Study on the Printability of Starch-Based Films Using Ink-Jet Printing.

Starch-based films are a valuable alternative to plastic materials that are based on fossil and petrochemical raw resources. In this study, corn and potato starch films with 50% glycerol as a plasticizer were developed, and the properties of films were confirmed by mechanical properties, surface free energy, surface roughness, and, finally, color and gloss analyses. Next, the films were overprinted using ink-jet printing with quick response (QR) codes, text, and pictograms. Finally, the print quality of the obtained prints was determined by optical density, color parameters, and the visual evaluation of prints. In general, corn films exhibit lower values of mechanical parameters (tensile strength, elongation at break, and Young Modulus) and water transition rate (11.1 mg·cm-2·h-1) than potato starch film (12.2 mg·cm-2·h-1), and water solubility is 18.7 ± 1.4 and 20.3 ± 1.2% for corn and potato film, respectively. The results obtained for print quality on starch-based films were very promising. The overprinted QR codes were quickly readable by a smartphone. The sharpness and the quality of the lettering are worse on potato film. At the same time, higher optical densities were measured on potato starch films. The results of this study show the strong potential of using starch films as a modern printing substrate.

The impact of severe plastic deformations obtained by hydrostatic extrusion on the machinability of ultrafine-grained Ti grade 2 intended for fasteners.

The study aimed to examine the effect of the hydrostatic extrusion (HE) process on the machinability of Ti grade 2 (Ti) in the turning process. After the deformation with true strain ɛ = 2.28, the microstructure was significantly refined to a grain size of 100 nm, resulting in an increase in the mechanical properties, UTS strength by 190%, YS yield strength by 230%Cutting forces for Ti in the initial state and after HE were analyzed at cutting depths ap = 0.3 mm and 0.5 mm, the variables were cutting speed Vc (20, 30 and 50 m/min) and feed rate f (0.08 and 0.13 m/s).The impact of the microstructure refinement in Ti after HE on the high cutting depth machinability deterioration (ap = 0.7 mm) was identified. This phenomenon is particularly noticeable at lower cutting speeds Vc = 20 and 30 m/min at which cutting forces are higher. Application tests of Ti after HE showed a significantly lower susceptibility to buckling during threading. As a result of the tests carried out for the Ti in the initial state, it was not possible to achieve the tolerance of pitch diameter of the thread required by standards, d2 at two of the three cutting depths tested. In turn, for the Ti after HE, the thread tolerances required by the standards were achieved for all tested cutting depths.