Tribological Properties of Al-Based Composites Reinforced with Fullerene Soot

Aluminum-based composite materials reinforced with fullerene soot, which is a mixture of fullerene and amorphous carbon, are promising materials for friction and wear applications. Composite materials: aluminum with 2% fullerene soot (f.s) and Al with 2% f.s and 2% Cu were obtained via mechanical milling followed by hot pressing. The tribological properties (friction and wear) of the listed composites were investigated and compared with the results for pure aluminum obtained under similar conditions. It has been shown that the addition of fullerene soot reduces the friction coefficient by 25%. At additional alloying with copper, the friction coefficient decreased by 35% in comparison with pure aluminum and also lad to a decrease in friction fluctuations. The wear rate of composite Al with 2% f.s decreased twice in comparison with that of pure aluminum, and with additional alloying it decreased 2.5 times. The morphology of the wear surfaces was investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The influence of fullerene soot and additional alloying on the wear mechanism was shown.

Proliferation of Lung Epithelial Cells Is Regulated by the Mechanisms of Autophagy Upon Exposure of Soots

BackgroundSoots are known to cause many diseases in humans, but their underlying mechanisms of toxicity are still not known. Here, we report that soots induce cell proliferation of lung epithelial cells via modulating autophagy pathways.ResultsFullerene soot and diesel exhaust particles (DEP) induced cell proliferation of lung epithelial, A549 cells via distinct autophagic mechanisms and did not cause cell death. Exposure of fullerene soot protected the cell death of A549 cells, caused by hydrogen peroxide, and inhibited LPS-induced autophagy. Fullerene soot co-localized with the autophagic proteins and inhibited starvation-induced autophagy (downregulated ATG-5, beclin-1, p62, and LC3 expressions) independent of its antioxidant properties. Similarly, it decreased the expression profile of autophagic genes and upregulated the proliferation-responsive gene, Ki-67, in mice. We observed that expressions of fullerene soot-responsive genes (Beclin-1, ATG-5, and p62) were reverted by Akt Inhibitor X, indicating an important role of the Akt pathway. At an elemental level, we found that elemental carbon of fullerene soot may be converted into organic carbon, as measured by OCEC, which may point fullerene soot as a source of carbon. On the other hand, DEP upregulated the expressions of autophagy genes. Akt Inhibitor X did not attenuate DEP-induced cell proliferation and autophagic response. However, an autophagic inhibitor, chloroquine, and significantly inhibited DEP-induced cell proliferation.ConclusionIt can be said that distinct autophagic mechanisms are operational in cell proliferation of lung epithelial cells due to soots, which may be responsible for different diseases. Understanding the mechanism of these pathways provides some important targets, which can be utilized for the development of future therapeutics.

Sizing response of the Ultra-High Sensitivity Aerosol Spectrometer (UHSAS) and Laser Aerosol Spectrometer (LAS) to changes in submicron aerosol composition and refractive index

We evaluate the sensitivity of the size calibrations of two commercially available, high-resolution optical particle sizers to changes in aerosol composition and complex refractive index (RI). The Droplet Measurement Technologies Ultra-High Sensitivity Aerosol Spectrometer (UHSAS) and the TSI, Inc. Laser Aerosol Spectrometer (LAS) are two commonly used instruments for measuring the portion of the aerosol size distribution with diameters larger than nominally 60–90 nm. Both instruments illuminate particles with a laser and relate the single-particle light scattering intensity and count rate measured over a wide range of angles to the size-dependent particle concentration. While the optical block geometry and flow system are similar for each instrument, a significant difference between the two models is the laser wavelength (1054 nm for the UHSAS and 633 nm for the LAS) and intensity (about 100 times higher for the UHSAS), which may affect the way each instrument sizes non-spherical or absorbing aerosols. Here, we challenge the UHSAS and LAS with laboratory-generated, mobility-size-classified aerosols of known chemical composition to quantify changes in the optical size response relative to that of ammonium sulfate (RI of 1.52+0i at 532 nm) and NIST-traceable polystyrene latex spheres (PSLs with RI of 1.59+0i at 589 nm). Aerosol inorganic salt species are chosen to cover the real refractive index range of 1.32 to 1.78, while chosen light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosols include fullerene soot, nigrosine dye, humic acid, and fulvic acid standards. The instrument response is generally in good agreement with the electrical mobility diameter. However, large undersizing deviations are observed for the low-refractive-index fluoride salts and the strongly absorbing nigrosine dye and fullerene soot particles. Polydisperse size distributions for both fresh and aged wildfire smoke aerosols from the recent Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments Experiment and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) and the Cloud, Aerosol, and Monsoon Processes Philippines Experiment (CAMP2Ex) airborne campaigns show good agreement between both optical sizers and contemporaneous electrical mobility sizing and particle time-of-flight mass spectrometric measurements. We assess the instrument uncertainties by interpolating the laboratory response curves using previously reported RIs and size distributions for multiple aerosol type classifications. These results suggest that, while the optical sizers may underperform for strongly absorbing laboratory compounds and fresh tailpipe emissions measurements, sampling aerosols within the atmospherically relevant range of refractive indices are likely to be sized to better than ±10 %–20 % uncertainty over the submicron aerosol size range when using instruments calibrated with ammonium sulfate.

Investigation of Effective Mechanical Characteristics of Nanomodified Carbon-Epoxide Composite by Numerical and Analytical Methods

In this work, the mechanical properties of composite samples prepared using a conventional and nanomodified matrix were studied. The thickness of the monolayers in the samples was 0,2 μm. It was found in experiments, that the addition of fullerene soot as a nanomodifierled to an increase in the mechanical properties of the samples along the direction of reinforcement. At the same time, an improvement in the quality of the contact of the matrix with the fibers in the samples with the nanomodifier was observed: on the fracture surface, the nanomodified matrix envelops the fibers, while the usual matrix completely exfoliates. The obtained effects of changing the strength of composites can be associated, among other things, with a change in the level of residual stresses arising in composites during nanomodification. Analytical and numerical modeling methods are used to explain these effects.