INVESTIGATION ON THE DENSITY UNIFORMITY OF PRESSED PARTS BY LOW-VOLTAGE ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPACTION

Powder metallurgy is an efficient approach to fabricate varieties of high performance structure materials, function materials and special materials working under limited conditions. Research and development of new efficient technology to form high-density, high-performance and net shape parts is a key to widen application and development of powder materials. Recently, the low-voltage electromagnetic compaction (EMC) has been used by present authors to compacted copper, tin, aluminum powders and the products with 99% relative density have been acquired. In this work, the research has been extended to investigation on the density uniformity of pressed parts. The analysis results show that the density of the part compacted by low-voltage EMC decreases gradually in press direction as static compaction. But it is higher and more homogeneous. The density of the top part increases gradually from the center to the outer, which is just reversal of the bottom part. In some extent, the higher the discharging voltage is, the higher the density is and the more homogeneous the distribution is. In addition, repetitive compaction can improve the density of powder parts and the distribution uniformity.

Simulation of Random Crack Generation in Concrete Members with Uniform Stress Fields

The randomness of strength and deformation of concrete material is serious and should be considered both in theoretical analyses such as Finite Element Methods and engineering practice, specially for those structural members with a uniform stress field, where stresses or strains are approximately the same under loading. A mathematical ap- proach of producing a series of random variables of the ultimate tensile strain in concrete is proposed to describe the randomness ofconcrete deformation. With reinforced concrete finite elements a real model calculation method is found for the randomness of initial cracks determined by a minimum tension strain within the uniform stress fields of concrete members. The proposed methods in our paper have as aim to improve the existing method used by FEM and other rela- tive approaches, which normally pay less attention to randomness with consequences that may possibly differ from testing or practice. The method and sample computation as indicated is meaningful and comply with testing and engi- neering practice.

Enhancing Concrete Properties Using Silica Fume:Optimized Mix Design

In the current work concrete mixes containing(7.0-33.11)weight%silica fume as fractional substitution of cement with water/cement ratio(0.42-0.48)were formulated conferring to an implemented two factorial central composite design.The samples were water cured for 7,28,56,and 90 days.The samples were tested for compressive strength and density.The experimental results approved that compressive strength and density increase with age and with rising silica fume content up to 11.9 wt.%.Response surface analysis results for samples cured for 28 days confirmed that silica fume concrete with developed compressive strength(53.42 MPa)could be prepared by incorporation of 11.9 wt.%silica fume as a substituent for cement using a 0.42 water/cement ratio.An intensification in compressive strength and density(up to 39.3%and 2.6%)respectively was recorded for silica fume concrete mixes in contrast to Portland cement concrete.Overall,the research findings revealed that silica fume concretes prepared with appropriate silica fume content and water/cement ratio exhibited superior strength and density features candidate them to be used effectively in civil engineering structural applications.

STUDY ON WOOD COMPOSITES DENSITY UNIFORMITY BY X-RAY

X-ray is irradiated in some wood composites(multi-layer particleboard.sin-gle-layer particleboard,reconsolidated wood,).According to the gray degree principle(0-255 grade degree)and the corresponding relation between density and gray,X-raynegatives are scanned.The numbers and pictures of every degree density are obtained andaccurate composite densities are counted.

Improving the uniformity of RF-plasma density by a humped variable-gap spiral antenna

This paper develops a humped spiral antenna of top inductively coupled plasma with variable gap. Comparing with planar spiral antennae, it investigates the performance of humped spiral antennae in the calculated electromagnetic configurations and experimental results. It finds that the humped antenna has the improved uniformity of plasma density in the radial direction and the decreased electron temperature in the top inductively coupled plasma. By experimental and theoretical analyses, the plasma performance in the case of humped antennae is considered to be the combined results of the uniform electromagnetic configurations and the depressed capacitively coupling effect.

An Evaluation of the Water Absorption and Density Properties of Expanded Polystyrene Sanded Concrete

In this paper, the evaluation of the mechanical and hygro-thermal properties of expanded polystyrene-sanded lightweight concrete (EPSLC) was examined. Evaluated are the mechanical properties in terms of density;and the hygro-thermal property using water absorption (capillary absorption and total immersion) as measures. The research used 30% volume of EPS to replace natural coarse aggregate to produce a lightweight concrete, which is expected to be economical, serviceable and meet the required standards for lightweight concretes. The concrete bulk and oven dry densities were obtained as 1789 KN/m3 and 1674 kg/m3 respectively, while the total water and capillary water absorption increases with time of suction. The high rate of water absorption at the early periods of the test has corresponding capillary coefficient of steep slope within the same period. The relationship between the variables Q the water absorption per unit area of the specimen and K the capillary coefficient, is that as the water absorption gets higher, so does the capillary coefficient and the percentage of the variation is expressed by the correlation coefficient R2. Therefore, the values of R2 as depicted in the graphs shows a high percentage of variation. The moisture capacity is 6.9%. All the laboratory tests were, conducted in accordance with standard codes of practice. The significance of the research is that innovative technology is employed to modify and improve processes in construction industry, thus, enhancing sustainable environmental, management of industrial waste, and cheaper and economic construction. With the 30% replacement of coarse aggregate, the density and water absorption properties of concrete produced are within acceptable limits. Therefore, EPS can be used to produce lightweight concrete that will perform the required function at this level of replacement.

Characterization by Thermogravimetric Analysis of Polymeric Concrete with High Density Polyethylene Mechanically Recycled

This paper presents the results of the characterization by thermogravimetric analysis of a new composite material called polymeric concrete. The polymeric concrete contains micro-particles obtained from High Density Poly-Ethylene (HDPE) mechanically recycled (post-consumer bottles);the official Mexican standard NMX-E-232-SCFI-1999 considers the HDPE as the recyclable plastic material. Thermo-grams based on weight lost were obtained from the raw material (HDPE) and the polymer concrete in order to obtain the glass transition temperature (Tg) and melting temperature (Tf). The analysis conditions were defined from 20°C to 180°C and the heat rate of 1°C/minute. The results show that the glass transition temperature of polymeric concrete is 46°C and the HDPE is 38°C. These results mean that the polymeric concrete is more resistant to decomposition. With respect to the melting temperature, the results show that the 2°C difference between polymeric concrete and HDPE is not significant. The polymeric concrete with HDPE recycled can be considered as composite material thermoplastic. The new material melts when it is heated to 146°C and has the ability to be softened, processed and reprocessed with temperature and pressure changes, which make it possible to obtain molded pieces in the desired shape.

Effect of Flaky Plastic Particle Size and Volume Used as Partial Replacement of Gravel on Compressive Strength and Density of Concrete Mix

Common ways of disposing waste plastic such as incineration and landfilling have negative impacts on the environment. Partial replacement of natural aggregate in concrete with waste plastic including polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is more environmental friendly and sustainable. The effect of adding 5% to 20% waste plastic by volume of natural coarse aggregate (“gravel”) and plastic particle size (3 to 7 mm) on the density and compressive strength of plastic-concrete mix after 28 days of curing was studied. The results showed that density of the concrete decreased from 2406.7 to 2286.7 kg/m3 as waste plastic increased from 5% to 20% v/v compared with 2443.3 kg/m3 recorded by concrete without waste plastic. Change in particle size from 3 to 7 mm has no significant effect on the density of the plastic-concrete mix. The compressive strength decreased as the volume and particle size of waste plastic increased. When waste plastic volume changed from 5% to 20% v/v, the compressive strength decreased from 20.5 to 15 MPa, 18.6 to 14.3 MPa and 17.2 to 13.8 MPa for 3, 5 and 7 mm waste plastic particle size respectively while the concrete without plastic has 21.33 MPa. Therefore, the addition of 5% (v/v gravel) of flaky waste plastic in the concrete produces a lightweight concrete which could offer economic benefit without substantially reducing the compressive strength of the plastic-concrete mix.

Fatigue reliability quantitative analysis of cement concrete for highway pavement under high stress ratio

In order to obtain the change law of the fatigue reliability of cement concrete for highway pavement under high stress ratios, first, the probability densities of monotonic random variables including concrete fatigue life are deduced. And then, the fatigue damage probability densities of the Miner and Chaboche-Zhao models are deduced. By virtue of laboratory fatigue test results, the fatigue damage probability density functions of the two models can be obtained, considering different stress ratios. Finally, substituting load cycles into them, the change law of cement concrete fatigue reliability about load cycles can be acquired. The results show that under the same stress ratio, with the increase in the load cycle, the fatigue reliability declines from almost 100% to 0% gradually. No matter under what stress ratio, during the initial stage of the load action, there is always a relatively stable phase for fatigue reliability. With the increase in the stress ratio, the stable phase gradually shortens and the load cycle corresponding to the reliability of 0% also decreases. In the descent phase of reliability, the higher the stress ratio is, the lower the concrete reliability is for the same load cycle. Besides, compared with the Chaboche-Zhao fatigue damage model, the Miner fatigue damage model is safer.

Preparation of High Performance Foamed Concrete from Cement,Sand and Mineral Admixtures

The titled high performance foamed concrete was developed from Portland cement, ultra fine granulated blast-furnace slag, pulverized fly ash and condensed silica fume by means of pre-foaming process. The resultant foamed concrete presents its thermal conductivity of about 0.16-0.75 W/（m·℃） and 28 d compressive strength of about 1.1-23.7 MPa when its mix proportion varies in the range of cement content 280 kg-650 kg/m^3, fly ash 42-97 kg/m^3, slag 64-146 kg/m^3, silica fume 34-78 kg/m^3, and sand 0-920 kg/m^3. The compressive strength of the foamed concrete with oven dried bulk density of 1500 kg/m^3 in appropriate mix proportion and with small amount of superplasticizer reached as high as 44.1 MPa. Meanwhile, the flesh foamed concrete behaves like an excellent flow-ability, therefore, is especially suitable for the application in case of massive foamed concrete casting in situ and in the case of filling casting into large volume underground irregular voids, except for pre-casting of building components like blocks, bricks, and wall panels.

Effect of Aggregate Gradation with Fuller Distribution on Properties of Sulphoaluminate Cement Concrete

Experimental investigations on mechanical property and durability of sulphoaluminate cement concrete with aggregate gradations according to Fuller distribution are presented in this paper. Compressive strength, water impermeability and resistance capability to sulfate attack of SACC have the same trend of concrete with fine aggregates of Fuller distribution gradation<concrete with coarse aggregates of Fuller distribution gradation<concrete with total aggregates of Fuller distribution gradation. The relationship between bulk density of aggregate and water penetration depth obeyed the second-order polynomial y=0.002x2-6.863 8x +5 862.3, and had a notable correlation R2=0.979 9. The sulphoaluminate cement concrete with total aggregate gradation with Fuller distribution for h=0.50 had the best resistance capability to sulfate attack. It was a second-order polynomial relationship between bulk density of aggregates and water penetration depth of y=0.002x2-6.863 8x+5 862.3 with R2=0.979 9, which indicated notable correlation. The fitting formula between bulk density of aggregates and sulfate resistance coefficient of SACC was y=0.000 5x+0.370 4 with R2=0.958 5.

Gamma-ray shielding study of light to heavyweight concretes using MCNP-4C code

In this work, linear and mass attenuation coefficients, half and tenth-value layers, effective atomic number and electron density of different types of concretes were determined at 316.51, 468.07, 511, 662, 1173 and 1332 keV using MCNP-4C code and Win XCom programs. The MCNP-4C and Win XCom results agreed well with each other, with differences of \±1.9%. The results agreed with available experimental data, too, with differences of \±6%.The MCNP-4C results showed better agreement with the experimental data than the Win XCom results. Also, it was found that the effective electron density of studied concretes varies in the range of(2.83–3.2) 9 10^(23)electron/g.

Influences of Reinforcement on Differential Drying Shrinkage of Concrete

Shrinkage strain of concrete specimen with different reinforcement configuration was measured at various depths from the exposed surface by using several pairs of displacement sensors. Only one surface of the concrete specimen was exposed to dry condition during the experiment. The results show that differential shrinkage strain occurs in both plain and steel reinforced concrete specimens according to depths from the exposed surface. A higher reinforcement ratio results in a greater restraint against shrinkage of concrete nearby reinforcement rebar and a worse differential shrinkage strain distribution in the concrete specimen. The restraint against shrinkage of concrete becomes lower with the increasing distance from reinforcement rebar. Under the same reinforcement arrangement, a higher free shrinkage of concrete leads to a stronger restraint against shrinkage and a higher shrinkage stress formation in local concrete. The relationship between shrinkage strain and reduction of relative humidity in reinforced concrete structure is far different from that in plain concrete.

Revision of single atom local density and capture number varying with coverage in uniform depletion approximation and its effect on coalescence and number of stable clusters

In vapour deposition, single atoms （adatoms） on the substrate surface are the main source of growth. The change in its density plays a decisive role in the growth of thin films and quantum size islands. In the nucleation and cluster coalescence stages of vapour deposition, the growth of stable clusters occurs on the substrate surface covered by stable clusters. Nucleation occurs in the non-covered part, while the total area covered by stable clusters on the substrate surface will gradually increase. Carefully taking into account the coverage effect, a revised single atom density rate equation is given for the famous and widely used thin-film rate equation theory, but the work of solving the revised equation has not been done. In this paper, we solve the equation and obtain the single-atom density and capture number by using a uniform depletion approximation. We determine that the single atom density is much lower than that evaluated from the single atom density rate equation in the traditional rate equation theory when the stable cluster coverage fraction is large, and it goes down very fast with an increase in the coverage fraction. The revised equation gives a higher value for the ＇average＇ capture number than the present equation. It also increases with increasing coverage. That makes the preparation of single crystalline thin film materials difficult and the size control of quantum size islands complicated. We also discuss the effect of the revision on coalescence and the number of stable clusters in vapour deposition.

UNIFORMITY ASSESSMENT OF CARBON FIBRES DISPERSION IN CEMENT PASTE BY IMPEDANCE MEASUREMENTS

An alternating current was applied to measure the impedance of a hardened cement paste with various contents of carbon fibres. When the free water content in the hardened cement paste is 90%-98%, and the measuring frequency 500 Hz, an approximate linear relationship was found between fibre content and impedance of the composite. Based on this relationship, a new attempt was made to evaluate the dispersion uniformity of carbon fibres in cement paste by impedance measurement. The standard deviation S and the coefficient of vriation S/X over bar //i of impedance of the fibre-cement specimens randomly taken locating in different points were used as main parameters for the uniformity assessment. As a case, four different mixing processes were designed for dispersing carbon fibres into the cement paste. The results demonstrate that the relative longer mixing time increases the dispersion uniformity of carbon fibres in cement paste, and the addition of the water reducer dramatically improves the uniformity due to the change of the fluidity of the paste. The ground fly ash can increase the uniformity to a certain extent. (Author abstract) 6 Refs.

Evaluation of Fresh and Hardened Properties of Self-Compacting Concrete

This paper compared the rheological properties and compressive strengths of self-compacting concrete (SCC) and conventional cement concrete. The flowability and segregation resistance of freshly mixed concrete specimens were examined by the V-funnel apparatus, while the characteristics of passing ability were investigated with the L-box apparatus. Cylindrical concrete specimens of 100 mm diameter × 200 mm length were investigated for compressive strength. The rheological properties of SCC are incomparable with those of the conventional concrete due to their diverse testing methods and characteristics of individual flow. The compressive strength results of hardened concrete showed that SCC gained strength slowly compared to the conventional cement concrete due to the presence of admixtures and its 28 days strength was lower than conventional cement concrete, but SCC eventually had potentials of higher strength beyond 90 days. Finally, the effect of water-cement ratio on the plastic properties of self-compacting concrete was quite negligible compared to conventional concrete.

The Use of Fine Blast Furnace Slag in Improvement of Properties of Concrete

Concrete properties can be improved using Fine Blast Furnace Slag (BFS). The latter was used to replace cement in concrete at 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%, and 30% proportions and properties of both fresh and hardened concrete improved. Best workability (evaluated by slump and Table tests) was recorded at 30% of BFS addition. VEBE-time, an indication of workability of concrete, decreased to its lowest value (about 4 seconds at 30% BFS) and compaction factor attained its maximum value of 99% at BFS 25%. For density and unit weight, 30% of fine BFS in concrete mix resulted in maximum density of 2180 kg/m3 for fresh concrete, and 2430 kg/m3 for hardened concrete. Unit weight of concrete achieved a maximum of 23.9 kN/m3 at 30% BFS has achieved specified strength at 1st week and 28 days, also the late strength is high at 56 and 84 days. Bond and flexure loads come high of BFS use. The data of compressive, bond, and flexural strengths are highly related. Results of research are useful and may be applied using fine BFS to improve the properties of concrete materials.

Coconut Fibre Effect on Fresh and Thermo Gravimetric Properties to Mitigate Spalling of Self-Compacting Concrete at Elevated Temperatures

In this research the effect of Coconut (CN) fibre on the fresh and thermo gravimetric properties of self-compacting concrete (SCC) at elevated temperatures was investigated experimentally and statistically. The mixtures containing cement, water, fly ash, fine aggregate, coarse aggregate and super plasticizer with the addition of CN fibres (0%, 0.05%, 0.10 %, and 0.15%) by volume of the mixtures were prepared. The fresh and thermo gravimetric properties of the SCC specimens were determined after mixing at elevated temperatures (200℃, 400℃, and 600℃) testing in a laboratory. Three control specimens with 0% CN fibres were used for every mixture of SCC. Regression models were developed to determine the responses. The optimum of the CN fibres was measured.

Strong Consistency of the Spline-Estimation of Probabilities Density in Uniform Metric

In the present paper as estimation of an unknown probability density of the spline-estimation is constructed, necessity and sufficiency conditions of strong consistency of the spline-estimation are given.

Size Variation of Palm Kernel Shells as Replacement of Coarse Aggregate for Lightweight Concrete Production

The utilization of palm kernel shells (PKS) as an alternative to conventional materials for construction is desirable to promote sustainable development. The purpose of this study is to investigate the properties of lightweight concrete produced with different sizes of PKS of 6, 8, 10, 12 mm and mix (consisting of 25% each of the four sizes). RPK sizes were used to replace coarse aggregate in the concrete and cured for 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. The tests performed on the concrete are dry density, compressive strength, flexural strength, EDS and SEM. It was revealed that the densities of the concrete specimens were all less than 2000 kg/m3, which implies that the PKS concrete satisfied the requirement of lightweight concrete for structural application. The compressive strength of the 12 mm PKS concrete specimens at 28-day of curing was 10.2 MPa which was 4% to 15.9% better than the other PKS sizes concrete. The flexural strength of the 12 mm PKS concrete specimens at 28-day of curing was 2.85 MPa which was also 3.2% to 57.07% better than the other PKS sizes concrete. It was also revealed by the SEM analysis that there was a good bond between the palm kernel shells and the mortar. A high calcium-silicate content was found in the concrete which resulted in a Ca/Si ratio of 1.26 and Al/Si ratio of 0.11. The study therefore concludes that size variations of PKS as replacement of coarse aggregate have an influence on the properties of the lightweight concrete and recommends 12 mm PKS for use by construction practitioners for lightweight concrete structural application.