Local Atomic Arrangements and Band Structure of Boron Carbide.
Boron carbide, the simple chemical combination of boron and carbon, is one of the best-known binary ceramic materials. Despite that, a coherent description of its crystal structure and physical properties resembles one of the most challenging problems in materials science. By combining ab initio computational studies, precise crystal structure determination from diffraction experiments, and state-of-the-art high-resolution transmission electron microscopy imaging, this concerted investigation reveals hitherto unknown local structure modifications together with the known structural alterations. The mixture of different local atomic arrangements within the real crystal structure reduces the electron deficiency of the pristine structure CBC+B12 , answering the question about electron precise character of boron carbide and introducing new electronic states within the band gap, which allow a better understanding of physical properties.
Effect of temperature and configurational disorder on the electronic band gap of boron carbide from first principles
The overestimation, rather than the usual underestimation, of the electronic band gap at 0 K of boron carbide with the ideally stoichiometric composition of B4C, represented by B11CP (CBC), in dens ...
Properties of a monopivot centrifugal blood pump manufactured by 3D printing
An impeller the same geometry as the impeller of a commercial monopivot cardiopulmonary bypass pump was manufactured using 3D printing. The 3D-printed impeller was integrated into the pump casing of the commercially available pump to form a 3D-printed pump model. The surface roughness of the impeller, the hydraulic performance, the axial displacement of the rotating impeller, and the hemolytic properties of the 3D-printed model were measured and compared with those of the commercially available model. Although the surface roughness of the 3D-printed model was significantly larger than that of the commercially available model, the hydraulic performance of the two models almost coincided. The hemolysis level of the 3D-printed model roughly coincided with that of the commercially available model under low-pressure head conditions, but increased greatly under high-pressure head conditions, as a result of the narrow gap between the rotating impeller and the pump casing. The gap became narrow under high-pressure head conditions, because the axial thrust applied to the impeller increased with increasing impeller rotational speed. Moreover, the axial displacement of the rotating impeller was twice that of the commercially available model, confirming that the elastic deformation of the 3D-printed impeller was larger than that of the commercially available impeller. These results suggest that trial models manufactured by 3D printing can reproduce the hydraulic performance of the commercial product. However, both the surface roughness and the deformation of the trial models must be considered to precisely evaluate the hemolytic properties of the model.