Interaction diagrams for carbon nanotubes under combined shortening-twisting

A theoretical investigation on the strength and stiffness of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) under combined shortening and twisting strains is presented. CNTs with similar length-to-diameter aspect ratios, L/D, but different atomic structures (zig-zag, armchair and chiral) have been selected. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations have been performed to study the critical buckling behaviour and the pre-critical and post-critical stiffness of CNTs under combined shortening-twisting conditions. The main results are presented in the form of interaction diagrams between the critical strain and the critical angle of twist per unit of length. An interaction equation is proposed and validated by comparison with the MD results. If shortening is more dominant than twisting, the strain energy at the onset of buckling drops considerably with the increase of the twisting-shortening rate. If twisting is more influential than shortening, the energy at the onset of buckling decreases very slowly with the twisting-shortening rate. We also found an interaction factor of 1.5 for CNTs under combined shortening-twisting, which is much lower than the value 2.0 commonly adopted for circular tubes at macro-scale. We conclude that CNTs are much more sensitive to buckling under shortening-twisting interaction than macro-scale tubes.     

High mobility strained Si0.5Ge0.5/SSOI short channel field effect transistors with TiN/GdScO3 gate stack

Short channel p-type metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) with GdScO₃ gate dielectric were fabricated on a quantum well strained Si/strained Si_0.5Ge_0.5/strained Si heterostructure on insulator. Amorphous GdScO₃ layers with a dielectric constant of 24 show small hysteresis and low density of interface states. All devices show good performance with a threshold voltage of 0.585 V, commonly used for the present technology nodes, and high I_on/I_off current ratios. We confirm experimentally the theoretical predictions that the drive current and the transconductance of the biaxially strained (1 0 0) devices are weakly dependent on the channel orientation. The transistor’s hole mobility, extracted using split C-V method on long channel devices, indicates an enhancement of 90% (compared to SiO₂/SOI transistors) at low effective field, with a peak value of 265 cm²/V s. The enhancement is however, only 40% at high electrical fields. We demonstrate that the combination of GdScO₃ dielectric and strained SiGe layer is a promising solution for gate-first high mobility short channel p-MOSFETs.     

Moiré Interferometry Assessement of Residual Stress Variation in Depth on a Shot Peened Surface

Abstract: The main goal of this work was the development of experimental techniques to measure in depth non‐uniform residual stresses, as alternative to the more conventional hole‐drilling method with strain gauges. The proposed experimental methodology is based on moiré interferometry. This high resolution field technique allows in‐plane displacement assessment without contact. Grating replication techniques were also developed to record high quality diffraction gratings onto the specimen’s surface. A laser interferometry setup was implemented to generate the master grating (virtual). The stress relaxation was promoted by blind hole‐drilling and the obtained fringe patterns were video recorded. Image processing techniques were applied to assess the in‐plane strain full‐field. A finite elements code (FEM), ANSYS^®, was used to simulate the stress relaxation process and to calculate the hole‐drilling calibration constants.     

Sulfonated polyethersulfone-based membranes for metal ion removal via a hybrid process

Membranes are being increasingly used as an economic alternative for wastewater treatment compared to conventional methods. Ultrafiltration membranes are widely used in metal ions’ rejection. Sulfonated Polyethersulfone (SPES)/polysulfone (PSf) blend flat sheet membranes are prepared using polar solvent N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) by the dry–wet phase inversion technique. Polyethylene glycol (PEG-200) is used as a non-solvent additive in the casting solution. The effect of PSf/SPES blend ratio on the morphology, hydrophilicity, water content, porosity, hydraulic resistance, pure water flux, compaction, and molecular weight cut-off (MWCO) of the prepared membranes was studied and found to be improved significantly by the incorporation of SPES in the dope solution. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) studies revealed that the membranes formed had an asymmetric structure with a thin skin layer and porous sublayer. The prepared membranes were used for rejection of Cu(II) and Zn(II) which are complexed with water-soluble chelating polymer polyethyleneimine. The results show that the order of rejection is Cu(II) ion > Zn(II) ion. Thus, it is worth mentioning that the PSf/SPES blend ultrafiltration membranes prepared in this study would offer immense potential in removal of toxic metal ion from industrial effluents.     

Migration of phenolic compounds from different cork stoppers to wine model solutions: antioxidant and biological relevance

Considering the enological interest of cork, this study aimed to identify and quantify the phenolic compounds able to migrate from different classes (natural cork stoppers “Flor” and “Third” quality and microagglomerate cork stopper) of cork stoppers into bottled wine model solutions. Another aim was to evaluate some antioxidant and biological features of cork phenolics that migrated into the wine model solutions. The main phenolic acids and aldehydes detected were as follows: gallic and protocatechuic acid detected both around 3.5 mg/L and vanillin and protocatechuic aldehyde detected around 2.5 and 1.5 mg/L after 27 months of bottling, respectively. Trace amounts of more complex polyphenols, namely hydrolysable tannins (castalagin/vescalagin and mongolicain A/B), were also detected. Two antioxidant features of the wine model solutions bottled with different wine cork stoppers were studied, namely the antiradical capacity and the reducing capacity, being the natural cork stoppers the ones with the higher activities. The intestinal absorption of the compounds in each wine model solution after 27 months in bottled was evaluated. The simpler phenolic compounds were able to cross Caco-2 cell model. The antiproliferative activity of the same wine model solutions was also evaluated against gastric and breast cancer cells. All samples were active against the two cell lines, which highlight the possible health outcomes of wine sealed with cork stoppers.     

A new sheep model with automatized analysis of biomaterial-induced bone tissue regeneration

Presently, several bone graft substitutes are being developed or already available for clinical use. However, the limited number of clinical and in vivo trials for direct comparison between these products may complicate this choice. One of the main reasons for this scarcity it is the use of models that do not readily allow the direct comparison of multiple bone graft substitutes, due especially to the small number of implantation sites. Although sheep cancellous bone models are now well established for these purposes, the limited availability of cancellous bone makes it difficult to find multiple comparable sites within a same animal. These limitations can be overcome by the monocortical model here proposed as it consists in 5–6 holes (5 mm Ø), in the femoral diaphysis, with similar bone structure, overlying soft tissue and loading pattern for all defects. Associated to this model, it is also described a fast histomorphometric analysis method using a computer image segmentation test (Threshold method) to assess bone regeneration parameters. The information compiled through the experimental use of 45 sheep in several studies allowed determining that this ovine model has the potential to demonstrate differences in bone-forming performance between various scaffolds. Additionally, the described histomorphometric method is fast, accurate and reproducible.     

Interface Characterization in Fiber-Reinforced Polymer–Matrix Composites

A novel methodology is presented and applied to measure the shear interface strength of fiber-reinforced polymers. The strategy is based in fiber push-in tests carried out on the central fiber of highly-packed fiber clusters with hexagonal symmetry, and it is supported by a detailed finite element analysis of the push-in test to account for the influence of hygrothermal residual stresses, fiber constraint and fiber anisotropy on the interface strength. Examples of application are presented to determine the shear interface strength in carbon and glass fiber composites reinforced with either thermoset or thermoplastic matrices. In addition, the influence of the environment (either dry or wet conditions) on the interface strength in C/epoxy composites is demonstrated.     

Numerical Modelling of Thin-Walled Stainless Steel Structural Elements in Case of Fire

In this paper, the structural response of stainless steel thin-walled elements submitted to fire is analysed numerically by means of the geometrically and materially non-linear Finite Element program SAFIR, including imperfections. In order to make these simulations, two main changes in the program were made: (i) the code was changed in order to deal with the stainless steel 2D material constitutive law to be used with shell elements and (ii) the possibility of the program to take into account residual stresses with shell finite elements was introduced. The stainless steel stress–strain relationship at high temperatures was based on the one presented in part 1.2 of Eurocode 3. To model the strain hardening exhibited by the stainless steels, using the shell element formulation, an approximation to the Eurocode 3 constitutive law was needed. Local and global geometrical imperfections were considered in the simulations. The paper shows the influence of the residual stresses on the ultimate load-carrying capacity of thin-walled stainless steel structural elements in case of fire.     

Nanostructured hematite thin films produced by spin-coating deposition solution: Application in water splitting

Doped and undoped hematite films for photoelectrochemical hydrogen production were prepared by spin-coating deposition solution (SCDS). To understand the influence of the Si-doping and identify the critical parameters of the proposed SCDS method an extensive characterization was conducted. The Si-doped hematite exhibited higher photocurrent response when compared with undoped films. We have shown that the crystallographic orientation degree of the films appears to be a dominant factor affecting the photocurrent. The performance of our hematite electrodes is well below the maximum theoretical efficiency and the conceivable explanation could be given by the high value of recombination phenomena (electron/hole pair).     

Anticoagulant, Antioxidant and Antitumor Activities of Heterofucans from the Seaweed Dictyopteris delicatula

In the present study, six families of sulfated polysaccharides were obtained from seaweed Dictyopteris delicatula by proteolytic digestion, followed by acetone fractionation and molecular sieving on Sephadex G-100. Chemical analyses demonstrated that all polysaccharides contain heterofucans composed mainly of fucose, xylose, glucose, galactose, uronic acid, and sulfate. The fucans F0.5v and F0.7v at 1.0 mg/mL showed high ferric chelating activity (～45%), whereas fucans F1.3v (0.5 mg/mL) showed considerable reducing power, about 53.2% of the activity of vitamin C. The fucan F1.5v presented the most prominent anticoagulant activity. The best antiproliferative activity was found with fucans F1.3v and F0.7v. However, F1.3v activity was much higher than F0.7v inhibiting almost 100% of HeLa cell proliferation. These fucans have been selected for further studies on structural characterization as well as in vivo experiments, which are already in progress.