The Biden administration plans to ease sanctions on Venezuelan oil to allow more of the country's crude to reach Europe.  

The U.S. will allow European companies still operating in Venezuela to immediately transfer more oil to the continent, while allowing Chevron to negotiate a resumption of operations in Venezuela, according to people familiar with the matter.  Venezuela's OPPOSITION, which is backed by the United States, is understood to favor the move.  Tight global oil supplies have sent crude and fuel costs soaring, threatening to add to already high inflation.  Increasing Venezuelan crude exports would help ease supply constraints while also helping to reduce Europe's dependence on Russian energy.

The US has sought to encourage talks between the Venezuelan government and the US-backed opposition to open the way to free and fair elections by extending a limited license held by Chevron to allow the oil company to maintain its operations in Venezuela and negotiate future operations.  

The United States reportedly did not extend a permit to Allow Chevron to drill and sell Venezuelan crude, as the company had hoped.  

The license extension will allow Chevron to negotiate with State-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA, with which it has a joint venture.  Previously, the company could not directly negotiate with any officials sanctioned by the United States.  Chevron has been lobbying the United States to allow it to drill for Venezuelan crude and sell it on world markets to help lower energy prices amid the Russia-Ukraine war.

Affected by the ever-changing international situation, the supply and prices of many commodities like the titanium dioxide are still very uncertain.

Because of its high stability, good bonding properties and low curing shrinkage, epoxy resin has become an excellent thermosetting resin material and has been widely used in many fields. However, the cured epoxy resin still has some shortcomings, such as high brittleness and poor impact resistance, which limit the application prospect of epoxy resin.

 

Titanium Dioxide nanoparticle is a pigment with strong coloring power and strong hiding power in white coatings, so it is very familiar in the coating industry. Due to the refinement of the size of titanium dioxide particles, the ratio of area to volume increases, and the crystal field environment and binding energy of the atoms inside and on the surface of the material are different, resulting in great chemical activity on the surface of the particles. the surface energy is greatly increased, and there is a good interfacial adhesion with organic resin molecules, which can make the coating have the properties of different parent components. Moreover, under the synergistic action of the internal components of the coating, it can produce some special properties that the matrix does not have, so as to improve the hardness, impact strength, wear resistance and other mechanical properties of the original coating.

 

Effect of TiO2 nanoparticles on hardness of Epoxy Resin

With the increase of filler content, the hardness of epoxy resin increased at first, and then remained basically unchanged. When the content of nano-TiO2 is 5%, the hardness is 91.3, which is 16.7% higher than that of pure epoxy resin. As rigid particles, nano-TiO2 itself has high stiffness, which directly enhances the hardness of the organic matrix. When a small amount of nano-TiO2 is added (less than 2%), a tight network structure can be formed between the organic part of the epoxy resin coating and the added nanoparticles, which significantly improves the hardness of the coating. However, when the addition amount reaches a certain extent (more than 2%), the dispersion effect of nano-inorganic particles is poor, resulting in partial agglomeration between the particles, making the homogeneous degree of the coating worse, resulting in a substantial decrease in the hardness of the coating, which remains basically unchanged.

 

Effect of TiO2 nanoparticles on flexibility of Epoxy Resin

With the increase of the content of nano-Ti0z, the adhesion table increased at first and then decreased. When the content of nano-TiO2 was 4%, the adhesion reached the maximum value of 10.3Mpa, and the adhesion (7.7MPa) of pure epoxy resin increased by 34%. This is due to the small size, large specific surface area, large number of surface atoms, high surface energy, insufficient coordination of surface atoms, and strong surface activity and adsorption capacity. When added to the epoxy resin, it is easy to bond with the oxygen in the resin, and at the same time, it produces a strong ion-like force between the exposed metal atoms and the epoxy resin. The binding point between the epoxy resin and the metal increases and the adhesion increases. With the annoying increase of nano-fillers, agglomeration began to appear and defects were formed inside the material. at the same time, the appearance of aggregates also reduced the contact surface between resin and substrate, and reduced the number of chemical bonds between resin and substrate surface groups per unit area, which led to the decrease of adhesion.

 

Effect of TiO2 nanoparticles on impact resistance of Epoxy Resin

With the increase of nano-filler content, the impact resistance of epoxy coating increases at first and then decreases. This is because the added nano-fillers can be uniformly dispersed in the epoxy resin system, which is conducive to the transfer of stress load, bear some load, consume some impact energy in the transfer process, and improve the toughness of the epoxy matrix. On the other hand, because of its small size, the nano-filler can produce stress concentration effect, cause the surrounding matrix to yield, form voids, crazes, shear bands, etc., and produce a large number of microcracks in the material. Through these behaviors, the matrix can generate a large amount of deformation work, absorb a large amount of impact energy, and enhance the impact properties of the material. At the same time, nano-fillers can also hinder the propagation of microcracks to some extent, and even passivate or terminate the cracks. The pinning effect is formed and the toughening effect is produced, so the impact resistance of epoxy resin increases gradually with the increase of nano-filler content. With the further increase of the content of nano-TiO2, the impact resistance decreases. When the content of nano-TiO2 reaches 5%, the particles form aggregates and do not combine closely with each other, so it is very easy to destroy and form defects under stress, that is, the internal stress failure point of the material, and the impact strength becomes worse.

 

Titanium Dioxide Price

The price is influenced by many factors including the supply and demand in the market, industry trends, economic activity, market sentiment, and unexpected events.

If you are looking for the latest Titanium Dioxide powder price, you can send us your inquiry for a quote. (sales1@rboschco.com)

 

Titanium Dioxide Supplier

RBOSCHCO is a trusted global chemical material supplier & manufacturer with over 12-year-experience in providing super high-quality chemicals and nanomaterials. The company export to many countries including the USA, Canada, Europe, UAE, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Egypt, Nigeria, Cameroon, Uganda, Turkey, Mexico, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Brazil, Chile, Dubai, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Portugal, etc.

As a leading nanotechnology development manufacturer, RBOSCHCO dominates the market. Our professional work team provides perfect solutions to help improve the efficiency of various industries, create value, and easily cope with various challenges.

 

If you are looking for Titanium Dioxide powder, please send an email. (sales1@rboschco.com)

Because of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, there is a shortage of natural gas supply. At the same time, other renewable energy sources cannot produce enough electricity, so electricity prices have soared in many countries of the world. For this reason, I assume the supply and prices of the titanium dioxide would keep being influenced by the high energy prices.

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