Tardigrades are microscopic animals that survive a remarkable array of stresses, including desiccation. How tardigrades survive desiccation has remained a mystery for more than 250 years. Trehalose, a disaccharide essential for several organisms to survive drying, is detected at low levels or not at all in some tardigrade species, indicating that tardigrades possess potentially novel mechanisms...

The consolidation of colloidal particles in drying colloidal dispersions is influenced by various factors such as particle size and shape, and interparticle potential. The capillary pressure induced by the menisci, formed between the top layer of particles in the packed bed, compresses the bed of particles while the constraints imposed by the boundaries result in tensile stresses in the packing...

An aqueous sodium ion battery (ASIB) with metal Zn as anode and Na₄Mn₉O18-reduced graphene oxide (Na₄Mn₉O18-RGO) as cathode has been developed. In this work, spherical Na₄Mn₉O18-RGO composite particles were prepared via spray drying. The aqueous battery exhibits stable cyclability and high specific capacities. Typically, a high initial discharge capacity of 61.7 mAh·g-1 is attained at a high cu...

The value of gem opals is compromised by their potential susceptibility to “crazing”, a phenomenon observed either in the form whitening or cracking. To understand latter, 26 opal samples were investigated and separated into 2 groups based on handling: “water-stored” samples, which are stored water after extraction, “air-stored” air for more than year. induce cracking, thermally treated staged ...

Supercritical fluids have a unique and valuable potential for the enhanced processing of many materials. This review describes research in the applications of supercritical fluids to polymer processing. The ability of supercritical carbon dioxide to swell and plasticize polymers is crucial to the impregnation, extraction, and modification of polymeric materials. This plasticization also reduces...

Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins were first described about 30 years ago as accumulating in plant seeds during late stages of embryogenesis. Later they were also found in vegetative plant tissues, especially after exposure to abiotic stresses and in several desiccation tolerant bacteria and invertebrates. Most LEA proteins are IDPs under physiological conditions and many fold upon dry...

The shrinkage mechanisms of portland cement paste were investigated from shrinkage, weight loss, and pore structure measurements using nitrogen sorption and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP). Thin samples (2.3 mm) of well-hydrated (165 d) pastes of 0.4 and 0.6 water-to-cement (W/C) ratios were dried directly from saturated surface dry state to 75%, SO%, 11%, and 0% relative humidity (rh). Fro...

We have used computer simulation to study the collapse of a hydrophobic chain in water. We find that the mechanism of collapse is much like that of a first-order phase transition. The evaporation of water in the vicinity of the polymer provides the driving force for collapse, and the rate limiting step is the nucleation of a sufficiently large vapor bubble. The study is made possible through th...

Differential shrinkage between repair material and concrete substrate is considered to be the main cause of premature failure of repair systems. The magnitude of induced stresses depends on many factors, for example the degree of restraint, moisture gradients caused by curing and drying conditions, type of repair material, etc. Numerical simulations combined with experimental observations can b...