• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.175-183
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• 2024

Geopolymer, also known as alkali aluminum silicate, is used as a substitute for Portland cement, and it is also used as a binder because of its good adhesive properties and heat resistance. Since Davidovits developed Geopolymer matrix composites (GMCs) based on the binder properties of geopolymer, they have been utilized as flame exhaust ducts and aircraft fire protection materials. Geopolymer structures are formed through hydrolysis and dehydration reactions, and their physical properties can be influenced by reaction conditions such as concentration, reaction time, and temperature. The aim of this study is to examine the effects of silica size and aging time on the mechanical properties of composites. Commercial water glass and kaolin were used to synthesize geopolymers, and two types of silica powder were added to increase the silicon content. Using carbon fiber mats, a fiber-reinforced composite material was fabricated using the hand lay-up method. Spectroscopy was used to confirm polymerization, aging effects, and heat treatment, and composite materials were used to measure flexural strength. As a result, it was confirmed that the longer time aging and use of nano-sized silica particles were helpful in improving the mechanical properties of the geopolymer matrix composite.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.341-348
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• 2024

Ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) has received remarkable attentions in civil infrastructure due to its unique mechanical characteristics and durability. UHPC gains increasingly dominant in essential structural elements, while its unique properties pose challenges for traditional inspection methods, as damage may not always manifest visibly on the surface. As such, the need for robust inspection techniques for detecting cracks in UHPC members has become imperative as traditional methods often fall short in providing comprehensive and timely evaluations. In the era of artificial intelligence, computer vision has gained considerable interest as a powerful tool to enhance infrastructure condition assessment with image and video data collected from sensors, cameras, and unmanned aerial vehicles. This paper presents a computer vision-based approach employing deep learning to detect cracks in UHPC beams, with the aim of addressing the inherent limitations of traditional inspection methods. This work leverages computer vision to discern intricate patterns and anomalies. Particularly, a convolutional neural network architecture employing transfer learning is adopted to identify the presence of cracks in the beams. The proposed approach is evaluated with image data collected from full-scale experiments conducted on UHPC beams subjected to flexural and shear loadings. The results of this study indicate the applicability of computer vision and deep learning as intelligent methods to detect major and minor cracks and recognize various damage mechanisms in UHPC members with better efficiency compared to conventional monitoring methods. Findings from this work pave the way for the development of autonomous infrastructure health monitoring and condition assessment, ensuring early detection in response to evolving structural challenges. By leveraging computer vision, this paper contributes to usher in a new era of effectiveness in autonomous crack detection, enhancing the resilience and sustainability of UHPC civil infrastructure.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.90 no.5
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• pp.467-480
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• 2024

The mechanical properties and durability of concrete pavements may be degraded in extreme situations, resulting in the need for partial repair or total replacement. During the past few decades, there has been a growing body of research on substituting a portion of Portland cement with alternative cementitious materials for improving concrete properties. In this study, two different configurations of powdered and granulated blast furnace slag were implemented, replacing fine aggregates (by 12 wt.%) and Portland cement (by 0, 20, 40, and 60 wt.%) in the making of roller-compacted concrete (RCC) mixes. The specimens were fabricated to investigate the mechanical properties and durability specifications, involving freeze-thaw, salt-scaling, and water absorption resistance. The experimental results indicated that the optimum mechanical properties of RCC mixes could be achieved when 20-40 wt.% of powdered slag was added to concrete mixes containing slag aggregates. Accordingly, the increases in compressive, tensile, and flexural strengths were 45, 50, and 28%, in comparison to the control specimen at the age of 90 days. Also, incorporating 60 wt.% of powdered slag gave rise to the optimum mix plan in terms of freeze-thaw resistance such that a negligible strength degradation was experienced after 300 cycles. In addition, the optimal moisture content of the proposed RCC mixtures was measured to be in the range of 5 to 6.56%. Furthermore, the partial addition of granulated slag was found to be more advantageous than using entirely natural sand in the improvement of the mechanical and durability characteristics of all mixture plans.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.297-302
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• 2017

Recently, building materials and air purification filters with eco-friendly charcoal are actively studying to reduce the concentration of radon gas in indoor air. In this study, radon reduction performance was assessed by designing and producing new panel-type activated carbon filter that can be handled more efficiently than conventional charcoal filters, which can reduce radon gas. For the fabrication of our panel-type activated carbon filter, first the pressed molding product after mixing activated carbon powder and polyurethane. Then, through diamond cutting, the activated carbon filter of 2 mm, 4 mm and 6 mm thickness were fabricated. To investigate the physical characteristics of the fabricated activated carbon filter, a surface area and flexural strength measurement was performed. In addition, to evaluate the reduction performance of radon gas in indoor, the radon concentration of before and after the filter passes from a constant amount of air flow using three acrylic chambers was measured, respectively. As a result, the surface area of the fabricated activated carbon was approximately $1,008m^2/g$ showing similar value to conventional products. Also, the flexural load was found to have three times higher value than the gypsum board with 435 N. Finally, the radon reduction efficiency from indoor gas improved as the thickness of the activated carbon increases, resulting in an excellent radon removal rate of more than 90 % in the 6 mm thick filter. From the experimental results, the panel-type activated carbon is considered to be available as an eco-friendly building material to reduce radon gas in an enclosed indoor environment.

• Journal of the Korea Concrete Institute
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.93-103
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• 2009

The concept of the effective moment of inertia has been generally used for the deflection estimation of reinforced concrete flexural members. The KCI design code adopted Branson's equation for simple calculation of deflection, in which a representative value of the effective moment of inertia is used for the whole length of a member. However, the code equation for the effective moment of inertia was formulated based on the results of beam tests subjected to uniformly distributed loads, which may not effectively account for those of members under different loading conditions. Therefore, this study aimed to verify the influences of moment shapes resulting from different loading patterns by experiments. Six beams were fabricated and tested in this study, where primary variables were concrete compressive strengths and loading distances from supports, and test results were compared to the code equation and other existing approaches. A method utilizing variational analysis for the deflection estimation has been also proposed, which accounts for the influences of moment shapes to the effective moment of inertia. The test results indicated that the effective moment of inertia was somewhat influenced by the moment shape, and that this influence of moment shape to the effective moment of inertia was not captured by the code equation. Compared to the code equation, the proposed method had smaller variation in the ratios of the test results to the estimated values of beam deflections. Therefore, the proposed method is considered to be a good approach to take into account the influence of moment shape for the estimation of beam deflection, however, the differences between test results and estimated deflections show that more researches are still required to improve its accuracy by modifying the shape function of deflection.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.14 no.11
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• pp.5915-5922
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• 2013

In this study, with the aim of improving the performance of shale to allow for its use as coarse aggregate for concrete, we coated shale aggregates with water repellents and polymers and evaluated their physical properties such as density, water absorption rate, wear rate, and stability depending on the coating method. In addition, the effects of the performance improvement were evaluated by assessing the properties of fresh concrete produced by varying the shale substitution ratio, as well as the compressive strength, flexural strength, and freeze-thaw resistance according to curing ages. The test results revealed that the absolute dry densities of all coated aggregates satisfied the standard density for coarse aggregates for concrete(>$2.50g/cm^3$),and the absorption rate of the shale aggregate coated with water repellent decreased by about 50% compared with that of uncoated shale. The wear rate of the polymer-coated shale decreased by up to 13.0% compared with that of uncoated shale. All coated aggregates satisfied the stability standard for coarse aggregates for concrete(${\leq}12$). The water repellent-induced performance improvement decreased the shale aggregates' slump by about 20~30mm compared with that of the uncoated shale aggregates, and the air content of the repellent-coated shale aggregate increased by up to 0.9% compared with that of the uncoated shale aggregate. The compressive strength of the polymer-coated shale aggregates at a curing age of 28 days was RS(F) 95.7% and BS(F) 90.0%, and the flexural strength was RS(F) 98.0 % and BS(F) 92.0% of the corresponding values of concretes produced using plain aggregates. Furthermore, the concrete using polymer-coated shale aggregates showed a dynamic modulus of elasticity of RS(F) 91% and BS(F) 88% after 300 freeze-thaw cycles, thus demonstrating improved freeze-thaw durability.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.111-120
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• 2007

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of surface treatment and composition of reinforcement material on fracture strength of fiber reinforced composite inlay bridges. The materials used for this study were I-beam, U-beam TESCERA ATL system and ONE STEP(Bisco, IL, USA). Two kinds of surface treatments were used; the silane and the sandblast. The specimens were divided into 11 groups through the composition of reinforcing materials and the surface treatments. On the dentiform, supposing the missing of Maxillary second pre-molar and indirect composite inlay bridge cavities on adjacent first pre-molar disto-occlusal cavity, first molar mesio-occlusal cavity was prepared with conventional high-speed inlay bur. The reinforcing materials were placed on the proximal box space and build up the composite inlay bridge consequently. After the curing, specimen was set on the testing die with ZPC. Flexural force was applied with universal testing machine (EZ-tester; Shimadzu, Japan). at a cross-head speed of 1 mm/min until initial crack occurred. The data was analyzed using one-way ANOVA/Scheffes post-hoc test at 95% significance level. Groups using I-beam showed the highest fracture strengths (p<0.05) and there were no significant differences between each surface treatment (p>0.05) Most of the specimens in groups that used reinforcing material showed delamination. 1. The use of I-beam represented highest fracture strengths (p<0.05) 2. In groups only using silane as a surface treatment showed highest fracture strength, but there were no significant differences between other surface treatments (p>0.05). 3. The reinforcing materials affect the fracture strength and pattern of composites inlay bridge. 4 The holes at the U-beam did not increase the fracture strength of composites inlay bridge.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect that various concentration and application time of hydrogen peroxide had on tooth whitening and physical properties. The hydroxyapatite (HA) discs of $12mm({\Phi}){\times}1.2mm(t)$ in dimensions were made by compression $(100kg/cm^2)$ and sintering (at $1350^{\circ}C$ for 2 hours) All specimens were polished sequentially with '240 through '2000 emery paper and one side of each specimen was polished finally with $0.3{\mu}m$ alumina paste. The discs were placed in sterile whole stimulated saliva overnight at $37^{\circ}C$ in order to form an in vitro pellicle layer. Then the discs were rinsed with distilled water and soaked into staining broth at $37^{\circ}C$ for 7 days. These stained specimens were bleached with hydrogen peroxide according to the change of concentration $(3{\sim}30%)$ and application time ($3{\sim}10$ days). The specimens were analyzed with a spectrophotometer, X-ray diffractometer (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), surface roughness tester, microhardness tester and biaxial flexural strength. The results of present study can be summarized as follows : 1. The bleaching effect was increased with the increased concentration and the extended application time of hydrogen peroxide. 2. The surface roughness was significantly increased from the specimen bleached with 15% hydrogen peroxide for 10 days and with 30% for 7 and 10 days respectively (p<0.05). 3. The changes of crystal phase observed by XRD between before and after bleaching weren't shown of any difference, but microporous structure of surface observed by SEM was shown of increase with the increased concentration and the extended application. 4. The biaxial flexural strength was significantly decreased from bleaching of specimen with 30% hydrogen peroxide for 7 and 10 days respectively (p<0.05) 5. Microhardness was significantly decreased from bleaching with 15% hydrogen peroxide for 10 days and with 30% for 3, 7 and 10 days respectively (p<0.05). Although the tooth bleaching effect was greater when the high concentration was applied, further in vivo experiment will be needed to prove it's safety.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.33-42
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• 2012

This study aims to establish the performance standard for natural type landscape stone GFRC. The required performance such as material performance, structural safety performance, durability performance, and landscape performance were selected through an examination of domestic and overseas performance related references and examples, and through the questionnaires obtained from 40 experts, and the verified items and performance standards were proposed. Among the required performances, the material performance(glass fiber content, air-dried gravity), structural safety performance(flexural strength, compressive strength), durability performance(crack, corrosion resistance), and landscape performance(texture, efflorescence) were selected through the questionnaires obtained from the experts. In the case of material performance and structural safety performance with the corresponding standards that existed, final performance evaluation standard was proposed by conducting a test and comparing it with the existing standard sample, and in the case of durability performance and landscape performance on which standard does not existed, they were verified by measuring directly through field examination of formative landscape items such as artificial waterfall etc. In this study, performance standard for the material on natural type landscaping rocks GFRC and items which can be evaluated after construction such as material performance, structural safety performance, durability performance, landscape performance, and so forth were proposed, however, follow up study for pro-environmental and ecological performance standard which were recently gaining force would be required through a continuous monitoring for the construction samples afterwards.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.21 no.9
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• pp.604-609
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• 2020

There are various methods of finishing concrete surfaces, and when considering workability, the spray method is effective, but rebound occurs. The allocation of rebound occurrence control should be adjusted according to the materials used. Thus, a basic study was conducted on multiple techniques for reducing the rebound incidence that are suitable for surface finishing materials containing a photocatalyst. A prior study derived the reduction effect and optimal mix ratio for photocatalytic performance. Based on that study, the rebound reduction was verified according to the specifications of the content and the mechanical durability characteristics of the mixed materials. Rebound, compressive strength, flexural rigidity, and table flow tests were done. The flow was fixed at 170±10 mm considering the workability of the mortar spray equipment. For the experimental variables, the rebound number was adjusted to the silica sand variables relative to the cement weight, and silica sands No. 5 and No. 7 were used. The results show the highest compression strength in the final S-1 variable, and the amount of rebound was minimized. These results were sufficiently filled with the bindings of the silica pores, which increased the binding force between the aggregates, resulting in a lower amount of rebound.