Background: Aesthetic archwires are used to overcome the aesthetic problems of stainless steel wires but the color of the coating layer can be changed with time when exposed to oral environments. The aim of this study was to evaluate the degree of color change of different aesthetic archwires from different companies under different coloring solutions. Materials and Methods: One hundred fifty samples of coated archwires from three companies (Highland, G&H and Dany) were immersed in 5 solutions (artificial saliva, turmeric, tea, coffee and Miranda) to evaluate the degree of color changes after 7, 14 and 21 days using visible spectrophotometer. Data were collected and analyzed using one way ANOVA and post hoc Tukey’s tests. Resu

This paper presents the results of experimental investigation carried out on concrete model piles to study the behaviour of defective piles. This was achieved by employing non-destructive tests using ultrasonic waves. It was found that the reduction in pile stiffness factor is found to be about (26%) when the defect ratio increased from (5%) to (15%). The modulus of elasticity reduction factor as well as the dynamic modulus of elasticity reduction factor increase with the defect ratio

The excessive permanent deformation (rutting) in asphalt-concrete pavements resulting from frequent repetitions of heavy axle loads is studied in this paper. Rutting gradually develops with additional load applications and appears as longitudinal depressions in the wheel path. There are many causes of the rutting of asphalt roads, such as poor asphalt mixing and poor continuous aggregate gradation. All factors affecting the mixture resistance to permanent deformation must be discussed, and all must be properly considered to reduce the rutting propensity of asphalt-aggregate mixtures. In this study, several mixtures were produced with the most common techniques in rutting resistance (using the most effective additives for each mixture), and

Reflective cracking is one of the primary forms of deterioration in pavements. It is widespread when Asphalt concrete (AC) overlays are built over a rigid pavement with discontinuities on its surface. Thus, this research work aims to reduce reflection cracks in asphalt concrete overlay on the rigid pavement. Asphalt Concrete (AC) slab specimens were prepared in three thicknesses (4, 5, and 6 cm). All these specimens were by testing machine designed and manufactured at the Engineering Consulting Office of the University of Baghdad to examine for the number of cycles and loads needed to propagate the reflection cracking in the asphalt concert mixture at three temperatures (20, 30, and 30°C). It was noticed that the higher thickness A

Roller compacted concrete (RCC) is a concrete compacted by roller compaction. The concrete mixture in its unhardened state must support a roller while being compacted. The aim of this research work was to investigate the behavior and properties of roller compacted concrete when constructed in the laboratory using roller compactor manufactured in local market to simulate the field conditions. The roller compaction was conducts in three stages; each stage has different loading and number of passes of the roller. For the first stage, a load of (24) kg and (5) passes in each direction had been employed. For the second stage, a load of (104) kg and (10) passes in each direction were conducted. Finally, at the third stage, a load of (183) kg a

Background: This study was performed to determine the effect of aging of different types of composite material restorations on: Shear bond strength (SBS) to light cure and no mix chemical cure orthodontic adhesives with sapphire bracket and the debonding failure sites. Materials and methods: One hundred forty four composite disks were made from three different composite resin materials which are: 3M Filtek Z250, 3M filtek Z350 and 3M Valux plus, each group with (48) disks each, then according to the duration of storage each group was subdivided into two equal groups one of them stored for one day and the other was stored for one month, then each group was further subdivided into two equal subgroups with (12) disks each one bonded with ligh

This research involves studying the mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of “low carbon steel” (0.077wt% C) before and after welding using Arc, MIG and TIG welding. The mechanical properties include testing of microhardness, tensile strength, the results indicate that microhardness of TIG, MIG welding is more than arc welding, while tensile strength in arc welding more than TIG and MIG.

The corrosion behavior of low carbon weldments was performed by potentiostat at scan rate 3mV.sec^-1 in 3.5% NaCl to show the polarization resistance and calculate the corrosion rate from data of linear polarization by “Tafel extrapolation method”. The results indicate that the TIG welding increase the corrosion current d

The present study deals with the optimum design of self supporting steel communication towers. A special technique is used to represent the tower as an equivalent hollow tapered beam with variable cross section. Then this method is employed to find the best layout of the tower among prespecified configurations. The formulation of the problem is applied to four types of tower layout
with K and X brace, with equal and unequal panels. The objective function is the total weight of the tower. The variables are the base and the top dimensions, the number of panels for the tower and member's cross section areas. The formulations of design constraints are based on the requirements of EIA and ANSI codes for allowable stresses in the members

The corrosion protection of low carbon steel in 2.5 M HCl solution by kiwi juice was studied at different temperatures and immersion times by weight loss technique. To study the determination of the optimum conditions from statistical design in evaluation of a corrosion inhibitor, three variables, were considered as the most dominant variables. These variables are: temperature, inhibitor concentration (extracted kiwi juice) and immersion time at static conditions.

These three variables are manipulated through the experimental work using central composite rotatable Box – Wilson Experimental Design (BWED) where second order polynomial model was proposed to correlate the studied variables with the corrosion rate o