BACKGROUND Aim of the study was to verify the efficiency of Martens hardness measurements in detecting the degradation of composite resin cements during artificial aging. METHODS Four cements were used: Variolink II (VL2), RelyX Unicem 2 Automix (RUN), PermaFlo DC (PDC), and DuoCem (DCM). Specimens for Martens hardness measurements were light-cured and stored in water at 37 °C for 1 day to al...

The aim of this in vitro study was to compare the flexural, compressive and diametral tensile strengths of five cements used in orthodontics for band cementation. Twelve specimens of each cement were tested: 1 - GC Fuji Ortho Band (FJ), GC America Inc.; 2 - Meron (MR), Voco; 3 - Multi-Cure Glass Ionomer Band Cement (MC), 3M Unitek; 4 - Band-Lok (BL), Reliance Orthodontic Products; and 5 - Ketac...

Strut-and-tie model (STM) method evolved as one of the most useful designs for shear critical structures and discontinuity regions (D-regions). It provides widespread applications in the design of deep beams as recommended by many codes. The estimation of bottle-shaped strut dimensions, as a main constituent of STM, is essential in design calculations. The application of carbon fibre reinforced...

We performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to investigate the mechanical properties of polycrystalline graphene. By constructing molecular models of ultra-fine-grained graphene structures, we studied the effect of different grain sizes of 1-10 nm on the mechanical response of graphene. We found that the elastic modulus and tensile strength of polycrystalline graphene decrease with decreas...

Static and fatigue data available in literature concerning carbon fiber reinforced composite laminates subjected tension-tension fatigue were re-elaborated in the framework of a two-parameter fatigue model explicitly accounting for the cyclic as well as the mean stress. The data were used to obtain the model parameters by best fitting procedures. A primitive statistical implementation of the mo...

In this study, microalloyed steels were joined by using the submerged arc welding method at different welding currents of 350 A, 400 A and 450 A. The effects of selected welding parameters on the microstructure and mechanical properties of welded materials were investigated. Tensile tests and microhardness measurements were performed. Microstructural changes have been identified in the welding ...

Tensile and fatigue properties of as-rolled and annealed polycrystalline Cu foils with different thicknesses at micrometer scale are investigated. Uniaxial tensile testing shows that with decreasing foil thickness the uniform elongation decreases for both as-rolled and annealed foils, while the yield strength and ultimate tensile strength increase for as-rolled foils, but those decrease for the...

It is well known that strain rate and size effects are both important in material failure, but the relationships between them are poorly understood. To establish this connection, we carry out molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of cavitation in Lennard-Jones and Cu liquids over a very broad range of size and strain rate. These studies confirm that temporal and spatial scales play equivalent rol...

In-situ TiB whisker-reinforced Ti-6Al-4V (TC4) titanium matrix composites (TiBw/TC4) with quasi-continuous networks were successfully fabricated by vacuum hot-pressing sintering. The effects of the hot-hydrostatic canned extrusion on stock utilization, microstructure and mechanical properties of the TiBw/TC4 composites were investigated. It was satisfactory that the utilization of composites co...

The asphalt paving industries are faced with two major problems. These two important challenges are generated with an increase in demand for environmentally friendly paving mixtures and the problem of rapidly rising raw materials. Recycling of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) is a critical necessity to save precious aggregates and reduce the use of costly bitumen. Warm Mix Asphalt (WMA) technol...