For structural concrete members that may expose to serious earthquake, overload or accident impact, the design of ductility must be given the same importance as the flexural strength. The aim of this investigation is to study the change in ductility of structural concrete flexural members during their exposure to limited cycles of repeated loading. Twenty full-scale beam specimens have been fabricated in to two identical groups; each group consisted of ten specimens. The first group was tested under monotonic static loading to failure and regarded as control beams, while the specimens of the second group were subjected to ten cycles of repeated loading with constant load interval, which ranged between 40% and 60% of ultimate load. Specimens in each group were categorized as follows: two traditional reinforced concrete specimens with different intensity of tension reinforcement; three partially prestressed specimens with bonded strands; three partially prestressed specimens with unbonded strands; and two fully prestressed concrete specimens. The main variable, which was considered for all specimens was the partial prestressing ratio (PPR). It was observed that, the ductility of reinforced concrete beams was insignificantly increased during subjecting to limited repeated loading. For fully prestressed and partially prestressed concrete beams with high level of PPR, the ductility was significantly enhanced, while, it was decreased for specimens with small level of PPR.
As an alternative to Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), the alkali-activated binders have been developed with better technical characteristics and more extended durability. The Alkali-Activated Iraqi Natural Pozzolans (AANP) could produce geopolymer cementation building materials and make them ecologically acceptable. The primary advantage of geopolymer cement is that it has a lower environmental effect that contributes to it. The engineering characteristics of geopolymer concrete produced using activated Iraqi natural Pozzolan are summarized in this research. The mechanical properties, modulus of elasticity, and ultrasonic pulse velocity of various concrete mixes were determined via exp
This study reports the fabrication of tin oxide (SnO2) thin films using pulsed laser deposition (PLD). The effect of 60Co (300, 900, and 1200 Gy) gamma radiation on the structural, morphological, and optical features is systematically demonstrated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and ultraviolet-visible light analysis (UV-Vis), respectively In XRD tests, the size of the crystallites decreased from 45.5 to 40.8 nm for the control samples and from 1200 Gy to 60Co for the irradiated samples. Using FESEM analysis, the particle diameter revealed a similar trend to that attained using XRD; in particular, the average diameters were 93.8 and
... Show MoreThin films of pure tin mono-sulfide SnS and tin mono-sulfide for (1,2,3,4)% fluorine SnS:F with Thicknesses of (0.85 ±0.05) ?m and (0.45±0.05) ?m respectively were prepared by chemical spray pyrolysis technique. the effect of doping of F on structural and optical properties has been studied. X-Ray diffraction analysis showed that the prepared films were polycrystalline with orthorhombic structure. It was found that doping increased the intensity of diffraction peaks. Optical properties of all samples were studied by recording the absorption and transmission spectrum in range of wave lengths (300-900) nm. The optical energy gap for direct forbidden transi
... Show MoreThe magnetic properties of a pure Nickel metal and Nickel-Zinc-Manganese ferrites having the chemical formula Ni0.1(Zn0.4Mn0.6)0.9Fe2O4 were studied. The phase formation and crystal structure was studied by using x-ray diffraction which confirmed the formation of pure single spinel cubic phase with space group (Fd3m) in the ferrite. The samples microstructure was studied with scanning electron microstructure and EDX. The magnetic properties of the ferrite and nickel metal were characterized by using a laboratory setup with a magnetic field in the range from 0-500 G. The ferrite showed perfect soft spinel phase behavior while the nickel sample showed higher magnetic loss an
... Show MoreCadmium sulfide (CdS) thin films with n-type semiconductor characteristics were prepared by flash evaporating method on glass substrates. Some films were annealed at 250 oC for 1hr in air. The thicknesses of the films was estimated to be 0.5µ by the spectrometer measurement. Structural, morphological, electrical, optical and photoconductivity properties of CdS films have been investigated by X-ray diffraction, AFM, the Hall effect, optical transmittance spectra and photoconductivity analysis, respectively. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern shows that CdS films are in the stable hexagonal crystalline structure. Using Debye Scherrerś formula, the average grain size for the samples was found to be 26 nm. The transmittance of the
... Show MoreThis contribution reports a comprehensive investigation into the structural, electronic and thermal properties of bulk and surface terbium dioxide (TbO2); a material that enjoys wide spectra of catalytic and optical applications. Our calculated lattice dimension of 5.36 Å agrees well with the corresponding experimental value at 5.22 Å. Density of states configuration of the bulk structure exhibits a semiconducting nature. Thermo-mechanical properties of bulk TbO2 were obtained based on the quasi-harmonic approximation formalism. Heat capacities, thermal expansions and bulk modulus of the bulk TbO2 were obtained under a wide range of temperatures and pressures. The dependency of these properties on operational pressure is very evident. Cle
... Show MoreCopper oxide nanoparticles (CuO NPs) were synthesized by two methods. The first was chemical method by using copper nitrate Cu (NO3)2 and NaOH, while the second was green method by using Eucalyptus camaldulensis leaves extract and Cu (NO3)2. These methods easily give a large scale production of CuO nanoparticles. X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD) reveals single phase monoclinic structure. The average crystalline size of CuO NPs was measured and used by Scherrer equation which found 44.06nm from chemical method, while the average crystalline size was found from green method was 27.2nm. The morphology analysis using atomic force microscopy showed that the grain size for CuO NPs was synthesized by chemical and green methods were 77.70 and 89.24
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