فصلنامه مواد پیشرفته در مهندسی
سال سی‌ام شماره 2 (تابستان 1390)

Due to its biocompatibility, bioactivity and high durability properties, hydroxyapatite (HA) has a wide range of applications in medical cases such as bone defect treatment and bone tissue regeneration. Biological apatite as the most important integrity of the mineral part of hard tissues consists of tiny hydroxyapatite crystals in nanoregime. It seems that using the artificial hydroxyapatite with similar structure and chemical composition to biological apatite could increase its durability inside the natural hard tissues. The aim of the present work was the synthesis of nano structured hydroxyapatite via different routes, comparison of their characterization and enhancement of the bioactivity and bioresorbability of prepared hydroxyapatite by controlling its crystal size and chemical composition. Nano structured hydroxyapatite was prepared by mechanical activation and sol-gel routes. X-ray diffraction technique (XRD), Fourier transform infra red spectroscopy (FTIR) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to characterize the prepared hydroxyapatite powders. The synthesized powder was soaked in simulated body fluid (SBF) for various periods of time in order to evaluate its bioresorbability and bioactivity after immersion in SBF. Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) was used to determine the dissolution rate of calcium ions in SBF media. Results showed that the mechanical activation prepared HA powder had nano scale structure with mean size of 29 nm and the sol gel prepared HA powder had nano scale structure with mean size of 25 nm. Ionic dissolution rate of prepared nano structured powders was higher than the conventional HA (with micron size) and were similar to biological apatite. It could be concluded that bioactivity behavior of hydroxyapatite powder is affected by its crystalline size. By using the nano structure HA powder with less than 50 nm crystalline size, the optimum bioactivity and bioresorbability would be achieved.

In recent years, much research in the field of advanced materials synthesis using the mechanochemical process has been performed. In this study, Al2O3-TiN nanocomposite was produced by the mechanochemical method and using inexpensive material TiO2 (instead of pure titanium which is too expensive). Also, aluminum and titanium oxide powders were used as raw materials. Milling under N2 atmosphere with 5 atmospheric pressure was performed and the products were evaluated by the SEM and XRD. Milling results showed that in the first stage of the synthesis process, titanium oxide is reduced by aluminum and the process continues, producing titanium reaction with nitrogen. When the Al/TiO2 ratio molar is equal to 1.2 and 1.3, after 20 hours of milling, TiN peaks in the XRD appears. Moreover, the results showed that milling leads to the formation of fine and spherical particles.

In this paper, plastic flow behavior and micro structural evolution of Ti-6Al-4V alloy in temperature range of 750-1050 °C and strain rate range of 0.001-0.1 (S-1) in isotherm compression condition were investigated. The purpose was to estimate activation energy of globularization of lamellar structure and analyze this process kinetically. True Stress-strain curves obtained at the temperatures below 950 °C indicate a limited amount of flow softening imputed to a dynamic recrystallization occuring at about 950 °C. In contrast, at higher temperatures, the flow stress increases linearly with plastic strain until at temperatures about 1015°C where flow stress becomes nearly independent of the temperature. By analyzing flow stress data via Zener-Hol-lomon and sellars equation, Q activation energy of dynamic recrystallization was estimated and structural equation of plastic flow was obtained, whixh were comparable to results raeched by other investigators.

In this article, the role of nano-size calcium carbonate in penetration resistance of medium- density polyethylene (PE) was investigated through experiments. In order to study the penetration resistance of PE and its nanocomposites,perforation test was carried out. The results of tests showed that penetration resistance depends strongly on calcium carbonate amount. As a matter of fact, addition of CaCO3 to PE increases resistance against penetration as CaCO3 amount reaches to 5 percent of weight. Stereomicroscope was used to evaluate the damage and plastic zone around the perforated area in all the samples including neat polyethylene and its nanocomposites. The plastic zone was measured using an image analysis as an effective technique. The results of image analysis techniques proved that the addition of calcium carbonate to PE makes a damaged zone around the perforated area. The results of microscopic evaluations showed that the area of plastic zone rises as the amount of calcium carbonate increases up to 7.5 percent of weight. By increasing the amount of CaCO3, resistance against penetration decreases more and some micro cracks appear around the perforated area. For further clarification of the fracture mechanism of MDPE nanocomposites, scanning electron microscopy was employed. Fracture surface images showed that when calcium carbonate is higher than 5 percent of weight, agglomeration of nanoparticles occurs, resulting in lower resistance against penetration to the samples.

In this paper, bare spot defects in hot-dip galvanized sheets were studied in terms of the microstructure and their influence on the corrosion and mechanical properties. Surface characteristics and microstructural features were examined by scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy microanalysis system. The results showed that the major cause of the bare spots was the lack of wetability of the sheet surface due to contamination, improper heat treatment or chemical composition. Corrosion resistance was evaluated by standard salt spray test. Mechanical properties were examined by tensile testing. The time to red rust was much shorter on the bare spots as compared to other regions, but it appeared that bare spot defects had no significant effect on the mechanical properties of the galvanized steel sheets.

Gold nanoshells are a new type of nanoparticles including dielectric cores with a continuous thin layer of gold. By varying the core diameter, shell thickness, and the ratio of these parameters, the optical properties of gold nanoshells can be tuned to have maximum absorption in the visible and near infrared spectrum range. The purpose of this research was to synthesize gold coated SiO2 nanoshells for biomedical applications particularly laser tissue soldering. Nanoshells were synthesized using Stober method. The nanoshells were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, UV-visible spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the functionalization of the surfaces of silica nanoparticles with NH2 terminal groups. A tunable absorption was observed between 470-600 nm with a maximum range of 530-560 nm. Based on the X-ray diffraction, three main peaks of Au (111), (200) and (220) were identified. Also, atomic force microscopy results showed that the diameter of silica core was about 100 nm and the thickness of gold shell about 10 nm. This result showed that it is possible to use these nanoshells with visible and infrared lasers for biomedical applications.

In the present work, thermal and mechanical behaviors of phenolic resin are investigated. This polymer can be used as a matrix for carbon-carbon composites. To find out the best heating process, five different cycles are used for curing the polymer and flexural strength of the specimens are obtained. The cycle with maximum strength is used for the next steps. Then,the oxidation behavior of specimens is studied at different temperatures. The results show that the polymer can withstand temperature about 350°C without significant weight changes. Carbonization of phenolic resin is studied by four different cycles at 1100°C. Oxidation of carbon obtained from carbonization cycle is analyzed extensively and shows no weight change until 550°C. The microstructure of specimens is also investigated by SEM. By additining SiC micro particles to phenolic polymer, the strength change is achieved.