Original Article

Journal of Reinforced Plastics

and Composites

Wear and mechanical properties of Nylon 0(0) 19

! The Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0731684417706107
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Lalit Guglani and TC Gupta

Abstract
Composite of Nylon 66 with different proportions of microparticle Al2O3 were made by compounding on a twin screw
extruder. The sliding wear and mechanical properties of the resulting microcomposite of 2 to 8 wt.% Nylon 66Al2O3
were investigated. The study of sliding wear under different loads, velocity and sliding distance combinations was done
using pin-on-disk equipment. The results show that wear rate reduces with addition of microparticles and lowest wear is
exhibited by 2 wt.% Al2O3Nylon 66 composite. The lowest friction coefficient is also observed for 2 wt.% Al2O3-Nylon
66 composite and the value increases with increasing load, sliding velocity and sliding distance. The mechanical properties
such as flexural strength and modulus, tensile strength and modulus, compressive and impact strength improved with the
addition of alumina and maximum values are observed for 6 wt.% composite. The heat deflection temperature of the
microcomposite increased with increasing weight % of alumina. Scanning electron microscopy images of the worn
surfaces were examined to understand the wear mechanism. The improved mechanical and tribological properties of
Nylon 66Al2O3 composite will enhance the application of plain Nylon 66.

Keywords
Microcomposite, mechanical properties, sliding wear, Nylon 66, aluminium oxide, coefficient of friction

Nylon is used for prosthetic sheaths, plastic lamin-

Introduction
Most advances of human society over the past century
have been facilitated by the use of plastics. Plastics are
versatile, cost-eective, require less energy to produce
than alternative materials like metal or glass, and can
be manufactured to have many dierent properties.
Due to these characteristics, polymers are used in
diverse health applications like disposable syringes
and intravenous bags, sterile packaging for medical
instruments as well as in joint replacements, tissue
engineering, etc.1 In the ever-changing eld of orthotics
and prosthetics, recent advancements have been
achieved with the use of new composite materials and
resins.2 Composite materials are strong and exhibit
greater resistance to corrosion-especially water and
environmental damage, but they retain their mechan-
ical properties, impact resistance and maintain superior
performance in a wide temperature range.
The new developments in carbon bre, glass bre
composite materials are increasing their applications
due to their weight to strength ratio, high stiness
and good fatigue resistance.3
ations, bushings, suction valves and nylon stockings to
cover prostheses.4 Nylon 66 is a potential thermoplastic
material, which is widely used for various engineering
applications, due to their excellent properties such as
high strength, toughness, excellent corrosion resistance,
good wear and abrasion resistance and favourable self
lubricating property.5 Nevertheless, there are certain
limitations of Nylon 66 such as higher coecient of
friction (COF) and sliding wear under dry conditions,
increased wear and friction under high load conditions,
high water absorption and so on.6 Thus, improvising
the properties of Nylon 66 is needed to increase their
application in more challenging requirement.
Mechanical Engineering Department, Malaviya National Institute of
Technology, India
Corresponding author:
Lalit Guglani, Research Associate, Mechanical Engineering Department,
Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur 302017, India.
Email: lalitguglani@rediffmail.com
2 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 0(0)
It is easier and cost eective to tailor made the exist-
ing material by modifying its properties by adding inor-
ganic llers instead of developing a new material.
Dierent types of micro and nano particles of talc,
graphite, PTFE, MoS2, TiO2, Al2O3, etc. are generally
added to various polymers including Nylon 66 to
improve the desired properties. By the addition of two
or more dierent materials to the polymer composite larger than that of monomer casting PA6 but less
is developed which is having unique properties.7
From the previous researches, it is known that the
3.04.0 wt.% Al2O3 polimide nanocomposite registered
the lowest wear volume loss under relatively high load
and it also exhibited lower friction coecient.8 Zhao
et al.9 investigated the thermal conductivity and mech-
anical properties of the epoxy resin/Al2O3 composite
and found that heat conducting property increases
with the increase in the content of Al2O3 and reaches
0.46 W/mK at 30% micron Al2O3. When the mass frac-
tion of Al2O3 is 20%, the mechanical properties of the
composite are better. In another study, it was found
that addition of relatively low percentage of Al2O3
nanoparticle to epoxy resin led to an impressive
improvement of dynamic mechanical and thermal
properties and the SEM images showed that the surface
roughness increased with the addition of nanoalu-
mina.10 Cho et al.11 found that the tensile strength of
Al2O3vinyl ester resin can be improved with decreas-
ing the particle size of ller, however composite with
3 vol.% nanoparticles resulted in a lower tensile
strength than that with microparticles due to the
likely poor dispersion of nanoparticles at higher par-
ticle loading. Bhimaraj et al.12 investigated the friction
and wear properties of PET lled with alumina nano-
particles and the results revealed that 2% addition of
ller resulted in increasing the wear resistance by nearly
2 times with a 10% decrease in average COF over the
unlled polymer. Wear resistance varies independent of
crystallinity, whereas COF is aected both by crystal-
linity and nanoparticles.
Another research concluded that 5 wt.% nanoalu-
mina incorporated C4 e-BMI-toughened epoxy nano-
composites showed the greatest improvement in wear
resistance compared to higher alumina concentration.13
Evgeni et al.14 investigated that the alumina nanopar-
ticles aect the melt velocity of the polypropylene/
nylon blends, whereas it is insignicant on either
polypropylene or nylon melts. In another study of
nano and micro Al2O3 reinforced monomer casting
nylon, it was found that the tensile strength increased
up to 52% when 3 wt.% of nano Al2O3 particles were
added and the thermal and tensile property of nano
Al2O3/MCN composite were better than that of micro
Al2O3/MCN composite when the same weight percent-
age of Al2O3 particles were used.15 The tribological
behaviour of polyphenylene sulphide (PPS) composite
made with nanoscale particle of Al2O3 was investigated
by Schwartz et al.16 and found that the lowest wear was
obtained for composite with 2 vol.% ller, whereas
COF was higher with addition of ller except with
10 vol.% alumina and the exural strength also reduced
with ller %. Another work concluded that the friction
coecient of the PA6/Al2O3 nanocomposites was
than that of microcomposite and decreased with load,
but the wear rate is lowest for 3% nano Al2O3 content
and the microcomposites also demonstrated lower wear
than pure Nylon 6.17
In the present study, Nylon 66Al2O3 microcompo-
site were investigated for sliding wear at dierent load,
sliding velocity and sliding distance combinations and
the mechanical properties in detail.
Experimental work
Materials
Zytel 101 L NC 010 grade of Nylon 66 material was
obtained from M/s DuPont India Limited and the
ller Aluminium Oxide active (neutral activity III)
was obtained from M/s Merck specialties Pvt. Ltd.,
Mumbai, India.
Procedure for composite preparation
Aluminium oxide particles were rst mixed with Nylon
66 polymer and compounded using twin screw extruder
of 40 L/D and screw rpm 40 (M/s Lab Tech Engineers
Company Ltd., Thailand, Model: TARCT) Feeding
zone to metering zone temperature prole was 237 C,
254 C, 256 C and 259 C. Also, the barrel was kept at
temperature proles of 255 C, 263 C, 266 C, 268 C,
270 C, 272 C and 274 C from hooper to die. Four
types of composite granules were prepared by adding
2%, 4%, 6% and 8% weight of Al2O3 particles of size
passing through mesh size of 40 to Nylon 66 material.
Specimen preparation and mechanical testing
Injection moulded specimens were prepared on 80 ton
machine from M/S JIT, Philippines using test specimen
mould as per ASTM D 256, D 638, D 648, D 695 and D
790 standards for conducting mechanical tests for vari-
ous properties like Izod Impact, Tensile, Flexural,
Compression and HDT. The specimens were moulded
with a temperature prole of 220 C, 268 C and 269 C.
The Universal Tensile Testing Machine Model: AG-IS
from M/s Shimadzu Ltd., Japan was used for conduct-
ing Tensile, Compression and Flexural tests at the cross
head speed of 50 mm/min for tensile and 1.3 mm/min
for compression and exural tests.
Guglani and Gupta 3

The Izod Impact test was performed on the impact

tester from M/s Tinius Olsen, UK and heat deection
temperature (HDT) test with M/s Gotech Testing
Machine Inc., Taiwan; Model HV 2000 A machine.
Sliding wear test
The pin-on-disc type wear and friction monitoring test
ring of M/s Magnum make was used for conducting the
sliding wear test. The disc was made of EN31 hardened
steel having a track radius of 50 mm and variable speed
of 480, 670, 860, 1050 and 1240 rpm. The injection
moulded specimen of size 12.7  12.7  25.4 mm was
held stationary in the xture and the disc is rotated
while a normal load is applied through a lever mechan-
ism. The sliding wear tests were performed under dif-
ferent normal loading of 50 N, 60 N, 70 N, 80 N, 90 N
and 100 N keeping the sliding velocity of 6.5 m/s and
sliding distance of 2000 m. Also, the tests were con-
ducted at variable sliding velocities of 2.5, 3.5, 4.5, 5.5
and 6.5 m/s at constant normal load of 100 N and slid-
ing distance of 2000 m. In another combination, the
tests were performed for dierent sliding distances of
500, 1000, 1500 and 2000 m at sliding velocity of 6.5 m/s
Tensile strength
From Figure 1, it can be noted that the tensile strength
increases but only marginally with the increase in ller
content up to 6 wt.% and therafter it reduces drastic-
ally. At 8 wt.% Al2O3, the tensile strength becomes less
than that of pure Nylon 66. The improvement in tensile
strength can be attributed to the high strength, homo-
genous distribution and good interfacial adhesion of
the ller in the composite. The reduction in strength
at higher loading may be due to the conglomeration
of ller particles resulting in stress concentration lead-
ing to failure. Dass et al.18 also reported the increase in
tensile strength of Al2O3Epoxy composite from 5 to
10 wt.% and decrease at a ller content of 15 wt.%,
whereas another study15 reported the increase in tensile
80
79
Tensile Strength (MPa) 78
77

and normal load of 100 N. The material volume loss 76

from the composite specimen during the wear test is
75
measured using precision electronic weighing balance
having an accuracy of 0.001 g. 74

73

Results and discussion 72

0 2 4 6 8
Mechanical properties Concentration of Al2O3 (wt.%)

The value of mechanical properties of the Al2O3Nylon

66 composite material determined as per ASTM stand- Figure 1. Relationship between tensile strength and concen-
ard is given in Table 1. tration of Al2O3.

Table 1. Mechanical properties of Al2O3Nylon 66 composite material.

Nylon 66 with Al2O3

S. No. Name of test Units Test methods 0% 2% 4% 6% 8%

01. Density g/cc ASTM D 792 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18
03. Tensile strength MPa ASTM D 638 75.0 76.0 77.0 79.0 73.0
04. Elongation % ASTM D 638 23 7.91 7.38 7.04 6.7
05. Tensile modulus MPa ASTM D 638 1200 1388 1408 1439 1313
06. Izod impact (notched) KJ/m2 ASTM D256 5.10 5.24 5.96 6.02 5.88
07. Flexural strength MPa ASTM D 790 111 116 118 119 115
08. Flexural modulus MPa ASTM D 790 3000 3296 3311 3518 3423
09. Compressive strength N/mm2 ASTM D 695 76 84 86 88 86

10. Heat deflection temperature C ASTM D 648 66.2 66.8 68.0 69.4 71.9
11. Rockwell hardness HRc ASTM D 785 97 100 102 104 105
4 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 0(0)

strength of nano composite of Al2O3monomer casting 1450

nylon up to 3 wt.% but decrease in tensile strength with
increase in particle size from nano to micro. Guo 1400
et al.19 also observed the increase in tensile strength

Tensile Modulus (MPa)

by 60% for 3 wt.% nano alumina vinyl ester composite. 1350
Thus the increase in tensile strength is in line with the
ndings of most of other researchers. 1300

1250
Tensile modulus
The addition of any mineral ller to the polymer results 1200
in reduction in elongation and the increase in tensile
0 2 4 6 8
strength, thus resulting in increase in tensile modu-
Concentration of Al2O3 (wt. %)
lus.1921 In this case from Figure 2, it can be noted
that the value of tensile modulus rst increases expo-
nentially by 17% on addition of 2 wt.% micro alumina Figure 2. Relationship between tensile modulus and concen-
particles to Nylon 66, then it gradually increases up to tration of Al2O3.
6 wt.% and thereafter it reduces at higher ller loading
as reduction in tensile strength is noted along with
120
reduction in elongation.

118
Flexural strength and modulus
Flexural Strength (MPa)

The exural strength and modulus of Al2O3Nylon 66 116

composites at various ller loadings are shown in
Figures 3 and 4, respectively. It is noted that the ex-
114
ural strength increases with the addition of micro alu-
mina from 111 MPa at 0 wt.% Al2O3 to 119 MPa at
6 wt.% Al2O3, whereas exural modulus increased 112
from 3000 to 3516 MPa. The improvement in proper-
ties can be attributed to the homogeneous dispersion 110
of the llers in the composites and good interfacial 0 2 4 6 8
adhesion between the ller and polymer. Further add- Concentration of Al 2O3 (wt.%)
ition of micro alumina resulted in decrease in its
values. It is believed that the aggregation of ller par- Figure 3. Relationship between flexural strength and concen-
ticles at higher concentration is responsible for the low tration of Al2O3.
value of exural modulus. The reported results are in
agreement with the ndings of other researches such
as Omrani et al.10 who observed the increase in ex-
3600
ural properties at low loadings of up to 2 wt.% nano
alumina to epoxy and when the level of loading was 3500
Flexural Modulus (MPa)

over 2 phr, the exural modulus is decreased. On simi-

3400
lar lines, Dass et al.18 reported the increase in exural
strength up to 10 wt.% micro alumina epoxy compos- 3300
ite and reduction thereafter. Another study by
3200
Mahapatra and Patnaik22 also noticed that addition
of 10 wt.% alumina to polyester resin improves the 3100
exural strength but further addition causes reduction
in strength. 3000

2900
0 2 4 6 8 10
Impact strength Concentration of Al 2O3 (wt.%)

From the results of Figure 5, it is noted that the impact

strength increases by about 18% up to 6 wt.% addition Figure 4. Relationship between flexural modulus and concen-
of the micro alumina particles to Nylon 66. The value tration of Al2O3.
Guglani and Gupta 5

6.2
72

Heat deflection temperature ( 0C)

Izod Impact (Notched) (KJ/m )

6.0
2

71

5.8 70

5.6 69

5.4 68

67
5.2

66
5.0
0 2 4 6 8 0 2 4 6 8
Concentration of Al 2O3(wt.%) Concentration of Al 2O3 (wt.%)

Figure 5. Relationship between Izod impact and concentration Figure 7. Relationship between heat deflection temperature
of Al2O3. and concentration of Al2O3.

90

88 500
0wt.% Al 2O3
Compressive Strength (MPa)

2wt.% Al 2O3
86
400 4wt.% Al 2O3
Wear Rate (mm )

6wt.% Al 2O3
3

84
8wt.% Al 2O3
300
82

80 200

78
100
76

0 2 4 6 8 0
50 60 70 80 90 100
Concentration of Al2O3 (wt.% )
Load (N)

Figure 6. Relationship between compressive strength and

Figure 8. Relationship between wear rate and load of the
concentration of Al2O3.
composites (sliding velocity: 6.5 m/s, sliding distance: 2000 m).

increased more with the initial addition of 4 wt.% alu-
mina and is marginally increased with further addition
of ller up to 6 wt.% and the impact strength reduces at
higher loads. Mahapatra and Patnaik22 seen that
impact strength of unlled glass bre-polyester com-
posite increases by about 1015% with incorporation
of alumina particles and also observed that impact
strength marginally increases when wt.% of llers is
increased from 10 to 20%.
Compressive strength
Figure 6 shows that the addition of micro alumina par-
ticles to Nylon 66 resulted in increase of the compres-
sive strength and the value increases from 76 N/mm2 at
0 wt.% loading to 88 N/mm2 at 6 wt.% of alumina and
it reduces on further addition of ller and at 8 wt.%
alumina it reaches to 86 N/ mm2, but still it is more
than the value of plain Nylon 66. Dass et al.18 also
reported that the compressive strength of the m-cresol
novalac epoxy composites increases with an increase in
the ller content from 5 to 15 wt.%.
HDT
The HDT of the composite is reported in Figure 7 and
from that we note the increase in its value with the
addition of alumina and it reaches to 71.9 C at
8 wt.% from the value of 66.2 C for pure Nylon 66.
The addition of inorganic llers to Nylon normally
6 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 0(0)

500
results in increasing the HDT and thus enhancing its
0wt.% Al2O3 applications at elevated temperatures.23,24
2wt.% Al2O3
400 4wt.% Al2O3
6wt.% Al2O3 Tribological properties
Wear Rate (mm )
3

8wt.% Al2O3
300 Wear rate. The wear rate is calculated by measuring the
wear volume in mm3 for the experiments conducted at
200 various wt.% micro aluminaNylon 66 composites as a
function of load, sliding velocity and sliding distance
100 and the results are plotted in Figures 810, respectively.
It is observed that the wear rate increases with the
0
increase in the applied normal load, sliding velocity
2 3 4 5 6 7 and sliding distance for various wt.% composites with
Sliding Velocity (m/s) the increase in ller loading. However, the wear rate

Figure 9. Relationship between wear rate and sliding velocity

of the composites (load: 100 N, sliding distance: 2000 m). 0.9 0wt.% Al2O3
0.8 2wt.% Al2O3
4wt.% Al2O3

Coefficent of friction ()
0.7 6wt.% Al2O3
500 0wt.% Al2O3
0.6 8wt.% Al2O3
2wt.% Al2O3
400 4wt.% Al2O3 0.5
6wt.% Al2O3
Wear Rate (mm )
3

0.4
8wt.% Al2O3
300 0.3

0.2
200
0.1

100 0.0
2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0
SlidingVelocity (m/s)
0
400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200
Sliding Distance (m) Figure 12. Relationship between coefficient of friction and
sliding velocity of the composites (load: 100 N, sliding distance:
2000 m).
Figure 10. Relationship between wear rate and sliding distance
of the composites (load: 100 N, sliding velocity: 6.5 m/s).

0.8
0.84 0wt.% Al2O3 0.7
0.77 2wt.% Al2O3
Coefficient of friction ()

0.70 0.6
Coefficienct of friction ()

4wt.% Al2O3
0.63 6wt.% Al2O3
0.5
0.56 8wt.% Al2O3
0.49 0.4
0.42 0wt.% Al2O3
0.35 0.3 2wt.% Al2O3
0.28
0.2 4wt.% Al2O3
0.21
6wt.% Al2O3
0.14 0.1 8wt.% Al2O3
0.07
0.00 0.0
50 60 70 80 90 100 500 1000 1500 2000
Load (N) Sliding Distance (m)

Figure 11. Relationship between coefficient of friction and load Figure 13. Relationship between coefficient of friction and
of the composites (sliding velocity: 6.5 m/s, sliding distance: sliding distance of the composites (load: 100 N, sliding velocity:
2000 m). 6.5 m/s).
Guglani and Gupta 7

values were less than that of pure Nylon 66 for the
micro composite of 4 wt.% alumina from Figure 8
and 6 wt.% alumina from Figures 9 and 10. The
lowest wear rate is observed in case of 2 wt.% compos-
ite and the wear rate is linear up to load 90 N, sliding
velocity 6.5 m/s and distance 1500 m and thereafter with
increased slope. The decrease in the wear rate at lower
ller loading can be attributed to the dispersion of
micro alumina in the form of a single particle in the
matrix and could give full advantage to the combin-
ation properties of the composite. The increase in
wear rate at higher loading is because the micro
Al2O3 tended to produce stress concentration due to
its larger and harder particles where some particles
were prone to disengage from the matrix due to poor
adhesive strength.17
COF
The eect on COF of Nylon 66Al2O3 composites with
respect to load, sliding velocity and distance are shown
in Figures 1113. It is noted that the addition of small
quantity of alumina reduces the COF and lowest COF
is for 2 wt.% Al2O3Nylon 66 composite. The COF of
2 wt.% Al2O3Nylon 66 lies from 0.1 to 0.5 under vari-
ous combinations of load, sliding velocity and sliding
distance. COF increases with the percentage increase of
alumina from 2 to 8 wt.% but remains less than that of

Figure 14. Microstructure of unfilled and particulate filled composites (load: 100 N, sliding velocity: 6.5 m/s, sliding distance: 2000 m).
(a) Unfilled Nylon 66, (b) Nylon 66 + 2 wt.% Al2O3, (c) Nylon 66 + 4 wt.% Al2O3, (d) Nylon 66 + 6 wt.% Al2O3 and (e) Nylon
66 + 8 wt.% Al2O3.
8 Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites 0(0)
pure Nylon 66. Friction coecient increases linearly
with varying load up to 80 N and thereafter increases
with increased slope. The sliding velocity also causes
the friction coecient to increase linearly for all
ranges of sliding velocity from 2.5 to 6.5 m/s and the
friction coecient increases linearly up to 1000 m slid-
ing distance and then with increased slope.
Cai et al.8 investigated that the nanocomposites with
mass fractions of Al2O3 below 4 wt.% give slightly
decreased friction coecients at both low and high slid-
ing speeds compared to the bare polyimide and inferred
that the sliding surface temperature of PI/Al2O3
increased with sliding speed resulting in micro melting
of the surface and the formation of a transfer lm of the
nanocomposite on the counterpart steel surface result-
ing in reduced friction. With the increase in wt.% of
Al2O3, the transfer lm gets damaged due to abrasion
action of the agglomerated particulates in the wear
debris thus increasing the friction. Study of micro and
nanocomposite of PA6/Al2O3 at a velocity of 0.42 m/s
for 1 h under loads of 50 to 250 N showed that friction
coecient reduced with increasing load and the friction
coecient of PA6/Al2O3 nanocomposite was slightly
greater than that of the monomer casting PA6 and
that of micron Al2O3 was the highest.17
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)
The worn out surfaces of the composite specimens are
subjected to SEM examination after the sliding wear
test to understand the wear mechanism. The micrographs
for various compositions are shown in Figure 14(a) to (e)
from which it can be seen that wear grooves run parallel to
the sliding direction and were present at all stages of the
test. From Figure 14(a), it is noted that for plain Nylon
66, deep wear grooves are observed which can be attrib-
uted to frictional heat generated due to the increase in
COF with increasing load and sliding velocity. Figure
14(b) shows that at 2 wt.% loading of alumina, the wear
is reduced as the state of dispersion was good and a suit-
able adhesion between alumina particles and the polymer
matrix have been attained at low level of loading.10 Figure
14(c) to (e) reveals that as the wt.% of alumina increases,
the wear and groove depth also increases. More scung,
ploughing and plastic deformation marks appear on the
worn surfaces at higher loading, which indicates that
higher mass fraction of Al2O3 experienced more severe
plastic deformation and weakening of the molecular
chain interaction, which is related to the poorer wear
resistance8 as it can be observed from Figures 9 and 10
that with increase in wt.% of Al2O3, the wear rate
increases. Zhao et al.17 also concluded that there was
ploughing ditch on the worn surface and signicant abra-
sive wear and because the friction force was larger, the
worn surface showed micro cracking which was
perpendicular to the sliding direction caused by the fric-
tion force and heat. Increase in wear at higher wt.%
results in increase in friction coecient.
Conclusions
1. The results show that wear rate reduces with add-
ition of alumina microparticles to Nylon 66 and
lowest wear is exhibited by 2 wt.% Al2O3Nylon
66 composite. The lowest friction coecient is also
observed for 2 wt.% Al2O3Nylon 66 composite and
the value increases with increasing load, sliding vel-
ocity and sliding distance.
2. The COF of 2 wt.% Al2O3Nylon 66 lies between
0.1 and 0.5 under various combinations of load, slid-
ing velocity and sliding distance. COF increases with
the percentage increase of alumina from 2 to 8 wt.%
but remains less than that of pure Nylon 66.
3. The mechanical properties such as tensile strength,
tensile modulus, exural strength, exural modulus,
compressive strength and impact strength increases
with the increase in wt.% of micro alumina up to
6 wt.% and thereafter reduces.
4. The HDT of the microcomposite increased with
increasing wt.% of alumina.
5. Thus the study concluded that the addition of micro
alumina particles to Nylon 66 resulted in improving
the mechanical and tribological properties eectively
at lower ller loading, whereas agglomeration of
ller micro particles at higher loading resulted in
decrease in the values.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.
Funding
The author(s) received no nancial support for the research,
authorship, and/or publication of this article.
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