Resumo em Inglês:

Nanocomposites, a high performance material exhibit unusual property combinations and unique design possibilities. With an estimated annual growth rate of about 25% and fastest demand to be in engineering plastics and elastomers, their potential is so striking that they are useful in several areas ranging from packaging to biomedical applications. In this unified overview the three types of matrix nanocomposites are presented underlining the need for these materials, their processing methods and some recent results on structure, properties and potential applications, perspectives including need for such materials in future space mission and other interesting applications together with market and safety aspects. Possible uses of natural materials such as clay based minerals, chrysotile and lignocellulosic fibers are highlighted. Being environmentally friendly, applications of nanocomposites offer new technology and business opportunities for several sectors of the aerospace, automotive, electronics and biotechnology industries.

Resumo em Inglês:

This study examined by means of scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the attachment of Streptococcus mutans and the corrosion of cast commercially pure titanium, used in dental dentures. The sample discs were cast in commercially pure titanium using the vacuum-pressure machine (Rematitan System). The surfaces of each metal were ground and polished with sandpaper (#300-4000) and alumina paste (0.3 µm). The roughness of the surface (Ra) was measured using the Surfcorder rugosimeter SE 1700. Four coupons were inserted separately into Falcon tubes contained Mueller Hinton broth inoculated with S. mutans ATCC 25175 (10(9) cuf) and incubated at 37 °C. The culture medium was changed every three days during a 365-day period, after which the falcons were prepared for observations by SEM. The mean Ra value of CP Ti was 0.1527 µm. After S. mutans biofilm removal, pits of corrosion were observed. Despite the low roughness, S. mutans attachment and biofilm formation was observed, which induced a surface corrosion of the cast pure titanium.

Resumo em Inglês:

Textile industry is an important source of water contamination. Some of the organic contaminants cannot be eliminated by nature in a reasonable period. Heterogeneous catalytic wet air oxidation is one of the most effective methods to purify wastewater with organic contaminants. In this work, catalysts based on copper supported on activated carbon were synthesized. The activated carbons were obtained from industrial wastes (apricot core and grape stalk) of San Juan, Argentina. These were impregnated with a copper salt and thermically treated in an inert atmosphere. Analysis of specific surface, pore volume, p zc, acidity, basicity and XRD patterns were made in order to characterize the catalysts. The catalytic activity was tested in the oxidation of methylene blue (MB) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) in aqueous phase with pure oxygen. Reaction tests were carried out in a Parr batch reactor at different temperatures, with a 0.2 MPa partial pressure of oxygen. The amount of unconverted organics was measured by spectrophotometry. Higher temperatures were necessary for the degradation of PVA compared to those for methylene blue.

Resumo em Inglês:

Magnesium phosphate cement materials are formed by reacting magnesium oxide with water-soluble phosphates such as monoammonium dihydrogen phosphate (ADP), which solidifies at ambient temperature through the formation of hydrated phases in the material. Cylindrical specimens of magnesium phosphate cement were molded and varying amounts (0 to 30% weight) of grinding dust were added to the ceramic matrices. The influence of the addition of grinding dust on the characteristics of the mortars in terms of microstructure (SEM), mechanical strength and capillary water absorption was verified. The results obtained proved very satisfactory for the use of this waste as an additive in magnesium phosphate mortars.

Resumo em Inglês:

This work focuses on studying two types of structure: homogeneous and double-diffused emitter silicon solar cells. The emitter collection efficiencies and the recombination current densities were studied for a wide range of surface dopant concentrations and thicknesses. The frontal metal-grid was optimized for each emitter, considering the dependence on the metal-semiconductor contact resistivity and on the emitter sheet resistance. The best efficiency for n+p structures, η≈ 25.5%, is found for emitters with thicknesses between (0.5-3) µm and surface doping concentrations in the range 2 x 10(19) cm-3- 4 x 10(18) cm-3; while the n++n+p structure a maximum efficiency of η≈ 26.0% was identified for an even wider range of emitter profiles.

Resumo em Inglês:

The mechanical behavior of polymer concrete reinforced with textile trimming waste was investigated. Two series of polymer concrete formulations were studied, with different resin/sand (i.e. binder/fine aggregate) weight ratios. In each series, recycled textile chopped fibers at 1 and 2% of the total weight was used. Flexural and compressive tests were performed at room temperature and load vs. displacement curves were plotted up to failure. In the study, both the influence of fiber content and resin/sand weight ratio were considered relative to the behavior of polymer concrete reinforced with textile fibers. A decrease in properties was observed as function of textile fibers content. When specific properties were considered, this tendency was kept. However, higher textile fibers content lead to a smoother failure, unlike brittleness failure behavior of unreinforced polymer concrete.

Resumo em Inglês:

This work reports the covalent immobilization of tetracycline and rolitetracycline over anionic collagen membranes and the drug release studies as an effort to develop a two stage drug release based on diffusion (fast release) and on the rate of membrane biodegradation (slow release). Independent from casting conditions antibiotics incorporated by dispersion were released in the range from 80 to 100% within 7 hours in concentrations significantly higher than those described for the prevention of bacterial growth. Antibiotic release within this period was predominantly diffusion controlled. Covalent immobilization by a modified azide procedure occurred with preservation of collagen structure independently from pH of casting and reaction conditions. Its expected that anionic collagen membranes with dispersed and covalently bound rolitetracycline or tetracycline, in association with conventional therapy, may significantly reduce membrane induced infections observed post-implantation, one of the major problem associated with periodontal ligaments reconstruction by the Guided Tissue Regeneration procedure.

Resumo em Inglês:

Conventional single-point workability tests continue to be used for specification and quality control of concrete despite their inherent limitations. These tests cannot characterize workability of concrete in terms of fundamental rheological parameters. Attempt has therefore been made to correlate slump, slump flow, slump flow time, percent flow and Vebe time to rheological parameters of high-performance concrete. Thirty numbers of concrete mixes without steel fibers and with steel fibers of specific dose have been considered during experiment. It has been observed that rheological parameters can be correlated to slump and slump flow. In case of fiber reinforced concrete, there is a decrease in percent flow with the increase in rheological parameters. Vebe time, however, remains unchanged up to yield stress 500 Pa and plastic viscosity 40 Pa.s beyond which it steeply increases with further increase in yield stress and plastic viscosity. Flow test may be a better test for FRC as it is sensitive over all ranges of workability of concrete.

Resumo em Inglês:

Porous nano and micro crystalline tin oxide films were deposited by RF Magnetron Sputtering and doctor blade techniques, respectively. Electrical resistance and impedance spectroscopy measurements, as a function of temperature and atmosphere, were performed in order to determine the influence of the microstructure and working conditions over the electrical response of the sensors. The conductivity of all samples increases with the temperature and decreases in oxygen, as expected for an n-type semiconducting material. The impedance plots indicated the existence of two time constants related to the grains and the grain boundaries. The Nyquist diagrams at low frequencies revealed the changes that took place in the grain boundary region, with the contribution of the grains being indicated by the formation of a second semicircle at high frequencies. The better sensing performance of the doctor bladed samples can be explained by their lower initial resistance values, bigger grain sizes and higher porosity.

Resumo em Inglês:

High purity diamond film has been grown by refined Combustion Flame method with high oxygen proportion. Snapshots of time series of the diamond film forming were taken and a model was derived. By observing the period of seeding to coalescing of diamond crystals to form film, it is realized that the contacting area is small and the calculated value was less than 15%. It is also found that the base layer of the film was porous as a result of non-uniform crystal growth. To enhance adhesion of the film, the contacting area between the film and the substrate must be increased, and the porous base layer must be thin and dense as much as possible. To achieve that, very high and uniform nucleation is the key. Under this view, the nanocrystalline diamond film on smooth substrate is preferred than rough surface to have strong adhesion.

Resumo em Inglês:

The thermal conductivity and mechanical strength of gypsum and gypsum-cellulose plates made from commercial plaster by a new process have been measured. The gypsum parts made by the new process, 'novogesso', have high mechanical strength and low porosity. The gypsum strength derives from both the high aspect ratio of the gypsum crystals and the strong adhesion among them by nano-flat layers of confined water, which behaves as supercooled water. Another contribution to the strength comes from the nano-flatness of the lateral surfaces of the gypsum single crystals. The bending and compression strengths, σB and σc, of gypsum plates prepared by this new technique can be as high as 30 and 100 MPa, respectively. The way gypsum plates have been assembled as well as their low thermal conductivity allowed for the construction of a low-cost experimental house with thermal and acoustic comfort.

Resumo em Inglês:

Tests involving the Classical Nucleation Theory (CNT) often disregard the size dependence of surface energy. Thus, the surface energy of critical nuclei is assumed to be a macroscopic quantity that depends only on the temperature of a flat surface. However, because the size of critical nuclei changes with temperature, σcl(T) should be described as a function of both temperature and size of critical nuclei. The present work examines the temperature dependence of macroscopic surface energy, decoupling it from the size dependent part. Tolman, Rasmussen and Vogelsberger's equations are used to decouple the dependence of surface energy on size, using experimental data for the following silicate glasses Li2O.2SiO2 (LS2) and Na2O.2CaO.3SiO2 (N1C2S3). These equations are successful in obtaining a decrease in σcl(T), in agreement with theoretical predictions. For all the values of δ , Tolman's equation produces the lowest values of σcl(T). Nevertheless, they are very close to the liquid/vapor surface energy (σlv), which contradicts the Stefan's rule (i.e. σcl/σ lv << 1). Therefore, it is demonstrated that the assumption of the curvature dependence of surface energy does not suffice, per se, to explain the discrepancy between the experimental and theoretical values of nucleation rates.

Resumo em Inglês:

In this work, hydroxyapatite (HAp) obtained from the deorganification of bovine bones using hot NaOH solution was used to synthesize a HAp/epoxy infiltrated composite. Infiltration was carried out by vacuum assisted immersion in hot epoxy resin. The resulting composite was characterized regarding polymer content, morphological aspects and flexural strength. The infiltration method used resulted in thorough infiltration of the HAp but some residual porosity remained. Although the epoxy resin showed good interaction with the HAp, high polymer content was achieved and the flexural strength of the composite was higher than that of the original resin or the HAp, composite strength was lower than that of the human cortical bone.

Resumo em Inglês:

Major problems with valve bioprostheses are associated with progressive structural deterioration and calcification, directly associated with the use of glutaraldehyde (GA). This work describes the effects of GA processing and borate/glutamic acid buffer treatment on the mechanical, thermal and morphological properties of 0.5% GA crosslinked bovine pericardium (BP). The results showed that while the treatment of 0.5% GA crosslinked BP with borate/glutamic acid significantly improves the mechanical properties, it had no visible effect on surface morphology. Better surface preservation was only achieved for BP pre-treated with a lower GA concentration followed by the conventional treatment (0.5% GA). Improvements in mechanical properties probably arises from structural changes probably involving the depolymerization of polymeric GA crosslinks and an increase electrostatic interaction due to covalent binding of glutamic acid to free carbonyl groups (Schiff base).The results indicate that the treatment GA crosslinked BP with borate/glutamic acid buffer may be an attractive procedure for the manufacture of heart valve bioprostheses.