Magister Scientiae Dentium - MSc(Dent) / Resin filled dental composite materials has been introduced into dental practice since mid-1960s as an aesthetic restorative material for anterior teeth (Bowen, 1962 cited in Peutzfeldt, 1997). Since then, they have undergone several developments in order to enhance the longevity and performance of these materials. Resin filled dental composites consist of three main components namely, organic resin matrix which consists of a monomer, an initiator system and a stabilizer system, inorganic filler such as quartz, silica, etc. and coupling agent such as organo-silane coupling agent that chemically bonds the inorganic fillers to the organic resin matrix (Phillips, 1973). The properties and the performance of the resin filled dental composites are basically dependent upon the components of the materials. Some properties are related to the resin matrix, whereas others are related to the inorganic fillers and coupling agent. Furthermore, properties such as polymerization shrinkage and water sorption are dependent on both the inorganic fillers and the organic resin matrix (Asmussen, 1975; Hashinger and Fairhust, 1984; Munksgaard et al., 1987). Aim and objectives: The aim and the objectives of this study was to compare the water sorption and solubility of four bulk-fill dental resin composite materials namely, two conventional viscosity bulk-fill (Surefil bulk fill composite and Tetric N Ceram Bulk Fill) and two low viscosity bulk-fill flowable dental composite materials (Filtek Bulk Fill flowable restorative and Surefil SDR Flow). Materials and methods: Four types of bulk-fill composite restorative materials (2 bulk-fill conventional viscosity (Surefil bulk fill composite and Tetric N Ceram Bulk Fill) and 2 bulk-fill flowable low viscosity (Filtek Bulk Fill flowable restorative and Surefil SDR Flow) were used to analyse the water sorption and solubility for each resin composite type. Thirty specimens for each type of material were prepared, giving the total number of specimens to be 120 (n=120). To standardize this study Vita shade A2 was used for all the material types. All specimens were prepared in a Teflon mould with internal diameter of 15±1mm and thickness of 1±0.1mm in accordance with ISO 4049. The light curing unit used for all specimens was Elipar™ S10, (3M ESPE, Germany) at an output of 1200 mW/cm2 and used according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Prior to curing, the intensity of the light was checked using Cure Rite visible curing light meter (Caulk, USA) to ensure light output consistency between specimens and was found to be 1200 mW/cm2 . All the specimens were first removed from the Teflon mould as prepared and described previously and placed in an oven at 37 ºC until their weights were constant and these weights were recorded as m1 by using an analytic balance (OHAUS, TS400D, USA). Ten specimens of each type of resin filled composite were then immersed individually in glass containers filled with 10 ml distilled water and placed in the oven at 37±1 ºC for 24 hours, 7 days, 14 days respectively. The specimens were removed; surface water was blotted with tissue paper until free from visible moisture and weighed using the analytic balance (OHAUS, TS400D, USA). The resultant weights were recorded as m2. The specimens were then placed in a desiccator containing silica gel (Associated Chemical Enterprises, ZA) and freshly dried for two hours in an oven at 58 ºC and then weighted to obtain m3. According to Oysaed and Ruyter formula (Oysaed and Ruyter, 1986), the water sorption and solubility was calculated using the following equation: i.Water sorption (SP) = m2 -m3 / v., ii.Water solubility (SI) = m1 -m3 / v - where v is the volume of the specimen. For monomer leakage high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used to identify monomers. The water that contained stored specimens was transferred to a refrigerator immediately after the specimens were removed until HPLC analysis was carried out to determine the amount of monomers that leached out of the cured composite specimens. Results: A significant difference between the materials (p<0.05, ANOVA Analysis of Variance) showed that Surefil SDR Flow composite had the lowest overall mean water sorption values (10.191) over the three time intervals (24 hrs, 7 days and 14 days) which was significantly smaller than the other means, followed by Filtek Bulk Fill flowable restorative composite (11.135) and Tetric N Ceram Bulk Fill composite (16.419). The highest water sorption mean value was recorded for Surefil bulk fill composite (21.515). The overall means of water solubility for the two bulk-fill flowables i.e. Filtek Bulk Fill flowable restorative and Surefil SDR Flow were smaller than bulk-fill conventional viscosity Surefil bulk fill and Tetric N Ceram Bulk Fill. However, all the test materials displayed no statistically significant increase in water solubility over the time period (p > 0.05 two way ANOVA test). The amounts of eluted monomers from bulk-fill conventional viscosity materials (Surefil bulk fill and Tetric N Ceram Bulk Fill) were higher than bulk-fill flowable materials (Surefil SDR Flow and Filtek Bulk Fill flowable restorative). Of all the monomers tested UDMA eluted more than Bis-GMA and TEGDMA. Overall UDMA monomer eluted the most, followed by Bis-GMA and the TEGDMA. Conclusion: Within the limitation of this study, the results of this study did not support the null hypothesis that there is no significant difference in the water sorption. The bulk-fill low viscosity flowables showed lower water sorption than the conventional viscosity bulk-fills. Surefil SDR Flow was significantly lower than the other materials followed by Filtek Bulk Fill flowable restorative and Tetric N-Ceram Bulk Fill and the highest overall means were recorded for Surefil bulk fill. For water solubility the overall means for the flowables of Filtek and SDR were smaller than Surefil and Tetric N-Ceram. For monomer elution three monomers were detected of which UDMA monomer eluted the most, followed by Bis-GMA and the TEGDMA. With regards to the elution of monomers, it was found that 3 monomers named UDMA eluted more than Bis-GMA and TEGDMA.

Concrete-Filled Steel Tubular (CFST) columns are increasingly being used because of their many advantages, including high strength, high ductility, and higher fire resistance than conventional steel or concrete columns of the same size. In order to maximise the advantages of CFST column, composite action of the column should be ensured. In realistic structures, the load is not directly applied to the entire CFST column section and is introduced from the beam-column connection. Simple shear connections, which are usually preferred in constructions, are only connected to the external face of the steel tube and there is an issue about how this load is introduced to the concrete core, through the bond at the steel/concrete interface. There are fundamental errors in the load introduction mechanism assumed in various current design methods. Furthermore, based on this erroneous load introduction mechanism, construction methods, such as placing shear connectors inside the steel tube or using through-column plates, are recommended to ensure complete load introduction. However, these methods are either impractical or uneconomical. The aim of this project, therefore, is to develop a thorough understanding of the load introduction mechanism and to use the new insights to assess design implications, for both ambient temperature and fire safety design. The research has been conducted through physical testing, extensive numerical modelling and detailed analytical derivations. A series of new load introduction tests, in which square CFST columns are loaded through simple fin plate connections, are carried out. These tests are designed to investigate the effects of changing column lengths below and above the connection, the effectiveness of using shear connectors inside the steel tube below the connection (according to Eurocode 4) and using a cap plate on the column top for load introduction into the concrete core. The test results indicate that the connection load is introduced to the concrete core through the column length above and within the connection or the cap plate on top of the column. This is different from the currently assumed mechanism of load introduction which assumes that load introduction occurs from underneath the connection. Below the connection, there is transfer of forces from the steel tube to the concrete core, but the total force in the column remains unchanged. Consequently, using shear connectors below the connection is ineffective in increasing CFST column strength, as has been demonstrated by the tests. The physical tests are supplemented by an extensive numerical parametric study to check whether the conclusions are applicable to different design conditions and to provide data for development of a new design method. The parameters include: section geometry (square, circular, and rectangular), position of load application to CFST column, dimensions of the square column cross-section, steel tube thickness, connection length, column length above the connection, column length below the connection, and maximum bond stress at the steel-concrete interface. The numerical simulation results confirm the experimental observations. Furthermore, the numerical simulation results indicate that the entire column length and the entire perimeter of the steel-concrete interface above and within the connection are engaged in load introduction. Based on the experimental and numerical simulation results, a simple calculation method has been proposed to calculate the column cross-section resistance under compression. According to this equation, the concrete compression resistance to the composite column is the minimum of the plastic resistance or the bond strength within and above the connection. This gives rise to a “concrete strength reduction factor” to account for incomplete load introduction, being the ratio of the load introduced to the concrete core through the interface bond to the concrete plastic resistance. Based on the new load introduction calculation method and using representative values of column dimensions and concrete cylinder strength, it has been demonstrated that complete load introduction can be achieved in almost all practical arrangements of concrete-filled tubular construction. For slender CFST column design, this concrete strength reduction factor should also be used to calculate the CFST column cross-section flexural stiffness. For a CFST column under combined axial compression and bending, the concrete strength reduction factor should be used when calculating the compression force, but should be ignored when calculating the bending resistance because composite action is not necessary for bending of the CFST column. The new load introduction mechanism induces additional compression in the concrete core and possible tension in the steel tube above the connection. Therefore, the concrete core of the column above the connection in multi-storey construction should be designed to resist the additional compression force. For the steel tube, in ambient temperature design, the steel contribution ratio (steel section resistance/plastic resistance of composite cross-section) of the top floor column should be at least 0.25. For fire resistance design, the steel contribution ratio of the top floor columns, those on the floor below the top floor, and those two floors below the top floor, should not be less than 0.5, 0.33, and 0.25 respectively.

Joint behaviour in fire is currently one of the most important topics of research in structural fire resistance. The collapse of World Trade Center buildings and the results of the Cardington full-scale eight storey steel framed building fire tests in the UK have demonstrated that steel joints are particularly vulnerable during the heating and cooling phases of fire. The main purpose of this research is to develop robust joints to CFT columns that are capable of providing very high rotational and tying resistances to make it possible for the connected beam to fully develop catenary action during the heating phase of fire attack and to retain integrity during the cooling phase of fire attack. This research employed the general finite element software ABAQUS to numerically model the behaviour of restrained structural subassemblies of steel beam to concrete filled tubular (CFT) columns and their joints in fire. For validation, this research compared the simulation and test results for 10 fire tests previously conducted at the University of Manchester. It was envisaged that catenary action in the connected beams at very large deflections would play an important role in ensuring robustness of steel framed structures in fire. Therefore, it was vital that the numerical simulations could accurately predict the structural behaviour at very large deflections. In particular, the transitional behaviour of the beam from compression to catenary action presented tremendous difficulties in numerical simulations due to the extremely high rate of deflection increase. This thesis will explain the methodology of a suitable simulation method, by introducing a pseudo damping factor. The comparison between the FE and the experimental results demonstrates that the 3-D finite element model is able to successfully simulate the fire tests. The validated ABAQUS model was then applied to conduct a thorough set of numerical studies to investigate methods of improving the survival temperatures under heating in fire of steel beams to concrete filled tubular (CFT) columns using reverse channel connection. This study investigated five different joint types of reverse channel connection: extended endplate, flush endplate, flexible endplate, hybrid flush/flexible endplate and hybrid extended/flexible endplate. The connection details investigated include reverse channel web thickness, bolt diameter and grade, using fire-resistant (FR) steel for different joint components (reverse channel, end plate and bolts) and joint temperature control. The effects of changing the applied beam and column loads were also considered. It is concluded that by adopting some of the joint details to improve the joint tensile strength and deformation capacity, it is possible for the beams to develop substantial catenary action to survive very high temperatures. This thesis also explains the implications on fire resistant design of the connected columns in order to resist the additional catenary force in the beam. The validated numerical model was also used to perform extensive parametric studies on steel framed structures using concrete filled tubular (CFT) columns with flexible reverse channel connection and fin plate connection to find means of reducing the risk of structural failure during cooling. The results lead to the suggestion that in order to avoid connection fracture during cooling, the most effective and simplest method would be to reduce the limiting temperature of the connected beam by less than 50°C from the limiting temperature calculated without considering any axial force in the beam.

As part of a multi-university research program funded by NSF, a comprehensive experimental and analytical study of seismic behavior of hybrid fiber reinforced polymer (FRP)-concrete column is presented in this dissertation. Experimental investigation includes cyclic tests of six large-scale concrete-filled FRP tube (CFFT) and RC columns followed by monotonic flexural tests, a nondestructive evaluation of damage using ultrasonic pulse velocity in between the two test sets and tension tests of sixty-five FRP coupons. Two analytical models using ANSYS and OpenSees were developed and favorably verified against both cyclic and monotonic flexural tests. The results of the two methods were compared. A parametric study was also carried out to investigate the effect of three main parameters on primary seismic response measures. The responses of typical CFFT columns to three representative earthquake records were also investigated. The study shows that only specimens with carbon FRP cracked, whereas specimens with glass or hybrid FRP did not show any visible cracks throughout cyclic tests. Further monotonic flexural tests showed that carbon specimens both experienced flexural cracks in tension and crumpling in compression. Glass or hybrid specimens, on the other hand, all showed local buckling of FRP tubes. Compared with conventional RC columns, CFFT column possesses higher flexural strength and energy dissipation with an extended plastic hinge region. Among all CFFT columns, the hybrid lay-up demonstrated the highest flexural strength and initial stiffness, mainly because of its high reinforcement index and FRP/concrete stiffness ratio, respectively. Moreover, at the same drift ratio, the hybrid lay-up was also considered as the best in term of energy dissipation. Specimens with glassfiber tubes, on the other hand, exhibited the highest ductility due to better flexibility of glass FRP composites. Furthermore, ductility of CFFTs showed a strong correlation with the rupture strain of FRP. Parametric study further showed that different FRP architecture and rebar types may lead to different failure modes for CFFT columns. Transient analysis of strong ground motions showed that the column with off-axis nonlinear filament-wound glass FRP tube exhibited a superior seismic performance to all other CFFTs. Moreover, higher FRP reinforcement ratios may lead to a brittle system failure, while a well-engineered FRP reinforcement configuration may significantly enhance the seismic performance of CFFT columns.

Nous présentons dans ce travail une étude approfondie de la rhéologie à l'état fondu de composites très chargés en particules inorganiques. Les systèmes modèles étudiés sont composés de particules de ferrites ou de fibres de verre dispersées dans une matrice polypropylène. Le comportement rhéologique linéaire et non-linéaire ainsi que la morphologie des composants du mélange ont été étudiés. Sous différentes conditions d'écoulement, nous avons pu mettre en évidence la relation étroite qu'il existe entre la microstructure du matériau, sa formulation et ses propriétés rhéologiques. Nous avons ainsi évalué les principaux paramètres liés à la charge (e.g., distribution de taille, facteur de forme, chimie de surface) sur la viscosité du mélange. Ces travaux ont montré que l'ajout de charges dans une matrice thermoplastique change fondamentalement la rhéologie linéaire et non-linéaire du mélange. Sous écoulement dynamique, nous avons pu quantifier les interactions entre les charges (force de contact) et charges-polymère. D'une part, les systèmes ferrites/polypropylène ont montré une forte structuration dans le temps, ce qui se traduit par un comportement type réseaux à très faibles déformation. D'autre part, les systèmes fibres/polypropylène ont montré qu'un facteur de forme plus élevé et de meilleures interactions fibre-fibre favorisaient la création du réseau de particules. Sous écoulement permanent, les phénomènes non-linéaires ont été également étudiés. Nous n'avons pas mis en évidence de phénomènes de glissement pour l'ensemble de ces systèmes. Plus particulièrement, le système ferrites/polypropylène a montré une atténuation du comportement pseudo-plastique à haute vitesse de cisaillement. Ainsi, ce travail expérimental a contribué à la compréhension des propriétés d'écoulement de ces systèmes complexes / We present in this work a complete study of the melt rheological behavior of highly filled polymers. We study the rheological behavior of two model systems, ferrite particles and short-glass fibers dispersed in polypropylene. We investigate the structural features of such complex materials by linear and non-linear rheological behavior. Under different flow conditions, we show the close relationship between the variation in the microstructure, the formulation and the flow properties. We evaluate the effect of the main parameters related to the filler (e.g., particle size distribution, aspect ratio, surface chemistry) on the viscosity of the mixture. This work shows that the addition of fillers fundamentally changes the linear and non-linear viscoelasticity of the molten composite. Under dynamic flow, we are able to quantify the particle-particle and matrix-particle interactions. Therefore, we study the creation of the filler network with increasing the particulate phase. On the one hand, ferrite/polypropylene systems presented a network structure that evolves over time which manifest by a solid-like behavior accentuation at very low deformations. On the other hand, fibers/polypropylene composites showed that the higher the aspect ratio and the interparticle interactions, the higher is the probability to create a network structure. Under steady state flow, the non-linear behavior is studied. Wall slip effects were found to be negligible under the flow conditions studied in this work. In particular, ferrite/polypropylene showed an attenuation of the shear-thinning behavior at low shear rates. Thus, this experimental work has contributed to the understanding of the flow properties of these complex materials

No description available.

This thesis analyses the concept of the "Day of the Lord" as it comes to expression in Luke-Acts. In these books, this Old Testament concept is reinterpreted and used in conjunction with another Old Testament theme: the coming of the Son of man. An analysis of the Lukan passages about the coming of the Son of man (Luke 17:22-37i 21:5-36; 12:35-48) in the context of the contemporary historical situation of first-century Judaism reveals that when speaking of the coming of the Son of man, the Lukan Jesus is referring to a number of comings; namely, his own life (Luke 12) and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE (Luke 17 and 21). The Old Testament imagery of the Son of man is used to show the nature of this coming: a vindication of those suffering "for my name's sake" (Luke 21: 17). In Luke this message of hope and judgment is brought to Israel; Acts shows how the final age has dawned, extending this message of hope and judgment to the gentiles. The suffering of Jesus and his resurrection of vindication become the suffering of the church to be ended by another day of vindication and resurrection. Luke-Acts, therefore, points out the eschatological character of the coming of Jesus and the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, for they are the beginning of an event that will be consununated in the final coming. In the mean-time, those who eagerly await that coming can claim the already fulfilled promises and testify to the Spirit-filled restoration taking place already now, in the last days. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Ionizing radiation is often used within medicine for diagnosis and treatments. Because ionizingradiation can be harmful to the body, it is important to know how it affects the tissue. Dosimetryis the study of how ionizing radiation deposits energy in a material. To measure how much ionizingradiation is deposited in the body, gas-filled detectors are often used. An ionization chamber isa type of gas-filled detector and exists in different shapes and sizes, depending on what kind ofmeasurements it is made for. Because ionization chambers are relatively expensive, it is often notpossible to buy one for each type of measurement that is to be done. This results in ionizationchambers being used for measurements they are not optimized for. This report evaluates thepossibility of 3D printing ionization chambers to make it easier to optimize them for specificmeasurements. The process included creating models of ionization chambers using CAD-software,slicing them and then 3D printing them. The 3D printed models were then brought to the SwedishRadiation Safety Authority for measurements. The ionization chambers were connected to highvoltage, and exposed to ionizing radiation in the form of high-intensity gamma-ray fields. Theoutput current of the ionization chamber was measured, which is proportional to the field intensity.The results were similar to those of a commercial ionization chamber. The conclusion is that it ispossible to 3D print ionization chambers. However, to get more accurate results, the design has tobe further optimized and more measurements need to be done.

No description available.

No description available.