On the number of contacts of a floating polymer chain cross-linked with a surface adsorbed chain on fractal structures

We study the interaction problem of a linear polymer chain, floating in fractal containers that belong to the three-dimensional Sierpinski gasket (3D SG) family of fractals, with a surface-adsorbed linear polymer chain. Each member of the 3D SG fractal family has a fractal impenetrable 2D adsorbing surface, which appears to be 2D SG fractal. The two-polymer system is modelled by two mutually crossing self-avoiding walks. By applying the Monte Carlo Renormalization Group (MCRG) method, we calculate the critical exponents $\phi$, associated with the number of contacts of the 3D SG floating polymer chain, and the 2D SG adsorbed polymer chain, for a sequence of SG fractals with $2\le b\le 40$. Besides, we propose the codimension additivity (CA) argument formula for $\phi$, and compare its predictions with our reliable set of the MCRG data. We find that $\phi$ monotonically decreases with increasing $b$, that is, with increase of the container fractal dimension. Finally, we discuss the relations between different contact exponents, and analyze their possible behaviour in the fractal-to-Euclidean crossover region $b\to\infty$.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

Wear Behaviour of Hard Cr Coatings for Cold Forming Tools Under Dry Sliding Conditions

Cr hard coatings are largely used in industry in metal cutting and cold forming processes; This work on quantitative way represents improvement, in terms of wear resistance, which is obtained by depositing Cr hard coating on foundation material. Wear testing is done on tribometer with block –on –disc contact geometry at sliding contact of Cr hard coated sample with steel disc. Testing was performed in conditions without lubrication at variable value of contact parameters (normal load, sliding speed). Cr hard coatings in all contact conditions show smaller values of wear rate

The Potential of Magnesium Alloys as Bioabsorbable/ Biodegradable Implants for Biomedical Applications

The potential of magnesium alloys as bioabsorbable / biodegradable implants for biomedical applications has been extensively studied as emerging direction. This paper gives a review of current topics in this field. Research activities related to biomedical magnesium alloys have been pursued in two main directions, orthopedic and cardiovascular implants, by investigating different aspects of alloying system design, novel structures, degradation rate control, and surface modification methods. Magnesium alloys are currently considered for applications as load-bearing implant devices such as plates, screws and pins for repairing bone fracture. Highly important direction of research is degradable coronary stents. Degradable vessel stents promote stable vessel regeneration, unlike permanent stents. Different combinations of alloying elements have been investigated in order to decrease corrosion rate.Tribological issues are also important for understanding of different phenomenon related to prolongation of Mg alloys corrosion degradation time/rate, such as tribocorrosion, corrosion fatigue, and fatigue crack growth behavior

Influence of the Lubricant Type on the Surface Quality of Steel Parts Obtained by Ironing

If it is needed to achieve a higher strain rate during the ironing process, which is possible without inter-stage annealing, the ironing is performed in succession through multiple dies. During that process, changes of friction conditions occur due to the change of contact conditions (dislodging of lubricants, changes of surface roughness, formation of friction junctions, etc.). In the multistage ironing, after each stage, the completely new conditions on the contact surfaces occur, which will significantly affect the quality of the workpiece surface. Lubricant has a very important role during the steel sheet metal ironing process; to separate the sheet metal surface from the tool and to reduce the friction between the contact surfaces. The influence of tribological conditions in ironing process is extremely important and it was a subject of study among researches in recent years, both in the real processes and on the tribo-models. Investigation of tribological conditions in the real processes is much longer and more expensive, so testing on the tribo-models is more frequent. Experimental research on the original tribo-model presented in this paper was aimed to indicate the changes that occur during multistage ironing, as well as to consider the impact of some factors (tool material, lubricant on die and punch) on increase or decrease of the sheet metal surface roughness in ironing stages

Friction and Adhesion in Porous Biomaterial Structure

The paper presents short review of different aspects of the introduction of porosity into the bulk biomaterial and effects on different material characteristics, especially related to friction and adhesion. Nowadays, there is a great interest to investigate relations between porosity, different mechanical responses due to controlled topography and cell responses generated accordingly. Examples of current investigations of custom developed scaffolds for tissue engineering related to cell seeding and hip stem component are shown. Friction, adhesion and adhesive forces are briefly defined as related to porous material structures and the relevance of nano- and micro- level surface layers in such structures. Patterning techniques and micro-fabrication techniques for production of controlled and random porous surface layers are given. Influence of porosity on adhesion and friction is presented through several existing experimental results. However, there is still general lack of data related to many aspects of these novel porous materials and structures

New Records of Thremma anomalum

Distribution of Thremma anomalum was well documented by the late 1980s. How ever, macrozoobenthos research within Serbian watercourses between 1989 and 2010 reveal a shift of the western boundary of the distribution. Recent research in western Serbia and northern Montenegro has shown no trace of this species, in spite of its previous presence. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the species was found in only one of ten former localities, implying that the species might entirely vanish from zoographic region 5 in the near future. On the other hand, the species was found at 17 localities in eastern, southeastern and southern Serbia, sections of the area where the species was not recorded earlier. This research has shown that T. anomalum is not restricted to cold waters and builds specific biocenoses characterized by dominance of Trichoptera and Gammaridae

Vanadate Influence on Metabolism of Sugar Phosphates in Fungus Phycomyces blakesleeanus

The biological and chemical basis of vanadium action in fungi is relatively poorly understood. In the present study, we investigate the influence of vanadate (V5+) on phosphate metabolism of Phycomyces blakesleeanus. Addition of V5+ caused increase of sugar phosphates signal intensities in 31P NMR spectra in vivo. HPLC analysis of mycelial phosphate extracts demonstrated increased concentrations of glucose 6 phosphate, fructose 6 phosphate, fructose 1, 6 phosphate and glucose 1 phosphate after V5+ treatment. Influence of V5+ on the levels of fructose 2, 6 phosphate, glucosamine 6 phosphate and glucose 1, 6 phosphate (HPLC), and polyphosphates, UDPG and ATP (31P NMR) was also established. Increase of sugar phosphates content was not observed after addition of vanadyl (V4+), indicating that only vanadate influences its metabolism. Obtained results from in vivo experiments indicate catalytic/inhibitory vanadate action on enzymes involved in reactions of glycolysis and glycogenesis i.e., phosphoglucomutase, phosphofructokinase and glycogen phosphorylase in filamentous fungi

Force-induced desorption of self-avoiding walks on Sierpinski gasket fractals

In this work we investigate force-induced desorption of linear polymers in good solvents in non-homogeneous environment, by applying the model of self-avoiding walk on two- and three-dimensional fractal lattices, obtained as generalization of the Sierpinski gasket fractal. For each of these lattices one of its boundaries represents an adsorbing wall, whereas along one of the fractal edges, not lying in the adsorbing wall, an external force acts on the self-avoiding walk. The hierarchical nature of the lattices under study enables an exact real-space renormalization group treatment, which yields the phase diagram of polymer critical behavior. We show that for this model there is no low-temperature reentrance in the cases of two-dimensional lattices, whereas in all studied three-dimensional cases the force-temperature dependance is reentrant. We also find that in all cases the force-induced desorption transition is of first order