Sharif Digital Repository

In this research, copper matrix composites reinforced with different amounts of titanium carbide particles were produced by mechanical milling and in-situ formation of reinforcements. Morphology and size of milled powders were inspected by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) several times during milling process. Changes in lattice parameter, crystallite size, lattice strain, dislocation density and Gibbs free energy changes (due to increasing in dislocation densities and grain boundaries) in different samples (with different TiC particles contents) were studied by X-Ray Diffraction technique with Cu-kα radiation and using Nelson-Riley method and Williamson-Hall equation. Microstructure of... 

Because of corrosion resistance and antibacterial effects, shape memory Ni-Ti-Ag alloy can be considered for different biomedical applications. Mechanical alloying is used to produce nanostructured Ni-Ti-Ag alloy from elemental powders. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) are used to characterize the product. Results show that after 1h milling, homogenous distribution of the elements occurs; while no intermetallic compounds is observed. After 3h milling, titanium dissolves in nickel to form amorphous and nanostructured solid phases. Peaks of B2 phase appear in the XRD pattern after the 3h milling of the powder mixture. Sintering of the 3h-milled... 

Let T be a partial Latin square and L a Latin square such that T ⊆ L.Then T is called a Latin trade, if there exists a partial Latin square T * such that T* ∩ T = ∅ and (LT) ∪ T* is a Latin square.We call T* a disjoint mate of T and the pair (T,T*) is called a Latin itrade.A Latin bitrade where empty rows and columns are ignored, is called a Κ-homogeneous Latin bitrade, if in each row and each column it contains exactly κ elements, and each element appears exactly k times.The number of filled cells in a Latin trade is referred to as its volume.Following the earlier work on κ-homogeneous Latin bitrades by Cavenagh, Donovan, and Drápal (2003 and 2004) Bean, Bidkhori, Khosravi, and... 

A μ-way Latin trade of volume s is a collection of μ partial Latin squares T1, T2,⋯, Tμ, containing exactly the same s filled cells, such that, if cell (i,j) is filled, it contains a different entry in each of the μ partial Latin squares, and such that row i in each of the μ partial Latin squares contains, set-wise, the same symbols, and column j likewise. It is called a μ-wayk-homogeneous Latin trade if, in each row and each column, Tr, for 1≤r≤μ, contains exactly k elements, and each element appears in Tr exactly k times. It is also denoted as a (μ,k,m) Latin trade, where m is the size of the partial Latin squares. We introduce some general constructions for μ-way k-homogeneous Latin... 

Epoxy resins have been used as structural materials since the late 1940s. Despite their desirable properties such as high strength, excellent creep resistance, and good adhesion, they suffer from low fracture energy. Rubber modification as a major toughening approach to overcome the inherent brittleness of epoxy polymers was introduced during the early 1970s. Since then, a large number of investigations have been conducted to elucidate different aspects of rubber-toughened epoxies. The present work is a critical review of the field focusing on the important parameters affecting rubber-toughening. The studies reviewed are classified in five categories including roles of matrix ductility,... 

Shell and tube heat exchanger with single twisted tube bundle in five different twist angles, are studied using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and compared to the conventional shell and tube heat exchanger with single segmental baffles. Effect of shell-side nozzles configurations on heat exchanger performance is studied as well. Heat transfer rate and pressure drop are the main issues investigated in the paper. The results show that, for the same shell-side flow rate, the heat transfer coefficient of heat exchanger with twisted tube bundle is lower than that of the heat exchanger with segmental baffles while shell-side pressure drop of the former is even much lower than that of the... 

An experimental investigation is conducted here to study the effects of applying frictional sliding fuses (FSF) in concrete infilled steel frames. Firstly, the influences of some parameters on the behavior of the sliding fuse are studied: Methods of adjusting the FSF for a certain sliding strength are explained and influences of time duration, welding and corrosion are investigated as well. Based on the results, time duration does not significantly affect the FSF, however influences of welding and corrosion of the constitutive plates are substantial. Then, the results of testing two 1/3 scale single-storey single-bay concrete infilled steel frames having FSF are presented. The specimens were... 

This article presents a new method for determination of meshing stiffness of the gear teeth using three dimensional analysis of tooth stiffness. The teeth are treated as explicit capacitive fields and their compliance matrix is determined by considering virtual interconnected springs located at defined nodes on tooth profile. The stiffness of any arbitrary point on the profile can then be determined as a linear function of neighboring nodes stiffness. The results of this analysis help in determination of load distribution for a pair of meshing gears under real operation conditions where deflections and misalignments are inevitable. Copyright © 2005 by ASME  

Periodic metallic structures are known to support resonant extraordinary optical transmission (EOT). When covered with graphene, these structures can be employed to effectively manipulate the light. In this paper, we propose an analytical circuit model for graphene-covered 1-D metallic gratings. By using the circuit theory, we demonstrate that 1-D periodic array of cut-through slits, which are covered by a continuous graphene sheet, exhibits tunable EOT resonance for TM polarization whose amplitude, unlike its spectral position, can be dynamically tuned by varying the Fermi level of graphene. In this fashion, it is shown that placing a perfect reflector at the bottom of the graphene-covered... 

Monitoring embankment dams is of crucial importance. In earth dams, the pore pressures, earth pressures, and displacements occurring during construction and function are measured at the time of the first impounding and exploitation by installing essential instruments, and so the dam's performance is evaluated and analyzed. Scope of the present research is the evaluation of Siah-Sang Dam performance through the results of instruments and back analysis, conducted by FLAC software. The Mohr-Coulomb elasticplastic model has been considered as the behavioral model of the dam, and the effect of the upstream shell's materials deformation has been modeled at the time of the initial impounding.... 

A nonlinear robust adaptive sliding mode admittance controller is proposed for exoskeleton rehabilitation robots. The proposed controller has robustness against uncertainties of dynamic parameters using an adaptation law. Furthermore, an adaptive Sliding Mode Control (SMC) scheme is employed in the control law to provide robustness against disturbances (non-parametric uncertainties) with unknown bounds. For this purpose, another adaptation law is defined for the variation of the SMC gain. The proposed scheme is augmented with an admittance control method to provide the patient with compliance during interaction with the rehabilitation robot. The stability of the proposed controller and the... 

This paper investigates resonance phenomenon in active filters. The paper studies the effect of system/filter parameters on resonance conditions. It also proposes an active technique for damping such resonances. The study is based on modal analysis in which unstable modes or modes with slow damping are first extracted. Then, using a new technique, such modes are considerably damped. PSCAD/EMTDC software is also employed to verify the performance of the proposed technique. © 2008 ACECR  

High strength TRIP-aided steel sheets with high formability and better ductility are of industrial interest. Texture control and retained austenite characterization are considered as the main factors with respect to the formability and ductility. Processing parameter such as initial conditions of hot rolling, cold rolling to final size of sheet, intercritical annealing after cold rolling and subsequent isothermal heat treatment to achieve TRIP specification in product, affect bulk texture of sheets. Moreover, chemical composition of steel should be noted especially because it can change the intensity of orientation and final macro texture of sheet. In this work, the effect of cold rolling... 

Optimization of high strength and high formability of multiphase cold rolled sheet TRIP-aided steels is based on the composition and the austempering conditions. The effect of intercritical annealing temperature on the volume fraction and carbon concentration of the retained austenite was investigated in two different TRIP-aided steels. Experimental results show that the optimum annealing temperatures are 860 °C for Al-containing and 810 °C for Si-containing TRIP steels. It was demonstrated that the measurement of retained austenite can be successfully performed for textured TRIP steels by XRD. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved  

Baseboard heaters are a type of building heating systems that are placed along the base of the interior wall, instead of the traditional skirting. Baseboard heaters meet all the requirements of modern buildings such as thermal comfort, well-architected appearance, space-saving, efficient energy consumption, and fast thermal response. In the present study, we investigate the enhancement of the thermal output of hydronic baseboard heaters. For this purpose, several novel fin-tube arrays such as convector fins and fin-clips are proposed and the thermal performance of each array is evaluated experimentally. In addition, two different types of materials for the tubes, namely, copper and aluminum... 

We experimentally demonstrate a circularly polarized antenna that utilizes unidirectional surface waves that propagate on the boundary of a small ferrite disk. The ferrite disk is metalized on top and is mounted on a grounded dielectric substrate. The disk is normally biased by a magnetic field that is provided by two permanent magnets below and above the structure. A two-section feeding network is used to feed the antenna. The operation frequency of the antenna can be adjusted by changing the magnitude of the applied magnetic bias. The sense of polarization can be reversed by reversing the direction of the applied bias. © 2020 Elsevier B.V  

The effect of the nucleating agent masterbatch carrier resin on the nonisothermal crystallization of a pipe-grade polypropylene block copolymer was investigated at three different cooling rates using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Bis(3,4-dimethylibenzylidene) sorbitol (DMDBS), a well-known, third-generation sorbitol derivative, was used as a nucleating agent in this study. Crystallization kinetic parameters obtained from DSC cooling curves showed that incorporation of a nucleating agent by means of a masterbatch increased the crystallization rate by approximately two times compared to that of the sample with the same concentration of nucleating agent without the use of a... 

Organisational commitment is suggested as a remarkable variable in shaping employees’ attitudes toward knowledge management practices. Customer trust in services is established during a long-time relationship with a firm and improves the accuracy of information shared with employees. To put it in other words, customer trust is what a service company needs to maintain its competitive advantage. On the other hand, high employee turnover reflects a substantial loss of knowledge. In the present study, the impact of organisational commitment on employees’ retention, knowledge acquisition, and sharing was examined regarding the moderating roles of leader-member exchange and innovation climate. The... 

Dimethylbenzylidene sorbitol (DMDBS) is a common nucleating/clarifier agent used in polypropylene (PP). So many researchers have looked at different aspects of incorporating this additive on the crystallization behavior of PP. The current study is focused on a rather new topic and that is the role of the carrier resin of DMDBS masterbatch on the rheological behaviour of polypropylene. This objective has been achieved through studying the role of the carrier resin on the phase separation behavior of DMDBS upon cooling. It has been shown that a permanent bond is formed between the molecules of carrier resin and DMDBS in the masterbatch and this bond slows down the crystallization kinetics of... 

Background/Objectives: Curcumin, a natural polyphenol compound in the spice turmeric, has been found to have potent anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory activity. Curcumin may treat non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) through its beneficial effects on biomarkers of oxidative stress (OS) and inflammation, which are considered as two feature of this disease. However, the effects of curcumin on NAFLD have been remained poorly understood. This investigation evaluated the effects of administrating curcumin on metabolic status in NAFLD patients. Subjects/Methods: Fifty-eight NAFLD patients participated in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled parallel design of study. The subjects...