There is an increased interest in the use of polyether ether ketone (PEEK) for orthopedic and dental implant applications due to its elastic modulus close to that of bone, biocompatibility, and its radiolucent properties. However, PEEK is still categorized as bioinert due to its low integration with surrounding tissues. Many studies have reported on methods to increase the bioactivity of PEEK, but there is still one-preparation method for preparing bioactive PEEK implant where the produced implant with desirable mechanical and bioactivity properties is required. The aim of this review is to present the progress of the preparation methods for improvement of the bioactivity of PEEK and to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the existing methods.

Unique properties of thermoelectric materials enable the conversion of waste heat to electrical energies. Among the reported materials, Zinc oxide (ZnO) gained attention due to its superior thermoelectric performance. In this review, we attempt to oversee the approaches to improve the thermoelectric properties of ZnO, where nanostructuring and doping methods will be assessed. The outcomes of the reviewed studies are analysed and benchmarked to obtain a preliminary understanding of the parameters involved in improving the thermoelectric properties of ZnO.

The design of a scaffold of bone tissue engineering plays an important role in ensuring cell viability and cell growth. Therefore, it is a necessity to produce an ideal scaffold by predicting and simulating the properties of the scaffold. Hence, the computational method should be adopted since it has a huge potential to be used in the implementation of the scaffold of bone tissue engineering. To explore the field of computational method in the area of bone tissue engineering, this paper provides an overview of the usage of a computational method in designing a unit cell of bone tissue engineering scaffold. In order to design a unit cell of the scaffold, we discussed two categories of unit cells that can be used to design a feasible scaffold, which are non-parametric and parametric designs. These designs were later described and being categorised into multiple types according to their characteristics, such as circular structures and Triply Periodic Minimal Surface (TPMS) structures. The advantages and disadvantages of these designs were discussed. Moreover, this paper also represents some software that was used in simulating and designing the bone tissue scaffold. The challenges and future work recommendations had also been included in this paper.

Ca₃Co₄O₉ is a p-type semiconducting material that is well-known for its thermoelectric (TE), magnetic, electronic, and electro-optic properties. In this study, sol-gel autoignition was used to prepare Ca₃Co₄O₉ at different calcination temperatures (773, 873, 973, and 1073 K) and time (4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14 h) using starch as a fuel. The phase and microstructure of the prepared Ca₃Co₄O₉ powder were investigated. Thermogravimetry.differential thermal analysis (TGA) confirms that the final weight loss occurred at 1073 K to form Ca₃Co₄O₉ stable powder. The variable-pressure scanning electron microscopy (VP-SEM) images show that the size of powder particles increases from 1.15 to 1.47 μm as calcination time increases from 4 to 12 h, and the size remains almost constant thereafter. A similar pattern is also observed on the increment of the crystallite size and percentage of crystallinity with X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The highest crystallinity is found about 92.9% when the powder was calcinated at 1073 K for 12 and 14 h with 458 and 460 Å crystallite size, respectively. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) analysis demonstrates that the calcinated powder has a high intensity of Ca, Co, and O with uniform distribution. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) images prove that there is no distinct lattice distortion defect on the crystal structure.

Downsizing energy consumption during the machining of metals is vital for sustainable manufacturing. As a prerequisite, energy consumption should be determined, through direct or indirect measurement. The manufacturing process of interest is the finish turning which has been explored to generate (near) net shapes, particularly for hardened steels. In this paper, we propose using measured cutting forces to calculate the electrical energy consumption during the finish turning process of metals where typically the depth of cut is lower than the cutting tool nose radius. In this approach, the resultant cutting force should be used for calculating the energy consumption, instead of only the main (tangential) cutting force as used in the conventional approach. A case study was carried out where a hardened stainless steel (AISI 420, hardness of 47–48 HRC) was turned using a coated carbide tool, with a nose radius of 0.8 mm, without cutting fluid, and at 0.4 mm depth of cut. The experimental design varied the cutting speed (100, 130, and 170 m/min) and feed (0.10, 0.125, and 0.16 mm) while other parameters were kept constant. The results indicate that the electrical energy consumption during the particular dry turning of hardened steel can be calculated using cutting force data as proposed. This generally means machining studies that measure cutting forces can also present energy consumption during the finish or hard turning of metals, without specifically measuring the power consumption of the machining process. For this particular dry turning of hardened stainless steel, cutting parameters optimization in terms of machining responses (i.e., low surface roughness, long tool life, low cutting force, and low energy consumption) was also determined to provide an insight on how energy consumption can be integrated with other machining responses towards sustainable machining process of metals.