Cheng Yan

By Mingchao Wang, Cheng Yan and Lin Ma

Part of the book: Composites and Their Properties

By Kimal Chandula Wasalathilake, Godwin Ayoko and Cheng Yan

Porous graphene materials possess a unique structure with interconnected networks, high surface area, and high pore volume. Because of the combination of its remarkable architecture and intrinsic properties, such as high mechanical strength, excellent electrical conductivity, and good thermal stability, porous graphene has attracted tremendous attention in many fields, such as nanocomposites, lithium batteries, supercapacitors, and dye-sensitized solar cells. This chapter reviews synthesis methods, properties, and several key applications of porous graphene materials.

Part of the book: Recent Advances in Graphene Research

By Xiaofei Zhu, Guangping Zhang and Cheng Yan

Grain boundaries play an important role in dictating the mechanical and physical properties of nanocrystalline (NC) materials because of the increased volume fraction of intercrystalline components as the grain size decreases. In general, grain boundaries have a high energy level and there exists a thermodynamic driving force to reduce the overall area of grain boundaries through grain coarsening, making NC material systems intrinsically unstable. Recent investigations also indicate that mechanical deformation can promote grain growth in NC material even at the cryogenic temperatures. In this chapter, first, the current investigation on the grain boundary structures of NC metallic materials is briefly reviewed and then the state-of-the-art of experimental results on the microstructural stability during deformation processes is discussed. Finally, several key issues for improving the microstructure stability of NC metallic materials and possible future work are discussed.

Part of the book: Study of Grain Boundary Character

By Sakkadech Limmahakhun and Cheng Yan

Bone scaffolds with graded porosities or graded cellular bone scaffolds are new innovations of bone replacements and biomedical bone implants, especially in cases of long-bone defects, multitissue regenerations, and functional-controlled bone prostheses. The concepts of graded cellular bone scaffolds are based on the complexity of bone characteristics (graded hierarchical structures and heterogeneity), which aims to closer replicate the multifunctions of bone tissues. The designs of graded cellular bone scaffolds are highly fascinating with the relative anatomical, biological, and mechanical similarity to the replaced bones. While it is difficult for the graded designs to replicate the actual bone models, additive manufacturing (AM) techniques with computer-aided designs successfully create well-controlled models with comparable bone properties. Potential advantages of graded cellular bone scaffolds are enormous. Graded pores can direct types of cell regenerations for multitissue regenerations. Furthermore, graded pores promote a greater load-sharing to adjacent bone tissues than conventional scaffolds do, while both mechanical properties are similar. To summarize, bone implants with graded cellular structures can be fabricated using AM techniques, and their mechanical and biological performances can be tailored by modifying the internal architectures.

Part of the book: Materials, Technologies and Clinical Applications

By Jingyu Liu and Cheng Yan

Three-dimensional (3D) printing has demonstrated its great potential in producing functional scaffolds for biomedical applications. To facilitate tissue regeneration, scaffolds need to be designed to provide a suitable environment for cell growth, which generally depends on the selection of materials and geometrical features such as internal structures and pore size distribution. The mechanical property match with the original tissue to be repaired is also critical. In this chapter, the specific request of materials and structure for tissue engineering is briefly reviewed, and then an overview of the recent research in 3D printing technologies for tissue engineering will be provided, together with a discussion of possible future directions in this area.

Part of the book: 3D Printing