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The aim of the study was to determine the effectiveness of the biodegradable cutting fluid used instead of classical, usually toxic. This paper presents the results of tribological studies of a-C:H coatings formed on HS6-5-2C steel by plasma-assisted chemical vapour deposition. The coating structures were examined using a JSM-7100F SEM. The coating microhardness was measured with a Matsuzawa tester. The surface texture analysis was performed before and after the tribological tests with a Talysurf CCI Lite optical profiler. The tribological properties were investigated using a T-01 M tester and a T-17 tester. The tests were carried out under dry friction conditions and lubricated friction conditions using a lubricant with zinc aspartate. The test results show that the layer formed at the interface prevented the moving surfaces. The investigations discussed in this paper have contributed to the development of non-toxic and environmentally-friendly manufacturing because of the use of biodegradable cutting fluid and thin, hard coatings.

A conventional powder metallurgy method (PM) was used to produce Al-SiC and Al4Cu alloy matrix composites with 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 wt% of SiC particles. Two different sizes of the reinforcing phase particles were applied to determine their effect on composite microstructure. The sintering process was carried out at 600°C under nitrogen atmosphere, and its consequence was the appearance of aluminium nitrides in composite microstructure acting as an additional strengthening phase. The composites were next re-pressed and re-sintered (2p2s) under the same conditions. The main aim of this article was to examine the microstructure of the SiC reinforced Al and Al4Cu alloy matrix composites. To achieve this goal and characterize the sintered materials, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques were used.

The results of tribological tests and microstructure examinations of tin babbit with 1.5 % Pb addition after heat treatment are presented in this paper. The specimens were annealed at 150°C for 2, 8, 24 and 48 hours and then tested for wear resistance and Brinell hardness. The wear tests were carried out using a block-on-ring tester operating under dry and wet conditions. The samples were also investigated by light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM).

The results from the tests on tribological a-C:H diamond coatings deposited by PACVD (plasma assisted chemical vapour deposition) on 100Cr6 steel components are presented in this work. Mechanical properties - nanohardness and Young’s modulus - were assessed by instrumented indentation. Tribological tests were conducted with T-01M tester in a ball-on-disc test under dry and boundary friction conditions. Selected ionic liquids - synthetic new generation lubricants - were used for lubrication. The results from the experiments indicate that diamond-like coatings improved tribological characteristics of the friction pairs tested, with the ionic liquids intensifying this effect.

The article presents a properly planned and designed tests of the abrasive wear resistance 2024 aluminum alloy strips under friction conditions involving various lubricants. Test were focused on the selection of the best lubricant for use in industrial environment, especially for sheet metal forming. Three lubricants of the Orlen Oil Company and one used in the sheet metal forming industry, were selected for tests. Tests without the use of lubricant were performed for a comparison. The tester T-05 was used for testing resistance to wear. As the counter samples were used tool steel - NC6 and steel for hot working - WCL, which are typical materials used for tools for pressing. The results are presented in the form of the force friction, abrasion depth, weight loss and coefficient of friction depending on the lubricant used and the type of counter samples. The results allowed for predicting set lubricant-material for tools which can be applied to sheet metal made of aluminum alloy 2024.

Attempts have been made to describe the influence of the production process parameters and additions of iron powders on properties of copper infiltrated HSS based composites. The powder compositions used to produce skeletons for further infiltration were: M3/2, M3/2+20% Fe and M3/2+50% Fe. The powders were cold pressed at 800 MPa. The infiltration process was carried out in vacuum. Both green compacts and preforms sintered for 60 minutes at 1150°C in vacuum were contact infiltrated with copper to yield final densities exceeding 97% of the theoretical value.

Bacterial sugar symporters in the Major Facilitator Superfamily (MFS) use the H+ (and in a few cases Na+) electrochemical gradients to achieve active transport of sugar into the cell. Because a number of structures of MFS sugar symporters have been solved recently, molecular insight into the transport mechanism is possible from detailed functional analysis. We present here a comparative electrophysiological study of the lactose permease (LacY), the fucose permease (FucP) and the xylose permease (XylE), which reveals common mechanistic principles and differences. In all three symporters energetically downhill electrogenic sugar/H+ symport is observed. Comparison of the pH dependence of symport at symmetrical pH exhibits broad bell-shaped pH profiles extending over 3 to 6 pH units and a decrease at extremely alkaline pH ≥ 9.4 and at acidic to neutral pH = 4.6-7.5. The pH dependence can be described by an acidic to neutral apparent pK (pKapp) and an alkaline pKapp. Experimental evidence suggests that the alkaline pKapp is due to H+ depletion at the protonation site, while the acidic pKapp is due to inhibition of deprotonation. Since previous studies suggest that a single carboxyl group in LacY (Glu325) may be the only side chain directly involved in H+ translocation and a carboxyl side chain with similar properties has been identified in FucP (Asp46) and XylE (Asp27), the present results imply that the pK of this residue is switched during H+/sugar symport in all three symporters.

The lactose permease (LacY) of Escherichia coli, a paradigm for the major facilitator superfamily, catalyzes the coupled stoichiometric translocation of a galactopyranoside and an H(+) across the cytoplasmic membrane. To catalyze transport, LacY undergoes large conformational changes that allow alternating access of sugar- and H(+)-binding sites to either side of the membrane. Despite strong evidence for an alternating access mechanism, it remains unclear how H(+)- and sugar-binding trigger the cascade of interactions leading to alternating conformational states. Here we used dynamic single-molecule force spectroscopy to investigate how substrate binding induces this phenomenon. Galactoside binding strongly modifies kinetic, energetic, and mechanical properties of the N-terminal 6-helix bundle of LacY, whereas the C-terminal 6-helix bundle remains largely unaffected. Within the N-terminal 6-helix bundle, the properties of helix V, which contains residues critical for sugar binding, change most radically. Particularly, secondary structures forming the N-terminal domain exhibit mechanically brittle properties in the unbound state, but highly flexible conformations in the substrate-bound state with significantly increased lifetimes and energetic stability. Thus, sugar binding tunes the properties of the N-terminal domain to initiate galactoside/H(+) symport. In contrast to wild-type LacY, the properties of the conformationally restricted mutant Cys154→Gly do not change upon sugar binding. It is also observed that the single mutation of Cys154→Gly alters intramolecular interactions so that individual transmembrane helices manifest different properties. The results support a working model of LacY in which substrate binding induces alternating conformational states and provides insight into their specific kinetic, energetic, and mechanical properties.

The Major Facilitator Superfamily (MFS) is a diverse group of secondary transporters with over 10,000 members, found in all kingdoms of life, including Homo sapiens. One objective of determining crystallographic models of the bacterial representatives is identification and physical localization of residues important for catalysis in transporters with medical relevance. The recently solved crystallographic models of the D-xylose permease XylE from Escherichia coli and GlcP from Staphylococcus epidermidus, homologs of the human D-glucose transporters, the GLUTs (SLC2), provide information about the structure of these transporters. The goal of this work is to examine general concepts derived from the bacterial XylE, GlcP, and other MFS transporters for their relevance to the GLUTs by comparing conservation of functionally critical residues. An energy landscape for symport and uniport is presented. Furthermore, the substrate selectivity of XylE is compared with GLUT1 and GLUT5, as well as a XylE mutant that transports D-glucose.

One fundamentally important problem for understanding the mechanism of coupling between substrate and H(+) translocation with secondary active transport proteins is the identification and physical localization of residues involved in substrate and H(+) binding. This information is exceptionally difficult to obtain with the Major Facilitator Superfamily (MFS) because of the broad sequence diversity of the members. The MFS is the largest and most diverse group of transporters, many of which are clinically important, and includes members from all kingdoms of life. A wide range of substrates is transported, in many instances against a concentration gradient by transduction of the energy stored in an H(+) electrochemical gradient using symport mechanisms, which are discussed herein. Crystallographic structures of MFS members indicate that a deep central hydrophilic cavity surrounded by 12 mostly irregular transmembrane helices represents a common structural feature. An inverted triple-helix structural symmetry motif within the N- and C-terminal six-helix bundles suggests that the proteins may have arisen by intragenic multiplication. In the work presented here, the triple-helix motifs are aligned in combinatorial fashion so as to detect functionally homologous positions with known atomic structures of MFS members. Substrate and H(+)-binding sites in symporters that transport substrates, ranging from simple ions like phosphate to more complex peptides or disaccharides, are found to be in similar locations. It also appears likely that there is a homologous ordered kinetic mechanism for the H(+)-coupled MFS symporters.

The paper presents the method of forming TiO2 coatings on 100Cr6 steel using the ALD method and assessing the properties of the obtained coatings. The coatings were assessed in terms of surface morphology, chemical composition, contact angle and tribological properties. The performed tribological tests show that TiO2 coatings are characterized by lower resistance to motion. During measuring the geometric structure of surfaces on samples with TiO2 coating, smaller wear traces were recorded than for 100Cr6 steel. The obtained values of the contact angles prove that the 100Cr6 steel coated with TiO2 is more hydrophobic than the uncoated 100Cr6 steel. TiO2 coatings can be used in low-loaded tribological systems and as barrier coatings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the geometric structure of the surface, hardness and the results of tribological tests for TiO2 layers obtained by the ALD technique. The geometrical structure of the surface before and after the tribological tests was assessed using a confocal microscope with interferometry mode. An instrumental indentation was used to measure nanohardness. Model tribo tests were carried out for reciprocating motion under conditions of dry friction and friction lubricated with artificial saliva and saline. The tests showed that the TiO2 samples showed lower wear and higher hardness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reconciliation of apparently contradictory experimental results obtained on the quinol:fumarate reductase, a diheme-containing respiratory membrane protein complex from Wolinella succinogenes, was previously obtained by the proposal of the so-called 'E pathway hypothesis.' According to this hypothesis, transmembrane electron transfer via the heine groups is strictly coupled to cotransfer of protons via a transiently established pathway thought to contain the side chain of residue Glu-C180 as the most prominent component. Here we demonstrate that, after replacement of Glu-C180 with Gin or lie by site-directed mutagenesis, the resulting mutants are unable to grow on fumarate, and the membrane-bound variant enzymes lack quinol oxidation activity. Upon solubilization, however, the purified enzymes display 1/10 of the specific quinol oxidation activity of the wild-type enzyme and unchanged quinol Michaelis constants, [K.sub.m]. The refined x-ray crystal structures at 2.19 [Angstrom] and 2.76 [Angstrom] resolution, respectively, rule out major structural changes to account for these experimental observations. Changes in the oxidation-reduction heme midpoint potential allow the conclusion that deprotonation of Glu-C180 in the wild-type enzyme facilitates the reoxidation of the reduced high-potential heine. Comparison of solvent isotope effects indicates that a rate-limiting proton transfer step in the wild-type enzyme is lost in the Glu-C180 [right arrow] Gin variant. The results provide experimental evidence for the validity of the E pathway hypothesis and for a crucial functional role of Glu-C180. anaerobic respiration | atomic model | bioenergetics | membrane protein | succinate:quinone oxidoreductase