In this work, varying compositions of SiO₂ micro filler were added
with the Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) and samples have been prepared
using film casting technique. The results have been analyzed and
compared for PVC samples with (1 wt%, 3 wt%, 5 wt% and 10 wt%)
SiO2 micro filler. Mechanical characteristics such as tensile strength,
elongation at break and Young`s modulus were measured for all the
samples, where the tensile strength was increased from 8.39 Mpa for
purified PVC to 16 Mpa for 3% SiO₂/PVC composite. Also, thermal
conductivity measurement values illustrated that composite materials
have a good thermal insulation at 10 wt. %, thermal conductivity was
decreased from 0.1684 W/m.

Construction and operation of (2 m) parabolic solar dish for hot water application were illustrated. The heater was designed to supply hot water up to 100 oC using the clean solar thermal energy. The system includes the design and construction of solar tracking unit in order to increase system performance. Experimental test results, which obtained from clear and sunny day, refer to highly energy-conversion efficiency and promising a well-performed water heating system.

The weather of Iraq has longer summer season compared with other countries. The ambient temperature during this season reaches over 50 ^OC which makes the evaporative cooling system suitable for this climate. In present work, the two-stage evaporative cooling system is studied. The first stage is indirect evaporative cooling (IEC) represented by two heat exchangers with the groundwater flow rate (5 L/min). The second stage is direct evaporative cooling (DEC) which represents three pads with groundwater flow rates of (4.5 L/min). The experimental work was conducted in July, August, September, and October in Baghdad. Results showed that overall evaporative efficiency of the system (two coils with three pads each

Well-dispersed Cu2FeSnSe4 (CFTSe) nanoparticles were first synthesized using the hot-injection method. The structure and phase purity of as-synthesized CFTSe nanoparticles were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. Their morphological properties were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The average particle sizes of the nanoparticles were about 7-10 nm. The band gap of the as-synthesized CFTS nanoparticles was determined to be about 1.15 eV by ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectrophotometry. Photoelectrochemical characteristics of CFTSe nanoparticles were also studied, which indicated their potential application in solar energy water splitting.

A piezoelectric cantilever beam with a tip mass at its free end is a common energy harvester configuration. This article introduces a new principle of designing such a harvester that increases the generated power without changing the resonance frequency of the harvester: the attraction force between two permanent magnets is used to add stiffness to the system. This magnetic stiffening counters the effect of the tip mass on the efficient operation frequency. Five set-ups incorporating piezoelectric bimorph cantilevers of the same type in different mechanical configurations are compared theoretically and experimentally to investigate the feasibility of this principle: theoretical and experimental results show that magnetically stiffened harve

Stripping is one of the major distresses within asphalt concrete pavements caused due to penetration of water within the interface of asphalt-aggregate matrix. In this work, one grade of asphalt cement (40-50) was mixed with variable percentages of three types of additives (fly ash, fumed silica, and phosphogypsum) to obtained an modified asphalt cement to resist the effect of stripping phenomena .The specimens have been tested for physical properties according to AASHTO. The surface free energy has been measured by using two methods namely, the wilhelmy technique and the Sessile drop method according to NCHRP-104
procedures. Samples of asphalt concrete using different asphalt cement and modified asphalt cement percentages(4.1,4.6 an

A cantilevered piezoelectric beam with a tip mass at its free end is a common energy harvester configuration. This paper introduces a new principle of designing such a harvester which increases the generated voltage without changing the natural frequency of the harvester: The attraction force between two permanent magnets is used to add stiffness to the system. This magnetic stiffening counters the effect of the tip mass on the natural frequency. Three setups incorporating piezoelectric bimorph cantilevers of the same type in different mechanical configurations are compared theoretically and experimentally to investigate the feasibility of this principle. Theoretical and experimental results show that magnetically stiffe