Abstract Background: The daily usage of maxillofacial prostheses causes them to mechanically deteriorate with time. This study was aimed to evaluate the reinforcement of VST50F maxillofacial silicone by using yttrium oxide (Y2O3) nanoparticles (NPs) to resist aging and mechanical deterioration. Materials and Method: Y2O3 NPs (30–45nm) were loaded into VST50F maxillofacial silicone in two weight percentages (1 and 1.5 wt%), which were predetermined in a pilot study as the best rates for improving tear strength with minimum increase in hardness values. A total of 120 specimens were prepared and divided into the control and experimental groups (with 1 and 1.5 wt% Y2O3 addition). Each group included 40 specimens, 10 specimens for each parameter tested (i.e., tear strength, surface roughness, hardness, tensile strength and elongation percentage). Specimens were artificially aged in a weathering chamber for 150 h and then tested. Data were analyzed by ANOVA and Tukey’s honestly significant difference (HSD). Statistical significance was set to P ≤ 0.05. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy were also conducted. Results and Discussion: SEM results showed that Y2O3 NPs were distributed well within the silicon matrix. FTIR results indicated that the NPs were physically dispersed within VST50F silicone without chemical interaction. After 150 h of accelerated artificial aging, adding Y2O3 NPs significantly increased the tear strength, hardness, surface roughness, and elongation percentage. Tensile strength increased non significantly. Conclusion: Adding Y2O3 NPs as fillers improved the mechanical properties of artificially aged maxillofacial silicone elastomer. Keywords: maxillofacial silicone, Y2O3, nanoparticles, fillers, artificial aging.
Abstract:
The Iraqi economy faces complex economic challenges that threaten the prospects for growth and stability in the short and medium term, The decrease in oil revenues on which Iraq is based in financing its total expenditure, both operational and investment, led to the emergence of a deficit in the government budget, As the global oil price crisis affected the revenues of the Iraqi government negatively, especially as this negative impact coincided with the increase in military spending resulting from Iraq's war against terrorism, Which led to the Iraqi government to implement austerity measures were to reduce public spending on several projects, which are less important compared to projects that a
... Show MoreAn Eigen-state expansion method is applied to the transition of the Auger de-excitation charge transfer (AD) process in the interaction between clean Cu,Al and Na surfaces and excited incident gases H and He .We use this method to describe the effective surfaces electronic structure. It's shown that the AD efficiency is deeply influenced by the presence of the energy band for the surfaces and the potential energy stored within the excited incident atom, thus for long interaction time we use a slowly atom's about 1KeV to scatter from metals surfaces where the electron couldn't probe the metal band structure and Za the surface - projectile distance. Also we drive a new formula for AD interaction Matrix element
High tunnels, or unheated plastic greenhouses, are becoming increasingly popular among organic vegetable growers across the United States. However, the intensive production typical of these systems presents soil health challenges, including salinization due to high fertilizer or compost inputs coupled with lack of rainfall to leach salts. Legume cover crops may improve soil health in high tunnels by reducing the need for external inputs, while adding organic matter. We tested the soil health effects of a winter hairy vetch (Vicia villosa Roth) cover crop used to replace fertilizer N in an organic tomato cropping system in high tunnels. Studies were replicated across three sites differing in climate and soil type (Kansas, Kentucky, and Minne
... Show MoreWe focus on studying the dynamics of bulk semiconductor optical amplifiers and their effects on the saturation region for short pulse that differ, however there is the same unsaturated gain for both dynamics. Parameters like current injection, fast dynamics present by carrier heating (CH), and spectra hole burning (SHB) are studied for regions that occur a response to certain dynamics. The behavior of the saturation region is found to be responsible for phenomena such as recovery time and chirp for the pulse under study.
PVC/Kaolinite composites were prepared by the melt intercalation method. Mechanical properties, thermal properties, flammability and water absorption percentage of prepared samples were tested. Mechanical characteristic such as tensile strength, elongation at break; hardness and impact strength (charpy type) were measured for all samples. It was found that the tensile strength and elongation at break of PVC composites decreased with increasing kaolinite loading. Also, the hardness of the composites increases with increase in filler content .The impact strength of the composites at the beginning increases at lower kaolinite loadings is due to the lack of kaolin adhesion to the matrix. However, at higher kaolin loadings. This severe agglom
... Show MoreBackground: One of the unique prosthesis for tooth or teeth replacement is the dental implant. Our attempt is using a biomaterial system that is easily obtained and applicable and has the ability to provoke osteoinductive growth factor to enhance bone formation at the site of application. One of these natural polymers is hyaluronic acid. Material and methods: Sixty machined surface implants from commercially pure titanium rod inserted in thirty NewZealand rabbits. Two implants placed in both tibia of each rabbit. The animals scarified at 1, 2 and 4 weeks after implantation (10 rabbits for each interval). For all of animals the right tibia’s implant was control (uncoated) and the left one was experimental (coated with 0.1ml Hyaluro
... Show MoreThe 3D electro-Fenton technique is, due to its high efficiency, one of the technologies suggested to eliminate organic pollutants in wastewater. The type of particle electrode used in the 3D electro-Fenton process is one of the most crucial variables because of its effect on the formation of reactive species and the source of iron ions. The electrolytic cell in the current study consisted of graphite as an anode, carbon fiber (CF) modified with graphene as a cathode, and iron foam particles as a third electrode. A response surface methodology (RSM) approach was used to optimize the 3D electro-Fenton process. The RSM results revealed that the quadratic model has a high R2 of 99.05 %. At 4 g L-1 iron foam particles, time of 5 h, and
... Show MorePrediction of penetration rate (ROP) is important process in optimization of drilling due to its crucial role in lowering drilling operation costs. This process has complex nature due to too many interrelated factors that affected the rate of penetration, which make difficult predicting process. This paper shows a new technique of rate of penetration prediction by using artificial neural network technique. A three layers model composed of two hidden layers and output layer has built by using drilling parameters data extracted from mud logging and wire line log for Alhalfaya oil field. These drilling parameters includes mechanical (WOB, RPM), hydraulic (HIS), and travel transit time (DT). Five data set represented five formations gathered
... Show MoreBackground: Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a condition characterized by an elevation of oxidative stress, which has been implicated in diabetic progression and its vascular complications. Aim: Assessing the impact of gliclazide modified release (MR) versus glimepiride on oxidative stress markers, glycemic indices, lipid profile, and estimated glomerular filtration rate in uncontrolled type 2 diabetic patients on metformin monotherapy. Methods: This was an observational comparative study conducted in Thi-Qar specialized diabetic, endocrine, and metabolism center. Sixty-six patients were randomized into two groups based on the addition of the sulfonylureas (SUs). Group 1 (33 patients) was on gliclazide MR, whereas Group 2 (33 patients)
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