Summary In this work, zirconia composite is machined by the unconventional Electrochemical Discharge Machining (ECDM). Normally, the machining of zirconia is an inconvenient process due to its increased hardness and maximum machining time. The ECDM of zirconia‐silicon nitride is done by varying the input parameters such as electrolytic concentration, voltage, and duty cycle. The measured output machined parameters are material removal rate (MRR), Overcut (OC), and Tool wear rate (TWR). In Response Surface Methodology (RSM), the Box Behnken method is used to plan the experimental design of this work. The parameter optimization is conducted using RSM. Besides, the experimented machining performances are validated using hybrid Deep Neural Network‐based Spotted Hyena optimization (DNN‐SHO) done in MATLAB platform version 2020 a. From the findings, the voltage and electrolytic concentration are identified as signified parameters for improving the ECDM performances from the RSM analysis. The obtained favorable machining performances are 0.371 mg/min of MRR, 162.2 μm of OC, and 0.26 mg/min of TWR. The predicted results from the proposed DNN‐SHO for the MRR are 0.402 mg/min, OC is 152.98 μm, and TWR is 0.21 mg/min. The proposed DNN‐SHO outcomes are in perfect agreement with the experimented values and are more superior to the RSM, DNN, and DNN‐PSO based prediction approaches.

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The concrete plays a vibrant role in infrastructural developments. The major dispute of environmental degradation with sources of river sand is been substituted by M sand substantially at faster rate. The efforts to minimize the usage of Portland cement in concrete by other supplementary cementitious materials are also forging to control the environment-related problems. The study involves the behaviour of high performance concrete using partial replacement of cement by silica fume and partial replacement of M sand by Eco sand for M60 grade of concrete. Eco sand is an industrial waste product obtained from the cement industry is utilized as per the gradation analysis to evolve a better waste utilization and management system. The experimental works were conducted to evaluate the mechanical properties of high performance concrete containing cementitious materials of silica fume replaced by cement with 1-5%, M sand replaced by Eco-sand of 15-20%. Super plasticizer also added of about 1% to improve the workability of concrete. The results shows that the compressive strength gradually increased with 25% replacement of Eco sand and the optimal percentage of silica fume replacement identified as 5% by weight. The flexural strength at 28 days shows better for 20% replacement of eco sand than the control mix.

Oxides of transition elements with a perovskite structure is of significant interest due to their enhanced thermoelectric properties. Herein, we have synthesized LaCoO3 (LCO) and prepared composites with carbon nanofibers (CNF) in an effort to obtain increased power factor, thereby reducing lattice thermal conductivity (κL). LaCoO3 was prepared by Sol-Gel method using La and Co nitrates as precursors. The nanocomposites of LCO-CNF were prepared by traditional solid-state reaction. The phase purity of the samples was confirmed through XRD. The morphological characteristics of the pellets was studied through SEM analysis. Simultaneous electrical conductivity and seebeck measurements were performed in room temperature.