Research on hydrophobicity of electrospun Fe3O4/PVDF nanofiber membranes under different preparation conditions

Abstract

Preparation condition can affect the structure and the properties of nanofiber membrane. In order to explore suitable conditions to prepare the Fe₃O₄/PVDF nanofiber membrane with good hydrophobicity, the hydrophobicity of Fe₃O₄/PVDF nanofiber membranes obtained by electrospinning was investigated by changing preparation conditions like weight percentage of Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles, blending quality concentration of poly (vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles, and positive voltage. And the variations of hydrophobicity of Fe₃O₄/PVDF nanofiber membranes modified by 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorodecyl trimethoxysilane were studied. The results show that the hydrophobicity of Fe₃O₄/PVDF nanofiber membranes has changed under different preparation conditions. The contact angles of samples increased after a modification by 1H, 1H, 2H, 2H-perfluorodecyl trimethoxysilane, which indicates that the hydrophobicity of Fe₃O₄/PVDF nanofiber membranes has been enhanced.     

Self-repair of structural and functional composites with intrinsically self-healing polymer matrices: A review

Self-healing is a smart and promising way to make materials more reliable and longer lasting. In the case of structural or functional composites based on a polymer matrix, very often mechanical damage in the polymer matrix or debonding at the matrix–filler interface is responsible for the decrease in intended properties. This review describes the healing behavior in structural and functional polymer composites with a so-called intrinsically self-healing polymer as the continuous matrix. A clear similarity in the healing of structural and functional properties is demonstrated which can ultimately lead to the design of polymer composites that autonomously restore multiple properties using the same self-healing mechanism.     

Tribological behavior of Zr-based bulk metallic glass sliding against polymer,ceramic, and metal materials

The tribological properties of zirconium-based bulk metallic glass (BMG) sliding against polymers, steels, and ceramics at different loads and speeds were investigated. Acoustic emission (AE) technology was used to analyze wear states. The frictional coefficients of the BMG slid against the steel and ceramic balls were high but decreased with increased applied normal load and sliding speed. As the steel balls were more ductile than the ceramic ones, the steel–BMG sliding pairs generated weaker AE signals and exhibited larger wear rates. The BMG tested against the polymer balls had much lower and more stable frictional coefficients than the ones against the steel or ceramic balls because of transferred polymer layers on the BMG surfaces. The BMG against the polymer balls also exhibited the highest AE signals among the three types of counter materials used, indicating that abrasive wear dominated in the polymer-BMG sliding pairs. These results demonstrated the potential application of the BMG as a new tribomaterial that could be an alternative to the traditional crystalline metals for various counter materials.     

Comparison of two Analytical Methods (ELISA and LC-MS/MS) for Determination of Aflatoxin B1 in Corn and Aflatoxin M1 in Milk

The aim of this paper is to assess the closeness of agreement between results of ELISA and LC-MS/MS methods for determination of aflatoxin B₁ in corn and aflatoxin M₁ in milk. Samples of corn (n=100) and milk (n=250) were simultaneously analyzed using ELISA and LC-MS/MS methods, after the severe drought that affected Serbia in summer 2012 resulting in occurrence of aflatoxin B1 in corn and aflatoxin M₁ in milk. Regression analysis showed higher level of agreement between aflatoxin B₁ samples (R²=0.994), compared to aflatoxin M₁ samples (R²=0.920). However, both techniques were satisfactory in meeting the requirements for official control purposes.     

Measuring changing strain fields in composites with Distributed Fiber-Optic Sensing using the optical backscatter reflectometer

Background/purposeMeasurements of strains in critical components are often required in addition to finite element calculations when evaluating a structure.MethodsThis paper describes how standard optical fibers, bonded to the surface or embedded in a laminate, can measure strain fields along the entire length of the fiber, using the optical backscatter reflectometer.ResultsA strain field measurement can be much better compared to simulations than the more common single point measurements with strain gauges or Bragg Gratings. Changes of the strain field can be related to damage development and can be used for structural health monitoring. Practical aspects of using the fibers are also discussed.ConclusionDistributed Fiber-Optic Sensing was successfully embedded and bonded to a composite joint. Adhesive damage was identified and the strain field agreed well with FE-Analysis.     

Antitumor Effects of Vitamin D Analogs on Hamster and Mouse Melanoma Cell Lines in Relation to Melanin Pigmentation

Deregulated melanogenesis is involved in melanomagenesis and melanoma progression and resistance to therapy. Vitamin D analogs have anti-melanoma activity. While the hypercalcaemic effect of the active form of Vitamin D (1,25(OH)₂D₃) limits its therapeutic use, novel Vitamin D analogs with a modified side chain demonstrate low calcaemic activity. We therefore examined the effect of secosteroidal analogs, both classic (1,25(OH)₂D₃ and 25(OH)D₃), and novel relatively non-calcemic ones (20(OH)D₃, calcipotriol, 21(OH)pD, pD and 20(OH)pL), on proliferation, colony formation in monolayer and soft-agar, and mRNA and protein expression by melanoma cells. Murine B16-F10 and hamster Bomirski Ab cell lines were shown to be effective models to study how melanogenesis affects anti-melanoma treatment. Novel Vitamin D analogs with a short side-chain and lumisterol-like 20(OH)pL efficiently inhibited rodent melanoma growth. Moderate pigmentation sensitized rodent melanoma cells towards Vitamin D analogs, and altered expression of key genes involved in Vitamin D signaling, which was opposite to the effect on heavily pigmented cells. Interestingly, melanogenesis inhibited ligand-induced Vitamin D receptor translocation and ligand-induced expression of VDR and CYP24A1 genes. These findings indicate that melanogenesis can affect the anti-melanoma activity of Vitamin D analogs in a complex manner.     

Systematic convergence of nonlinear stochastic estimators on the Special Orthogonal Group SO(3)

This paper introduces two novel nonlinear stochastic attitude estimators developed on the Special Orthogonal Group with the tracking error of the normalized Euclidean distance meeting predefined transient and steady‐state characteristics. The tracking error is confined to initially start within a predetermined large set such that the transient performance is guaranteed to obey dynamically reducing boundaries and decrease smoothly and asymptotically to the origin in probability from almost any initial condition. The proposed estimators produce accurate attitude estimates with remarkable convergence properties using measurements obtained from low‐cost inertial measurement units. The estimators proposed in continuous form are complemented by their discrete versions for the implementation purposes. The simulation results illustrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed estimators against uncertain measurements and large initialization error, whether in continuous or discrete form.