Search results for "Softening"
showing 10 items of 72 documents
Lignin Inter-Diffusion Underlying Improved Mechanical Performance of Hot-Pressed Paper Webs
2021
Broader use of bio-based fibres in packaging becomes possible when the mechanical properties of fibre materials exceed those of conventional paperboard. Hot-pressing provides an efficient method to improve both the wet and dry strength of lignin-containing paper webs. Here we study varied pressing conditions for webs formed with thermomechanical pulp (TMP). The results are compared against similar data for a wide range of other fibre types. In addition to standard strength and structural measurements, we characterise the induced structural changes with X-ray microtomography and scanning electron microscopy. The wet strength generally increases monotonously up to a very high pressing tempera…
COMBINATION OF ARGAN OIL AND PHOSPHOLIPIDS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF AN EFFECTIVE LIPOSOME-LIKE FORMULATION ABLE TO IMPROVE SKIN HYDRATION AND ALLANTOIN…
2016
Allantoin is traditionally employed in the treatment of skin ulcers and hypertrophic scars. In the present work, to improve its local deposition in the skin and deeper tissues, allantoin was incorporated in conventional liposomes and in new argan oil enriched liposomes. In both cases, obtained vesicles were unilamellar, as confirmed by cryo-TEM observation, but the addition of argan oil allowed a slight increase of the mean diameter (∼130nm versus ∼85nm). The formulations, especially those containing argan oil, favoured the allantoin accumulation in the skin, in particular in the dermis (∼8.7μg/cm(2)), and its permeation through the skin (∼33μg/cm(2)). The performances of vesicles as skin d…
A strain-difference-based nonlocal elasticity model
2004
Abstract A two-component local/nonlocal constitutive model for (macroscopically) inhomogeneous linear elastic materials (but constant internal length) is proposed, in which the stress is the sum of the local stress and a nonlocal-type stress expressed in terms of the strain difference field, hence identically vanishing in the case of uniform strain. Attention is focused upon the particular case of piecewise homogeneous material. The proposed model is thermodynamically consistent with a suitable free energy potential. It constitutes an improved form of the Vermeer and Brinkgreve [A new effective nonlocal strain measure for softening plasticity. In: Chambon, R., Desrues, J., Vardulakis, I. (E…
Overexpression of a cell wall enzyme reduces xyloglucan depolymerization and softening of transgenic tomato fruits.
2010
Xyloglucan xyloglucosyltransferase/endohydrolase (XTHs: EC 2.4.1.207 and/or EC 3.2.1.151) has been proposed to have a dual role integrating newly secreted xyloglucan chains into an existing wall-bound xyloglucan and restructuring existing cell wall material by catalyzing transglucosylation between previously wall bound xyloglucan molecules. In this work we generated transgenic tomatoes with altered levels of an XTH gene. These transgenic fruits showed significant overexpression of the XTH proteins in comparison with the wild type. Specific XET activity was approximately 4.33 fold higher in the transgenic fruits compared with the wild type fruits, although in both cases the activity decrease…
Performance of Steel Fibrous Reinforced Concrete Corbels Subjected to Vertical and Horizontal Loads
2009
A softened strut-and-tie macromodel able to reproduce the flexural behavior of corbels in plain and fibrous concrete and with the presence of steel bars, including softening of compressed struts and yielding of main and secondary steel bars, is presented in this paper. The main focus of the proposed model is the determination of the load-deflection curves of corbels subjected to the coupled effects of vertical and horizontal forces bearing in mind the influence of the type of concrete (normal or high strength), of the fiber percentage and of the arrangement and percentage of the main and secondary (horizontal stirrup) steel bars. A validation of the proposed model is made therefore with ref…
Theoretical modeling of antiferrodistortive phase transition forSrTiO3ultrathin films
2013
Combining group-theoretical analysis and first-principles density functional theory calculations, we confirm theoretically the antiferrodistortive phase transition in ultrathin SrTiO${}_{3}$ (001) TiO${}_{2}$-terminated films and compare it with a similar transition in the bulk. We demonstrate phonon softening at the $M$ point of the surface Brillouin zone and analyze the change in the calculated electronic and phonon properties upon phase transition.
Dynamic mode rheology of cement and tricalcium silicate pastes from mixing to setting
2001
Dynamic mode rheometry was used to study the evolution of the structure of cement and pure tricalcium silicate pastes from mixing up to setting and even after setting, together with the nature of the forces responsible for the mechanical properties of the pastes. A special mixer-type tool was used to study rheology during the very first minutes following the end of mixing, which are out of reach with classical tools. Both kinds of pastes have the same behavior. It was found that the main evolution of the structure of the pastes occurs during the very first minutes following the end of mixing, while there is no change in interparticular forces up to setting and even a few hours later. Settin…
1-METHYLCYCLOPROPENE DELAYS RIPENING AND IMPROVES POSTHARVEST QUALITY OF WHITE FLESH LOQUAT
2015
The ethylene inhibitor 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP) delayed ripening and improved postharvest fruit quality of loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.). 1-MCP was used on the white flesh sub-acid loquat cultivars ‘Claudia’ and ‘BRT20’ to evaluate the possible effect on fruit ripening and to prevent negative effects of cold storage, like internal browning and flesh leatheriness. 1-MCP was applied at 2°C for 20 h and concentrations of 1 and 5 μl L-1. After 1-MCP treatment fruit were held at 2°C for 7, 14, and 21 days and then moved to 18°C for 5 days. Fruit flesh firmness, titratable acidity (TA), total soluble content (TSS), weight loss, internal browning and flesh leatheriness were evaluated at …
Rigid versus Flexible Protein Matrix: Light-Harvesting Complex II Exhibits a Temperature-Dependent Phonon Spectral Density
2018
Dynamics-function correlations are usually inferred when molecular mobility and protein function are simultaneously impaired at characteristic temperatures or hydration levels. In this sense, excitation energy transfer in the photosynthetic light-harvesting complex II (LHC II) is an untypical example because it remains fully functional even at cryogenic temperatures relying mainly on interactions of electronic states with protein vibrations. Here, we study the vibrational and conformational protein dynamics of monomeric and trimeric LHC II from spinach using inelastic neutron scattering (INS) in the temperature range of 20-305 K. INS spectra of trimeric LHC II reveal a distinct vibrational …
Superionicity and polymorphism in calcium fluoride at high pressure.
2014
We present a combined experimental and computational first-principles study of the superionic and structural properties of CaF2 at high P-T conditions. We observe an anomalous superionic behavior in the low-P fluorite phase that consists in a decrease of the normal-> superionic critical temperature with compression. This unexpected effect can be explained in terms of a P-induced softening of a zone-boundary $X$ phonon which involves exclusively fluorine displacements. Also we find that superionic conductivity is absent in the high-P cotunnite phase. Instead, superionicity develops in a new low-symmetry high-T phase that we identify as monoclinic (space group P2_1/c). We discuss the possi…