Performance Evaluation of Dimethyl Silicone Oil as Archaeological Dry Leather Lubricant

This study aimed to investigate?the treatment effect?of dimethyl silicone oil on archaeological dried leather. Leather samples, without treatment and treated in a vacuum, were submitted to an accelerated aging at 100°C for 72 hours. In order to evaluate the efficacy of treatment, leather characteristics were examined before and after treatment with dimethyl silicone oil and after accelerated aging. Colorimetry, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, shrinkage temperature measurement and differential scanning calorimetry were used to examine the leather characteristics and the effectiveness and stability of treatment. The results revealed that the dimethyl silicone oil has a suitable performance in the treatment of dry leather. The results also showed that the use of dimethyl silicone oil significantly reduces the changes in leather during accelerated aging. In other words, dimethyl silicone oil treatment improves the leather stability against deterioration.

Facile One-Step Method to Fabricate a Slippery Lubricant-Infused Surface (LIS) with Self-Replenishment Properties for Anti-Icing Applications

In this work, a slippery lubricant-infused surface (LIS) was prepared by simple one-step mixing of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) resin and dimethyl silicone oil (PMX-200) directly. Silicone oil showed good compatibility with PDMS resin, and the added amount of silicone oil had no significant effect on the surface morphology of LIS. According to the results of surface observations, once the silicone oil film anchored on the LIS was removed, the silicone oil inside the PDMS polymer automatically diffused to the surface and formed a new silicone oil film again in a short time. Furthermore, with the increase of silicone oil content, the oil self-replenishment speed and amount of the LIS were enhanced, which also promoted a decrease of the surface water sliding angle and the improvement of the lubrication ability of the LIS. In the icing/deicing cycle tests, the slippery LIS still maintained very low ice adhesion strength after 24 cycles, showing excellent anti-icing performance.

Self-Lubricanting Slippery Surface with Wettability Gradients for Anti-Sticking of Electrosurgical Scalpel

Soft tissue sticking on electrosurgical scalpels in minimally invasive surgery can increase the difficulty of operation and easily lead to medical malpractice. It is significant to develop new methods for anti-sticking of soft tissue on electrosurgical scalpels. Based on the characteristics of biomimetic ultra-slippery surface, a self-lubricating slippery surface with wettability gradients on electrosurgical scalpel was designed and fabricated. Non-uniformly distributed cylindrical micro pillars, which constitute the wettability gradients, were prepared by an electrolytic etching process and the theoretic of the spontaneous liquid spreading process was analyzed. The silicophilic property of wettability gradients surface was modified by octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) self-assembling coat with biocompatible liquid lubricant dimethyl silicone oil. The contact angle of gradient’s surface at different temperatures was measured. The transportation behaviors of both water and dimethyl silicone oil on the wettability gradient’s surface were investigated; the results illustrate that the wettability gradient’s slippery surface can successfully self-lubricate from regions with low pillar density to regions with high pillar density, ascribed to the unbalanced Young’s force. The anti-sticking capability of the electrosurgical scalpel with self-lubricating slippery surface was tested. Both the adhesion force and adhesion mass under different cycles were calculated. The results suggest that the as-prepared slippery surface has excellent anti-sticking ability associated with better durability.