Advances in Materials Science and Engineering

The pharmaceutical industry is looking for new and innovative ways of manufacturing to improve product quality and reduce process complexity. In manufacturing oral solid dosage products, blending is a crucial step in ensuring the homogeneity of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in the final product. Currently, batch and continuous blending are the two commonly used modes for blending in the industry. However, these methods have limitations in terms of blending time, manual intervention, and flexibility in handling multiple ingredients. To address these limitations, this study aims to explore the feasibility and benefits of using a semicontinuous blending mode in the pharmaceutical industry. A case study is conducted using a binary blend of microcrystalline cellulose and acetaminophen to compare the performance of the semicontinuous mode of blending with the batch and continuous blending modes. The results show that the semicontinuous blending setup can produce blends with good blend uniformity and homogeneity and that the output can be used for both batch and continuous downstream operations. The effect of variation in the three most important process parameters, impeller rotation per minute, blending time, and fill level on the blend uniformity, is also investigated. The semicontinuous blending mode had a higher line rate of 12.5 kg/hour than a similarly sized batch blender at 3.6 kg/hour and less than that of a continuous blender. The benefits of the new blending mode include reduced blending time, minimal manual intervention, flexibility in blending multiple ingredients, easier scale-up, and a smaller footprint. Overall, this study highlights the relative advantages of using this new semicontinuous blending mode in pharmaceutical manufacturing and its potential as a good alternative to the existing blending modes. The semicontinuous mode is well placed between the batch blending and continuous blending mode, with many benefits over the former mode and performance comparable to the latter continuous mode.

The present study investigates an environmentally conscious method for synthesizing silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) by employing extracts from pomegranate peel (PgP) and pineapple peel (PnP). This green synthesis approach offers a sustainable alternative to traditional chemical methods, thereby reducing the ecological footprint associated with nanoparticle production. The PgP and PnP extracts serve as both reducing and capping agents during the synthesis process, enhancing the biocompatibility of the resultant AgNPs. Various characterization techniques, including UV-Vis spectroscopy, Raman analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), dynamic light scattering (DLS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), were utilized to analyze the synthesized AgNPs. UV-Vis spectroscopy confirmed the formation of AgNPs through characteristic surface plasmon resonance peaks, while FTIR examined the interaction between biomaterial components and the oxidation and coating of silver nanoparticles. Raman analysis elucidated the functional groups responsible for reducing and stabilizing AgNPs, while XRD provided insights into their crystalline structure. TEM images revealed the size and morphology of the nanoparticles, while DLS characterized their average size and morphology. In addition, the synthesized AgNPs were utilized in a bioelectrochemical cell to leverage their unique properties for enhanced electrochemical performance, showcasing their potential application in energy storage and conversion systems. Overall, this study demonstrates the feasibility of utilizing agricultural waste products such as PgP and PnP for sustainable AgNP synthesis, offering promising prospects for environmentally friendly nanotechnology advancement.

Phase behavior, density, viscosity, conductivity, pH, and surface tension were measured, and FTIR was performed for a series of mixtures of sugar (glucose, fructose, xylose, and sucrose), water, and choline chloride (ChCl) at specific molar ratios. These mixtures, called sugar-based natural deep eutectic solvents (NADESs), were investigated as a function of temperature. Contact angle measurements indicated that NADES exhibited slightly lower wettability but higher surface tension than water. Temperature was found to greatly impact density, viscosity, and conductivity. The optimum water molar ratio for lower viscosity was found at ratios higher than those reported in the literature, indicating that the NADES investigated may have industrial process applications.

In this research, the main aim is to focus the enhancement of aluminium-based metal matrix composites for improving the attributes of light weight metals, aerospace structures and other tailor blank material properties. By this way, the friction stir processing (FSP) was the suited alternate technique to enhancing the mechanical attributes and superior microstructural amendment in the processed MMCs. Therefore, this study investigates the dispersion of ceramic-based strengthening particles of chromium oxide (Cr₂O₃) in the aluminium base matrix of A356 alloy. During the processing, the different tool pin sizes having the conical threaded tool pin profiles. Similarly, the tool spinning speed and tool travel speed also varied while in FSP. Before the processing, the A356 alloy was prepared by the grooved surfaces for packing the chromium oxide particles to compose the aluminium metal matrix composites. The tensile strength and hardness was employed to carry out from the friction stir processed A356 alloy with influencing of Cr₂O₃. The maximum occurred tensile processing parameters are 1500 rpm of spinning speed, 6 mm of tool pin sizes and 90 mm/min of tool travel speed. Similarly, the maximum obtained hardness processing parameter are 2000 rpm of spinning speed, 5 mm of tool pin sizes and 90 mm/min of tool travel speed. A scanning electron microscope was utilized to investigate the dispersed Cr₂O₃ in the A356 alloy for confirming the refinement grains in the nugget zones of FSPed A356 alloy. The increased grain boundary by the influence of different tool pin sizes was the major reason to produces the better mechanical properties in the processed A356/Cr₂O₃.

Swelling of anhydrite rock causes serious damage to the tunnel and generates high additional costs in the process of tunnel construction and operation and has gradually become one of the main factors that threaten the safety of the tunnel. It is extremely difficult to predict swelling pressures and deformations accurately based on conventional swelling constitutive models. Thus, a new practical swelling constitutive model of anhydrite for tunnel engineering has been developed. First, swelling tests of natural anhydrite samples focusing on the time effect have been designed and conducted, whose test results show that swelling strain-time can be described by the S-curve model and that swelling stress-strain can be described by the quadratic model. Second, a swelling constitutive model with considering the time effect has been developed to reproduce the swelling behavior of anhydrite observed in swelling tests. This model can track the evolution of swelling activity in tunneling, which has practical significance for process simulation and process control of swelling disaster. Then, this model has been implemented within ANSYS for numerical simulation of the Lirang tunnel. Based on simulation results, useful measures have been proposed. Satisfactory results have been achieved according to the feedback from the site.

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) are used in various fields such as industrial, environmental remediation, catalytic, and antibacterial applications. However, their ability to absorb visible light is limited due to their high-energy bandgap and fast electron-hole recombination, which restricts their use. To enhance the efficiency of ZnO-NPs in medical and other applications, surface functionality can be modified through doping. Here, we investigated the effects of S and N doping on the energy bandgap of ZnO-NP and their antimicrobial and antioxidant activities. The results showed that the optical bandgap energy of pure ZnO-NPs was 2.98 eV while that of 6% N-ZnO, 4% S-ZnO, and S4-N6-ZnO was 2.78, 2.69, and 2.63 eV, respectively. The energy bandgap reduction is attributed to the changes in the electronic level of zinc oxide as the result of doping. The crystal size of pure ZnO-NPs, 6% N-ZnO, 4% S-ZnO, and S4-N6-ZnO was 29.06, 27.05, 29.02, and 25.06 nm, respectively, as calculated from XRD data using FWHM. Following the bandgap and particle size reduction, the antimicrobial activities of the dual-doped ZnO-NPs surpassed that of the pure ZnO-NPs. Moreover, dual doping improved the antioxidant activity of ZnO-NPs from 52.45% to 88.89% for the optimized concentration. Therefore, incorporating S and N as dual dopants can enhance the functionality and efficiency of ZnO-NPs in various fields.