Microstructure and improvement in corrosion resistance of HAP and PVA/HAP

Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) mixed with hydroxyapatite (HAP) has great potential for application as biomaterial. PVA/HAP powder was synthesized by sol–gel technique and was compressed to make pellets. These samples were examined with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electrochemical analysis (ECA) techniques. Compound formation of HAP and PVA were studied using XRD and microstructure was investigated by FESEM and AFM. Characteristics properties of the HAP and PVA/HAP composite are compared. Corrosion resistance of PVA/HAP in Ringer solution is better than HAP. Interesting microstructure features are correlated with the corrosion resistance. As the corrosion resistance is related with biocompatibility, the present work can be useful for the hard tissue implant.

Dependence of the Fe(II)-Gallic Acid Coordination Compound Formation Constant on the pH

One important property of tannins involves their ability to form coordination compounds with metal ions, which is vital for the bioavailability of these ions, as well as for the antibacterial and antioxidative activities of tannins. In this study, the pH dependence of interactions between gallic acid, one of the basic building blocks of tannins, and Fe(II) ions, was investigated using UV/Vis spectroscopy, in conjunction with density functional theory (DFT) calculations. Moreover, two models were developed to explain the processes taking place in the solution. The first model treated the reaction as a simple bimolecular process while the second also considered the protolytic equilibrium, which was proven very successful in discerning the pH dependence of formation constants, and whose assumptions were well supported by DFT calculations. We showed that the two-time deprotonated gallic acid species forms the coordination compound with Fe(II) ions in a 1:1 molar ratio. To gain better insight into the process, the coordination compound formation was also studied using various DFT functionals, which further supported the model results. Furthermore, due to the relatively low sample amounts needed, the methodology developed here will be useful to study compounds that are more difficult to isolate.

Identification of Inhomogeneous Temperature on Stainless Steel using Statistical Analysis

Corrosion in stainless steel, abbreviated as SS, is still an exciting topic to study. Even though SS is a corrosion resistance material, this property will be degraded when exposed to high temperatures for a long time because of σ phase, such as a Fe-Cr compound, formation. The presence of this phase can be observed using a special chemical etchant solution that will give five specific colours to this phase: light brown, dark brown, bluish brown, light blue, and dark blue. In this study, the specimen sample is from ASTM A297. Furthermore, the metallography process is carried out to obtain microstructure images that describe the σ phase. Here, two grains were taken as objects to discretize with one of them was around the specimen sample center and the other was close to the boundary with the environment. The discretization resulted in a 2 x 5 frequency table, called contingency table, that is analysed by the independence χ2-test. The contingency table is also represented geometrically in cartesian. The study shows that two grains were not independent. The grain which was around the specimen sample center contained many σ phases dominated by light blue colour (43%). In other words, the prolonged heating did not give homogeneous corrosion level.