Mechanical Design of Spicule-Reinforced Connective Tissue: Stiffness

1982 ◽  
Vol 98 (1) ◽  
pp. 239-267
Author(s):  
M.A. R. KOEHL

Many animals from different phyla have, embedded in their pliable connective tissues, small bits of stiff material known as spicules. The tensile behaviour of spicule-reinforced connective tissues from various cnidarians and sponges, as well as of model spiculated ‘tissues’, is here investigated in order to elucidate the effects on mechanical properties of spicule size and shape, and of their packing density and orientation within a tissue. The main conclusions are: 1. Spicules increase the stiffness of pliable connective tissues probably by mechanisms analogous to those by which filler particles stiffen deformable polymers-local strain amplification, and interference with molecular re-arrangement in response to a load. 2. The greater the volume fraction of spicules, the stiffer the tissue. 3. The greater the surface area of spicules per volume of tissue, the stiffer the tissue. Thus, a given volume of spicules of high surface-area-to-volumeratio (S/V) have a greater stiffening effect than does an equal volume of spicules of low S/V. Furthermore, a high volume fraction of large spicules in a tissue can have the same stiffening effect as a lower volume fraction of smaller spicules. 4. Spicules that are anisometric in shape have a greater stiffening effect parallel to their long axes. 5. Spicules with very high aspect ratios appear to act like reinforcing fibres-stress is transferred by shearing from the pliable matrix to the stiff fibres, which thus bear in tension part of the load on the composite. 6. Spicule-reinforced tissues exhibit stress-softening behaviour, which is more pronounced in heavily spiculated tissues.

2000 ◽  
Vol 123 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
X. Cheng ◽  
A. M. Sastry ◽  
B. E. Layton

Some fundamental issues concerning the design and performance of stochastic porous structures are examined, stemming from application of advanced fibrous electrode substrates in NiMH automotive cells. These electrodes must resist corrosion and local failures under hundreds of charge/discharge cycles. Such fibrous materials can be effectively used as substrates for chemical reactions because of their combinations of high surface area and high conductivity. Key questions concerning the relationships among connectivity and conductivity, scale and variability in material response are addressed. Two techniques are developed and compared for use in predicting these materials’ conductivity. The first approach uses a statistical technique in conjunction with an adaptation of classic micromechanical models. The second approach uses the statistical generation technique, followed by an exact calculation of 2D network conductivity. The two techniques are compared with one another and with classic results. Several important conclusions about the design of these materials are presented, including the importance of use of fibers with aspect ratios greater than at least 50, the weak effect of moderate alignment for unidirectional conductivity, and the weak power-law behavior of conductivity versus volume fraction over the range of possible behaviors.


2020 ◽  
Vol 70 (340) ◽  
pp. 231
Author(s):  
J. I. Tobón ◽  
O. Mendoza ◽  
O. J. Restrepo ◽  
M. V. Borrachero ◽  
J. Payá

This work studies the effect of nanosilica (NS) on the rheology of cement paste by comparing it with two high specific surface area silicas: silica fume (SF) and pyrogenic silica (PS). Portland cement pastes were produced with different water-to-cementing material ratios and different solid substitutions of cement by silica. Water demand, setting time, and rheology tests were performed. Results showed that NS and SF decreased plastic viscosity, while PS increased it. Only PS was found to have an effect on yield stress. NS showed the most decreasing effect on viscosity, regardless of its higher water demand. It was concluded that the behavior of pastes containing NS and SF is governed by the “ball-bearing” effect from silica particles, by their agglomeration degree, and their impact on the solid volume fraction. The behavior of pastes containing PS is governed by its ability to absorb a portion of the mixing water.


Author(s):  
Kailun Yang ◽  
Recep Kas ◽  
Wilson A. Smith

<p>This study evaluated the performance of the commonly used strong buffer electrolytes, i.e. phosphate buffers, during CO<sub>2</sub> electroreduction in neutral pH conditions by using in-situ surface enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy (SEIRAS). Unfortunately, the buffers break down a lot faster than anticipated which has serious implications on many studies in the literature such as selectivity and kinetic analysis of the electrocatalysts. Increasing electrolyte concentration, surprisingly, did not extend the potential window of the phosphate buffers due to dramatic increase in hydrogen evolution reaction. Even high concentration phosphate buffers (1 M) break down within the potentials (-1 V vs RHE) where hydrocarbons are formed on copper electrodes. We have extended the discussion to high surface area electrodes by evaluating electrodes composed of copper nanowires. We would like highlight that it is not possible to cope with high local current densities on these high surface area electrodes by using high buffer capacity solutions and the CO<sub>2</sub> electrocatalysts are needed to be evaluated by casting thin nanoparticle films onto inert substrates as commonly employed in fuel cell reactions and up to now scarcely employed in CO<sub>2</sub> electroreduction. In addition, we underscore that normalization of the electrocatalytic activity to the electrochemical active surface area is not the ultimate solution due to concentration gradient along the catalyst layer.This will “underestimate” the activity of high surface electrocatalyst and the degree of underestimation will depend on the thickness, porosity and morphology of the catalyst layer. </p> <p> </p>


Nanoscale ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (25) ◽  
pp. 10974-10981 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiulin Yang ◽  
Ang-Yu Lu ◽  
Yihan Zhu ◽  
Shixiong Min ◽  
Mohamed Nejib Hedhili ◽  
...  

High surface area FeP nanosheets on a carbon cloth were prepared by gas phase phosphidation of electroplated FeOOH, which exhibit exceptionally high catalytic efficiency and stability for hydrogen generation.


Author(s):  
Sisir Maity ◽  
Dheeraj Kumar Singh ◽  
Divya Bhutani ◽  
Suchitra Prasad ◽  
Umesh V. Waghmare ◽  
...  

MethodsX ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 101464
Author(s):  
Yichen Wu ◽  
Nan Zhang ◽  
Charles-François de Lannoy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gurwinder Singh ◽  
Rohan Bahadur ◽  
Ajanya Maria Ruban ◽  
Jefrin Marykala Davidraj ◽  
Dawei Su ◽  
...  

Nanoporous biocarbons derived from waste biomass have created significant attention owing to their great potential for energy storage and conversion and water purification. However, the fabrication technology for these materials...


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. 1962
Author(s):  
Mahboubeh Nabavinia ◽  
Baishali Kanjilal ◽  
Noahiro Fujinuma ◽  
Amos Mugweru ◽  
Iman Noshadi

To address the issue of global warming and climate change issues, recent research efforts have highlighted opportunities for capturing and electrochemically converting carbon dioxide (CO2). Despite metal doped polymers receiving widespread attention in this respect, the structures hitherto reported lack in ease of synthesis with scale up feasibility. In this study, a series of mesoporous metal-doped polymers (MRFs) with tunable metal functionality and hierarchical porosity were successfully synthesized using a one-step copolymerization of resorcinol and formaldehyde with Polyethyleneimine (PEI) under solvothermal conditions. The effect of PEI and metal doping concentrations were observed on physical properties and adsorption results. The results confirmed the role of PEI on the mesoporosity of the polymer networks and high surface area in addition to enhanced CO2 capture capacity. The resulting Cobalt doped material shows excellent thermal stability and promising CO2 capture performance, with equilibrium adsorption of 2.3 mmol CO2/g at 0 °C and 1 bar for at a surface area 675.62 m2/g. This mesoporous polymer, with its ease of synthesis is a promising candidate for promising for CO2 capture and possible subsequent electrochemical conversion.


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