Electrospinning of gelatin fibers using solutions with low acetic acid concentration: Effect of solvent composition on both diameter of electrospun fibers and cytotoxicity

Gelatin fibers were prepared by electrospinning of gelatin/acetic acid/water ternary mixtures with the aim of studying the feasibility of fabricating gelatin nanofiber mats at room temperature using an alternative benign solvent by significantly reducing the acetic acid concentration. The results showed that gelatin nanofibers can be optimally electrospun with low acetic acid concentration (25%, v/v) combined with gelatin concentrations higher than 300 mg/mL. Both gelatin solutions and electrospun gelatin mats (prepared with different acetic acid aqueous solutions) were analyzed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry techniques to determine the chemical and structural changes of the polymer. The electrospun gelatin mats fabricated from solutions with low acetic acid content showed some advantages as the maintenance of the decomposition temperature of the pure gelatin (～ 230°C) and the reduction of the acid content on electrospun mats, which allowed to reach a cell viability upper than 90% (analyzed by cell viability test using human dermal fibroblast and embryonic kidney cells). This study has also analyzed the influence of gelatin and acetic acid concentration both on the solution viscosity and the electrospun fiber diameter, obtaining a clear relationship between these parameters. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42115.     

Promising curaua fiber‐reinforced polyester composite for high‐impact ballistic multilayered armor

A typical multilayered armor system (MAS) is composed of a harder front ceramic tile, which is able to erode heavy ammunition, such as the 7.62 mm bullet, followed by a second layer to further reduce the impact energy. Aramid fabric is a common choice for the second layer. In the present work, polyester matrix composites reinforced with 10 to 30 vol% of curaua fibers, despite having much lower strength and stiffness than aramid fabric, displayed similar trauma indentation in a standard clay witness simulating the human body. Impedance matching and scanning electron microscopy analyses suggest effective energy absorption through ceramic fragment capture by curaua composites. Additionally, because of the high cost of aramid fabric, a full MAS with curaua fiber composite is much cheaper than a MAS composed of aramid fabric. Taking into consideration, both the economical and environmental advantages of natural fibers, it is concluded that curaua fiber‐reinforced polyester composite could replace aramid fabric as the second layer in MASs for personal ballistic protection. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 57:947–954, 2017. © 2016 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Numerical approach to describe continuous and intermittent drying including the tempering period: Kinetics and spatial distribution of moisture

Continuous and intermittent drying experiments were performed with whole bananas, using hot air at 70°C. The intermittent drying experiments were performed with intermittency ratio equal to 1/2 and tempering times of 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0?h. The conditions imposed to the experiments permitted to investigate the influence of these tempering times on the processes. A one-dimensional numerical solution of the diffusion equation coupled with an optimizer was used to determine the process parameters for four experiments. To describe the processes, a model was proposed. Model includes shrinkage, variable effective mass diffusivity, and two values for convective mass transfer coefficient (within and outside the dryer), enabling to consider moisture loss during the tempering period. For all experiments, the simulation of the drying kinetics has resulted in good statistical indicators. Proposed model also made it possible to predict moisture distributions during the entire processes, including the migration of moisture from the central part to the peripheral region of the cross section of the bananas, during the tempering period. The results indicated that, for the same effective operation time and intermittency ratio, increasing the tempering time implied moderate decrease in the final average moisture content.     

Nanosized dispersions based on chitosan and NaPSS

Interpolyelectrolyte complexes (IPECs) were obtained by the solution mixing method from chitosan and poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate), NaPSS. XRD, FTIR spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis indicated that IPEC formation inhibits the occurrence of crystalline regions in the resultant solid IPECs. Turbidimetry, viscometry, conductometry, and zeta potential measurements showed that at a sulfonate to aminium molar ratio = 1, the process of IPEC production is optimum. Average hydrodynamic diameters, calculated from DLS measurements, showed that IPEC formation occurs in two stages: first there is a decrease in macromolecular dimensions, as sulfonate to aminium molar ratio is increased. At a characteristic sulfonate to aminium molar ratio, soluble IPEC structures collapse to form phase segregated clusters that begin to nucleate the formation of larger, insoluble, IPEC particles.     

Discrimination of Olive Oil by Cultivar,Geographical Origin and Quality Using Potentiometric Electronic Tongue Fingerprints

Legal regulations are set for protecting claims regarding olive oil geographical denomination. When meteorological or agroecological factors similarly affect different regions, the origin identification is a challenging task. This study demonstrated the use of a potentiometric electronic tongue coupled with linear discriminant analysis to discriminate the geographical origin of monovarietal Tunisian olive oil produced from local cv Chemlali (Kairouan, Sidi Bouzid or Sfax regions) and cv Sahli (Kairouan, Mahdia or Sousse regions). The potentiometric fingerprints of 12 or eight lipid sensors (for Chemlali and Sahli, respectively), selected using a simulated annealing meta-heuristic algorithm, allowed the correct prediction (repeated K-fold cross-validation) of the geographic production region with sensitivities of 92 ± 7% (Chemlali) and 97 ± 8% (Sahli). It was also confirmed the electronic tongue capability to classify Tunisian olive oil according to olive cultivar or quality grade. The results indicated the possible use of potentiometric fingerprints as a promising innovative strategy for olive oil analysis allowing assessing geographical origin, olive cultivar and quality grade, which are key factors determining olive oil price and consumers’ preference.     

Cyclic creep response of adhesively bonded steel lap joints

The viscoelastic nature of polymeric adhesives means that the effect of fatigue frequency has to be treated cautiously. However, this subject has received limited attention and very few studies can be found. Therefore, this work aims at investigating the cyclic creep response of adhesively bonded steel lap joints. Load-controlled fatigue tests were performed with shear stresses of 9.1, 7.4, and 6.3 MPa, which are typically low cycle fatigue stresses. Only during the last 20% of fatigue life can we observe an increase in the cycle hysteresis area due to the decrease of the shear stiffness caused by the failure mechanisms. Under fatigue load, the maximum/minimum strain curves exhibit a shape being similar to that of the steady creep curves, in which occurs a second stage with nearly constant strain rate, independently of the number of cycles and increasing with the load range. A linear relationship between the log cyclic creep rate and the log of the number of cycles to failure was observed, indicating that fatigue behaviour is strictly related to cyclic creep.     

Thermosensitive fibres of lyocell/poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide): multiparametric analysis for studying the graft copolymerization

The thermosensitive properties of the hydrogel poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAAm) together with the good mechanical properties of lyocell fibres make a combination of the two to be thought of as a smart textile. In the present study the optimal values of various parameters that control the grafting process of pNIPAAm onto lyocell fibres were determined considering the influence of the interaction between them. The copolymerization of pNIPAAm hydrogel onto lyocell fibres was performed in aqueous acidic medium using cerium(IV) as initiator. An experimental design was planned in order to study the effect of the interactions between some variables that affect the kinetics of the graft copolymerization: the cerium(IV) initiator concentration, the N‐isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) monomer concentration and the liquor fibre‐to‐bath ratio. The results show that the interaction between the concentrations of NIPAAm and the initiator significantly affects the degree of grafting (DG), the optimum values being 1250 and 12.25 mmol L^?1, respectively. In contrast, the liquor ratio parameter shows no significant interaction with the other two variables studied, meaning that it acts independently but showing a proportional relationship with respect to the DG obtained. In addition, the presence of pNIPAAm in the copolymer obtained was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectral analysis. Moreover, the water sorption capacity, depending on the temperature, of the lyocell/pNIPAAm copolymer was studied, with an increase being observed when the DG is higher than 60% and also increasing with the temperature.© 2012 Society of Chemical Industry     

Adsorption of Cations from a Cement Suspension onto Lignocellulosic Substrates and its Influence on Cement Setting

Abstract

The calcium (Ca), sodium (Na), and potassium (K) contents of blue gum, maritime pine, and cork increased after these lignocellulosics were stirred with the filtrate of a cement suspension or a solution of calcium hydroxide. The adsorbed cations could be released easily by treatment with an acidic solution. It is suggested that those raw materials, and lignocellulosics in general, act as cation exchange substrates when they are mixed with cement and water to make wood–cement composites. The implications that such phenomena may have on cement hardening reactions, and how they could hinder them are discussed. The possibility that the phenomenon is related to well‐known compatibility problems that many woods present when manufacturing wood–cement composites is discussed.     

PIXE and PDMS Methods Applied to Aerosols Analysis

The aim of this study was to apply the PIXE (Particle Induced X-ray Emission) and PDMS (Plasma Desorption Mass Spectrometry) techniques to characterize airborne dust particles containing metals. Aerosols generated at a mineral-sand processing plant were characterized in this study. The aerosol samples were collected at a plant that processes mineral sands to obtain rutile, ilmenite, zircon, and monazite concentrates. A cascade impactor with six stages was used to collect mineral dust particles with aerodynamic diameters in the range of 0.64 to 19.4 _mum. The particles impacted on each stage of the cascade impactor were analyzed by PIXE, which permits the determination of the elemental mass air concentration and the MMAD (Mass Median Aerodynamic Diameter). The chemical compositions of the aerosol samples were identified by PDMS analysis. This study shows that, by using PIXE and PDMS techniques, it is possible to determine the chemical compounds in which the elements are associated in the aerosol particles. Based on the results of the PIXE analysis, the elemental mass concentrations and the MMADs were determined.