Biodegradable polymers have garnered increasing attention as eco-friendly alternatives to conventional petroleum-derived plastics, which pose a global environmental challenge due to their difficult recycling and slow degradation. This study focuses on the preliminary evaluation of surface functional properties of chitosan films reinforced with TiO₂ or ZnO nanoparticles (NPs). These films were prepared at different loading ratios using the solution-casting method. Structural and morphological properties were characterized using FTIR and FESEM, while functional properties were evaluated by surface wettability, UV–Vis spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and antibacterial activity testing. FTIR results showed significant changes in absorption peaks associated with amine and hydroxyl groups, indicating the formation of hydrogen bonds and strong surface interactions between chitosan and NPs. Morphological imaging also revealed a nanoscale surface structure that could influence wettability and surface interactions. The results of functional tests, compared to pure chitosan, showed improvements in some functional properties, like UV protection and thermal stability, while maintaining other properties, like surface wettability, within accepted functional limits. Moreover, chitosan films reinforced with TiO₂ or ZnO NPs showed statistically significant antibacterial activity, particularly against S. aureus. These results represent a preliminary evaluation of potential candidate materials for packaging applications. Therefore, a comprehensive evaluation of the studied samples and their suitability for practical applications requires further future studies that include tests of mechanical properties, gas permeability, biodegradability, migration and biosafety studies and performance under real-world application conditions.
The aim of this work is to enhance the mechanical properties of the glass ionomer cement GIC (dental materials) by adding Zirconium Oxide ZrO2 in both micro and nano particles. GIC were mixed with (3, 5 and 7) wt% of both ZrO2 micro and nanoparticles separately. Compressive strength (CS), biaxial flexural strength (BFS), Vickers Microhardness (VH) and wear rate losses (WR) were investigated. The maximum compression strength was 122.31 MPa with 5 wt. % ZrO2 micro particle, while 3wt% nanoparticles give highest Microhardness and biaxial flexural strength of 88.8 VHN and 35.79 MPa respectively. The minimum wear rate losses were 3.776µg/m with 7 wt. % ZrO2 nanoparticle. GIC-contai
... Show MoreExperimental programs based test results has been used as a means to find out the response of individual elements of structure. In the present study involves investigated behavior of five reinforced concrete deep beams of dimension (length 1200 x height 300 x width150mm) under two points concentrated load with shear span to depth ratio of (1.52), four of these beams with hallow core and
retrofit with carbon fiber reinforced polymer CFRP (with single or double or sides Strips). Two shapes of hallow are investigated (circle and square section) to evaluated the response of beams in case experimental behavior. Test on simply supported beam was performed in the laboratory & loaddeflection, strain of concrete data and crack pattern of
Thin films of Nb2O5 have been successfully deposited using the DC reactive magnetron sputtering technique to manufacture NH3 gas sensors. These films have been annealed at a high temperature of 800°C for one hour. The assessment of the Nb2O5 thin films structural, morphological, and electrical characteristics was carried out using several methods such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Hall effect measurements, and sensitivity assessments. The XRD analysis confirms the polycrystalline composition of the Nb2O5 thin films with a hexagonal crystal structure. Furthermore, the sensitivity, response time, and recovery time of the gas sensor were evaluated for the Nb2O5 thin film
... Show MoreCadmium sulfide and Aluminum doped CdS thin films were prepared by thermal evaporation technique in vacuum on a heated glass substrates at 373K. A comparison between the optical properties of the pure and doped films was made through measuring and analyzing the transmittance curves, and the effect of the annealing temperature on these properties were estimated. All the films were found to exhibit high transmittance in the visible/ near infrared region from 500nm to 1100nm.The optical band gap energy was found to be in the range 2.68-2.60 eV and 2.65-2.44 eV for CdS and CdS:Al respectively , with changing the annealing temperature from room temperature to 423K.Optical constants such as refractive index, extinction coefficient, and complex di
... Show MoreCdSe alloy has been prepared successfully from its high purity elements. Thin films of this alloy with different thicknesses (300,700)nm have been grown on glass substrates at room temperature under very low pressure (10-5)Torr with rate of deposition (1.7)nm/sec by thermal evaporation technique, after that these thin films have been heat treated under low pressure (10-2)Torr at (473,673)K for one hour. X-ray patterns showed that both CdSe alloy and thin films are polycrystalline and have the hexagonal structure with preferential orientation in the [100] and [002] direction respectively. The optical measurements indicated that CdSe thin films have allowed direct optical energy band gap, and it increases from (1.77- 1.84) eV and from
... Show MoreCarbides or nitrides thin films present materials with good mechanical properties for industrial applications as they can be coatings at low temperatures serve temperature sensitive surfaces. In this work the effect of the C percentage on the mechanical properties represented by the Young modulus (E) of combinatorial magnetron sputtered TiCx (34%x˂65%) has been studied. The structure of the produced films is TiC independent on the C concentration. The mechanical properties are increased with increasing the C concentration up to 50%, and then decreasing with further C % increasing. These results can be explained by considering the resultant residual stresses.
In the present work, nanocomposite of poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) incorporated with functionalized graphene oxide (FGO) were fabricated using casting method. PVA was dispersed by varying content of FGO (0.3, 0.5, 0.8, 1 wt %). The PVA- FGO nanocomposite was characterized by FT‐IR, FE-SEM and XRD. Frequency dependence of real permittivity (ε’), imaginary (ε’’) and a.c conductivity of PVA/FGO and PVA/GO nanocomposite were studied in the frequency range 100 Hz- 1 MHz. The experimental results showed that the values of real (ε’) and imaginary permittivity (ε’’) increased dramatically by increasing the FGO content in PVA matrix. PVA/ FGO (1 wt %) nanocomposite revealed higher electrical conductivity of 6.4×10-4 Sm-1 compared to
... Show MoreThe optical properties for the components CuIn(SexTe1-x)2 thin films with both values of selenium content (x) [0.4 and 0.6] are studied. The films have been prepared by the vacuum thermal evaporation method with thickness of (250±5nm) on glass substrates. From the transmittance and absorbance spectra within the range of wavelength (400-900)nm, we determined the forbidden optical energy gap (Egopt) and the constant (B). From the studyingthe relation between absorption coefficient (α) photon energy, we determined the tails width inside the energy gap.
The results showed that the optical transition is direct; we also found that the optical energy gap increases with annealing temperature and selenium content (x). However, the width of l