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.
Natural bitumen (NB) is a highly precious material and has drawn increasing attention due to its unique properties, especially since it is available in large quantities and has been used in limited fields. In this research, the exploitation of NB from sulfur springs as an alternative energy resource in the production of asphalt pavement is evaluated. It can be concluded from the experimental results that the chemical composition and surface morphology of NB samples are different from those of base asphalt. Besides, the rheological properties of virgin NB are not sufficient for paving work. To overcome this obstacle, NB from five different springs is modified with limestone filler (LSF) to enhance its properties. LSF is a natural material an
... Show MoreThis study presents the design of flash-lamps for pumped solid-state lasers. In this research have been study some of characters for flash lamp. The optimum pressure operation is found using different flash lamps about (600-4000) mbar. In conclusion, it was shown that the increase in pressure due to improve efficiency of radiation and decrease of temperature. Also this study illustrated the reason of decrease temperature is atomic number and due to increase of radiation efficiency.
In this research was study the effect of increasing the number of layers of the semiconductor films as PbS on the average grain sizes and illustrate the relationship between the increase in the average grain size and thickness of the membrane, and membrane was prepared using the easy and simple and does not need the complexity of which is that the chemical bath , and from an X-ray diffraction found that the material and the installation of a random cubic and when increasing the number of layers deposited note the emergence of a number of vertices of a substance and PbS at different levels but the level is more severe (200) as well as the value is calculated optical energy gap and found to be not affected by increase thickness and from th
... Show MoreThin films of tin sulfide (SnS) were prepared by thermal evaporation technique on glass substrates, with thickness in the range of 100, 200 and 300nm and their physical properties were studied with appropriate techniques. The phase of the synthesized thin films was confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. Further, the crystallite size was calculated by Scherer formula and found to increase from 58 to 79 nm with increase of thickness. The obtained results were discussed in view of testing the suitability of SnS film as an absorber for the fabrication of low-cost and non toxic solar cell. For thickness, t=300nm, the films showed orthorhombic OR phase with a strong (111) preferred orientation. The films deposited with thickness < 200nm deviate
... Show MoreThe present paper deals with prepared of ternary Se80-xTe20Gex system alloys and thin films. The XRD analysis improved that the amorphous structure of alloys and thin films for ternary Se80-xTe20Gex (at x=10and 20at.%Ge) which prepared by thermal evaporation techniques with thickness 250 nm. The optical energy gap measurements show that the optical energy gap decreases with increasing of (Ge) content from (1.7 to 1.47 eV)
It is found that the optical constants, such as refractive
index ,extinction coefficient, real and imaginary dielectric
constant are non systematic with increasing of Ge contents
and annealing temperatures
Vanadium dioxide nanofilms are one of the most essential materials in electronic applications like smart windows. Therefore, studying and understanding the optical properties of such films is crucial to modify the parameters that control these properties. To this end, this work focuses on investigating the opacity as a function of the energy directed at the nanofilms with different thicknesses(1–100) nm. Effective mediator theories(EMTs), which are considered as the application of Bruggeman’s formalism and the Looyenga mixing rule, have been used to estimate the dielectric constant of VO2 nanofilms. The results show different opacity behaviors at different wavelength ranges(ultraviolet, visible, and infrared). The results depict that th
... Show MoreThis article investigates the development of the following material properties of concrete with time: compressive strength, tensile strength, modulus of elasticity, and fracture energy. These properties were determined at seven different hydration ages (18 h, 30 h, 48 h, 72 h, 7 days, 14 days, 28 days) for four pure cement concrete mixes totaling 336 specimens tested throughout the study. Experimental data obtained were used to assess the relationship of the above properties with the concrete compressive strength and how these relationships are affected with age. Further, this study investigates prediction models available in literature and recommendations are made for models that are found suitable for application to early age conc
... Show MorePorosity and permeability are the most difficult properties to determine in subsurface reservoir characterization. The difficulty of estimating them arising from the fact that porosity and permeability may vary significantly over the reservoir volume, and can only be sampled at well location. Secondly, the porosity values are commonly evaluated from the well log data, which are usually available from most wells in the reservoir, but permeability values, which are generally determined from core analysis, are not usually available. The aim of this study is: First, to develop correlations between the core and the well log data which can be used to estimate permeability in uncored wells, these correlations enable to estimate reservoir permeabil
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The toughening of epoxy resins with the addition of organic or inorganic compounds is of great interest nowadays, considering their large scale of applications. In the present work, composites of epoxy are synthesized with kaolin particles having different particle sizes as reinforcement. Composites of epoxy with varying concentration (0 to 40 weight %) of kaolin was prepared by using hand lay method. The variation of mechanical properties such as modulus of elasticity, yield, tensile, and compressive strength with filler content was evaluated. The composite showed improved modulus of elasticity and compressive properties on addition of filler. In contrast, the tensile and yield strength of the composite
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