Teresa Liberto

NanoHeal ESR/PhD Student

Background and interest

I’m a Chemical Engineer and I did both my bachelor and master degree at the School of Engineering at the University of Pisa.
During these years I had the opportunity to be actively part of several research projects in collaboration with the Bioengineering and Robotics research center E.Piaggio and the CNR of Pisa, developing and improving laboratory and practice skills. In particular, I focused my research on the mechanical characterization of (bio)materials, developing bio-medical applications.
I performed my master thesis at the City College of New York studying the blood flow and the effects of the forskolin (therapeutic plant) treatment on the arterial endothelial thickness and its relevance to prevent atherosclerosis.
During my studies I worked with many laboratory facilities such as TEM, SEM, compression testing machine, microfabrication facilities, optics and fiber-optic measurement and testing.
Currently I’m doing my PhD at the University Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (Institut Lumière Matière) focusing on the study of the mechanics and rheology of calcite paste. The bottom line of my PhD project is to manipulate a system that mimics the effects of real cement. The final objective of my research is to improve the elasticity by inserting organic molecules. Tuning the elasticity of the cement paste and improving its final properties will lead to more stable and safer buildings as well as an enhanced conservation of old architecture.

 

Description of research in NanoHeal: ESR 13

Project title: Controlling the viscous and elastic properties of particle suspensions through surface modifications

Objective: Model the effect of surface modifications on suspension properties.

Description: ESR13 will study the viscoelastic behavior of CaCO3 suspensions in solutions of different salinity, to simulate systems ranging from the slip of ceramic bodies, the fillers in coating systems and the cement pastes. Its surface will be modified with macromolecules in order to control the extent and range of the inter-particle forces. Such macromolecules will be double-hydrophilic grafted polymers, with different anionic groups from carboxylic to sulfonic to phosphonic, and with different architecture of the backbone portion. The grafted moieties will be of different chemical nature, and different HLB, and will cover a range of steric sizes to control the thickness of the adlayer. The viscoelastic properties will be measured through rheometric measurements both in flow and in small and large amplitude oscillation shear. These determinations will enable to characterize the viscous and elastic properties of the material, and to relate the observed trends with the structure of the paste and with the inter-particle forces. Microscopy and light scattering experiments will complement these determinations in order to complete the study of the system.

Expected results: Viscosity and elastic property data for a wide range of additives.

Planned secondment(s):  KU January 2017, DYN August 2017

Homepage: http://www.univ-lyon1.fr/home-759942.kjsp 

 

Selected publications

Riboflavin and collagen: New crosslinking methods to tailor the stiffness of hydrogels (A.Tirella, T.Liberto, A.Ahluwalia May 2012)

Elasticity and yielding of a calcite paste: scaling laws in a dense colloidal suspension  Liberto, T., Le Merrer, M., Barentin, C., Bellotto, M., & Colombani, J. (2017). Soft Matter, 13 (10), 2014-2023; Tirella, A., Liberto, T., & Ahluwalia, A. (2012). Riboflavin and collagen: New crosslinking methods to tailor the stiffness of hydrogels. Materials Letters, 74, 58-61.

Conferences:

AERC (Annual European Rheology Conference), Sorrento April 2018, oral presentation; Goldschmidt 2017, Paris, France, August 2017, poster session; Rheology of gel networks CECAM-FR-RA, Lyon, France, June 2017, oral presentation; AERC (Annual European Rheology Conference), Copenhagen, April 2017, oral presentation; GDR MePhy, Marseille, France, November 2016, oral presentation;​

National Group of Bioengineering Conference, GNB 2012, Rome, Italy, June 2012, poster session.

Teaching:

2016-2018: Teaching material science at Institut Universitaire de Technologie (IUT) Lyon 1, BSc level (practical work)

Published Jan. 6, 2016 12:57 PM - Last modified May 9, 2018 3:09 PM