Micro-porous nickel produced by powder metallurgy

Micro-porous nickel (Ni) with an open cell structure was fabricated by a special powder metallurgical process, which includes the adding of a space-holding material. The average pore size of the micro-porous Ni samples approximated 30 μm and 150 μm, and the porosity ranged from 60 % to 80 %. The porous characteristics of the Ni samples were observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the mechanical properties were evaluated using compressive tests. For comparison, porous Ni samples with a macro-porous structure prepared by both powder metallurgy
(pore size 800 μm) and the traditional chemical vapour deposition (CVD) method (pore size 1300 μm) were also presented. Results indicated that the porous Ni samples with a micro-porous structure exhibited different deformation behaviour and dramatically increased mechanical properties,
compared to those of the macro-porous Ni samples.

Magnetic field induced tailoring of mechanical behavior of fluid filled micro porous carbon nanotube foam

Compressive loading of the carbon nanotube (CNT) has attracted much attention due to its entangled cellular like structure (CNT foam). This report investigates the mechanical behavior of magnetorheological fluid impregnated micro porous CNT foam that has not been realized before at this scale. Compressive behavior of CNT foam is found to greatly depend on the variation in both fluid viscosity as well as magnetic field intensity. Moreover, maximum achieved stress and energy absorption in CNT foam followed a power law behavior with the magnetic field intensity. Magnetic field induced movement of both CNT and iron oxide particles along the field direction is shown to dominate compressive behavior of CNT foam over highly attractive van der Waals forces between individual CNT. Therefore, this study demonstrates a method for tailoring the mechanical behavior of the fluid impregnated CNT foam. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

Mechanical properties of micro-porous metals produced by space-holding sintering

Micro-porous nickel foams with an open cell structure were fabricated by the space-holding sintering. The average pore size of the micro-porous nickel specimens ranged from 30 μm to 150 μm, and the porosity ranged from 60 % to 80 %. The porous characteristics of the nickel specimens were observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The mechanical properties were studied using compressive tests. For comparison, macro-porous nickel foams prepared by the chemical vapour deposition method with pore sizes of 800 μm and 1300 μm and porosity of 95 % were also presented. Results indicated that the ratio value of 6 and higher for the specimen length to cell size (L/d) is satisfying for obtaining stable compressive properties. The micro-porous nickel specimens exhibited different deformation behaviour and dramatically increased mechanical properties, compared to those of the macro-porous nickel specimens.

Sulfur-impregnated, sandwich-type, hybrid carbon nanosheets with hierarchical porous structure for high-performance lithium-sulfur batteries

Sandwich-type hybrid carbon nanosheets (SCNMM) consisting of graphene and micro/mesoporous carbon layer are fabricated via a double template method using graphene oxide as the shape-directing agent and SiO2 nanoparticles as the mesoporous guide. The polypyrrole synthesized in situ on the graphene oxide sheets is used as a carbon precursor. The micro/mesoporous strcutures of the SCNMM are created by a carbonization process followed by HF solution etching and KOH treatment. Sulfur is impregnated into the hybrid carbon nanosheets to generate S@SCNMM composites for the cathode materials in Li-S secondary batteries. The microstructures and electrochemical performance of the as-prepared samples are investigated in detail. The hybrid carbon nanosheets, which have a thickness of about 10-25 nm, high surface area of 1588 m2 g-1, and broad pore size distribution of 0.8-6.0 nm, are highly interconnected to form a 3D hierarchical structure. The S@SCNMM sample with the sulfur content of 74 wt% exhibits excellent electrochemical performance, including large reversible capacity, good cycling stability and coulombic efficiency, and good rate capability, which is believed to be due to the structure of hybrid carbon materials with hierarchical porous structure, which have large specific surface area and pore volume.

Correlating flow induced shear stress and chondrocytes activity in micro-porous scaffold using computational fluid dynamics and rapid prototyping

Flow induced shear stress plays an important role in regulating cell growth and distribution in scaffolds. This study sought to correlate wall shear stress and chondrocytes activity for engineering design of micro-porous osteochondral grafts based on the hypothesis that it is possible to capture and discriminate between the transmitted force and cell response at the inner irregularities. Unlike common tissue engineering therapies with perfusion bioreactors in which flow-mediated stress is the controlling parameter, this work assigned the associated stress as a function of porosity to influence in vitro proliferation of chondrocytes. D-optimality criterion was used to accommodate three pore characteristics for appraisal in a mixed level fractional design of experiment (DOE); namely, pore size (4 levels), distribution pattern (2 levels) and density (3 levels). Micro-porous scaffolds (n=12) were fabricated according to the DOE using rapid prototyping of an acrylic-based bio-photopolymer. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models were created correspondingly and used on an idealized boundary condition with a Newtonian fluid domain to simulate the dynamic microenvironment inside the pores. In vitro condition was reproduced for the 3D printed constructs seeded by high pellet densities of human chondrocytes and cultured for 72 hours. The results showed that cell proliferation was significantly different in the constructs (p<0.05). Inlet fluid velocity of 3×10-2mms-1 and average shear stress of 5.65×10-2 Pa corresponded with increased cell proliferation for scaffolds with smaller pores in hexagonal pattern and lower densities. Although the analytical solution of a Poiseuille flow inside the pores was found insufficient for the description of the flow profile probably due to the outside flow induced turbulence, it showed that the shear stress would increase with cell growth and decrease with pore size. This correlation demonstrated the basis for determining the relation between the induced stress and chondrocyte activity to optimize microfabrication of engineered cartilaginous constructs.

Drop impact on a solid surface comprising micro groove structure

Spreading and receding processes of water drops impacting on a stainless steel surface comprising rectangular shaped parallel grooves are studied experimentally. The study was confined to the impact of drops in inertia dominated flow regime with Weber number in the range 15 - 257. Measurements of spreading drop diameter and drop height were obtained during the impact process as function of time. Experimental measurements of spreading drop diameter and drop height obtained for the grooved surface were compared with those obtained for a smooth surface to elucidate the influence of surface grooves on the impact process. The grooves definitely influence both spreading and receding processes of impacting liquid drops. A more striking observation from this study is that the receding process of impacting liquid drops is dramatically changed by the groove structure for all droplet Weber number.

A multi-winding transformer based power converter topology for a growing DC Micro-grid structure

A DC micro-grid essentially consists of power ports, bidirectional power converter and a controller structure that enables the control of dynamic power flow. In this paper, a prototype of a micro-grid structure using a recently proposed multi-winding transformer based power converter has been implemented. The power converter topology is further extended to multiple transformer cores in order to form a growing micro-grid structure. Additionally, modifications have been made in order to incorporate a battery charge controller with the main power circuit. All the other advantages of the power converter and its control scheme are still preserved.

Effect of solvent; enhancing the wettability and engineering the porous structure of a calcium phosphate/agarose composite for drug delivery

Tissue engineering deals with the regeneration of tissues for bone repair, wound healing, drug delivery, etc., and a highly porous 3D artificial scaffold is required to accommodate the cells and direct their growth. We prepared 3D porous calcium phosphate ((hydroxyapatite/beta-tricalcium phosphate)/agarose, (HAp/beta-TCP)/agarose) composite scaffolds by sol-gel technique with water (WBS) and ethanol (EBS) as solvents. The crystalline phases of HAp and beta-TCP in the scaffolds were confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The EBS had reduced crystallinity and crystallite size compared to WBS. WBS and EBS revealed interconnected pores of 1 mu m and 100 nm, respectively. The swelling ratio was higher for EBS in water and phosphate buffered saline (PBS). An in vitro drug loading/release experiment was carried out on the scaffolds using gentamicin sulphate (GS) and amoxicillin (AMX). We observed initial burst release followed by sustained release from WBS and EBS. In addition, GS showed more extended release than AMX from both the scaffolds. GS and AMX loaded scaffolds showed greater efficacy against Pseudomonas than Bacillus species. WBS exhibited enhanced mechanical properties, wettability, drug loading and haemocompatibility compared to EBS. In vitro cell studies showed that over the scaffolds, MC3T3 cells attached and proliferated and there was a significant increase in live MC3T3 cells. Both scaffolds supported MC3T3 proliferation and mineralization in the absence of osteogenic differentiation supplements in media which proves the scaffolds are osteoconducive. Microporous scaffolds (WBS) could assist the bone in-growth, whereas the presence of nanopores (EBS) could enhance the degradation process. Hence, WBS and EBS could be used as scaffolds for tissue engineering and drug delivery. This is a cost effective technique to produce scaffolds of degradable 3D ceramic-polymer composites.

Edge and Size Effects in Micro Composite Structure

Because of the load transfer effect of interface layer, the stress distribution inside the composite structure of film/substrate can be very different from the Timoshenko's model. In this paper, we give the derivation and analysis of such load transfer effect of shear-lag (S-L) model. The micro-structure size (boundary conditions) effect together with interface load transfer effect becomes more and more important as the microstructure size including the three dimensions of thickness, width and length shrinks. The microstructure size is also responsible for the so-called edge-induced stress. The edge effect and difference of S-L model and Timoshenko model are also demonstrated.

Imbibition dynamics of nano-particulate ink-jet drops on micro-porous media

Ink-jet printing of nano-metallic colloidal fluids on to porous media such as coated papers has become a viable method to produce conductive tracks for low-cost, disposable printed electronic devices. However, the formation of well-defined and functional tracks on an absorbing surface is controlled by the drop imbibition dynamics in addition to the well-studied post-impact drop spreading behavior. This study represents the first investigation of the real-time imbibition of ink-jet deposited nano-Cu colloid drops on to coated paper substrates. In addition, the same ink was deposited on to a non-porous polymer surface as a control substrate. By using high-speed video imaging to capture the deposition of ink-jet drops, the time-scales of drop spreading and imbibition were quantified and compared with model predictions. The influences of the coating pore size on the bulk absorption rate and nano-Cu particle distribution have also been studied.

Microemulsion-mediated solvothermal synthesis and photoluminescent property of 3D flowerlike MnWO4 micro/nanocomposite structure

Novel three-dimensional (3D) flowerlike MnWO4 micro/nanocomposite structure has been successfully synthesized for the first time. The synthesized products were systematically studied by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and photoluminescence (PL) spectra. It is found that both reaction time and temperature have significant effects on the morphology of the products.

Self-assembly of p-sulfonatocalix[4]arene and a Ag-hmt coordination polymer into a porous structure

A novel porous material constructed from p-sulfonatocalix[4]arene molecules and a Ag-I coordination polymer has been structurally characterized. The porous supramolecular complex features a bilayer arrangement of p-sulfonatocalix[4]arene molecules linked by a Ag-I-hmt (hmt: hexamethylene- tetramine) coordination polymer through metal-ligand bonding, hydrogen bonding and host-guest interactions.

Effect of composition, solvent exchange liquid and drying method on the porous structure of phenol-formaldehyde gels

Organic gels have been synthesized by sol–gel polycondensation of phenol (P) and formaldehyde (F) catalyzed by sodium carbonate (C). The effect of synthesis parameters such as phenol/catalyst ratio (P/C), solvent exchange liquid and drying method, on the porous structure of the gels have been investigated. The total and mesopore volumes of the PF gels increased with increasing P/C ratio in the range of P/C B 8, after this both properties started to decrease with P/C ratio for P/C[8 and the gel with P/C = 8 showed the highest total and mesopore volumes of 1.281 and 1.279 cm3 g-1 respectively. The gels prepared by freeze drying possessed significantly higher porosities than the vacuum dried gels. The pore volume and average pore diameter of the freeze dried gels were significantly higher than those of the vacuum dried gels. T-butanol emerged as the preferred solvent for the removal of water from the PF hydrogel prior to drying, as significantly higher pore volumes and specific surface areas were obtained in the corresponding dried gels. The results showed that freeze drying with t-butanol and lower P/C ratios were favourable conditions for the synthesis of highly mesoporous phenol–formaldehyde gels.