A new model for estimating macroscopic permittivity was proposed to predict dispersion states of filler particles in a particulate composite material. In the model, the estimation targets are random packed composite materials. The composite materials were represented as a cluster of unit cells. The unit cells were connected by a proposed layer structure model. The macroscopic permittivity was estimated by calculating a synthetic capacity of the cluster.

The proposed model was validated by comparisons between estimated and measured macroscopic permittivity of several particulate composite materials. In addition, it was identified that the proposed model could estimate the permittivity more accuracy than an existing theoretical equation’s one due to considering the effects for the dispersion states of filler particles. Furthermore, it was indicated that the proposed model could also estimate the dispersion states of filler particles by the measured permittivity. The applicability of the method was confirmed by comparisons between estimated and experimental dispersion states of filler particles.

The uptake of nanoparticles (NPs) into biological cells with rigid cell walls is poorly understood. Interestingly, the authors demonstrated that positively charged polystyrene NPs were taken into yeast cells in the physiological saline. However, the polystyrene NPs are not suitable for carrier NPs due to their low biodegradability. In this study, we evaluated the uptake of biodegradable poly(lactic-co-glycolic) acids (PLGA) NPs into the yeast cells. As a result, PLGA NPs were taken into yeast cells regardless of their surface potentials. The yeast cells were alive after the uptake of negatively charged NPs, whereas the cell viability for the positively charged NPs was low. In addition, the experiments using endocytosis inhibitors suggested that the uptake of PLGA NPs was different from the conventional endocytosis. These experimental results strongly suggested that the negatively charged PLGA NPs are suitable for the delivery of useful substances to eukaryotic cells with cell walls.

Monolayer films composed of ordered particle arrays exhibit unique optical properties, which lead to various potential applications like sensors and antireflective coatings. In this study, we investigated particle deposition processes by using a drag coating technique based on convective self-assembly. Unlike micron-sized particles, 300-nm particles formed submonolayers instead of monolayers. Hence, we modified the technique and demonstrated that reversed dragging, introduction of a film blade, and periodic change in deposition speed dramatically improved the particle deposition process to cover the entire substrate surface uniformly with a monolayer of ordered particle arrays. Furthermore, our modified drag coating process produced monolayers of particles with different sizes of 570, 120, 45, and 27 nm. Thus, our technique is simple and versatile, and is applicable to a wide particle size ranging from microns to tens of nanometers.

Computational fluid dynamics has been increasingly adopted as a promising tool to understand the essential dynamics of particulate flow. The present review gives a brief description of numerical methods to describe the boundary condition of moving solid surface at lattice Boltzmann method (LBM), including bounce-back (BB) method (and improved BB method), immersed boundary (IB) method, and smoothed profile (SP) method. It is essential to choose an appropriate numerical method according to the target system. Among these methods, the author and coworkers have used the SP method to efficiently simulate flows including a number of particles. Here, typical results obtained by the SP-LBM simulations are presented.

Preparation of boehmite-silica composite particles using heterocoagulation was studied to improve the packing ratio and flowability of the particles used as fillers and flame retardants in resins. By measuring the zeta potential of each particle, silica showed a negative charge at pH > 2, and boehmite showed a positive charge at pH < 9. Therefore, mixing of each suspension of silica and boehmite prepared at pH 4 successfully produced boehmite-silica composite particles by heterocoagulation. We used two different silica particle sizes. Using smaller silica particles, composite particles uniformly coated with silica were obtained. The composite particles showed excellent fluidity in liquid paraffin, which suggested improved packing ratio.