Fibrillar collagen in tendons and its natural development in rabbits are discussed in this paper. Achilles tendons from newborn (~7 days) to elderly (~38 months) rabbits were monitored in intact (ntendons=24) and microtome sectioned (ntendons=11) states with label-free second harmonic generation microscopy. After sectioning, the collagen fiber pattern was irregular for the younger animals and remained oriented parallel to the load axis of the tendon for the older animals. In contrast, the collagen fiber pattern in the intact samples followed the load axis for all the age groups. However, there was a significant difference in the tendon crimp pattern appearance between the age groups. The crimp amplitude (A) and wavelength (Λ) started at very low values (A=2.0±0.6 µm, Λ=19±4 µm) for the newborn animals. Both parameters increased for the sexually mature animals (>5 months old). When the animals were fully mature the amplitude decreased but the wavelength kept increasing. The results revealed that the microtome sectioning artifacts depend on the age of animals and that the collagen crimp pattern reflects the physical growth and development.

Nonwoven materials are found in a gamut of critical applications. This is partly due to the fact that these structures can be produced at high speed and engineered to deliver unique functionality at low cost. The behavior of these materials is highly dependent on alignment of fibers within the structure. The ability to characterize and also to control the structure is important, but very challenging due to the complex nature of the structures. Thus, to date, focus has been placed mainly on two-dimensional analysis techniques for describing the behavior of nonwovens. This article demonstrates the utility of three-dimensional (3D) digital volumetric imaging technique for visualizing and characterizing a complex 3D class of nonwoven structures produced by hydroentanglement.

Because of the importance of lightweight constructions, nowadays other materials are moreand more substituting components which had previously been made of metals. The usage ofshort fiber-reinforced plastics instead of metals seems self-evident in many cases becauseof their high specific strength and the favorable manufacturing processes. For fatiguelife prediction a simulation process was established, which takes into account the fiberorientation and distribution as a result of an injection molding simulation. Hypothesesfor fatigue life prediction of orthotropic materials have been derived from a lot of testson specimens, implemented in the standard fatigue software tool FEMFAT and verified so farwith component tests.