This study investigates the characterization and mechanical performance of Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) mixtures modified with two types of polymers: styrene–butadiene–styrene (SBS) and high-molecular-weight polyethylene (PE). Neat asphalt cement PG 64-16 was modified using a higher content of SBS and PE at concentrations of 6%, 7%, and 8% by weight of asphalt through the dry blending method to produce Highly Modified Asphalts (HiMA). The physical and rheological properties of the modified binders were evaluated using penetration, softening point, rotational viscosity, and dynamic shear rheometer (DSR) tests. Also, their phase compatibility and morphological changes were evaluated using the storage stability testing and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. The mechanical performance of the corresponding SMA mixtures was assessed through Marshall stability and flow, moisture susceptibility, crack tolerance index (CT-index), resilient modulus, and rutting resistance tests. Also, a mechanistic durability analysis was conducted using the KENLAYER software. Results indicated that both polymers enhanced the binder’s stiffness and high-temperature performance, with SBS exhibiting greater overall improvements. SBS-modified binders displayed a relatively low softening point difference (ΔT) of 5.1 °C to 5.8 °C, indicating good thermal stability and uniform polymer dispersion. In contrast, PE-modified binders exhibited significantly higher ΔT values, reaching 13.5 °C with 8% PE content, indicating a greater tendency toward phase separation. Moreover, Marshall stability improved substantially, increasing by 43% for 8% SBS-modified mixes and 28% for 8% PE-modified mixes compared to the neat SMA mix. Flow number (FN) results indicated enhanced rutting resistance, with FN values increasing by 2.45 times for SBS mixes and 2.1 times for PE mixes at 8% polymer content. Additionally, moisture susceptibility was significantly improved, as evidenced by the tensile strength ratio (TSR) values of 97% with 8% SBS and 92% with 8% PE, compared to 81% for the neat mix. Resilient modules increased notably, with a 38% rise for 8% SBS mixes and a 24% rise for 8% PE mixes, reflecting enhanced stiffness and load-bearing capacity. Also, the CT-index significantly improved, reaching values of 154 for the 8% SBS mix and 127 for the 8% PE-modified mix, compared to 86 for the neat mix, indicating enhanced resistance to cracking. Finally, both polymer-modified mixes demonstrated improved durability, where the 8% SBS mix exhibited the longest design life (21.66 years) and the highest number of allowable load repetitions (5.42 × 106), followed by 8% PE (13.98 years and 3.50 × 106 repetitions).
In recent years, there has been a rapid development in research on high performance ceramics for mechanical, electrical and medical industries. This development will be shown for alumina as a representative for oxide ceramics powders.
Dry–pressing forming technique was used to prepare different ceramic compacts for alumina grafted by polymethacrylate polymers. All Alumina compact were fired firstly at 1200 ◌ْ C, then
at 1600 ◌ْ C.
Mechanical strength was examined in different means, some
depends on compression and other depends on impact. Hardness was
also measured .The results obtained were compared with that of
Alumina compact prepared under the same condition from Alumina
especially made for pressing .
Two field experiments were conducted during the spring season 2020 in Karbala governorate to study the effect of irrigation systems, irrigation intervals, biofertilizers and polymers on some characteristics of vegetative growth and potato production. The results showed that there were significant differences in the values of the average plant height due to the effect of the double interference between the irrigation system and the improvers, The height of potato plant under any irrigation system was superior when adding conditioners compared to the control treatment, as it reached 48.56, 58.00 and 64.33cm when adding polymer, biofertilizer, and polymers+ biofertilizers, respectively compared with the control treatment of 44.64cm in the surf
... Show MoreThis 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
... Show MoreThe focus of this work is on systematically understanding the effects of packing density of the sand grains on both the internal and bulk mechanical properties for strip footing interacting with granular soil. The studies are based on particle image velocimetry (PIV) method, coupled with a high resolution imaging camera. This provides valuable new insights on the evolution of slip planes at grain-scale under different fractions of the ultimate load. Furthermore, the PIV based results are compared with finite element method simulations in which the experimentally characterised parameters and constitutive behaviour are fed as an input, and a good level of agreements are obtained. The reported results would serve to the practicing engineers, r
... Show MoreIn the present paper a low cost mechanical vibration shaker of rotating unbalanced type with uniaxial shaking table was designed and constructed in an attempt to provide opportunities for experimental testing and application of vibration in experimental modal analysis, stress relief of weldments, effect of vibration on heat transfer and seismic testing of civil engineering structures. Also, it provides unexpressive solution to enhance the knowledge and technical skills of students in mechanical vibration laboratory. The shaker consists of a five main parts shaker frame, shaker table, flexible support, drive motor, and eccentricity mechanism. The experimental results show that the amplitude of the shaker is increased with increasing the f
... Show MoreThe ceramic composite with different proportions of clay and silica was prepared with a grain size of 70 μm and the weight percentage was selected for four groups (clayx silica100-x) were x q15, 25, 30 and 50. In this manuscript, for each pressured sample, a sintering procedure was carried out for 3 hours under static air and at various sintering temperatures (1000, 1100, 1200, 1400)°C. After sintering, the density, porosity, water absorption, compression strength and thermal conductivity were measured. The best results were obtained using a mixture of 15% clay and 85% silica which were sintering at 1400°C for three hours under air.
In this paper, ceramic water filters were produced by using ten mixtures of different ratios of red clay and sawdust under different production conditions. The physical properties of these filters were tested. The production conditions include five press pressures ranged from 10 to 50MPa and a firing schedule having three different final temperatures of 1000, 1070, and 1100˚C. The tests results of the physical properties were used to obtain best compatibility between the hydraulic and the mechanical properties of these filters. Results showed that as the press pressure and the firing temperature are increased, the bulk density and the compressive and bending strengths of the produced filters are increased, while, the porosity and absorp
... Show MoreBuckling analysis of composite laminates for critical thermal (uniform and linear) and mechanical loads is reported here. The objective of this work is to carry out theoretical investigation of buckling analysis of composite plates under thermomechanical loads, and experimental investigation under mechanical loads. The analytical investigation involved certain mathematical preliminaries, a study of equations of orthotropic elasticity for classical laminated plate theory (CLPT), higher order shear deformation plate theory (HSDT) , and numerical analysis (Finite element method), then the equation of motion are derived and solved using Navier method and Levy method for symmetric and anti-symmetric cross-ply and angle-ply laminated plates t
... Show MoreReflection cracking in asphalt concrete (AC) overlays is a common form of pavement deterioration that occurs when underlying cracks and joints in the pavement structure propagate through an overlay due to thermal and traffic-induced movement, ultimately degrading the pavement’s lifespan and performance. This study aims to determine how alterations in overlay thickness and temperature conditions, the incorporation of chopped fibers, and the use of geotextiles influence the overlay’s capacity to postpone the occurrence of reflection cracking. To achieve the above objective, a total of 36 prism specimens were prepared and tested using an overlay testing machine (OTM). The variables considered in this study were the thickness of the
... Show MoreReflection cracking in asphalt concrete (AC) overlays is a common form of pavement deterioration that occurs when underlying cracks and joints in the pavement structure propagate through an overlay due to thermal and traffic-induced movement, ultimately degrading the pavement’s lifespan and performance. This study aims to determine how alterations in overlay thickness and temperature conditions, the incorporation of chopped fibers, and the use of geotextiles influence the overlay’s capacity to postpone the occurrence of reflection cracking. To achieve the above objective, a total of 36 prism specimens were prepared and tested using an overlay testing machine (OTM). The variables considered in this study were the thickness of the
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