In order to provide a novel biomimetic composite substrate for tissue engineering and explore the interaction between cells and this type of material, we developed chitosan/liquid crystal (CS/LC) composite hydrogel with embedded LC phases by composing of cholesterol hydroxypropyl cellulose ester liquid crystalline material and CS. The micromorphology of CS/LC composite hydrogels exhibited 'isla...

Background: The goals of fingertip reconstruction are to achieve adequate soft-tissue coverage and a functional nail plate and to maintain sensation, proprioception, and cosmesis. Objective: We present a composite tissue graft and volar V-Y advancement flap for reconstruction of a traumatic amputation of a fingertip, which provided optimal preservation of the hyponychium and the volar pad for p...

Fully integrated monitoring systems have shown promise in improving confidence in composite materials while reducing lifecycle costs. A distributed optical fibre sensor is embedded in a fibre reinforced composite laminate, to give three sensing regions at different levels through-the-thickness of the plate. This study follows the resin infusion process during fabrication of the composite, monit...

This paper describes analytical methods that can be used to determine the deflections and stresses in highly compliant graphite-reinforced cementitious composites. It is demonstrated that the standard transform section method fails to provide accurate results when the elastic modulus ratio exceeds 20. So an alternate approach is formulated by using the rule of mixtures to determine a set of eff...

OBJECTIVE To compare the mechanical properties of two stabilization methods for ostectomized equine third metacarpi (MC3): (1) an interlocking nail system and (2) two dynamic compression plates. Animal or Sample Population-Ten pairs of adult equine forelimbs intact from the midradius distally. METHODS Ten pairs of equine MC3 were divided into two test groups (five pairs each): caudocranial fo...

This paper describes an alternative finite element model that would yield more accurate results in the prediction of the behavior of Profiled Steel Sheet Dry Board (PSSDB) folded plate structures, which can be considered as an improvement of an earlier proposed model. The PSSDB folded plate structures are being proposed as an alternative to traditional forms of roof construction.The PSSDB syste...

Vibrations of plate and plate type structures made up of composite materials have a significant role in various industrial mechanical structures, aerospace industries and other engineering applications. The main aim of the present paper is to study the two dimensional thermal effect on the vibration of non-homogeneous square plate of variable thickness having clamped boundary. It is assumed tha...

Piezoelectric materials can be used as actuators for the active vibration control of smart structural systems. In this work, piezoelectric patches are surface bonded to a composite laminate plate and used as vibration actuators. A static analysis based on the piezoelectricity and elasticity is conducted to evaluate the loads induced by the piezoelectric actuators to the host structure. The load...

The presence of the delamination causes reductions in the bending stiffness which in turn leads to the undesirable loss in the compressive buckling and post-buckling strength. Thus, it is of chief importance to investigate the compressive behavior of composites with delaminations. Anastasiadis et al. analyzed the buckling and postbuckling behavior of delaminated composite laminates with a throu...