Abdelrazek Khalil

Processing and mechanical properties of porous 316L stainless steel for biomedical applications

Abstract Highly porous 316L stainless steel parts were produced by using a powder metallurgy process, which includes the selective laser sintering(SLS) and traditional sintering. Porous 316L stainless steel suitable for medical applications was successfully fabricated in the porosity range of 40%-50% (volume fraction) by controlling the SLS parameters and sintering behaviour. The porosity of the sintered compacts was investigated as a function of the SLS parameters and the furnace cycle. Compressive stress and elastic modulus of the 316L stainless steel material were determined. The compressive strength was found to be ranging from 21 to 32 MPa and corresponding elastic modulus ranging from 26 to 43 GPa. The present parts are promising for biomedical applications since the optimal porosity of implant materials for ingrowths of new-bone tissues is in the range of 20%-59% (volume fraction) and mechanical properties are matching with human bone.

Hollow carbon nanofibers as an effective electrode for brackish water desalination using the capacitive deionization process

Capacitive deionization (CDI) is strongly recommended as an environmentally friendly and economical technique for removing salt ions from saline water. In this study, highly efficient hollow carbon nanofiber electrodes for capacitive deionization were prepared using co-axial electrospinning of poly(methyl methacrylate) (core) and poly(acrylonitrile) (shell) polymer solutions, followed by oxidative stabilization and then carbonization. The morphology, pore structure and electrochemical performance were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms, and cyclic voltammetry, respectively. The synthesized hollow carbon nanofibers had a specific capacitance of 222.3 F g−1, which is almost 4 times higher than the corresponding value for solid carbon nanofibers (63 F g−1). Moreover, the surface area of the hollow nanofibers (186 m2 g−1) was 10 times greater compared to the surface area of solid carbon nanofibers (17.7 m2 g−1). Accordingly, the salt ion electrosorption capacity of the modified carbon nanofibers was greatly enhanced; the hollow nanofibers exhibited an excellent desalination performance (∼86%) and a better cycling ability. These properties are attributed to the hollow structure. Overall, the proposed modification to carbon nanofibers makes them adequate not only for use as promising electrodes for the CDI process but also for any application requiring carbonaceous materials with a high specific surface area.

Amorphous SiO2 NP-Incorporated Poly(vinylidene fluoride) Electrospun Nanofiber Membrane for High Flux Forward Osmosis Desalination

Novel amorphous silica nanoparticle-incorporated poly(vinylidine fluoride) electrospun nanofiber mats are introduced as effective membranes for forward osmosis desalination technology. The influence of the inorganic nanoparticle content on water flux and salt rejection was investigated by preparing electrospun membranes with 0, 0.5, 1, 2, and 5 wt % SiO2 nanoparticles. A laboratory-scale forward osmosis cell was utilized to validate the performance of the introduced membranes using fresh water as a feed and different brines as draw solution (0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 M NaCl). The results indicated that the membrane embedding 0.5 wt % displays constant salt rejection of 99.7% and water flux of 83 L m(-2) h(-1) with 2 M NaCl draw solution. Moreover, this formulation displayed the lowest structural parameter (S = 29.7 μm), which represents approximately 69% reduction compared to the pristine membrane. Moreover, this study emphasizes the capability of the electrospinning process in synthesizing effective membranes as the observed water flux and average salt rejection of the pristine poly(vinylidine fluoride) membrane was 32 L m(-2) h(-1) (at 2 M NaCl draw solution) and 99%, respectively. On the other hand, increasing the inorganic nanoparticles to 5 wt % showed negative influence on the salt rejection as the observed salt flux was 1651 mol m(-2) h(-1). Besides the aforementioned distinct performance, studies of the mechanical properties, porosity, and wettability concluded that the introduced membranes are effective for forward osmosis desalination technology.

Development of multi-channel carbon nanofibers as effective electrosorptive electrodes for a capacitive deionization process

Among the various carbonaceous materials, carbon nanofibers (CNFs) are widely utilized in different applications because of their superior mechanical and physicochemical characteristics. However, due to the low surface area compared to other nanocarbonaceous materials, CNFs performance as an electrode in capacitive deionization (CDI) units is comparatively low. In this study, this problem has been overcome by preparing multi-channel carbon nanofibers having a total surface area 10 times more than the conventional CNFs, by creating numerous channels on the nanofibers surface. The modified CNFs have been synthesized using a low cost, high yielding and facile method; an electrospinning technique. Typically, the stabilization and graphitization of electrospun nanofiber mats composed of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) leads to the formation of multi-channel CNFs due to the difference in the physicochemical characteristics of the two polymers and the complete thermal decomposition of the PMMA during the graphitization step. Three formulations were prepared; 0, 25 and 50 wt% PMMA with respect to the PAN. To properly evaluate the introduced modified CNFs, graphene was prepared using the chemical route. The utilized characterizations indicated that the CNFs obtained from the electrospun solution having 50% PMMA possess a surface area of 181 m2 g−1, which is more than all the investigated formulations including graphene. Accordingly, these nanofibers revealed a salt removal efficiency of ∼90% and a specific capacitance of 237 F g−1. Overall, the present study introduces an effective and simple strategy to distinctly improve the surface area of CNFs, which can strongly enhance their application in CDI technology.

Fabrication of novel high performance ductile poly(lactic acid) nanofiber scaffold coated with poly(vinyl alcohol) for tissue engineering applications

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) nanofiber scaffold has received increasing interest as a promising material for potential application in the field of regenerative medicine. However, the low hydrophilicity and poor ductility restrict its practical application. Integration of hydrophilic elastic polymer onto the surface of the nanofiber scaffold may help to overcome the drawbacks of PLA material. Herein, we successfully optimized the parameters for in situ deposition of poly(vinyl alcohol), (PVA) onto post-electrospun PLA nanofibers using a simple hydrothermal approach. Our results showed that the average fiber diameter of coated nanofiber mat is about 1265±222 nm, which is remarkably higher than its pristine counterpart (650±180 nm). The hydrophilicity of PLA nanofiber scaffold coated with a PVA thin layer improved dramatically (36.11±1.5°) compared to that of pristine PLA (119.7±1.5°) scaffold. The mechanical testing showed that the PLA nanofiber scaffold could be converted from rigid to ductile with enhanced tensile strength, due to maximizing the hydrogen bond interaction during the heat treatment and in the presence of PVA. Cytocompatibility performance of the pristine and coated PLA fibers with PVA was observed through an in vitro experiment based on cell attachment and the MTT assay by EA.hy926 human endothelial cells. The cytocompatibility results showed that human cells induced more favorable attachment and proliferation behavior on hydrophilic PLA composite scaffold than that of pristine PLA. Hence, PVA coating resulted in an increase in initial human cell attachment and proliferation. We believe that the novel PVA-coated PLA nanofiber scaffold developed in this study, could be a promising high performance biomaterial in regeneration medicine.

Novel, Facile, Single-Step Technique of Polymer/TiO2 Nanofiber Composites Membrane for Photodegradation of Methylene Blue

Novel photocatalyst membrane materials were successfully fabricated by an air jet spinning (AJS) technique from polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) solutions containing nanoparticles (NPs) of titanium dioxide (TiO2). Our innovative strategy for the production of composite nanofibers is based on stretching a solution of polymer with a high-speed compressed air jet. This enabled us to rapidly cover different substrates with TiO2/PVAc interconnected nanofibers. Surprisingly, the diameters of the as-spun fibers were found to decrease with increasing amount of NPs. Our results showed that AJS PVAc-based fibrous membranes with average fiber diameters of 505-901 nm have an apparent porosity of about 79-93% and a mean pore size of 1.58-5.12 μm. Embedding NPs onto the as-spun fibers resulted in increasing the tensile strength of the obtained composite fiber mats. The photodegradation property of TiO2 membrane mats proved a high efficiency in the decomposition of methylene blue dye. The novel fiber spinning technique discussed in this paper can provide the capacity to lace together a variety of types of polymers, fibers and particles to produce interconnected fibers layer. Our approach, therefore, opens the door for the innovation in nanocomposite mat that has great potential as efficient and economic water filter media and as reusable photocatalyst.

Mechanical wet-milling and subsequent consolidation of ultra-fine Al2O3-（ZrO2＋3%Y2O3） bioceramics by using high-frequency induction heat sintering

Abstract Alumina/zirconia composites were synthesized by wet-milling technique and rapid consolidation with high frequency induction heat sintering(HFIHS). The starting materials were a mixture of alumina micro-powder (80%, volume fraction) and 3YSZ nano-powders (20%). The mixtures were optimized for good sintering behaviors and mechanical properties. Nano-crystalline grains are obtained after 24 h milling. The nano-structured powder compacts are then processed to full density at different temperatures by HFIHS. Effects of temperature on the mechanical and microstructure properties were studied. Al 2 O 3 -3YSZ composites with higher mechanical properties and small grain size are successfully developed at relatively low temperatures through this technique.

A novel simple one-step air jet spinning approach for deposition of poly(vinyl acetate)/hydroxyapatite composite nanofibers on Ti implants

A biocompatible coating consists of a poly(vinyl acetate)/hydroxyapatite (PVAc/HA) composite nanofiber mat was applied to NaOH-treated titanium metal by means of a novel, facile and efficient air jet spinning (AJS) approach. Results showed that HA nanoparticles (NPs) strongly embedded onto the AJS single fiber surface resulting in a strong chemical interfacial bonding between the two phases due to the difference in kinetic energies. It was proven that AJS membrane coatings can provide significant improvement in the corrosion resistance of titanium substrate. Interestingly, the biocompatibility using MC3T3-E1 osteoblast to the PVAc/HA fiber composite layer coated on Ti was significantly higher than pure titanium-substrates.

Development of Cd-doped Co Nanoparticles Encapsulated in Graphite Shell as Novel Electrode Material for the Capacitive Deionization Technology

Because of the low energy requirement and the environmentally safe byproducts, the capacitive deionization water desalination technology has attracted the attention of many researchers. The important requirements for electrode materials are good electrical conductivity, high surface area, good chemical stability and high specific capacitance. In this study, metallic nanoparticles that are encapsulated in a graphite shell (Cd-doped Co/C NPs) are introduced as the new electrode material for the capacitive deionization process because they have higher specific capacitance than the pristine carbonaceous materials. Cd-doped Co/C NPs perform better than graphene and the activated carbon. The introduced nanoparticles were synthesized using a simple sol-gel technique. A typical sol-gel composed of cadmium acetate, cobalt acetate and poly(vinyl alcohol) was prepared based on the polycondensation property of the acetates. The physiochemical characterizations that were used confirmed that the drying, grinding and calcination in an Ar atmosphere of the prepared gel produced the Cd-doped Co nanoparticles, which were encapsulated in a thin graphite layer. Overall, the present study suggests a new method to effectively use the encapsulated bimetallic nanostructures in the capacitive deionization technology.

Antibacterial effect of carbon nanofibers containing Ag nanoparticles

Silver nanoparticles imbedded in polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers and converted into carbon nanofibers by calcination was obtained in a simple three-step process. The first step involves conversion of silver ions to metallic silver nanoparticles, through reduction of silver nitrate with dilute solution of PAN. The second step involves electrospinning of viscous PAN solution containing silver nanoparticles, thus obtaining PAN nanofibers containing silver nanoparticles. The third step was converting PAN/Ag composites into carbon nanofibers containing silver nanoparticles. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) revealed that the diameter of the nanofibers ranged between 200 and 800 nm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) showed silver nanoparticles dispersed on the surface of the carbon nanofibers. The obtained fiber was fully characterized by measuring and comparing the FTIR spectra and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) diagrams of PAN nanofiber with and without imbedded silver nanoparticles, in order to show the effect of silver nanoparticles on the electrospun fiber properties. The obtained carbon/Ag composites were tested as gram-class-independent antibacterial agent. The electrosorption of different salt solutions with the fabricated carbon/Ag composite film electrodes was studied.