Itxaso Algar¹, Clara Garcia-Astrain¹, Alba Gonzalez², Loli Martin³, Nagore Gabilondo¹, Aloña Retegi^1*, Arantxa Eceiza^1*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.4, No.1, pp. 57-65, 2016, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2015.634124

Abstract Bacterial cellulose/montmorillonite (BCMMT) hybrid bionanocomposite membranes were prepared by in-situ assembling or one-step biosynthesis process. The presence of MMT in BC membranes was confi rmed by thermogravimetric analysis and quantifi ed by mass spectrometry, resulting in bionanocomposites with MMT contents between 7–13 wt%. The incorporation of MMT during BC biosynthesis modifi ed BC morphology and led to lower porosity, even though higher water holding capacity was achieved. Bionanocomposites showed improved thermal stability and water vapor and oxygen gas barrier properties up to 70 and 80% with respect to neat BC membranes. This improvement was related More >

Marta Martínez-Sanz, Amparo López-Rubio, Maria José Fabra, José M. Lagaron^*

Journal of Renewable Materials, Vol.2, No.2, pp. 107-117, 2014, DOI:10.7569/JRM.2014.634106

Abstract Due to their high crystallinity and aspect ratio, bacterial cellulose nanowhiskers (BCNW) represent an appealing choice for the development of fully biobased nanocomposite materials with high barrier performance. However, their strong tendency to self-associate, together with their highly hydrophilic character, has restricted the production of nanocomposites containing cellulose nanowhiskers by industrial processing techniques such as melt compounding. Th is article presents an overview of the latest published results carried out within our group and also in other relevant literature, which have led to the development of an effi cient strategy for the incorporation of highly… More >

Mohammad Reza RAMEZANI¹, Hossein NADERI-MANESH^{1, *}, Hossain-Ali RAFIEEPOUR²

BIOCELL, Vol.38, No.1, pp. 11-16, 2014, DOI:10.32604/biocell.2014.38.011

Abstract Cell-based biosensors have become a research hotspot in the biosensors and bioelectronics fields. The main feature of cell-based biosensors is immobilization of living cells on the surface of transducers. Different types of polymers which are used as scaffolds for cell growth should be biocompatible and should have reactive functional groups for further attachment of biomolecules. In this work, cell attachment and proliferation on chitosan hydrogel, chitosan-gelatin and gold nanoparticle-chitosan nanocomposite membranes was studied. Characterization of the membranes was performed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Cytotoxicity assessment on HEK293 More >

B.J. Yang¹, K.J. Cho¹, G.M. Kim¹, H.K. Lee^1,2

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.103, No.5, pp. 343-365, 2014, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2014.103.343

Abstract The addition of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to a matrix material is expected to lead to an increase in the effective electrical properties of nanocomposites. However, a CNT entanglement caused by the matrix viscosity and the high aspect ratio of the nanotubes often inhibits the formation of a conductive network. In the present study, the micromechanics-based model is utilized to investigate the effect of CNT agglomeration on the electrical conductivity and percolation threshold of nanocomposites. A series of parametric studies considering various shapes and curviness distributions of CNTs are carried out to examine the effects of More >

Soleiman Ghouhestani¹, Farzad Shahabian¹, Seyed Mahmoud Hosseini^2,3

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.100, No.4, pp. 295-321, 2014, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2014.100.295

Abstract In this paper, the meshless local Petrov-Galerkin (MLPG) method is exploited for dynamic analysis of functionally graded nanocomposite cylindrical layered structure reinforced by carbon nanotube subjected to mechanical shock loading. The carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are distributed across radial direction on thickness of cylinder, which can be simulated by linear and nonlinear volume fraction. Free vibration and elastic wave propagation are studied for various value of volume fraction exponent at various time intervals. The layered cylinder is assumed to be under axisymmetric and plane strain conditions. Four types of CNTs distributions including uniform and three kinds… More >

K. S. Alan¹

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.44, No.1, pp. 1-21, 2014, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2014.044.001

Abstract In the framework of the piecewise homogeneous body model with the use of the three-dimensional geometrically nonlinear exact equations of the theory of elasticity, the method developed for the determination of the stress distribution in the nanocomposites with unidirectional locally curved and hollow nanofibers is used to investigate the normal stresses acting along the nanofibers. Furthermore, it is assumed that the body is loaded at infinity by uniformly distributed normal forces which act along the nanofibers and the crosssection of the nanofibers and normal to its axial line, is a circle of constant radius along More >

G. Lasko^∗, I. Schäfer^∗, Z. Burghard^†, J. Bill^†, S. Schmauder^∗, U. Weber^∗, D. Galler^‡

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.10, No.1, pp. 27-42, 2013, DOI:10.3970/mcb.2013.010.027

Abstract Owing to the apparent simple morphology and peculiar properties, nacre, an iridescent layer, coating of the inner part of mollusk shells, has attracted considerable attention of biologists, material scientists and engineers. The basic structural motif in nacre is the assembly of oriented plate-like aragonite crystals with a ’brick’ (CaCO₃ crystals) and ’mortar’ (macromolecular components like proteins) organization. Many scientific researchers recognize that such structures are associated with the excellent mechanical properties of nacre and biomimetic strategies have been proposed to produce new layered nanocomposites. During the past years, increasing efforts have been devoted towards exploiting nacre’s… More >

Seyed Mahmoud Hosseini ¹

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.95, No.1, pp. 1-29, 2013, DOI:10.3970/cmes.2013.095.001

Abstract In this article, the effects of carbon nanotubes distributions on natural frequency are studied for a functionally graded nanocomposite thick hollow cylinder reinforced by single-walled carbon nanotubes using a hybrid mesh-free method. The FG nanocomposite cylinder is excited by a shock loading, which is applied on the inner surface of cylinder. The first natural frequency is obtained for various nonlinear grading patterns of distributions of the aligned carbon nanotubes. The effects of various nonlinear grading patterns on natural frequency are obtained and discussed in details. The presented hybrid mesh-free method is based on the generalized More >

J. A. Nairn¹

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.92, No.3, pp. 271-299, 2013, DOI:10.32604/cmes.2013.092.271

Abstract The “multimaterial” version of the material point method (MPM) extrapolates each material to its own velocity field on a background grid. By reconciling momenta on nodes interacting with two or more materials, MPM is able to automatically handle contact without any need for special contact elements. This paper extends multimaterial MPM to automatically handle imperfect interfaces between materials as well. The approach is to evaluate displacement discontinuity on multimaterial nodes and then add internal forces and interfacial energy determined by an imperfect interface traction law. The concept is simple, but implementation required numerous corrections to More >

Xue-Qian Fang^1,2, Ming-Juan Huang¹, Jun-Ying Wu³, Guo-Quan Nie¹, Jin-Xi Liu¹

CMC-Computers, Materials & Continua, Vol.33, No.2, pp. 199-211, 2013, DOI:10.3970/cmc.2013.033.199

Abstract In nanocomposites, coated nano-fibers are often used to obtain good performance, and the high interface-to-volume ratio shows great effect on the macroscopic effective properties of nanocomposites. In this study, the effect of interface energy around the unidirectional coated nanofibers on the effective dynamic effective properties is explicitly addressed by effective medium method and wave function expansion method. The multiple scattering resulting from the series coating nano-fibers is reduced to the problem of one typical nano-fiber in the effective medium. The dynamic effective shear modulus is obtained on the basis of the derived imperfect interface conditions. More >