Analysis of Tissue Repair of a New Cement Based on Calcium and Strontium Aluminates: A Triple-Blinded, Randomized, Controlled Trial in an Animal Model.

Objective:  The focus of this triple-blind randomized study was to evaluate the biocompatibility of a new root canal filling sealer (RCFS) based on tristrontium aluminate and dodecacalcium hepta-aluminate in living tissue.

Material And Methods:  Forty-five Wistar rats () were divided into three groups: control (polyethylene), sealer (Bio-C Sealer, Londrina, PR, Brazil), and experimental (tristrontium aluminate and dodecacalcium hepta-aluminate). The tissues were analyzed under an optical microscope to assess different cellular events at different time intervals (7, 15, and 30 days).

Structured Reactors Based on 3D Fe/SiC Catalysts: Understanding the Effects of Mixing.

The application of structured reactors provides a number of advantages in chemical processes. In this paper, two different three-dimensional (3D) Fe/SiC catalysts with a square cell geometry have been manufactured by Robocasting: monoliths ( = 14 and = 15 mm) and meshes ( = 24 and = 2 mm) and studied in the catalytic phenol oxidation by hydrogen peroxide (HO) for the sustainable production of dihydroxybenzenes (DHBZ). The fluid dynamics, catalytic performance, reaction rates, external mass transport limitation, and catalyst stability have been compared in three different reactors, monolithic fixed-bed reactor, multimesh fixed-bed reactor, and monolithic stirrer reactor, at selected operating conditions.

10 years of research on toughness enhancement of structural ceramics by graphene.

Over the past decade, a new family of ceramic matrix composites has been developed from the incorporation of homogeneously dispersed graphene-based fillers (graphene nanoplatelets/GNP, graphene oxide sheets/rGO or graphene nanoribbons/GNR) into the ceramic matrices. These composites have shown a significant increment of their fracture toughness accompanied by other electrical and thermal functionalities, which make them potentially attractive for a wide range of applications. Here, the main methods for testing the fracture toughness of these composites are described, then the principal observations on the reinforcing mechanisms responsible for this improvement are briefly reviewed, and we discuss the relation with graphene platelets type, morphology and alignment.

Rheological Properties of Different Graphene Nanomaterials in Biological Media.

Carbon nanomaterials have received increased attention in the last few years due to their potential applications in several areas. In medicine, for example, these nanomaterials could be used as contrast agents, drug transporters, and tissue regenerators or in gene therapy. This makes it necessary to know the behavior of carbon nanomaterials in biological media to assure good fluidity and the absence of deleterious effects on human health.

Solid Oxide Cell Electrode Nanocomposites Fabricated by Inkjet Printing Infiltration of Ceria Scaffolds.

The enhancement of solid oxide cell (SOC) oxygen electrode performance through the generation of nanocomposite electrodes via infiltration using wet-chemistry processes has been widely studied in recent years. An efficient oxygen electrode consists of a porous backbone and an active catalyst, which should provide ionic conductivity, high catalytic activity and electronic conductivity. Inkjet printing is a versatile additive manufacturing technique, which can be used for reliable and homogeneous functionalization of SOC electrodes via infiltration for either small- or large-area devices.

3D-Printed Fe/γ-AlO Monoliths from MOF-Based Boehmite Inks for the Catalytic Hydroxylation of Phenol.

The synthesis of dihydroxybenzenes (DHBZ), essential chemical reagents in numerous industrial processes, with a high degree of selectivity and yield from the hydroxylation of phenol is progressively attracting great interest in the catalysis field. Furthermore, the additive manufacturing of catalysts to produce 3D printed monoliths would provide additional benefits to enhance the DHBZ synthesis performance. Herein, 3D cellular Fe/γ-AlO monoliths with a total porosity of 88% and low density (0.

Thermal Transport and Thermoelectric Effect in Composites of Alumina and Graphene-Augmented Alumina Nanofibers.

The remarkable tunability of 2D carbon structures combined with their non-toxicity renders them interesting candidates for thermoelectric applications. Despite some limitations related to their high thermal conductivity and low Seebeck coefficients, several other unique properties of the graphene-like structures could out-weight these weaknesses in some applications. In this study, hybrid structures of alumina ceramics and graphene encapsulated alumina nanofibers are processed by spark plasma sintering to exploit advantages of thermoelectric properties of graphene and high stiffness of alumina.

Functionally Graded Tunable Microwave Absorber with Graphene-Augmented Alumina Nanofibers.

Graphene is currently attracting attention for radiation absorption particularly at gigahertz and terahertz frequencies. In this work, composites formed by graphene-augmented γ-AlO nanofibers embedded into the α-AlO matrix are tested for X-band absorption efficiency. Composites with 15 and 25 wt % of graphene fillers with shielding effectiveness (SE) of 38 and 45 dB, respectively, show a high reflection coefficient, while around the electrical percolation threshold (∼1 wt %), an SE of 10 dB was achieved.

Protein adsorption and in vitro behavior of additively manufactured 3D-silicon nitride scaffolds intended for bone tissue engineering.

Highly porous scaffolds of SiN are fabricated by direct ink writing method (Robocasting) with a pattern of macroporous cavities of 650-700μm. Two different SiN ink compositions regarding the oxide sintering aids (namely, YO, AlO, and SiO) are tried. Both inks reach solid volume fractions of ~0.

Synthesis and in vivo evaluation of a scaffold containing wollastonite/β-TCP for bone repair in a rabbit tibial defect model.

Scaffolds are models designed to aid the interaction between cells and extracellular bone matrix, providing structural support for newly formed bone tissue. In this work, wollastonite with β-TCP porous ceramic scaffolds was developed by the polymer sponge replication. Their microstructure, cell viability and bioactivity were tested.

Ultrasonic bandgaps in 3D-printed periodic ceramic microlattices.

The transmission of longitudinal ultrasonic waves through periodic ceramic microlattices fabricated by Robocasting was measured in the 2-12MHz frequency range. It was observed that these structures (scaffolds of tetragonal and hexagonal spatial arrangements with periodicity at length-scales of ∼100μm) exhibit well-detectable acoustic band structures with bandgaps. The locations of these gaps at relatively high frequencies were shown to be in close agreement with the predictions of numerical models, especially for tetragonal scaffolds.

Highly Electrically Conducting Glass-Graphene Nanoplatelets Hybrid Coatings.

Hybrid coatings consisting of a heat resistant Y2O3-Al2O3-SiO2 (YAS) glass containing 2.3 wt % of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) were developed by flame spraying homogeneous ceramic powders-GNP granules. Around 40% of the GNPs survived the high spraying temperatures and were distributed along the splat-interfaces, forming a percolated network.