Micrometric Roughness Research Articles

Asymmetric Polarization in a Rough Multilayer: Towards the Discrimination of Enantiomer Pairs.

Chirality plays a significant part in many vital processes, and to further our level of understanding, there is a steadily growing interest in enhancing the yield of enantioselective processes. Here, a multilayer with etched grooves is activated in a Kretschmann geometry and consists of alternating platinum Pt, silica SiO2, and silicon Si, as well as a silver Ag layer. Due to the production process, the groove surface exhibits a micrometric roughness, characterized by a typical vibrational mode at ω = 96 MHz. The mode is attributed to a localized acoustic vibration and has been detected as a transmitted signal. The outcomes of the inquiry include plasmonic amplification of the transmitted signal and its wavevector-less nature; in addition, it is shown that the signal is depolarized in reference to the incident beam because of the rough surface. When the Kretschmann scheme is combined with the depolarization brought on by the roughness, a built-in asymmetry results in a higher optical flux of spectrum photons in the depolarized plane than the co-polarized plane, resulting in distinct, enantioselective, and solely polarization-dependent spectral contrast. In conclusion, enantioselectivity is demonstrated for the D,L-penicillamine.

Study on the effect of dynamic chemical polishing treatment on porous titanium alloy scaffolds fabricated using laser powder bed fusion

This study addresses the issue of a significant amount of unmelted powder adhering to the surface of Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) porous titanium alloy scaffolds, and the current inability of existing technologies to effectively handle such surface defects. Porous titanium alloy scaffolds with a triple periodical minimal surface (TPMS) Gyroid structure were prepared using powder bed fusion technology for dynamic chemical polishing. The spatial and surface morphology, as well as the mechanical properties of the scaffolds, were evaluated before and after treatment. Concurrently, fluid finite element simulation was employed to analyze the flow state of the solution inside the porous scaffold during dynamic chemical polishing. Cell culture samples were prepared and subjected to dynamic chemical polishing to study the specific effects of scaffold surface morphology on cell activity. The results indicate that the surface treatment effect, internal and external homogeneity, and dynamic and static mechanical properties of the porous scaffolds with a Gyroid structure are significantly improved after dynamic chemical polishing. Additionally, it was found that dynamic chemical polishing could effectively reduce the micrometer roughness and increase the nanometer roughness of the sample surface, thereby enhancing the adhesion, proliferation, and differentiation activities of Human Bone Mesenchymal Stem cells.

Effect of Surface Roughness of Deciduous and Permanent Tooth Enamel on Bacterial Adhesion.

The adhesion of some bacteria has been attributed to critical levels of roughness in hard tissues, which increases the risk of developing caries. The objective of this work was to assess the effect of deciduous and permanent tooth enamel surface roughness on bacterial adhesion. One hundred and eight samples of deciduous and permanent enamel were divided into two groups (n = 54). G1_DE deciduous enamel and G2_PE permanent enamel. The surface roughness was measured by profilometry and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Subsequently, the evaluation of bacterial adherence was carried out in triplicate by means of the XTT cell viability test. Additionally, bacterial adhesion was observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). The average values of the micrometric roughness in both groups were similar; however, in the nanometric scale they presented significant differences. Additionally, the G1_DE group showed the highest amount of adhered S. mutans and S. sanguinis compared to the G2_EP group. Although the roughness of deciduous and permanent enamel showed contrasting results according to the evaluation technique (area and scale of analysis), bacterial adhesion was greater in deciduous enamel; hence, enamel roughness may not be a determining factor in the bacterial adhesion phenomenon.

In-Vitro Phenotypic Response of Human Osteoblasts to Different Degrees of Titanium Surface Roughness.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate human osteoblast (HOB) responses towards different degrees of titanium (Ti) implant surface roughness. Methods: Four degrees of Ti surface roughness were investigated on a micrometer roughness scale: smooth (S: 0.08–0.1 µm), minimally rough (MM: 0.3–0.5 µm), moderately rough (MR: 1.2–1.4 µm), and rough (R: 3.3–3.7 µm). HOB cells were cultured, expanded, and maintained according to the supplier’s protocol. Cell proliferation and cytotoxicity were assessed at day 1, 3, 5, and 10 using alamarBlue and lactate dehydrogenase colorimetric assays. Data were analyzed with one-way ANOVA, two-way ANOVA, and Tukey’s post hoc test (p = 0.05 for all tests). Results: There was no significant difference in the cell proliferation or cytotoxicity of the HOB cells in contact with the different degrees of Ti surface roughness. There was, however, a significant time effect on cell proliferation (p < 0.0001) with different exposure durations for each roughness degree. Furthermore, a positive correlation (non-significant) between proliferation and cytotoxicity was observed for all investigated degrees of surface roughness. Conclusion: All investigated roughness degrees showed comparable HOB proliferation, with the MR surface presenting the highest percentage, followed by the R, MM, ad S, surfaces, respectively. The S surface showed the highest cytotoxic effect on HOBs; however, it did not reach the cytotoxic level suggested by the ISO for any medical device to be considered cytotoxic.

Roughness-Induced Adhesive Hysteresis in Self-Affine Fractal Surfaces

It is known that in the presence of surface roughness, adhesion can lead to distinct paths of loading and unloading for the area–load and penetration–load relationships, thus causing hysteretic loss. Here, we investigate the effects that the surface roughness parameters have on such adhesive hysteresis loss. We focus on the frictionless normal contact between soft elastic bodies and, for this reason, we model adhesion according to Johnson, Kendall, and Roberts (JKR) theory. Hysteretic energy loss is found to increase linearly with the true area of contact, while the detachment force is negligibly influenced by the maximum applied load reached at the end of the loading phase. Moreover, for the micrometric roughness amplitude hrms considered in the present work, adhesion hysteresis is found to be affected by the shorter wavelengths of roughness. Specifically, hysteresis losses decrease with increasing fractal dimension and cut-off frequency of the roughness spectrum. However, we stress that a different behavior could occur in other ranges of roughness amplitude.

Osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells on hybrid coatings sterilized by different processes

Abstract

Role of micrometric roughness on anti-ice properties and durability of hierarchical super-hydrophobic aluminum surfaces

Ice accretion and accumulation may cause a severe problem in many disparate fields from aircraft to electrical transmission lines. Super-hydrophobic (SHP) surfaces can have a potential anti-icing application due to their extreme water repellency. However, there is a lack in the characterization of icing behavior of these surfaces. Moreover, durability is a major concern for this kind of coatings. One class of super-hydrophobic surfaces is constituted by hierarchical structures, in which a micrometric roughness is combined with a nanometric roughness and finally covered by a low energy chemical finishing. In the present work, we experimentally investigated how the micrometric roughness of the aluminum alloy surface can influence the hierarchical micro-nanostructure and the consequent hydrophobic and anti-icing properties, especially in terms of durability. Aluminum alloy samples were sandblasted or polished to generate a different micrometric roughness. The following steps to obtain a hierarchical super-hydrophobic structure (nano-roughness and final low energy chemical treatment) were kept constant for all samples. The hydrophobic properties were characterized at room and low temperatures and the anti-icing behavior was measured by shear stress tests. Several repetitions of the shear stress measurement on the same samples and icing- thaw cycles were conducted to study the durability of the coatings. This work describes an easy, fast and economic process to obtain super-hydrophobic materials with durable anti-icing properties, with interesting applications in many industrial fields.

Sol–gel route for the building up of superhydrophobic nanostructured hybrid-coatings on copper surfaces

A wet chemical route is herein presented with the aim of building up a superhydrophobic coating on copper (Cu). A thin film of flower-like alumina – obtained by sol–gel – was deposited and combined with fluoroalkylsilane moieties, resulting in a hybrid coating with excellent repellence to water (static contact angle of 179±1°) and self-cleaning properties (contact angle hysteresis of 5±1°). The wetting performances were strictly related to the peculiar morphology of the coating's inorganic component and to the chemistry of the outer organic layer. The combination of the nanometric alumina lamellas with the micrometric roughness of sandblasted Cu surface proved to be essential to the formation of the hierarchical scaled structure allowing superhydrophobicity. However, the surface extension of alumina layer and its functional effectiveness were threatened by Cu oxides occasionally formed during the annealing steps necessary to stabilize the coating. Field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses of the surfaces, in fact, revealed the simultaneous presence of different chemical species and morphologies. Grains with cube-like aspect (attributable to Cu2O) were formed on coated surfaces thermally treated at 200–300°C, while microwires of CuO appeared at higher temperature. Once the thermal conditions are carefully tuned and the temperature kept not higher than 200°C, it is possible to limit the presence of Cu oxides which, in turn, means preserving a high level of performances, also avoiding brittleness phenomena and keeping unchanged the surface optical properties. The coating's stability and the maintenance of superhydrophobicity were preliminarily investigated following the water contact angle evolution after immersion of samples in ethanol in an ultrasonic bath.

Antifouling Stainless Steel Surface: Competition between Roughness and Surface Energy

To increase the shelf-life qualities of dairy products, a heat treatment is usually done. However, heat treatments induce physico-chemical modifications of the products. Some of them lead to the expected product but an unwanted consequence of this process is the formation of a fouling deposit on the surfaces in contact with the processed fluid. To eliminate fouling, cleaning processes have to be done once a day. It increases the processing and maintenance costs. To control and to decrease the fouling are the main problems in food industries and an active research is carried out on efficient antifouling surface treatments. In the present study, a 316L 2B stainless steel was submitted to different surface treatments (Flame and plasma pre-treatments, Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapour Deposition, hydrophobic coatings, mechanical polishing ...) to try to establish correlations between different surface parameters (roughness, hydrophobicity, nanostructuration, surface energy, ...) onto the fouling in heat exchangers. All the treated plates were then submitted to a fouling test using an aqueous solution of β-lactoglobulin at 1% (p/p) with a final calcium concentration of 910 mg/L and compared to a bare steel plate. The results obtained imply different influences of each parameter depending on the surface roughness: the effect of a non organized micrometric roughness is preponderant compared to the surface energy: the fouling comes from a mechanical effect mainly due to rubbing. However, when the surface is nanostructured, fouling decreases. When the roughness reaches the nanometer scale (between 100 and 400 nm), it is the surface energy and the polar/apolar components which become preponderant compared to the roughness. Fouling is this time mainly due to the hydrophilicity of the surface and to the adsorption of the β-lactoglobulin on acido-basic sites. Finally, when the roughness reaches less than 50 nm, polar/apolar components show no effect anymore, the preponderant parameter is the hydrophobicity of the surface.

Effects of nanometric roughness on surface properties and fibroblast's initial cytocompatibilities of Ti6AI4V

Titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) has widespread medical applications because of its excellent biocompatibility. Its biological responses can further be enhanced by polishing and passivation. Unfortunately, preparing titanium alloy samples of nanometric roughness is by far much more difficult than preparing those of micrometric roughness, and numerous investigations on roughness induced effects are all focused on micrometric scales. For the remedy, we investigate, at nanometric scale, the influence of roughness on surface properties and biological responses. Six groups of Ti6Al4V with average roughness (R(a)) values of 2.75-30.34 nm are prepared. The results indicated that nanometric roughness of samples change the wettability and amphoteric OH groups. The contact angles monotonically decrease from 2.75 to 30.34 nm and the rougher surfaces lead to higher wettability. The in vitro cell-culture studies, using Murine NIH-3T3 fibroblasts, showed the spindle-shaped morphology on rougher surface compared to round∕spherical morphology on smoother surface. A cytodetacher is employed to quantitatively measure the initial adhesion force of fibroblasts to specimen. The adhesion strength of fibroblasts, ranging from 55 to 193 nN, is significantly influenced by the nanometric roughness while the surface is within the range of 2.75-30.34 nm R(a) roughness, and the adhesion strength appeared stronger for rougher surface. The cell number on the smoother surface is higher than on the rougher surface at 5-day culture. The studies indicated that nanometric roughness would alter the surface properties and further influence cell morphology, adhesion strength, and proliferation.

Surface characterization of commercial oral implants on the nanometer level

Lately, there has been a growing interest in how the presence of nanometer structures on a bone integrated implant surface influences the healing process. Recent in vitro studies have revealed an increased osteoblast response to different nanophase surfaces. Some commercial implant brands claim their implants have nanometer structures. However, at present, there are no studies where the nano topography of today's commercially available oral implants has been investigated. The aim of this study was to characterize commercial oral implants on the nanometer level and to investigate whether or not the nanometer surface roughness was correlated to the more well-known micrometer roughness on the implants. Twelve different commercial screw-shaped oral implants with various surface modifications were examined using scanning electron microscopy and a white light interferometer. The interferometer is suitable for detection of nanoscale roughness in the vertical dimension; however, limitation exists on the horizontal due to the wavelength of the light. A 1 x 1 microm Gaussian filter was found to be useful for identifying nm roughness with respect to height deviation. The results demonstrated that an implant that was smooth on the micrometer level was not necessarily smooth on the nanometer level. Different structures in the nanometer scale was found on some of the implants, indicating that to fully understand the relationship between the properties of an implant surface and its osseointegration behavior, a characterization at the nanometer scale might be relevant.

Field-emission cascades prepared by boron nitride cluster beam deposition

Boron nitride nanogranular films on n-type silicon substrates were prepared and their field-emission performance was tested. The films started their electron emission at a mean electric field of 4.0 V/μm. The current density reached 1 mA/cm2 at 6.2 V/μm. The Fowler-Nordheim plot gave an enhancement factor β of 360. The films were boron-rich. As measured by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy, the films contained the cone-shaped islands with the diameter of 20–40 nm, which were believed to enhance the local electric field. Their performance parameters were comparable to the values of the samples with micrometer roughness.

Structural changes of metallic surfaces induced by ultrasound

The effect of ultrasounds on the surface of metallic plates with cubic faced centered (Al, Ag, Cu) or hexagonal (Zn) structure was studied. Treated surfaces were strongly attacked: a micrometric roughness and a superficial oxidation (characterized by roughness measurements and scanning electron microscopy) were induced. X-ray diffraction analyses showed a preferential reorientation of the maximum density planes for both crystallographic structures.

Low-velocity friction between macroscopic solids

We analyze the physical mechanisms taking place in unlubricated friction between surfaces of micrometric roughness at sliding speeds <100 μm ·s −1 . This analysis is based on extensive experimental investigations of the time and velocity dependences of static and dynamic friction forces, and of non-stationary sliding. It fully supports the state and rate dependent friction model first proposed by Rice and Ruina.

Ultrastructural architecture and mechanical properties of attachment pads in Tettigonia viridissima (Orthoptera Tettigoniidae).

Natural releasable attachment systems of insect legs, where attachment-detachment performances are often very fast, seem to be optimized to get a maximum of real contact to the substratum. Tarsi of Tettigonia viridissima bear flexible attachment pads with unusual ultrastructural architecture of the cuticle. The indentation of the attachment pads was measured under different loads using a force-tester. Since the mechanical properties are influenced by material structure, the freeze-substitution experiments were undertaken to investigate the influence of loads on material structure. Both profile changes of the surface and the orientation of cuticle microfibrils were visualized by means of scanning electron microscopy followed by fracturing of the frozen material. The results show that the flexible pad material deforms replicating the substrate profile down to the micrometer roughness. The pad material showed both elastic and viscous behavior under loads. Elastic deformation of the pad occurred under normal force applied for 4-6 s (elastic modulus 27.2 +/- 11.6 kPa). Two viscous relaxation processes were found, of time constants tau1 = 1.88+/-0.616 s and tau2 =41.2 +/- 9.95 s. Low stiffness of material studied here aids in surface replication and increase of area of real contact between the pad and the underlying substrate.