Adsorption of Congo Red dye by native amine and carboxyl modified biomass of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Funalia trogii</Emphasis>: Isotherms,kinetics and thermodynamics mechanisms

Native, iminodiacetic acid and triethylenetetraamine modified biomasses of Funalia trogii were used for removal of Congo Red dye (CRD) from aqueous medium. The native and modified fungal biomasses were characterized using ATR-FTIR, Zeta potential, contact angle studies and analytical methods. FTIR studies of the native and chemically modified adsorbent preparations show that amine, carboxyl and hydroxyl groups are involved in the adsorption of the model dye (i.e., Congo Red). The maximum adsorption of the CRD on the native, carboxyl and amine groups modified fungal biomasses was obtained at pH 5.0. The amount of adsorbed dye on the adsorbent samples increased as the initial concentration of CRD in the solution increased to 200mg/L. The adsorption capacities of native, carboxyl groups and amine modified fungal preparations were 90.4, 153.6 and 193.7mg/g dry adsorbents, respectively. The data was fitted well with the Langmuir isotherm model, and followed the pseudo-second-order equations. Thermodynamic parameters (ΔG ^o , ΔH ^o and ΔS ^o ) were also calculated. The results showed that triethylenetetraamine (TETA) modified biomass of F. trogii presented an excellent dye removal performance and can be used in various environmental applications such as various micro-pollutants removal from aqueous medium.     

Determining Frying Oil Degradation by Near Infrared Spectroscopy Using Chemometric Techniques

A rapid method for the determination of some important physicochemical properties in frying oils has been developed. Partial least square regression (PLS) calibration models were applied to the physicochemical parameters and near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) spectral data. PLS regression was used to find the NIR region and the data pre-processing method that give the best prediction of the chemical parameters. Calibration and validation were appropriated by leave one out cross validation and test set validation techniques for predicting free fatty acids (FFA), total polar materials (cTPM; measured by chromatographic method and iTPM measured by an instrumental method), viscosity and smoke point of the frying oil samples. For PLS models using the cross validation techniques, the best correlations (r) between NIR predicted data and the standard method data for iTPM in oils were 93.79 and root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) values were 5.53. For PLS models using the test set validation techniques, the best correlations (r) between NIR predicted data and standard method data for FFA, cTPM, viscosity and smoke point in oils were 92.58, 94.61, 81.95 and 84.07 and RMSEP values were 0.121, 3.96, 22.30 and 8.74, respectively. In conclusion, NIR technique with chemometric analysis was found very effective in predicting frying oil quality changes.     

Effect of processing method on microstructure,electrical conductivity and electromagnetic wave interference (EMI) shielding performance of carbon nanofiber filled thermoplastic polyurethane composites

In this study, effect of processing method on microstructure formation and related electrical conductivity and electromagnetic interference shielding effectiveness of carbon nanofiber (CNF) filled thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) composites, prepared via three different processing techniques; (i) melt compounding (MC) in a twin screw extruder, (ii) simple solution mixing (SM) on a magnetic stirrer, and (iii) solution mixing with sonication (SM-U) were investigated. It was found that the electrical conductivity values of samples decreased in the order of SM > SM-U > MC for a particular amount of CNF. The electromagnetic test results showed that the samples prepared with SM and SM-U methods yielded higher total shielding effectiveness (SE_T) values than those prepared with MC. SE_T values of samples including of 20 phr of CNF prepared with MC, SM-U and SM methods were varied in the range of 10–30 dB, 20–60 dB and 20–80 dB, respectively within a frequency range of 1–12 GHz.     

Polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane-based hybrid networks obtained via thiol-epoxy click chemistry

A series of hybrid networks based on polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) were prepared by thiol-epoxy click reaction using commercially available octakis-glycidyl-POSS (G-POSS), trimethylolpropane triglycidyl ether, and trimethylolpropane tris(3-mercaptopropionate) as monomers. The click reaction was simply catalyzed by lithium hydroxide which proceeded readily at ambient conditions in very good yields. The incorporation of G-POSS into the network was clearly determined by transmission electron microscopy, FTIR, and ¹H-NMR spectroscopy techniques performed with a model study using 1-butane thiol and G-POSS molecules. The homogeneous distribution of G-POSS up to 5 wt% in the hybrid network was apparently confirmed by morphological investigations. By increasing G-POSS content higher than 5 wt%, the heterogeneous dispersion of G-POSS was determined from the tensile strength measurements. The significant decrease in tensile strength was possible due to the agglomeration of G-POSS. On the other hand, thermal properties of hybrid networks were compared together by thermogravimetric analyses, where all samples exhibited one-step degradation in the range of 220–500 °C. The thermal decomposition of hybrid network led to complete degradation of the organic part and favored the formation of stable carbonaceous and inorganic residues as char. Thus, the char yields of hybrid networks were increased to 6.2, 7.8, 10.1, 12.7, and 15.1% by G-POSS loadings from 0 to 15 wt%. This improvement was also a proof of the incorporation of G-POSS into the hybrid networks that resulted in high heat-resistant POSS-based hybrid networks compared to a sample without G-POSS.     

Stress wave propagation in adhesively bonded functionally graded cylinders: an improved model

This study presents an improved mathematical model to analyse the stress wave propagation in adhesively bonded functionally graded (FG) circular cylinders (butt joint) under an axial impulsive load. The volume fractions of the material constituents in the upper and lower cylinders were functionally tailored through the thickness of each cylinder using a power-law. The effective material properties of both cylinders, which are made of aluminum (Al) and silicon carbide (SiC), at any point were predicted by using the Mori–Tanaka homogenization scheme. In this improved model, the governing equations of the wave propagation include the spatial derivatives of local mechanical properties and were discretized by means of the finite difference method. The influence of these spatial derivatives and the compositional gradient exponent on the displacement and stress distributions of the joint was investigated. The material composition variations of both cylinders affected the displacement and stress fields whereas the compositional gradient exponent had a minor effect. The stress concentrations were alleviated in time, the displacement and stress distributions/variations around/along the upper and lower cylinder-adhesive interfaces were significantly affected by the adhesive layer. The spatial derivatives also affected the temporal histories of the displacement and stress components evaluated at the selected critical points of the upper cylinder, adhesive layer and lower cylinder. The consideration of the spatial local material derivatives provided a more accurate mathematical model of wave propagations through the graded layered structures.     

The effect of atmospheric plasma treatment of recycled carbon fiber at different plasma powers on recycled carbon fiber and its polypropylene composites

To increase the mechanical properties of recycled carbon fiber-reinforced polypropylene (PP) composites, recycled carbon fibers (RCF) were subjected to atmospheric plasma treatment at different plasma powers (100, 200, and 300 W). The changes on surface topography and roughness of RCF were examined by atomic force microscopy. Plasma treatment of RCF increased the roughness value of RCF. The variation of surface elemental compositions and tensile strength of RCF were determined by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and tensile test, respectively. Plasma-treated RCF-reinforced PP composites were fabricated using high speed thermo-kinetic mixer. Plasma treatment of RCF at 100 W increased the tensile and flexural strength values of RCF-reinforced PP composites considerably by 17 and 11%, respectively. However, plasma treatment of RCF at higher plasma powers (200 W and 300 W) decreased tensile and flexural strength values of composites because of the etching of RCF. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47131.     

Masking the Peroxidase-Like Activity of the Molybdenum Disulfide Nanozyme Enables Label-Free Lipase Detection

Two-dimensional MoS₂ nanoparticles (2D-nps) exhibit artificial enzyme properties that can be regulated at bio-nanointerfaces. We discovered that protein lipase is able to tune the peroxidase-like activity of MoS₂ 2D-nps, offering low-nanomolar, label-free detection and identification in samples with unknown identity. The inhibition of the peroxidase-like activity of the MoS₂ 2D-nps was demonstrated to be concentration dependent, and as low as 5 nm lipase was detected with this approach. The results were compared with those obtained with several other proteins that did not display any significant interference with the nanozyme behavior of the MoS₂ 2D-nps. This unique response of lipase was characterized and exploited for the successful identification of lipase in six unknown samples by using qualitative visual inspection and a quantitative statistical analysis method. The developed methodology in this approach is noteworthy for many aspects; MoS₂ 2D-nps are neither labeled with a signaling moiety nor modified with any ligands for signal readout. Only the intrinsic nanozyme activity of the MoS₂ 2D-nps is exploited for this detection approach. No analytical equipment is necessary for the visual detection of lipase. The synthesis of the water-soluble MoS₂ 2D-nps is low costing and can be performed in bulk scale. Exploring the properties of 2D-nps and their interactions with biological materials reveals highly interesting yet instrumental features that offer the development of novel bioanalytical approaches.     

Machining strategy development and parameter selection in 5-axis milling based on process simulations

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is one of the most popular additive manufacturing technologies for fabricating prototypes with complex geometry and different materials. However, current commercial FDM machines have the limitations in process reliability and product quality. In order to overcome these limitations and increase the levels of machine intelligence and automation, machine conditions need to be monitored more closely as in closed-loop control systems. In this study, a new method for in situ monitoring of FDM machine conditions is proposed, where acoustic emission (AE) technique is applied. The proposed method allows for the identification of both normal and abnormal states of the machine conditions. The time-domain features of AE hits are used as the indicators. Support vector machines with the radial basis function kernel are applied for state identification. Experimental results show that this new method can potentially serve as a non-intrusive diagnostic and prognostic tool for FDM machine maintenance and process control.