Eco-friendly materials are increasingly used in civil engineering to support sustainable development. Conventional concrete relies heavily on Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), the production of which contributes significantly to the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions. Ground Granulated Blast Furnace Slag (GGBFS) and fly ash can partially replace OPC, thereby reducing the environmental impact. This study investigates the effect of basalt fiber incorporation on the mechanical properties of geopolymer lightweight concrete. The concrete mixtures consisted of fly ash, slag, pumice aggregate, sand, and an alkaline activator prepared by combining sodium hydroxide and sodium silicate. The mix design included an activator-to-binder ratio of 0.45, sodium hydroxide molarity of 12 M, and a sodium hydroxide to sodium silicate ratio of 1:2.5. Basalt fiber was added at 0.5%, 0.75%, and 1% by volume. All specimens were cured at 80 ºC for 24 h. The mechanical properties evaluated included compressive strength, splitting tensile strength, and flexural strength. The results showed that basalt fiber significantly improved all measured properties. At 28 days, the compressive strength increased by 11.67%, 14.85%, and 17.5%, the splitting tensile strength by 20%, 27.5%, and 38.75%, and the flexural strength by 21.6%, 32.14%, and 42.73%, respectively.
The advancement of cement alternatives in the construction materials industry is fundamental to sustainable development. Geopolymer is the optimal substitute for ordinary Portland cement, which produces 80% less CO2 emissions than ordinary Portland cement. Metakaolin was used as one of the raw materials in the geopolymerization process. This research examines the influence of three different percentages of sulfate (0.00038, 1.532, and 16.24) % in sand per molarity of NaOH on the compressive strength of metakaolin-based geopolymer mortar (MK-GPM). Samples were prepared with two different molarities (8M and 12M) and cured at room temperature. The best compressive strength value (56.98MPa) was recorded with 12M w
... Show MoreThis study is concerned with the effect of adding two kinds of ceramic materials on the mechanical properties of (Al-7%Si- 0.3%Mg) alloy, which are zirconia with particle size (20μm > P.S ≥ 0.1μm) and alumina with particle size (20μm > P.S ≥ 0.1μm) and adding them to the alloy with weight ratios (0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1%). Stirring casting method has been used to make composite material by using vortex technique which is used to pull the particles to inside the melted metals and distributed them homogenously.
After that solution treatment was done to the samples at (520ºC) and artificial ageing at (170ºC) in different times, it has been noticed that the values of hardness is increased with the aging time of the o
... Show MoreThe massive growth of the automotive industry and the development of vehicles use lead to produce a huge amount of waste tire rubber. Rubber tires are non-biodegradable, resulting in environmental problems such as fire risks. In this search, the flexural behavior of steel fiber reinforced self-compacting concrete (SFRSCC) beams containing different percentages and sizes of waste tire rubbers were studied and compared them with the flexural behavior of SCC and SFRSCC. Micro steel fiber (straight type) with aspect ratio 65 was used in mixes. The replacement of coarse and fine aggregate was 20% and 10% with chip and crumb rubber. Also, the replacement of limestone dust and silica fume was 50%, 25%, and 12% with ground rubbe
... Show MoreIron-Epoxy composite samples were prepared by added
different weight percentages (0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 wt %) from Iron
particles in the range of (30-40μm) as a particle size. The contents
were mixed carefully, and placed a circular dies with a diameter of
2.5 cm. Different mechanical tests (Shore D Hardness, Tensile
strength, and Impact strength ) were carried out for all samples. The
samples were immersed in water for ten weeks, and after two weeks
the samples were take-out and drying to conducting all mechanical
tests were repeated for all samples. The hardness values increased
when the Iron particle concentration increased while the Impact
strength is not affected by the increasing of Iron particles
c
A series of experiments have been taken out to test the validity of the effect of Aluminum hydrate on its interaction with Aluminum during sintering of aluminum metal matrix. The approach has been shown to be valid and several compositions have been fabricated. The alumina hydrate particle size and the amount of alumina hydrate in the composites are also shown to have an influence on the extent of densification.
The densities for all sintered specimens were measured. It was found that density increases as compaction pressure increases, the density decreases as particles size increases. At 400 MPa there is an optimum particles size which is (90-125) µm to reach maximum density and the density decreases as volume fraction increase
... Show MoreFlexible pavements are subjected to three main distress types: fatigue crack, thermal crack, and permanent deformation. Under severe climate conditions, thermal cracking particularly contributes largely to a considerable scale of premature deterioration of pavement infrastructure worldwide. This challenge is especially relevant for Europe, as weather conditions vary significantly throughout the year. Hydrated lime (HL) has been recognized as an effective additive to improve the mechanical properties of asphalt concrete for pavement applications. Previous research has found that a replacement of conventional limestone dust filler using hydrated lime at 2.5% of the total weight of aggregates generated an optimum improvement in the mec
... Show MoreIn this work polymeric composites were done from unsaturated polyester as a matrix reinforced with glass fiber type (E-glass) with two different volume fraction 20% & 40%. Fatigue tests showed that the number of fatigue cycles to failure limit for samples reinforced with uniform (woven Roving 0-90°) E-glass fiber and random (continuous fibers) with volume fraction 40% more than that for the same samples with volume fraction 20%. Also the fatigue results showed that the uniform samples failed with fatigue cycles more than that of random.
The current work studies the effect of adding chopped carbon fiber (CCF) on gypsum plaster properties (precisely the compressive strength and the modulus of rupture). The research plan consists of using six mixes of gypsum plaster; these mixes are divided into two groups according to the (Water/Gypsum) ratios (0.5 & 0.6). Each group was divided into three subgroups according to CCF volume fraction (Vf): 0.0%, 0.2% and 0.4%. Three cubic (50×50×50) mm and three prismatic (40×40×160) mm samples were performed for each mix. It was found that, the addition of CCF to the gypsum plaster mixes increases both the compressive strength and the modulus of rupture for both (W/G) ratios, an
The purpose of this study is designate quenching and tempering heat treatment by using Taguchi technique to determine optimal factors of heat treatment (austenitizing temperature, percentage of nanoparticles, type of base media, nanoparticles type and soaking time) for increasing hardness, wear rate and impact energy properties of 420 martensitic stainless steel. An (L18) orthogonal array was chosen for the design of experiment. The optimum process parameters were determined by using signal-to-noise ratio (larger is better) criterion for hardness and impact energy while (Smaller is better) criterion was for the wear rate. The importance levels of process parameters that effect on hardness, wear rate and impact energy propertie
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