The premise of this work is the modification of the properties of chitosan-based film for possible use in food packaging applications. The biofilm was prepared via thermal and mechanical treatment through blending polymers with chitosan using Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) and loading different types of chemical agents, i.e., citric acid (CA), succinic acid (SA), and tetraethoxysilane (TEOS). The modification was carried out under high-speed homogenization at elevated temperature to induce physical cross-linkage of chitosan polymer chains without a catalyst. The findings showed that PVA improved the chitosan films’ Tensile strength (TS) and elongation at break (Eb). The presence of chemicals caused an increase in the film strength for all samples prepared, in which a 5% w/w of chemical in the optimum composition CS/PVA (75/25) provided the maximum strength, namely, 33.9 MPa, 44.0 MPa, and 41.9 MPa, for CA-5, SA-5, and TEOS-5, respectively. The chemical agents also increased the water contact angles for all tested films, indicating that they promoted hydrophobicity. The chemical structure analysis showed that, by incorporating three types of chemical agents into the CS/PVA blend films, no additional spectral bands were found, indicating that no covalent bonds were formed. The thermal properties showed enhancement in melting peak and degradation temperature of the blend films, compared to those without chemical agents at the optimum composition. The X-ray diffraction patterns exhibited that PVA led to an increasing crystallization tendency in the blend films. The morphological observation proved that no irregularities were detected in CS/PVA blend films, representing high compatibility with both polymers.

Aluminum is one of the nonferrous metals with very wide applications. It has unique properties such as light weight and it is ductile has additionally, lower melting point compared to iron. Equal Channel Angular Consolidation (ECAC) is manufacturing method to produce alloys with high strength by consolidation at elevated temperatures. ECAC method can produce a fine grain and combined with oxide inclusion from particle surfaces, high strength. This research will examine the applicability of Equal Channel Angular Consolidation to incorporate aluminum Al 7075 series powder at a temperature of 400^OC under pressure of 400 MPa. The effects of heat treatment regimes on grain size of the ECAC samples are observed. The results show hardness of 7075 Aluminum series after ECAC process reaching 120 HV₁₀ and decreases down to 110 HV₁₀ after T6 heat treatment. Hardness further decreases after annealing process, down to 104 HV₁₀. Decline in hardness is accompanied with the increased grain size, which accompanies increased ductility.

Self-propagating high-temperature synthesis method can be used for producing aluminum and boron carbide based composites. The experimental composites were fabricated using cobalt and carbon as catalysts. The microstructure of the material was studied using Scanning Electron Microscopy and the mechanical properties were determined using micro-hardness testing. Al/B4C based composites with improved properties were obtained and the role of Co/C catalysts was studied.

Clay bricks are the most important engineering materials that can influence the quality of the construction. The quality control of the clay bricks is of prime importance to improve the quality of engineering construction. The qualities of bricks for construction applications should be checked for various types of inspection services. In this article, our inspection service was focused on compression strength test on bricks to determine their mechanical resistance and suitability for construction work. The accurate method for clay brick's production measurements has been elaborated using uniaxial compressive strength testing machine. The method was tested for a rectangular clay brick manufactured with size approximately 250 mm × 250 mm × 200 mm. The measurement method and standard uncertainty estimation of uniaxial compressive strength are briefly described in this article.