The Open Databases Integration for Materials Design (OPTIMADE) application programming interface (API) empowers users with holistic access to a federation of databases, enhancing the accessibility and discoverability of materials and chemical data.

The control of a homogeneous distribution of the reinforcing phase in aluminum matrix composites is the main issue during the synthesis of this kind of material. In this work, 2024 aluminum matrix composites reinforced with boron carbide were produced by mechanical milling, using 1 and 2 h of milling. After milling, powdered samples were cold consolidated, sintered and T6 heat treated. The morphology and microstructure of Al2024/B₄C composites were investigated by scanning electron microscopy; analysis of X-ray diffraction peaks were used for the calculation of the crystallite size and microstrains by the Williamson–Hall method. The mechanical properties were evaluated by compression and hardness tests. B₄C particles were found to be well dispersed into the aluminum matrix as a result of the high-energy milling process. The crystallite size of composites milled for 2 h was lower than those milled for 1 h. The hardness, yield strength and maximum strength were significantly improved in the composites processed for 2 h, in comparison to those processed for 1 h and the monolithic 2024 alloy.

The success of orthopedic implants critically depends on achieving mechanical and biological compatibility with bone tissue. Traditional titanium implants often suffer from high stiffness, which induces stress shielding, a phenomenon that compromises implant integration and accelerates prosthetic loosening. This study introduces an innovative approach to mitigate these limitations by engineering a porous titanium substrate with a controlled microstructure. Utilizing sodium chloride as a spacer holder, an elution and sintering process was applied at 1250 °C under high vacuum conditions to reduce the material’s elastic modulus. By manipulating NaCl volume fractions (20%, 25%, 30%, and 35%), porous titanium samples were created with elastic moduli between 16.37 and 22.56 GPa, closely matching cortical bone properties (4 to 20 GPa). A hydroxyapatite coating applied via plasma thermal spraying further enhanced osseointegration of the material. Comprehensive characterization through X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and compression testing validated the material’s structural integrity. In vitro cytotoxicity assessments using osteoblast cells demonstrated exceptional cell viability exceeding 70%, confirming the material’s biocompatibility. These findings represent a significant advancement in biomaterial design, offering a promising strategy for developing next-generation joint prostheses with superior mechanical and biological adaptation to bone tissue.

The polymer transition temperature is a crucial parameter in the industry for knowing raw materials before starting the manufacturing process. The current work reports a novel low-cost prototype instrument to measure the transition temperature with reliable accuracy. The equipment was built using commercial load cells composed of strain gauges in combination with an Arduino® microcontroller. The prototype measurement quality was validated by measuring the transition temperatures of most commercial polymers. The obtained values were compared with values obtained by conventional thermal analysis known as differential scanning calorimetric and thermo-mechanical analysis (DSC and TMA), which results in identical values.

En este trabajo se expone el desarrollo de la primera versión de un software amigable de elemento finito gratuito y de código abierto llamado SEDEF ©, el cual propone y resuelve un sistema de ecuaciones diferenciales generales dependientes de dos dimensiones, una espacial y una temporal. Estas ecuaciones son propuestas de tal manera que se puedan modelar diferentes fenómenos físicos. Cabe mencionar que se da solución a la parte espacial de las ecuaciones generales mediante el método del elemento finto y a la temporal por medio del método BDF (“Backward Differentiation Formula”), lo que resulta en sistemas de ecuaciones lineales con matrices dispersas. Estos sistemas son programados y resueltos en el lenguaje C++; el álgebra de matrices dispersas se soluciona a través de la librería CSparse creada por Timothy A. Davis (2006). El software está dotado de una interfaz gráfica intuitiva y fácil de manejar programada en RAD Studio XE, la cual permite tener un módulo exclusivo para problemas de transferencia de calor, un módulo para problemas de vigas de Euler en un plano y un módulo general donde el usuario puede adaptar sus propias ecuaciones constitutivas para problemas particulares unidimensionales. La validación del software se hace a través del planteamiento de tres problemas: uno matemático, otro de transferencia de calor y un último de vigas en el plano. En estos, la solución de SEDEF se compara con soluciones analíticas y los resultados del software comercial de elementos finitos COMSOL Multiphysics. El fin que persigue SEDEF es el de dotar a las instituciones educativas de una herramienta que ayude en el entendimiento de matemáticas, física y varias ramas de ingeniería gracias a la resolución de ecuaciones y la interfaz gráfica amigable para las etapas de preprocesamiento y postprocesamiento de resultados.