Magdalena Walczak

Local mechanical response of cells to the controlled rotation of magnetic nanorods

The mechanical response of the cytoplasm was investigated by the intracellular implantation of magnetic nanorods and exposure to low-frequency rotatory magnetic fields. Nanorods (Pt-Ni, ∼200 nm diameter) fabricated by electrodeposition in templates of porous alumina with lengths of approximately 2 and 5 µm were inserted into NIH/3T3 fibroblasts and manipulated with a rotational magnetic field. Nanorod rotation was observed only for torques greater than 3.0 × 10(-16) Nm, suggesting a Bingham-type behavior of the cytoplasm. Higher torques produced considerable deformation of the intracellular material. The cell nucleus and cell membrane were significantly deformed by nanorods actuated by 4.5 × 10(-15) Nm torques. Our results demonstrate that nanorods under magnetic fields are an effective tool to mechanically probe the intracellular environment. We envision that our findings may contribute to the noninvasive and direct mechanical characterization of the cytoplasm.

Multi-technique approach to assess the effects of microbial biofilms involved in copper plumbing corrosion

Microbially influenced corrosion (MIC) is recognized as an unusual and severe type of corrosion that causes costly failures around the world. A microbial biofilm could enhance the copper release from copper plumbing into the water by forming a reactive interface. The biofilm increases the corrosion rate, the mobility of labile copper from its matrix and the detachment of particles enriched with copper under variable shear stress due to flow conditions. MIC is currently considered as a series of interdependent processes occurring at the metal-liquid interface. The presence of a biofilm results in the following effects: (a) the formation of localized microenvironments with distinct pH, dissolved oxygen concentrations, and redox conditions; (b) sorption and desorption of labile copper bonded to organic compounds under changing water chemistry conditions; (c) change in morphology by deposition of solid corrosion by-products; (d) diffusive transport of reactive chemical species from or towards the metal surface; and (e) detachment of scale particles under flow conditions. Using a multi-technique approach that combines pipe and coupon experiments this paper reviews the effects of microbial biofilms on the corrosion of copper plumbing systems, and proposes an integrated conceptual model for this phenomenon supported by new experimental data.

Experimental and Numerical Analysis of Low Output Power Laser Bending of Thin Steel Sheets

This work presents an experimental and numerical analysis of a low output power single-pass laser forming process applied to thin stainless steel sheets. To this end, the proposed methodology consists in four stages respectively devoted to material characterization via tensile testing, estimation of thermal boundary conditions present in laser forming, realization of laser bending tests for two sets of operating variables, and finally, numerical simulation of this process carried out with a coupled thermomechanical finite element formulation accounting for large plastic strains, temperature-dependent material properties and convection–radiation phenomena. The numerical analysis, focused on the description of the evolution of the thermomechanical material response, is found to provide a satisfactory experimental validation of the final bending angle for two laser forming cases with different operating variables. In both cases, the predicted high temperature gradients occurring across the sample thickness show that the deformation process is mainly governed by the thermal gradient mechanism.

Towards direct metal laser fabrication of Cu-based shape memory alloys

The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibility of producing Cu-based shape memory alloys (SMA) by means of direct metal laser fabrication (DMLF).,The fabrication approach consists of the combination of laser melting of a metallic powder with heating treatment in a controlled inert atmosphere. Three prospective Cu-Al-Ni alloy compositions were tested, and the effects of laser power, as well as laser exposure time, were verified.,All the processed materials were found to attain microstructures and phase change transformation temperatures typical of this type of SMA.,Further development of this technique will allow for fabrication of large elements with considerable shape memory effect, which are currently not viable due to high cost of nitinol.,This work showed a proof of concept toward the development of DMLF-based additive manufacturing of near net shape components of Cu-based SMAs from elemental powders.