scholarly journals Tunable Wettability of Biodegradable Multilayer Sandwich-Structured Electrospun Nanofibrous Membranes

Polymers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2092 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. K. M. Mashud Alam ◽  
Elena Ewaldz ◽  
Chunhui Xiang ◽  
Wangda Qu ◽  
Xianglan Bai

This research aims to develop multilayer sandwich-structured electrospun nanofiber (ENF) membranes using biodegradable polymers. Hydrophilic regenerated cellulose (RC) and hydrophobic poly (lactic acid) (PLA)-based novel multilayer sandwich-structures were created by electrospinning on various copper collectors, including copper foil and 30-mesh copper gauzes, to modify the surface roughness for tunable wettability. Different collectors yielded various sizes and morphologies of the fabricated ENFs with different levels of surface roughness. Bead-free thicker fibers were collected on foil collectors. The surface roughness of the fine fibers collected on mesh collectors contributed to an increase in hydrophobicity. An RC-based triple-layered structure showed a contact angle of 48.2°, which is comparable to the contact angle of the single-layer cellulosic fabrics (47.0°). The polar shift of RC membranes on the wetting envelope is indicative of the possibility of tuning the wetting behavior by creating multilayer structures. Wettability can be tuned by creating multilayer sandwich structures consisting of RC and PLA. This study provides an important insight into the manipulation of the wetting behavior of polymeric ENFs in multilayer structures for applications including chemical protective clothing.

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 998-1002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonia Terriza ◽  
Rafael Alvarez ◽  
Francisco Yubero ◽  
Ana Borras ◽  
Agustin R. González-Elipe

Crystals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 609
Author(s):  
Guangjie Feng ◽  
Manqin Liu ◽  
Yalei Liu ◽  
Zhouxin Jin ◽  
Yifeng Wang ◽  
...  

The wetting of Ag-5 wt.% CuO (Ag-5CuO) alloy on initial/CuO-coated zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA) composite ceramic in air was studied in detail. The results showed that the contact angle of the Ag-5CuO/ZTA system rapidly decreased from 81° at 970 °C to 45° at 990 °C during the heating process, however, moderate reductions in contact angle were observed in the subsequent heating and temperature holding stages. In comparison with the contact angle of pure Al2O3, an increment of about 4° of the stable contact angle of Ag-5CuO alloy on the heterogeneous ZTA was observed. The reaction between Al2O3 and CuO can reduce the damage of the CuO-rich liquid to ZrO2 in the ZTA substrate. Both oxygen and CuO were helpful in reducing the contact angle of Ag on ZTA and enhancing the bonding of the Ag/ZTA interface. The continuous CuO coating on ZTA and the monotectic liquid containing more CuO in the region near the triple line induced reductions of more than 40° and about 10° in the contact angle, respectively, between the initial and the CuO coating-improved wetting systems.


Biomimetics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 38
Author(s):  
Quentin Legrand ◽  
Stephane Benayoun ◽  
Stephane Valette

This investigation of morphology-wetting links was performed using a biomimetic approach. Three natural leaves’ surfaces were studied: two bamboo varieties and Ginkgo Biloba. Multiscale surface topographies were analyzed by SEM observations, FFT, and Gaussian filtering. A PDMS replicating protocol of natural surfaces was proposed in order to study the purely morphological contribution to wetting. High static contact angles, close to 135∘, were measured on PDMS replicated surfaces. Compared to flat PDMS, the increase in static contact angle due to purely morphological contribution was around 20∘. Such an increase in contact angle was obtained despite loss of the nanometric scale during the replication process. Moreover, a significant decrease of the hysteresis contact angle was measured on PDMS replicas. The value of the contact angle hysteresis moved from 40∘ for flat PDMS to less than 10∘ for textured replicated surfaces. The wetting behavior of multiscale textured surfaces was then studied in the frame of the Wenzel and Cassie–Baxter models. Whereas the classical laws made it possible to describe the wetting behavior of the ginkgo biloba replications, a hierarchical model was developed to depict the wetting behavior of both bamboo species.


2021 ◽  
Vol 56 (15) ◽  
pp. 9196-9208
Author(s):  
Piotr Borysiuk ◽  
Piotr Boruszewski ◽  
Radosław Auriga ◽  
Leszek Danecki ◽  
Alicja Auriga ◽  
...  

AbstractIn this study, wood plastic composites (WPC) made of poly(lactic acid) PLA and a bark-filler were manufactured. Two degrees of bark comminution (10–35 mesh and over 35 mesh) and varied content of bark (40, 50 and 60%) were investigated. The studied panels were compared with analogically manufactured HDPE boards. The manufacture of composites involved two stages: at first, WPC granules with the appropriate formulation were produced using the extruder (temperatures in individual extruder sections were 170–180 °C) and crushing using a hammer mill after cooling the extruded composite; secondly, the obtained granulate was used to produce boards with nominal dimensions of 300 × 300 × 2.5 mm3 by flat pressing in a mold, using a single daylight press at a temperature 200 °C. The study proved that comminuted bark can be applied as a filler in PLA composites. However, an increase in bark content decreased mechanical properties (MOR, MOE) and deteriorated humidity resistance (high TS and WA) of the panels. Along with the increase in bark content, an increase in the contact angle of the composite surfaces and a decrease in the total surface energy were noted. It was also found that PLA composites have higher strength parameters and lower moisture resistance compared to HDPE composites with the same bark content. Graphical abstract


2019 ◽  
Vol 60 ◽  
pp. 124-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naser Ali ◽  
Joao Amaral Teixeira ◽  
Abdulmajid Addali

This research investigates the effect of surface roughness, water temperature, and pH value on the wettability behaviour of copper surfaces. An electron beam physical vapour deposition technique was used to fabricate 25, 50, and 75 nm thin films of copper on the surface of copper substrates. Surface topographical analysis, of the uncoated and coated samples, was performed using an atomic force microscopy device to observe the changes in surface microstructure. A goniometer device was then employed to examine the surface wettability of the samples by obtaining the static contact angle between the liquid and the attached surface using the sessile drops technique. Waters of pH 4, 7, and 9 were employed as the contact angle testing fluids at a set of fixed temperatures that ranged from 20°C to 60°C. It was found that increasing the deposited film thickness reduces the surface roughness of the as-prepared copper surfaces and thus causing the surface wettability to diverge from its initial hydrophobic nature towards the hydrophilic behaviour region. A similar divergence behaviour was seen with the rise in temperature of water of pH 4, and 9. In contrast, the water of pH 7, when tested on the uncoated surface, ceased to reach a contact angle below 90o. It is believed that the observed changes in surface wettability behaviour is directly linked to the liquid temperature, pH value, surface roughness, along with the Hofmeister effect between the water and the surface in contact.


2005 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeou-Long Lee ◽  
Chung-Ming Liu ◽  
Kuen Ting ◽  
Wei-Kung Cheng ◽  
Takayoshi Tsuchida ◽  
...  

AbstractSurface modification of the carbon included polyethylene (semi-conductive PE) surface for metallizing using a low pressure RF discharge plasma has been carried out. The contact angle was used as a measure of the wettability of the PE surface. The roughness and the chemical bondings in PE surface layer were analized by DFM and XPS, respectively. Typical results show that the contact angle decreases from approximately 94° to below 10° after several minutes' treatment and recovers to a saturation value when it was put open to the air after treatment. The saturation value of the contact angle is smaller as the gas pressure for treatment is higher and the treatment time is longer but all are below approximately 60° which is still smaller than that of untreated. DFM and XPS results show that the surface roughness and the bondings C-O and C=O in the PE surface layer also increase with increasing the treatment time and seem to be responsible for improving the hydrophilic property of PE. After pretreatment process, nickel was coated on the PE sheet by electrodeposition method and a good adhesion between the nickel layer and the PE surface compared with that of untreated was obtained.


Author(s):  
M.N. Obaid ◽  
S.H. Radhi

Purpose: The number of people suffering from Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD) is increasing. The disease causes heavy pain and restrict a number of day-to-day life activities. In extreme cases, the degraded disc is removed under total disc replacement which is usually made up of Ultra-High Molecular Weight Polyethylene (UHMWPE). The material has astounding biocompatible characteristics mechanical properties and wear resistance. However, these characteristics are insufficient in arthroplasty application. Therefore, research investigations are ongoing to improve tribological properties through reinforcement that may result in a composite material of UHMWPE. Thus the current study is aimed at reinforcing UHMWPE with short fibres of polyesters to enhance the tribological properties and surface characteristic so as to improve wear resistance and nourish the fibroblast cells on synthetic disc. Design/methodology/approach: The researcher prepared UHMWPE composite material, reinforced with different weight fractions of short polyester fibres (2, 4, 6, 8 and 10% following hot press method. Further pin-on-disc device was used to study the tribological properties (coefficient of friction and volume of wear). The study tested surface roughness and surface characteristics by atomic force microscopy (AFM) device, hardness by shore D device, contact angle to study the effect of polyester short fibres on wettability of UHMWPE surface and tested the thermal properties and crystalline degree using Differential Scanning Calorimetry measurement (DSC) device. Findings: The results infer that the wear resistance got improved when using 2% w.t polyester though it got decreased initially. However, the value was still more than neat UHMWPE. There was a decrease observed in coefficient of friction, but after 4 w.t% polyester, the coefficient of friction got increased due to increasing percentage of fibres which make it harder and stiff compared to UHMWPE. There was a decline observed in surface roughness due to alignment of the fibres with smooth surface. The contact angle got increased in a moderate range while the roughness enhanced the growth of fibroblast cell. The hardness of composite material got increased, because the fibres turned stiffer and harder than the matrix. DSC results infer the improvements in thermal stability due to high thermal properties of polyester fibres compared to UHMWPE. The degree of crystallinity got increased which in turn enhanced wear resistance, especially at 6 w.t % polyester fibres. There was a mild increase observed in density since the density of polyester is higher than polymer. Research limitations/implications: The major challenge was the dispersion of fibres. Uniform distribution of fibres within the matrix (UHMWPE) was achieved through two steps of mixing processes such as mechanical mixture and twin extruder. In future studies, fatigue tests must be conducted to study the behaviour of prepared composite materials under fatigue cycle. Practical implications: A significant objective is how to connect among different properties to obtain good improvement in tribological and surface properties so as to enhance wear resistance and growth of fibrolase cells. Originality/value: In this study, polymeric short fibres were used as reinforcement with polymeric matrix to enhance the wettability of fibres with matrix. In this way, the bonding among them got increased which supports the tribological, surface, and crystalline behaviour.


Author(s):  
Neeharika Anantharaju ◽  
Mahesh Panchagnula ◽  
Wayne Kimsey ◽  
Sudhakar Neti ◽  
Svetlana Tatic-Lucic

The wettability of silicon surface hydrophobized using silanization reagents was studied. The advancing and receding contact angles were measured with the captive needle approach. In this approach, a drop under study was held on the hydrophobized surface with a fine needle immersed in it. The asymptotic advancing and receding angles were obtained by incrementally increasing the volume added and removed, respectively, until no change in angles was observed. The values were compared with the previously published results. Further, the wetting behavior of water droplets on periodically structured hydrophobic surfaces was investigated. The surfaces were prepared with the wet etching process and contain posts and holes of different sizes and void fractions. The surface geometry brought up a scope to study the Wenzel (filling of surface grooves) and Cassie (non filling of the surface grooves) theories and effects of surface geometry and roughness on the contact angle. Experimental data point to an anomalous behavior where the data does not obey either Wenzel or Cassie type phenomenology. This behavior is explained by an understanding of the contact line topography. The effect of contact line topography on the contact angle was thus parametrically studied. It was also inferred that, the contact angle increased with the increase in void fraction. The observations may serve as guidelines in designing surfaces with the desired wetting behavior.


1986 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Finetti ◽  
I. Suni ◽  
G. Desanti ◽  
L. Bacci ◽  
C. Caprile

AbstractWe have applied a temperature-ramp resistance analysis to investigate electromigration effects in unpassivated Al-Si/Ta multilayer structures. The results are compared to the behaviour previously observed in Al-Si/Ti interconnects. For comparison, single layer Al-Si metallizations were also studied.


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