Sharif Digital Repository

There are very limited researches carried out to investigate the influence of saturation degrees, freezing-thawing, and curing times on geotechnical properties of lime concrete (LC) and lime-cement concrete (LCC) due to the capillary action and changes in groundwater table. Subsequently, the primary goal of this research is to investigate the influence of these parameters on mechanical properties of LC and LCC using unconfined compression tests, namely uniaxial compressive strength (UCS), stress-strain behavior, deformability index (I D ), secant modulus (E S ), failure strain, bulk modulus (K), resilient modulus (M R ), brittleness index (I B ), and shear modulus (G). At first, the... 

A drug delivery system based on poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) hydrogels containing ibuprofen-loaded poly (lactic acid) (PLA) microspheres was developed to improve the release kinetics of this model drug. Gamma-irradiation and freeze-thawing were applied to prepare poly (vinyl alcohol) hydrogels. Properties and morphology of these composite hydrogels were investigated using FTIR, DSC, and SEM. In vitro release indicated that entrapment of the microspheres into the PVA hydrogels causes a reduction in both the release rate and the initial burst effect. PLA microspheres entrapped into the PVA hydrogels showed more suitable controlled release kinetics for drug delivery  

Assessing the durability of concrete is of prime importance to provide an adequate service life and reduce the repairing cost of structures. Freeze-thaw is one such test that indicates the ability of concrete to last a long time without a significant loss in its performance. In this study, the freeze-thaw resistance of polymer concrete containing different polymer contents was explored and compared to various conventional cement concretes. Concretes’ fresh and hardened properties were assessed for their workability, air content, and compressive strength. The mass loss, length change, dynamic modulus of elasticity, and residual compressive strength were determined for all types of concretes... 

Magnetite (Fe3O4) nanostructures with different morphologies including uniform nanoparticles, magnetic beads and nanorods were synthesized via a co-precipitation method. The synthesis process was performed at various temperatures in the presence of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) at different concentrations. It is shown that small amounts of PVA act as a template in hot water (70 °C), leading to the oriented growth of Fe3O4 nanorods, which was confirmed by selected area electron diffraction. Individually coated magnetite nanoparticles and magnetic beads were formed at a relatively lower temperature of 30 °C in the folded polymer molecules due to the thermo-physical properties of PVA. When a moderate... 

In this study, physically cross-linked hydrogels were developed by freezing-thawing method while different concentrations of honey were included into the hydrogels for accelerated wound healing. The hydrogel was composed of chitosan, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and gelatin with the ratio of 2:1:1 (v/v), respectively. Further, the effect of honey concentrations on antibacterial properties, and cell behavior was investigated. In vivo studies, including wound healing mechanism using rat model and histological analysis of section tissue samples were performed. The results illustrated that the incorporation of honey in hydrogels increased the ultimate strain of hydrogels approximately two times,... 

Pervious concrete (PC) has been detecting application in pavement and concrete structures such as dams, small retaining walls, and etc during the past decades. Also, in recent years, the types of resins have been introduced to apply in concrete owing to the enhancing in mechanical and durability characteristics. However, few studies have investigated the mechanical behavior of high performance pervious concrete (HPPC) incorporated by polyester and epoxy resins as polymeric composites, where ordinary cement material has been completely deleted. The purpose of this investigation is to compare the mechanical properties, permeability, and durability of HPPCs made by polymeric composites (i.e....