Effectiveness of different surface cleaning methods on the shear bond strength of resin cement to contaminated zirconia: an in vitro study

The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate and compare the effectiveness of different surface cleaning methods on the shear bond strength (SBS) of zirconia ceramic surfaces. Seventy polished and cleaned zirconia disk specimens of 8 mm in diameter and 3.4 mm in thickness were immersed in fresh saliva. They were then pressed into a freshly mixed silicone disclosing medium. Six different cleaning methods were applied to the tested groups; they were airborne-particle abraded (AA), covered with a cleaning paste (Ivoclean®) (IV), etched with orthophosphoric acid (PA), immersed in alcohol (AL), rinsed with tap water only (WA), or cleaned with steam (SC). No surface cleaning was done after saliva immersion and silicone disclosing medium contamination to the control group (CC). The specimens were then bonded to an adhesive resin cement using polyethylene tubes. SBS was determined using a universal testing machine at a crosshead speed of 1 mm/min. The specimens were also examined with a scanning electron microscope and a stereomicroscope. Group AA yielded the highest SBS value (7.01 ± 1.4 MPa) among the groups, while Group WA had the lowest SBS value (3.03 ± 0.8 MPa). The SBS values of Group AA (7.01 ± 1.4 MPa) and IV (6.2 ± 1.7 MPa) were also significantly higher than those of the remaining four groups (p < 0.05). Within the limitations of this in vitro study, it was concluded that among the various cleaning methods tested, airborne-particle abrasion and Ivoclean® paste were effective in cleaning the zirconia surface.     

Calcium oxalate crystallization in silica and sugar solutions-characterization of crystal phases and habits

The effects of silica (SiO₂) and sugar on the crystallographic and morphological properties of calcium oxalate (CaOx) have been investigated using instrumental techniques including X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Addition of SiO₂ or sugar in a CaOx crystallization system promoted the formation of COT (calcium oxalate trihydrate) and COD (calcium oxalate dihydrate), respectively, and modified the crystal size and habit of COM (calcium oxalate monohydrate) crystals, the extent of which was dependent on the concentrations of SiO₂ and sugar. A variety of mechanisms including electrostatic effects, geometrical matching and stereochemical compatibility between CaOx crystallites and polymeric SiO₂/sucrose molecules have been proposed.     

Removal of toxic nitrate ions from drinking water using conducting polymer/MWCNTs nanocomposites

New application of conducting polymers as stable nanocomposites for nitrate ion exchange materials in water and wastewater treatment and for environmental protection is introduced in this work. The nanocomposites of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) with different polymers such as: polyaniline (PANI), polypyrrole (PPY), poly(1,8-diaminonaphthalene) [P(1,8-DAN)] and poly(2-vinylpyridine) (P2VP) were synthesized with different dopants as effective and reusable nanocomposites for nitrate removal from drinking water. Nitrate anions at toxic concentrations were removed from water using ion exchange mechanism without any toxic byproducts. The obtained results demonstrate that effective ion exchange occurs between NO₃ ^? and Cl^?. There are some protonated heteroatoms in polymer chains that are bonded with anions of dopants and their counter ions in nanocomposites. These dopant anions on the =NH⁺– groups of polymers can be exchanged with NO₃ ^? in water. Adsorption of NO₃ ^? on polymer/MWCNTs nanocomposites showed dependency to some parameters. Different experimental parameters such as pH and temperature of the sample, polymers dopant, and the ratio of polymer to MWCNTs in nanocomposites affect the amount of nitrate removal. The highest removal efficiency was achieved at 1.20 g L^?1 of PANI/MWCNTs (3:1) nanocomposite, pH = 6.5 and ambient temperature. After five successive cycles of nitrate removal, this parameter was still up to 70 % compared to the first run (up to 80 %).     

Investigation on hydrophilicity of micro-arc oxidized TiO2 nano/micro-porous layers

Titania porous layers with a rough surface were synthesized via micro-arc oxidation (MAO) and the effect of the applied voltage and electrolyte concentration on surface structure, and chemical composition of the layers was studied. Morphological and topographical investigations, performed by SEM and AFM, revealed that pore size and surface roughness of the layers increased with the applied voltage and the electrolyte concentration. Based on the XRD and XPS results, the grown layers consisted of anatase and rutile phases with varying fractions depending on growth conditions. It was found that anatase/rutile relative content reached its maximum value at medium applied voltages or electrolyte concentrations. Finally, hydrophilicity of the grown layers was determined using a water contact angle apparatus, and a correlation between measured contact angles and MAO-parameters was suggested. It was observed that the layers synthesized under the applied voltage of 400 V in the electrolytes with a concentration of 10 g l⁻¹ exhibited the highest hydrophilicity.     

Additives to prevent the formation of surface defects during poly(vinyl chloride) calendering

Gas checks are visible fleck-shaped defects that occur on the surface of poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) films during industrial calendering. Films containing these surface defects often do not meet minimum product specifications and therefore must be disposed of or recycled, resulting in increased cost and material waste. Currently, gas checks are controlled by keeping film gauge low and through trial-and-error modifications of processing parameters by calender operators. In this work, our group developed a series of chemical additives that can be blended with PVC to prevent the formation of gas check defects. We found that a series of poly(caprolactone) (PCL)-based compounds with diester linkers and alkyl chain cappers were all effective at preventing the formation of gas checks during calendering, with additive concentrations as low as 8 phr producing films with no gas checks. We found that the blends produced with our additives had higher melt viscosities than those produced with additives that do not remove gas checks, suggesting that viscosity plays an important role in preventing gas check defects.     

Chaotic imperialist competitive algorithm for optimum design of truss structures

The imperialist competitive algorithm is a new socio-politically motivated optimization algorithm which recently is applied for structural problems. This paper utilizes the idea of using chaotic systems instead of random processes in the imperialist competitive algorithm. The resulting method is called chaotic imperialist competitive algorithm (CICA) in which chaotic maps are utilized to improve the movement step of the algorithm. Some well-studied truss structures are chosen to evaluate the efficiency of the new algorithm.     

Simultaneous determination of pyruvate and acetate levels in xanthan biopolymer by infrared spectroscopy: effect of spectral pre-processing for solid-state analysis

A rapid, direct, and reagent-free procedure based on solid-state Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) coupled with partial least squares (PLS) data analysis has been developed for simultaneous determination of pyruvate and acetate levels in a microbial xanthan biopolymer. The influences of various spectral pre-processing procedures were studied in order to eliminate effects caused by sample preparation. It was determined that the combination of first derivative and orthogonal signal correction pre-processing contributes to a significant increase in the predictive performance of PLS-1 regression models. By employing the wavenumber region 1320–1350 cm⁻¹ for pyruvate determination and 1500–1600 cm⁻¹ for acetate determination, the root mean square error of cross-validation (RMSECV) for pyruvate and acetate contents were obtained 0.13% and 0.29% w/w, respectively. Results of the proposed procedure for different real samples and those obtained by their reference methods were compared.     

Engineering design optimization using chaotic enhanced charged system search algorithms

The charged system search as a recently developed meta-heuristic algorithm has been successfully utilized for optimum design of different examples. In addition, the fields of forces model provides a means to enhance the algorithm, and this results in the enhanced charged system search (ECSS). This paper utilizes positive features of the chaos in the ECSS algorithm to optimize engineering design problems. Simulation results and comparisons based on various well-known mechanical and engineering design problems show the efficiency of the present algorithm.