Institute of Fundamental Technological Research

The temperature renormalization of the bulk band structure of a topological crystalline insulator, SnTe, is calculated using first-principles methods. We explicitly include the effect of thermal-expansion-induced modification of electronic states and their band inversion on electron-phonon interaction.We show that the direct gap decreases with temperature, as both thermal expansion and electron-phonon interaction drive SnTe towards the phase transition to a topologically trivial phase as temperature increases. The band gap renormalization due to electron-phonon interaction exhibits a nonlinear dependence on temperature as the material approaches the phase transition, while the lifetimes of the conduction band states near the band edge show a nonmonotonic behawior with temperature. These effects should have important implications on bulk electronic and thermoelectric transport in SnTe and other topological insulators.

The poor intrinsic mechanical properties of chitosan hydrogels have greatly hindered their practical applications. Inspired by nature, we proposed a strategy to enhance the mechanical properties of chitosan hydrogels by construction of a nanofibrous and cellular architecture in the hydrogel without toxic chemical crosslinking. To this end, electrospun nanofibers including cellulose acetate, polyacrylonitrile, and SiO2 nanofibers were introduced into chitosan hydrogels by homogenous dispersion and lyophilization. With the addition of 30% cellulose acetate nanofibers, the cellular structure could be maintained even in water without crosslinking, and integration of 60% of the nanofibers could guarantee the free-standing structure of the chitosan hydrogel with a low solid content of 1%. Moreover, the SiO2 nanofiber-reinforced chitosan (SiO2 NF/CS) three-dimensional (3D) matrices exhibit complete shape recovery from 80% compressive strain and excellent injectability. The cellular architecture and nanofibrous structure in the SiO2 NF/CS matrices are beneficial for human mesenchymal stem cell adhesion and stretching. Furthermore, the SiO2 NF/CS matrices can also act as powerful vehicles for drug delivery. As an example, bone morphogenetic protein 2 could be immobilized on SiO2 NF/CS matrices to induce osteogenic differentiation. Together, the electrospun nanofiber-reinforced 3D chitosan matrices exhibited improved mechanical properties and enhanced biofunctionality, showing great potential in tissue engineering.

chitosan hydrogel, electrospun nanofiber, mechanical property, nanofibrous matrix, tissue engineering

Creep tests are carried out under tension, pure torsion, and combined tension and torsion at an elevated temperature of 523K for pure copper and 423K for an aluminium alloy. Different creep and rupture properties of the materials are observed throughout the deformation process under the different stress states. The effects of stress states on primary creep, secondary creep, the failure and lifetime of the materials are analysed. A new set of multiaxial mechanisms-based creep damage constitutive equations has been formulated on the basis of analysis of previous creep models. The proposed unified creep damage constitutive equations are determined using experimental data achieved for both materials at three effective stress levels. Creep tests for each stress level were carried out for three stress states. The comparison of experimental and computed effective creep strain curves is carried out for all the stress states and stress levels tested for both materials. In addition, it has been verified that the determined multi-stress-state creep damage constitutive equations can be used to predict the isochronous surfaces of the materials very precisely. To compare with conventional constitutive descriptions, a set of multiaxial constitutive equations is also determined for the experimental data of the two materials using the same optimisation techniques. The quality of the fittings is compared and further discussion is carried out for the stress-state variable x.