Iranian Journal of Materials Science and Engineering

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The effect of addition of NaHF2 on the cement setting and the set mass has been studied as an initial step to determine how fluoride influences the characteristics of a calcium phosphate cement, consisting of tetracalcium phosphate [TTCP:Ca4 (PO4)2O] and dicalcium phosphate dihydrate [DCPD:CaHPO4.2H2O].NaHF2 [0-10% wt% of powder phase] has been dissolved in double distilled water and used as the liquid phase of the apatite cement (AC). Powder X-ray diffraction analysis and FTIR measurements revealed that fluoride was necessary in promoting the formation of the apatite phase. The setting time was decreased significantly by the addition of NaHF2from 0% to 6%, but increased resulted in the AC (8-10%). The set AC (2%) has the highest compressive strength and the lowest porosity.The dissolution rate of set AC in weak acid, pH 5.5, was decreased with the amount of added NaHF2 from 0% to 6% but increased in the set AC 8-10%.The formation of fluoroapatite in AC (6%) was provided the low solubility and good acid resistance which is necessary for dental application.SEM observation showed needle-like apatite crystal growth over particulate matrix surface, however the amount of non-reactive TTCP or DCPD particles decreased by the addition of NaHF2. The Ca/P ratio, which was determined by EDAX, increased significantly with the addition of NaHF2.

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Abstract: Despite having a number of advantages, reinforced concrete can suffer rebar corrosion in high–chloride media, resulting in failure of reinforced concrete structures. In this research the corrosion inhibition capability of the mixture of calcium and ammonium nitrate of steel rebar corrosion was investigated in the simulated concrete pore solution. Cyclic polarization and Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) techniques were applied on steel concrete pore solution containing 2 weight percent sodium chloride (NaCl). Results show that such mixtures had higher inhibition efficiency than calcium nitrate alone. The optimum concentration of the inhibitor mixture was determined to be 45 mgr/lit.

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Metal porous foams have been eliciting much interest in recent years due to their high capacity of energy absorption. The characteristics of the pores in these materials play an important role on their energy absorption capability and other properties. This study reports the fabrication of aluminum closed-cell foams by accumulative roll-bonding (ARB) technique using calcium carbonate (CaCO3) as the blowing agent. Calcium carbonate is an inexpensive material and imparts relatively high porosity to the produced foam. The effects of heating rate foaming temperature and time on porosity have been investigated. The results show that increasing the foaming temperature and time results in improvements in the foaming process. It is also shown that the heating rate does not affect the porosity. The shape and structure of pores are spherical and regular with CaCO3 as blowing agent. With TiH2 blowing agent the sample should be heated up abruptly from decomposition temperature of TiH2 to foaming temperatures in order to produce high porosity foam. It is found that increasing the numbers of accumulative rolling cycle causes uniform distribution of calcium carbonate powder and increases porosity in the final foam by up to 55%.

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Corrosion behavior of mild steel in chloride contaminated alkaline solution has been studied for the period up to 100days. Saturated Calcium hydroxide solution was used as alkaline solution and 0.5M NaCl solution was used to accelerate mild steel corrosion. The Charge transfer resistance Rct, Current density Icorr and inhibition efficiency values were obtained from tafel polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopic technique for sodium nitrite, sodium citrate and sodium benzoate mixed inhibitors. The results were compared with nitrite inhibitive system. The combination of nitrite inhibitor along with benzoate and citrate inhibitors enhanced the durability of mild steel through formation of nanosized -Fe2O3 film on steel suface even in presence of high chloride contamination. The results obtained from gravimetric method proved that the 100 days exposure of mild steel in nitrite with citrate, nitrite with citrate and benzoate mixed inhibitors showed the maximum inhibition efficiency of 98% in comparison with nitrite inhibitive system alone (41.5%). The maximum corrosion resistance performance of these mixed inhibitors system was due to the formation of thick layer of nano : Fe2O3 fibrous film on steel surface.

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Abstract:Some types of glass and glass ceramics have a great potential for making bone tissue engineering scaffolds, drug carrier and bone cements as they can bond to host bone, stimulate bone cells toward osteogenesis, and resorb at the same time as the bone is repaired. Calcium phosphate glass ceramics have very attractive properties that allow them to use in bone tissue engineering. Calcium phosphate glasses could be used for the fabrication of resorbable constructs, with controlled biodegradability. This work was investigated crystallization and sinterability of biodegradable glass ceramics in the CaO–P2O5–Na2O–TiO2 system using differential thermal analysis (DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Sinterability of the glasses also was investigated by measurement of sintering parameters. Different thermal treatments were applied to control the degree of devitrification of glasses. In the developed glass ceramics Ca2P2O7 were the first phase to precipitate in the mother glass structure, followed by Ca(PO3)2 and TiP2O7 at elevated temperature. Ca2P2O7 and Ca(PO3)2 seem to have a very positive effect in bone formation in vivo. It is therefore expected that glass ceramics understudy have good potential to be used for bone regeneration applications

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In this study, the effect of different parameters such as time and temperature of calcination and milling on the formation of calcium aluminosilicates was investigated. Raw materials used in this study were calcium carbonate and kaolin in high purity. Powder X-ray diffraction patterns were obtained from all samples after heat treatment at various temperatures and times. To study the microstructure scanning electron microscope was used. Milling the samples contributed to the amorphous structure due to inducing defects in the structure. Moreover, increasing the milling time reduced crystallization temperature of anorthite. Uptake experiments were performed using solutions containing different concentrations of nickel. Samples were exposed to the solution for 24 h with stirring then the samples were filtered and the concentrations of the cations in the separated solutions were analyzed. FTIR analysis was conducted on the adsorbents before and after nickel uptake. Nevertheless, they hardly helped understand sorption mechanisms. Therefore, adsorption isotherms were studied instead. Three adsorption isotherms of Langmuir, Freundlich and DKR were used to model sorption data. Results suggested monolayer sorption occurs on the surface of the adsorbent and sorption energy calculated by DKR model was 22.36 kJ/mol which can be described as a strong chemical adsorption mechanism

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Well crystallized pure calcium zirconate (CaZrO3 ) nanopowder was successfully synthesized using the molten-salt method. CaCl2 , Na 2CO3, micro-ZrO 2and nano-ZrO 2 were used as starting materials. On heating, Na2CO3 reacted with CaCl 2to form NaCl and CaCO 3. Nano CaZrO 3 was formed by reacting equimolar amounts of in situformed CaCO 3 (or CaO) and ZrO 2 in molten Na 2CO3-NaCl eutectic mixture. CaZrO 3 particle size and synthesis temparture was tailored as a function of ZrO 2particle size. Due to the usage of nano-ZrO 2 , the molten salt synthesis (MSS) temperature was decreased and possible impurity phases in the final product were suppressed. The synthesis temperature was lowered to 800°C and soaking time of the optimal synthesis condition was reduced to 3h. After washing with hot-distilled water, the n-ZrO2sample heated at 800°C for 3h, was single phase CaZrO 3with 70-90 nm in particle size, while the m-ZrO 2sample heated at 1000°C for 3h, was single phase CaZrO 3 with 250-400 nm in particle size. Based on the TEM observation and thermodynamic analysis, the synthesized CaZrO 3 grains retained the morphology of the ZrO2 nanopowders, which indicated that a template formation mechanism play a dominant role in synthesis process

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Ceramic-matrix composites containing TiC-TiN have been used in a variety of application because of their superior properties such as high hardness, good wear resistance and high chemical stability. In this research, effect of coke and coke/calcium beds in synthesis of Al 2O3-Ti(C, N) composites using alumino-carbothermic reduction of TiO 2 has been investigated. Al, TiO 2 and active carbon with additives of extra carbon and NaCl and without additives, in separate procedures, have been mixed. Afterwards, mixtures were pressed and synthesized in 1200oC for 4hrs, in coke and coke/calcium beds, separately. Al 2O3-Ti(C,N) composite was synthesized in ternary system of Al-TiO 2 -C with excess carbon and NaCl additives in calcium/coke bed in 1200 . X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) results showed that existence of calcium in bed resulted in intensification of reduction atmosphere in samples and formation of Ti(C,N) phase enriched from carbon was accelerated. Crystallite sizes of synthesis Ti(C,N) at 1200 °C in reducing conditions were 22-28 nm.

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In this paper, the effect of MgO, BaO, Na 2 O and SrO addition to a pre-melted CaO-Al2O3 -Si 2 O synthetic slag on sulfur removal from plain carbon steel was studied under the same experimental conditions. The slags were pre-melted at 1400°C in an electric resistant furnace and desulfurization experiments were carried out in a high frequency induction furnace. The results showed that the optimum reaction time for desulfurization was 15 min. It was found that while SrO addition to the ternary slag enhances the sulfur removal capability, MgO, Na 2O and BaO additions reduce desulfurization efficiency of the ternary slag. Moreover, it was observed that restricting access to oxygen from the atmosphere by using a covered crucible, could increase desulfurization efficiency of the slag by more than two fold

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This article addresses the interplay between heat of hydration and physico-mechanical properties of calcium sulfate hemi-hydrate in the presence of retarding additives such as citric and malic acids and sodium citrate. The heat of hydration was measured using a semi-isothermal calorimeter. Results proved that citric and malic acids had superior impact on hydration and mechanical properties. While the concentration of additives was increasing, the maximum heat of hydration was decreasing from 56.15 cal/g.min for blank sample to 33 cal/g.min for high concentrations of citric and malic acids. Consequently, the measured time to this maximum heat of hydration and thus the induction period were increased significantly from 5 to 105 min. Mechanical results indicated that the increase in the amounts of additive led to the reduction of the compressive strength from 16.25 MPa in the blank sample up to 74% for the highest concentration of malic acid

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Recently, using calcium phosphates and at the top of them, hydroxyapatite (HA) has been considered in medical and dental applications as an artificial biomaterial due to their chemical and structural similarity to the bodychr('39')s skeletal tissues such as bone and tooth. Because of reinforcement of hydroxyapatitechr('39')s mechanical and biological properties by substitution of OH- groups by F- ions to produce fluorapaptite (FA) has been proven, in this article synthesis methods, properties and medical applications of fluorapatite and its pros and cons in comparison with hydroxyapatite have been reviewed.

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Amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) which is a transient phase in natural bio-mineralization process has recently gained the spotlight. This study aimed to assess the effect of incorporation of nano-ACP (NACP) in a dental adhesive with/without surface treatment with silane coupling agent on bond strength. NACP was synthesized by the wet chemical precipitation technique. To characterize the structure of NACP, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy were used. Forty molars were randomized into 4 groups of 10. The teeth were restored with composite resin and the bonding agent (one of the four groups). Adper Single Bond 2 was used as the control group. In 4wt% NACP group, NACP fillers were added to the bonding agent. In 0.4wt% and 4wt% SNACP groups, silanized NACP fillers were added to the bonding agent. Finally, the mode of failure of specimens was determined. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Tukey's post-hoc tests. P<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Addition of 4wt% non-silanized NACP decreased the bond strength compared with the control group (P<0.05). The bond strength of the groups with silanized fillers was not significantly different from that of the control group. Addition of silanized NACP to dental adhesive had no significant adverse effect on bond strength, which is a promising finding to pave the way for the synthesis of bonding agents containing bioactive fillers.

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The coated β-tricalcium phosphate (β-TCP) with dicalcium phosphate dihydrate (DCPD) has attracted much attention in the biomaterials field due to the increase in its osteoconductivity. Besides, the porous bioceramic scaffolds with controlled pore sizes are significant in stimulating bone-like cell activity. In this study, the effect of the setting-time process and acidic-calcium phosphate (CaP) concentrations on the fabrication and properties of porous DCPD/ β-TCP scaffolds were studied. Subsequently, the specimens were examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), compression strength and Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR). The study results revealed that the porous DCPD/ β-TCP scaffolds with macro- and micropore sizes were successfully obtained after the 300-600 µm of porous β-TCP granules were exposed to an acidic-CaP solution. Furthermore, the setting-time process and acidic-CaP concentrations increased the DCPD interlocking between granules, and the mechanical strengths of scaffolds increased up to 0.5 MPa. Meanwhile, the porosity levels were changed based on the formation of DCPD crystals. This study was expected to provide novel insights to researchers in the field of bioceramics through its investigation on the creation of porous DCPD/ β-TCP scaffolds.

 

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This study utilized aluminum, copper powder according to the stoichiometric ratio of Al₂Cu, and calcium powder in relation to the eutectic composition of Al-Ca at the ratio of 5.5 atomic percent. Two samples were prepared, one without calcium and another with calcium, and were analyzed to determine the impact of calcium on the formation of copper aluminide. Samples were subjected to thermal treatment at temperature of 400, 600, and 800ºC. The obtained results indicated that disappearance of Al₂Cu phase at 800ºC in calcium-free sample and existence of Al₂Cu phase in calcium sample indicating a possible role of calcium in stabilization of Al₂Cu phase. Furthermore, it was concluded that calcium influences phase formation. There was higher diffusion of aluminum in to copper resulting in formation of Al₄Cu₉ not only in the sample with calcium, but also in calcium-free sample. One more finding of the research is that calcium influences microstructure and its homogenization as well. In particular, it was found that calcium-containing sample has the least number of pores and was uniform in the structure.