Sharif Digital Repository

As an alternative to conventional fertilizers, e.g. NPK (the Nitrogen-Phosphorous-Potassium-containing chemical fertilizers) which release their nutrients in a short time glass fertilizers are ideal as they release macro-and micronutrients for crops and plant nourishment more gradually. Also, despite conventional ones, they have no ground-water pollution. In the present study, glass fertilizers were synthesized via polymer-derived ceramics (PDC) method. Despite the melt-casting procedure, PDC needs lower temperatures in heat treatment. The precursors consist of poly-siloxane and active fillers. Thus, thanks to gaseous release during heat treatment of the present active fillers, i.e. Ca(OH)2,... 

The use of hybrid filler is a promising strategy for development of thermally conductive polymer composites. This paper reported the measurement of thermal conductivity of the epoxy composite filled with a hybrid filler of graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) and silicon carbide (SiC) microparticles. For this hybrid filler, the effect of the average size of SiC on composite thermal conductivity was examined. The results showed that the thermal synergistic effect was highly affected by the average size of the SiC. By using a hybrid filler of 11% vol. GNP and 9% vol. 1 µm-size SiC micro-particles thermal conductivity has reached 3.44 W m−1 K−1. This value is 42% higher than the thermal conductivity of... 

In this work, the influence of the clearance and post-braze heat treatment on the microstructure of 4130 steel joint brazed by BNi-4 filler metal was investigated. Samples with different clearances were heated to 1100°C and hold for 9 min. Then, some were reheated to 800°C(2hr) and 800°C(2hr)+1000°C(2hr), cycle 1 and cycle 2, respectively. Microscopy techniques and micro-hardness test were used to evaluate the microstructures. Results suggested that in this case 25μm clearance can be considered as the optimum value. Also, it was found that high temperature post-braze heat treatment can be applied as a useful technique for decreasing the fraction of the brittle phases at the joint main body  

This paper proposes four methods for improving the performance of keyword spotting (KWS) systems. Keyword models are usually created by concatenating the phoneme HMMs and garbage models consist of all phonemes HMMs. We present the results of investigations involving the use of skips in states of keyword HMMs and we focus on improving the hit ratio; then for false alarm reduction in KWS we model the words that are similar to keywords and we create HMMs for highly frequent words. These models help to improve the performance of the filler model. Two post-processing steps based on phoneme and word probabilities are used on the results of KWS to reduce the false alarms. We evaluate the... 

This study deals with the thermal conductivity of rubber-based composite friction materials used in railroad vehicles. Based on a commercially available railroad friction material, called here base material (BM), various friction materials containing different thermally conductive fillers (Cu, brass, Al, Al2O3 and talc) are fabricated and then their thermal conductivities are measured at various contents of the fillers. Addition of the thermally conductive fillers causes an increase in thermal conductivity of the friction material from 0.48 up to 5.8 W/m K, depending on the type and content of the filler. In addition, the experimental results reveal that the thermal conductivity of the... 

Since in a highly filled polymer, a major problem arises from non-uniformity of properties due to the poor dispersion of filler, the application of coupling agents have been directed to overcome this problem and also to enhance the mechanical performance of the composites by improving the adhesion at the interface. In this study, a comparison between two major coupling approaches is conducted: 1) Using PPgMA as a kind of compatibilizer which changes the nature of the matrix, 2) Using titanate coupling agent which takes action at the interface and reacts with hydroxyl groups at the inorganic filler surface, resulting in the formation of monomolecular layer on the inorganic surface to increase... 

In the present work, the effect of brazing pa rameters on the properties of the brazed joint of pure titanium and 304 stainless steel (304SS) was investigated. Three different Ag-Cu filler metals were used, while the temperature and time of brazing were in the range of 800-950°C and 5-45 minutes, respectively. The microstructural observations show that, depending on the brazing conditions, different intermetallic phases such as CuTi2, CuTi, Cu3Ti4, and FeTi were formed at the phases interface. Based on the microstructural observations, a model was developed to characterize the formation of phases at the interfaces and brazed joint. The results show that, while some phases may form during the... 

The paper aims at understanding solidification phenomena and solid state precipitations during diffusion brazing of Hastelloy X nickel base superalloy using a ternary Ni–4.5Si–3.2 B (in wt-%) filler metal. The joint is featured by the formation of Ni-rich solid solution in an isothermal solidification zone, borides/silicide formation during eutectic-type solidification in an athermal solidification zone, on-cooling precipitation of fine nickel silicides in the joint centerline, in situ precipitation of Mo–Cr-rich borides in the diffusion affected zone and grain growth in the heat affected zone. The implication of the phase transformations on the joint properties is discussed. It is shown... 

The effect of graphene (G) and graphene oxide (GO), used as the nanofiller in polymer nanocomposites (NC), on the structural and dynamic properties of polymer chains, has been studied by means of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Two polymers, i.e., poly(propylene) and poly(vinyl alcohol), are employed as matrices to cover a wider range of polymer–filler interactions. The local structural properties, e.g., density profile, average Rg, and end-to-end distance as well as dynamic properties, e.g., estimated translational and orientational relaxation times, of polymer chains are studied. In addition, the interaction energies are estimated between polymers and nanofillers for different hybrid... 

In this research, Al 3003/Zn sheets with different Zn layer thicknesses (as filler layer) have been soldered to the monolithic Al 3003 sheets. The effects of Zn layer thickness and soldering time at the peak temperature on the joint strength of soldered Al 3003 alloy by pure Zn filler (as the soldering sheets) have been evaluated. Furthermore, microstructure and fracture mechanism of Al 3003/Zn/Al 3003 soldered joints have been studied. The results indicate that by decreasing the Zn layer thickness and increasing the holding time at the peak temperature of soldering, the joint strength improves. Additionally, microscope examinations show that the fracture type of the Al 3003/Zn/Al 3003... 

This investigation aims at understanding the underlying fundamentals of the isothermal solidification phenomenon during the transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding process. The isothermal solidification is governed by solid-state diffusion of the melting point depressant (MPD) into the base material, which, in turn, is controlled by both kinetic and thermodynamic parameters; however, the latter factor is generally ignored. In this work, the competition between kinetics and thermodynamics of diffusion were considered in TLP bonding of a nickel alloy, Monel 400, using two distinct filler metals including pure copper (Cu) and Ni-Si-B filler metal. The joint generated by Ni-Si-B filler metal... 

This research evaluates the effect of filler type and content on rutting resistance of asphaltic materials by using laboratory experiments. To examine the effect of filler type, two traditional fillers (Silica sandstone powder and Portland cement) and a new recycled lime powder (Eggshell) were considered. To investigate the effect of filler content, three different filler contents were used. Marshall Stability test was performed on full mixes in order to determine the optimum binder content of the mixtures. Then, the static creep test was performed on Fine Aggregate Matrix (FAM) samples. The permanent strain after 10 minutes of recovery (PS-660) was considered as the indicator of potential... 

This study addresses the issue of using recycled materials to obtain low-cost structural products for practical applications. Through the use and re-extrusion of virgin high-density polyethylene (HDPE), the effects of the degradation level of HDPE as a matrix phase on its mechanical properties and the mechanical performance of composites produced with the degraded polyethylene have been examined. The degradation level of HDPE caused by reextrusion has been evaluated by the measurement of the melt flow index and mechanical properties of virgin and degraded HDPEs. The results indicate that the modulus and strength of HDPE significantly increase with the addition of polypropylene filled with 30... 

The application of the multi-component Fe-based filler metals (FMs) for transient liquid phase (TLP) bonding of AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel has been overshadowed by dissimilar interlayers merely due to their shorter isothermal solidification time. However, the latter usually suffers from low efficiency in terms of mechanical properties even after homogenization of heat treatment. This study shows that by imposing a temperature gradient across the bond line during the TLP bonding process (TG-TLP), it is possible to reduce the isothermal solidification time significantly. This renews the interest in utilizing multi-component Fe-based FMs. In this regard, the TG-TLP bonding process was... 

Correlations between electrical and thermal conduction in polymer composites are blurred due to the complex contribution of charge and heat carriers at the nanoscale junctions of filler particles. Conflicting reports on the lack or existence of thermal percolation in polymer composites have made it the subject of great controversy for decades. Here, we develop a generalized percolation framework that describes both electrical and thermal conductivity within a remarkably wide range of filler-to-matrix conductivity ratios (Y f / Y m), covering 20 orders of magnitude. Our unified theory provides a genuine classification of electrical conductivity with typical Y f / Y m ≥ 10 10 as... 

This paper addresses the process-microstructure-strength correlation during dissimilar brazing of TiAl alloy to IN738 Ni-based superalloy using Ni–4Si–3.2B filler metal. The solid/liquid reactions, solidification phenomena, and solid-state phenomena are analyzed. The thickness of the athermal solidification zone and reaction layer at different bonding conditions (holding times and temperatures) determined and analyzed using a Larson–Miller parameter (LMP). It was resulted that the shear strength of the joint can be formulated regarding bonding temperature and holding time through using LMP. It was found that the sizes of athermally solidified zone and reaction layer are two key factors... 

In this study, magnesium oxide (MgO) nanoparticles are incorporated on carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to reinforce Mg-3Zn-1Mn alloy (ZM31 alloy) by semi-powder metallurgy, followed by hot extrusion, with the purpose of improving the mechanical and biological properties of Mg-based alloy. The microstructural analysis of the nanocomposites indicated a reduction in grain size of Mg alloy with the incorporation of CNTs with a maximum reduction of 61% (ZM31/CNTs), with further reduction in grain size (68%) detected when MgO integrated CNTs composites (ZM31/MgO-CNTs). The compression characteristics of the composites indicate an increase in ultimate compressive strength of 36% and 44%, respectively, with... 

Processing conditions and final mechanical properties of polymer nanocomposites are affected by their interfacial layers behavior. However, it is impossible to determine directly the properties of these layers by dynamic rheometry tests. In this work, the interfacial layers properties are evaluated for polystyrene containing silica nanoparticles by the concept of glass-transition temperature shift. The samples were prepared via solution-mixing method and dynamic rheometry was used to determine the viscoelastic behavior of filled polymers in the melt state. This initial step showed that addition of silica particles increased the glass-transition temperature. By preference, decrease in the... 

In the present work, accumulative roll bonding (ARB) was used as an effective method for manufacturing nanoparticle/Al composite filler metals of tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding. After welding, the distribution of ceramic nanoparticles and mechanical properties of welds were investigated. By applying ARB, ceramic nanoparticles were uniformly dispersed in the composite filler metals. Consequently, the welds produced by these filler metals had a uniform dispersion of ceramic nanoparticles in their compositions. The test results showed that the yield strength of welds was greatly increased when using the nanoparticle/Al composite filler metals. The improvement in the yield strength was...