Influence of elevated temperatures on physical and compressive strength properties of concrete containing palm oil fuel ash

The residual compressive strength of concrete containing palm oil fuel ash (POFA) after exposure to elevated temperatures and subsequent cooling was investigated. Specimens from ordinary Portland cement (OPC) and POFA concrete mixes were prepared and subjected to various temperature levels. The POFA concrete contains 20% partial replacement of cement by weight and the temperature levels are; 100, 300, 500 and 800 °C. Two cooling systems which include cooling at room temperature by the natural breeze and water-spray were involved. Compressive strength test was conducted on control specimens as well as concrete specimens revived through the two cooling systems. Physical properties accompanying thermal degradations were also assessed. Residual performance as a ratio of residual strength to original strength was evaluated. The residual performance was found to be higher in POFA concrete than in the normal concrete. In addition, water-cooling was realized to aggravate strength reduction in both normal and POFA concretes when compared with air-cooling. High temperature and cooling system were also found to have great influence on physical properties, such as; mass loss, discolouration and crack patterns.     

The effect of the shape and size of the pores on the mechanical properties of porous HAP-based bioceramics

In this study, the influence of the shape and size of the pores on the mechanical properties of the obtained porous HAP-based bioceramics was investigated. The porous HAP-based bioceramics were obtained starting from spherical calcium hydroxyapatite powder, obtained by hydrothermal syntheses. The number of shapeless inter-agglomerate pores decreased and amount of spherical intra-agglomerate pores increased on increasing the sintering temperature from 1100 °C to 1250 °C. The shape of pores also changed with thermal treatment of specimens; the small pores remained spherical while the larger pores became more spherical in shape, as was proved by image analysis. A three-dimensional, finite element unit cell model was applied to evaluate the influence of pore shape on the mechanical strength of HAP ceramics. By analyzing the effect of the shape of pores to the fracture toughness of sintered porous HAP bioceramics, it was observed that the more spherical the pores were, the tougher became the bioceramics. After sintering at 1250 °C for 2 h, measured toughness was 1.31 MPa m^1/2, which is a relatively high value for this type of bioceramics.     

Effect of phosphine on acid corrosion of iron

The effect of the phosphine-concentration (10^?8–10^?3 M) in strong acid solutions (pH = 0) on the corrosion rate of pure iron and Fe- 0.12% P alloy has been investigated. It was shown that at low concentrations (10^?7–10^?6M), phosphine accelerates the corrosion of iron, whereas at adequately high concentrations (10^?5–10^?3 M) it has inhibitory properties. In the presence of PH₃ the cathodic reduction of hydrogen ions is strongly accelerated. At the same time, the increase in PH₃ concentration causes an increase of surface coverage by PH₃ molecules, which results in the inhibition of both partial electrode processes.     

Design optimisation of a solar-energy harnessing system for stimulating an irrigation pump

Water from below ground level is to be raised, for the irrigation of a desert area near Cairo, Egypt, by harnessing solar power. The solar-energy collector is an array of gravity-return heat pipes, each surrounded by a cylindrical high-vacuum enclosure. The prime mover, in the form of a multi-vane expander, operates in an organic Rankine-cycle using trichlorotrifluoroethane as the working fluid. For specified conditions, the performances and optimal output temperatures of the collector (so that maximum overall efficiency of the system can be achieved) are predicted.     

A pattern based PSO approach for block matching in motion estimation

Block matching motion estimation is a popular method in developing video coding applications. A new algorithm has been proposed for reducing the number of search points using a pattern based particle swarm optimization (PSO) for motion estimation. The conventional particle swarm optimization has been modified to provide accurate solutions in motion estimation problems. This leads to very low computational cost and good estimation accuracy. Due to the center biased nature of the videos, the proposed approach uses an initial pattern to speed up the convergence of the algorithm. Simulation results show that improvements over other fast block matching motion estimation algorithms could be achieved with 31%～63% of search point reduction, without degradation of image quality.     

Use of micelles in photogalvanic cell for solar energy conversion and storage: Azur A-glucose system

Sodium lauryl sulphate (NaLS), tetradecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (TTAB) and Brij-35 were used in a photogalvanic cell containing azur A as a photosensitizer and glucose as a reductant for solar energy conversion and storage. The photopotential and photocurrent generated by the cell in the presence of NaLS were 811.0 mV and 1470 μA, respectively. The effect of variation of the concentrations of the surfactants on the electrical output, the fill factor, the conversion efficiency and the performance of the cell in the dark was studied in detail.     

Characterization of Thermal-Sprayed HAP and HAP/TiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> Coatings for Biomedical Applications

In the present study, hydroxyapatite (HAP) coating along with HAP/TiO₂ coating has been deposited by high-velocity flame spray (HVFS) technique onto 316LSS. Titania was used as a bond coat and HAP as top coat in HAP/TiO₂ coating. The main aim of the study is to investigate the corrosion behavior of thermal spray coating of HAP and HAP/TiO₂ on steel. Electrochemical corrosion testing was carried out using potentiodynamic polarization test. The corrosion behavior of bare and as-sprayed specimens was analyzed in simulated body fluid known as Hank’s solution. As-sprayed specimens along with corroded specimens were further characterized by XRD, SEM/EDS, and x-ray mapping analysis. It was observed that the HAP/TiO₂ coating possessed higher microhardness (280 Hv) as compared to HAP coating (254 Hv). Surface roughness also got enhanced in case of HAP/TiO₂ coating (9.35 μm) as compared to pure HAP coating (7.37 μm). The porosity of the HAP coating was found to be higher than the bond coating. It was observed that the Ca/P ratio almost resembled that of the natural bone composition. The corrosion resistance of steel increased after the deposition of HAP and HAP/TiO₂ coatings. The maximum corrosion resistance was exhibited by HAP/TiO₂ coating.     

Tapered element oscillating microbalance (TEOM) studies of isobutane,n‐butane and propane sorption in β‐ and Y‐zeolites

A TEOM is used to elucidate the adsorption/desorption characteristics of alkylation reactants on USY‐ and β‐zeolites. Equilibrium adsorption isotherms were obtained on USY‐ and β‐zeolites using n‐butane, isobutane and propane as proxy reactant molecules (T = 303–398 K, adsorbate partial pressure 0–1.2 bar). Analysis of the transient adsorption/desorption profiles of these molecules from either a bed of the zeolite or pelletized particles of the crystals (with mean size < 1 μm) demonstrate that diffusion in the secondary meso‐/macroporous structure formed in the packing or the pellets controls the overall sorption rates. The experimental adsorption/desorption profiles from the pelletized zeolites were regressed with available mathematical models to obtain effective meso‐/macropore diffusivities for reactant molecules, and nearly perfect fits of the experimental and the modeled profiles. Taking into account the dead volume in the system, a criterion for reliable measurements of either micropore or mesopore diffusivities by the TEOM technique is derived. © 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2010