Volumen 67 (2020): Heft 1 (March 2020)

During carbon steel manufacturing, large amounts of electric arc furnace (EAF) slag are generated. EAF slag, if properly treated and processed into aggregate, is an alternative source of high-quality material, which can substitute the use of natural aggregates in most demanding applications in the construction sector, mostly for wearing asphalt courses. In this screening process of high-quality aggregates, a side material with grain size 0/32 mm is also produced, which can be used as an aggregate for unbound layers in road construction. In this study, the environmental impacts of slag aggregate (fraction 0/32 mm) were evaluated in mixed natural/slag aggregates. Different mixtures of natural/slag aggregates were prepared from aged (28 days) and fresh slag, and their environmental impacts were evaluated using leaching tests. It was shown that among the elements, chromium (Cr) was leached from some mixed aggregates in quantities that exceeded the criterion for inert waste. The data from the present investigation revealed that mixed aggregates, prepared from aged slag (fraction 0/32 mm) and natural stone in the ratio 10/90, are environmentally acceptable and can be safely used in unbound materials for road construction.

Lithium additions to Al offer the promise of substantially reducing the weight of alloys, since each 1 wt. % Li added to Al reduces density by 3 % and increases elastic modulus. In the present work, the effect of 1.46 wt. % Li addition to AlSi7Mg (containing 7.05 wt. % Si and 0.35 wt. % Mg) was studied. The alloy showed reduced density and higher hardness after natural ageing. Experimental work showed that micro-structural and mechanical properties changed with Li addition. It was observed that 0.80 wt. % Li addition resulted in formation of new phase AlLiSi which has a great effect to increase hardness of AlSi7Mg. According to Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction analysis it was confirmed that the addition of Li causes formation of different phases which are: α-Al, β-Si and AlLiSi.

The study integrates geophysical and geotechnical methods for subsoil evaluation and shallow foundation design. The study involved six vertical electrical sounding and geotechnical investigation involving cone penetration test and laboratory soil analysis. Three major geologic units were delineated; the topsoil, weathered layer and partly weathered/fractured/fresh bedrock. The overburden thickness is in between 15.2–32.9 m. Based on resistivity (16–890 ohm-m) and thickness (12.7–32 m) the weathered layer is competent to distribute structural load to underlying soil/rock. The groundwater level varies from 4.5 to 12.3 m. Therefore an average allowable bearing capacity of 200 kPa is recommended and would be appropriate for design of shallow foundation in the area, at a depth not less than 1.0 m with an expected settlement ranging from 9.03–48.20 mm. The ultimate bearing and allowable bearing capacity for depth levels of 1–3 m vary from 1403–2666 kPa and 468–889 kPa for strip footing while square footing varies in between 1956–3489 kPa and 652–1163 kPa respectively.

In this article, we have investigated a fitting proposal model for calculating the crystallite size of pure NiO thin films by varying the structural parameters, such as full width at half-maximum β, lattice parameter a and differences in a − a₀. The experimental data of NiO thin films were prepared at several deposition temperatures in the range of 380–460°C. All estimated values of crystallite sizes are proportional to the experimental data. Thus, the measurement of the crystallite size values by this proposed model is compatible with practical measurements qualitative.