Background: The daily cleaning routine of the silicone maxillofacial prostheses by the patient may cause some alteration in the materials properties. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of different disinfection procedures on some properties of silicon dioxide reinforced Cosmesil M511 HTV maxillofacial silicone. Materials and Methods: One hundred and sixty (160) specimens were prepared by mixing 5% SiO2 nano particles and 0.5% intrinsic cream color into the silicone polymer according to manufacturer's instructions. Specimens were divided into 4 groups according to the performed test (tear strength, surface hardness, surface roughness and color) with 40 specimens each. Each group was further subdivided according to the disinfection procedure conducted (control, microwave exposure, neutral soap and 4% chlorhexidine gluconate). Measurements for tear strength were done using universal testing machine. Surface hardness test was carried out with a Shore A Durometer. Surface roughness was analyzed with a portable digital Profilometer. Color change was established with a Spectrophotometer. After the initial testing, all specimens were submitted to disinfection procedure 3 times a week for 60 days. Measurements were repeated and data were statistically analyzed using one-way ANOVA followed by Fisher's LSD or Games-Howell test. Results: Spectrophotometer results showed non-significant decrease in the light absorbance of all experimental groups after disinfection, indicating a strong integration between the nano filler and the polymeric chains, which was not broken during the disinfection procedure. Highly-significant increase in Shore A hardness was recorded, while the decrease in surface roughness was highly significant in all experimental groups. Tear strength reduced significantly after disinfection in all experimental groups. Conclusion: Disinfection seemed to cause different amount of alteration in all of the tested properties of silicone. High color stability is expected in this type of maxillofacial silicone after disinfection.Although microwave exposure had increased the hardness of the material, it is considered a satisfactory disinfection procedure since it caused the least effect on the tear strength and surface roughness of the material. Therefore, microwave exposure is recommended for the disinfection of maxillofacial silicone prostheses.
The study highlights the critical need to focus on the physical, motor, and technical abilities of female fencing players by developing and testing modern, scientifically-based training methodologies tailored to the specific demands of the sport. The study's objective was to assess the effectiveness of targeted three-dimensional training in enhancing the participants' motor skills and technical performance. Utilizing an experimental design, the study involved forming both experimental and control groups. The sample comprised 16 female fencers from the College of Physical Education and Sports Sciences for Girls. After excluding two players during the exploratory phase, the remaining 14 were evenly divided into experimental and contro
... Show MoreA thin film of SnSe were deposited by thermal evaporation technique on 400 ±20 nm thick glass substrates of these films were annealed at different temperatures (100,150,200 ⁰C), The effect of annealing on the characteristics of the nano crystalline SnSe thin films was investigated using XRD, UV-VIS absorption spectroscopy, Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), and Hall effect measurements. The results of X-ray displayed that all the thin films have polycrystalline and orthorhombic structure in nature, while UV-VIS study showed that the SnSe has direct band gap of nano crystalline and it is changed from 60.12 to 94.70 nm with increasing annealing temperature. Hall effect measurements showed that all the films have a positive Hall coeffic
... Show MoreSteady natural convection in a square enclosure with wall length (L= 20 cm) partially filled by saturated porous medium with same fluid (lower layer) and air (upper layer) is investigated. The conceptual study of the achievements of the heat transfer is performed under effects of bottom heating by constant heat flux (q=150,300,450,600W/m2 ) for three heaters size (0.2,0.14,0.07)m with symmetrically cooling with constant temperature on two vertical walls and adiabatic top wall. The relevant filled studied parameters are four different porous medium heights (Hp=0.25L,0.5L, 0.75L, L), Darcey number (Da1) 3.025×10-8 and (Da2) 8.852×10-4 ) and Rayleigh number range (60.354 - 241.41), (1.304×106 – 5.2166×106 ) for Da1 and Da2 cases respecti
... Show MoreThe heat transfer and flow resistance characteristics for air flow cross over circular finned tube heat exchanger has been studied numerically and experimentally. The purpose of the study was to improve the heat transfer characteristics of an annular finned-tube heat exchanger for better performance. The study has concentrated on the effect of the number of perforations and perforations shapes on the heat transfer and pressure drop across a staggered finned tube heat exchanger. The Numerical part of present study has been performed using ANSYS Fluent 14.5 using SST Turbulent model, while the experimental study consist from a test rig with different models of heat exchangers and all required measurement devices were build
... Show MoreIn Australia, most of the existing buildings were designed before the release of the Australian standard for earthquake actions in 2007. Therefore, many existing buildings in Australia lack adequate seismic design, and their seismic performance must be assessed. The recent earthquake that struck Mansfield, Victoria near Melbourne elevated the need to produce fragility curves for existing reinforced concrete (RC) buildings in Australia. Fragility curves are frequently utilized to assess buildings’ seismic performance and it is defined as the demand probability surpassing capacity at a given intensity level. Numerous factors can influence the results of the fragility assessment of RC buildings. Among the most important factors that can affe
... Show MoreA reinforced concrete frame is referred as "RIGID FRAMES". However, researches indicate that the Beam-Column joint (BCJ) is definitely not rigid. In addition, extensive research shows that failure may occur at the joint instead of in the beam or the column. Joint failure is known to be a catastrophic type which is difficult to repair.
This study was carried out to investigate the effect of hoops and column axial load on the shear strength of high-strength fiber reinforced Beam-Column Joints by using a numerical model based on finite element method using computer program ANSYS (Version 11.0). The variables are: diameter of hoops and magnitude of column axial load.
The theoretical results obtained from ANSYS program are in a good a
In this paper, chip and powder copper are used as reinforcing phase in polyester matrix to form composites. Mechanical properties such as flexural strength and impact test of polymer reinforcement copper (powder and chip) were done, the maximum flexural strength for the polymer reinforcement with copper (powder and chip) are (85.13 Mpa) and (50.08 Mpa) respectively was obtained, while the maximum observation energy of the impact test for the polymer reinforcement with copper (powder and chip) are (0.85 J) and (0.4 J) respectively