Cryogenic Tensile Strength and Fatigue Life of Carbon Nanotube Multi-Yarn.

Carbon nanotube (CNT) multi-yarns, consisting of 30 yarns, were tested under monotonic tensile load and fatigue at the room temperature (298 K) and two cryogenic temperatures (232 and 123 K). Tensile stiffness increased with the decrease of temperature. The average ultimate tensile strength was higher at 123 K when compared to the higher temperatures (232 and 298 K). Failure mechanism changed from a combination of classical variant and independent fiber breakage at the two higher temperatures to mostly classical variant failure mechanism at the lower temperature. The CNT-yarn's fatigue life also increased with decreasing temperature. CNT-yarns have been shown to function well at lower temperatures making them usable for applications requiring operation at cryogenic temperatures, such as in satellites and high altitude aircraft.

Creep and inverse stress relaxation behaviors of carbon nanotube yarns.

Creep, creep recovery and inverse stress relaxation behaviors of carbon nanotube yarns that consisted of 1-, 30-, and 100-yarn(s) were characterized. Primary and secondary creep stages were observed over the duration of 336 h. The primary creep stage lasted for about 4 h at an applied load equal to 75% of the ultimate tensile strength. The total strain in the primary stage was significantly larger in the carbon nanotube multi-yarn than in the carbon nanotube 1-yarn. In the secondary stage, 1-yarn also had a smaller steady state strain rate than the multi-yarn, and it was independent of number of yarns in multi-yarn. Strain response under cyclic creep loading condition was comparable to its counterpart in non-cyclic (i.e., standard) creep test except that strain response during the first cycle was slightly different from the subsequent cycles. Inverse creep (i.e., strain recovery) was observed in the 100-yarn during the cyclic creep tests after the first unloading cycle. Furthermore, inverse stress relaxation of the multi-yarns was characterized. Inverse stress relaxation was larger and for longer duration with the larger number of yarns.

Cytotoxicity of release products from magnetic nanocomposites in targeted drug delivery.

The efficacy of chemotherapy can be significantly improved if the therapeutic agent remains localized at the afflicted area and released at controlled rates. Such a targeted drug delivery can be achieved using magnetic nanocomposite (MNC), which incorporates drug and magnetic nanoparticles in biodegradable polymer microspheres. Reported here are results from an in vitro study on drug release rate and cytotoxicity of other release products from MNC. The model system contains an anti-cancer chemotherapy agent 5-flurouracil (5-FU) and (Co(0.5)Zn(0.5))Fe(2)O(4) in poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) matrix produced by an oil/oil emulsion technique. Cell proliferation data indicate a sustained release of 5-FU for mouse macrophage cell eradication, whereas other microsphere components of magnetic nanoparticles and PLGA have little cytotoxic effects.