Mechanical behavior study of plasma sprayed hydroxyapatite coatings onto Ti6Al4V substrates using scratch test

Mechanical behavior and fracture mechanisms of plasma sprayed hydroxyapatite coatings on Ti-6Al-4V substrate were assessed taking into consideration two variables: the coating thickness and the substrate roughness. The results show that the specimens having a substrate arithmetic average roughness parameter Ra = 2.29 μm is favorable with respect to Ra = 1.23 μm. For coating thickness above 105 μm, cracks can be observed in the coating/substrate interface and the higher critical load Pc2 (used generally in comparative evaluation of adherence) decreases. A 90 μm coating thickness sprayed on a substrate having an arithmetic average roughness parameter Ra equal to 2.29 μm seems to be the best compromise between microstructure, mechanical resistance (high critical loads and fairly good contact quality) and long term stability in the physiological medium (low dissolution rate) for an orthopedic application

Bioinspired microstructures of chitosan hydrogel provide enhanced wear protection

We describe the fabrication of physical chitosan hydrogels exhibiting a layered structure. This bilayered structure, as shown by SEM and confocal microscopy, is composed of a thin dense superficial zone (SZ), covering a deeper zone (DZ) containing microchannels orientated perpendicularly to the SZ. We show that such structure favors diffusion of macromolecules within the hydrogel matrix up to a critical pressure, σc, above which channels were constricted. Moreover, we found that the SZ provided a higher wear resistance than the DZ which was severely damaged at a pressure equal to the elastic modulus of the gel. The coefficient of friction (CoF) of the SZ remained independent of the applied load with μSZ = 0.38 ± 0.02, while CoF measured at DZ exhibited two regimes: an initial CoF close to the value found on the SZ, and a CoF that decreased to μDZ = 0.18 ± 0.01 at pressures higher than the critical pressure σc. Overall, our results show that internal structuring is a promising avenue in controlling and improving the wear resistance of soft materials such as hydrogels

Mechanical characterization of elastoplastic materials - use of axisymetric indenters

Dans cet article, nous présentons une expression de la courbe d'indentation instrumentée d'un matériau élastoplastique pouvant s'écrouir. Cette expression nécessite d'expliciter la pression moyenne de contact entre l'indenteur et le matériau, ainsi que de tenir compte de la forme que prend la surface du matériau sous l'indenteur. Le cas d'un indenteur conique est d'abord étudié ; puis l'expression est généralisée aux indenteurs d'autres formes (supposés axisymétriques). Les résultats sont comparés aux modèles déjà existants.In this article, an expression of the depth-sensing indentation curve for strain-hardening materials is introduced. This expression requires to formulate the mean contact pressure between the indenter and the material and to account for the shape of the material surface under the indenter. The case of a conical indenter is first studied, and extended to other axisymetric indenters. Results are compared to previous models

Mechanical characterization of elastoplastic materials - use of axisymetric indenters

Dans cet article, nous présentons une expression de la courbe d'indentation instrumentée d'un matériau élastoplastique pouvant s'écrouir. Cette expression nécessite d'expliciter la pression moyenne de contact entre l'indenteur et le matériau, ainsi que de tenir compte de la forme que prend la surface du matériau sous l'indenteur. Le cas d'un indenteur conique est d'abord étudié ; puis l'expression est généralisée aux indenteurs d'autres formes (supposés axisymétriques). Les résultats sont comparés aux modèles déjà existants.In this article, an expression of the depth-sensing indentation curve for strain-hardening materials is introduced. This expression requires to formulate the mean contact pressure between the indenter and the material and to account for the shape of the material surface under the indenter. The case of a conical indenter is first studied, and extended to other axisymetric indenters. Results are compared to previous models

Mechanical behavior study of plasma sprayed hydroxyapatite coatings onto Ti6Al4V substrates using scratch test

Mechanical behavior and fracture mechanisms of plasma sprayed hydroxyapatite coatings on Ti-6Al-4V substrate were assessed taking into consideration two variables: the coating thickness and the substrate roughness. The results show that the specimens having a substrate arithmetic average roughness parameter Ra = 2.29 μm is favorable with respect to Ra = 1.23 μm. For coating thickness above 105 μm, cracks can be observed in the coating/substrate interface and the higher critical load Pc2 (used generally in comparative evaluation of adherence) decreases. A 90 μm coating thickness sprayed on a substrate having an arithmetic average roughness parameter Ra equal to 2.29 μm seems to be the best compromise between microstructure, mechanical resistance (high critical loads and fairly good contact quality) and long term stability in the physiological medium (low dissolution rate) for an orthopedic application

Lubrication and wear protection of micro-structured hydrogels using bioinspired fluids

We report the fabrication and the use of a bioinspired synovial fluid acting as a lubricant fluid and anti-wear agent at soft and porous chitosan hydrogel tribopairs. This synthetic synovial fluid is composed of sodium hyaluronate (HA) and a bottle-brush polymer (BB) having a polycationic attachment group and polyzwitterionic pendant chains. 2.5 %w/w chitosan hydrogel plugs are organized in a bilayered structure exposing a thin and dense superficial zone (SZ), covering a porous deep zone (DZ) and exhibiting microchannels perpendicularly aligned to the SZ. Using a low-load tribometer, the addition of HA lubricating solution at the hydrogel-hydrogel rubbing contact drastically decreased the coefficient of friction (CoF) from μ = 0.20 ± 0.01 to μ = 0.04 ± 0.01 on the DZ configuration and from μ = 0.31 ± 0.01 to μ = 0.08 ± 0.01 on the SZ surface when increasing HA concentration from 0 to 1000 μg/mL and its molecular mass from 10 to 1500 kDa, similar to what was found when using BB polymer alone. When combining the BB polymer and the 1500 kDa HA, the CoF remained stable at μ = 0.04 ± 0.01 for both studied contact configurations, highlighting the synergistic interaction of the two macromolecules. Hydrogel wear was characterized by assessing the final gel surface roughness by the means of an interferometer. Increasing HA concentration and molecular weight plus the addition of BB polymer lead to a dramatic surface wear protection with a final gel surface roughness of the hydrogels similar to the untested gels. In brief, BB polymer in combination with high molecular weight HA is a potential lubricating fluid as well as a wear resistant agent for soft materials lubrication and wear protection

Wear protection without surface modification using a synergistic mixture of molecular brushes and linear polymers

We describe the design of lubricating and wear protecting fluids based on mixtures of bottlebrushes (BB) and linear polymers solutions. To illustrate this concept we used hyaluronic acid (HA) - a naturally occurring linear polyelectrolyte, and a water soluble synthetic BB polymer. Individually, these two polymers exhibit poor wear protecting capabilities compared to saline solutions. Mixture of the two polymers in pure water or in saline allows to drastically increase wear protection of surfaces over a wide range of shearing conditions. We demonstrate that this synergy between the BB and HA polymers emerges from a strong cohesion between the two components forming the boundary film due to entanglements between both polymers. We show that this concept can be applied to other types of linear polymers and surfaces and is independent of the chemical and mechanical properties of the surfaces

Measurement of the B0-anti-B0-Oscillation Frequency with Inclusive Dilepton Events

The $B^0$-$\bar B^0$ oscillation frequency has been measured with a sample of 23 million \B\bar B pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric B Factory at SLAC. In this sample, we select events in which both B mesons decay semileptonically and use the charge of the leptons to identify the flavor of each B meson. A simultaneous fit to the decay time difference distributions for opposite- and same-sign dilepton events gives $\Delta m_d = 0.493 \pm 0.012{(stat)}\pm 0.009{(syst)}$ ps$^{-1}$.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Physical Review Letter

Measurement of the CP-Violating Asymmetry Amplitude sin2β\beta

We present results on time-dependent CP-violating asymmetries in neutral B decays to several CP eigenstates. The measurements use a data sample of about 88 million Y(4S) --> B Bbar decays collected between 1999 and 2002 with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B Factory at SLAC. We study events in which one neutral B meson is fully reconstructed in a final state containing a charmonium meson and the other B meson is determined to be either a B0 or B0bar from its decay products. The amplitude of the CP-violating asymmetry, which in the Standard Model is proportional to sin2beta, is derived from the decay-time distributions in such events. We measure sin2beta = 0.741 +/- 0.067 (stat) +/- 0.033 (syst) and |lambda| = 0.948 +/- 0.051 (stat) +/- 0.017 (syst). The magnitude of lambda is consistent with unity, in agreement with the Standard Model expectation of no direct CP violation in these modes

A search for the decay B+→K+ννˉB^+ \to K^+ \nu \bar{\nu}

We search for the rare flavor-changing neutral-current decay $B^+ \to K^+ \nu \bar{\nu}$ in a data sample of 82 fb$^{-1}$ collected with the {\sl BABAR} detector at the PEP-II B-factory. Signal events are selected by examining the properties of the system recoiling against either a reconstructed hadronic or semileptonic charged-B decay. Using these two independent samples we obtain a combined limit of ${\mathcal B}(B^+ \to K^+ \nu \bar{\nu})<5.2 \times 10^{-5}$ at the 90% confidence level. In addition, by selecting for pions rather than kaons, we obtain a limit of ${\mathcal B}(B^+ \to \pi^+ \nu \bar{\nu})<1.0 \times 10^{-4}$ using only the hadronic B reconstruction method.Comment: 7 pages, 8 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let