Effects of Deformation at High, Medium, and Cryogenic Temperatures on the Microstructures and Mechanical Properties of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu Alloys.

Thermomechanical treatment is an effective way to refine the coarse microstructures of aluminum alloys. In this work, multiaxial forging deformation at high, medium, and cryogenic temperatures (i.e., 450, 250, and -180 °C, respectively) was performed on 7085 Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloys, and its effect on the microstructure evolution and mechanical properties during the subsequent T6 heat treatment process was studied. The results revealed that the coarse particles were broken into finer particles when deformed at cryogenic temperatures, promoting the dissolution of the material after solid solution treatment. Dynamic recrystallization occurred when deformed at 450 °C; however, more dislocations and substructures were found in the samples deformed at 250 and -180 °C, causing static recrystallization after solid solution treatment. The cryogenic deformed sample exhibited a more intense and homogeneous precipitation phase distribution. The strength of the sample deformed at high temperature was high, but its elongation was low, while the strength of the sample deformed at medium temperature was low. The microstructure refinement of the cryogenic deformed sample led to high comprehensive mechanical properties, with an ultimate tensile strength of 535 MPa, a yield strength of 506 MPa, and a fracture elongation of 11.1%.

Effect of Pretreatment and Cryogenic Temperatures on Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of Al-Cu-Li Alloy.

The mechanical properties of Al-Cu-Li alloys after different pretreatments were investigated through tensile testing at 25 and -196 °C, and the corresponding microstructure characteristics were obtained through optical metallography, scanning electron microscopy, electron backscatter diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy. An increasing mechanism of both strength and ductility at cryogenic temperatures was revealed. The results show that the hot deformation pretreatment before homogenization promoted the precipitation of Al3Zr particles, improved particle distribution, and inhibited local precipitation-free zones (PFZ). Both hot deformation pretreatment before homogenization and cryogenic temperature were able to improve strength and ductility. The former improved strength by promoting the precipitation of Al3Zr particles while enhancing the strengthening effect of the second-phase particles and reducing the thickness of the coarse-grained layer. Meanwhile, the increase in ductility is attributable to the decrease in thickness of the coarse-grained layer, which reduced the deformation incompatibility between the coarse and fine grains and increased the strain-hardening index. The latter improved the strength by suppressing dynamic recovery during the deformation process, increasing the dislocation density, and enhancing the work hardening effect. Additionally, the increase in ductility is attributable to the suppression of planar slip and strengthening of grain boundaries, which promoted the deformation in grain interiors and made the deformation more uniform.

Farnesal-loaded pH-sensitive polymeric micelles provided effective prevention and treatment on dental caries.

BACKGROUND: Farnesol is a sesquiterpene from propolis and citrus fruit that shows promising anti-bacterial activity for caries treatment and prevention, but its hydrophobicity limits the clinical application. We aimed to develop the novel polymeric micelles (PMs) containing a kind of derivative of farnesol and a ligand of pyrophosphate (PPi) that mediated PMs to adhere tightly with the tooth enamel. RESULTS: Farnesal (Far) was derived from farnesol and successfully linked to PEG via an acid-labile hydrazone bond to form PEG-hyd-Far, which was then conjugated to PPi and loaded into PMs to form the aimed novel drug delivery system, PPi-Far-PMs. The in vitro test about the binding of PPi-Far-PMs to hydroxyapatite showed that PPi-Far-PMs could bind rapidly to hydroxyapatite and quickly release Far under the acidic conditions. Results from the mechanical testing and the micro-computed tomography indicated that PPi-Far-PMs could restore the microarchitecture of teeth with caries. Moreover, PPi-Far-PMs diminished the incidence and severity of smooth and sulcal surface caries in rats that were infected with Streptococcus mutans while being fed with a high-sucrose diet. The anti-caries efficacy of free Far can be improved significantly by PPi-Far-PMs through the effective binding of it with tooth enamel via PPi. CONCLUSIONS: This novel drug-delivery system may be useful for the treatment and prevention of dental caries as well as the targeting therapy of anti-bacterial drugs in the oral disease.

Polymeric micelles loading with ursolic acid enhancing anti-tumor effect on hepatocellular carcinoma.

Ursolic acid (UA) is widely found in many dietary plants, which has been proved to be effective in cancer therapy. But unfortunately its hydrophobic property limits its clinical application. Polymer micelles (PMs) are constructed from amphiphilic block copolymers that tend to self-assemble and form the unique core-shell structure consisting of a hydrophilic corona outside and a hydrophobic inner core. PMs could entrap the hydrophobic substance into its hydrophobic inner core for solubilizing these poorly water-soluble drugs and it is widely applied as a novel nano-sized drug delivery system. This study aimed to develop the drug delivery system of UA-loaded polymer micelles (UA-PMs) to overcome the disadvantages of UA in clinical application thus enhancing antitumor effect on hepatocellular carcinoma. UA-PMs was prepared and characterized for the physicochemical properties. It was investigated the cell-growth inhibition effect of UA-PMs against the human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HepG2 and human normal liver cell line L-02. UA-PMs was evaluated about the in vivo toxicity and the antitumor activity. We took a diblock copolymer of methoxy poly (ethylene glycol)-poly(L-lactic acid) (mPEG-PLA) as carrier material to prepare UA-PMs by the thin-film dispersion method. MTT assay and wound-healing assay were investigated to assess the inhibition effect of UA-PMs against HepG2 cells on cell-growth and cell-migration. Further, we chose KM mice for the acute toxicity experiment and assessed the antitumor effect of UA-PMs on the H22 tumor xenograft. UA-PMs could markedly inhibit the proliferation and migration of HepG2 cells. In vivo study showed that UA-PMs could significantly inhibit the growth of H22 xenograft and prolong the survival time of tumor-bearing mice. It demonstrated that UA-PMs possess great potential in liver cancer therapy and may enlarge the application of UA in clinical therapy.

Development and analysis of a longitudinal and torsional type ultrasonic motor with two stators.

In this paper, a new longitudinal and torsional type ultrasonic motor with two stators is presented and investigated. Normally, such a motor consists of one rotor and one stator, and two types of transducers that are longitudinal PZT and torsional PZT are used to generate the desired elliptical locus on the stator surface. The operating frequency is at the resonance frequency of torsional transducer. In order to enhance the efficiency of the motor, however, the resonance frequencies of both transducers should be closed to each other. For the purpose of matching the resonance frequencies, a symmetrical structure is adopted in design of the motor. Furthermore, two rings are added to the stators in order to adjust the resonance frequencies of these two transducers. A finite element model is developed and ANSYS software is used to analyze the resonance frequencies of longitudinal vibration and torsional vibration as well as optimize the motor geometry. According to the FE results, an experimental prototype is fabricated and the experimental results agree well with the theoretical predictions.