Thin Concrete Overlays with Carbon Reinforcement

In many countries like Germany, concrete pavements are normally built as Jointed Plain Concrete Pavements (JPCP). Due to a lack of alternatives, maintenance of concrete pavements usually requires a replacement of the whole pavement structure, which is labour- and resource-intensive. Therefore, new techniques like the application of thin concrete overlays as a partial repair of deteriorated concrete pavements have been developed. As a major disadvantage of such overlays, the existing joints in the retained concrete bottom-layer have to be transferred in the overlay in order to avoid reflection cracking. When using non-corrosive carbon-textile reinforcement in such concrete overlays, cracks might be distributed more finely, enabling jointless repairs while keeping a thin repair layer. In addition, the bond behaviour between the retained concrete and the applied concrete overlay as well as between the concrete overlay and the textile reinforcement is crucial for a successful repair. In this paper, the basic principles and feasibility of such a repair method are examined. On the one hand, the decisive influencing variables and parameters such as bond behaviour between the concrete layers and the cracking behaviour of the overlay are pointed out and discussed. On the other hand, the evaluated laboratory tests carried out are presented. These include large-scale beams built with an overlay on top of a retained concrete layer, which were subjected to cyclic flexural stress and to a subsequent detailed investigation of the bond behaviour and durability. Furthermore, the crack formation in the overlay was determined by means of tensile and flexural tensile strength tests.

Novel Reactive Flex Configuration in Kiwi Wing Foil Surfboard

The creation of an ideal surfboard is art. The design and construction depend on the individual surfer’s skill level and type of the required performance. In this research, four fuselage concepts were carefully explored to meet the following unique needs: lightweight, strong, and a fast-manufacturing process. The fuselages were manufactured by compression moulding using skin and core materials. The skin material was selected to be unidirectional (UD) carbon fibre, discontinuous carbon fibre (SMC) and Filava quadriaxial fibre impregnated with epoxy, while the core material was selected to be lightweight PVC foam. To assess the mechanical performance, three-point bending has been performed according to BS-ISO 14125 and validated using Finite Element Analysis (FEA) using Ansys software. As expected, the flexural test revealed that the UD carbon fibre fuselage was the strongest and SMC was the weakest, while large deflection was seen in Filava fibre fuselages before failure, showing great reactive flex that promotes projection during surfing. The experimental results show good agreement with FEA simulation, and the locations of the physical failure in the fuselage matches the location of maximum flexural stress obtained from FEA simulation. Although all fuselages were found to carry a surfer weight of 150 kg, including a factor of safety 3, except the SMC fuselage, due to shrinkage. The Filava fibre fuselages were seen to have a large deflection before failure, showing great flexibility to handle high ocean waves. This promotes the potential use of reactive flex in high performance sports equipment, such as surfing boards. A large shrinkage must be taken under consideration during compression moulding that depends on fibre orientation, resin nature, and part geometry.

New novel thermal insulation and sound-absorbing materials from discarded facemasks of COVID-19 pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, people were encouraged and sometimes required to wear disposable facemasks, which then are discarded creating an environmental problem. In this study, we aim at investigating novel ideas to recycle wasted facemasks in order to lower the environmental impact. An experimental study has been carried out to investigate the possibility of using discarded masks for thermal insulation and sound absorption. The wasted masks are simulated by new masks, which stripped off the nose clips, elastic ear loops and are heated to 120 °C for one hour to kill any biological contaminants. The masks are also melted to investigate their thermal insulation and sound absorption properties. Results show that the thermal conductivity coefficients of the loose and melted masks are 0.03555 and 0.08683 W/m K, respectively, at room temperature of about 25 °C. Results show also that the sound absorption coefficient for loose masks is above 0.6 for the frequency range 600–5000 Hz. The loose facemasks are found to be thermally stable up to 295 °C, elastic ear loops at 304.7 °C, and the composite (melted) facemasks at 330.0 °C using the thermo-gravimetric analysis. Characterization of the facemask’s three-layer fibers and the composite (melted) samples is obtained using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The three-point bending test is obtained for the composite specimens showing good values of flexural stress, flexural strain, and flexural elastic modulus. These results are promising about using such discarded masks as new thermal insulation and sound-absorbing materials for buildings replacing the synthetic or petrochemical insulation materials.

Effect of Material Type and Minimum Diameter of Specimens on the Fatigue Life

The obstacle faced during the fatigue test is the waiting time which is quite long and inefficient, especially for test specimens made of ductile metal with waiting times of up to several days. The research method includes reducing the specimen radius to obtain a flexural stress approaching 400 MPa which was originally 229 MPa from a radius of 254 mm to 240 mm with the results of turning the original specimen obtained a minimum diameter of 8.6 mm is reduced to 7.3 mm at a maximum loading of 10 kg. Results of the research are brass specimens C3604BD type with a minimum diameter of 8.6 mm at a flexural stress of 298 MPa showing a fatigue life of 2455546 cycles with a test duration of 1754 minutes and a minimum specimen diameter of 7.3 mm at a flexural stress of 299 MPa showing a fatigue life of 684311 cycles with a test duration of 489 minutes which means that with a minimum specimen diameter of 7.3 mm the fatigue life is 3.59 times shorter than a minimum specimen diameter of 8.6 mm. Meanwhile, for aluminium AA1101 type with a minimum specimen diameter of 7.3 mm at a flexural stress of 182 MPa, the fatigue life is 422117 cycles with a test duration of 278 minutes and with a minimum specimen diameter of 8.6 mm at a flexural stress of 183 MPa, the fatigue life is 389232 cycles with a test duration of 302 minutes which means that with a minimum specimen diameter of 7.3 mm the fatigue life is 1.05 times shorter than the minimum specimen diameter of 8.6 mm or almost the same.

Sandwich Multi-Material 3D-Printed Polymers: Influence of Aging on the Impact and Flexure Resistances

With the advances in new materials, equipment, and processes, additive manufacturing (AM) has gained increased importance for producing the final parts that are used in several industrial areas, such as automotive, aeronautics, and health. The constant development of 3D-printing equipment allows for printing multi-material systems as sandwich specimens using, for example, double-nozzle configurations. The present study aimed to compare the mechanical behavior of multi-material specimens that were produced using a double-nozzle 3D printer. The materials that were included in this study were the copolymer acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS), high-impact polystyrene (HIPS), poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), and thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). The configuration of the sandwich structures consisted of a core of TPU and the outer skins made of one of the other three materials. The mechanical behavior was evaluated through three-point bending (3PB) and transverse impact tests and compared with mono-material printed specimens. The effect of aging in artificial saliva was evaluated for all the processed materials. The main conclusion of this study was that the aging process did not significantly alter the mechanical properties for mono-materials, except for PMMA, where the maximum flexural stress decreased. In the sandwich structures, the TPU core had a softening effect, inducing a significant increase in the resilience and resistance to transverse impact. The obtained results are quite promising for applications in biomedical devices, such as protective mouthguards or teeth aligners. In these specific applications, the changes in the mechanical properties with time and with the contact of saliva assume particular importance.

Effect of Two Brands of Glaze Material on the Flexural Strength and Probability of Failure of High Translucent Monolithic Zirconia

(1) Background: The effect of glazing on the mechanical properties of monolithic high translucent zirconia is not well reported. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of glazing on the flexural strength of high translucent zirconia; (2) Methods: Ninety specimens were prepared from second-generation 3Y-TZP high translucent blocks and divided into three groups. Glaze materials were applied on one surface of the specimen and subjected to a four-point bending test and flexural stress and flexural displacement values were derived. Descriptive fractographic analysis of surfaces was conducted to observe the point of failure and fracture pattern.; (3) Results: Control-nonglazed (647.17, 1σ = 74.71 MPa) presented higher flexural strength values compared to glaze I (541.20, 1σ = 82.91 MPa) and glaze II (581.10, 1σ = 59.41 MPa). Characteristic strength (σƟ) from Weibull analysis also observed higher (660.67 MPa) values for the control specimens. Confocal microscopy revealed that glazed surfaces were much rougher than control surfaces. Descriptive fractographic analysis revealed that there was no correlation between the point of failure initiation and flexural strength; (4) Conclusions: The test results demonstrated that glazing significantly decreased the flexural strength and flexural displacement of the zirconia specimens.

Composite Materials with Epoxy Matrix and Their Properties

This work was focused on studying the properties of epoxy (EP) composite materials reinforced with glass, (GF) carbon (CF) and aramid (AF) fibres. The composites were made by hand lay-up (HL) and vacuum infusion process (VIP) with 8, 10, 12 number of fabric layers. Studied were tensile strength, elongation, flexural stress, flexural strain, thermal stability, texture of surfaces, cuts, fractures of laminates and the thickness of the laminate according to the type and number of layers of fabric and the method of manufacture. Composites made by VIP achieve better mechanical properties than composites made by HL. Tensile strength was highest in composites reinforced with AF. Composite materials reinforced with GF exhibit the lowest values of tensile strength. Flexural strength was significantly the highest in CF reinforced composites followed by the laminates reinforced with GF and AF. The highest values of flexural deformation were measured in composites reinforced with AF and the lowest values of flexural deformation were measured in composites reinforced with CF. By thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was recorded weight loss of the EP matrix in the range from 290 to 480 °C and AF in range from 530 to 605 °C. By TGA was demonstrated lower content of EP matrix in the composites made by VIP, which was confirmed by comparison of thickness of the studied laminates.

Analysis of the Frequency of Acoustic Emission Events in Terms of the Assessment of the Reduction of Mechanical Parameters of Cellulose–Cement Composites

The article proposes the application of the acoustic emission method as a technique for the evaluation of mechanical parameters of cellulose–cement composites. The analysis focused on frequency values in a time series analysis of elements subject to three-point flexural stress. In the course of a statistic analysis, it has been demonstrated that a significant reduction of the recorded frequency values is associated with a considerable reduction in strength. This allowed the authors to determine the range of frequencies related to the depreciation in the strength of an element. The tests were carried out on elements cut from a full-size cellulose–cement board. Samples exposed to potential operational factors (environmental and exceptional) were analysed. It was shown that the frequencies recorded before reaching the maximum load during bending of samples exposed to environmental factors (water and low temperature) were significantly different (were much lower) from the sounds emitted by elements subjected to exceptional factors (fire and high temperature). Considering the fact that the analysed frequencies of acoustic emission events occur before the maximum stresses in the material are reached and the elements are destroyed, this provides the basis for the use of the acoustic emission method to assess the condition of cellulose–cement composites in terms of lowering mechanical parameters by observing the frequency of events generated by the material during load action. It was found that generating by material frequencies above 300 kHz during bending does not result in a significant decrease in mechanical parameters. The emission of signals with frequencies ranging from 200 to 300 kHz indicate that there was a decline in strength exceeding 25% but less than 50%. The registration of signals with frequencies below 200 kHz indicates that the reduction in mechanical parameters was greater than 50%.

Machine Learning for Modeling the Bearing Capacity of Prestressed Concrete Elements Damaged by Corrosion

This work aims to study the prediction of bearing capacity of prestressed concrete beams subjected to accelerated corrosion process using Machine Learning (ML) techniques. After data collection, the results were used to model the behavior of flexural stress, and predict their final load capacity, considering position, length, and width of the cracks generated by corrosion as well as loss of bearing capacity. The study presents an analysis of 363 days old beams damaged by corrosion, connected to a galvanostat for 62, and 121 days to make faster the process. Six beams were analyzed; five of them were used to train the model, the other works as a basis to compare the results thrown by the model with the real data. After the treat, the results showed that Bagged Trees Model fits better to real data, it was seen that removing atypical data improves the correlation of predicted and real data. The actual data were compared with two different prediction analyzes; for the first one, the atypical data were not removed; in the second one, the atypical data were eliminated with a statistical analysis. Obtaining relative error percentages of 15.18%, 14.59%, presenting two predictions: final load of 1444 kg and 1126 kg. Which means a resistant moment of 650 T-m, and 506.7 T-m respectively, taking as a prediction the second value in the safe side.