The existing form of self-compacting concrete (SCC) comprises of a large amount of powdered and fine materials. In this study, a part of the cementitious material was replaced with constant high-volume fly ash, and a portion of fine aggregates was substituted by crumb rubber (CR). Besides that, silica fume (SF) was added, with the hope that by implementing a new type of nanomaterial, the loss in mechanical strength due to previous modifications such as rubberization and replacement will be prevented. Two variables were found to influence the constituent/component in the mix design: SF and CR. The proportion of SF varies from 0% to 10%, while that of CR from 0% to 30% by volume of the total river sand, where 55% of cement was replaced by the fly ash. A total of 13 rubberized SCC samples with CR and SF as controlling variables were made, and their design mix was produced by a Design of Experiment (DOE) under the Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The results reveal a slight increase in the mechanical properties with the addition of SF. The theoretical mathematical models and equation for each different mechanical strength were also developed after incorporating the experimental results into the software.

With advancements in the automated industry, electromagnetic inferences (EMI) have been increasing over time, causing major distress among the end-users and affecting electronic appliances. The issue is not new and major work has been done, but unfortunately, the issue has not been fully eliminated. Therefore, this review intends to evaluate the previous carried-out studies on electromagnetic shielding materials with the combination of Graphene@Iron, Graphene@Polymer, Iron@Polymer and Graphene@Iron@Polymer composites in X-band frequency range and above to deal with EMI. VOSviewer was also used to perform the keyword analysis which shows how the studies are interconnected. Based on the carried-out review it was observed that the most preferable materials to deal with EMI are polymer-based composites which showed remarkable results. It is because the polymers are flexible and provide better bonding with other materials. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), polyaniline (PANI), polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) are effective in the X-band frequency range, and PDMS, epoxy, PVDF and PANI provide good shielding effectiveness above the X-band frequency range. However, still, many new combinations need to be examined as mostly the shielding effectiveness was achieved within the X-band frequency range where much work is required in the higher frequency range.

Advancement of novel electromagnetic inference (EMI) materials is essential in various industries. The purpose of this study is to present a state-of-the-art review on the methods used in the formation of graphene-, metal- and polymer-based composite EMI materials. The study indicates that in graphene- and metal-based composites, the utilization of alternating deposition method provides the highest shielding effectiveness. However, in polymer-based composite, the utilization of chemical vapor deposition method showed the highest shielding effectiveness. Furthermore, this review reveals that there is a gap in the literature in terms of the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning methods. The results further reveal that within the past half-decade machine learning methods, including artificial neural networks, have brought significant improvement for modelling EMI materials. We identified a research trend in the direction of using advanced forms of machine learning for comparative analysis, research and development employing hybrid and ensemble machine learning methods to deliver higher performance.

Erosion caused by the repeated impact of particles on the surface of a substance is a common wear method resulting in the gradual and continual loss of affected objects. It is a crucial problem in several modern industries because the surfaces of various products and materials are frequently subjected to destructively erosive situations. Polymers and their hybrid materials are suitable, in powdered form, for use as coatings in several different applications. This review paper aims to provide extensive information on the erosion behaviors of thermoset and thermoplastic neat resin and their hybrid material composites. Specific attention is paid to the influence of the properties of selected materials and to impingement parameters such as the incident angle of the erodent, the impact velocity of the erodent, the nature of the erodent, and the erosion mechanism. The review further extends the information available about the erosion techniques and numerical simulation methods used for wear studies of surfaces. An investigation was carried out to allow researchers to explore the available selection of materials and methods in terms of the conditions and parameters necessary to meet current and future needs and challenges, in technologically advanced industries, relating to the protection of surfaces. During the review, which was conducted on the findings in the literature of the past fifty years, it was noted that the thermoplastic nature of composites is a key component in determining their anti-wear properties; moreover, composites with lower glass transition, higher ductility, and greater crystallinity provide better protection against erosion in advanced surface applications.

The polymer solar cells also known as organic solar cells (OSCs) have drawn attention due to their cynosure in industrial manufacturing because of their promising properties such as low weight, highly flexible, and low-cost production. However, low η restricts the utilization of OSCs for potential applications such as low-cost energy harvesting devices. In this paper, OSCs structure based on a triple-junction tandem scheme is reported with three different absorber materials to enhance the absorption of photons which in turn improves the η, as well as its correlating performance parameters. The investigated structure gives the higher value of η = 14.33% with J_sc = 16.87 (mA/m²), V_oc = 1.0 (V), and FF = 84.97% by utilizing a stack of three different absorber layers with different band energies. The proposed structure was tested under 1.5 (AM) with 1 sun (W/m²). The impact of the top, middle, and bottom subcells’ thickness on η was analyzed with a terse to find the optimum thickness for three subcells to extract high η. The optimized structure was then tested with different electrode combinations, and the highest η was recorded with FTO/Ag. Moreover, the effect of upsurge temperature was also demonstrated on the investigated schematic, and it was observed that the upsurge temperature affects the photovoltaic (PV) parameters of the optimized cell and η decreases from 14.33% to 11.40% when the temperature of the device rises from 300 to 400 K.

In the present work, the facile thermal decomposition of raw coconut shells was carried out for the exploitation of the role of inert gas in the carbonization process and its role in determining the morphology, crystallographic parameters, and surface area of biochar before activation. The comparative investigation of mesoporous carbonized products synthesized with the muffle and tube furnace was carried out at a similar temperature and an assessment was made with a commercial carbon. The focus of the work was aimed at the interpretation of surface morphology, elemental identification, phase composition, interplanar spacing, full-width half maximum, crystallite size, lateral size, number of layers, dislocation density, microstrain, packing density, crystallinity index, and the specific surface area of the product obtained from two different approaches. It was revealed that the carbonized coconut shell chars obtained from the tube furnace have better characteristics to be activated further for carbon black synthesis. So, the flow of inert gas in a tube furnace is demonstrated to have a key role in improving the attributes of coconut shell chars.