Sharif Digital Repository

Formation of machinable glass-ceramic in the system MgO-SiO 2-Al2O3-K2O-B2O 3-F with and without addition of MgF2 has been investigated. Crystallization of glass sample was done by controlled thermal heat treatment at nucleation and crystallization temperatures. The results showed that MgF2 in high concentration had a synergistic effect and enhanced the formation of interlockedmica crystals. Non-isothermal DTA experiments showed that the crystallization activation energies of base glasses were changed in the range of 235-405 kJ/mol, while the crystallization activation energies of samples with addition of MgF2 were changed in the range of 548-752 kJ/mol  

In this research, effects of two-step sintering parameters, such as first and second step sintering temperatures (T1 and T2, respectively) and soaking time in the second step, on microstructure and electrical properties of ZnO varistors have been studied. In addition, slow rate of grain growth in the second step of sintering has also been investigated. Near fully dense (higher than 99%) and sub-micron grain size (1-0.75 μm) ZnO varistors have been fabricated by different two-step sintering cycles. Decreasing T1 and T2 result in longer necessary time in the second step to reach near full density with smaller final grain size. The superior electrical properties of varistors (VB: 2050-1022 V/mm... 

In this paper, the sorption of uranium onto nanoporous silica adsorbent in the presence of nitrate, sulfate, chloride, fluoride and phosphate was studied. The effect of contact time between the nanoporous sorbent and aqueous solution, pH and initial concentration of uranium was also investigated. Uranium sorption onto nanoporous silica adsorbent is a very fast process as sorption rate increases with pH increment. Optimum pH for uranium sorption was 4-8. Experimental sorption isotherm is successfully described by Langmuir and Freundlich models. The results obtained by batch experiments showed that the presence of high concentration of nitrate, sulfate, chloride and phosphate anions alone had... 

The authors carried out the study to prepare chitosan N-isopropylacrylamide hydrogel via heating and radiation processes. Properties investigation of prepared samples revealed that radiation prepared samples show higher yield and swelling ratios in comparison with the heating prepared ones. Effects of hydrogel addition to drilling mud on its important rheological properties such as apparent viscosity, plastic viscosity, and stress-strain behavior are measured. The rheological properties of hydrogel were compared with cellulosemethylcarboxyl and resins that are widely used in drilling fluid. The results demonstrate that whereas linear polymer effects on mud properties are more significant in... 

This study was focused on the heavy metal (Ni, Co, Mo, V, Mn, Fe, W and Zn) tolerance of fungi strains Aspergillus niger, Aspergillus foetidus and Penicillium simplicissimum. Aspergillus niger was exposed to a mixture of Mo, V and Mn at a mass ratio of 1:2:6 as approximately present in the spent refinery processing catalyst. This study highlights the adaptation of fungi strains to Tungsten and Vanadium to high concentration. The effect of different metals and metal concentration on different strains of fungi was evaluated. Results showed that Ni was one of the most toxic metals for strains of Aspergillus and Penicillium. Aspergillus foetidus was the least tolerant, in particular for Ni, Co... 

Molecular self-assembly of cadmium selenide quantum dots-end-capped polyrotaxane hybrid nanostructures (PRCdSe QDs) was led to a new type of core-shell hybrid nanomaterials consisting of cadmium selenide quantum dot (CdSe QDs) core and polyrotaxane shell (PR@QDs). Structure of PR@QDs was characterized using various techniques. It has been observed that the size of PR@QDs was between 20-25 nm in which diameter of core and thickness of shell were between 15-20 and 2-3 nm, respectively. Short-term in vitro cytotoxicity tests, using MTT (3-(4,5- dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay, were conducted on mouse tissue connective fibroblast adhesive cell line (L929) in order to... 

In the present paper, the use of a carbon paste electrode modified by 2,2′-[1,2 buthanediylbis (nitriloethylidyne)]-bis-hydroquinone (BH) and TiO2 nanoparticles prepared by a simple and rapid method was described. The modified electrode showed an excellent character for electrocatalytic oxidization of norepinephrine (NE), acetaminophene (AC) and folic acid (FA). Using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), a highly selective and simultaneous determination of NE, AC and FA has been explored at the modified electrode. Differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) peak currents of NE, AC and FA increased linearly with their concentration at the ranges of 4.0-1100.0 μM, 12.5-500.0 μM and 200.0-3200.0 μM,... 

Super-paramagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) are recognized as powerful biocompatible materials for use in various biomedical applications, such as drug delivery, magnetic-resonance imaging, cell/protein separation, hyperthermia and transfection. This study investigates the impact of high concentrations of SPIONs on cytotoxicity and cell-cycle effects. The interactions of surfacesaturated (via interactions with cell medium) bare SPIONs and those coated with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) with adhesive mouse fibroblast cells (L929) are investigated using an MTT assay. The two SPION formulations are synthesized using a co-precipitation method. The bare and coated magnetic nanoparticles with... 

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles with proper surface coatings are increasingly being evaluated for clinical applications such as hyperthermia, drug delivery, magnetic resonance imaging, transfection, and cell/protein separation. To enhance the applicability of magnetic nanoparticles, two main problems must be overcome. First, as the drug coats the particle surface, a significant portion of it is quickly released upon injection (burst effect). Therefore, only small amounts of the drug reach the specific site after, for example, magnetic drug targeting. Second, once the surface-derivatized nanoparticles are inside the cells, the coating is likely digested, leaving the bare particles... 

Two-phase flow inside the oil and gas wells and flow path lines is a usual occurrence in petroleum and petrochemical studies. Due to its complexity, flow transfer parameters such as hold up and pressure drop and their dependency on the flow regime maps are not well understood yet. This study is aimed at analyzing holdup for oil- water system and evaluation of this parameter by means of Image processing under different available flow regime conditions. In addition, different oil-polymer systems have been studied to evaluate the impact of polymer concentration on transport criteria. The experimental setup used for this study is consisted of a 12 m long Plexiglas pipe with an inner diameter of... 

Two-phase flow inside the oil and gas wells and flow path lines is a usual occurrence in petroleum and petrochemical studies. Due to its complexity, flow transfer parameters such as hold up and pressure drop and their dependency on the flow regime maps are not well understood yet. This study is aimed at analyzing holdup for oil- water system and evaluation of this parameter by means of Image processing under different available flow regime conditions. In addition, different oil-polymer systems have been studied to evaluate the impact of polymer concentration on transport criteria. The experimental setup used for this study is consisted of a 12 m long Plexiglas pipe with an inner diameter of... 

In this paper the effect of the sulphate concentration on the performance of a three-stage anaerobic baffled packed-bed reactor (ABPR) was investigated. Synthetic wastewater (3000 mg COD/l) was used as the sole organic substrate. The 30 liters fixed-bed bioreactor filled with plastic packing and divided in three equal sections was used as the mABPR reactor. The unit was run at a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 1 day and at temperature of 25° C. The results of this study showed that when COD/SO42- ratios were changed from 30 to 3 with increasing sulphate concentration from 100 to 1000 mg/l, COD removal slightly was decreased. Maximum COD and sulphate removal were 91 and 96%, respectively,... 

It is well known that the displacement efficiency of EOR processes is mainly affected by wettability of porous medium; however, the role of nanoparticles on wettability alteration of pores surfaces remains a topic of debate in the literature. Furthermore, a little is known about how the dispersed silica nanoparticles affect the microscopic/macroscopic recovery efficiency of heavy oils during common immiscible EOR processes such as water flooding. In this study, a series of injection experiments was performed on five-spot glass micromodel which is initially saturated with the heavy oil. Distilled water and dispersed silica nanoparticles in water (DSNW) at different values of weight percent... 

It is well known that the displacement efficiency of EOR processes is mainly affected by wettability of porous medium; however, the role of nanoparticles on wettability alteration of pores surfaces remains a topic of debate in the literature. Furthermore, a little is known about how the dispersed silica nanoparticles affect the microscopic/macroscopic recovery efficiency of heavy oils during common immiscible EOR processes such as water flooding. In this study, a series of injection experiments was performed on five-spot glass micromodel which is initially saturated with the heavy oil. Distilled water and dispersed silica nanoparticles in water (DSNW) at different values of weight percent... 

This article deals with the rubber-based friction materials (RBFMs) which can be used in brake system. The physico-mechanical and tribological properties of a series of fiber filled RBFMs containing steel wool and aramid pulp at different concentrations along with a fiber-free reference material were characterized. Rubber-glass transition induced at higher sliding velocities was identified based on the friction fade behavior of the RBFMs. The rubber-glass transition which is inherently originated by viscoelastic response of polymeric binder was found to be influential on the tribological properties of the RBFMs. It was revealed that steel wool increased coefficient of friction (COF) and... 

This work aims to investigate the structure-property relationship in ternary nanocomposites consisting of polypropylene as the matrix, nanoclay as the reinforcement and polyamide 6 as the intermediate phase. In this regard, composites of polypropylene/organoclay, polyamide/organoclay, blends of polypropylene/polyamide, and ternary nanocomposites of polypropylene/polyamide/layered silicate with and without compatibilizer were produced via melt compounding. Nanostructure was investigated by wide-angle X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Scanning electron microscopy was employed to study the microstructure. Modulus of elasticity and yield strength were measured by uniaxial... 

Bactericidal activity of high concentration Ag nanoparticles immobilized on surface of an aqueous sol-gel silica thin film was investigated against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Size of the surface nanoparticles was estimated in the range of 35-80 nm by using atomic force microscopy. Due to accumulation of the silver nanoparticles at near the surface (at depth of 6 nm and about 40 times greater than the silver concentration in the sol), the synthesized Ag-SiO2 thin film (with area of 10 mm2) presented strong antibacterial activities against E. coli and S. aureus bacteria with relative rate of reduction of the viable bacteria of 1.05 and 0.73 h-1 for initial... 

Polyethylene/clay nanocomposites (PECNC) were synthesized via in situ Ziegler-Natta catalyst polymerization. Activated catalyst for polymerization of ethylene monomer has been prepared at first by supporting of the cocatalyst on the montmorillonite (MMT) smectite type clay and then active complex for polymerization formed by reaction of TiCl4 and aluminum oxide compound on the clay. Acid wash treatment has been used for increasing hydroxyl group and porosity of the clay and subsequently activity of the catalyst. The nano- structure of composites was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Obtained results show that silica layers of the mineral clay... 

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) are being increasingly used in various biomedical applications such as hyperthermia, cell and protein separation, enhancing resolution of magnetic resonance imaging, and drug delivery. However, the toxicity data for SPION are limited. In this study, uncoated and single polyvinyl alcohol coated SPION with high chemical reactivity (due to the bigger surface area) were synthesized using a coprecipitation method. Cytotoxicity of these magnetic nanoparticles and their ability to cause arrest in cell life-cycles was investigated. Interaction of these nanoparticles with adhesive mouse fibroblast cell line (L929) was probed using MTT assay. High...