The incorporation of recycled concrete aggregate (RCA) into asphalt concrete supports circular economy goals by reducing reliance on virgin materials and minimizing construction waste. However, RCA’s inherent limitations, such as high porosity, microcracking, and poor interfacial bonding, compromise the structural integrity and durability of asphalt mixtures. This study introduces sugarcane molasses (SCM), a naturally derived, carbohydrate-rich byproduct of sugarcane refining, as a novel and eco-friendly surface treatment for RCA aimed at enhancing its compatibility with asphalt binders. SCM was applied at 5-6% by weight of RCA replacing coarse aggregate at varying levels (0-100%) to assess its effect on asphalt mixture performance. A comprehensive laboratory testing program was conducted, including microstructural analysis, aggregate impact and crushing strength tests, and performance evaluation using Marshall properties, resilient modulus, wheel tracking, moisture susceptibility, and fatigue resistance. SCM treatment resulted in a significantly denser and smoother interfacial transition zone (ITZ), reduced porosity, and improved cohesion at the aggregate-binder interface. Treated mixtures exhibited notable enhancements across all performance metrics: Marshall stability increased to 14.2 kN at 100% RCA, resilient modulus loss remained under 7%, Tensile strength ratio (TSR) values consistently exceeded the 80% threshold, and fatigue resistance peaked at 50% RCA with the highest asphalt flexibility ratio (AFR) and ductility. The findings demonstrate that SCM effectively mitigates the mechanical and durability shortcomings of untreated RCA. Among all mixes, 50% SCM-treated RCA yielded the most balanced performance. Although SCM treatment was found to be slightly cost-ineffective, the cost-performance index highlights its positive potential, particularly for 50% SCM-treated RCA mixtures. However, these results are material-specific, and field validation is essential to confirm performance across different RCA sources and environmental conditions.
Climate change, together with terrorism, economic depressions, and mass-destructive weaponry, is a source of international phobia for many people. The advancement in technology increases the competition among world powers and economic systems to develop their industrial enterprises. The smoke that emits from the factories, the pollution caused by the industrial projects, the excessive use of green gas result in the increase of global warming and have catastrophic effects on the ecosphere of the planet. Besides, man’s wrong practices even in agricultural matters are exhausting the natural resources of the lands, and they badly affect the ecological diversity and the wellbeing of the humans and non-humans alike. Contemporary feminis
... Show MoreTemporomandibular disorders (TMDs) were investigated in 143 pretreatment orthodontic patients (43 males and 102 females) whose age ranged between 10-25 years at the College of Dentistry, University of Baghdad, Iraq. The study was undertaken to elucidate the prevalence and severity of TMDs in malocclusion patients and to defme the relationships between malocclusion and TMDs. The clinical signs and subjective symptoms were recorded according to the principles introduced by Helkimo (1974b). Subjective symptoms were reported by 65.7% of the patients with 22.40/0 described as severe, and the most common symptoms were TMJ sounds and feeling offatigue. Clinical signs were observed in 81.8% of the sample with 22.4 and 6.3% described as moderate and
... Show MoreA method has been demonstrated to synthesise effective zeolite membranes from existing crystals without a hydrothermal synthesis step.
The phytoremediation technique has become very efficient for treating soil contaminated with heavy metals. In this study, a pot experiment was conducted where the Dodonaea plant (known as hops) was grown, and soil previously contaminated with metals (Zn, Ni, Cd) was added at concentrations 100, 50, 0 mg·kg-1 for Ni and Zn, and at concentrations of 0, 5, 10 mg·kg-1 for cadmium. Irrigation was done within the limits of the field capacity of the soil. Cadmium, nickel and zinc was estimated in the soil to find out the capacity of plants to the absorption of heavy and contaminated metals by using bioconcentration factors (BCFs), bioaccumulation coefficient (BAC) and translocation factor (TF). Additionally, BCF values of both Ni and Zn were l
... Show MoreThe rotor dynamics generally deals with vibration of rotating structures. For designing rotors of a high speeds, basically its important to take into account the rotor dynamics characteristics. The modeling features for rotor and bearings support flexibility are described in this paper, by taking these characteristics of rotor dynamics features into standard Finite Element Approach (FEA) model. Transient and harmonic analysis procedures have been found by ANSYS, the idea has been presented to deal with critical speed calculation. This papers shows how elements BEAM188 and COMBI214 are used to represent the shaft and bearings, the dynamic stiffness and damping coefficients of journal bearings as a matrices have been found
... Show MoreThe aim of this research is to adopt a close range photogrammetric approach to evaluate the pavement surface condition, and compare the results with visual measurements. This research is carried out on the road of Baghdad University campus in AL-Jaderiyiah for evaluating the scaling, surface texture for Portland cement concrete and rutting, surface texture for asphalt concrete pavement. Eighty five stereo images of pavement distresses were captured perpendicular to the surface using a DSLR camera. Photogrammetric process was carried out by using ERDAS IMAGINE V.8.4. The results were modeled by using a relationship between the photogrammetric and visual techniques and selected the highest coefficient of determination (R2). The first techniqu
... Show MoreThis paper studies the effect of contact areas on the transient response of mechanical structures. Precisely, it investigates replacing the ordinary beam of a structure by two beams of half the thickness, which are joined by bolts. The response of these beams is controlled by adjusting the tightening of the connecting bolts and hence changing the magnitude of the induced frictional force between the two beams which affect the beams damping capacity. A cantilever of two beams joined together by bolts has been investigated numerically and experimentally. The numerical analysis was performed using ANSYS-Workbench version 17.2. A good agreement between the numerical and experimental results has been obtained. In general, results s
... Show MoreThe aim of this research is to adopt a close range photogrammetric approach to evaluate the pavement surface condition, and compare the results with visual measurements. This research is carried out on the road of Baghdad University campus in AL-Jaderiyiah for evaluating the scaling, surface texture for Portland cement concrete and rutting, surface texture for asphalt concrete pavement. Eighty five stereo images of pavement distresses were captured perpendicular to the surface using a DSLR camera. Photogrammetric process was carried out by using ERDAS IMAGINE V.8.4. The results were modeled by using a relationship between the photogrammetric and visual techniques and selected the highest coefficient of determinatio
... Show MoreContemporary art has been widely affected by technology, and ceramics production is no exception. As an ancient art that originates from clay and other humble materials found in the ground, ceramics is considered one of the most adaptable art forms. Once it is realised how flexible ceramics as a material is, it can be easily altered into endless forms and shapes. Therefore, it is vital for ceramics practitioners to find a relationship between this wonderful material and the media of contemporary art, culture and modelling software or technology in general so that they can take their deformable art pieces to a whole new level. Such a relationship is worth investigating. Thus, for the purposes of this research, several ceramic pieces were
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