Materials science

Living organisms synthesize and assemble complex bioinorganic composites with enhanced structure and properties to fulfill needs such as structural support and enhanced mechanical function. With the advent of advanced materials characterization techniques, these biomineral systems can be explored with high resolution to glean information on their composition, ultrastructure, assembly, and biomechanics. In this work, the endoskeletal features of two marine organisms are explored.
Acantharia are geographically widespread marine planktonic single-celled organisms. Their star-shaped SrSO4 endoskeleton consists of spicules emanating from a central junction, arranged to satisfy crystallochemical and spatial requirements of their orthorhombic crystal lattice. In this work, synchrotron X-ray nanotomography and deep-learning guided image segmentation methods were used to characterize the endoskeleton of 5 types of Acantharia and to extrapolate their growth mechanism. The results highlight the diverse morphology of the spicules and spicular junctions that Acantharia achieve whilst maintaining overall spatial arrangement. Fine structural features, such as interspicular interstices thought to play a role in the robustness of the overall endoskeleton, were resolved.

Calcium carbonate precipitation and formation of clog particles inside the leachate
collection pipe can cause catastrophic failures in landfill operation. This study focuses on
quantifying the effectiveness of electronic scale control to reduce the clog formation within
the pipe network. A field scale model (40ft × 20ft) was constructed, featuring side-by-side
flow of electronically treated and untreated composite leachate. Data obtained in the first
phase of this study indicate that electronic scale control system does not have any
statistically significant effect on water quality parameters. The second phase of this study
identified calcite (CaCO3) to be the predominant phase present in the precipitates using
XRD/XRF diffraction pattern analyzed through a search match calculation program
(MATCH! Version 3.2.0) which concur with the previous studies. Furthermore, Rietveld
refinement using FullProf Suite confirms that there were no differences between the treated
and untreated precipitate based on the phases identified in the respective samples.