فصلنامه مواد پیشرفته در مهندسی
سال سی و ششم شماره 4 (زمستان 1396)

Stainless steel bipolar plates are preferred choice for use in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFCs). However, regarding the working temperature of 80 °C and corrosive and acidic environment of PEMFC, it is necessary to apply conductive protective coatings resistant to corrosion on metallic bipolar plate surfaces to enhance its chemical stability and performance. In the present study, by applying Ni-Mo and Ni-Mo-P alloy coatings via electroplating technique, corrosion resistance was improved, oxid layers formation on substrates which led to increased electrical conductivity of the surface was reduced and consequently bipolar plates fuction was enhanced. Evaluation tests included microstructural and phase characterizations for evaluating coating components; cyclic voltammetry test for electrochemical behavior investigations; wettability test for measuring hydrophobicity characterizations of the coatings surfaces; interfacial contact resistance measurements of the coatings for evaluating the composition of applied coatings; and polarization tests of fuel cells for evaluating bipolar plates function in working conditions. Finally, the results showed that the above-mentioned coatings considerably decreased the corrosion and electrical resistance of the stainless steel.

In this study, the composite material with composition of MgH2-10 wt% (25Ce-75Ni) has been prepared by co-milling of magnesium hydride powder with Ce-Ni alloy produced by vacuum arc remelting method. The effect of milling time and additive on magnesium hydride structure, i.e. crystallite size, lattice strain and particle size, and also hydrogen desorption properties of obtained composite were evaluated and compared with pure milled MgH2. It has been shown that the addition of 25Ce-75Ni alloy to magnesium hydride yielded a finer particle size. As a consequence, the desorption temperature of mechanically activated MgH2 decreased from 340 °C to 280 °C for composite 1(5 h mechanical alloying) and to 290 °C for composite 2 (15 h mechanical alloying). Further improvement in the hydrogen desorption tempreture of composite 1 can be related to finer particle size and higher Mg2NiH4 phase value, which corresponded with calculated enthalpy results.

In this research, keratin (Kr)/ poly caprolactone (PCL)/ hydroxyapatite (HA) scaffold was made by electrospinning method. Then, the effect of HA nanoparticles on properties of scaffold B (Kr 33%, PCL 50% and HA 17%) and scaffold A (Kr 40% and PCL 60%) were studied. The surface morphology, functional groups on the surface of samples, porosity, and specific surface area were evaluated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer (FTIR), liquid displacement method, and BET test, respectively. The mean diameter of fibers in samples A and B was measured 184 nm and 108 nm, respectively. Results showed that the specific surface area in scaffolds with HA nanoparticles was almost 2 times higher than that of the scaffold without HA. The biodegradability of scaffolds was examined in phosphate buffer solution (PBS) and the results showed an increase in the weight loss percentage of the scaffold B. The cell viability and adherence of osteosarcoma cell line (Saos-2) on the scaffold surface was observed via MTT assay and the results showed an increase in cell growth on PCL/Kr scaffolds with HA nanoparticles. Thus, scaffolds containing HA nanoparticles can be a good choice for tissue engineering applications.

A superhydrophobic ZnO surface was prepared on the stainless steel mesh by a one-step chemical bath deposition method without chemical post-treatment. The effect of adding polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG 6000) as an organic additive and the type of the alkaline agent were investigated on the morphological and wettability properties of ZnO surfaces. The prepared surfaces were characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), stylus profilometer, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Raman Spectrometer. The microstructure studies showed that the addition of PEG led to formation of densely branched and uniform ZnO rods with a length of 1.5 µm and a diameter of about 95 nm on the substrate. The surface wettability studies confirmed that the sample prepared in the presence of hexamethylenetetramine (HMTA) and 0.05 mM PEG with branched tree-like micro/nanostructure exhibited excellent superhydrophobic properties with the water contact angle (WCA) of 158.2°±1.5° and contact angle hysteresis (CAH) of 3.5°. In addition, the superhydrophobic showed good chemical stability in the pH range of 4 to 8.

Electrowinning is one of the methods for recovery of nickel metal from pregnant leach solutions. In industrial practice, the Ni content in electrolytes is usually above 80 g/L. However, many nickel solutions obtained from processing of secondary nickel resources are much less concentrated and this makes the electrowinning of such solutions difficult. In the present study, Nickel electrowinning from 30 g/L sulfate solutions has been investigated and the effect of the parameters such as current density (CD), temperature (T) and boric acid concentration (BA) on the current efficiency and nickel deposit quality has been determined using a central composite design methodology. The statistical analysis of experimental results revealed the significant factors and a proper model was obtained for each response variable. The results revealed two important negative interaction effects of T´BA and CD´BA which means that increasing temperature and current density could result in a higher current efficiency and satisfactory Ni deposit quality only at lower boric acid concentrations. By using overlaid contour plot method for multiple response optimization, the optimum condition for attaining current efficiencies of >95% and a smooth and compact Ni deposit quality was determined as CD = 2-2.5 A/dm2, T = 25-30 °C, and BA = 10 g/L.

In the present study, the optimization of pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding parameters was done on a lap-joint of a 316L stainless steel foil in order to predict the weld geometry through response surface methodology. For this purpose, the effects of laser power, pulse duration, and frequency were investigated. By presenting a second-order polynomial, the above-mentioned statistical method was managed to be well employed to evaluate the effect of welding parameters on weld width. The results showed that the weld width at the upper, middle and lower surfaces of weld cross section increases by increasing pulse durationand laser power; however, the effects of these parameters on the mentioned levels are different. The effect of pulse duration in the models of weld upper, middle and lower widths was calculated as 76, 73 and 68%, respectively. Moreover, the effect of power on theses widths was determined as 18, 24 and 28%, respectively. Finally, by superimposing these models, optimum conditions were obtained to attain a full penetration weld and the weld with no defects.

In this study, null and one-dimensional nanoparticles and nanostructures of Ag and Ag-Cu were synthesized using polyol method. In order to prepare different nanostructures with the same synthesis route, thermodynamics and kinetic conditions of the system were manipulated. In the thermodynamics approach, the nanostructures with the minimum surface energy were obtained as the final product, while in kinetic approach, the nanostructures with the lower activation energy were formed. By using these appraoches, Ag and Ag-Cu spherical and cubical nanostructures were produced in the size range of 90-100 nm. Also, by manipulating the kinetic conditions of the system, silver nanowires with the diameters in the range of 100-200 nm and the length of several microns were obtained successfully. The effect of Cu ions (Cu2) on aspect ratio of the synthesized silver nanowires by polyol method was evaluated.

The significance of producing superhydrophobic surfaces through modification of surface chemistry and structure is in preventing or delaying biofilm formation. This is done to improve biocompatibility and chemical and biological properties of the surface by creating micro-nano multilevel rough structure; and to decrease surface free energy by Fault Tolerant Control Strategy (FTCS) . Here, we produced a superhydrophobic surface through TiO2 coating and flurosilanization methods. Then, in order to evaluate the physicochemical properties of the modified surfaces, they were characterized by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Contact Angle (CA), cell viability assay (using Hela and MCF-7 cancer cell lines as well as non-cancerous human fibroblast cells) by MTT, Bovine Serum Abumin (BSA) protein adsorption using Bradford and bacterial adhesion assay (Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis) using microtiter. Results showed that contact angle and surface energey of superhydrophobic modified surface increased to 150° and decreased to 5.51 mj/m2, respectively due to physicochemical modifications of the surface. In addition, the results showed a substantial reduction in protein adsorption and bacterial cell adhesion in superhydrophobic surface.