Inorganic-polymer nanocomposites are of significant interest for emerging materials due to their improved properties and unique combination of properties. Methacrylic acid (MA), a functionalization agent that can chemically link TiO2 nanomaterials (n-TiO2) and polymer matrix, was used to modify the surface of n-TiO2 using a Ti-carboxylic coordination bond. Then, the double bond in MA was copolymerized with methyl methacrylate (MMA) to form a n-TiO2-PMMA nanocomposite. The resulting n-TiO2-PMMA nanocomposite materials were characterized by using thermal analysis, electron microscopy, and elemental analysis. The dynamic mechanical properties (Young's and shear modulus) were measured using an ultrasonic pulse technique. The electron microscopy results showed a good distribution of the nanofillers in the polymer matrix. The glass transition temperature, thermal degradation temperature, and dynamic elastic moduli of the nanocomposites were shown to increase with an increase in the weight percentage of nanofibers in the composite. The resulting nanocomposites exhibited improved elastic properties and have potential application in dental composites and bone cements.

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X-ray contrast medium (BaSO(4) or ZrO(2)) used in commercially available PMMA bone cements imparts a detrimental effect on mechanical properties, particularly on flexural strength and fracture toughness. These lower properties facilitate the chance of implant loosening resulting from cement mantle failure. The present study was performed to examine the mechanical properties of a commercially available cement (CMW1) by introducing novel nanostructured titania fibers (n-TiO(2) fibers) into the cement matrix, with the fibers acting as a reinforcing phase. The hydrophilic nature of the n-TiO(2) fibers was modified by using a bifunctional monomer, methacrylic acid. The n-TiO(2) fiber content of the cement was varied from 0 to 2 wt%. Along with the mechanical properties (fracture toughness (K (IC)), flexural strength (FS), and flexural modulus (FM)) of the reinforced cements the following properties were investigated: complex viscosity-versus-time, maximum polymerization temperature (T (max)), dough time (t (dough)), setting time (t (set)), radiopacity, and in vitro biocompatibility. On the basis of the determined mechanical properties, the optimized composition was found at 1 wt% n-TiO(2) fibers, which provided a significant increase in K (IC) (63%), FS (20%), and FM (22%), while retaining the handling properties and in vitro biocompatibility compared to that exhibited by the control cement (CMW1). Moreover, compared to the control cement, there was no significant change in the radiopacity of any of the reinforced cements at p = 0.05. This study demonstrated a novel pathway to augment the mechanical properties of PMMA-based cement by providing an enhanced interfacial interaction and strong adhesion between the functionalized n-TiO( 2) fibers and PMMA matrix, which enhanced the effective load transfer within the cement.

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The influence of second-order velocity slip on the MHD flow of nanofluid in a porous medium under the effects of homogeneous-heterogeneous reactions has been analyzed. The governing flow equation is exactly solved and compared with those in the literature for the skin friction coefficient in the absence of the second slip, where great differences have been observed. In addition, the effects of the permanent parameters on the skin friction coefficient, the velocity, and the concentration have been discussed in the presence of the second slip. As an important result, the behavior of the skin friction coefficient at various values of the porosity and volume fraction is changed from increasing (in the absence of the second slip) to decreasing (in the presence of the second slip), which confirms the importance of the second slip in modeling the boundary layer flow of nanofluids. In addition, five kinds of nanofluids have been investigated for the velocity profiles and it is found that the Ag-water nanofluid is the lowest. For only the heterogeneous reaction, the concentration equation has been exactly solved, while the numerical solution is applied in the general case. Accordingly, a reduction in the concentration occurs with the strengthening of the heterogenous reaction and also with the increase in the Schmidt parameter. Moreover, the Ag-water nanofluid is of lower concentration than the Cu-water nanofluid. This is also true for the general case, when both of the homogenous and heterogenous reactions take place.

In nanofluid mechanics, it has been proven recently that the no slip condition at the boundary is no longer valid which is the reason that we consider the effect of such slip condition on the flow and heat transfer of two types of nanofluids. The present paper considers the effect of the velocity slip condition on the flow and heat transfer of the Cu-water and the TiO2-water nanofluids over stretching/shrinking sheets in the presence of a magnetic field. The exact expression for the fluid velocity is obtained in terms of the exponential function, while an effective analytical procedure is suggested and successfully applied to obtain the exact temperature in terms of the generalized incomplete gamma function. It is found in this paper that the Cu-water nanofluid is slower than the TiO2-water nanofluid for both cases of the stretching/shrinking sheets. However, the temperature of the Cu-water nanofluid is always higher than the temperature of the TiO2-water nanofluid. In the case of shrinking sheet the dual solutions have been obtained at particular values of the physical parameters. In addition, the effect of various physical parameters on such dual solutions is discussed through the graphs.

<abstract> <p>In this article we use one-dimensional, monoenergetic diffusion kinetic equation with one delayed neutron precursor concentration in Cartesian geometry to reconstruct the neutron flux of a reactor from the nuclear parameters, boundary, and initial conditions. The mathematical model is governed by a system of linear partial differential equations with prescribed boundary and initial conditions. As a matter of fact, the exact solution for any physical problem, if available, is of great importance which inevitably leads to a better understanding of the behavior of the involved physical phenomena. The present work represents an attempt for doing so, where the flux and precursor equations are solved by the help of Laplace transform in both spatial and time variables and consequently the exact expressions for the flux and concentration in space and time are established. We report numerical simulations as well study of numerical convergence of the obtained results.</p> </abstract>