Enhancing the Weld Quality of Polylactic Acid Biomedical Materials Using Rotary Friction Welding.

Polylactic acid (PLA) stands out as a biomaterial with immense potential, primarily owing to its innate biodegradability. Conventional methods for manufacturing PLA encompass injection molding or additive manufacturing (AM). Yet, the fabrication of sizable medical devices often necessitates fragmenting them into multiple components for printing, subsequently requiring reassembly to accommodate the constraints posed by the dimensions of the AM platform. Typically, laboratories resort to employing nuts and bolts for the assembly of printed components into expansive medical devices. Nonetheless, this conventional approach of jointing is susceptible to the inherent risk of bolts and nuts loosening or dislodging amid the reciprocating movements inherent to sizable medical apparatus. Hence, investigation into the joining techniques for integrating printed components into expansive medical devices has emerged as a critical focal point within the realm of research. The main objective is to enhance the joint strength of PLA polymer rods using rotary friction welding (RFW). The mean bending strength of welded components, fabricated under seven distinct rotational speeds, surpasses that of the underlying PLA substrate material. The average bending strength improvement rate of welding parts fabricated by RFW with three-stage transformation to 4000 rpm is about 41.94% compared with the average bending strength of PLA base material. The average surface hardness of the weld interface is about 1.25 to 3.80% higher than the average surface hardness of the PLA base material. The average surface hardness of the weld interface performed by RFW with variable rotational speed is higher than the average surface hardness of the weld interface performed at a fixed rotating friction speed. The temperature rise rate and maximum temperature recorded during RFW in the X-axis of the CNC turning machine at the outer edge of the welding part surpassed those observed in the internal temperature of the welding part. Remarkably, the proposed method in this study complies with the Sustainable Development Goals due to its high energy efficiency and low environmental pollution.

Enhancing the Cooling Efficiency of Aluminum-Filled Epoxy Resin Rapid Tool by Changing Inner Surface Roughness of Cooling Channels.

In low-pressure wax injection molding, cooling time refers to the period during which the molten plastic inside the mold solidifies and cools down to a temperature where it can be safely ejected without deformation. However, cooling efficiency for the mass production of injection-molded wax patterns is crucial. This work aims to investigate the impact of varying surface roughness on the inner walls of the cooling channel on the cooling efficiency of an aluminum-filled epoxy resin rapid tool. It was found that the cooling time for the injection-molded products can be determined by the surface roughness according to the proposed prediction equation. Employing fiber laser processing on high-speed steel rods allows for the creation of microstructures with different surface roughness levels. Results demonstrate a clear link between the surface roughness of cooling channel walls and cooling time for molded wax patterns. Employing an aluminum-filled epoxy resin rapid tool with a surface roughness of 4.9 µm for low-pressure wax injection molding can save time, with a cooling efficiency improvement of approximately 34%. Utilizing an aluminum-filled epoxy resin rapid tool with a surface roughness of 4.9 µm on the inner walls of the cooling channel can save the cooling time by up to approximately 60%. These findings underscore the significant role of cooling channel surface roughness in optimizing injection molding processes for enhanced efficiency.

Rotary Friction Welding of Polyetheretherketone Biopolymer Rods Using Variable Rotational Speed.

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) is a promising biomaterial due to its excellent mechanical properties. Most PPEK manufacturing methods include additive manufacturing, injection molding, grinding, pulse laser drilling, or incremental sheet forming. Rotary friction welding (RFW) is a promising bonding technique in many industries. However, very few studies have focused on the RFW of PEEK. Conventionally, the number of revolutions is fixed during the welding process. Remarkably, the rotary friction welding of PEEK polymer rods using an innovative variable rotational speed is investigated in this study. The average bending strength of the welded part using a three-stage transformation rotational speed was enhanced by about 140% compared with a rotational speed of 1000 rpm. The advantage of computer numerical controlled RFW of PEEK using variable rotational speed is a reduced cycle time of RFW. A reduction in cycle time of about 6% can be obtained using the proposed RFW with a three-stage transformation rotational speed. The innovative approach provides low environmental pollution and high energy efficiency and complies with sustainable development goals.

Enhancing Surface Temperature Uniformity in a Liquid Silicone Rubber Injection Mold with Conformal Heating Channels.

To enhance the productivity and quality of optical-grade liquid silicone rubber (LSR) and an optical convex lens simultaneously, uniform vulcanization of the molding material is required. However, little has been reported on the uniform vulcanization of LSR in the heated cavity. This paper presents a conformal heating channel to enhance the temperature uniformity of the mold surface in the LSR injection molding. The curing rate of an optical convex lens was numerically investigated using Moldex3D molding simulation software. Two different sets of soft tooling inserts, injection mold inserts with conventional and conformal heating channels, were fabricated to validate the simulation results. The mold surface temperature uniformity was investigated by both numerical simulation and experiment. In particular, both a thermal camera and thermocouples were employed to measure the mold surface temperature after LSR injecting molding. It was found that the uniformity of the mold surface for LSR injection mold with the conformal heating channel was better. The average temperature of the mold surface could be predicted by the heating oil temperature according to the proposed prediction equation. The experimental results showed that the trend of the average temperature of five sensor modes was consistent with the simulation results. The error rate of the simulation results was about 8.31% based on the experimental result for the LSR injection mold with the conformal heating channel.

Development of an Injection Mold with High Energy Efficiency of Vulcanization for Liquid Silicone Rubber Injection Molding of the Fisheye Optical Lens.

Liquid silicone rubber (LSR) techniques are experiencing exponential growth, particularly in the field of high technology due to the low-temperature flexibility, superior heat stability, chemical resistance, and aging resistance of LSR components. Enhancing the curing rate of LSR parts in liquid silicone rubber injection molding is an important research topic. In this study, an injection mold with high energy efficiency of vulcanization for the liquid silicone rubber injection molding of a fisheye lens was developed and implemented. The LSR injection mold has a conformal heating channel (CHC) and conformal cooling channel (CCC) simultaneously. The function of CHC is to enhance the curing rate of a fisheye lens in the LSR injection molding to meet the requirements of sustainable manufacturing. The curing rates of a fisheye lens were numerically examined using the Moldex3D molding simulation software. It was found that the curing rate of the fisheye optical lens cured by injection mold with CHC was better than that of the injection mold with a conventional heating channel. The curing efficiency could be increased by about 19.12% when the heating oil temperature of 180 °C was used to cure the fisheye optical lens. The simulation results showed that the equation y = -0.0026x3 + 1.3483x2 - 232.11x + 13,770 was the most suitable equation for predicting the curing time (y) through the heating oil temperature (x). It was found that the trend of the experimental results was consistent with the simulation results. In addition, the equation y = -0.0656x2 + 1.5827x - 0.894 with the correlation coefficient of 0.9974 was the most suitable equation for predicting the volumetric shrinkage of the fisheye optical lens (y) through the heating oil temperature (x). The volume shrinkage of the fisheye optical lens cured by injection mold with CHC was very similar to that of the injection mold with a conventional heating channel. The maximum volume shrinkage of the fisheye optical lens cured at 180 °C was about 8.5%.

A Simple Approach to MXene Micropatterning from Molecularly Driven Assembly.

Here, a micropatterning strategy is demonstrated to achieve stable and selective MXene adsorption through the molecularly driven assembly. MXene flakes were assembled by strong interaction with a silicon substrate, which was functionalized by microcontact printing (µCP) to create an active surface. A clear micropattern was observed by scanning electron microscopy showing uniform coverage of MXene flakes. Atomic force microscopy revealed a pattern thickness of around 50 nm, much thinner than the patterns obtained by direct µCP. The obtained micropattern presents good stability against rinsing and sonication. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that this stability can be attributed to strong covalent bonding between MXene and active molecules on a silicon substrate. The sheet resistance of the as-formed MXene layer was measured at around 154.67 (Ω/□), which is lower than those of other published techniques with a similar thickness of around 50 nm. This method can achieve a well-defined MXene pattern around the sub-100 µm scale without requiring prior MXene surface modification. Therefore, MXene can retain its intrinsic surface property, allowing further molecule adsorption as a sensing platform. Moreover, this patterning technique does not require complicated control of ink preparation and offers possible application on a substrate of any geometry with few layers of thickness.

Characteristics of Graphene Oxide Films Reduced by Using an Atmospheric Plasma System.

The chemical oxidation method can be used to mass-produce graphene oxides (GOs) from highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. However, numerous oxygen-containing functional groups (hydroxyl, epoxy, carbonyl, etc.) exist in typical GO surfaces, resulting in serious electrical losses. Hence, GO must be processed into reduced graphene oxide (rGO) by the removal of most of the oxygen-containing functional groups. This research concentrates on the reduction efficiency of GO films that are manufactured using atmospheric-pressure and continuous plasma irradiation. Before and after sessions of plasma irradiation with various irradiation times, shelters, and working distances, the surface, physical, and electrical characteristics of homemade GO and rGO films are measured and analyzed. Experimental results showed that the sheet resistance values of rGO films with silicon or quartz shelters were markedly lower than those of GO films because the rGO films were mostly deprived of oxygen-containing functional groups. The lowest sheet resistance value and the largest carbon-to-oxygen ratio of typical rGO films were approximately 90 Ω/sq and 1.522, respectively. The intensity of the C⁻O bond peak in typical rGO films was significantly lower than that in GO films. Moreover, the intensity of the C⁻C bond peak in typical rGO films was considerably higher than that in GO films.

Rapid inspection method for measuring interior tilt and decenter in singlet lens.

The objective of this study was to present a high-speed, on-line means of measuring interior tilt and decentration in a singlet lens. We propose a noncontact method based on polarized optics, which provides inspection functions for the practical measurement of lenses. The proposed system was used to measure a tilted and decentered lens, and the results of which showed strong agreement with those obtained in theoretical predictions and CodeV simulations. The proposed method provides a wide field of inspection applicable to lenses with a diameter up to 70 mm. Measurement accuracy is of 0.14 deg/pixel in tilt, and 33 µm/pixel in decentration. Inspection time is only 0.78 s.

Edge isolation of transparent conductive polymer (TCP) thin films on flexible substrates using UV laser ablation.

The purpose of this study was to directly use the writing techniques for the complex electrode edge isolation of transparent conductive polymer (TCP) thin films by a nanosecond pulsed UV laser processing system. The processing parameters including the laser pulse energy, the pulse repetition frequency, and the scan speed of galvanometers were examined to ablate the TCP films deposited on polyethylene terephtalate substrates of 188 microm thick. The thickness of TCP films was approximately 20 nm. The laser pulse repetition frequency and the scan speed of galvanometers were applied to calculate the overlapping rate of laser spots and to discuss the patterning region quality. Surface morphology, edge quality, and width and depth of edge isolated patterning structures after laser ablation process were measured by a three-dimensional confocal laser scanning microscope. In addition, the electrical conductivity of ablated TCP films was measured by a four-point probes instrument. After isolated line patterning was formed, the ablated TCP films with a better edge quality were obtained directly when the overlapping rate of laser spots, the scan speed, and the pulse repetition rate were 83.3%, 200 mm/s, and 40 kHz, respectively. The better surface morphology of electrode pattern structures was also obtained when the scan speed and the pulse repetition rate were 500 mm/s and 40 kHz, respectively.

Mechanical properties of Pt-Ir and Ni-Ir binary alloys for glass-molding dies coating.

In this study, the different compositions of Pt-Ir and Ni-Ir alloys were deposited by utilizing ion source assisted magnetron sputtering system (ISAMSS). The surface roughness and crystallite size of the Pt-Ir and Ni-Ir coatings were analyzed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. In addition, coatings were soaked at 700 degrees and maintained 10 min under N2 atmosphere using a glass-molding machine. The annealed coatings for oxidation test were examined by energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) and for microhardness and reduced modulus test were evaluated by nanoindentation instrucment. The cross-sectional structures between the Pt-Ir and Ni-Ir coating layer and substrates were also examined by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The results show that surface roughness Ra from 1.25 nm to 3.426 nm was observed with increasing the Ni elements. However, the Ra is less than 2 nm measured in Ir-based coatings doped with Pt concentrations under this study. With increasing Pt and Ni doping, the microhardness of both coatings decreased significantly and the values of reduced modulus of Pt-Ir alloys are larger than that of Ni-Ir alloys. After oxidation process, the oxygen concentration of Pt-Ir coatings is less than that of Ni-Ir coatings and the Pt-Ir coatings exhibit superior properties including oxidation resistance, low surface roughness and high reduced modulus over Ni-Ir coatings, especially for the high Pt concentration coatings such as Pt-Ir 2 (55.25 at.% Pt) and Pt-Ir 3 (79.42 at.% Pt) coatings. The surface roughnesses of all specimens annealed at 700 degrees C were slightly larger than as-deposited coatings. Moreover, due to the serious oxidation occurred in Ni-Ir 3 (73.45 at.% Ni) coatings, the value of reduced modulus of this specimen coating is the lowest and the corrsponding Ra value is the largest compared with the rest of Ir-based coatings in the oxidation testing.