Journal of Material Sciences & Engineering

Although Polymers have many applications, their shortcoming is that their properties depend on the structure, molecular mass, polymer-polymer and polymer-solvent interactions among others. Hence for a particular use, it is necessary to synthesize a polymer with a particular specification. This is time consuming besides being costly. An alternative to synthesizing the required polymer is to mix or blend two or more polymers. Blending requires knowledge about the miscibility of the two polymers. In this study the compatibility of Novolak-polybutadiene blend as a function of up to 30% rubber concentration, was determined from its theoretical solubility parameters and heat of mixing. The result shows that the degree of compatibility of the two polymers is very low, and the two polymers are thus immiscible above five percent of rubber content.

This work mainly focuses on the investigation carried out on MgCuZn and NiCuZn ferrites which are widely employed for many electronic applications, they are very promising candidate for microinductor applications particularly to produce multilayer chip inductors (MLCIs) due to their excellent properties. Ferrite composites powder of Mg0.6Cu0.1Zn0.4Fe2O4 and Ni0.35Cu0.05Zn0.6Fe2O4 powder were synthesized by conventional ceramic double sintering technique. After being mixed with different volume fractions, a series of novel and dense composites with generic formula (1-X) Mg0.6Cu0.1Zn0.4Fe2O4 + (X) Ni0.35Cu0.05Zn0.6Fe2O4 were obtained in which X varies from 0.0 to 1.0. The presence of phases was confirmed by X-ray diffraction studies which confirms the formation of single phase cubic spinel structure and the grain size was estimated using SEM micrographs. In search of the suitable ferrite materials for microinductor applications, assuming that the ferrite composites would yield enhanced magnetic properties, an investigation is carried out on the composite ferrites and on the pure. To investigate the magnetic and electrical properties which studies were carried out in the temperature range 30 to 360ºC and within the frequency range 100 Hz to 1MHz. These studies revealed that these ferrites possess good electromagnetic properties and can be exploited as core material for microinductor applications.

Dry shot blast generated during stainless steel production contains high content of valued metals such as iron chromium and nickel. These metals are in the form of oxides and it can be used as a raw material in iron and steel. This work aims to study the feasibility of metals recovery from dry shot blast by smelting reduction process. Smelting reduction of dry shot blast by using coking coal as reductant was conducted in an induction furnace. The effect of metallurgical parameters e.g. stoichiometry ratio of reductant per oxygen containing in dry shot blast, CaO/SiO₂ of slag forming and CaF₂ in slag, on %recovery of metal product was investigated. The results based on this study showed that the weight of metal product increases with increased the amount of coke to about 1.5 of stoichiometric molar ratio. Increasing of coke above this amount leads to decrease %recovery of metal product. Moreover, the weight of metal product is increased when the ratio of CaO/SiO₂ in slag decreased from 2 to 1. The chemical composition of the metal product is in the range of commercial grade and it can be used as raw materials to produce steel and cast iron alloy.Dry shot blast generated during stainless steel production contains high content of valued metals such as iron chromium and nickel. These metals are in the form of oxides and it can be used as a raw material in iron and steel. This work aims to study the feasibility of metals recovery from dry shot blast by smelting reduction process. Smelting reduction of dry shot blast by using coking coal as reductant was conducted in an induction furnace. The effect of metallurgical parameters e.g. stoichiometry ratio of reductant per oxygen containing in dry shot blast, CaO/SiO2 of slag forming and CaF2 in slag, on %recovery of metal product was investigated. The results based on this study showed that the weight of metal product increases with increased the amount of coke to about 1.5 of stoichiometric molar ratio. Increasing of coke above this amount leads to decrease %recovery of metal product. Moreover, the weight of metal product is increased when the ratio of CaO/SiO2 in slag decreased from 2 to 1. The chemical composition of the metal product is in the range of commercial grade and it can be used as raw materials to produce steel and cast iron alloy.