APPLICATION OF THE GROWTH-STRAIN METHOD FOR SHAPE OPTIMIZATION OF FLOW SYSTEMS

In this study, the growth-strain method was used for shape optimization of flow systems. It optimizes a shape by making a distributed parameter such as dissipation energy uniform in a flow system. In order to overcome the instability that occurred in the numerical analysis by the growth-strain method, the equation of bulk strain has been modified. And the distributed parameters were variously established in this study. By comparing the optimized shapes with the known optimal shapes for two flow systems, it is confirmed that the modified growth-strain method is very efficient and practical in shape optimization of flow systems.     

Morphologies of nano-sized apatite formed on titanium substrate by biomimetic process

The apatite was formed on the titanium plates with NaOH and heat treatments by biomimetic process. The influence of titanium surface microstructure on the apatite formation onto titanium substrate in SBF solution was investigated. After biomimetic process, nano-sized apatite layers were found on the Ti plates with NaOH and heat treatments. However, the morphologies of formed apatite on substrate had different shapes such as coated, load-like, and linked. The morphology of apatite formed by biomimetic process would be affected by alkaline treatment, and substrate morphology and phase.     

An improved element removal method for evolutionary structural optimization

The purpose of this study was to develop a new element removal method for ESO (Evolutionary Structural Optimization), which is one of the topology optimization methods, ESO starts with the maximum allowable design space and the optimal topology emerges by a process of removal of lowly stressed elements. The element removal ratio of ESO is fixed throughout topology optimization at 1 or 2%. BESO (bidirectional ESO) starts with either the least number of elements connecting the loads to the supports, or an initial design domain that fits within the maximum allowable domain, and the optimal topology evolves by adding or subtracting elements. But the convergence rate of BESO is also very slow. In this paper, a new element removal method for ESO was developed for improvement of the convergence rate. Then it was applied to the same problems as those in papers published previously. From the results, it was verified that the convergence rate was significantly improved compared with ESO as well as BESO.     

In vitro biodegradable and mechanical performance of biphasic calcium phosphate porous scaffolds with unidirectional macro-pore structure

In this study, porous biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP) scaffolds were fabricated by a freeze–gel casting technique using a tertiary-butyl alcohol (TBA) based slurry. After sintering, unidirectional macropore channels of scaffolds aligned regularly along the TBA ice growth direction were tailored simultaneously with micropores formed in the outer wall of the pore channels. The synthesized porous BCP scaffolds (two different sintering temperatures) exhibit compressive strength of 46.8 MPa for 43.0% porosity and 33.1 MPa for 45.9% porosity, respectively. After immersion in Hank's balanced salt solution (HBSS) for 1, 2, 4, 8 weeks, a precipitation started to be formed with individual small granules on the scaffolds surface. In the case of BCP scaffolds sintered at 1200 °C, β-TCP were slowly degraded with increasing the immersing time; on the other hand, α-TCP (from BCP scaffolds sintered at 1300 °C) was extremely degraded within 1 week of immersing. This behavior could be due to a fast hydrolysis (dissolution–reprecipitation) as a phase transformation from α-TCP to brushite or apatite compared to the β-TCP. After immersion in HBSS, overall the compressive strength of the scaffolds reduced by the gradual degradation in biological environment solution. This behavior is consistent with the degradation behavior of scaffolds after immersion in HBSS.     

Formation of Barrier Ribs for Plasma Display Panel via Roll Forming of Green Tapes

In an attempt to explore the possibility of forming barrier ribs for a plasma display panel by plastically deforming a green tape with a grooved roll, the effects of green tape composition and rolling parameters on the height of the barrier ribs formed were studied. For the analysis of the results, viscosity of the green tape was evaluated using a modified slit rheometer. The results indicated that the effects of organic constituents in the green tape and processing parameters on the dimension of the barrier ribs formed are closely related with the pseudoplastic characteristics of the green tape.     

Reliability-based topology optimization using a standard response surface method for three-dimensional structures

In this paper, a reliability-based topology optimization (RBTO) for 3-D structures was performed using bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) and the standard response surface method (SRSM). In order to get a stable optimal topology, the most recently-developed filter scheme was implemented with BESO, and SRSM was used to generate an approximate limit state function. These results were compared with the recently announced results of RBTO for 2-D structures, and the differences between the results for the 3-D and 2-D structures were examined. A cantilever beam and an MBB beam were selected as the numerical examples. The comparison showed that the optimal topologies of deterministic topology optimization (DTO) and RBTO for the 2-D and 3-D MBB beams, respectively, are very different. Specifically, the two-support member on the left hand side comes into being along the width for the 3-D case, but not for the 2-D case. This shows that RBTO for 3-D structures should be performed as part of the design process.     

In situ formation of biphasic calcium phosphates and their biological performance in vivo

The co-precipitation technique has been applied to synthesize biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP). After annealing at 900 °C for 24 h, hydroxyapatite (HAp) and β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) were obtained as a single phase at 1.67 and 1.5 Ca/P ratios, respectively. Between these two extremes, a whole range of BCP preparations could be synthesized by using this technique with an accurate control of starting reactants. The biological performance of BCP granulates with a specific content of 62% HAp and 38% β-TCP was investigated. After immersion in Hanks’ balanced salt solution (HBSS) for 1 week, a precipitation started to be formed with individual small granules on the specimen surface. An MTT assay indicated that BCP granulates have no cytotoxic effects on MG-63 cells, and that they have good biocompatibility. An implantation experiment in mouse skulls revealed that BCP granulate provides a strong positive effect on bone formation in vivo in mice.     

A new topology optimization scheme for nonlinear structures

A new topology optimization algorithm based on artificial bee colony algorithm (ABCA) was developed and applied to geometrically nonlinear structures. A finite element method and the Newton-Raphson technique were adopted for the nonlinear topology optimization. The distribution of material is expressed by the density of each element and a filter scheme was implemented to prevent a checkerboard pattern in the optimized layouts. In the application of ABCA for long structures or structures with small volume constraints, optimized topologies may be obtained differently for the same problem at each trial. The calculation speed is also very slow since topology optimization based on the roulette-wheel method requires many finite element analyses. To improve the calculation speed and stability of ABCA, a rank-based method was used. By optimizing several examples, it was verified that the developed topology scheme based on ABCA is very effective and applicable in geometrically nonlinear topology optimization problems.     

In situ synthesis of magnesium-substituted biphasic calcium phosphate and in vitro biodegradation

In situ preparation of magnesium (Mg) substituted biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP) of hydroxyapatite (HAp)/β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) were carried out through aqueous co-precipitation method. The concentrations of added magnesium were varied with the calcium in order to obtain constant (Ca + Mg)/P ratios of 1.602. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were used to characterize the structure of synthesized magnesium substituted BCP powders. The results have shown that substitution of magnesium in the calcium deficient apatites revealed the formation of biphasic mixtures of different HAp/β-TCP ratios after heating at 1000 °C. The ratios of the formation of phase mixtures were dependent on the content of magnesium. After immersing in Hanks’ balanced salt solution (HBSS) for 1 week, 1 wt% magnesium substituted BCP powders were degraded and precipitation started to be formed with small granules consisting of number of flake-like crystal onto the surface of synthesized powders. On the other hand, in the case of pure BCP powders, the formation of new precipitates was detected after immersion in HBSS for 2 weeks. On the basis of these results, magnesium substituted BCP could be able to develop a new apatite phase on the surface in contact with physiological fluids faster than BCP does. In addition, the retention time to produce the new apatite phase in implantation operation for the BCP powder could be controlled by the amount of magnesium substitution.     

The effect of SrTiO<Subscript>3</Subscript> addition on the magnetic and microwave properties of yttrium iron garnet

The effect of SrTiO₃ addition on the microstructure and magnetic properties of yttrium iron garnet prepared by a conventional ceramic method was investigated using scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, vibrating sample magnetometry, and ferrimagnetic resonance experiments. A YIG specimen sintered at 1693 K with 0.2 mol% SrTiO₃ addition showed above 98% densification of theoretical density without changing in magnetic properties of YIG. A YIG specimen sintered at 1693 K with 0.2 mol% SrTiO₃ showed ferrimagnetic resonance linewidth ΔH of about 80 Oe.