthetics, strength and easy
processability in most equipment [16].
Many studies have been made to use PLA as matrix for natural
fibers [17,18]. However, the poor interfacial adhesion between
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 21 65985919; fax: +86 21 65983950.
E-mail address: liyan@tongji.edu.cn (Y. Li).
natural fibers and the PLA matrix limits their widely use. The polar
fibers have inherently lower compatibility with less polar PLA
matrix, and the incompatibility may influence the composite pro-
cessing and the properties of the composites. Hydrogen bonds
formed between the hydrophilic fibers lead the fibers agglomerate
into bundles. Moisture absorption of the natural fibers may cause
dimensional changes of the resulting composites and weaken the
interfacial adhesion [19]. Many researches focused on using differ-
ent physical and chemical methods include fiber treatments tech-
niques such as, silation, acylation, alkali treatment, etherification,
isocyanate treatment and use of coupling agents to improve inter-
facial bonding properties of natural fiber reinforced PLA compos-
ites [20,21].
Maleic anhydride (MA)-grafted polymers as compatibilizers
between polymer and natural fiber can improve interfacial adhe-
sion of the composites [13,22]. It is reported that PLA-g-MA as a
compatibilizer in PLA composites with kenaf, wheat straw, green
coconut fiber, jute and starch was investigate [23–25]. The com-
patibility between PLA and natural fiber (or starch) was improved
which is attributed to the resulting introduction of reactive groups
at the interface between the PLA matrix and the surface of the
more polar natural fiber (or starch particles), where the formation
of this inter-phase strengthens the chemical and physical interac-
tion between the polar surface of natural fiber (or the starch parti-
cles) and the less polar PLA matrix [26].
The structure of the ramie technical fibers and the other natural
fiber such as sisal, jute and kenaf are different. A technical ramie
fiber comprised of a bundle of ramie elementary fiber with the

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compositesa.2014.05.008
1359-835X/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
140 T. Yu et al. / Composites: Part A 64 (2014) 139–146
diameter about 10–20 lm, however the technical sisal fiber is a
composite structure with elementary fiber reinforced pectin
matrix [27]. Different structure of the fiber will lead the different
interface between fiber and matrix [28]. In the present study, MA
is used as a compatibilizer to improve the interfacial bonding
between short ramie fiber and PLA matrix. MA is highly reactive
with PLA free radicals induced by an initiator and the anhydride
group could react with hydroxyls from ramie to form ester link-
ages, as the reaction scheme shown in Fig. 1. PLA-g-MA is synthe-
sized by twin-screw extruder firstly, and the PLA-g-MA obtained
was analysed by using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). Then
PLA-g-MA and ramie were blended by a two-roll mill to prepare
the ramie/PLA composites. The mechanical properties and scan-
ning electron microscopy (SEM) were used to characterize the
interfacial adhesion of the composites. The influence of PLA-g-
MA on the thermal properties was evaluated by differential scan-
ning calorimeter (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), Vicat
softening temperature (VST) and thermogravimetric analysis
(TGA). The results obtained may contribute to the design of the
biocomposites for the engineering application.
2. Experimental
2.1. Materials
The materials used were obtained from commercial supplier.
Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) (NatureWorksÒ 4032D, Mw = 140,000,
Mw/Mn = 1.7) was purchased by NatureWorks Co., Ltd. Ramie fiber
was supplied by Jinlan Ramie Fiber Co., Ltd., China. Ramie fiber was
cut to 10 mm in average length. Maleic anhydride (MA) and ben-
zoyl peroxide (BPO) were supplied by Sinopharm Chemical
Reagent Co., Ltd. (Shanghai).
2.2. Synthesis PLA-g-MA
PLA, MA and BPO were dried at 60 °C in vacuum for 10 h. The
dried PLA, MA and BPO were firstly well mixed by a high speed
mixer. And then BPO as initiator with PLA and MA were blended
in a co-rotating twin-screw extruder (20 mm, L/D = 40; Nanjing
Jieya, China) at operating temperatures from 155 to 170 °C. The
Fig. 1. Proposed chemical reaction among ramie, PLA, MA and BPO.
extrudate was cooled in a water bath and cut into pellets. And then
the pellets were collected and dried in a vacuum oven at 60 °C for
24 h before further processing. The compositions are shown in
Table 1.
2.3. Preparation of composites
The ramie fibers and PLA-g-MA pellets were mixed by using a
two-roll mill at 140 °C for 5 min and the weight percent of the
ramie fibers was 30%, the composition were shown in Table 1.
The composites obtained were then molded into sheets by hot
pressing at 170 °C and 5 MPa for 4 min followed by cooling to room
temperature at 5 MPa. The sheets were prepared for structure
characterization and properties measurement.
2.4. Characterization
2.4.1. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR)
FTIR spectra were recorded on an EQUINOX 55 spectrometer
using compression molded film samples at a range of 400–4000
cm1.
2.4.2. Mechanical properties
Determination of tensile and flexural properties was carried out
with a computer controlled mechanical instrument (DXLL-5000,
Shanghai D&G instrument Co., Ltd., China) according to GB
13022-91 and GB 1449-83 respectively. A crosshead speed of
2 mm/min was used. The test of Izod impact was performed by
Notched Izod impact instrument (XCJ-50 test machine, Chengde
test Instruments Ltd., China) accordance to GB 1451-83. At least
five specimens were used for each test.
2.4.3. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
The fracture surface of the sample was sputter-coated with gold
layer before examination, and the morphology micrographs of the
composites were obtained by using FEI Quanta200 SEM (Holand),
which the accelerating voltage was 20 kV.
 T. Yu et al. / Composites: Part A 64 (2014) 139–146
Table 1
Formulations of the specimens.
Materials PLA (wt%) MA (wt%) BPO (wt%) Ramie (wt%)
PLA 100 – – –
PLA-g-3MA 96.5 3 0.5 –
PLA-g-5MA 94 5 1 –
Ramie/PLA 70 – – 30
Ramie/PLA/3MA 67.55 2.1 0.35 30
Ramie/PLA/5MA 65.8 3.5 0.7 30
2.4.4. Differential scanning calorimeter (DSC)
Thermal analysis tests were carried out using a TA Q20 DSC
apparatus. All measurements were tested under pure nitrogen
gas at a heating rate of 10 °C/min. The weight of samples was kept
about 5 mg. The samples were first heated from 20 to 200 °C and
held at this temperature for 5 min to remove their thermal history.
The samples were then cooled to 20 °C and held for 2 min before
reheating to 200 °C. The values of glass transition temperature
(Tg), cold crystallization temperature (Tc), and melting temperature
(Tm) were determined from the second heating scans. The Tg was
taken as the deflection of the DSC curve from baseline in the sec-
ond heat cycle.
2.4.5. Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA)
Dynamic mechanical properties were performed in a TA Q800
instrument, operated in multi frequency strain mode using three-
point bending clamp. The samples were cut from the sheets with
typical dimensions of 50  13  2.4 mm, and examined at a heat-
ing rate of 3 °C/min from 20 °C to 120 °C, and strain of frequency
1 Hz and amplitude 15 lm. The specimens were dried at 60 °C
for 12 h under vacuum before testing. The viscoelastic properties,
such as the storage modulus and the loss factor tangent delta, were
measured for each sample in this temperature range as a function
of temperature.
2.4.6. Vicat softening temperature (VST)
The Vicat softening temperature reflects the point of softening
to be expected when a material is used in an elevated temperature
application. The Vicat softening temperature was tested according
to ASTM D1525 Standard. A test specimen was placed in the testing
apparatus so that the penetrating needle rested on its surface at
least 1 mm from the edge. A load of 10 N was applied on the spec-
imen. The specimen was then lowered into an oil bath at room
temperature. The bath temperature was raised at a rate of
120 °C/h until the needle penetrated into the specimen by 1 mm.
2.4.7. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA)
TGA was determined in a thermogravimetric analyzer (NET-
ZSCH TA449C Jupiter, Germany) at a heating rate of 20 °C/min from
30 to 600 °C under the presence of nitrogen (80 ml/min).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. FTIR analysis
The FTIR spectra of neat PLA and PLA-g-MA have been normal-
ized, which are shown in Fig. 2. The characteristic transitions of
PLA at 2996 and 2945 cm1 (ACH3 and ACH stretching vibrations),
1745 cm1 (AC@O), 1450, 1379, and 1355 cm1 (ACH3 and ACH
bending vibrations), 1265 cm1 (stretching vibration of ACAOAC),
1186, 1133 and 1043 cm1 (asymmetric and symmetric bending
vibrations of ACAOAC and ACH3 rocking), 950 cm1 (CAC stretch-
ing vibration), and 865 cm1 (CACOO) exhibit in the spectra of neat
PLA and PLA-g-MA [29]. By comparison to the FTIR spectrum of
neat PLA, two small additional absorption peaks at 1791 and
141
Fig. 2. FTIR spectra of neat PLA and PLA-g-MA. (For interpretation of the references
to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this
article.)
1868 cm1 were observed for the grafted PLA, assigned to the sym-
metric and asymmetric stretching for the carbonyl functions of MA,
respectively [24]. The absorption peaks are very small which is
probably due to the low MA content (only 3% and 5% based on
the weight of neat PLA). As it can be observed, the intensity of
the absorption bands at 1450, 1379, 1355, 2996 and 2945 cm1
decreased, which can be attributed to the ACH group of PLA
main-chain involved in the grafting reaction, thus confirming that
the graft reaction occurred.
3.2. Mechanical properties
Table 2 shows the tensile strength, elongation at break and the
tensile modulus of neat PLA, ramie/PLA composites without and
with different MA content. The tensile load–displacement curves
are shown in Fig. 3A. The tensile strength of PLA increases from
45.2 MPa to 59.3 MPa with loading the ramie fiber. The increase
indicated that the stress was transferred from the matrix to the
fibers [30]. Addition of 3% MA to the ramie/PLA composites
resulted further increase in the tensile strength. The improvement
in the tensile strength is attributed to the increased adhesion
between fiber and the matrix that facilitates more stress transfer
through bonding to the fibers. The interface adhesion is due to
the presence of PLA-g-MA which reacted with the hydroxyl group
present in the ramie fiber surface. With further increasing MA con-
tent, the tensile strength of the composites is slightly decreased,
which is mainly attributed to the plasticizing effect of PLA-g-MA
molecules in the composites. The free radicals from the initiator
causes degradation of the matrix, and that may also lead to reduc-
tion in the tensile properties [23,27,31]. The modulus of the com-
posites was affected by fiber, matrix and their interface. The
tensile modulus of PLA was improved with addition of ramie fiber,
which is known that fibers act as rigid filler that increases stiffness.
The slightly improvement of the tensile modulus and elongation at
break of the composites with the PLA-g-MA content is also due to
the increase of the interface adhesion. It is suggested that for the
tensile modulus, the effect of the enhanced interface adhesion is
greater than that of the plasticization of PLA-g-MA and degradation
of the matrix.
The flexural strength and modulus data for neat PLA, ramie/PLA
composites without and with different MA content was presented
in Fig. 3B. The flexural strength results of the composites with MA
content are similar to the tensile strength of the composites. The
142 T. Yu et al. / Composites: Part A 64 (2014) 139–146

Table 2
Tensile properties of the specimens.

Specimen Tensile strength (MPa) Elongation at break (%) Tensile modulus (GPa)
PLA 45.2 ± 1.5 1.2 ± 0.2 2.6 ± 0.1
PLA-g-3MA 43.3 ± 0.7 2.1 ± 0.2 2.4 ± 0.1
PLA-g-5MA 40.1 ± 0.8 2.2 ± 0.1 2.3 ± 0.2
Ramie/PLA 59.3 ± 0.8 4.1 ± 0.3 4.3 ± 0.2
Ramie/PLA/3MA 64.3 ± 1.2 4.4 ± 0.3 4.4 ± 0.1
Ramie/PLA/5MA 61.7 ± 0.9 4.3 ± 0.1 4.5 ± 0.1

and there seems to be no significant difference in the flexural

strength of the composites with different MA content. The similar
results are reported by Nyambo [23,27]. In order to confirm
whether the treatment method can significantly influence the flex-
ural propertied of the composites or not, statistical analysis was
performed using SPSS for Windows. Data were compared by one-
way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and a Tukey post-ANOVA test.
The mean values were considered significant at the 0.013 level
(P 6 0.05).
Toughness is the major factor that controls the impact strength.
The impact strength results of ramie/PLA composites without and
with different MA content are shown in Fig. 3C, and the impact
strength of neat PLA is also presented for comparison. Generally,
the toughness of fiber reinforced polymer composites is dependent
on the fiber, the polymer matrix and their interfacial bonding
strength. From Fig. 3B, the impact strength of neat PLA was about
3.9 kJ/m2, which was improved to about 5 kJ/m2 with incorpora-
tion of ramie fiber. The reason is the ramie can increase the amount
of energy required for pulling it out. With the addition of PLA-g-
MA, the impact strength of ramie/PLA composites increased. It
appears that PLA-g-MA provides effective resistance to crack prop-
agation during impact test because of improvement of interfacial
adhesion.

3.3. Morphology observation

The morphologies of the fractured surfaces of notched Izod

specimens of composites without and with 5% MA were investi-
gated by SEM. The results are shown in Fig. 4. From the images,
there is a difference in the adhesion between PLA matrix and ramie
fiber. Fig. 4A shows the fractured surface of the composites with-
out PLA-g-MA, and the fiber breakages and the voids can be iden-
tified. The fibers were pulled out with relatively clean fiber surface
and without the resin on fiber surface that is an indication of low
adhesion between them. However, for the composites with PLA-
g-MA (shown in Fig. 4B and C), the gaps between the fiber and
the matrix become small. It is also observed that the layers of
matrix are pulled out together with the fiber during impact frac-
ture, which further substantiates adhesion between the fiber and
the matrix. The SEM analysis indicates that the good interfacial
adhesion between PLA and the ramie fiber. The unreacted MA is
found in the matrix, which has an influence on the properties of
the ramie/PLA composites.

3.4. Crystallization and melting behaviors

DSC curves of neat PLA, ramie/PLA composites are presented in

Fig. 5. The glass transition temperature (Tg), cold crystallization
temperature (Tc), melting temperature (Tm), crystallization
Fig. 3. Mechanical properties of neat PLA, ramie/PLA composites without and with
enthalpy (DHc), melting enthalpy (DHm) and the percentage crys-
different MA content (A) tensile load–displacement curves, (B) flexural properties,
(C) impact strength. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure tallinity (Xc) obtained from DSC analysis are summarized in Table 3.
legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.) Xc values of PLA in the ramie/PLA composites were evaluated as
follows:
flexural strength of ramie/PLA composites with 3% MA content
DH m  DH c
increased from 105.2 MPa to 112.4 MPa. The improvement is X c ð%Þ ¼  100
related to the better interface between the fiber and the matrix, UDH0m
 T. Yu et al. / Composites: Part A 64 (2014) 139–146 143

Fig. 5. DSC thermograms of neat PLA, ramie/PLA without and with different MA
content. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the
reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Table 3
Thermal properties of the specimens.

Specimen Tg (°C) Tc (°C) Tm (°C) DHc (J/g) DHm (J/g) Xc (%)

PLA 60.68 92.54 165.70 12.04 32.35 21.8
Ramie/PLA 64.60 104.08 166.85 19.07 19.13 0.06
Ramie/PLA/ 59.64 104.43 150.23 9.19 16.34 6.9
3MA
Ramie/PLA/ 57.07 93.11 148.62 13.57 15.55 2.13
5MA

fiber. However, Tg of PLA in the composite with the addition of PLA-

g-MA shifts to the lower temperatures. It can be associated with
the addition of PLA-g-MA resulting in an increase in the chain
mobility of PLA molecule chain. The endothermic peak shape of
PLA are different from that of PLA with ramie fiber. This is due to
the change of the amorphous fractions in the polymer during the
cooling process caused by the ramie fiber. Wootthikanokkhan
et al. [34] also observed similar thermal behavior of the composites
and shape change in Tg. From Fig. 5, the neat PLA and ramie/PLA
composite can show the melting peak at 165.7 °C and 166.8 °C
respectively. After the addition of ramie and PLA-g-MA, Xc of
ramie/PLA composites decreases gradually which can be explained
that the decrease of the regularity of the PLA molecular chain with
addition of ramie and PLA-g-MA.

3.5. DMA measurement

Fig. 4. SEM micrographs of fracture surface of notched Izod specimen (A) ramie/
PLA, (B) ramie/PLA/3MA, (C) ramie/PLA/5MA.
where DHm is the heat of fusion, DH0m is the theoretical enthalpy of
93 J/g for fully crystalline PLA, and U is the weight fraction of PLA in
the ramie/PLA composites [32].
The thermal transition at temperature around 60 °C was
observed in the DSC curves of neat PLA and ramie/PLA composites,
which is generally recognized as Tg of PLA [33]. Tg of PLA in ramie/
PLA composite is higher than that of neat PLA, which is due to the
decreased mobility of the matrix chain with the addition of ramie
DMA was carried out to investigate the effect of the ramie fiber
loading and MA treatments on the viscoelastic properties of the
PLA composites. The dependence of dynamic mechanical proper-
ties (storage modulus, loss modulus and tan d) of the PLA and
PLA based composites on temperature is shown in Fig. 6. From
Fig. 6A, compare to the PLA, it can be observed that the storage
modulus increases with the addition of fiber and PLA-g-MA in
the low temperature region (50–60 °C), which is associated to
the lower relaxation. Furthermore, the storage modulus of the
composite with PLA-g-MA shows a decrease trend, which is differ-
ent with the change in the flexural modulus of the composites with
PLA-g-MA. The lower storage modulus may be associated with the
plasticizing effect of PLA-g-MA and the degradation of the matrix.
The improvement of the modulus of the composites from the
enhanced interfacial adhesion was offset by the plasticizing effect
of PLA-g-MA and the degradation of the matrix. This is also
believed to be the cause for the reduction in the tensile strength
144 T. Yu et al. / Composites: Part A 64 (2014) 139–146

matrix chains due to the addition of fibers. However, the peak of

tan d shifts to low temperature with the presence of PLA-g-MA
which may be associated with unreacted MA playing a role as plas-
ticizer and increasing the mobility of the PLA chain. The results of
DMA are in agreement with the DSC data.

3.6. Vicat softening point

Vicat softening temperature (VST) reflects the transformation

point of a material which is used in certain temperature and trans-
formed from ordinary state to softening. It is defined as the tem-
perature at which the tested sample is penetrated by a needle
with flat point to the depth of 1 mm under a specific load using a
selected temperature ramp. So the VST is a well-defined point in
the modulus-temperature diagram, being related to the fundamen-
tal properties of the material.
VST of the PLA resin and ramie fiber reinforced PLA composites
without and with PLA-g-MA is shown in Fig. 7. As seen in Fig. 7,
VST of ramie fiber reinforced PLA composites increases signifi-
cantly compared with that of neat PLA. The VST of neat PLA was
60.4 °C, and for ramie/PLA composites, the VST was 103.5 °C. In
general, there are three options to increase the heat resistance of
a polymer: increasing the Tg, increasing the crystallinity, and rein-
forcing. The heat resistance improvement might be due to ramie
fiber reinforcement and cold crystallization that prevents the
deformation of the PLA/ramie composites. It also can be approved
by the results of DMA (shown in Fig. 6A). The addition of fibers and
crystallisation will increase the softening temperature. From Fig. 7,
VST of composites with PLA-g-MA are both slightly higher than
that of composites without PLA-g-MA. This improvement is mainly
derived from the increase in modulus as well as the interaction
between matrix and fiber. The similar trend also can be observed
from Fig. 6A. The addition of PLA-g-MA increased the modulus
and the softening temperature of the composites.

3.7. Thermal stability

The influence of MA on the thermal stability of ramie/PLA com-

posites were evaluated by TGA, and the results are shown in Fig. 8.
The characteristic thermal parameters of the thermal degradation
are listed in Table 4. For neat PLA and ramie/PLA, a single step
decomposition process was observed from the derivative thermo-
gram (DTG). It is found that neat PLA shows the onset temperature
at 331 °C and the final decomposition temperature at 381 °C, and
just 0.1% mass is left at 600 °C. The onset of thermal decomposition
of ramie/PLA composites is sharply lower than neat PLA indicating

Fig. 6. Results of the DMA analysis for neat PLA, ramie/PLA without and with
different MA content: (A) storage modulus, (B) loss modulus, (C) tangent delta. (For
interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred
to the web version of this article.)

of the composites. The effect shows significant under dynamic

stress [35]. The composite will soften after 60 °C, but the modulus
will start to increase again around 80 °C which is a typical effect of
cold crystallization. From Fig. 6C, the tan d curves show only one
major relaxation around 60 °C, which corresponds to the a-relaxa-
tion temperature of the PLA. The peak of tan d shifts to high tem-
perature by addition of ramie due to the fiber present in the PLA Fig. 7. Vicat softening point of neat PLA, ramie/PLA without and with different MA
matrix. This can be associated with the decreased mobility of the content.
 T. Yu et al. / Composites: Part A 64 (2014) 139–146 145

thermal stability and VST of the composites increased with the

addition of PLA-g-MA. However, the Tg of the composites
decreased. Future work will include investigating the degradation
of ramie/PLA by accelerated chemical means and composting con-
ditions before the application of the composites.

Acknowledgements

This work is supported by Major State Basic Research Develop-

ment Program of China (973 Program) (No. 2010CB631105), Natu-
ral Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51103108 and 11172212),
the Fund of State Key Laboratory of Molecular Engineering of Poly-
mers (Fudan University) and the Fundamental Research Funds for
the Central Universities.

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