Preliminary investigation for the production of wet-process phosphoric acid from Saudi phosphate ores

This paper represents the first published report of a preliminary investigation of the possibility of using Saudi phosphate ores for the production of wet-process phosphoric acid.     

Dynamic mechanical properties of agricultural residues‐filled polystyrene

Agricultural residues (cotton straw) were added as very small particles to polystyrene (PS) at different weight ratios by using a melt‐mixing technique. The dynamic mechanical tests were performed over a wide range of temperatures and frequencies by using an ARES rheometer (Rheometrics Scientific) operated in the dynamic mode. The dynamic mechanical properties in terms of the storage modulus (G′), loss modulus (G″), compliance moduli, loss tangent, and dynamic viscosity were studied and compared for PS and PS composite. The results showed that the dynamic mechanical moduli and viscosity were found to increase with the addition of cotton straw and rise further with its loading increasing. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 93: 37–40, 2004     

Biodegradation of low‐density polyethylene/thermoplastic starch foams before and after electron beam irradiation

Foamy low‐density polyethylene/plasticized starch (LDPE/PLST) blends at different compositions were produced in the presence of azodicarbonamide (ACA) compound as foaming agent. The LDPE/PLST blends before and after electron beam irradiation were investigated in terms of mechanical properties, bulk density, and structure morphology. Moreover, the biodegradability of these materials was evaluated by the soil burial test for 2 months, in which the buried sheets were also examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the increase of PLST content from 24 to 30% was accompanied by a decrease in the yield and break stresses of 10 and 20% for the unirradiated blends without the foaming agent, respectively. Further decrease in these mechanical parameters was observed after the foaming process. The bulk density, void fraction, cell size measurements as well as the examination by SEM illustrate clearly the cell growth of the foam structure. The soil burial test and SEM micrographs indicate the growth of microorganisms overall the blend sheets and that the blend was completely damaged after two months of burying. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007     

Mechanical characterization and chemical resistances of cured unsaturated polyester resins modified with vinyl ester resins based on recycled poly(ethylene terephthalate)

Unsaturated polyester resin (UP) was prepared from glycolyzed oligomer of poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) waste based on diethylene glycol (DEG). New diacrylate and dimethacrylate vinyl ester resins prepared from glycolysis of PET with tetraethylene glycol were blended with UP to study the mechanical characteristics of the cured UP. The vinyl ester resins were used as crosslinking agents for unsaturated polyester resin diluted with styrene, using free‐radical initiator and accelerator. The mechanical properties of the cured UP resins were evaluated. The compressive properties of the cured UP/styrene resins in the presence of different vinyl ester concentrations were evaluated. Increasing the vinyl ester content led to a pronounced improvement in the compression strength. The chemical resistances of the cured resins were evaluated through hot water, solvents, acid, and alkali resistance measurements. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 103: 3175–3182, 2007     

The use of wood pulp and radiation‐modified starch in wastewater treatment

Radiation‐induced graft copolymerization of maize starch/acrylic acid has been performed. Also, natural byproduct wood pulp was used after chemical treatment for the removal of metal ions from the investigated wastewater. The surface and structure morphology of the wood pulp and starch/acrylic acid were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and infrared spectroscopy. The physical parameters, such as swelling, gel percentage, and grafting efficiency (%) of starch/acrylic acid copolymer, were studied. The factors affecting the abilities of the prepared materials for removing heavy metal ions and dyes from aqueous solutions were studied. It was found that the maximum metal uptake is in the following sequence: Fe³⁺ > Cr³⁺ > Pb²⁺ > Cd²⁺. The adsorption capacity of such investigated metal ions increases with the increase of pH values. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2006     

On tool wear and its effect on machined surface integrity

This paper presents the results of an investigation of induced residual stress, induced strain, and induced subsurface energy in machined surfaces due to the machining process. The influence of tool wear on residual stress, strain, and energy is also reported. The exact elasticity solution for a split ring was extended and used to calculate the residual stress in the machined surface by using ring dimension changes caused by the electrochemical removal of a thin layer of residually stressed surface. The strain distribution beneath the machined surface was determined by using the grid technique. The subsurface energy stored in the machined surface was then obtained from the data of residual stress and strain. For the materials studied, this investigation showed that such energy could not be neglected when establishing the total energy needed for machining a unit volume of material. Tool coatings having different surface roughness and tools having various magnitudes of flank wear were investigated. The experimental results show that tool wear is a dominant factor affecting the values of induced residual stress, strain, subsurface energy, and the quality of the machined surface. The increase of tool wear caused an increase of residual stress and strain beneath the machined surface. It was also found that the overall energy stored in the machined subsurface increases as the tool wear increases and as the tool surface gets rougher. When the cutting tool is severely worn, the machined surface not only becomes very rough, but also contains many partially fractured laps or cracks. This makes tool wear a key factor in controlling the quality of the machined surface.     

Design of a printed log‐periodic dipole array antenna with high gain for millimeter‐wave applications

In this article, a V‐band printed log‐periodic dipole array (PLPDA) antenna with high gain is proposed. The antenna prototype is designed, simulated, fabricated, and tested. Simulation results show that this antenna can operate from 42 to 82 GHz with a fractional impedance bandwidth of 64.5% covering the whole V‐band (50–75 GHz). The antenna has a measured impedance matching bandwidth that starts from 42 to beyond 65 GHz with good agreement between the experimental and simulated results. At 50 and 65 GHz, the antenna has a measured gain of 10.45 and 10.28 dBi, respectively, with a gain variation of 2.6 dBi across the measured frequency range. The antenna prototype exhibits also stable radiation patterns over the operating band. It achieves side‐lobe suppression better than 17.26 dB in the H‐plane and better than 8.95 dB in the E‐plane, respectively. In addition, the cross‐polarization component is 18.5 dB lower than the copolarization with front‐to‐back ratio lower than 24.1 dB in both E‐ and H‐planes across the desired frequency range. Based on a comparison of performance among the reported work in the literature, we can say that the proposed PLPDA antenna is a proper candidate to be used in many applications at V‐band frequency. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE 25:185–193, 2015.     

A generalized layerwise higher-order shear deformation theory for laminated composite and sandwich plates based on isogeometric analysis

This paper presents a generalized layerwise higher-order shear deformation theory for laminated composite and sandwich plates. We exploit a higher-order shear deformation theory in each layer such that the continuity of the displacement and transverse shear stresses at the layer interfaces is ensured. Thanks for enforcing the continuity of the displacement and transverse shear stresses at an inner-laminar layer, the minimum number of variables is retained from the present theory in comparison with other layerwise theories. The method requires only five variables, the same as what obtained from the first- and higher-order shear deformation theories. In comparison with the shear deformation theories based on the equivalent single layer, the present theory is capable of producing a higher accuracy for inner-laminar layer shear stresses. The free boundary conditions of transverse shear stresses at the top and bottom surfaces of the plate are fulfilled without any shear correction factors. The discrete system equations are derived from the Galerkin weak form, and the solution is obtained by isogeometric analysis (IGA). The discrete form requires the C¹ continuity of the transverse displacement, and hence NURBS basis functions in IGA naturally ensure this condition. The laminated composite and sandwich plates with various geometries, aspect ratios, stiffness ratios and boundary conditions are studied. The obtained results are compared with the 3D elasticity solution, the analytical as well as numerical solutions based on various plate theories.     

Different Estimation Methods for Constant Stress Accelerated Life Test under the Family of the Exponentiated Distributions

The Accelerated Life Testing (ALT) has been used for a long time in several fields to obtain information on the reliability of product components and materials under operating conditions in a much shorter time. One of the main purposes of applying ALT is to estimate the failure time functions and reliability performance under normal conditions. This paper concentrates on the estimation procedures under ALT and how to select the best estimation method that gives accurate estimates for the reliability function. For this purpose, different estimation methods are used, such as maximum likelihood, least squares (LS), weighted LS, and probability weighted moment. Moreover, the reliability function under usual conditions is predicted. The estimation procedures are applied under the family of the exponentiated distributions in general, and for the exponentiated inverted Weibull (EIW) as a special case. Numerical analysis including simulated data and a real life data set is conducted to compare the performances between these four methods. It is found that the ML method gives the best results among other estimation methods. Finally, a comparison between the EIW and the Inverted Weibull (IW) distributions based on a real life data set is made using a likelihood ratio test. It is observed that the EIW distribution can provide better fitting than the IW in case of ALT. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Efficient Medical Image Deep Fusion Model Based on Convolutional Neural Networks

Medical image fusion is considered the best method for obtaining one image with rich details for efficient medical diagnosis and therapy. Deep learning provides a high performance for several medical image analysis applications. This paper proposes a deep learning model for the medical image fusion process. This model depends on Convolutional Neural Network (CNN). The basic idea of the proposed model is to extract features from both CT and MR images. Then, an additional process is executed on the extracted features. After that, the fused feature map is reconstructed to obtain the resulting fused image. Finally, the quality of the resulting fused image is enhanced by various enhancement techniques such as Histogram Matching (HM), Histogram Equalization (HE), fuzzy technique, fuzzy type Π, and Contrast Limited Histogram Equalization (CLAHE). The performance of the proposed fusion-based CNN model is measured by various metrics of the fusion and enhancement quality. Different realistic datasets of different modalities and diseases are tested and implemented. Also, real datasets are tested in the simulation analysis.