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In this study, porous carbon has been prepared through potassium hydroxide (KOH) activation of coconut fiber (CF) and subsequent carbonization in the presence of an inert gas. The activated carbons (AC) were prepared via carbonization of the precursor at different temperatures. Subsequently, their electromagnetic wave absorption (EMWA) performance was investigated at X-band frequency. The phase crystallinity, porous features, and degree of graphitization of the activated carbons were studied using XRD, nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherm, and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. Using the BET method, the activated carbon prepared at 750 °C displayed a high specific surface area of 602.9 m2 g−1 and an average pore size of 6 nm, which confirms the extant of mesopores. The EMWA was studied using COMSOL Multiphysics software based on the finite element method. Results show that the activated carbon prepared at 750 °C attained an optimal reflection loss of −45.6 dB at 10.96 GHz with a corresponding effective bandwidth of 3.5 GHz at a thickness of 3.0 mm. In conclusion, this study interestingly shows that porous carbon obtained from coconut fiber has great potential for attenuating electromagnetic waves. Resumen: En este estudio, el carbono poroso se ha preparado mediante la activación con hidróxido de potasio (KOH) de la fibra de coco (CF) y la posterior carbonización en presencia de un gas inerte. Los carbones activados (AC) se prepararon mediante carbonización del precursor a diferentes temperaturas. Posteriormente, se investigó su rendimiento de absorción de ondas electromagnéticas (EMWA) en la frecuencia de banda X. La cristalinidad de fase, las características porosas y el grado de grafitización de los carbones activados se estudiaron utilizando XRD, isoterma de adsorción/desorción de nitrógeno y espectroscopia Raman, respectivamente. Empleando el método BET, el carbón activado preparado a 750 °C mostró una alta superficie específica de 602,9 m2 g−1 y un tamaño de poro medio de 6 nm, lo que confirma la existencia de mesoporos. La EMWA se estudió utilizando el software COMSOL Multiphysics basado en el método de elementos finitos. Los resultados muestran que el carbón activado preparado a 750 °C alcanzó una pérdida de reflexión óptima de −45,6 dB a 10,96 GHz con un ancho de banda efectivo correspondiente de 3,5 GHz con un grosor de 3,0 mm. En conclusión, este estudio muestra de manera interesante que el carbono poroso obtenido de la fibra de coco tiene un gran potencial para atenuar las ondas electromagnéticas.

This study explores the potential of using cobalt ferrite (CF) nanoparticles grown in situ on eggshell membranes (ESM) to mitigate the increasing problem of electromagnetic interference (EMI). A simple carbonization process was adopted to synthesize CF nanoparticles on ESM. The study further examines the composites' surface morphology and chemical composition and evaluates their microwave absorption performance (MAP) at X-band frequency. Results showed that the composite of CF and ESM - CESM@CF, exhibited a strong RL peak value of −39.03 mm with an optimal thickness of 1.5 mm. The combination of CF and ESM demonstrates excellent impedance matching and EM wave attenuation. The presence of numerous interfaces, conduction loss from the morphology, interfacial polarisation, and dual influence from both CF and ESM contribute to the high MAP of the composite. CESM@CF composite is projected as an excellent biomass-based nano-composite for EM wave absorption applications.

Joining of components with adhesive bonding (AB) is a wide-spread technique that distributes the load over a greater area than mechanical joints. However, peak stresses at the overlap edges can lead to premature failure. In the current study a novel procedure was used to solve this problem by using a hybrid weld joint to decrease the stress concentration at the edges. Due to the different mechanisms of joining, AB and welding cannot be combined in one place since interactions degrade the mechanical performance of both joints. Therefore, in this study, the focus was to manufacture a hybrid joint where additional sheets were manually welded at the overlap edges of the adhesively bonded lap joint. By doing so, bilateral effects such as burning of the adhesive by welding and weld defect formation due to presence of adhesive layer were eliminated. Tensile shear tests were carried out to determine the fracture load of the adhesive, welded and hybrid joint. The fracture surfaces were examined to determine the fracture mechanism. Numerical simulations were performed with stress analysis and fracture prediction to observe the stress distribution. The hybrid joint showed superior mechanical tensile strength and deformation, when compared against the AB and welded joint. The simulation results showed that the location of the maximum stress in the hybrid joint is in the middle of the span which is in contrary to AB joints wherein the maximum stress occurs at the edge. This caused a synergetic effect of both AB and welding leading to superior mechanical properties. The resulting findings potentially provide insights for the development of new hybrid joining configurations delivering improved performance.

To tackle the problem of electromagnetic (EM) pollution and the adverse effect of EM interference, tremendous research works have been aimed at the realization of the optimal EM wave absorbing materials. In this study, Fe3O4@C microspheres with a regular size of 5–7 μm were prepared via a simple hydrothermal process and subsequent high-temperature calcination. The carbon microspheres were produced from the pyrolysis of a carboxyl and carbohydrate group. The Fe3O4@C microspheres are made up of Fe3O4 nanoparticles entangled with even distribution on the carbon microsphere. The Fe3O4@C microspheres displayed a good BET surface area (181.89 m2/g). A Fe3O4@C-30 sample exhibited a minimum reflection loss value of −47 dB at 16.89 GHz, with 2.0 mm matching thickness. Large amounts of EM waves transmit through the material due to favorable impedance match at the Fe3O4@C microspheres air interface, this resulted in low reflections of the EM waves at the boundary.

Relevance. In design and calculation of civil engineering structures, several standard commercial software packages, which are successfully applied to solve everyday engineering problems, are traditionally used. However, when it is necessary to design the models of complex shape shell structures with defining surfaces based on parametric equations, such programs often have certain drawbacks. The aim of the work - analysis of existing types of commercial computational software packages in order to check which allow to design finite element models for shell structures with median surfaces of complex geometry given by parametric equations. Methods. The analysis of commercial computational software packages is carried out by studying the software manuals, and by building and calculating a model in the shape of a right helicoid as a test example. To evaluate the results of the stress-strain state of a shell with a middle surface in the form of a right helicoid, an analytical calculation method based on the Reissner’s equations and Fourier series expansion is used. Results. A review of modern commercial computational software packages as applied to models defined by parametric equations is carried out. A model for a shell structure with a median surface in the form of right helicoid is built. The numerical results of stress-strain behavior of the right helicoid are obtained and analyzed in comparison with the analytical solutions obtained using the Reissner’s equations with Fourier series expansion. The pros and cons of several popular means of software are presented.

Development of environment-friendly natural fiber composites has been a recent trend. However, due to the fact that natural fibers permit high level of moisture absorption from the surroundings, it can lead to weak bindings and degradation of composite properties. This paper presents an experimental study on the dynamic performance of flax fiber composite beams manufactured at different relative humidity (RH) levels. Five types of flax fiber-reinforced composite materials were made under different RH values, i.e., dry, 35%, 50%, 70%, and 95% RH, and beam samples were prepared using the composite. Impact hammer testing was conducted to measure the natural frequencies and damping of the beams. It was found that for the first three modes, while the resonant frequencies are very close for most samples, there is a clear drop of frequencies for the composite fabricated at 95% RH. Along with an increase of the RH level, the damping ratios for all the three modes have reported a slight increase, but the variation is not significant.

Abstract Our study is dedicated to the problem with initial and boundary conditions in the theory of thermoelasticity for micropolar materials with pores. We obtain some results regarding the existence and uniqueness of a finite energy solution of this mixed problem by generalizing the corresponding results obtained by Dafermos in the context of classical elasticity. In some specific conditions we prove some properties regarding the possibility to control the finite energy solution.

Moisture present in plant fibres is considered to be detrimental to the performance of composites. In general, a drying stage is performed on the plant fibre fabrics before manufacturing the composites since it is seemed to allow better output. This work provides an analysis of the effect of moisture in flax fibres on the overall quality of epoxy/flax biocomposites. Flax fibre fabrics were conditioned at different relative humidity (RH) environments and composites were manufactured by vacuum infusion technique. Composites were characterized by mechanical and microstructural analysis. Results showed that manufacturing composites with highly humid fabrics (95% RH) generates post processing deformation of finished parts and also leads to poor microstructural quality. The moisture in the fibres with different RH reduced the stiffness (from 23.74 to 17.67 GPa for Young’s modulus and from 16.28 to 11.82 GPa for flexural modulus) but increased their fracture strain (from 1.87 to 2.64). Tensile strength displayed an optimum value (287.96 MPa) for fabrics conditioned at 50% RH, but flexural strength decreases continuously from 225.12 to 152.34 MPa as the moisture in the fabric increases.

The moisture absorption behavior of flax fiber-reinforced epoxy composites is deliberated to be a serious issue. This property restricts their usage as outdoor engineering structures. Therefore, this study provides an investigation of moisture in flax fibers on the performance of the flax/epoxy composite materials based on their shear responses. The ±45° aligned flax fibers exposed to different relative humidities (RH) and the vacuum infusion process was used to manufacture the composite specimens. The optimum shear strength (40.25 ± 0.75 MPa) was found for the composites manufactured with 35% RH-conditioned flax fibers, but the shear modulus was reduced consistently with increasing RH values. Although shear strength was increased because of fiber swelling with increased moisture absorption rate until 35% RH environments with good microstructures, nonetheless, strength and modulus both started to decrease after this range. A very poor microstructure has been affirmed by the SEM images of the composite samples conditioned at 90% RH environments.

This article is devoted to some fundamental aspects of “super” storage in graphite nanofibers (GNF) of “reversible” (~20–30 wt.%) and “irreversible” hydrogen (~7–10 wt.%). Extraordinary results for hydrogen “super” storage were previously published by the group of Rodriguez and Baker at the turn of the century, which been unable to be reproduced or explained in terms of physics by other researchers. For the first time, using an efficient method of processing and analysis of hydrogen thermal desorption spectra, the characteristics of the main desorption peak of “irreversible” hydrogen in GNF were determined: the temperature of the highest desorption rate (Tmax = 914–923 K), the activation energy of the desorption process (Q ≈ 40 kJ mol−1), the pre-exponential rate constant factor (K0 ≈ 2 × 10−1 s−1), and the amount of hydrogen released (~8 wt.%). The physics of hydrogen “super” sorption includes hydrogen diffusion, accompanied by the “reversible” capture of the diffusant by certain sorption “centers”; the hydrogen spillover effect, which provides local atomization of gaseous H2 during GNF hydrogenation; and the Kurdjumov phenomenon on thermoelastic phase equilibrium. It is shown that the above-mentioned extraordinary data on the hydrogen “super” storage in GNFs are neither a mistake nor a mystification, as most researchers believe.

An effective methodology for the detailed analysis of thermal desorption spectra (TDS) of hydrogen in carbon structures at micro- and nanoscale was further developed and applied for a number of TDS data of one heating rate, in particular, for graphite materials irradiated with atomic hydrogen. The technique is based on a preliminary description of hydrogen desorption spectra by symmetric Gaussians with their special processing in the approximation of the first- and the second-order reactions. As a result, the activation energies and the pre-exponential factors of the rate constants of the hydrogen desorption processes are determined, analyzed and interpreted. Some final verification of the results was completed using methods of numerical simulation of thermal desorption peaks (non-Gaussians) corresponding to the first- and the second-order reactions. The main research finding of this work is a further refinement and/or disclosure of poorly studied characteristics and physics of various states of hydrogen in microscale graphite structures after irradiation with atomic hydrogen, and comparison with the related results for nanoscale carbon structures. This is important for understanding the behavior and relationship of hydrogen in a number of cases of high energy carbon-based materials and nanomaterials.

The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of veneering technique (hand-layering vs. milling) on the fracture resistance of bi-layer implant-supported zirconia-based hybrid-abutment crowns. Mandibular molar copings were anatomically designed and milled. Copings were then veneered by hand-layering (HL) (n = 20) and milling using the Cad-On technique (LD) (n = 20). Crowns were cemented to zirconia hybrid-abutments. Ten samples of each group acted as a control while the remaining ten samples were subjected to fatigue in a chewing simulator. Crowns were loaded between 50 and 100 N for 1.2 million cycles under simultaneous temperature fluctuation between 5 and 55 °C. Crowns were then subjected to static load a to fracture test. Data were statistically analysed using the one-way ANOVA. Randomly selected crowns from each group were observed under scanning electron microscopy to view fractured surfaces. Study results indicate that during fatigue, LD crowns had a 100% survival rate; while HL crowns had a 50% failure rate. Fracture resistance of LD crowns was statistically significantly higher than that of HL crowns at the baseline and after fatigue (p ≤ 0.05). However, fatigue did not cause a statistically significant reduction in fracture resistance in both LD and HL groups (p > 0.05). Copings fractured in the LD crowns only and the fracture path was different in both LD and HL groups. According to the results, it was concluded that milled veneer implant-supported hybrid-abutment crowns exhibit significantly higher fracture resistance, and better withstand clinical masticatory loads in the posterior region compared to the hand-layered technique. Also, fatigue application and artificial aging caused no significant strength reduction in both techniques. Clinical significance: Different veneering techniques and materials (hand-layering or milling) act differently to clinical forces and environment and may be prone to early chipping during service. Therefore, practitioners are urged to consider the appropriate veneering protocol for posterior implant-supported hybrid-abutment restorations.

Hot isostatic pressing can be utilized to reduce the anisotropic mechanical properties of Al–Si–Mg alloys fabricated by laser powder-bed fusion (L-PBF). The implementation of post processing densification processes can open up new fields of application by meeting high quality requirements defined by aircraft and automotive industries. A gas pressure of 75 MPa during hot isostatic pressing lowers the critical cooling rate required to achieve a supersaturated solid solution. Direct aging uses this pressure related effect during heat treatment in modern hot isostatic presses, which offer advanced cooling capabilities, thereby avoiding the necessity of a separate solution annealing step for Al–Si–Mg cast alloys. Hot isostatic pressing, followed by rapid quenching, was applied to both sand cast as well as laser powder-bed fused Al–Si–Mg aluminum alloys. It was shown that the critical cooling rate required to achieve a supersaturated solid solution is significantly higher for additively manufactured, age-hardenable aluminum alloys than it is for comparable sand cast material. The application of hot isostatic pressing can be combined with heat treatment, consisting of solution annealing, quenching and direct aging, in order to achieve both a dense material with a small number of preferred locations for the initiation of fatigue cracks and a high material strength.

The limitations of investment casting of cobalt-based alloys are claimed to be less problematic with significant improvements in metal additive manufacturing by selective laser melting (SLM). Despite these advantages, the metallic devices are likely to display mechanical anisotropy in relation to build orientations, which could consequently affect their performance “in vivo.” In addition, there is inconclusive evidence concerning the requisite composition and postprocessing steps (e.g., heat treatment to relieve stress) that must be completed prior to using the devices. In the current paper, we evaluate the microstructure of ternary cobalt-chromium-molybdenum (Co-Cr-Mo) and cobalt-chromium-tungsten (Co-Cr-W) alloys built with direct metal printing and LaserCUSING SLM systems, respectively, at 0°, 30°, 60°, and 90° inclinations (Φ) in as-built (AB) and heat-treated (HT) conditions. The study also examines the tensile properties (Young’s modulus, E; yield strength, RP0.2; elongation at failure, At; and ultimate tensile strength, Rm), relative density (RD), and microhardness (HV5) and macrohardness (HV20) as relevant physicomechanical properties of the alloys. Data obtained indicate improved tensile properties and HV values after a short and cost-effective heat-treatment cycle of Co-Cr-Mo alloys; however, the process did not homogenize the microstructure of the alloy. Annealing heat treatment of Co-Cr-W led to significant isotropic characteristics with increased E and At (except for Φ = 90°) in contrast to decreased RP0.2, Rm, and HV values, compared to the AB form. Similarly, the interlaced weld-bead structures in AB Co-Cr-W were removed during heat treatment, which led to a complete recrystallization of the microstructure. Both alloys exhibited defect-free microstructures with RD exceeding 99.5%.

Im Bereich der Materialwissenschaften erfordern computergestützte Simulationen häufig die realistische Modellierung räumlicher Objektanordnungen. Im vorliegenden Artikel wird ein mathematischesWerkzeug vorgestellt, das zwei- oder dreidimensionale repräsentative Modellverteilungen definierter Größe mittels eines stochastischen Suchverfahrens ableitet.

The thermal conductivity of sintered hollow sphere structures (HSS) is investigated within the scope of this paper. For this purpose, finite element analyses based on micro-computed tomography images are performed on HSS structures. The complex geometry of the real sintered HSS sample is accurately captured with this new hybrid method. The numerical computations are investigated in three perpendicular directions (i.e., x, y and z) in order to examine the anisotropic material behaviour. The results indicate that sintered HSS reveals quasi-isotropic behaviour in terms of effective thermal conductivity. For the first time, the influence of the sphere wall thickness of real HSS is investigated. To this end, the computed tomography data is carefully manipulated by changing the thickness of the hollow sphere wall. The variation of the wall thickness alters the relative density and has a significant influence on the thermal conductivity. The influence of the relative density on the thermal conductivity reveals a linear dependency.

Several zigzag and armchair single-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were modeled by a commercial finite element package and their vibrational behavior was studied. Numerous computational tests with different boundary conditions and different bending angles were performed. Both computational and analytical results were compared. It was shown that the computational results are in good agreement with the analytical calculations in the case of straight tubes. In addition, it was concluded that the natural frequency of straight armchair and zigzag CNTs increases by increasing the chiral number of both armchair and zigzag CNTs. It was also revealed that the natural frequency of CNTs with higher chirality decreases by introducing bending angles. Nevertheless, the influence of increasing bending angle on the natural frequency of armchair and zigzag CNTs with lower chiral number is almost negligible.

This paper presents the design and development of a low cost and reliable maximal voluntary bite force sensor which can be manufactured in-house by using an acrylic laser cutting machine. The sensor has been designed for ease of fabrication, assembly, calibration, and safe use. The sensor is capable of use within an hour of commencing production, allowing for rapid prototyping/modifications and practical implementation. The measured data shows a good linear relationship between the applied force and the electrical resistance of the sensor. The output signal has low drift, excellent repeatability, and a large measurable range of 0 to 700 N. A high signal-to-noise response to human bite forces was observed, indicating the high potential of the proposed sensor for human bite force measurement.

The paper investigates the behaviour of closed- and open-cell cellular structures under uniaxial impact loading by means of computational simulations using the explicit nonlinear finite element code LS-DYNA. Simulations also consider the influence of pore fillers and the base material strain rate sensitivity. The behaviour of closed-cell cellular structure has been evaluated with use of the representative volume element, where the influence of residual gas inside the closed pores has been studied. Open- cell cellular structure was modelled as a whole to properly account for considered fluid flow through the cells, which significantly influences macroscopic behaviour of the cellular structure. The fluid has been modelled by applying a meshless Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) method. Parametric computational simulations provide grounds for optimization of cellular structures to satisfy different requirements, which makes them very attractive for use in general engineering applications.