Biopolymers & Bioplastics

Biography:

Dr. Abeer Al Anazi is an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at Australian College of Kuwait (ACK). She received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hertfordshire – UK on 2015 for her work on the control of electro- kinetic microfluidic biochemical systems. Since then, she has been a principal and a co-principal investigator in a number of national and jointly international research projects on fluidics, micro-, nano- and bio-fluidic applications to process and device fabrication technologies, with emphasis on approaches taking steps towards modeling and simulation - aided design methodology. Her past research include experimental heat transfer of Nano-fluids, carbon based Nano electro-mechanical systems, design optimization of solar cooling systems for the climatic condition of Kuwait and improvement of solar charging in Kuwait using optimized maximum mower point tracking (MPPT) charge controller. In addition to her academic experience, Dr. Abeer has more than seven years of industrial experience. She also has been a consultant to the industry in areas of total quality management systems, operations management and control systems

Abstract:

Nano Electro-Mechanical Systems (NEMS) integrate critical structural electrical and mechanical elements at or below 100 nm. This is miniaturization of the Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), where the critical structural elements are on the micrometer length scale. Compared to MEMS, NEMS have smaller mass and higher surface area to volume ratio, which is advantageous for applications in manufacturing high frequency resonators and ultrasensitive sensors. Due to the promising potential applications of the emerging NEMS that is expected to have a major impact on our lives, research on NEMS reliability has been of crucial importance on the last decade. Aiming to provide an intuition and insight for researchers who are interested in reliability studies of NEMS, an extensive collection of researches were selected and integrated into this paper to cover the reliability issues of NEMS in different phases of their life cycles including design, manufacturing, logistics, and operation. The paper discusses failure causes on the nano-scales due mechanical, electrical, chemical, thermal factors, or combinations of them, which can occur during manufacturing and post-manufacturing phases. It also reviews common failure modes and mechanisms, the reliability aspects of design and manufacturing, as well as reliability evaluation and testing techniques for NEMS.

Biography:

Dr. Abeer Al Anazi is an assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering at Australian College of Kuwait (ACK). She received her Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Hertfordshire – UK on 2015 for her work on the control of electro- kinetic microfluidic biochemical systems. Since then, she has been a principal and a co-principal investigator in a number of national and jointly international research projects on fluidics, micro-, nano- and bio-fluidic applications to process and device fabrication technologies, with emphasis on approaches taking steps towards modeling and simulation - aided design methodology. Her past research include experimental heat transfer of Nano-fluids, carbon based Nano electro-mechanical systems, design optimization of solar cooling systems for the climatic condition of Kuwait and improvement of solar charging in Kuwait using optimized maximum mower point tracking (MPPT) charge controller. In addition to her academic experience, Dr. Abeer has more than seven years of industrial experience. She also has been a consultant to the industry in areas of total quality management systems, operations management and control systems

Abstract:

Nano Electro-Mechanical Systems (NEMS) integrate critical structural electrical and mechanical elements at or below 100 nm. This is miniaturization of the Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), where the critical structural elements are on the micrometer length scale. Compared to MEMS, NEMS have smaller mass and higher surface area to volume ratio, which is advantageous for applications in manufacturing high frequency resonators and ultrasensitive sensors. Due to the promising potential applications of the emerging NEMS that is expected to have a major impact on our lives, research on NEMS reliability has been of crucial importance on the last decade. Aiming to provide an intuition and insight for researchers who are interested in reliability studies of NEMS, an extensive collection of researches were selected and integrated into this paper to cover the reliability issues of NEMS in different phases of their life cycles including design, manufacturing, logistics, and operation. The paper discusses failure causes on the nano-scales due mechanical, electrical, chemical, thermal factors, or combinations of them, which can occur during manufacturing and post-manufacturing phases. It also reviews common failure modes and mechanisms, the reliability aspects of design and manufacturing, as well as reliability evaluation and testing techniques for NEMS.

Biography:

Date of birth: September 11, 1946. Education: Moscow Power Engineering Institute. Degree(s) or Diploma(s) obtained: Master’s Degree in Material Science – 1970, Ph.D. – 1974, D.Sc. -2005. Membership of professional bodies: member of Scientific Council of RAS on Radiation Damage Physics of Solids. Years within the firm: since 1974. Key qualification: responsible executor in Radiation Damage Physics of Solids. Professional experience record: since 1974 till now, Moscow, National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute”, Department: Reactor Materials and Technologies Institute

Abstract:

As the service life of an operating nuclear power plant (NPP) increases, the potential misunderstanding of the degradation of aging components must receive more attention. Integrity assurance analysis contributes to the effective maintenance of adequate plant safety margins.

In essence, the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) is the key structural component of the NPP that determines the lifetime of nuclear power plants. Environmentally induced cracking in the stainless steel corrosion-preventing cladding of RPV’s has been recognized to be one of the technical problems in the maintenance of light-water reactors. Therefore, in the case of cladding failure, the problem arises of hydrogen (as a corrosion product) embrittlement of irradiated RPV steel because of exposure to the coolant.

The effects of neutron fluence and irradiation temperature on steel/hydrogen interactions (adsorption, desorption, diffusion, mechanical properties at different loading velocities, post-irradiation annealing) were studied. Experiments clearly reveal that the higher the neutron fluence and the lower the irradiation temperature, the more hydrogen-radiation defects occur, with corresponding effects on the RPV steel mechanical properties.

Hydrogen accumulation analyses and thermal desorption investigations were performed to prove the evidence of hydrogen trapping at irradiation defects. Extremely high susceptibility to hydrogen embrittlement was observed with specimens which had been irradiated at relatively low temperature. However, the susceptibility decreases with increasing irradiation temperature. To evaluate methods for the RPV’s residual lifetime evaluation and prediction, more work should be done on the irradiated metal–hydrogen interaction in order to monitor more reliably the status of RPV materials.

Biography:

Ignacia Cancino has her passion in improving health. She is now working on developing a new bone graft made with economic materials for improving bone regeneration. Her education on biological engineering has given her the tools and knowledge for facing different challenges of the clinical field

Abstract:

Bone defects remain an important clinical challenge to medical staff. When bigger bone defects are present, there is a need for placing a scaffold, so that cells can grow and differentiate [1]. Today, different types of bone grafts exist, and depending on its source, they can be natural or synthetic. Synthetic grafts (alloplastic) are ceramics widely available and with lower costs than natural bone grafts (autografts and xenografts) [2]. To allow bone regeneration, the bone graft should possess, among other things, porosity and mechanical properties similar to bone structures [3,4]. For these reasons, a calcium sulfate particle was designed with a geodesic semi-sphere and microporous shape and produced using binder jetting [5] technology. The particle’s shape allows its 3D stabilization creating free spaces so that bone regeneration can occur.

Considering all of the above, the particles were additionally processed so that they can increase their mechanical properties (elastic modulus and ultimate compressive strength), and decrease their solubility in physiological conditions for their use as bone grafts. This was done by impregnating the particles after they were heated at 200ºC for 10 min, with a biocompatible polymer. The results show that, the particles were able to keep their shape after being washed with physiological buffer at 37ºC and they increased 78 times their young modulus in average and and 45 times its ultimate compressive strength. Further tests need to be performed to have statistically robust results.

Biography:

Imran Azman is an assistant professor of Petroleum and Petrochemical College at Chulalongkorn University and he worked in Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology, College of Industrial Technology, King Mongkut’s University of Technology North Bangkok, Bangkok 10800, Thailand.

Abstract:

This research explored on a new path of preparation the porous material by using combination of water in oil emulsion templating along with the supplementary of low intensity polymerization reaction. Poly(styrene/ethylene glycol dimethylacrylate)HIPEs were prepared by using a domestic microwave for fabricating the multiscale porosity material. The radical polymerization reaction was precursor at the lowest intensity of 10 watt resulted with prognosticated result towards the surface topography of poly(sty/edgma)HIPEs as the monomer and crosslinker respectively. The ratios of water and oil phase were varied with the constant concentration of crosslinker and stabilizer. The different in the oil phase resulting to the gradually increment of the pores size from 60.2 𝛍m, 95.4 𝛍m and 126.3 𝛍m. Varying of the aqueous phase at 80%, 90% 92% and 94% with 2 wt% of surfactant showed n growing level of pore interconnectivity from 60.2 𝛍m to 109.9 𝛍m. Cellular morphologies of poly(sty/edgma)HIPEs were observed by using FE-SEM. In addition, to approbate the crosslinked poly(sty/edgma), ATR-FTIR were employed. It displays a distinct narrow peak around 770 cm^-1 which explains the C-H stretching between the aromatic planar of styrene and carboxyl group of edgma. A preliminary result of absorption test was recorded for discovering the potential of poly(sty/edgma)HIPEs towards the dye absorption. Poly(sty/edgma)HIPEs with  90% volume of oil phase ratio were tested with varied concentration (g/cm³) of methylene blue and orange. It were appraised a positive results of dyes captivation in between of a week period. Poly(sty/edgma)HIPEs were furthered investigated by TGA/DSC and compression test.

Biography:

Jevgenijs Jaunslavietis currently is a PhD student in Riga Technical University (Latvia) Chemical Engineering studies and a Researcher in Latvia State Institute of Wood Chemistry. Has an expertise in characterization of the surface properties and wetting behaviour of wood fibers, chemical modification of wood particles, studies of WPC interfacial matrix-filler interactions, characterization of WPC with improved functional properties. Participant in National Research Program and European Regional Development Fund projects. Currently, a first author of 4 SCOPUS and/or WoS cited publications in WPC research area

Abstract:

Statement of the Problem: The biocomposites such as wood-polymer composite (WPC) have gained more attention in past years due to their sustainable, environment friendly nature. However, there are still many issues obtaining WPCs, mainly because of the poor compatibility between a hydrophobic polymer matrix and hydrophilic wood filler. The mechanical and wetting properties of WPCs depend on the polymer/filler interfacial adhesion, which represents one of the main problems since wood has a strongly polar structure, but the most polymer matrices are non-polar. The purpose of this study is to compare the treatment of aspen wood filler by acid hydrolysis at different temperatures and ammoxidation with the introduction of different amide groups in the filler for improving its compatibility with recycled polypropylene in WPC. Methodology & Theoretical Orientation: aspen wood (Populus tremula) sawdust with a fraction less than 100 μm from Latvian wood mechanical processing company was used. The wetting behaviour and surface free energy of the treated wood particles were analysed using tensiometer Kruss 100M. The composite samples were extruded on a twin-screw extruder at 175^oC and then injection moulded at 450 bars. Mechanical tests were carried out according to ASTM D638 and EN ISO 178. Findings: the effectiveness of the acid hydrolysis and ammoxidation of the wood filler for increasing the compatibility with the polymer matrix depend on the hydrolysis temperature and the content of the introduced amide bonds. Conclusion & Significance: Both treatments of aspen wood particles led to increased hydrophobicity of wood particle surface that positively impacted the mechanical properties of the obtained composite samples. With increasing the temperature of the mild hydrolysis from 60 ^oC to 90 ^oC, and the content of nitrogen form 1,05% to 2,1%, the mechanical properties of the composite samples have increased, but their wetting with water has decreased. The ammoxidation is a more effective method for modification of the wood filler for enhancing its compatibility with recycled polymer.

Biography:

Western Cape (UWC), Cape Town, South Africa. He is as Associate Professor and Director of the Quantum Photonic, Energie & NanoFabrication. Prof Ngom is a Future Leaders – African Independent Research (FLAIR, a project funded by the Royal Society of UK in partnership with the African Academy of Sciences. His research activities include: Nanomaterials and Smart materials, natural pigments and dyes, and devices for energy and photonics. Current research focuses on the design, growth, and ageing control of the nanosystems processing. This research interest is on metal oxides and strongly correlated-electron materials.

Abstract:

A novel green biosynthesis of the vanadium pentoxide@white hibiscus sabdariffa (V₂O₅@WHS) nano-flowers- like structures was successfully synthesized by solvothermal method. The X-ray diffraction analysis of the materials revealed the orthorhombic structure V₂O₅. No other peaks from the white hibiscus sabdariffa were observed in the XRD pattern which revealing the high phase purity of the V₂O₅@WHS material. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy spectrum of the materials exhibited the presence of V3+, V4+ and V5+ in the binding energies of the V₂O₅@WHS. The electrochemical performance of the electrode material was evaluated using a 6 M KOH aqueous electrolyte. The specific capacity of the V₂O₅@WHS reached a value of 50.4 mA h g-1 at a current density of 0.5 A g-1. An asymmetric capacitor was also fabricated by adopting an activated carbon negative electrode obtained from the peanut shell waste as raw material and the V₂O₅@WHS as the positive electrode in 6 M KOH electrolyte. The hybrid capacitor of V₂O₅@WHS//AC displayed a high energy density of 33 W h kg⁻1 with a corresponding high power density of 470 W kg⁻1 at 1 A g⁻1 in a large voltage window of- 1.7 V. The device also exhibited an excellent cycling stability with 87% capacity retention recorded for up to 20.000 constant charging–discharge cycles and an excellent ageing test at a specific current of 10 A g-1.

Biography:

Noora Al-Qahtani joined Qatar university in 2008, and she is currently a Research Associate, Center for Advanced Materials at the Qatar University. She is also in a final year in her PhD study at a department of material science and engineering at Imperial College London-UK. Noora earned her MSc. from the University of Sheffield in 2015, in Materials Science and Engineering. She is also introducing higher-level research among high school students to promote the young researcher towards scientific education. She also authored numerous peer-reviewed journals and conference papers. Her current research focus in areas of applied electrochemistry and corrosion, and educational research for young students. In addition, her interests encompass archaeology from a scientific aspect. She is a member of the Institute of Materials Mining and Minerals from 2015 and a member of the NACE International-The Worldwide Corrosion Authority and Electrochemical Society (ECS) from 2015. Noora is also the Co-team leader of the Al-Bairaq whose vision is to develop Qatar as a knowledge-based society, enriching its human capital through prioritizing the importance of forging links and building bridges between high school students and educational institutions. Over the years she has been actively involved in Teaching, Research along with Admin works in various capacities.

Abstract:

There are three contributing elements of corrosion of Carbon Steel in Hâ‚‚S environment: the effect of H2S on water chemistry; electrochemical reactions of the bare iron surface (both anodic and cathodic processes); and the formation and growth of corrosion product layers. The electrochemical reaction commonly contains three stages: first, the reactant transported from the solution (bulk) to the metal surface; then the transfer of the charge reaction on the surface, followed by the reaction product transported away from the iron surface to the bulk solution or the formation and development of the corrosion product which then can decrease the corrosion rate. Development of a robust corrosion model to predict the corrosion process in H2S these requires a mechanistic understanding of all these elements.

An experimental study was carried out to assess the corrosion of C-steel under open-circuit technique conditions and in solutions at several ranges of time and temperatures. The effect of film composition, morphology, structure, thickness, and ion- concentration of corrosion product films formed on pipeline Carbon Steel in an acid sour solution were examined. The electrochemical behavior of the filmed steel was measured, and the film properties assessed using a range of advanced techniques including Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Raman spectroscopy (RS). The data will be discussed in terms of film formation mechanisms.

Biography:

Usman Asghar working in Department of Chemical Engineering, Wah Engineering College, Wah Cantt., Pakistan and his is researched in Coal Gasification, Coal Technology, Circulating Fluidized Bed Reactors, Three Phase Fluidized bed Reactors, Inverse Fluidization

Abstract:

The isoprene rubber is very much like natural rubber but made artificially or synthetically. Essentially similar to natural rubber in properties, this rubber may be somewhat weaker because it is not 100% the cis-isomer. This rubber is used in the same type of products as natural rubber. About 95% of isoprene production is used to produce cis-1,4-polyisoprene, a synthetic version of natural rubber. The growing demand for fuel efficiency and eco-friendly tires is driving the tire industry and in turn the demand for polyisoprene in the tire industry. The Isoprene Market was valued at USD 1.93 billion in 2015 and is projected to reach USD 2.96 billion by 2021. The isoprene demand in Pakistan will increase up to 24.8% from 2018 to 2025 reportedly. The isoprene market is increasing due to its increasing applications in tires, conveyor belts, hoses, molded rubber, and also in medical equipment such as gloves and balloons. Isoprene can manufacture from four different processes at commercial scale, but Isoprene from formaldehyde is the prevailing process in the industries. This process has disadvantage of low yield and by-products. So this process is further modified to improve the yield and the operating conditions. But still by-products are the main problems which decreases the selectivity and yield. To overcome these issues, manufacturing of Isoprene from propylene is studied in plant design project. It is found that this process has 65% yield and have selectivity of 95%. A cost Analysis was made after the design of different plant equipment, and it is found that a plant of 12000 tons per year has payback period of approximately 4 years.

Biography:

Dr.I.V.Subba Reddy, Department of Physics, School of Technology, GITAM (Deemed to be University), Rudraram, Patancheru (Mandal), Sangareddy (Dist) - 502 329, Telangana, INDIA

Abstract:

Organic–inorganic metal halide perovskite materials are the new class of hybrid semiconductors with the general formula ABX3, where ‘A’ and ‘B’ are organic and inorganic cations and ‘X’ (Cl, Br and I) is the halide anion, respectively. The exceptional physical properties of hybrid perovskite materials like a tuneable band, high absorption coefficient, and long-range charge transport with high mobilities have brought about a surge of interest in the optoelectronic device community to seek hybrid perovskite materials as potential candidates for solar cell fabrication.  A typical hybrid perovskite solar cell (PSC) device consists of a total of the following six layers: (i) FTO (fluorine-doped tin oxide) as transparent electrode, (ii) c-TiO2 as electron transport material (ETM), which can additionally block the hole from reaching FTO, (iii) mesoporous TiO2 (mp-TiO2) to infiltrate light harvester and to extract electrons from it, (iv) hybrid perovskite material as light harvester, (v) hole transport material (HTM) to extract holes from perovskite and (vi) metal Au as back electrode. The currently used HTM, Spiro-OMe-TAD slowly degrades the perovskite and also the material’s cost is significant. The alternative organic HTM is PEDOT:PSS which also has the stability challenges in ambient conditions. Therefore, there is a need to find a stable HTM. In terms of improved stability at low cost use of inorganic materials as HTM is a good choice.

In this current work, nanoparticles of inorganic oxide material, NiO is synthesized and characterized. The structural and microstructural characterization are carried out by XRD and SEM, TEM to confirm the phase purity and morphology, respectively.  Low temperature annealed Ni_1-xO appears black in colour and absorbs a fraction of light in the visible region. With high temperature annealing optically transparent near stoichiometric NiO nanoparticles are obtained with a direct band gap of 3.81 eV. For the transparent near stoichiometric NiO nanoparticles a complete energy band diagram is determined and realized a suitable valence band edge to fabricated hybrid perovskite solar cells. By employing as prepared optically transparent NiO as HTM working semi-transparent perovskite solar cells are fabricated with a demonstrated photoconversion efficiency of 3.46%.