31^st Materials Science and Engineering Conference: Advancement & Innovations October 15-17, 2018 Helsinki, Finland

Marina Zoccola has been working since 1989 as a Researcher at the National Research Council, Institute for Macromolecular Studies, textile section of Biella. Her principal interests are in the study and characterization of biopolymers, mainly structural proteins (wool, fine animal fibers, silk, human hair). She has participated in national and international research projects in the textile and biopolymer field. She is the author of over 30 scientific works published in international journals.

A large amount of coarse wool, practically unserviceable for textile use, is generated in Europe from sheep shearing and butchery. Such a byproduct is dumped, burned or sent to landfill. Following the European Commission regulations on animal byproduct control, unserviceable raw wool is classified as category 3 special waste materials. The collection, storage, transport, treatment, use and disposal of such unserviceable raw wool are subject to European Union regulations because of a potential risk to human and animal health. This study aims at converting the waste wool into nitrogen fertilizers at a commercial scale for grassland management and cultivation purposes. The chemical transformation of waste wool into fertilizer is based on a green economically sustainable hydrolysis treatment using superheated water. The experiments were carried out in a semi-industrial reactor feeding superheated water. The wool/superheated water system was maintained for different reaction times. The optimal conditions for this treatment were as follows: 170 °C for 60 minutes with a solid to liquor ratio close to 1. The hydrolyzed product was analyzed using amino acid analysis and molecular weight distribution. Both the amino acid and molecular weight distribution analysis revealed that the wool was completely degraded and the hydrolyzed product contains a low molecular weight proteins and amino acids. Several hydrolyzed product obtained at different conditions were tested for germination which showed a germination index higher than 100% without collateral phytotoxicity. The presence of amino acids, primary nutrients and micronutrients in wool hydrolyzates, along with a concentration of heavy metals below the standard limit confirms the possibility of using wool hydrolyzates as nitrogen based ecologically sound fertilizer.

Alessia Patrucco has completed her PhD in Bioengineering and Bioinformatics and her Master degree in Industrial Biotechnology from the University of Pavia. She is a Researcher at the Institute for Macromolecular Studies (ISMAC) of the Italian National Research Council since 2008. She has been cooperating to national and international research projects in the textile and biopolymers field, fulfilling in some cases the role of the project manager. She has also been a contract Professor Assistant of the course of textile fibers, internationals MSc in textile engineering at the Polytechnic of Turin and contract Professor in the international master management and textile engineering of the Carlo Cattaneo University.

In this research work novel 3D scaffold for bone tissue engineering have been produced, characterized and tested using an integrated bio-engineering approach, applying bio-mechanical stimuli generated by a Pulsed Electro-Magnetic Field (PEMF). Keratin 3D scaffolds, namely wool fibril sponges, were prepared by ultrasonic irradiation of wool fibers soaked in clean water, previously swollen in mild alkali. Casting the fibrils suspension produced microporous, biocomposite sponges, made of randomly oriented cortical cells stuck to each other by the hydrolyzed keratin matrix. Nevertheless, controlled-size salt-leaching allowed an additional 3D-tailored macroporosity, with the aim of matching native bone features for cell proliferation and cell guided tissue formation. Sponges have been characterized for morphology, amino acid composition, thermal and mechanical behaviour and in vitro ageing performances. In addition, osteoblast cell model (SAOS-2) was cultured onto 3D wool fibril sponge using an integrated bio-engineering approach, applying bio-mechanical stimuli of a PEMF. Mechanical properties of the wool fibril sponges come out in favour of promising applications as a bio-absorbable scaffold for bone tissue engineering since they are easy to handle and resilient in wet conditions. The integrated bio-engineering approach of applying bio-mechanical stimulus from PEMF, in addition to 3D architectural stimulus is given by 3D scaffolds, showed to be a successful solution. In fact, PEMF stimulated an earlier differentiation in osteogenic conditions, showing a perfect synergy between biochemical and mechanical stimuli in the acceleration of the differentiation process. Finally, ageing tests revealed that wool fibril sponges, characterized by an exceptional amount of crosslinks that stabilize the keratin structure, are surpassingly stable, showing longer degradation rate compared to commercial collagen. In conclusion, biological, chemico-physical characterization and ageing tests suggest sponges are promising candidate for long term support of in vivo bone formation.

Meryem Kalkan Erdogan is a Research Assistant in the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Ankara University. She has completed her MSc degree in 2011 and PhD degree in 2017, respectively. Her research interests are preparation of electrically conductive composites from conductive polymers with various materials such as textiles, developing materials for electromagnetic interference shielding and surface properties of noble metal nanoparticles.

One of the most electrically conductive conjugated polymers, polyaniline (PAni), has increasingly drawn the attention of the researchers due to its excellent tunable electrical properties and versatile functional groups such as amines and imines, which can form strong interactions such as H bonds with its composites. However, it’s processing penalties such as being brittle when it is subjected to pellet form, difficult solubility in environmentally friendly solvents such water limit its usability in potential application areas. For this reason, many attempts have been made in literature. Among them, preparation of its films using soft commercial polymers such as poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) is promising in terms of imparting desired properties of the polymer such as high process ability, flexibility and hydrophility to the PAni, without losing its properties. In this work, we prepared a conductive composite film, from PAni and a methacryloyl groups introduced PVA polymer in a few facile steps. First, the PVA polymer was modified with glycidyl methacrylate in the presence of N,N,N,N-tetramethylethylenediamine (TEMED) as catalyst at 60 °C in DMSO and then casted as films. Second, aniline was polymerized on PVA-gma film surface with APS oxidant in 1M HCl. The effect of some conditions such as concentration of PVA-gma polymer (g/100 mL) and concentration of aniline (M) were investigated on PAni (%) content and surface resistivity of the film. It was observed that the surface resistivity of the thin and almost transparent PAni/PVA-gma films (containing 17.5% of PAni) reached to 1000 Ω/cm2. The composite films were characterized with various techniques. The as-prepared films were used as soft templates in the reduction of Ag particles, after subjecting the films to the ammonia de-doping and different sulfonic acids re-doping processes. The changing morphology, particle size and decoration intensity of the Ag particles were also monitored with SEM technique.

This study demonstrates the utility of camphor as a novel type of diluents for the preparation of photo-curable ceramic slurries, which can have sufficiently low viscosities with high solid loadings (e.g., 48 vol %). These characteristics enable the use of conventional lithography-based Additive Manufacturing (AM) techniques without specifically designed feeding and recoating systems. To demonstrate this, Calcium Phosphate (CaP) ceramic objects and scaffolds were produced using various CaP slurries with different CaP contents (35 vol %, 40 vol %, 45 vol % and 48 vol %). The density and fracture strength of the samples after sintering at 1250 °C for 3 hours increased remarkably with an increase in solid loading from 35 vol % to 48 vol %. The curing behaviors (e.g., curing kinetics, cure depth and cure width) of a highly concentrated ceramic slurry (solid loading=48vol %) were carefully characterized in order to achieve tightly controlled ceramic structures. Owing to these observations, porous CaP scaffolds with tailored porous structures could be successfully produced, where the porosity of ~54 vol %, pore size of 739.4 μm×702.5 μm in the x-y direction and wall thickness of ~1029 μm×903.7 μm were created. The porous CaP scaffolds showed the reasonably high compressive strength and modulus of ~30 MPa and ~299.45 MPa, respectively, which was attributed to the construction of highly densified CaP frameworks in a controlled periodic pattern. These findings suggest that camphor can be effectively used as the diluent, which can allow for the preparation of ceramic slurries with reasonably low viscosities and thus ceramic scaffolds with tailored porous structure can be produced using conventional lithography-based AM machine.

Kholodkov N S has completed his Master’s degree in Material Science and Technologies from Moscow University of Steel and Alloys. He has worked in the field of magnetic measurements of weak magnetic fields produced by corrosion currents. Currently, he is a PhD student of NUST “MISiS” and is working with soft magnetic powders.

Composite materials consisting of magnetic particles in polymer matrix have a wide area of potential application. In most cases the alloy nano-powders are obtained by means of polyol method or ball milling technique. These fabrication methods are characterized by low cost efficiency, but need multi-stage production process. In addition, the magnetic properties of obtained nano-powders do not strictly correspond to alloy state characteristics. In the present report the new cost effective method of nano-powder production is provided. It is the cavitation destruction that allows obtaining various magnetic nanoparticles with good magnetic properties close to those of well-known solid-state alloys. Cavitation is the process of formation and collapsing of low pressure bubbles near the surface of quickly moving object in a liquid. The collapse of tiny bubbles produces the intense shockwave that knocks out small particles from the object’s surface into liquid. Resonance piezo-ceramic vibrator has been used in home-made laboratory facility to provide cavitation process. Fe₇₃Co₂₇ nanoparticles with very high saturation magnetization were obtained in different liquids such as benzyl alcohol, methyl methacrylate and water. Rather narrow particle size distributions not exceeded 18% were obtained in all liquids studied. It is found that the average particle size strictly depends on the liquid viscosity. It is given by 475 nm in methyl methacrylate, 196 nm in benzyl alcohol and 80 nm in water, respectively. Magnetic properties of 475 nm Fe₇₃Co₂₇ particles in polymeric matrix were investigated. In the fields of approximately 4 kOe composite were almost saturated, and full saturation was achieved in fields not exceeded 6 kOe. The highest saturation magnetization for this composite was equaled Ms=245.3 emu/g. Using cheap Fe₇₀Co₂₇ nano-powders with high saturation magnetization and small coercive force allows us to reduce the total amount of powder in polymer composite showing increased heating efficiency in alternating magnetic field. These magnetic particles are promising for biomedical applications, in particular, for hyperthermia treatment.

Kaustav B. Arya was Former child scientist of national children’s science congress-2017. He is Member of American Physical Society and currently undergoing research in different innovations in material science associated with Institute of Advanced Study In Science and Technology, India.

Life vests are the most reliable suits during water emergencies, such as boating, swimming (in case of non-swimmers), etc. But I have found some deadly errors in common life vests. To overcome this problem, I have observed the problems of common life vests and made the naval vest without any problem. My objective was to make new generation multipurpose and more efficient life vest. After my research, I have found a special polymer. I have used this special material in my innovation. This is expanded polyethylene which is made of petroleum. It is a hydrocarbon {(C₂H₄)n}. The density of this polyethylene is very less, even less than water. The capillarity of this material is nil. That is why it does not absorb water even after being in it for a long time. For these specialties it is more suitable for naval vest than any other material. To make this vest, this material is dressed up with non-permeable synthetic nylon cloth. Additionally, I have attached one pair of hand gloves made of synthetic nylon cloth over the vest. Now I can claim that this vest will create its own space among people and it will contribute something valuable in the field of sustainable development by saving lives of mankind.