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.
This paper presents the non-linear finite element method to study the behavior of four reinforced rectangular concrete MD beams with web circular openings tested under two-point load. The numerical finite elements methods have been used in a much more practical way to achieve approximate solutions for more complex problems. The ABAQUS /CAE is chosen to explore the behavior of MD beams. This paper also studies, the effect of both size and shape of the circular apertures of MD beams. The strengthening technique that used in this paper is externally strengthening using CFRP around the opening in the MD beams. The numerical results were compared to the experimental results in terms of ultimate load failure and displace
... Show MoreA comparative study was done on the adsorption of methyl orange dye (MO) using non-activated and activated corn leaves with hydrochloric acid as an adsorbent material. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were utilized to specify the properties of adsorbent material. The effect of several variables (pH, initial dye concentration, temperature, amount of adsorbent and contact time) on the removal efficiency was studied and the results indicated that the adsorption efficiency increases with the increase in the concentration of dye, adsorbent dosage and contact time, while inversely proportional to the increase in pH and temperature for both the treated and untreated corn leav
... Show MoreBackground: The purpose of this study is to compare the color changes between the bonded middle third and the unbonded gingival and incisal thirds, fallowing fixed orthodontic treatment Material and method: The color parameter l, a, b has been recorded for each thirds in upper anterior teeth by mean of easy shad device. The has been calculated for gingival, middle and incisal thirds for the upper anterior teeth in 34 patient, 17 males and 17femals, those subject undergone fixed orthodontic treatment Results: The in middle bonded third is highly significant higher than that in incise and gingival thirds p<0.01 because the middle third isn’t expose to oral fluid and dental brushing since it covered by the bracket. Also there
... Show MoreMany problems were encountered during the drilling operations in Zubair oilfield. Stuckpipe, wellbore instability, breakouts and washouts, which increased the critical limits problems, were observed in many wells in this field, therefore an extra non-productive time added to the total drilling time, which will lead to an extra cost spent. A 1D Mechanical Earth Model (1D MEM) was built to suggest many solutions to such types of problems. An overpressured zone is noticed and an alternative mud weigh window is predicted depending on the results of the 1D MEM. Results of this study are diagnosed and wellbore instability problems are predicted in an efficient way using the 1D MEM. Suitable alternative solutions are presented
... Show MoreIn this paper, A.C conductivity of micro and nano grain size- TiO2 filled epoxy composites is measured. The dielectric material used is epoxy resin, while micro and nano-sized titanium dioxide (TiO2) of grain size (1.5μm, and 50nm) was used as filler at low filler concentrations by weight (3%, and 5%). Additionally the effect of annealing temperature range (293-373)º K and at a frequency range of 102-106 Hz on the A.C conductivity of the various specimens was studied.
The result of real permittivity for micro and nanocomposite show that the real permittivity increases with decreasing frequency at range of 102-106Hz. The micron-filled material has a higher real relative permittivity than the nano-filled this is true at all the temper
Polyimide/MWCNTs nanocomposites have been fabricated by solution mixing process. In the present study, we have investigated electrical conductivity and dielectric properties of PI/MWCNT nanocomposites in frequency range of 1 kHz to 100 kHz at different MWCNTs concentrations from 0 wt.% to 15 wt.%. It has been observed that the electrical conductivity and dielectric constants are enhanced significantly by several orders of magnitude up to 15 wt.% of MWCNTs content. The electrical conductivity increases as the frequency is increased, which can be attributed to high dislocation density near the interface. The rapid increase in the dielectric constant at a high MWCNTs content can be explained by the form
The electrical properties of CdO/porous Si/c-Si heterojunction prepared by deposition of CdO layer on porous silicon synthesized by electrochemical etching were studied. The structural, optical, and electrical properties of CdO (50:50) thin film prepared by rapid thermal oxidation were examined. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results confirmed formation of nanostructured silicon layer the full width half maximum (FWHM) was increased after etching. The dark J-V characteristics of the heterojunction showed strong dependence on etching current density and etching time. The ideality factor and saturation current of the heterojunction were calculated from J-V under forward bias. C-V measurements confirmed that the prepared heterojunctions are abrupt
... Show MoreZinc Oxide (ZnO) is probably the most typical II-VI
semiconductor, which exhibits a wide range of nanostructures. In
this paper, polycrystalline ZnO thin films were prepared by chemical
spray pyrolysis technique, the films were deposited onto glass
substrate at 400 °C by using aqueous zinc chloride as a spray
solution of molar concentration of 0.1 M/L.
The crystallographic structure of the prepared film was analyzed
using X-ray diffraction; the result shows that the film was
polycrystalline, the grain size which was calculated at (002) was
27.9 nm. The Hall measurement of the film studied from the
electrical measurements show that the film was n-type. The optical
properties of the film were studied using
In this work, the superconducting CuBa2LaCa2Cu4O11+δ compound was prepared by citrate precursor method and the electrical and structural properties were studied. The electrical resistivity has been measured using four probe test to find the critical temperature Tc(offset) and Tc(onset). It was found that Tc (offset) at zero resistivity has 101 K and Tc (onset) has 116 K. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis exhibited that a prepared compound has a tetragonal structure. The crystal size and microscopic strain due to lattice deformation of CuBa2LaCa2Cu4O11+δ were estimated by four methods, namely Scherer(S), Halder-Wagner(H-W), size-strain plot (SSP) and Williamson-Hall, (W-H) methods. Results of crystal sizes obtained by these meth
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