Lifetime Assessment of Load‐Bearing Polymer Glasses: An Analytical Framework for Ductile Failure

The most widespread application of polymers in structural applications is their use as pipe material for e.g., gas distribution systems. Pipes have a design lifetime of typically 50 years, which rules out real‐time lifetime assessment methods. Here, an engineering approach is presented, which makes it possible to predict long‐term ductile failure of loaded glassy polymers based on short‐term tests. The approach is based upon the hypothesis that failure is governed by accumulation of plastic deformation up to a critical strain. A pressure‐modified Eyring relation is employed to calculate the accumulation of plastic strain for any simple loading geometry. It is demonstrated that the approach can produce accurate quantitative time‐to‐failure predictions for loaded PC specimens and uPVC pipe segments.

     

The comprehensive in vitro evaluation of eight different calcium phosphates: Significant parameters for cell behavior

Eight different calcium phosphate nanoparticles, namely bovine bone bioapatite calcined at 500, 600, and 700°C, Mg-doped brushite, fluorinated calcium phosphate, Ca-deficient hydroxyapatite, hydroxyapatite, and tricalcium phosphate, were characterized employing physico-chemical methods. Their cytocompatibility was evaluated under human osteoblast-like cell line MG-63 culture conditions in elution media and via the direct interaction of cells with calcium phosphate nanoparticles. The main objective was to determine the correlation of the cell indices with the differently determined physical and chemical parameters of the calcium phosphates. Chemical composition, which contributes toward pH changes, and the calcium ion concentration in the medium appear to make up particularly significant factors; moreover, it was proved that the number of material types represents a further important aspect. In the case of a large number of material types, almost no correlation was determined between the analyzed parameters; however, in the case of a small number of apatite types, several positive correlations were found. It can be concluded that it is not possible to identify any monitored parameters that had a major impact on cell behavior or, at least, such an effect which can be generalized. It appears more likely that cell behavior is affected by the interplay of various parameters.     

Wide range humidity sensors printed on biocomposite films of cellulose nanofibril and poly(ethylene glycol)

Cellulose nanofibril (CNF) films were prepared from side streams generated by the sugarcane industry, that is, bagasse. Two fractionation processes were utilized for comparison purposes: (1) soda and (2) hot water and soda pretreatments. 2,2,6,6-Tetramethylpiperidinyl-1-oxyl-mediated oxidation was applied to facilitate the nanofibrillation of the bagasse fibers. Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was chosen as plasticizer to improve the ductility of CNF films. The neat CNF and biocomposite films (CNF and 40% PEG) were used for fabrication of self-standing humidity sensors. CNF-based humidity sensors exhibited high change of impedance, within four orders of magnitude, in response to relative humidity (RH) from 20 to 90%. The use of plasticizer had an impact on sensor kinetics. While the biocomposite film sensors showed slightly longer response time, the recovery time of these plasticized sensors was two times shorter in comparison to sensors without PEG. This study demonstrated that agroindustrial side streams can form the basis for high-end applications such as humidity sensors, with potential for, for example, packaging and wound dressing applications. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47920.     

Observations of Membrane Domain Reorganization in Mechanically Compressed Artificial Cells

Giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs) are considered to be the gold standard for assembling artificial cells from the bottom up. In this study, we investigated the behavior of such biomimetic vesicles as they were subjected to mechanical compression. A microfluidic device is presented that comprises a trap to capture GUVs and a microstamp that is deflected downwards to mechanically compress the trapped vesicle. After characterization of the device, we show that single-phase GUVs can be controllably compressed to a high degree of deformation (D=0.40) depending on the pressure applied to the microstamp. A permeation assay was implemented to show that vesicle bursting is prevented by water efflux. Next, we mechanically compressed GUVs with co-existing liquid-ordered and liquid-disordered membrane phases. Upon compression, we observed that the normally stable lipid domains reorganized themselves across the surface and fused into larger domains. This phenomenon, observed here in a model membrane system, not only gives us insights into how the multicomponent membranes of artificial cells behave, but might also have interesting consequences for the role of lipid rafts in biological cells that are subjected to compressive forces in a natural environment.     

Increasing the thermostability of sucrose phosphorylase by a combination of sequence- and structure-based mutagenesis

Sucrose phosphorylase is a promising biocatalyst for the glycosylation of a wide variety of acceptor molecules, but its low thermostability is a serious drawback for industrial applications. In this work, the stability of the enzyme from Bifidobacterium adolescentis has been significantly improved by a combination of smart and rational mutagenesis. The former consists of substituting the most flexible residues with amino acids that occur more frequently at the corresponding positions in related sequences, while the latter is based on a careful inspection of the enzyme's crystal structure to promote electrostatic interactions. In this way, a variant enzyme could be created that contains six mutations and whose half-life at the industrially relevant temperature of 60 °C has more than doubled compared with the wild-type enzyme. An increased stability in the presence of organic co-solvents could also be observed, although these effects were most noticeable at low temperatures.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-Acylated Bacteriohopanehexol-Mannosamides from the Thermophilic Bacterium <Emphasis Type="Italic">Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris</Emphasis>

Identification of molecular species of various N-acylated bacteriohopanehexol-mannosamides from the thermophilic bacterium Alicyclobacillus acidoterrestris by semipreparative HPLC and by RP-HPLC with ESI is described. We used triple-quadrupole type mass spectrometer, ¹H and ¹³C NMR for analyzing this complex lipid. CD spectra of two compounds (model compound—7-deoxy-d-glycero-d-allo-heptitol obtained by stereospecific synthesis, and an isolated derivative of hopane) were also measured and the absolute configuration of both compounds was determined. On the basis of all the above methods, we identified the full structure of a new class of bacteriohopanes, represented by various N-acylated bacteriohopanehexol-mannosamides.     

Synthesis and properties of YBa2Cu3O7-δ – Y2Ba4CuWO10.8 superconducting composites

YBa₂Cu₃O_7-δ (YBCO) is a well-known high-temperature superconductor. However, its critical current density and thus maximum trapped magnetic field can be improved significantly by introducing the secondary phases (artificial pinning centers). In this contribution, we successfully prepared YBCO single-grain bulks with Y₂Ba₄CuWO_10.8 phase serving as a source of pinning centers. This phase was prepared by solid-state reaction and further refined by milling. In the next step single-grain YBCO bulks with homogeneously distributed Y₂Ba₄CuWO_10.8 were prepared by top-seeded melt growth. Precursors as well as the final product were characterized by XRD, SEM and EDS. The phase composition of YBCO bulks containing Y₂Ba₄CuWO_10.8 was analyzed using Rietveld analysis. Thermal stability of YBCO bulk was studied by STA. Furthermore, PPMS was used to study electrical resistivity and critical current density. Bulk superconducting properties such as levitation force and trapped field ability were also measured.     

Periodic steady state analysis using shooting and wave-form-newton

This paper describes a method of determining the forced periodic steady state response of non-linear circuits. the method is closely related to the work of Aprille and Trick Proc. IEEE, 60 , 108-114 (1972) and also to the finite difference method for solving a boundary value problem. The new approach is a shooting method in the sense that in every iteration an initial value problem is solved. It is, however, also a relaxation method, because in every iteration a periodic wave-form is obtained. This is achieved by solving in each step a linear time-dependent differential equation whose solution can be easily transformed into a periodic solution satisfying this linear equation. Because the iteration takes place on wave-forms rather than initial values and every solution satisfies the boundary conditions, the method is robust. It will be shown that for a causal approximation of the time derivatives the iterated wave-forms are equal to those found using the finite difference methods.     

Development of a gel spinning process for high‐strength poly(ethylene oxide) fibers

This article describes a new gel‐spinning process for making high‐strength poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) fibers. The PEO gel‐spinning process was enabled through an oligomer/polymer blend in place of conventional organic solvents, and the gelation and solvent‐like properties were investigated. A 92/8 wt% poly(ethylene glycol)/PEO gel exhibited a melting temperature around 45°C and was highly stretchable at room temperature. Some salient features of a gel‐spun PEO fiber with a draw ratio of 60 are tensile strength at break = 0.66 ± 0.04 GPa, Young's modulus = 4.3 ± 0.1 GPa, and a toughness corresponding to 117 MJ/m³. These numbers are significantly higher than those previously reported. Wide‐angle x‐ray diffraction of the high‐strength fibers showed good molecular orientation along the fiber direction. The results also demonstrate the potential of further improvement of mechanical properties. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 54:2839–2847, 2014. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers