Advanced Materials Research Vol. 1119

Abstract: Nickel alloys have wide-spread applications in mechanical, tribological and corrosion components such as clutches, cylinder liners, pistons in the automotive industry and marine components in sea water owing to its relative corrosion resistant & good thermal conductivity. The presence of silicon results in reduction of the co-efficient of thermal expansion of nickel & produces an alloy with good casting machining & corrosion characteristics. Further it is reported that addition of silica, improves the mechanical properties which in turn has profound influence on the mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of Nickel-SiO2 alloys. Therefore an investigation in the present research will be made to fabricate and evaluate the microstructure, corrosion of chilled composites consisting of nickel matrix and fused SiO2 particles as the reinforcement (size 40-150 µm) in the matrix. The reinforcement being added ranges from 3 to 12 wt. % in steps of 3%. The resulting composites cast in moulds containing metallic and non metallic chill block (MS, SiC & Cu) were tested for their microstructure and corrosion behaviors. The main objective of the present research is to obtain fine grain Ni/SiO2 chilled sound composite having very good mechanical and corrosion properties.

Abstract: The polymer blends offer end products with better thermo-mechanical properties and they can be more economical. Hence, the interest in the blends by the plastics industry has been increasing and the industry has been moving towards more complex systems.In the present work, an attempt was made to improve compatibility in a polymer blend composed of two normally incompatible constituents, namely, low density polyethylene (LDPE) and polystyrene (PS), through the addition of a compatibilizer. The compatibilizing agent, styrene–ethylene-butadiene–styrene block copolymer (SEBS), was added to the polymer blend in ratios of 5, 10, 20, and 30 wt% with a twin-screw extruder. The morphology and the compatibility of the mixtures were examined by scanning electron microscopy. Further, all blends of LDPE/PS/SEBS were tested to examination to obtain their tribological properties. The result showed that the addition of SEBS to the PS/LDPE blend increased the friction coefficient and the wear rate.

Abstract: Vulcanized rubber surface was modified by dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma system. The hydrophilic surface can be achieved in the shortly treatment and confirmed by contact angle measurement. The increasing hydrophilic group on rubber surface was monitored by Attenuated total reflectance fourier transform infrared spectrometer called as ATR-FTIR. The surface roughness was investigated to decrease from 202.13 to 82.02 nm after DBD plasma at treatment time 180s.The optimum conditions for making contact angle lower to 22 degree by DBD plasma treatment in this work were; treatment time, 15 s; input voltage on a neon sign transformer, 200 V; electrode gap, 6 mm.

Abstract: Metallization of Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRP) composites aggrandized their application to aircraft, automobile, and wind power industries. However, their application is impeded by insufficient coating adhesion strength. In order to enhance coating adhesion strength between metal coating and fiber-reinforced polymer composites substrate, a new electroless-electrolytic plating process is proposed. The plating process of composite includes the preparation composite specimens with interlayer, micro-roughening, decreasing, acid activation, electroless plating and electroplating. The coating adhesion strength was measured by pull-out test.

Abstract: This research work investigates the surface degradation of blade specimen which is made from epoxy resin mixed with non-linear fillers of Zinc oxide, Aluminium oxide and Sodium silicate in different ratio percentage. Test on surface trackability of each specimen according to IEC 60587 standard. Then, choose the best specimen which has achieved a high tracking resistance to test against lightning impulse voltage according to IEC 60243-3 at ± 60 kV_peak. A comparison has been made with the pure epoxy resin specimen as a controlled sample. The results showed that, the epoxy resin specimen with the ratio of 40% by weight of Aluminium oxide filler slow down the tracking process better than other specimen type. And from the result of lightning impulse withstand voltage test, it is found that all of the specimen were not affected.

Abstract: The composite element of 20 mm in thickness were manufactured using high volume fly ash, silica fume as alternative hydraulic binders and Portland cement Type II. Pine wood shavel as by product of local small wood working industries were used as the composite filler. The elements were given in situ wet and dry treatment for 9 months. Visually there is no fiber degradation as a result of the interaction of the environment. The assessment were done to the elements bending strength and dimensional properties. Increase in MoRafter 180 days of exposure shown that mechanically, this degradation is not seen yet. The increment of MoR ( 213%) compare to that of 28 days might be affected by the formation of calcium hydroxide (CH) or ettringite in the transition zone. The use of pozzolan showed also a delay or minimize degradation of composites while improving the pore structure, and minimize the mineralization of the fiber bond with the cement matrix. The water absorption is 4,22% at 180 days, 7,94% at 120 days and 12,38% at 28 days, in line with the 68% decrease in Thickness Swelling (TS). This unoccured degradation could also be affected by the presence of silica fume in the binder matrix. After 270 days of exposure under tropical condition, the flexural strength started to decrease.

Abstract: Curcumin diethyl disuccinate (CDD) is a succinate prodrug of curcumin that hasbetter anti-colon cancer and antinociceptive activities than curcumin and improved stability in phosphate buffer at pH 7.4. However, formulation of CDD for pharmaceutical use is limited. Therefore, this study focused on preparation of chitosan/alginate nanoparticles containing CDD and optimization of the formulation using response surface methodology. Chitosan/alginate nanoparticles were prepared by o/w emulsification and ionotropic gelification. The optimized formulation of nanoparticles containing CDD had achitosan/alginate mass ratio of 0.05:1, a CDD concentration of 3 mg/ml, and a Tween 80^®content of 4.05% (w/v). Response surface methodology was found to bean effective technique for optimization of the preparation of chitosan/alginatenanoparticles using a limited number of experiments.

Abstract: Waste that was generated by human activities needed to be treated properly in order to reduce harmful to environment. At present, landfill is the most common treatment method of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) all over the world, due to it’s lowest net treatment cost when comparing with the other methods, i.e. thermal treatment and composting. However, it is quite clear that the landfill method is not an ultimate and sustainable way for the MSW treatment. Indeed, it works in such a way that the waste would be transferred into land and waiting for final disposal process in the future, causing a large land usage and long-term treatment. But still, there are a lot of valuable materials that needs to be reclaimed inside the dump waste. Green manufacturing of Eco-Materials from Landfill Dump Site by urban mining has been developed. The pilot reclaiming landfill has a daily capacity of 50 Tons, by using land excavation and passing through trommel screen and magnetic separation. The reclaim materials consist of non-degradable plastic, metal, glass and soil. Metal and glass have been used for recycling purposed. The non-degradable plastic has a proportion around 35% of reclaim materials in the form of Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) and shall be used for green and clean energy to produce electricity by using gasification technology. This research described the green manufacturing process of urban mining to get the valuable eco-materials. The results shown that the new and eco-materials from landfill dump site can be used as clean and green energy that helps reduce the global warming effects and impact to environment.

Abstract: While ozonation and biological activated carbon (O₃/BAC) process was widely used in advanced water treatment, the control of ozonation by-product was one of the most important objects in water treatment. In this study, the filtered water of Huyan water plant, treating Yellow River water in Shanxi, was used as the raw water to investigate the control of ozonation by-products and the biological stability by O₃/BAC process. Results showed that the bromate, formaldehyde and AOC concentration of ozonation effluent were increased, yet BAC filter could effectively reduce the concentration of the by-products. When ozone dosage was less than 3.5 mg/L, the bromate of BAC filter effluent was lower than 10 ug/L. And the formaldehyde was less than 20 ug/L in the whole range of ozone dosage. Moreover, the optimal ozone dosage for the highest AOC removal of 63.25% was 2.0 mg/L. The results could provide an operation parameter for Shanxi Yellow River water advanced treatment, thus to ensure the water quality safety.

Abstract: Blends from sago starch, chitosan, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and distilled water have been prepared and subjected to gamma irradiation with doses ranging from 10 to 30 kGy. In some circumstances silver nitrate solution was added to the blends. The blends were then dried in an oven to form films. Some characteristic of the films were then determined.