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Abstract: A kind of composite carbon nanofibers (CNF) containing bioactive glass (BG) nanoparticles was produced for bone regeneration by a combination of electrospinning and sol–gel techniques. To produce the BG, compounds such as calcium nitrate, triethyl phosphate and tetraethyl orthosilicate were used as precursors and hydrolyzed to form a sol–gel solution, which was then added to a polyacrylonitrile (PAN) solution in N,N-dimethylformamide. The resulting mixture was electrospun to form PAN nanofibers containing the BG precursors. Upon oxidation and carbonization, the PAN nanofibers and BG precursors transformed into continuous CNF embedded with BG nanoparticles (CNF/BG). Through this fabrication technique, several CNF/BG composites were obtained by controlling the feeding ratios of the different precursors giving rise to BG nanoparticles with various compositions (i.e. containing 70–90mol% of SiO2 component). In vitro biomineralization in a simulated body fluid and co-culture with MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts studies were performed to evaluate the osteocompatibility of the CNF/BG nanoparticle composites. When compared to pure CNF, the CNF/BG composites showed an improved ability to promote the in vitro formation of apatite and MC3T3-E1 proliferation, which was found to be dependent upon the composition of BG nanoparticles. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Effects of untreated and pretreated carbon nanofibers (CNFs) on the crystallization behavior, friction behavior, and mechanical properties of ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE)/high density polyethylene (HDPE) nanocomposites prepared by a twin-screw extrusion were studied. The differential scanning calorimetry and wide angle X-ray diffraction measurements indicated that the addition of CNFs impacted the temperature of crystallization, but had no significant effects on the crystalline structure of the UHMWPE/HDPE blend. The degree of crystallinity, and the tensile strength and modulus of the UHMWPE/HDPE systems exhibited an increasing trend initially with addition of CNFs, followed by a decrease at higher contents. With the increase of untreated CNF content, the friction coefficient of UHMWPE/HDPE was decreasing and displayed less change in the process of friction. The microstructure features on the fracture surfaces and friction surfaces of the polymer blend and the nanocomposites were analyzed in detail by scanning electron microscope observations. The degree of crystallinity of the nanocomposites with the pretreated CNFs exhibited a decrease due to the better interface adhesion compared to that in the nanocomposites with the same loading untreated CNFs. The enhancement in tensile strength of nanocomposites containing 0.5wt% treated CNFs was four times higher (32%) than that of the nanocomposites containing untreated CNFs (8%) over that of the pure polymer. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]