Using 3D technologies to design the elements of analytical equipment and its maintenance

Objectives. To evaluate the possibility of manufacturing individual spare parts, consumables and tools for analytical equipment by stereolithographic 3D printing. Material and methods. The photopolymer printer Anycubic Photon was chosen as a 3D printer to ensure high accuracy and durability of the printed models. To create, refine and print the models, Autodesk Fusion 360 CAD program, Meshmixer editor program and Photon Workshop slicer program were used. For printing we used universal resins Anycubic Basic and Voxelab Standard Photopolymer Resin, urethane-acrylate resin eSUN Hard-Tough Resin with increased toughness and flexible urethane-acrylate resin eSUN eResin-Flex. Results. Development and printing of objects passed the following stages: creation of three-dimensional digital model of the object using CAD-softwares; export of the created 3D model in STL-format, and its revision in editor software; choice of printing method and materials; creation of a set of instructions for 3D printer in slicer software, the selection of printing conditions; preparation of 3D printer for work; post-processing of the product. Chromatograph fittings installation tool, covers with inserts for the mobile phase tank, 10-32 and ¼-28 threaded syringe-capillary adapters, glass filter adapters, mobile phase filters, chromatography column plugs, syringe plugs, adapters for measuring pressure in low pressure gas lines, tool for installing high-voltage wires of the capillary electrophoresis system were printed using additive technologies. Conclusions. Digital models were developed and spare parts and consumables for various analytical equipment were printed. The surface structure of the obtained samples was smooth enough to ensure tightness of the joints and did not require post-processing. At the same time, it was found that in contact with methanol and acetonitrile, in products made of the used plastics quickly enough brittleness appeared or there was a noticeable swelling, making it difficult or impossible to use the printed products. This fact indicates the need for additional research on the properties of photopolymer resins before using the parts obtained from them in a particular analytical equipment

The soils as the natural cultural heritage, the bank of biodiversity and information

The interpretation of soils as multifunctional objects of natural and cultural heritage is stipulated. The soils are also considered as the bank of biodiversity and information about the evolution of natural environment and dynamics of ecosystems. The necessity of giving the status of specially protected sites to the objects from The Red Book of Soils is shown. Theoretical, scientific and research, organization and practical issues of soil preservation as an object of natural and cultural heritage were determined. The effective preservation of natural resources is characterized as a system of closely related in place, local, regional and global measures. Three basic correlated to each other and equal ways of nature preservation and soils recultivation will be used in a framework of the presented system: 1) the preservation from the factors of destruction and degradation; 2) the rational use of soil and natural resources; 3) the recultivation of soils and nature, compensating the anthropogenic degradation of natural zones. The necessity of manifestation of recovering zonal specificities, for the territories withdrawn from agricultural use is shown. This is actual for the purposes of soil preservation

A return to the nuclear waste dumping sites in the bays of Novaya Zemlya

A new assessment of the nuclear dumping sites of Novaya Zemlya was performed in 2003/4. 137Cs contamination levels within both Stepovogo and Abrosimova Bays are similar to background environmental levels and there has been no detectable leakage from objects in Tsivolki Bay. Near-surface sediment 137Cs contamination levels in 2003/04 are 1–11 Bq/kg, 4–268 Bq/kg, and 13–20 Bq/kg in Tsivolki, Stepovogo and Abrosimova Bays respectively. These conclusions are further supported by the data for 238Pu and 239+240Pu. Hence, leakages from the low-level waste containers on the seafloor have diminished appreciably after ten years while sediment reworking (e.g. mixing, burial, resuspension and transport) and radioactive decay has reduced to negligible the elevated radionuclide levels previously detected in surface sediments. Furthermore, there is no indication that nuclear fuel from the dumped reactors or submarine has been or is presently releasing detectable quantities of radioactivity into the marine environment