3D Printing-Assisted Self-Assembly to Bio-Inspired Bouligand Nanostructures

Architected materials with nano/microscale orders can provide superior mechanical properties; however, reproducing such levels of ordering in complex structures has remained challenging. Inspired by Bouligand structures in nature, here, 3D printing of complex geometries with guided long-order radially twisted chiral hierarchy, using cellulose nanocrystals (CNC)-based inks is presented. Detailed rheological measurements, in situ flow analysis, polarized optical microscopy (POM), and director field analysis are employed to evaluate the chiral assembly over the printing process. It is demonstrated that shear flow forces inside the 3D printer's nozzle orient individual CNC particles forming a pseudo-nematic phase that relaxes to uniformly aligned concentric chiral nematic structures after the flow cessation. Acrylamide, a photo-curable monomer, is incorporated to arrest the concentric chiral arrangements within the printed filaments. The time series POM snapshots show that adding the photo-curable monomer at the optimized concentrations does not interfere with chiral self-assemblies and instead increases the chiral relaxation rate. Due to the liquid-like nature of the as-printed inks, optimized Carbopol microgels are used to support printed filaments before photo-polymerization. By paving the path towards developing bio-inspired materials with nanoscale hierarchies in larger-scale printed constructs, this biomimetic approach expands 3D printing materials beyond what has been realized so far.     

Multiscale iterative voting for differential analysis of stress response for 2D and 3D cell culture models

Focused ion beam-scanning electron microscope (FIB-SEM) tomography is a powerful application in obtaining three-dimensional (3D) information. The FIB creates a cross section and subsequently removes thin slices. The SEM takes images using secondary or backscattered electrons, or maps every slice using X-rays and/or electron backscatter diffraction patterns. The objective of this study is to assess the possibilities of combining FIB-SEM tomography with cathodoluminescence (CL) imaging. The intensity of CL emission is related to variations in defect or impurity concentrations. A potential problem with FIB-SEM CL tomography is that ion milling may change the defect state of the material and the CL emission. In addition the conventional tilted sample geometry used in FIB-SEM tomography is not compatible with conventional CL detectors. Here we examine the influence of the FIB on CL emission in natural diamond and the feasibility of FIB-SEM CL tomography. A systematic investigation establishes that the ion beam influences CL emission of diamond, with a dependency on both the ion beam and electron beam acceleration voltage. CL emission in natural diamond is enhanced particularly at low ion beam and electron beam voltages. This enhancement of the CL emission can be partly explained by an increase in surface defects induced by ion milling. CL emission enhancement could be used to improve the CL image quality. To conduct FIB-SEM CL tomography, a recently developed novel specimen geometry is adopted to enable sequential ion milling and CL imaging on an untilted sample. We show that CL imaging can be manually combined with FIB-SEM tomography with a modified protocol for 3D microstructure reconstruction. In principle, automated FIB-SEM CL tomography should be feasible, provided that dedicated CL detectors are developed that allow subsequent milling and CL imaging without manual intervention, as the current CL detector needs to be manually retracted before a slice can be milled. Due to the required high electron beam acceleration voltage for CL emission, the resolution for FIB-SEM CL tomography is currently limited to several hundreds of nm in XY and up to 650 nm in Z for diamonds. Opaque materials are likely to have an improved Z resolution, as CL emission generated deeper in the material is not able to escape from it.     

Long term ageing of polyamide 6 and polyamide 6 reinforced with 30% of glass fibers: physicochemical,mechanical and morphological characterization

Hygrothermal ageing of polyamide 6 (PA6) and polyamide 6 reinforced with 30 wt% of glass fibers (PA6GF30) was undertaken. Immersion was conducted in distilled water at 90 °C and 100% relative humidity (RH) for up to 80 days (1920 h). Results revealed a noteworthy decrease either in glass transition temperature T_g or in tensile properties, at early stage of ageing, for both studied materials. This decline was mainly caused by the plasticization effect of water and the weakness of the interfacial interactions leading as a consequence to a loss of adhesion between fiber and matrix. Afterwards, physical and mechanical properties decrease monotonically testifying the occurrence of exhaustive damages and chemical reaction phenomena. Such phenomena were yellowing and crazing formation which were observed for both materials after 1920 h of conditioning. The former is caused by the thermo- oxidation whereas the latter results from the release of internal stresses induced by water sorption. These chemical reactions were monitored by infrared spectroscopy. Thus, an increase of the free N-H stretch and the carbonyl groups (imides) was noted. Accordingly, it seems that long term immersion in distilled water at high temperature induces chemical reactions which indicate the severity of the damage.     

Effects of GPTMS concentration and powder to liquid ratio on the flowability and biodegradation behaviors of 45S5 bioglass/tragacanth bioactive composite pastes

Injectable composite pastes were prepared using melt-derived 45S5 bioactive glass and tragacanth crosslinked by (3-glycidyloxypropyl)trimethoxysilane (GPTMS). The effect of powder to liquid ratio (P:L = 1.0:2.0–1.0:2.5) and GPTMS/tragacanth ratio (0.0–1.5) on the injectability, swelling behavior, rheology, bioactivity, and cellular behavior of the pastes was investigated. Based on the results, the apparent stability and consistency of the pastes increased upon crosslinking by GPTMS. Due to the increased interactions between tragacanth and glass, a hysteresis loop with larger area was formed in the presence of GPTMS. With increase of GPTMS:tragacanth ratio from 0 to 1.5, the swelling percent dropped from 24.65 to 16.25% after 24 h and the degradation percent also went down from 27.89 to 9.11% after 21 days in the simulated body fluid. The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay showed a drop in the optical density of MG63 osteoblasts up to 30.07% after exposure to the GPTMS-crosslinked composite pastes for 3 days. However, the number of viable cells gradually increased in the presence of the pastes and the cell morphology remained unchanged over time. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2019 , 136, 47604.     

Noniterative blind data restoration by use of an extracted filter function

A signal-processing algorithm has been developed where a filter function is extracted from degraded data through mathematical operations. The filter function can then be used to restore much of the degraded content of the data through use of a deconvolution algorithm. This process can be performed without prior knowledge of the detection system, a technique known as blind deconvolution. The extraction process, designated self-deconvolving data reconstruction algorithm, has been used successfully to restore digitized photographs, digitized acoustic waveforms, and other forms of data. The process is noniterative, computationally efficient, and requires little user input. Implementation is straightforward, allowing inclusion into many types of signal-processing software and hardware. The novelty of the invention is the application of a power law and smoothing function to the degraded data in frequency space. Two methods for determining the value of the power law are discussed. The first method assumes the power law is frequency dependent. The function derived comparing the frequency spectrum of the degraded data with the spectrum of a signal with the desired frequency response. The second method assumes this function is a constant of frequency. This approach requires little knowledge of the original data or the degradation.     

The Taxometrics of Marriage: Is Marital Discord Categorical?

This study used taxometric methods to investigate the latent structure of the construct of marital adjustment as indexed by the Marital Adjustment Test (MAT; H. J. Locke & K. M. Wallace, 1959). That is, the authors examined whether marital adjustment is best thought of as a "dimension" of adjustment only or whether there also are categorical differences between "discordant" and "nondiscordant" couples. Analyses of data provided by 447 couples married for approximately 2 years provided converging evidence for a latent category of marital discord, suggesting that marital discord can be viewed as a qualitatively distinct state experienced by approximately 20% of the couples in the current sample. Implications for marital assessment are outlined. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance assessment of a horizontal-coil geothermal heat pump

This paper evaluates the performance of a geothermal heat pump in Iran. An air-to-air 5.275 kW heat pump has been changed and redesigned to a geothermal heat pump system for the first time in Iran. Air-to-air condenser has been replaced by a tube-in-tube heat exchanger and assembled system has been tested under ARI-325 standard at the national energy lab of Iran and the results have been compared with the original system. Then, local weather conditions and soil properties of Tabriz (located at the north-west of Iran) have been applied and geothermal coil has been designed. Coil has been connected to the heat pump and the average coefficient of performance (COP) of rather more than three has been recorded in cooling mode. Results obtained from experimental measurements show that horizontal GSHP systems can be used for Tabriz-like climates in Iran. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparative evaluation of crumb rubber and devulcanized rubber modified binders

One of the most prominent uses of ground tire rubber (GTR) is in rubber-modified asphalt industry. Besides improving performance properties of binders, GTR induces some drawbacks like weak storage stability and inferior low temperature (LT) performance. This study sought to rectify these shortcomings through using devulcanized rubber (DVR) in place of common GTR. Binder performance grading, multiple stress creep and recovery, and storage stability tests were conducted. More resistance against traffic loads at high temperatures was observed as DVR's advantages over GTR, while its weaker LT characteristics and lower storage stability can prevent it from being a viable alternative.