Innovative Research Enhances Anaemia Diagnosis and Forensic Applications
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New Delhi, Dec 12 (NationPress) Researchers at the Raman Research Institute (RRI), an autonomous body under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), have successfully predicted the precise timing of the first crack's emergence in both aged clay and blood. This discovery holds significant potential for enhancing the diagnosis of conditions like anaemia.
Furthermore, this research could prove beneficial in the field of forensics and contribute to the development of higher quality paints used in coatings.
Investigators specializing in material science at RRI established a correlation between the timing of the first crack’s appearance, fracture energy—a combination of plastic dissipation and stored surface energy—and the elasticity of the drying clay sample, enabling predictions about the initial crack.
Using the theory of linear poroelasticity, they estimated the stress on the surface of the drying sample at the moment the crack initiates.
Linear poroelasticity describes the flow of porous media and the diffusion of moisture (or any mobile species) through the pores of a saturated elastic gel.
The research team aligned the stress measurements with Griffith’s criterion, which posits that a crack will propagate when the energy released during its growth is equal to or exceeds the energy needed to create a new crack surface.
The findings, published in the journal Physics of Fluids, revealed that the established correlation was verified through a series of experiments. They noted that the same scaling relationship applied to other colloidal materials, including silica gels.
Professor Ranjini Bandyopadhyay, head of the RheoDLS lab and faculty member at the Soft Condensed Matter group at RRI, stated, “This correlation can be beneficial in optimizing material design during product development. We can leverage this insight to suggest modifications in material composition during the manufacturing of industry-grade paints and coatings, enhancing their crack resistance and overall product quality.”
In their study, the team utilized Laponite—a synthetic clay composed of disk-shaped particles measuring 25-30 nanometres (nm) in diameter and one nm in thickness.
The researchers prepared several Laponite samples with varying elasticities, which were subsequently dried at temperatures between 35 and 50 degrees Celsius in a petri dish.
Drying was completed within 18-24 hours, during which the evaporation rate and elasticity were assessed for each sample. As water evaporated from the Laponite samples, the particles rearranged, leading to stress formation on the material's surface.
Increased sample elasticity denotes an enhanced capacity for deformation in response to these stresses.
The study also observed that cracks initially formed at the outer edges of the petri dish, eventually advancing inward. Over time, extensive networks of cracks emerged as the sample aged.
