حسام كريم محسن السلمان

Hydraulic fracturing is a vital method for enhancing productivity in unconventional reservoirs by creating pathways called fractures that enable hydrocarbon flow. Proppants, which hold these fractures open, have progressed significantly in terms of materials and coating technologies. This review aims to bridge gaps in existing studies by providing a in-depth analysis of cutting-edge proppant coating technologies, with a focus on nanomaterials utilization and surface modifications to improve hydraulic fracturing efficiency. While previous researchers have identified challenges with uncoated proppants, including reduced fracture conductivity and declined hydrocarbon production, it is crucial to comprehensively review how resin and resin-based nanocomposite coatings tackle these technical challenges. Through amalgamation of recent developments, this review critically highlights the role of nanocomposite coatings in enhancing proppant performance under extreme downhole conditions. It emphasizes improvements in fracture conductivity and mechanical resilience, particularly noting significant gains in crush resistance and the mitigation of fines generation. These enhancements not only boost fracture conductivity but also address challenges like proppant embedment and thermal degradation. Additionally, this study discusses recent advancements in proppant surface modifications and their impact on fluid conductivity and hydrocarbon recovery. This review also emphasizes the need for continued research into innovative coatings that promote environmental sustainability and operational efficiency, hence ensuring the long-term viability of hydraulic fracturing.

Transforming the thin-wall structure from 2D to 3D to enhance the flexibility and strength of materials is an interesting research area regarding fabricating techniques and engineering properties. This study investigated the double corrugation surface structure for fiberglass-reinforced epoxy thermoset composite to improve the mechanical properties of designed composite materials. Three groups of corrugated samples (2, 4, and 6 layers) were fabricated for testing. The resulting corrugated thermoset composites were tested through tensile and compressive tests. The results illustrated that the tensile strength of a flat sample was 14.28% and 27.74% higher than the one of the double corrugated surface samples on the x-axis and y-axis directions, respectively. Then, the design showed a tremendous increase in the elongation of more than 13 times compared to the flat sample at a relatively slight expense of strength. Besides, the result also showed that the material's compressive strength improved drastically when the number of layers increased from two to six. It was presented that the increase in the number of double corrugated surface structure layers leads to a rise in energy absorption. Therefore, the highest energy absorption was 241.62 J of 6 layers-double corrugated surface sample.

The Rubber-carbon black composite material-based product is the main matrix used in domestic and industrial applications in the last decades. This study proposes replacing the reinforcing carbon with matrix-neutral rubber with epoxy resins to reduce the carbon footprint and lower the environmental impact while enhancing the product’s mechanical properties. Five additive percentages of carbon–epoxy, starting from 100-50% Carbon-black and 0-50% Epoxy, were studied using a hybrid experimental-numerical approach. Experimentally, the extension fatigue, flexural fatigue, and elongation modulus testing were completed using the universal testing machines with a low loading rate (quasi-static process). Numerical, the finite element analysis by the commercial software ABAQUS-SAE within the built-in hyperelastic constitutive model was utilized to visualize the full-field stresses. The experimental nominal stress-strain data was used as input for the numerical model, and Ogden’s formula was applied to simulate the mechanical response of the specimens. The stress field and stress concentration of different experimental tests are given. The effect of increasing the additive epoxy on the rubber-carbon mechanical response and the fatigue life under repeated loads were identified and discussed. Furthermore, the results show that a small amount of epoxy can be used as a reinforcing material for a rubber compound and it improves the mechanical properties. This along with more results are shown in the result section.

Proppants play a crucial role in hydraulic fracturing (HF) operations and in sustaining conductive fractures during well production. However, challenges persist regarding their resilience to closure stress and downhole conditions. Coatings have emerged as a promising solution to enhance proppant efficacy, particularly in addressing mechanical failure. This study highlights the recent advancement in proppant technology and focuses specifically on the impact of different resins coated proppants in improving the fracture conductivity after HF operation. Polymer coatings, especially thermosetting-based resin coatings are widely used due to their ability to improve both the strength and flexibility of the coated proppants. Proppants coated with a thin layer of resin offer several advantages, including good permeability, shape improvement and lower cost compared to regular coatings. Additionally, the incorporation of nanomaterials into resin coatings has shown promising results in augmenting proppant durability and flow conductivity as well as enhancing embedment prevention, reducing the generated fines after proppant crushing and improving the overall oil and gas production rate. For that, a summary was presented of the latest academic discussions and conclusions on the impact of resin coating on proppant and its pivotal role in enhancing proppant performance which led to increased fracture conductivity. Leveraging insights garnered from these discussions can positively contribute to the sustainable extraction of hydrocarbon resources in the oil and gas industry.

This work examines numerically the use of soybean methyl ester (SME) biodiesel along with diesel in a constant-speed, single-cylinder diesel engine. Two fuels were tested: 20%SME and pure SME, besides a baseline neat diesel for comparison. The simulation software Diesel-RK was used in this study, which is based on the multizone combustion model. The results obtained for selected biodiesel showed a quicker start of combustion due to the reduction in the delay period, which is impacted by cetane number. Compared to diesel, the SMD was increased by 8.7% and 24% for the use of 20% SME and SME, respectively. The brake thermal efficiency (BTE) was decreased by 0.8% for 20%SME while it decreased by 6.62% with the use of pure SME. Remarkable reduction in the nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions was reported with the use of SME by 50% compared to diesel fuel. The carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions were increased as a result of using SME blends with diesel. The comparison between obtained findings with the result of other studies reported an accepted deviation.

There is a serious need for reducing the carbon dioxide emissions due to the increase in the global warming. Besides, owing to the unavailability of clean energy sources throughout an entire the year, hybrid renewable energy systems (HRESs) are required. On other hand, the importance of optimal HRES design is to achieve a low cost with using a high green energy. Helioscope and HOMER Pro software were used to design a small grid-connected model and estimate the consumption energy for optimization. The analysis of the system showed how a grid-connected PV system with a battery backup affected on the total energy costs. In addition, the role of power supply irregularity from the national grid was highlighted by calculating the likelihood of a power outage and its impact on HRES. The results showed the internal rate of return (IRR) is 13%, and the return on investment (ROI) is around 9%. Also, the value of renewable fraction was around 63.4%. In conclusion, the proposed system was an efficient according to the energy consumption. This case study can extend to be applied in any country, especially the countries have longer summer like Iraq.

In this paper, magnetic properties of β-SiC nanoparticles have been studied. Results showed intrinsic at room temperature. The applied magnetic field observes a magnetization value of 50.972E-3 emu/g with remnant magnetization is 3E-3 emu/g. The measured value of coercivity found to be 89.068 G at squareness ratio is 0.043524. The room temperature ferromagnetic in β-SiC possibly originated from dangling effect vacancy of silicon and carbon with the nearest neighbour carbon atom have strong s-p hybridization. The result of this paper might indicate a promising pathway of developing a novel spintronics based β-SiC nanoparticle.

This paper introduces a new spark plasma sintering technique that can order crystalline anisotropy by the coaxial flat spiral coils which have been designed, modeled, and installed to work in coupled with the Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS) as a new sintering method called In-situ magnetic-anisotropy spark plasma sintering (MASPS) which has been used to produce anisotropic magnets by aligning the grains of the sintered powder. The two spiral coils have been connected to the cathode and anode of the SPS machine. The magnetic field generated from the coils has been designed and simulated using ANSYS MAXWELL software, and experimentally the field was measured manually using the gauss meter instrument. The excitation currents are 150, 200, 250, 300, and 350 A. Based on the results obtained the maximum magnetic field intensity and strength, at exciting currents of 150, 200, 250, 300, and 350 A are 3.0859 × 104 4.115×104, 5.1432×104, 6.1718×104, 7.2005×104 A/m, and 37.327, 49.769, 62.211, 74.653, and 90.400 mT respectively.

Advances in Natural Sciences: Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST), find out more. PAPER Sintering β-SiC nanopowder using novel microwave-current assisted sintering technique: preliminary study H K M Al-Jothery1, T M B Albarody2, N M Sultan2, H G Mohammed2, P S M Megat-Yusoff2, N Almuramady1 and W J A AL-Nidawi3 Published 10 August 2023 • © 2023 Vietnam Academy of Science & Technology Advances in Natural Sciences: Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Volume 14, Number 3 Citation H K M Al-Jothery et al 2023 Adv. Nat. Sci: Nanosci. Nanotechnol. 14 035013 DOI 10.1088/2043-6262/acebd6 Article metrics 50 Total downloads 11 citation on Dimensions. MathJax Turn on MathJax Permissions Get permission to re-use this article Share this article Share this content via email Share on Facebook (opens new window) Share on Twitter (opens new window) Share on Mendeley (opens new window) Article and author information Abstract Silicon carbide is a crucial structure material because of its wide applications in different fields, such as electronics. The impurities have negative impact on the homogenous sinterability of nano SiC during the sintering process, especially the silicon dioxide. So, the consolidation of SiC nanopowders was conducted by the microwave-current assisted sintering process. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and x-ray diffraction (XRD) were utilised to examine the nanopowders and sintered samples of SiC. The results showed that the smallest average grain sizes of sintered specimens of treated and untreated-SiC nanopowders were 331 and 428 nm, respectively. The relative densities of sintered specimens of treated and untreated-SiC nanopowders were around 97.1% and 93.8%, respectively. In conclusion, the nanostructure of sintered SiC was the benchmark of the microwave-current assisted sintering technique.

In situ X-ray crystallography powder diffraction studies on beta silicon carbide (3C-SiC) in the temperature range 25–800 °C at the maximum peak (111) are reported. At 25 °C, it was found that the lattice parameter is 4.596 Å, and coefficient thermal expansion (CTE) is 2.4 ×10−6 /°C. The coefficient of thermal expansion along a-direction was established to follow a second order polynomial relationship with temperature (𝛼11=−1.423×10−12𝑇2+4.973×10−9𝑇+2.269×10−6 ). CASTEP codes were utilized to calculate the phonon frequency of 3C-SiC at various pressures using density function theory. Using the Gruneisen formalism, the computational coefficient of thermal expansion was found to be 2.2 ×10−6 /°C. The novelty of this work lies in the adoption of two-step thermal expansion determination for 3C-SiC using both experimental and computational techniques.

In-situ magnetic-anisotropy spark plasma sintering technique (MASPS) was used to produce an anisotropic pellet of BaFe12O19 at different sintering parameters. The crystalline texture and anisotropic properties were studied and investigated by using XRD, FESEM, EDX, relative magnetic texture, and mechanical anisotropy. Among all sintered samples, S1180 exhibited (00L) preferred orientation with a high degree of texture (Lotgering factor and texture coefficient TC are 0.78 and 7.17 respectively), which has resulted from XRD patterns. FESEM images confirmed that the grains were grown and re-oriented along the magnetic easy axis. From the EDX test, the degrees of crystalline texture were 59.18, 5.26, and −5.54 of S1180, S1050, and S920, respectively. S1180 had the highest mechanical anisotropy, where the hardness on the top surface and the cross-section are 603 and 60.8 HV, respectively. Besides, the highly textured sample (S1180) had the highest relative density (88.76%) and the lowest porosity (11.23%). Moreover, the relative degree of magnetic texture (D) of S1180 was 73.97%.

In the current-assisted sintering technique, graphite is mainly used to fabricate die and other components (such as electrodes and spacers) because of its excellent thermoelectric properties, high melting point and high ratio of the tensile strength to the compressive strength. As widely known, graphite is one of the brittle materials, and the failure is difficult to be anticipated before it happens. Besides, there is a lack of information about the effects of sintering process, environment and impurity on the graphite structure of the furnace, especially the die, which is the weakest part of the graphite structure. Therefore, the effects of electrical field and oxidation on the graphite die of microwave-current assisted sintering apparatus were investigated at a high temperature of 600-1900 °C based on physical characteristics and mechanical strength. In this article, the spark discharge phenomenon was experimentally proved during the sintering process of nonconductive material. The tensile strength of the upper punch after the sintering process was 20.2% higher than the pristine one because of the transforming of micro-graphite to carbon nanotubes which increased with increasing the temperature. On the other hand, the tensile strengths of graphite lower punch and sleeve were slightly dropped. While, the oxidation of GW-6S graphite in the air caused a mass loss that led to the reduction in tensile and compressive strengths.

A new magnetically assisted spark plasma sintering as a novel method of adding a continuous intensive magnetic field during the sintering process was briefly introduced as an alternative method of traditional SPS in which the sintering process passed through several processes started with jet milling, aligning, densifying, and then ended up with sintering during the production of a material with excellent magnetic, electrical, and mechanical properties. Furthermore, the use of an external magnetic field parallel with the sintering process leads to a shortening of these processes in addition to driving the molten metal in a certain way for grain refinement and grain re-orientated, resulted in the reduction of porosities and cavities. In this paper (Part I) Iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanopowder has been characterized to study the sintering process's effect on microstructure behavior using FESEM, XRD, XPS, and VSM. Based on the results obtained, Fe3O4 has cubic shaped particles with an average size of 100–200 nm, and the indexed peaks are (1 1 1), (2 2 0), (3 1 1), (2 2 2), (4 0 0), (4 2 2), (5 1 1), and (4 0 0), which confirmed with the standard.

Ultra-High Temperature Materials (UHTMs) are at the base of entire aerospace industry; these high stable materials at temperatures exceeding 1600 °C are used to manage the heat shielding to protect vehicles and probes during the hypersonic flight through reentry trajectory against aerodynamic heating and reducing plasma surface interaction. Those materials are also recognized as Thermal Protection System Materials (TPSMs). The structural materials used during the high-temperature oxidizing environment are mainly limited to SiC, oxide ceramics, and composites. In addition to that, silicon-based ceramic has a maximum-use at 1700 °C approximately; as it is an active oxidation process over low temperature and water vapor environment condition. However, a great emphasis is required for developing structural materials in oxidation and rapid heating environment where the temperature is greater than 1700 °C. This review covers briefly all main types of Thermal Protection Systems (TPSs) and all the materials are used to fabricate them with the maximum operational temperatures. Also, it covers the promised UHTMs (SiC, ZrB2, HfB2, SiB6 and B4C) which are currently using for several aerospace applications, especially for TPS. Besides, it discusses the oxidation of SiC, B4C, SiB6, ZrB2 and HfB2. Therefore, the carbides and borides of the transition metals, Zr and Hf have a high-melting temperature and good stability in forming high-melting temperature oxides.

Corrugations can be considered to be one of the ways to improve the mechanical properties of thin-walled structure in terms of manipulation of surface area. However, this theory requires further validation through experimentation of different materials. Although many research works have been done towards the corrugated shell structures, the flexibility of corrugated sheets of thermoset composite material remains unknown. This study focused on the effects of surface area manipulation by using trapezoid origami structure which is trapezoidal folded lobe shape on the absorbed energy and mechanical properties of Epoxy reinforced with S-type fibreglass. Then the trapezoidal folded lobe shape design was drawn by using AutoCAD which consist of the design of the corrugated composite sheets and the design of trapezoidal folded lobe shape mould. Moreover, the fabrication of the Aluminum mould was done by using a CNC milling machine according to the drawing. So, a compression moulding machine will be used to fabricate the composite structure. Therefore, the vibration and compression tests were carried out to perform a study on the behaviour of the trapezoidal folded lobe thermoset samples and to investigate their deformation behaviour respectively. Based on those tests, the results are shown that the trapezoidal origami samples have higher virtual stiffness than the flat samples, and the trapezoidal origami crash thin wall absorbs 40 % more energy in Y-axis direction compared to in X-axis direction.

In this study, an electromagnetic wave 8–12 GHz X band microwave was utilized to detect various types of damage in a woven fabric composite structure. Damages, such as cracks, delamination, bubbles, and voids, were synthesized artificially in accordance to ASTM D2734. Variable thicknesses of composite structure were also analyzed, and the influence of defect on the transmitted signal was investigated. Network analyzer (ENA5701C) in X-band was utilized for this investigation. Detection was based on the changes in the electromagnetic properties, such as permittivity and permeability, and the reflection and transmission to microwaves were based on standard samples. These were implemented for each case of defect selected for this study. Experimental tests revealed that damage in the transparent glass/epoxy composite can be recognized clearly. Particularly, sample thickness was detected when the microwave was applied. This testing method can be considered an inline operation and non-destructive testing for such composites, especially during fabrication.

Corrugations are believed to enhance the mechanical properties of a shell structure. In this study, the theory of corrugation is applied to enhance the flexibility of epoxy- fibreglass material which is being used widely in the automotive industry. It could fulfil the requirement of using a flexible composite material for automobile shell structure for a more crashworthy design. Two different corrugated profiles were studied in this project which are the damped curve and pyramidal groove profiles. Rubber moulds were fabricated and used for the corrugated epoxy-fibreglass composite preparation. A compression moulding machine was used to form the corrugations on the composite material as it can deliver high pressure and temperature to cure the laminate. In this study, the compression moulding process was carried out under constant parameters: temperature, pressure and holding time. Results obtained from the tensile test of the corrugated epoxy-fibreglass composite sheets were compared with the tensile properties of a flat epoxy-fibreglass composite sheet to determine the effect of corrugations in terms of flexibility. The pyramidal groove corrugation managed to enhance the flexibility of the epoxy-fibre glass composite sheet, however there was a significant decrease in yield load, and no notable changes in tensile strength, yield strength and elongation. On the other hand, the flexibility achieved by the sample with damped curve corrugation is higher than the flat sample but lower than the flexibility possessed by the pyramidal groove sample. Elongation of the damped curve sample prior to fracture is two times higher compared to the elongation achieved by both pyramidal groove and flat samples. In conclusion, the epoxy-fibreglass composite sheet with the damped curve corrugation profile is the best, as it exhibits the desired increase in flexibility with minimal loss in terms of tensile strength, yield load and yield strength.

The need for wireless sensing technology has rapidly increased recently, specifically the usage of electromagnetic waves which becoming more required as a source of information. Silicon carbide (SiC) Nano particles has been used in this study, the material under test (MUT) was exposed directly to a microwave field to examine the electromagnetic behavior. The permittivity and permeability were investigated with different filler materials to approach best and optimal electromagnetic absorbing characteristics to assist engineers to monitor structure-based composite for defects evaluation that may occur during operation conditions or through manufacturing process. XRD, FESEM and both complex permittivity and permeability were measured for the pure materials that candidate for this study. The results showed that all the selected nanostructure material exhibit a good purity with proper electromagnetic properties in the X- band, this can lead to absorbing and transmission properties that can be used in monitoring structures or manufactured part during fabrication process.

Robotic technology has become more interested field to safely interact with the human. Therefore, there is a need to continuously improve the mathematical models and flexibility of robot arm when subjected to a collision force in order to reduce environmental impact, but maintain very high stiffness otherwise. To implement these requirements, adjustable compliant mechanism (ACM), which consists of flat plate spring (FPS), two thin disks, ball bearing and stepper motor, is proposed in this research. The ACM has advantages of variable stiffness which can be achieved only by passive mechanical elements. The theoretical relation between spring stiffness and rotational angle was derived for rectangular cross section. Comparison was made between three types of materials used for FPS which were AISI Steel 4340, Brass and Aluminum 6061 T6. The steel spring exhibited the best flexibility and good rigidity as well. Several of impact forces showed the variable stiffness of the FPS, but an abrupt drops in the stiffness when rotational angle was 90° under various impact forces. Furthermore, the stiffness and impact force can be set to any value depending on the application.