Resilient polymeric materials such as silicone elastomers are currently used for maxillofacial prostheses construction but the strength of these materials and their clinical performance need to be optimized with the addition of reinforcing fillers. This study investigates the effect of zirconia nanopowder addition on tear strength, tensile strength, elongation at break, Shore A hardness, surface roughness and cytotoxicity of VST-50 maxillofacial silicone. Silicone base was mixed with different amounts (1%, 2% and 3%) of zirconia nanopowder using a vacuum mixer. Silicone without filler was used as control for comparison. Scanning Electron Microscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy were utilized to assess the efficiency of high-shear vacuum mixing as filler dispersion method and the surface topography, respectively. Both SEM and AFM images showed that the zirconia nanopowder were distributed fairly well within the polymer. Statistically, highly significant increase in tear strength, tensile strength and hardness with non-significant decrease in elongation at break and non-significant increase in surface roughness were seen with 1% and 2% groups. Whereas with 3% group, there was significant improvement in tear strength, tensile strength and hardness but there was significant undesirable decrease in elongation and increase in roughness. Cytotoxicity test revealed that the addition of zirconia nanopowder was nontoxic to Rat Embryonic Fibroblast (REF) cells and there was non-significant change in the cell viability of all study groups after 24- and 72-hours incubation periods. In conclusion, the addition of 2% by weight nano zirconia to VST-50 maxillofacial silicone could be beneficial in enhancing its performance.
Electrical properties were studied for Pectin/PVA graphene composites films and the effect of aqueous interaction on their properties. The conductivity and the dielectric constant of this composite are important because Polysaccharide like pectin is increasingly being used in biomedical applications and as nanoparticles coating materials. The Dielectric and conductivity of composite films were compared in dry and wet condition the differences in the results were attributed to the water molecules and the hydrogen bond which connect the three composite compounds (Pectin, PVA and Graphene) together. These connections were allowed the hydrogen and hydroxyl group’s migrations in the composite super molecules. On the other hand, graphene was pr
... Show Morein this paper, the current work was devoted to the manufacture of TiO2 nanoparticles doped with manganese, synthesis by the sol-gel technique using a dip-conting device, for their hydrophilic properties and photocatalytic activity, and the products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and Uv-Visible absorption, and the results XRD showed an phase Anatase , and the results of the SEM Explained the shape of the morphology of the samples after the doping process compared with pure TiO2, and the results of a shift in light absorption from ultraviolet rays to visible light were evident. The results showed that the thin films have a high wettability under visible rays
... Show MoreColloidal crystals (opals) made of close-packed polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) were fabricated and grown by Template-Directed methods to obtain porous materials with well-ordered periodicity and interconnected pore systems to manufacture photonic crystals. Opals were made from aqueous suspensions of monodisperse PMMA spheres with diameters between 280 and 415 nm. SEM confirmed the PMMA spheres crystallized uniformly in a face-centered cubic (FCC) array. Optical properties of synthesized pores PMMA were characterized by UV–Visible spectroscopy. It shows that the colloidal crystals possess pseudo photonic band gaps in the visible region. A combination of Bragg’s law of diffraction and Snell’s law of refraction were used to calculate t
... Show MoreThe Catharanthus roseus plant was extracted and converted to nanoparticles in this work. The Soxhlet method was used to extract alkaloid compounds from the Catharanthus roseus plant and converted them to the nanoscale. Chitosan polymer was used as a linking material and converted to Chitosan nanoparticles (CSNPs). The extracted alkaloids were linked with Chitosan nanoparticles by maleic anhydride to get the final product (CSNPs-Linker-alkaloids). The pure Chitosan, Chitosan nanoparticles, and CSNPs-Linker-alkaloids were characterized by X-ray diffractometer, and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy. X-ray results show that all samples have an orthorhombic structure with crystallite size in nanodimensions. FTIR spectra prove that
... Show MoreThe petrophysical analysis is significant to determine the parameters controlling the production wells and the reservoir quality. In this study, Using Interactive petrophysics software to analyze the petrophysical parameters of five wells penetrated the Zubair reservoir in the Abu-Amood field to evaluate a reservoir and search for hydrocarbon zones. The available logs data such as density, sonic, gamma ray, SP, neutron, and resistivity logs for wells AAm-1, AAm-2, AAm-3, AAm-4, and AAm-5 were used to determine the reservoir properties in Zubair reservoir. The density-neutron and neutron-sonic cross plots, which appear as lines with porosity scale ticks, are used to distinguish between the three main lithologies of sandstone, limesto
... Show MoreZinc Oxide (ZnO) is considered as one of the best materials already used as a window layer in solar cells due to its antireflective capability. The ZnO/MgF2 bilayer thin film is more efficient as antireflective coating. In this work, ZnO and ZnO/MgF2 thin films were deposited on glass substrate using pulsed laser deposition and thermal evaporation deposition methods. The optical measurements indicated that ZnO thin layer has an energy gap of (3.02 eV) while ZnO/MgF2 bilayer gives rise to an increase in the energy gap. ZnO/MgF2 bilayer shows a high energy gap (3.77 eV) with low reflectance (1.1-10 %) and refractive index (1.9) leading to high transmittance, this bilayer could be a good candidate optical material to improve the performance
... Show MoreIn the present work, a z-scan technique was used to study the nonlinear optical properties, represented by the nonlinear refractive index and nonlinear absorption coefficients of nanoparticles cadmium sulfide thin film. The sample was prepared by the chemical bath deposition method. Several testing were done including, x-ray, transmission and thickness of thin film. z-Scan experiment was performed at two wavelengths (1064 nm and 532 nm) and different energies. The results showed the effect of self-focusing in the material at higher intensities, which evaluated n2 to be (0.11-0.16) cm2/GW. The effect of two-photon absorption was studied, which evaluated β to be (24-106) cm/GW. In addition, the optical limiting behavior has been studied.
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