Natalia Mihăilescu

By Laura Floroian, Andrei Popescu, Natalia Serban and Ion Mihailescu

Part of the book: Metal, Ceramic and Polymeric Composites for Various Uses

By Mihai Oane, Natalia Serban and Ion N. Mihailescu

Part of the book: Heat Analysis and Thermodynamic Effects

By Emanuel Axente, Felix Sima, Carmen Ristoscu, Natalia Mihailescu and Ion N. Mihailescu

This chapter provides an overview of recent advances in the field of laser-based synthesis of biopolymer thin films for biomedical applications. The introduction addresses the importance of biopolymer thin films with respect to several applications like tissue engineering, cell instructive environments, and drug delivery systems. The next section is devoted to applications of the fabrication of organic and hybrid organic–inorganic coatings. Matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation (MAPLE) and Combinatorial-MAPLE are introduced and compared with other conventional methods of thin films assembling on solid substrates. Advantages and limitations of the methods are pointed out by focusing on the delicate transfer of bio-macromolecules, preservation of properties and on the prospect of combinatorial libraries’ synthesis in a single-step process. The following section provides a brief description of fundamental processes involved in the molecular transfer of delicate materials by MAPLE. Then, the chapter focuses on the laser synthesis of two polysaccharide thin films, namely Dextran doped with iron oxide nanoparticles and Levan, followed by an overview on the MAPLE synthesis of other biopolymers. The chapter ends with summary and perspectives of this fast-expanding research field, and a rich bibliographic database.

Part of the book: Recent Advances in Biopolymers

By Cristian N. Mihăilescu, Mihai Oane, Natalia Mihăilescu, Carmen Ristoscu, Muhammad Arif Mahmood and Ion N. Mihăilescu

This chapter deals with the validity/limits of the integral transform technique on finite domains. The integral transform technique based upon eigenvalues and eigenfunctions can serve as an appropriate tool for solving the Fourier heat equation, in the case of both laser and electron beam processing. The crux of the method consists in the fact that the solutions by mentioned technique demonstrate strong convergence after the 10 eigenvalues iterations, only. Nevertheless, the method meets with difficulties to extend to the case of non-Fourier equations. A solution is however possible, but it is bulky with a weak convergence and requires the use of extra-boundary conditions. To surpass this difficulty, a new mix approach is proposed with this chapter resorting to experimental data, in order to support a more appropriate solution. The proposed method opens in our opinion a beneficial prospective for either laser or electron beam processing.

Part of the book: Matrix Theory