Toward flame-retardant and toughened poly(lactic acid)/cross-linked polyurethane blends via the interfacial reaction with the modified bio-based flame retardants.

Incorporating bio-based flame retardants into polylactic acid (PLLA) to improve flame retardancy has always been the focus of research, but the improvement of flame retardancy is usually at the expense of mechanical properties. How to successfully balanced the material's mechanical and combustion properties has puzzled many scholars. Herein, ammonium polyphosphate (APP) and chitosan (CS) were used as acid source and carbon source respectively. Biological flame retardant APP@CS was designed and synthesized by electrostatic self-assembly method. In addition, toughened PLLA composites were prepared by reactive blending with the in-situ formed polyurethane (PU) as toughening phase. The results show that the CS shell not only reduces the hydrophilicity of the flame retardant, but also has good flame retardant property because of its excellent char forming property. The addition of 10 phr APP@CS can endow PLLA/crosslinked PU (CPU) with UL-94 V-2 rating and a LOI value of 24.9 %. Interestingly, CS shell participates in the in-situ reaction, which improves the mechanical properties of the composite with elongation at break of 74 %, which is higher than that of sample doped with the same amount of APP. This work provides guidance for the high performance modification of PLLA and is expected to expand the practical application range.

Biomechanical Analysis of Functionally Graded Root Analog Implants on Alveolar Bone: A 3D Finite Element Study.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to investigate whether axial or radial functionally graded root analog implants can optimize the stress and strain distribution near the implant-bone interface in alveolar bone models under static loads using finite element analysis (FEA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The 3D profile of the root analog implant was captured from a natural tooth in CBCT data. The implant was separated into different layers (3, 5, and 10 layers) to vary the Young modulus axially or radially. The variation in Young modulus was designed to be linear, exponential, or parabolic. Different occlusal loads were applied. The von Mises stress and strain were used to evaluate the system risk of failure. RESULTS: The difference in the numbers of layers had no significant effect on the alveolar bone. In the radial functionally graded implant models, the maximum von Mises stress of the alveolar bone decreased as the outer layer's elastic modulus increased; however, in the vertical functionally graded implants, this stress varied little. The maximum von Mises stress of the cancellous bone changed only slightly, from 2 to 5 MPa in all models. The maximum strain of the alveolar bone varied from 0.001478 mm to 0.003999 mm. Those FEA results were in line with previous findings. CONCLUSION: The functionally graded root analog implants show no significant biomechanical advantages over dense zirconia implants. Radial functionally graded root analog implants should optimize the peri-implant stresses and are biomechanically favorable for design.

Highly Sensitive and Reproducible SERS Substrates Based on Ordered Micropyramid Array and Silver Nanoparticles.

The construction of a highly sensitive and reproducible surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) substrate is the key factor that restricts its practical application. In this paper, a three-dimensional (3D) SERS substrate based on ordered micropyramid array and silver nanoparticles (MPA/AgNPs 3D-SERS) was constructed using the roll-to-plate embossing technology and a hydrothermal method, which provided an efficient and low-cost preparation process for the SERS substrate. Using rhodamine 6G (R6G) as a probe molecule, the performance of an MPA/AgNP 3D-SERS substrate was studied in detail, whose minimum detection limit was 10-12 M and the enhancement factor was calculated as 8.8 × 109, indicating its high sensitivity. In addition, the minimum relative standard deviation (RSD) for the MPA/AgNP 3D-SERS substrate was calculated as 4.99%, and SERS performance basically had no loss after 12 days of placement, which indicated that the prepared SERS substrate had excellent stability and repeatability. At last, the thiram detection application of the MPA/AgNP 3D-SERS substrate was also investigated. The results showed that the minimum detection limit was 1 × 10-7 M, and quantitative analysis of pesticide residues could be realized. This research could provide useful guidance for the efficient and low-cost fabrication of highly sensitive and reproducible SERS substrates.