The existing study aimed to assess four soil moisture sensors’ capacitive (WH51 and SKU: S EN0193) and resistive (Yl69 and IC Station) abilities, which are affordable and medium-priced for their accuracy in six common soil types in the central region of Iraq. The readings’ calibration for the soil moisture sensor devices continued through two gravimetric methods. The first depended on the protocols’ database, while the second was the traditional calibration method. The second method recorded the lowest analysis error compared with the first. The moderate-cost sensor WH51 showed the lowest standard error (SE), MAD , and RMSE and the highest R² in both methods. The performance accuracy of WH51 was close to readings shown by the manufac

This research studies the effect of addition of some nanoparticles
(MgO, CuO) and grain size (30,40nm) on some physical properties
(impact strength, hardness and thermal conductivity) for a matrix
blend of epoxy resin with SBR rubber. Hand –Lay up method was
used to prepare the samples. All samples were immersed in water for
9 weeks.
The Results showed decreased in the values of impact strength and
hardness but increased the coefficient of thermal conductivity.

The textile industries play a prominent role in reviving the national economy, but they are currently suffering from several problems, including the high costs of their activities, the low quality of their production processes, and accordingly, the hexagonal diffraction approach came to help analyze production activities to determine which of them are the most expensive and do not have a benefit or cost greater than Its benefit as a result of waste and losses that accompany its implementation. And by applying to the Iraqi mechanical carpet factory, the research reached several conclusions, the most important of which is the presence of several sources of waste and loss, such as activities and operations that do not add value, whi

In this work, zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) and sawdust/epoxy composite (20:80) were mixed using a simple molding method with different ZnONPs concentrations of (0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, and 1.0 %). The samples of the nanocomposites were characterized by the Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) technique to demonstrate the homogeneity of the prepared ZnONPs/nanocomposites. The photocatalytic activity of the samples was examined using the methylene blue (MB) dye as a pollutant solution, through evaluation of the efficiency of the prepared compound in the treatment of organic pollutants under illumination by sunlight. The photocatalytic results showed that after 240 minutes of exposure to sunlight, the sample prepared using (0.5 vol.% of ZnON

The nonlinear refractive index and the nonlinear absorption coefficient of unmodified and functional poly(methyl methacrylate) PMMA films were studied before and after the addition of the filler by the z-scan technique, using a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at two wavelengths: 532 nm and 1064 nm, and at three input energies (13, 33 and 53) mJ. Both linear and nonlinear refractive indices and absorption coefficients of polymer films were studied by using UV-VIS spectrophotometer. The results show that the creation of functional PMMA from unmodified PMMA will increase the nonlinear optical properties in the functional PMMA/copper matrix more than in the unmodified PMMA/copper matrix. Hence, the functional PMMA appears promising as a useful third

To investigate the flexural behavior of self-consolidating hybrid fiber-reinforced concrete beams containing voids experimentally, six RC beams were tested, one solid without fiber and the others containing hooked-steel and macro-polypropylene fibers with a volume fraction of 1 and 0.5%, respectively. One of the five fibrous beams was solid; two contain a series of recycled plastic balls of diameters 110 and 120 mm, and another two contain a single longitudinal circular void created by PVC pipes of diameters 90 and 110 mm. The flexural behavior of the beams was assessed depending on the load-deflection curve, load-strain curve, ductility, toughness, stiffness, and crack patterns. The experimental outcomes showed that all the tested

This contribution investigates the effect of the addition of the Hubbard U parameter on the electronic structural and mechanical properties of cubic (C-type) lanthanide sesquioxides (Ln2O3). Calculated Bader's charges confirm the ionic character of Lnsingle bondO bonds in the C-type Ln2O3. Estimated structural parameters (i.e., lattice constants) coincide with analogous experimental values. The calculated band gaps energies at the Ueff of 5 eV for these compounds exhibit a non-metallic character and Ueff of 6.5 eV reproduces the analogous experimental band gap of cerium sesquioxide Ce2O3. We have thoroughly investigated the effect of the O/Ce ratios and the effect of hafnium (Hf) and zirconium (Zr) dopants on the reduction energies of C

Burnishing improves fatigue strength, surface hardness and decrease surface roughness of metal because this process transforms tensile residual stresses into compressive residual stresses. Roller burnishing tool is used in the present work on low carbon steel (AISI 1008) specimens. In this work, different experiments were used to study the influence of feed parameter and speed parameter in burnishing process on fatigue strength, surface roughness and surface hardness of low carbon steel (AISI 1008) specimens. The first parameter used is feed values which were (0.6, 0.8, and 1) mm at constant speed (370) rpm, while the second parameter used is speed at values (540, 800 and 1200) rpm and at constant feed (1) mm. The results of the fatigue

In this work, some mechanical properties of the polymer coating were improved by preparing a hybrid system containing Graphene (GR) of different weight percentages (0.25, 0.5, 1, and 2wt%) with 5wt% carbon fibres (CF) and added to a polymer coating by using casting method. The properties were improved as GR was added with further improvement on adding 5wt% of CF. The impact strength of acrylic polymer with GR increases with increasing weight ratio‏‏ of GR; maximum value was obtained when the polymer coating was incorporated with 1wt% GR and 5wt% CF. The impact strength of acrylic polymer with GR and GR/CF composites incorporated with GR at 1wt% and CF at 5wt%. Hardness increase with increasing weight ratio of Gr and a significant imp