Shape memory and mechanical properties of silk fibroin/poly(ε-caprolactone) composites

2017 ◽  
Vol 193 ◽  
pp. 26-29 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yehua Sun ◽  
Yuzhuo Luo ◽  
Yubing Dong ◽  
Yaqin Fu
Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1456
Author(s):  
Isabel Matos Oliveira ◽  
Cristiana Gonçalves ◽  
Myeong Eun Shin ◽  
Sumi Lee ◽  
Rui Luis Reis ◽  
...  

Rheumatoid arthritis is a rheumatic disease for which a healing treatment does not presently exist. Silk fibroin has been extensively studied for use in drug delivery systems due to its uniqueness, versatility and strong clinical track record in medicine. However, in general, natural polymeric materials are not mechanically stable enough, and have high rates of biodegradation. Thus, synthetic materials such as gellan gum can be used to produce composite structures with biological signals to promote tissue-specific interactions while providing the desired mechanical properties. In this work, we aimed to produce hydrogels of tyramine-modified gellan gum with silk fibroin (Ty–GG/SF) via horseradish peroxidase (HRP), with encapsulated betamethasone, to improve the biocompatibility and mechanical properties, and further increase therapeutic efficacy to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The Ty–GG/SF hydrogels presented a β-sheet secondary structure, with gelation time around 2–5 min, good resistance to enzymatic degradation, a suitable injectability profile, viscoelastic capacity with a significant solid component and a betamethasone-controlled release profile over time. In vitro studies showed that Ty–GG/SF hydrogels did not produce a deleterious effect on cellular metabolic activity, morphology or proliferation. Furthermore, Ty–GG/SF hydrogels with encapsulated betamethasone revealed greater therapeutic efficacy than the drug applied alone. Therefore, this strategy can provide an improvement in therapeutic efficacy when compared to the traditional use of drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (7) ◽  
pp. 3391
Author(s):  
Sylwia Grabska-Zielińska ◽  
Alina Sionkowska ◽  
Ewa Olewnik-Kruszkowska ◽  
Katarzyna Reczyńska ◽  
Elżbieta Pamuła

The aim of this work was to compare physicochemical properties of three dimensional scaffolds based on silk fibroin, collagen and chitosan blends, cross-linked with dialdehyde starch (DAS) and dialdehyde chitosan (DAC). DAS was commercially available, while DAC was obtained by one-step synthesis. Structure and physicochemical properties of the materials were characterized using Fourier transfer infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance device (FTIR-ATR), swelling behavior and water content measurements, porosity and density observations, scanning electron microscopy imaging (SEM), mechanical properties evaluation and thermogravimetric analysis. Metabolic activity with AlamarBlue assay and live/dead fluorescence staining were performed to evaluate the cytocompatibility of the obtained materials with MG-63 osteoblast-like cells. The results showed that the properties of the scaffolds based on silk fibroin, collagen and chitosan can be modified by chemical cross-linking with DAS and DAC. It was found that DAS and DAC have different influence on the properties of biopolymeric scaffolds. Materials cross-linked with DAS were characterized by higher swelling ability (~4000% for DAS cross-linked materials; ~2500% for DAC cross-linked materials), they had lower density (Coll/CTS/30SF scaffold cross-linked with DAS: 21.8 ± 2.4 g/cm3; cross-linked with DAC: 14.6 ± 0.7 g/cm3) and lower mechanical properties (maximum deformation for DAC cross-linked scaffolds was about 69%; for DAS cross-linked scaffolds it was in the range of 12.67 ± 1.51% and 19.83 ± 1.30%) in comparison to materials cross-linked with DAC. Additionally, scaffolds cross-linked with DAS exhibited higher biocompatibility than those cross-linked with DAC. However, the obtained results showed that both types of scaffolds can provide the support required in regenerative medicine and tissue engineering. The scaffolds presented in the present work can be potentially used in bone tissue engineering to facilitate healing of small bone defects.


Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 4007
Author(s):  
Qimeng Zhang ◽  
Bo Cui ◽  
Bin Sun ◽  
Xin Zhang ◽  
Zhizhong Dong ◽  
...  

The effects of rare earth element Sm on the microstructure, mechanical properties, and shape memory effect of the high temperature shape memory alloy, Cu-13.0Al-4.0Ni-xSm (x = 0, 0.2 and 0.5) (wt.%), are studied in this work. The results show that the Sm addition reduces the grain size of the Cu-13.0Al-4.0Ni alloy from millimeters to hundreds of microns. The microstructure of the Cu-13.0Al-4.0Ni-xSm alloys are composed of 18R and a face-centered cubic Sm-rich phase at room temperature. In addition, because the addition of the Sm element enhances the fine-grain strengthening effect, the mechanical properties and the shape memory effect of the Cu-13.0Al-4.0Ni alloy were greatly improved. When x = 0.5, the compressive fracture stress and the compressive fracture strain increased from 580 MPa, 10.5% to 1021 MPa, 14.8%, respectively. When the pre-strain is 10%, a reversible strain of 6.3% can be obtained for the Cu-13.0Al-4.0Ni-0.2Sm alloy.


Processes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 80
Author(s):  
Bo Zhang ◽  
Sizhi Zeng ◽  
Fenghua Tang ◽  
Shujun Hu ◽  
Qiang Zhou ◽  
...  

As a stimulus-sensitive material, the difference in composition, fabrication process, and influencing factors will have a great effect on the mechanical properties of a superelastic Ni-Ti shape memory alloy (SMA) wire, so the seismic performance of the self-centering steel brace with SMA wires may not be accurately obtained. In this paper, the cyclic tensile tests of a kind of SMA wire with a 1 mm diameter and special element composition were tested under multi-working conditions, which were pretreated by first tensioning to the 0.06 strain amplitude for 40 cycles, so the mechanical properties of the pretreated SMA wires can be simulated in detail. The accuracy of the numerical results with the improved model of Graesser’s theory was verified by a comparison to the experimental results. The experimental results show that the number of cycles has no significant effect on the mechanical properties of SMA wires after a certain number of cyclic tensile training. With the loading rate increasing, the pinch effect of the hysteresis curves will be enlarged, while the effective elastic modulus and slope of the transformation stresses in the process of loading and unloading are also increased, and the maximum energy dissipation capacity of the SMA wires appears at a loading rate of 0.675 mm/s. Moreover, with the initial strain increasing, the slope of the transformation stresses in the process of loading is increased, while the effective elastic modulus and slope of the transformation stresses in the process of unloading are decreased, and the maximum energy dissipation capacity appears at the initial strain of 0.0075. In addition, a good agreement between the test and numerical results is obtained by comparing with the hysteresis curves and energy dissipation values, so the numerical model is useful to predict the stress–strain relations at different stages. The test and numerical results will also provide a basis for the design of corresponding self-centering steel dampers.


2021 ◽  
pp. 095400832199676
Author(s):  
Yuting Ouyang ◽  
Qiu Zhang ◽  
Xiukun Liu ◽  
Ruan Hong ◽  
Xu Xu ◽  
...  

Different ionic liquid modified graphene nanosheets (IG) were induced into polyimide (PI) to improve the tribological, thermal, and mechanical properties of shape memory IG/PI composites. The results demonstrated that when using 1-aminoethyl-3-methylimidazole bromide to modify graphene nanosheets (IG-1), the laser-driven shape recovery rate of IG-1/PI composites (IGPI-1) reached 73.02%, which was 49.36% higher than that of pure PI. In addition, the IGPI-1 composite materials reached the maximum shape recovery rate within 15 s. Additionally, under dry sliding, the addition of IG can significantly improve the tribological properties of composite materials. IGPI-1 exhibited the best self-lubricating properties. Compared with pure PI, the friction coefficient (0.19) and wear rate (2.62 × 10–5) mm3/Nm) were reduced by 44.1% and 24.2%, respectively, and the T10% of IGPI-1 increased by 32.2°C. The Tg of IGPI-1 reached 256.5°C, which was 8.4°C higher than that of pure PI. In addition, the tensile strength and modulus of IGPI-1 reached 82.3 MPa and 1.18 GPa, which were significantly increased by 33.6% and 29.8%, respectively, compared with pure PI. We hope that this work will be helpful for the preparation of shape memory materials with excellent tribological, thermal, and mechanical properties.


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