The use of date palm fiber (DPF) as natural fiber in concrete and mortar continues to gain acceptability due to its low-cost and availability. However, the main disadvantage of DPF in cement-based composites is that it reduces compressive strength and increases the porosity of the composite. Hence, for DPF to be efficiently used in concrete, its negative effects must be counteracted. Therefore, in this study, silica fume was employed as supplementary cementitious material to alleviate the negative effects of DPF on the strength and porosity of concrete. The DPF was added in different dosages of 0%, 1%, 2%, and 3% by weight of binder materials. Silica fume was used as a cement replacement material at dosages of 0% to 15% (intervals of 5%) by volume of cement. The unit weights, mechanical strengths, water absorption, and microstructural morphology were all evaluated. The concrete’s fresh and hardened densities were reduced with the increment in DPF and silica fume. The compressive strength declined at all ages with the increment in DPF addition, while the flexural and splitting tensile strengths improved with addition of up to 2% DPF. Furthermore, the concrete’s water absorption escalated with an increase in DPF content. Silica fume significantly enhanced the mechanical strength of the concrete. The dissipation in compressive strength with the addition of up to 2% DPF was mitigated by replacing up to 10% cement with silica fume, where it densified the microstructure and refined the interfacial transition zone between the fibers and cement matrix, hence significantly decreasing the porosity and enhancing durability.

This review provides a comprehensive and accessible literature review on the integration of nanoparticles into biolubricants to enhance wear and friction regulation, thus improving the overall lubricated system performance. Nanotechnology has significantly impacted various industries, particularly in lubrication. Nanobiolubricants offer promising avenues for enhancing tribological properties. This review focuses on oxide nanoparticles, such as zinc oxide (ZnO), aluminum oxide (Al₂O₃), copper oxide (CuO), titanium dioxide (TiO₂), zirconium dioxide (ZrO₂), and graphene oxide (GO) nanoparticles, for their ability to enhance lubricant performance. The impact of nanoparticle concentration on biolubricant properties, including viscosity, viscosity index, flash point temperature, and pour point temperature, is analyzed. The review also addresses potential obstacles and limitations in nanoparticle incorporation, aiming to propose effective strategies for maximizing their benefits. The findings underscore the potential of nanobiolubricants to improve operational efficiency and component lifespan. This review aims to provide valuable insights for researchers, engineers, and professionals in exploring and leveraging nanotechnology's potential in the lubrication industry. This review paper explores the basics of tribology along with its significance, green principles, mechanisms, and energy savings because of friction, wear, and lubrication. Condition monitoring techniques are also explored to achieve brief knowledge about maintaining reliability and safety of the industrial components. Recent advances in tribology including superconductivity, biotribology, high-temperature tribology, tribological simulation, hybrid polymer composite's tribology, and cryogenic tribology are investigated, which gives a thorough idea about the subject.

The reversible shrink–swell behavior of expansive soil imposes a serious challenge that threatens the overlying structures’ safety and durability. Traditional chemical additives such as lime and cement still exhibit satisfying performance over their counterparts in terms of swelling potential reduction. Nevertheless, significant concerns are associated with these chemicals, in addition to their environmental impact. This paper proposes a novel application of the closed-cell one-component hydrophobic polyurethane foam (HPUF) to stabilize the swelling soil. An extensive experimental study was performed to assess the efficiency of HPUF in mitigating both the swelling and shrinkage response of high montmorillonite content expansive soil. Expansive soil was injected/mixed with different weight ratios of the proposed stabilizer, and the optimum mixing design and injection percentage of the foam resin were identified to be ranged from 10% to 15%. The shrink–swell behaviors of both injected and noninjected samples were compared. Results of this comparison confirmed that HPUF could competently reduce both the swelling potential and the shrinkage cracking of the reactive expansive soil, even after several wet-shrink cycles.

This review presents the design and experimental analysis of metamaterials with tunable properties for biomedical applications.

The You Only Look Once (YOLO) deep learning model iterations-YOLOv7-YOLOv8-were put through a rigorous evaluation process to see how well they could recognize oil palm plants. Precision, recall, F1-score, and detection time metrics are analyzed for a variety of configurations, including YOLOv7x, YOLOv7-W6, YOLOv7-D6, YOLOv8s, YOLOv8n, YOLOv8m, YOLOv8l, and YOLOv8x. YOLO label v1.2.1 was used to label a dataset of 80,486 images for training, and 482 drone-captured images, including 5,233 images of oil palms, were used for testing the models. The YOLOv8 series showed notable advancements; with 99.31 %, YOLOv8m obtained the greatest F1-score, signifying the highest detection accuracy. Furthermore, YOLOv8s showed a notable decrease in detection times, improving its suitability for comprehensive environmental surveys and in-the-moment monitoring. Precise identification of oil palm trees is beneficial for improved resource management and less environmental effect; this supports the use of these models in conjunction with drone and satellite imaging technologies for agricultural economic sustainability and optimal crop management.

The present work investigates the mechanical properties of a composite material composed of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), nano-aluminum powder (NAP), and glass fibers (GF) for five different compositions. The study further investigated how MWCNTs contribute to maintaining the mechanical properties of nanocomposites when exposed to elevated temperatures, up to 180 °C. The evaluation of impact strength revealed that the nanocomposite, composed of 2 % MWCNTs, 15 % NAP, and 10 % GF, demonstrated the greatest impact strength. At room temperature, the composite containing 2 % MWCNTs, 5 % NAP, and 20 % GF exhibited the highest ultimate tensile strength (UTS). Conversely, at elevated temperatures reaching up to 180 °C, the highest UTS was observed in the composition with 2 % MWCNTs, 10 % NAP, and 15 % GF. The hardness of the nanocomposite was influenced by its composition; at room temperature, the maximum hardness was observed in the mixture containing 2 % MWCNTs, 20 % NAP, and 5 % GF. In contrast, at elevated temperatures, the composition with 2 % MWCNTs, 5 % NAP, and 20 % GF exhibited the highest hardness. Overall, the study found that incorporating GF and NAP improved the mechanical properties of the composite. These results indicate that the composite's performance could be further optimized for specific applications through the addition of filler materials.