Estimating the compressive strength of fly ash added concrete using artificial neural networks

The aim of this study is to develop an artificial intelligence that predicts the compressive strength of fly ash substituted concretes using material mixing ratios. Within the scope of the study, 5 different fly ash mixed concrete samples were estimated. The strength values were estimated using artificial neural networks before the produced samples were subjected to the pressure test. In order to develop the artificial neural network, it is introduced as a dataset of 1030 different mixing ratios consisting of experimental results in the existing literature. In order to estimate the compressive strength, varying ratios of 8 different materials such as water, cement, fly ash entering the mixture are analyzed. As a result of the study, it has been observed that the predictions made using artificial neural networks are very close to the strength values obtained from the experiment

Incorporation of sporopollenin enhances acid-base durability, hydrophobicity, and mechanical, antifungal and antioxidant properties of chitosan films

WOS: 000393929900026Sporopollenin-chitosan blend films were produced for the first time. Sporopollenin is a robust structural component of plant pollens exhibiting excellent features such as nontoxicity, biodegradability, biocompatibility, high thermal stability, durability to strong acid and base solutions and homogeneity in size. To benefit from these advantages, sporopollenin samples obtained from Betula pendula (silver birch) were incorporated into chitosan film at different concentration; 10, 20 and 40 mg in 100 mL chitosan gel (1%). Stereo microscopy, FT-IR and TG/DTG analyses showed that sporopollenin was successfully incorporated into the chitosan matrix. Incorporation of sporopollenin in gradually increasing amount into chitosan films was found advantageous in (1) enhancement in chemical durability of the films, (2) increment of hydrophobicity, (3) boosting the mechanical properties, (4) improvement of antifungal and (5) antioxidant activities. This study revealed that sporopollenin can be suggested as an effective blend material for biodegradable edible chitosan film production. (C) 2016 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved