Micro- and Nano-Scales Three-Dimensional Characterisation of Softwood

Understanding the mechanical response of cellular biological materials to environmental stimuli is of fundamental importance from an engineering perspective in composites. To provide a deep understanding of their behaviour, an exhaustive analytical and experimental protocol is required. Attention is focused on softwood but the approach can be applied to a range of cellular materials. This work presents a new non-invasive multi-scale approach for the investigation of the hygro-mechanical behaviour of softwood. At the TOMCAT beamline of the Paul Scherrer Institute, in Switzerland, the swelling behaviour of softwood was probed at the cellular and sub-cellular scales by means of 3D high-resolution phase-contrast X-ray imaging. At the cellular scale, new findings in the anisotropic and reversible swelling behaviour of softwood and in the origin of swelling hysteresis of porous materials are explained from a mechanical perspective. However, the mechanical and moisture properties of wood highly depend on sub-cellular features of the wood cell wall, such as bordered pits, yielding local deformations during a full hygroscopic loading protocol.

Shellac Gum/Carrageenan Alginate-Based Core–Shell Systems Containing Peppermint Essential Oil Formulated by Mixture Design Approach

Peppermint essential oil is encapsulated by inverse ionotropic gelation in core–shell systems, composed of alginate (ALG) alone or alginate with shellac gum (SHL) and/or carrageenan (CRG). A mixture design approach is used to evaluate the correlation between the formulation composition and some properties of the final products. Immediately after the preparation, capsules appear rounded with a smooth and homogeneous surface, having a similar particle size ranging from 3.8 mm to 4.5 mm. The drying process, carried out at 40 °C in an oven for 3 h, reduces capsules’ diameters by at least 50% and has a negative impact on the shape of the systems because they lose their regular shape and their external membrane partially collapses. The peppermint essential oil content of dried capsules is between 14.84% and 33.75%. The swelling behaviour of the systems is affected by the composition of their outer shell. When the external membrane is composed of alginate and shellac gum, the capsule ability to swell is lower than that of the systems containing alginate alone. The swelling ratio reaches 31% for alginate capsules but does not exceed 21% if shellac is present. Differently, when the second polymer of the shell is carrageenan, the swelling ability increases as a function of polymer concentration and the swelling ratio reaches 360%. In the case of systems whose outer membrane is a polymeric ternary mixture, the swelling capacity increases or decreases according to the concentrations of the individual polymers. The obtained results suggest that carrageenan could be a useful excipient to increase the swelling behaviour of the systems, while shellac gum makes the system shell more hydrophobic. The use of a mixture design (i.e., the use of ternary diagrams and related calculations), in which each single component is chosen to provide specific properties to the final mixture, could be the right approach to develop improved formulations with a tailored essential oil release profile.

4D Soft Material Systems

This work introduces multi-material liquid printing as an enabling technology for designing programmed shape-shifting silicones. The goal of this research is to provide a readily available, scalable and customized approach at producing responsive 4D printed structures for a wide range of applications. Hence, the methodology allows customization at each step of the procedure by intervening either on the material composition and/or on the design and fabrication strategies for the production of responsive components. A significant endeavour is initiated to develop and engineer two different material systems that enable shape-shifting: silicone-ethanol composites and polyvinyl siloxane swelling rubbers. The printed samples successfully comply with the expected swelling behaviour through a variety of printed test patterns.

Mathematical Modeling of Crosslinked Polyacrylic Based Hydrogels: Physical Properties and Drug Delivery

Recently, hydrogels have gained significant importance in different applications, such as tissue engineering and drug delivery. They are 3D-structures of hydrophilic polymers held together through physical or chemical cross-linking. Important is their ability to swell in presence of solvents, forming elastic gels able to mantain their original shape. Furthermore, this scaffolds slowly degrade in the physiological environment, leading the growing tissue to replace the former filled site. In this work, hydrogels have been synthetized using branched polyacrilic acid (Carbomer) cross-linked with an aliphatic polyetherdiamine (elastamine). In particular, we focused on the description of their equilibrium conditions in swollen state and the dynamic simulation of the swelling process. These hydrogels exhibited a peculiar swelling behaviour characterized by an overshoot of the volume increase before reaching the equilibrium. Notably, such behavior was found at different pH values. In this manuscript, the swelling behavior was studied by mathematical modelling. Moreover, the ability of these devices to release drugs was also examined through a literature model to understand the different operating transport mechanisms.

Stability of immobilized biosorbent and its influence on biosorption of copper

Biomass immobilization in a polymeric matrix may improve biosorption capacity and facilitate the separation of biomass from metal-bearing solutions. Many polymers are studied as immobilizing agents for biosorption including biopolymers such as sodium alginate. In the article swelling behaviour of gel and dry beads has been studied in aqueous solutions with different acid-base character. Swelling of gel or dry calcium alginate beads was found in all acidic and basic solutions except of the gel beads in strong acidic solutions, which exhibited the tendency to shrink. Dry beads in diluted acidic solutions had the greatest stability because they exhibited minimum swelling. Dry and gel beads were completely dissolved in concentrated solutions of sodium and potassium hydroxides. The potential use of immobilized algal biomass in Ca-alginate beads for removal of copper ions from aqueous solution was also investigated. The results of the kinetic studies showed that the sorption of copper ions on gel immobilized beads are the most suitable.

Combined effect of mineralogical and chemical parameters on swelling behaviour of expansive soils

Microlevel properties such as mineralogical and chemical compositions greatly control the macro behaviour of expansive soils. In this paper, the combined effect of mineral (i.e. montmorillonite, MMC) and chemical contents (i.e. Ca and Na in their total (T), leachable (L) and exchangeable form (CEC)) on swelling behaviour is investigated in a comprehensive way. Several 3-dimensional (3D) graphs correlating MMC and Ca/Na ratio, together, with swelling property (swelling potential, Sa, and swelling pressure, Sp) are developed. 3D plots, in general, portrayed a non-linear relationship of Sa and Sp with MMC and Ca/Na ratio, together. It is hypothesized that swelling initially is triggered by chemical parameters due to their quick and rapid ionization capability, but the overall swelling phenomenon is largely controlled by MMC. It is importantly found that expansive soils are dominant with divalent Ca++ ions up to MMC of 67% and beyond this percentage, monovalent Na+ ions are prevalent. From the interpretation of results, the maximum Sa of 18% and Sp of 93 kPa is measured at MMC of 43%, (Ca/Na)T of 10–14 and (Ca/Na)L of 2–7. It is concluded from study that total CEC + MMC for determining Sa and (Ca/Na)T + MMC for determining Sp are superior parameters to be considered. The findings of the study also excellently endorsed the results of Foster32, who stated that ionization of Na or Ca depends on the constituent mineral contents. The findings presented herein are unique, interesting and bear very practical significance, as no earlier research work reported such findings by accounting for chemical and mineralogical parameters impact, in tandem, on swelling properties.

Swelling Behaviour and Water Vapour Transmission Rates of Gellan Gum/Collagen Film Containing Gatifloxacin as Dressing Materials

In an effort to produce ideal wound dressing, gellan gum/collagen hydrogel films containing different concentrations of gatifloxacin were prepared via evaporative casting method. The films were examined in terms of physical appearances, water uptake and water vapour transmission rate (WVTR). All the films showed good physical appearances. Swelling percentages of the films were decreased, whereas WVTR values were increased as the addition of gatifloxacin was increased. Swelling percentage of gellan gum/collagen film with the lowest percentage of gatifloxacin (GG/C-GAT01) has the highest swelling ratio (2057%). Meanwhile, the WVTR value of GG/C-GAT1 has the highest WVTR value among all films which is 1245 g m-2 day-1. The formulation of GG/C films with the addition of gatifloxacin with good water absorbance and acceptable WVTRs value offered promising materials to be applied as wound dressing materials.