Abstract Introduction Ozonization is an alternative sterilization process for heat-sensitive medical devices. However, the side effects of this process on packaging materials should be verified. Methods Four types of commercial disposable packaging for medical devices were evaluated after undergoing ozone sterilization: crepe paper sheet, non-woven fabric sheet (SMS), medical grade paper-plastic pouch and Tyvec©-plastic pouch. For each material, the gas penetration through the microbiological barrier was measured. Other packaging properties, such as chemical composition, color, tactile and mechanical resistance, were also evaluated after sterilization, by using characterization techniques, namely microbiological indicators, infrared spectroscopy, tensile test and optical microscopy. Results All commercial disposable packaging showed good ozone penetration. Crepe paper and SMS were chemically and mechanically modified by ozone, while Tyvec© only suffered mechanical modification. Paper-plastic pouch was the packaging material which just experienced an acceptable reduction in tensile resistance, showing no variations on chemical or visual properties. Conclusion The results suggest that medical grade paper-plastic pouch is the most appropriate disposable medical device packaging to be sterilized by ozone when compared to other materials.

The thermal decomposition of silicon carbide (SiC), with the subsequent formation of graphene, can be achieved by heating treatment. Several heating processes have been applied for this purpose by using SiC, either in form of powder particles or monocrystalline substrate. In this work, instead of using an expensive commercially available SiC wafer, a polycrystalline SiC substrate was obtained, based on powder metallurgy process, in order to explore the synthesis of graphene layers on its surface by using a CO2 laser beam as heating source. Different levels of energy density (fluence) were applied and Raman spectroscopy analyses demonstrated that graphene layers were formed on the polycrystalline SiC surface. The ratio of the integrated intensity of the D and G bands, and the crystallite size were calculated. The FWHM of the 2D band peaks are in excellent agreement with the range of values found in the literature. The samples irradiated with energy density of 138.4 J/cm2 presented lower concentration of defects and higher crystallite size, while the lowest FWHM was obtained for energy density of 188 J/cm2. The process occurred at room conditions and no gas flow was used. The results reveal a simple and cost-effective alternative for synthesis of graphene-based structures on SiC.

Introduction:Candida species are responsible for about 80% of hospital fungal infections. Non-thermal plasmas operated at atmospheric pressure are increasingly used as an alternative to existing antimicrobial strategy. This work investigates the action of post-discharge region of a non-thermal atmospheric plasma jet, generated by a gliding arc reactor, on biofilms of standard strain of Candida albicans grown on polyurethane substrate. Methods Samples were divided into three groups: (i) non-treated; (ii) treated with argon plasma, and (iii) treated with argon plus air plasma. Subsequently to plasma treatment, counting of colony-forming units (CFU/ml) and cell viability tests were performed. In addition, the surface morphology of the samples was evaluated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical profilometry (OP). Results Reduction in CFU/ml of 85% and 88.1% were observed in groups ii and iii, respectively. Cell viability after treatment also showed reduction of 33% in group ii and 8% in group iii, in comparison with group i (100%). The SEM images allow observation of the effect of plasma chemistry on biofilm structure, and OP images showed a reduction of its surface roughness, which suggests a possible loss of biofilm mass. Conclusion The treatment in post-discharge region and the chemistries of plasma jet tested in this work were effective in controlling Candida albicans biofilm contamination. Finally, it was evidenced that argon plus air plasma was the most efficient to reduce cell viability.

In this work thin films of silicon carbide (SiC) were deposited on silicon wafers by High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HiPIMS) technique varying the average power of the discharge on a stoichiometric SiC target. X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and profilometry were used to analyze the films. It was observed that high values of the average electric power favors the formation of C-C bonds, while low values of the power promote the formation of Si-C bonds. At high power, we have also observed higher deposition rates, but the samples present surface imperfections, causing increase in the roughness and decrease in the film uniformity.

Abstract: Recognizing the need to consolidate the research and development (R&D) activities in microelectronics fields in a strategic manner, the Plasma Processes Laboratory of the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (LPP-ITA) has established a technology roadmap to serve as a guide for activities related to development of sensors based on silicon carbide (SiC) thin films. These sensors have also potential interest to the aerospace field due to their ability to operate in harsh environment such as high temperatures and intense radiation. In the present paper, this roadmap is described and presented in four main sections: i) introduction, ii) what we have already done in the past, iii) what we are doing in this moment, and iv) our targets up to 2015. The critical technological issues were evaluated for different categories: SiC deposition techniques, SiC processing techniques for sensors fabrication and sensors characterization. This roadmap also presents a shared vision of how R&D activities in microelectronics should develop over the next five years in our laboratory.

Abstract: A stationary experiment was performed to study the degradation of carbon-based materials by immersion in a plasma jet. In the experiment, graphite and C/C composite were chosen as the target materials, and the reactive plasma jet was generated by an air plasma torch. For macroscopic study of the material degradation, the sample's mass losses were measured as function of the exposure time under various temperatures on the sample surface. A microscopic analysis was then carried out for the study of microscopic aspects of the erosion of material surface. These experiments showed that the mass loss per unit area is approximately proportional to the exposure time and strongly depends on the temperature of the material surface. The mass erosion rate of graphite was appreciably higher than the C/C composite. The ablation rate in the carbon matrix region in C/C composite was also noticeably higher than that in the fiber region. In addition, the latter varied according to the orientation of fibers relatively to the flow direction. These tests indicated an excellent ablation resistance of the C/C composite, thus being a reliable material for rocket nozzles and heat shielding elements of the protection systems of hypersonic apparatuses from aerodynamic heating.