Simulation and Structural Analysis of a Flexible Coupling Bionic Desorption Mechanism Based on the Engineering Discrete Element Method.

Soil adhesion is one of the important factors affecting the working stability and quality of agricultural machinery. The application of bionic non-smooth surfaces provides a novel idea for soil anti-adhesion. The parameters of sandy loam with 21% moisture content were calibrated by the Engineering Discrete Element Method (EDEM).

Pickering emulsions stabilized by ternary complexes involving curcumin-modified zein and polysaccharides with different charge amounts for encapsulating β-carotene.

In this research, zein was modified with curcumin to obtain covalent and non-covalent complexes. They were further covered with polysaccharides (gum arabic or gum karaya) possessing different surface charge amounts to obtain ternary nanoparticles for preparing novel antioxidant Pickering emulsions. The addition of curcumin to the zein-polysaccharide system significantly retarded the UV degradation of the encapsulated β-carotene (maximum retention ∼ 97%) and effectively inhibited the lipid oxidation of the emulsions.

Impact of weakly charged insoluble karaya gum on zein nanoparticle and mechanism for stabilizing Pickering emulsions.

The effect of weakly charged insoluble karaya gum (KG) on zein colloidal nanoparticles (ZKGPs) for stabilizing Pickering emulsions was investigated. Due to weak surface charge, KG could cover the surface of zein particles by hydrogen bonds and weak electrostatic interactions. With the increase in coverage, the zeta potential of ZKGPs changed from positive to negative values close to zero and the average particle size tended to become larger.

Bionic Nonsmooth Drag Reduction Mathematical Model Construction and Subsoiling Verification.

In this study, a bionic nonsmooth drag-reducing surface design method was proposed; a mathematical model was developed to obtain the relationship between the altitude of the nonsmooth drag-reducing surface bulges and the spacing of two bulges, as well as the speed of movement, based on which two subsoiler shovel tips were designed and verified on field experiments. The mechanism of nonsmooth surface drag reduction in soil was analyzed, inspired by the efficient digging patterns of antlions. The nonsmooth surface morphology of the antlion was acquired by scanning electron microscopy, and a movement model of the nonsmooth surface in soil was developed, deriving that the altitude of the nonsmooth drag-reducing surface bulge is proportional to the square of the distance between two bulges and inversely proportional to the square of the movement speed.

Research on the drag reduction mechanism of antlion (Myrmeleon sagax) larvae nonsmooth structural surface.

Antlion (Myrmeleon sagax) larvae live in sandy soil and possess the ability to enter soil quickly. In this article, the hierarchical structure of the nonsmooth surface of antlion larvae was obtained using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Based on the results, a bionic nonsmooth structure model was established to investigate the friction and movement of soil particles above it.