Bioinspired Triboelectric Soft Robot Driven by Mechanical Energy

A sustainable power source is a key technical challenge for practical applications of electrically responsive soft robots, especially the required voltage is over several thousand volts. Here, a practicable new technology, triboelectric soft robot (TESR) system with the primary characteristics of power source from mechanical energy, is developed. At its heart is TESR with bioinspired architectures made of soft-deformable body and two triboelectric adhesion feet, which is driven and accurately controlled through triboelectric effect, while reaching maximum crawling speeds of 14.9 mm s⁻¹ on the acrylic surface. The characteristics of the TESR, including displacement and force, are tested and simulated under the power of a rotary freestanding triboelectric nanogenerator (RF-TENG). Crawling of TESR is successfully realized on different materials surfaces and different angle slopes under the driven of RF-TENG. Furthermore, a real-time visual monitoring platform, in which TESR carries a micro camera to transmit images in a long narrow tunnel, is also achieved successfully, indicating that it can be used for fast diagnosis in an area inaccessible to human beings in the future. This study offers a new insight into the sustainable power source technologies suitable for electrically responsive soft robots and contributes to expanding the applicability of TENGs.     

高熔体流动速率薄壁注塑聚丙烯专用料的结构与性能分析

采用多种分析测试方法，对3类高熔体流动速率薄壁注塑聚丙烯（PP）专用料的熔融结晶性能、光学性能、分子量分布、力学性能、毛细管流变性能、热收缩性能进行了分析研究。结果表明，K1860与2种市售主流PP1、PP2各项性能相当，其中K1860分子量分布相对PP1、PP2较窄，弯曲性能、拉伸性能更优，可满足大型薄壁注塑制品的生产要求。     

Effect of Temperature and Strain Rate on the Hot Deformation Behaviour of Ferritic Stainless Steel

Metals and Materials International - The flow behaviour and microstructure characteristics of a ferritic stainless steel were investigated using plain strain compression test on a Gleeble 3500...     

0.88C-1.2Si-0.75Mn-2Al高强度电缆铠装钢用盘条的试制

采用中高碳成分添加低密度元素Si、Al进行轻量化的设计思路设计了试验钢的化学成分,试验钢采用50 kg真空感应炉冶炼。利用金相显微镜、SEM扫描电镜和力学性能检测设备对试制后的Φ6 mm盘条进行了显微组织观察、珠光体片层间距的测量和屈服强度、抗拉强度、延伸率的检验。结果表明:盘条在600℃等温2 h后的金相显微组织为铁素体+珠光体的混合组织,珠光体的片层间距为(126±5) nm,屈服强度大于1 183 MPa、抗拉强度大于1 425 MPa、延伸率大于10%,其力学性能满足电缆用铠装钢的技术要求。     

Transformation between nanosheets and nanowires structure in MnO2 upon providing Co2+ ions and applications for microwave absorption

The phase transition process of the MnO₂ phase with increases in Co²⁺ doping can be described by the Ouroboros symbol. The undoped sample is pure δ-MnO₂ with nanosheets structures. Then a small amount of Co²⁺ ions changes the final products and generates α-MnO₂ nanofibres in the δ-MnO₂ matrix. The products become pure α-MnO₂ with an appropriate amount of Co added. However, when the Co amount continues to increase, the amount of α-MnO₂ decreases in the products and turns back to form pure δ-MnO₂ in the end. Analysing the electromagnetic absorption performance, the relationship between the properties and the proportion of δ-MnO₂/α-MnO₂ in the powders adjusted by Co²⁺ doping has been explored, and the composites of δ-/α-MnO₂ show better absorption ability than the single-phase samples. As a result, the optimal reflection loss (RL) is −54.8 dB, and the effective absorption bandwidth can cover the Ku band at a thickness of 2.2 mm and the X band at a thickness of 3.1 mm with 50 wt.% filler loading ratios. This research might shed new light on the improvement of novel microwave absorption materials.

     

Discovery and characterization of tyrosinases from sea anemone pedal disc

Abstract

The formation of underwater adhesion is a complicated physiological process and many different types of enzymes are found to be essential apart from structural proteins. Previous studies have shown that various tyrosinases were present in marine adhesives, but little information is available about the over-expression and enzymatic characterization of these enzymes. Specifically, this study first identified four significantly up-regulated tyrosinases in the pedal disc of Haliplanella luciae by means of multi-omics technology, and made preliminary bioinformatics predictions. Sequence alignment showed that the Tyr1_Hl contained six conserved His residues that bind to copper ions, of which a tyrosinase with diphenolase activity named as Tyr1_Hl^Δ, was expressed in Escherichia coli BL21 (DE3) cells and purified by affinity chromatography. Enzymatic characterization showed that the activity of Tyr1_Hl^Δ was Cu²⁺ dependent and maximum catalytic activities were in 20?mM Tris–HCl (pH 8.0) at 37?°C. In summary, we identified novel tyrosinases in the pedal disks of sea anemone for the first time and the Tyr1_Hl^Δ was successfully recombinant expressed. Our study will provide basis for future exploration of bio-adhesion mechanism and design of bio-adhesives derived from sea anemones.     

表面改性对蛭石流延浆料性能的影响

蛭石是一种具有层状硅酸盐结构的非金属矿物,具有良好的抗氧化性和压缩回弹性,是制备耐高温密封材料的优质原料.论文采用流延法进行材料成型加工,以硬脂酸和硅烷偶联剂A-151为改性剂,考察表面改性对蛭石流延浆料分散稳定性和流变性能的影响.结果表明,硬脂酸改性效果优于硅烷偶联剂A-151,当硬脂酸用量为2％时,高温膨胀蛭石粉体接触角为83°,改性效果显著,球磨制浆的RSH最大为79.2％,分散稳定性较好,浆料流动性最佳,流延坯带表面平整、均匀.     

Effects of clearance flow on the characteristics of centrifugal pump under low flow rate

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - The Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations and the shear stress transport k-w turbulence model are employed to simulate the centrifugal pump with...