Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Inverse Nanocomposite Made from Polylactide and Hydroxyapatite Nanoparticles

Polymer nanocomposites have been extensively researched for a variety of applications, including medical osteoregenerative implants. However, no satisfactory solution has yet been found for regeneration of big, and so-called critical, bone losses. The requirement is to create a resorbable material which is characterised by optimum porosity, sufficient strength, and elastic modulus matching that of the bone, thus stimulating tissue regrowth. Inverse nanocomposites, where the ceramic content is larger than the polymer content, are a recent development. Due to their high ceramic content, they may offer the required properties for bone implants, currently not met by polymer nanocomposites with a small number of nanoparticles. This paper presents inverse nanocomposites composed of bioresorbable nano crystalline hydroxyapatite (HAP NPs) and polylactide (PLLA), produced by cryomilling and a warm isostatic pressing method. The following compositions were studied: 25%, 50%, and 75% of HAP NPs by volume. The mechanical properties and structure of these composites were examined. It was discovered that 50% volume content was optimal as far as compressive strength and porosity are concerned. The inverse nanocomposite with 50% nanoceramics volume displayed a compressive strength of 99 ± 4 MPa, a contact angle of 50°, and 25% porosity, which make this material a candidate for further studies as a bioresorbable bone implant.

Porosity Effect of the Silver Catalyst in Hydrogen Peroxide Monopropellant Thruster

In monopropellant system, hydrogen peroxide is used with catalyst to create an exothermic reaction. Catalyst made of silver among the popular choice for this application. Since the catalyst used is in porous state, the effect of its porosity in the hydrogen peroxide monopropellant thruster performances is yet unknown. The porosity changes depending on factors including catalyst pact compaction pressure, bed dimension, and type of catalyst used. As researches on this topic is relatively small, the optimum porosity value is usually left out. The performance of the thruster indicated by the pressure drop across the catalyst bed. Porosity of the catalyst bed adds additional momentum sink to the momentum equation that contributes to the pressure gradient which lead to pressure loss inside thruster. The effect of porosity influences the performance and precision of the thruster. Study of the pressure drop by the catalyst bed requires a lengthy period and expensive experiments, however, numerical simulation by mean of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) can be an alternative. In this paper, 90 wt% hydrogen peroxide solution with silver catalyst is studied in order to investigate the influence of porosity to the performances of the thruster, and to find the optimum porosity of the thruster. Species transport model is applied in the single-phase reaction simulation using the EDM for turbulence-chemistry interaction. Through this study, the effect of porosity towards the thruster performances represented in term of pressure drop, exit velocity, bed temperature, and thrust, and porosity of 0.4 found to be as an optimal value.

Experimental investigation of axial pressure drop analysis on the additively manufactured porous regenerator

Regenerators are used in cryogenics for nitrogen and helium liquefaction through reversed Stirling cycle to achieve a low operating temperature of 40 K. An ideal regenerator has critical properties such as low thermal conductivity, optimum porosity, high heat transfer, and specific heat. In general, the matrix of the porous materials is in the form of wire mesh, fibrous wool, granules, or foams. The recent technological development in additive manufacturing (AM) allows it to extend its application to porous structure-based energy exchanging devices. Direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) is one of the AM processes used to fabricate complex geometry with uniform porosity, of considerably low cost compared with the conventional processes. This paper presents the development of an experimental setup to investigate the steady axial pressure drop analysis through various types of regenerators. These regenerators have been tested for multiple working fluids such as Argon and Helium gas at room temperature. The axial pressure drop results of the additive regenerator have been compared with the woven wire mesh and copper wool type of regenerators. The additively manufactured regenerator has a lower pressure drop of 9% and 14% than the copper wool and woven wire mesh type regenerators.

Mangrove roots model suggest an optimal porosity to prevent erosion

Mangrove swamps are extremely productive ecosystems providing many ecological services in coastal regions. The hydrodynamic interactions of mangrove roots and water flow have been proposed as a key element to mitigate erosion. Several studies reveal that precise prediction of the morphological evolution of coastal areas, in the face of global warming and the consequent sea-level rise, requires an understanding of interactions between root porosity (the fraction of the volume of void space over the total volume), water flows, and sediment transport. Water flows around the mangrove prop roots create a complex energetic process that mixes up sediments and generates a depositional region posterior to the roots. In this work, we investigated the boundary layer behind permeable arrays of cylinders (patch) that represent the mangrove roots to explore the impact of patch porosity on the onset of sediment transport. The flow measurements were performed in a vertical plane along the water depth downstream of the mangrove root models. A high-resolution Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) was used in a flume to observe the impact of porosity on the mean flow, velocity derivatives, skin friction coefficient, and production of turbulent kinetic energy for Reynolds number of 2500 (based on patch diameter length-scale). Here, we proposed a predictive model for critical velocity for incipient motion that takes into account the mangrove roots porosity and the near-bed turbulence effect. It is found that the patch with the $$\phi =47\%$$ ϕ = 47 % porosity, has the maximum critical velocity over which the sediment transport initiates. We found the optimum porosity has the minimum sediment erosion and creates negative vorticity sources near the bed that increases the critical velocity. This signifies an optimum porosity for the onset of sediment transport consistent with the porosity of mangroves in nature. The phenomenological model is elucidated based on an analysis of the vorticity evolution equation for viscous incompressible flows. For the optimum porous patch, a sink of vorticity was formed which yielded to lower the near-bed turbulence and vorticity. The minimum velocity fluctuations were sufficient to initiate the boundary layer transition, however, the viscous dissipation dominated the turbulence production to obstruct the sediment transport. This work identified the pivotal role of mangrove root porosity in sediment transport in terms of velocity and its derivatives in wall-bounded flows. Our work also provides insight into the sediment transport and erosion processes that govern the evolution of the shapes of shorelines.

Biomimetic Mineralization Promotes Viability and Differentiation of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells in a Perfusion Bioreactor

In bone tissue engineering, the design of 3D systems capable of recreating composition, architecture and micromechanical environment of the native extracellular matrix (ECM) is still a challenge. While perfusion bioreactors have been proposed as potential tool to apply biomechanical stimuli, its use has been limited to a low number of biomaterials. In this work, we propose the culture of human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSC) in biomimetic mineralized recombinant collagen scaffolds with a perfusion bioreactor to simultaneously provide biochemical and biophysical cues guiding stem cell fate. The scaffolds were fabricated by mineralization of recombinant collagen in the presence of magnesium (RCP.MgAp). The organic matrix was homogeneously mineralized with apatite nanocrystals, similar in composition to those found in bone. X-Ray microtomography images revealed isotropic porous structure with optimum porosity for cell ingrowth. In fact, an optimal cell repopulation through the entire scaffolds was obtained after 1 day of dynamic seeding in the bioreactor. Remarkably, RCP.MgAp scaffolds exhibited higher cell viability and a clear trend of up-regulation of osteogenic genes than control (non-mineralized) scaffolds. Results demonstrate the potential of the combination of biomimetic mineralization of recombinant collagen in presence of magnesium and dynamic culture of hMSC as a promising strategy to closely mimic bone ECM.

Comparison of Different Logging Techniques for Porosity Determination to Evaluate water Saturation

The purpose of this work is to evaluate thesaturation profile of Zubair formation in East Baghdad Field, from log interpretation.The relative accuracy of four methods of porosity evaluation, from three porosity logs (Neutron, Density and sonic logs ) , was tested against measured porosity from cores of eighty nine chosen intervals.The accuracy of each method was evaluatedstatistically by calculating the correlation coefficient, standard deviation error, average percentage error and absolute average percentage error.The crossplot technique (using triangle method ) of Neutron and Density logs data was found to give the best statistical parameters, hence, it was used to calculate optimum porosity values.It is concluded that the adoption of this method in porosity determination will result in more accurate water saturation determination particularly when using Archie's equation.

Synthesis and Characterization of Low Density Bi-2223 Superconductors via Co-Precipitation Method

High temperature Bi1.6Pb0.4Sr2Ca2Cu3Oδ of low density has been synthesized via co-precipitation method and its electrical and structural properties have been studied. The optimum porosity of the samples was obtained using variety amount of sucrose C12H22O11 which is used as supplementary filler. The electrical properties of superconductor such as critical temperature, Tc and critical current density, Jc were determined using the four-probe method. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to analyze the structural properties of the samples. The density of samples was measured using densitometer. The obtained results have revealed a significant influence of the pore presence in superconducting samples on the electrical properties. The Tc for low density Bi-2223 with 0.1g sugar sucrose is much higher compared to 0.05g, 0.15g and standard sample which is Tc zero is 98 K. The Jc for low density Bi-2223 with 0.1g sugar sucrose is 6 A/cm2 at 60 K which is higher than high density samples. The crystallographic structure remains in the tetragonal form where a=b≠c for all samples.

Numerical Analysis on Natural Convection Heat Transfer of a Heat Sink with Cylindrical Pin Fin

As technology advancement progressed in this information age or commonly known as digital age, thermal management has equally improved to keep up with demands from the electronic sector. Hence, heat sink study has become more and more prominent. Natural convection holds advantages since it is maintenance free and has zero power consumption. The purpose of this research is to study the heat transfer performance of heat sink with parametric variations of number and height of pin fin at temperature 308K, 323K, 338K, 353K and 368K. In addition, effect of porosity ranges from 0.524 to 0.960 on thermal resistance was investigated as well. Study found that heat transfer coefficient increases as temperature difference between heat sink and ambient increases. Thermal resistance decreases when porosity increases until it reaches the minimum and subsequently increases. The optimum porosity shown in this study is around 88%.

Numerical Simulation and Experimental Verification of Butterfly Porous Fences

In this paper, the domestic and foreign research progress of numerical simulation on the porous fence is introduced briefly, and a numerical model is established to simulate the flow characteristics behind the butterfly porous fence through the FLUENT software. The comparison results found good agreement between the numerical model and wind tunnel experimental data with an error of 7.8% in the wind reduction ratio, indicating the present numerical model can be used to undertake study on butterfly and non-planar porous fences. The effect of porosity on the flow characteristics behind the butterfly porous fence have been evaluated using the present model to determine an optimum porosity for sheltering effect of an isolated porous fence. As a result, the butterfly porous fences with a range of porosity from 0.27 to 0.32 seem to have a better shelter effect among the studied porosities, and all the wind reduction ratios approach to 60%.