Sharif Digital Repository

A novel nebulizing spray hydrolysis approach was used for preparation of semi-transparent superhydrophobic coatings. Methyltrimethoxysilane was dissolved in water:ethanol mixture and ultrasonically sprayed on different substrates. Superhydrophobic coatings with a contact angle (CA) as high as 164° and a sliding angle below 5° were obtained. FESEM and AFM revealed a hierarchical micro-nano binary structure with nanometric roughness of the coatings. The coated glass substrate exhibited transmittance close to 80%. The prepared coating showed great self-cleaning and water jet repellency behaviors. The superhydrophobicity of the samples was remained after subjecting to ambient conditions for 50... 

An aniline-based polymer was electrochemically prepared and applied as a new fiber coating for solid phase microextraction (SPME) of some priority phenols from water samples. The polyaniline (PANI) film was directly electrodeposited on the platinum wire surface in sulfuric acid solution using cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique. The efficiency of new coating was investigated using a laboratory-made SPME device and gas chromatography with flame ionization detection for the extraction of some phenols from the headspace of aqueous samples. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed the homogeneity and the porous surface structure of the film. The results obtained proved the ability of... 

Pulse-potential coelectrodeposition of reduced graphene oxide/zinc (rGO-Zn) nanocomposite coating is directly controlled upon a steel substrate from a one-pot aqueous mixture containing [GO-/Zn2+]δ+ nanoclusters. GO nanosheets are synthesized by modified Hummer's approach while Zn cations are produced in the solution and deposited on GO nanosheets using anodic dissolution technique. Eventually, nanoclusters are reduced to rGO-Zn film through an electrochemical process. Chemical composition, surface morphology, and corrosion resistance of the thin film are characterized. Results show that the corrosion resistance of rGO-Zn coating is approximately 10 times more than the bare steel. © 2018 S.... 

Coverage is one of the most important parameters which is always used in practice to characterize a shot peening process. At the same time however, it is the most missing parameter in the finite element simulations of this process. This study aims to relate shot peening simulation to the actual coverage that is developed during the process. Accordingly, two important models from literature are re-simulated and their capability to predict an actual coverage is assessed. Results of this study illustrate that full coverage situation is not captured by these models. Thereafter, a random finite element simulation along with a step by step examination of the treated surface is adopted in order to... 

A fiber coating from polyaniline (PANI) was electrochemically prepared and employed for solid phase microextraction (SPME) of some polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from water samples. The PANI film was directly electrodeposited on the platinum wire surface in sulfuric acid solution using cyclic voltammetry (CV) technique. The applicability of this coating was assessed employing a laboratory-made SPME device and gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for the extraction of some PAHs from the headspace of aqueous samples. Application of wider potential range in CV led to a PANI with more stability against the temperature. The homogeneity and the porous surface structure of the... 

This work aims to present an experimentally verified analytical solution to examine damping properties of systems including viscoelastic treatments. Although there are several methods for characterizing the behavior of three-layer damping systems, the RKU method is the most frequently used one. In this paper, this method is modified such a way that to be applied for a five-layer damping system. The achieved analytical relations are then employed to study the effects of a four-layer vibration-absorbing coating on the dynamic behavior of an aluminum sheet with free-free boundary conditions. Since the vibration-damping properties of the coating are unknowns, its loss factor and shear modulus... 

Fused Deposition Modeling with Polypropylene filament was employed to make a lap joint between Polypropylene and pre-punched Al-Mg alloy sheets, in the form of bonds between the polymeric substrate and the additive part and mechanical lock between the additive part and aluminum base sheet. Effects of the joint interface area (hole diameter of 5–13 mm) and preheating of the substrates (room temperature, 50 and 90℃) were investigated on the mechanical properties of the joints. Peak load in the tensile-shear and cross-tension tests increased with enhancement of the joint interface area (up to ˜280 N and ˜160 N, respectively). Higher joint strength in the tensile-shear test compared to the... 

Abstract High ductility of metals as well as high strength of ceramics has made the metal/ceramic composites an attractive material for many applications requiring high strength to weight ratios. An important issue in using this material is the behavior of the material and its ceramic-metal interface under various loading, especially at high strain rate. To provide a better understanding of the interface conditions, in this work, a molecular dynamics study of the interface behavior in Al/α-Al2O3 composite as the result of tensile and shear loadings is presented. For this purpose, the reactive force field (ReaxFF) potential function is utilized. The effects of... 

Computational methods to understand interactions in bio-complex systems are however limited to time-scales typically much shorter than in Nature. For example, on the nanoscale level, interactions between nanoparticles (NPs)/molecules/peptides and membranes are central in complex biomolecular processes such as membrane-coated NPs or cellular uptake. This can be remedied by the application of e.g. Jarzynski's equality where thermodynamic properties are extracted from non-equilibrium simulations. Although, the out of equilibrium work leads to non-conservative forces. We here propose a correction Pair Forces method, that removes these forces. Our proposed method is based on the calculation of... 

A gradient derived base layer extractive phase was synthesized and applied for the determination of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in saliva samples using the headspace cooled in–tube microextraction (HS–CITME) method. The base layers from three different sols of phenyltriethoxysilane (PTES), octyltrimethoxysilane (OTMS) and methyltrimethoxysilane (MTMS) as nonpolar precursors were individually dip coated on the stainless steel wires (SSW). Then, the hydrolyzed polar precursor aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) reacted with the silanol groups already formed on the surface of SSWs via controlled rate infusion (CRI) method. The presence of polar and non–polar functional groups on the... 

In this research, we investigate the effects of various microstructural features on the behavior of spherical steel sheets, using the crystal plasticity finite element method. The cementite phase ratio, the grain sizes of ferrite and cementite, and the percentage of residual pearlite in the steel structure due to incomplete annealing are the major microstructural parameters studied in this work. A grain generator software has been developed to generate hexagonal ferrite grains as well as circular cementite particles distributed in the ferrite matrix. We use a hard coating with special properties as an intermediate layer around the cementite grains to simulate the contact between ferrite... 

Finite element analysis is an effective tool to evaluate the material properties of living tissue. For an interactive optimization procedure, the finite element analysis usually needs many simulations to reach a reasonable solution. The metamodel analysis of finite element simulation can be used to reduce the computation of a structure with complex geometry or a material with composite constitutive equations. The intervertebral disc is a complex, heterogeneous, and hydrated porous structure. A poroelastic finite element model can be used to observe the fluid transferring, pressure deviation, and other properties within the disc. Defining reasonable poroelastic material properties of the... 

A metal organic framework-polyaniline (MOF/PANI) nanocomposite was electrodeposited on a stainless steel wire and used as a solid phase microextraction (SPME) fiber coating. The electropolymerization process was carried out under a constant deposition potential and applied to the corresponding aqueous electrolyte containing aniline and MOF particles. The employment of MOFs with their large and small cages and 3-D structures in synthesizing a nanocomposite was assumed to be efficient constitutes to induce more non-smooth and porous structures, approved by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. Three different MOFs were incorporated to synthesize the desired nanocomposites and the... 

Nickel/silicon carbide composite electrodeposits were prepared on a rotating disk electrode (RDE), under pulse current condition. The effect of pulse parameters, current density, SiC content in the electrolyte on the codeposition of SiC were studied. Afterwards, the effect of codeposited SiC amount was investigated on electrochemical behavior and nanomechanical properties of coatings. The coatings were analyzed with Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), linear polarization, nanoindentation and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). The Ni-SiC electrocomposites, prepared at optimum conditions, exhibited improved nanomechanical properties in comparison to pure nickel electrodeposits. With increasing... 

In composites, the stress intensity factors (SIFs) of a lamellar inhomogeneity near a multiphase reinforcement are of interest. Based on extension of Eshelby's equivalent inclusion method, a unified approach is presented to study the effect of a multiphase inhomogeneity on the SIF at the tip points of two- and threedimensional lamellar inhomogeneities under nonuniform far-field loadings. Alteration of the SIF due to the presence of a coating layer around the inhomogeneity is addressed. Furthermore, the effect of geometry and stiffness of each phase of a multiphase reinforcement on the mixed mode SIFs of a lamellar inhomogeneity is investigated. In contrast to cracks whose SIFs are the same... 

Alumina-zirconia nanostructured coatings were formed on 7075 Al alloy through Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation (PEO) operated in aDC potentiostatic mode. The composite coatings were produced in the range of 425-500 V in an alkaline electrolyte containing 4 g/LK2ZrF6. Tribological properties of coatings were investigated using dry sliding wear test against WC balls with a pin-on-disc tribometer. Wear rates were evaluated using optical profilometer. It was shown that the nanostructured alumina-zirconia composite coatings can be formed at voltages 450 V. The coating thickness and roughness were in the range of 15.2-24.2 μm and 0.68-2.35 μm, respectively. The distribution of Al, Zr and O in the... 

An Al2O3/Si3N4 nanocomposite coating was successfully fabricated on commercial aluminum alloy. Hardness measurements, polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) were employed to study the mechanical and corrosion behaviors of the coatings. Field-Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) equipped with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were utilized to characterize the surface morphology and phase composition of the coatings. Also, coatings abrasive wear properties were evaluated with a modified ASTM G105 standard. FE-SEM image, EDS and XRD analysis revealed the presence of Si3N4 in the coating. Furthermore, the results showed hardness of... 

A high-temperature-resisant solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fiber was prepared based on polyetherimide (PEI) by the electrospinning method. The PEI polymeric solution was converted to nanofibers using high voltages and directly coated on a stainless steel SPME needle. The scanning electron microscopy images of PEI coating showed fibers with diameter range of 500-650 nm with a homogeneous and smooth surface morphology. The SPME nanofibers coating was optimized for PEI percentage, electrospinning voltage, and time. The extraction efficiency of the coating was investigated for headspace SPME of some environmentally important polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from aqueous samples followed by... 

Biodegradable magnesium implants possess excellent mechanical properties and biocompatibility, which make them suitable candidates to be employed as temporary structures for the bone regeneration purposes. However, there are still important challenges which limit their extensive use in biomedical applications, where the most important ones include implant-associated infection, rapid degradation rate and the need for improved mechanical properties. Silver, which is a strong antimicrobial agent, has been extensively used for improving the mentioned challenges in biodegradable Mg alloys either as alloying element or incorporation in the protective coating. Ag addition has been reported to have... 

The present paper addresses an analytical method to determine the electroelastic fields over a double-phase piezoelectric reinforcement interacting with an ellipsoidal single-inhomogeneity. The approach is based on the extension of the electro-mechanical equivalent inclusion method (EMEIM) to the piezoelectric double-inhomogeneity system. Accordingly, the double-inhomogeneity is replaced by an electroelastic double-inclusion problem with proper polynomial eigenstrains-electric fields. The long- and short-range interaction effects are intrinsically incorporated by the homogenizing eigenfields. The equivalent double-inclusion is subsequently decomposed to the single-inclusion problems by means...