Denna rapport omfattar utveckling av en rigg för att testa slitage av däck. Detta sker genom omkonstruktion av existerande pinne-på-skivatribometer rigg som man finner hos Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan. Pinne-på-skivatribometer även känd som tribometer, används för att undersöka hur olika material interagerar med varandra genom glidning, rullning eller kombination av dessa två. Mikropartiklarna som skapas vid slitage av däck och de effekter det har på sin omgivning är förfarande i bred utsträckning okända. Partiklarna från däckslitage uppskattas bidra till minst hälften av de mikroplaster som hamnar i vår omgivning. För att utöka kunskaperna om detta så testar man hur däck slits under olika driftförhållanden. Att testa i full skala med riktiga fordon på testbana är dyrt och ger inte samma kontroll över parametrar som i en testrigg som befinner sig i en kontrollerad miljö. En konstruktion som uppfyller uppdragsgivarens krav och önskemål har skapats i form av en CAD modell. Konstruktionen är en modifikation av pinne-på-skivatribometer testriggen och använder sig i stor utsträckning av komponenter från radiostyrda bilar samt andra vanliga standardkomponenter. Ett viktigt krav som uppfylldes var att kunna ändra vinkel på däcket, så att man också kan testa kantkontakten. / This report covers the development of a rig for testing tire wear. This is done by redesigning the existing pin-on-disc tribometer rig that can be found at the Royal Institute of Technology. Pin-on-disc tribometer also known as a tribometer, is used to investigate how different materials interact with each other through sliding, rolling, or a combination of the two. The microparticles that are created during tire wear and the effects they have on their surroundings are largely unknown. The particles from tire wear are estimated to contribute to at least half of the microplastics that end up in our environment. To expand knowledge about this, they test how tires wear under different operating conditions. Full-scale testing with real vehicles on a test track is expensive and does not provide the same control over parameters as in a test rig that is in a controlled environment. A construction that meets the client's requirements and wishes has been created in the form of a CAD model. The design is a modification of the pin-on-disc tribometer test rig and makes extensive use of components from radio-controlled cars as well as other common standard components. An important requirement that was met was being able to change the angle of the tire so that you can also test the edge contact.

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The self-assembly of isotropic and anisotropic colloidal particles into higher-ordered structures has been of great interest recently due to the promise of creating metamaterials with novel macroscopic properties. The physicochemical properties of these metamaterials can be tailored to achieve composites with tunable functionalities. The formation of these metamaterials can be used as a pathway to emulating advanced biological systems. In particular, synthetically mimicking the surface of a moth’s eye, which consists of arrays of ellipsoidal protuberances, can be used as a strategy for fabricating antireflective coatings. To enable this technology, it is necessary to design a synthesis scheme that produces micron-sized composite particles with tunable refractive index. In the future, the resulting composite microparticles can then undergo geometric and spatial modifications to form self-assemblies that have unique macroscopic material properties. This research work delineates a strategy of developing microparticles with a hybrid configuration that constitutes an inorganic and an organic part. The inorganic part comprises ~30 nm diameter titania (TiO2) nanoparticles, which are embedded within an organic polymer particle comprised of diethyl methylene malonate polymer [p(DEMM)]. Anionic polymerization is modified to controllably incorporate TiO2 nanoparticles into the polymer matrix. A design of experiments was identified and carried out to identify the major process variables that influence the final particle size. In particular, since DEMM polymerization may be initiated entirely by the presence of hydroxyl anions, pH was found to control the final overall particle diameter between 300 nm and 1 micrometer. The overall inorganic particle loading can be readily modified and is confirmed by thermogravimetric analysis, allowing for the desired macroscopic refractive index to be controlled. Light scattering, scanning electron microscopy and zeta potential analysis reveals that the colloidal stability of the hybrid microparticles is dependent on the ligand coating the inorganic constituent. In addition, this synthetic scheme is applied to different inorganic constituents that have interesting functionalities, such as fluorescent CdTe quantum dots, in order to show the methods versatility method to produce composite particles for a wide spectrum of applications. These initial investigations provide a the synthetic groundwork to evaluating the coating properties of the microparticles and their self-assembly into novel materials in the future.

Haemostasis is maintained by a dynamic balance between pro- and anti-thrombotic mediators. Its dysregulation can lead to bleeding or thrombosis, and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Thus, elucidation of the mechanisms involved in maintaining or disrupting this balance have important implications in health and disease. Investigative tools enable characterization of the haemostatic system, but are often associated with limitations. For instance, haemostasis in animal models is often investigated by assessing bleeding responses in one particular vessel or tissue without a complete understanding of how the results translate to the regulation of haemostasis in other vascular beds. As a second example, microparticles (MPs) are a heterogeneous population of submicron-sized vesicles that may be important in thrombosis. With the exception of a few subtypes, MPs cannot be reliably characterized using widely accessible techniques. Finally, the thrombin generation assay (TGA), which measures ex vivo activation and inhibition of thrombin, is a promising tool for clinical assessment of thrombosis and haemostasis. However, characterization of thrombin generation in the general population, and the development of point of care testing are in their infancies. As a result, the TGA remains largely a research tool. The works described in this thesis specifically seek to address these three limitations in thrombosis and haemostasis research. The first isolated murine arterial bleeding model is presented and its characterization with respect to bleeding in other vascular tissues is described. In addition, a solid-phase capture assay for evaluating procoagulant, P-selectin-binding MPs, which are postulated to be mediators of thrombosis, was developed in order to determine whether these MPs associate with risk of recurrent venous thromboembolism. Lastly, a 25 x 20 mm chip that performs four individual thrombin generation assays using ~10 µl of capillary blood was developed as a proof of concept for point of care thrombin generation testing. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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Weapons of mass destruction (WMD), most commonly chemical, biological, radioactive, and, nuclear (CBRN) weapons, are one of the greatest threats from an enemy. Since the end of the Second World War, predominantly chemical and biological weapons have been reported usage. Chemical and biological weapons are lethal in tiny amounts, making them fearsome and tricky to counter. Hence, studying and developing counteracting methods with real CBR agents is very resource-intensive, dangerous, and massively restricted. Thus, there is a need for alternative methods that can simulate CBR agents. In recent years, there has been growing interest in using fluorescence-based methods to simulate CBRN contamination. Fluorescence is a photonic phenomenon where a molecule emits light after light absorption, usually in the ultraviolet region (UV). This makes fluorescent-marked substances visible under UV light and hence a more suitable simulation agent for studying decontamination processes than actual CBR agents. The goal of this thesis is to develop a measurement module and analysis methodology, for detecting and analyzing microparticles on a surface using fluorescence and imaging. This aims to study how contamination attaches to surfaces and evaluate the effectiveness of decontamination processes. By constructing a measurement setup utilizing a camera for detection, an LED excitation source, and an emission filter, I successfully used imaging to detect fluorescent microparticles on surfaces. Then by implementing software, I could collect and analyze the images, giving an estimate of the number of particles present in the image. This was achieved by taking the absolute value of the difference between a nonfluorescent image and a fluorescent image, resulting in an image that shows only the fluorescent particles, which could then be counted. For increased portability, a small module was constructed. Contaminated plates with different surface properties were created and decontaminated with an airflow simulating the movement of a vehicle to evaluate the developed methodology. The result showed an 81.9% reduction in contamination for a clean surface, whereas a greasy surface only saw a 17.2% reduction. This indicates the importance of maintaining clean surfaces. Additionally, the results showed that this method could even distinguish single microparticles accurately resulting in 2 to 3 particles in standard deviation in general. Further testing showed that the developed methodology could distinguish two different types of fluorescent particles on the same surface by switching emission filters. It could even detect liquefied agents, though it failed to give quantitative data on the amount of contamination. Thus, this methodology is extremely fast, down to seconds, compared to other methods requiring tedious manual image manipulation or lab analysis taking hours or even days. Further development in analyzing droplets could be a new way of studying CBRN contamination.