3D Printed Functional and Biological Materials on Moving Freeform Surfaces

Conventional 3D printing technologies typically rely on open‐loop, calibrate‐then‐print operation procedures. An alternative approach is adaptive 3D printing, which is a closed‐loop method that combines real‐time feedback control and direct ink writing of functional materials in order to fabricate devices on moving freeform surfaces. Here, it is demonstrated that the changes of states in the 3D printing workspace in terms of the geometries and motions of target surfaces can be perceived by an integrated robotic system aided by computer vision. A hybrid fabrication procedure combining 3D printing of electrical connects with automatic pick‐and‐placing of surface‐mounted electronic components yields functional electronic devices on a free‐moving human hand. Using this same approach, cell‐laden hydrogels are also printed on live mice, creating a model for future studies of wound‐healing diseases. This adaptive 3D printing method may lead to new forms of smart manufacturing technologies for directly printed wearable devices on the body and for advanced medical treatments.     

Scanning Nanowelding Lithography for Rewritable One‐Step Patterning of Sub‐50 nm High‐Aspect‐Ratio Metal Nanostructures

The development of a new nanolithographic strategy, named scanning nanowelding lithography (SNWL), for the one‐step fabrication of arbitrary high‐aspect‐ratio nanostructures of metal is reported in this study. Different from conventional pattern transfer and additive printing strategies which require subtraction or addition of materials, SNWL makes use of a sharp scanning tip to reshape metal thin films or existing nanostructures into desirable high‐aspect‐ratio patterns, through a cold‐welding effect of metal at the nanoscale. As a consequence, SNWL can easily fabricate, in one step and at ambient conditions, sub‐50 nm metal nanowalls with remarkable aspect ratio >5, which are found to be strong waveguide of light. More importantly, SNWL outweighs the existing strategies in terms of the unique ability to erase the as‐made nanostructures and rewrite them into other shapes and orientations on‐demand. Taking advantages of the serial and rewriting capabilities of SNWL, the smart information storage–erasure of Morse codes is demonstrated. SNWL is a promising method to construct arbitrary high‐aspect‐ratio nanostructure arrays that are highly desirable for biological, medical, optical, electronic, and information applications.     

Melt‐Centrifuged (Bi,Sb)2Te3: Engineering Microstructure toward High Thermoelectric Efficiency

Microstructure engineering is an effective strategy to reduce lattice thermal conductivity (κ_l) and enhance the thermoelectric figure of merit (zT). Through a new process based on melt‐centrifugation to squeeze out excess eutectic liquid, microstructure modulation is realized to manipulate the formation of dislocations and clean grain boundaries, resulting in a porous network with a platelet structure. In this way, phonon transport is strongly disrupted by a combination of porosity, pore surfaces/junctions, grain boundaries, and lattice dislocations. These collectively result in a ≈60% reduction of κ_l compared to zone melted ingot, while the charge carriers remain relatively mobile across the liquid‐fused grains. This porous material displays a zT value of 1.2, which is higher than fully dense conventional zone melted ingots and hot pressed (Bi,Sb)₂Te₃ alloys. A segmented leg of melt‐centrifuged Bi_0.5Sb_1.5Te₃ and Bi_0.3Sb_1.7Te₃ could produce a high device ZT exceeding 1.0 over the whole temperature range of 323–523 K and an efficiency up to 9%. The present work demonstrates a method for synthesizing high‐efficiency porous thermoelectric materials through an unconventional melt‐centrifugation technique.     

A Deep Collocation Method for the Bending Analysis of Kirchhoff Plate

In this paper, a deep collocation method (DCM) for thin plate bending problems is proposed. This method takes advantage of computational graphs and backpropagation algorithms involved in deep learning. Besides, the proposed DCM is based on a feedforward deep neural network (DNN) and differs from most previous applications of deep learning for mechanical problems. First, batches of randomly distributed collocation points are initially generated inside the domain and along the boundaries. A loss function is built with the aim that the governing partial differential equations (PDEs) of Kirchhoff plate bending problems, and the boundary/initial conditions are minimised at those collocation points. A combination of optimizers is adopted in the backpropagation process to minimize the loss function so as to obtain the optimal hyperparameters. In Kirchhoff plate bending problems, the C¹ continuity requirement poses significant difficulties in traditional mesh-based methods. This can be solved by the proposed DCM, which uses a deep neural network to approximate the continuous transversal deflection, and is proved to be suitable to the bending analysis of Kirchhoff plate of various geometries.     

SPION‐Decorated Exosome Delivered BAY55‐9837 Targeting the Pancreas through Magnetism to Improve the Blood GLC Response

BAY55‐9837, a potential therapeutic peptide in the treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), is capable of inducing glucose (GLC)‐dependent insulin secretion. However, the therapeutic benefit of BAY55‐9837 is limited by its short half‐life, lack of targeting ability, and poor blood GLC response. How to improve the blood GLC response of BAY55‐9837 is an existing problem that needs to be solved. In this study, a method for preparing BAY55‐9837‐loaded exosomes coupled with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle (SPIONs) with pancreas islet targeting activity and an enhanced blood GLC response with the help of an external magnetic force (MF) is demonstrated. The plasma half‐life of BAY55‐9837 loaded in exosome‐SPION is 27‐fold longer than that of BAY55‐9837. The active targeting property of SIPONs enables BAY‐exosomes to gain a favorable targeting property, which improves the BAY55‐9837 blood GLC response capacity with the help of an external MF. In vivo studies show that BAY‐loaded exosome‐based vehicle delivery enhances pancreas islet targeting under an external MF and markedly increases insulin secretion, thereby leading to the alleviation of hyperglycemia. The chronic administration of BAY‐exosome‐SPION/MF significantly improves glycosylated hemoglobin and lipid profiles. BAY‐exosome‐SPION/MF maybe a promising candidate for a peptide drug carrier for T2DM with a better blood GLC response.     

重载齿轮弯曲疲劳寿命测试方法研究现状

重载齿轮是大型机械装置(推土机、挖掘机、装甲车等)传动系统的核心部件,它的主要功能是按照规定的转速比传递运动和转矩。随着科学技术的发展和军事装备的更新换代,重载齿轮的研究除了在材料性能、齿形设计、承载能力等方面取得了新成就外,另一个突出的进步就是在齿轮性能测试技术方面获得了很多成果,使得一些过去难以定量研究的问题(如齿轮的疲劳强度、齿轮传动品质等)都有了比较实用的测量手段。而在重载齿轮疲劳性能研究中,相对于接触疲劳产生的齿面点蚀、胶合、磨损等微小破坏而引起齿轮传动效率降低,啮合不到位等现象,弯曲疲劳则会直接导致齿根产生裂纹甚至形成断齿现象,造成重大事故。因此,准确测试重载齿轮的弯曲疲劳寿命,分析弯曲疲劳性能,进而优化齿轮设计,提升齿轮性能,对监测因弯曲疲劳失效所引起设备故障以及避免服役过程中发生重大事故具有重要意义。重载齿轮弯曲疲劳寿命受多方面因素的影响,其中包括材料性能、加工尺寸、制备工艺以及测试手段等,因此对其弯曲疲劳寿命的定量测试一直是各国研究人员关注的热点话题。关于重载齿轮弯曲疲劳寿命的研究可以归纳为以下三方面:弯曲疲劳原理探究方面已发展到声发射信号检测、光学图像分形理论计算、计算机有限元数学模拟等多方面的实际应用;性能检测实验已有单齿/双齿脉冲加载、动态啮合式加载等多种试验方法;数据处理方面已发展出升降法、成组法、雨流法以及多种S-N曲线拟合的数据处理手段。这些分析方法以及测试手段的应用可以大大节省实验成本、提高分析效率、减少试验误差,进而提高重载齿轮弯曲疲劳寿命检测的准确性。本文从重载齿轮弯曲疲劳寿命的测试原理、试验方法以及测试数据处理三方面出发,根据国内外研究现状,对重载齿轮的弯曲疲劳性能进行机理性与实验性的探究,为测试重载齿轮的弯曲疲劳寿命提供有效的理论依据、具体的测试方法以及准确的数据处理手段。     

Effect of Zn addition on the precipitation behaviors of Al–Mg–Si–Cu alloys for automotive applications

Effect of Zn addition on the precipitation kinetics and age-hardening response of Al–Mg–Si–Cu alloys was investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), hardness measurements, tensile tests and microstructural characterization. The results show that, compared with the Zn-free alloy, both the starting and peak temperatures in the DSC curve, and activation energy of β″ precipitation of Zn-added Al–Mg–Si–Cu alloy decrease significantly, corresponding to the greatly improved precipitation kinetics and age-hardening response, i.e., a hardness increment of 70HV after aging at 185 °C for 20 min. Moreover, the peak hardness and tensile properties can also be greatly enhanced after adding 3.0 wt% Zn even exhibiting a ductile fracture feature in the peak-aged state. No precipitates of the Al–Zn–Mg alloy system appear in the Zn-added Al–Mg–Si–Cu alloys after aging at 185 °C, and pre-β″, β″, and L precipitates are still the main precipitates in the two alloys after peak aging treatment. Finally, based on the microstructural evolution, a schematic diagram of precipitation in the Al–Mg–Si–Cu–Zn alloy is put forward, and the relationship between mechanical properties and microstructure is also established.     

Emerging Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials for Cancer Radiation Therapy

Radiation therapy (RT) including external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) and internal radioisotope therapy (RIT) has been widely used for clinical cancer treatment. However, owing to the low radiation absorption of tumors, high doses of ionizing radiations are often needed during RT, leading to severe damages to normal tissues adjacent to tumors. Meanwhile, the RT efficacies are limited by different mechanisms, among which the tumor hypoxia‐associated radiation resistance is a well‐known one, as there exists hypoxia inside most solid tumors while oxygen is essential to enhance radiation‐induced DNA damages. With the development in nanotechnology, there have been great interests in using nanomedicine strategies to enhance radiation responses of tumors. Nanomaterials containing high‐Z elements to absorb radiation rays (e.g. X‐ray) can act as radio‐sensitizers to deposit radiation energy within tumors and promote treatment efficacy. Nanoscale carriers are able to deliver therapeutic radioisotopes into tumors for internal RIT, or chemotherapeutic drugs for synergistically combined chemo‐radiotherapy. As uncovered in recent studies, the tumor microenvironment could be modulated by various nanomedicine approaches to overcome hypoxia‐associated radiation resistance. Herein, the authors will summarize the applications of nanomedicine for RT cancer treatment, and pay particular attention to the latest development of ‘advanced materials' for enhanced cancer RT.