Ultra-fine Grain Materials by Severe Plastic Deformation: Application to Steels

Severe plastic deformation techniques are known to produce grain sizes up to submicron level. This leads to conventional Hall-Petch strengthening of the as-processed materials. In addition, the microstructures of severe plastic deformation processed materials are characterized by relatively lower dislocation density compared to the conventionally processed materials subjected to the same amount of strain. These two aspects taken together lead to many important attributes. Some examples are ultra-high yield and fracture strengths, superplastic formability at lower temperatures and higher strain rates, superior wear resistance, improved high cycle fatigue life. Since these processes are associated with large amount of strain, depending on the strain path, characteristic crystallographic textures develop. In the present paper, a detailed account of underlying mechanisms during SPD has been discussed and processing-microstructure-texture-property relationship has been presented with reference to a few varieties of steels that have been investigated till date.

Technique for Using Fine-Grained Soil in Reinforced Earth

The performance of reinforced earth structures depends on the mobilization of interfacial shearing resistance between soil and reinforcement. This criterion typically eliminates the use of fine-grained soil as a backfill material in reinforced earth structures. Considering the distribution of induced interfacial shear stress in soil around the surface of the reinforcement, it has been shown that only a thin zone of frictional material around the reinforcement is required to mobilize almost full interfacial shearing resistance of sand. Six series of pullout tests have been conducted, with different types of reinforcement, to study the effect of thickness of sand (frictional material) around the reinforcement on the pullout resistance. Sawdust and kaolin clay have been used as bulk backfill material, providing the soil with negligible friction. With low-friction-strength soil as bulk material, a 15-mm thickness of sand around the reinforcement is required to increase the interfacial shearing resistance to that with sand as the bulk material. With this new technique, low-frictional fine-grained soils can be used as bulk backfill material in reinforced earth constructions.

Combustion synthesis and properties of fine-particle rare-earth-metal zirconates, Ln2Zr2O7

Fine-particle rare-earth-metal zirconates, Ln2Zr2O7, where Ln = La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd and Dy having the pyrochlore structure have been prepared using a novel combustion process. The process employs aqueous solutions of the corresponding rare-earth-metal nitrate, zirconium nitrate and carbohydrazide/urea in the required molar ratio. When the solution is rapidly heated to 350–500 °C it boils, foams and burns autocatalytically to yield voluminous oxides. The formation of single-phase Ln2Zr2O7 has been confirmed by powder X-ray diffraction, infrared and fluorescence spectroscopy. The solid combustion products are fine, having surface areas in the range 6–20 m2 g–1. The cold-pressed Pr2Zr2O7 compact when sintered at 1500 °C, 4 h in air, achieved 99% theoretical density.

Combustion Synthesis and Properties of Fine Particle Spinel Manganites

Fine particle spinel manganites have been prepared by thermal decomposition of the precursors N2H5M1/3Mn2/3(N2H3COO)3 · H2O (M = Co and Ni) and M1/3 Mn2/3(N2H3COO)2 · 2H2O (M = Mg and Zn), as well as by the combustion of redox mixtures containing M(II) nitrate (M = Mg, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn), Mn(II) nitrate, and maleic hydrazide (MH) in the required molar ratio. Both the precursor and redox mixtures undergo self-propagating, gas-producing, exothermic reactions once ignited at 250-375°C to yield corresponding manganites in less than 5 min. Formation of single phase products was confirmed by X-ray powder diffraction patterns. The manganites are of submicrometer size and have surface area in the range 20-76 m2/g.

Hydrazine carboxylate precursors to fine particle titania, zirconia and zirconium titanate

Titanyl hydrazine carboxylate dihydrate, TiO(N2H3COO)2.2H2O, zirconyl hydrazine carboxylate dihydrate, ZrO(N2H3COO)2.2H2O and their solid solution, ZrTiO2(N2H3COO)4.4H2O have been prepared for the first time and investigated as precursors to fine particle TiO2, ZrO2 and ZrTiO4 respectively. Titania(anatase) formed has a very high surface area of 110 m2/g and zirconium titanate showed very low dielectric loss (4 x 10(-4)).

Microwave Irradiation Assisted Method for the Rapid Synthesis of fine Particles of alpha Al2O3 And alpha (Al1-XCrx)(2)O-3 And Their Coatings on Si(100)

Chromium substituted beta diketonate complexes of aluminium have been synthesized and employed as precursors for a novel soft chemistry process wherein microwave irradiation of a solution of the complex yields within minutes well crystallized needles of alpha (Al1 XCrx)(2)O-3 measuring 20 30 nm in diameter and 50 nm long By varying the microwave irradiation parameters and using a surfactant such as polyvinyl pyrrolidone the crystallite size and shape can be controlled and their agglomeration prevented These microstructural parameters as well as the polymorph of the Cr substituted Al2O3 formed may also be controlled by employing a different complex Samples of alpha (Al1 XCrx)(2)O-3 have been characterized by XRD FTIR and TEM The technique results in material of homogeneous metal composition, as shown by EDAX and can be adjusted as desired The technique has been extended to obtain coatings of alpha (Al1 XCrx)(2)O-3 on Si(100)

Microstructure evolution and hardness variation during annealing of equal channel angular pressed ultra-fine grained nickel subjected to 12 passes

The microstructure, thermal stability and hardness of ultra-fine grained (UFG) Ni produced by 12 passes of equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) through the route Bc were studied. Comparing the microstructure and hardness of the as-ECAPed samples with the published data on UFG Ni obtained after 8 passes of ECAP through the route Bc reveals a smaller average grain size (230 nm in the present case compared with 270 nm in 8-pass Ni), significantly lower dislocation density (1.08 x 10(14) m(-2) compared with 9 x 10(14) m(-2) in 8-pass Ni) and lower hardness (2 GPa compared with 2.45 GPa for 8-pass Ni). Study of the thermal stability of the 12-pass UFG Ni revealed that recovery is dominant in the temperature range 150-250A degrees C and recrystallisation occurred at temperatures > 250 A degrees C. The UFG microstructure is relatively stable up to about 400 A degrees C. Due to the lower dislocation density and consequently a lower stored energy, the recrystallisation of 12-pass ECAP Ni occurred at a higher temperature (similar to 250 A degrees C) compared with the 8-pass Ni (similar to 200 A degrees C). In the 12-pass Nickel, hardness variation shows that its dependence on grain size is inversely linear rather than the common grain size(-0.5) dependence.

Controlled combustion synthesis and properties of fine-particle NASICON materials

Fine-particle NASICON materials, Na1+xZr2P3-xSixO12 (where x = 0.0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0 and 2.5), have been prepared by controlled combustion of an aqueous solution containing stoicthiometric amounts of sodium nitrate, zirconyl nitrate, ammonium perchlorate, diammonium hydrogen phosphate, fumed silica and carbonohydrazide. Formation of NASICON has been confirmed by powder XRD, Si-29 NMR and IR spectroscopy. These NASICON powders are fine (average agglomerate size 5-12 mum) with a surface area varying from 8 to 30 m2 g-1. NASICON powders pelletized and sintered at 1100-1200-degrees-C for 5 h achieved 90-95% theoretical density and show fine-grain microstructure. The coefficient of thermal expansion of sintered NASICON compact was measured up to 500-degrees-C and changes f rom -3.4 x 10(-6) to 4.1 x 10(-6) K-1. The conductivity of Sintered Na3Zr2PSi2O12 compact at 300-degrees-C is 0.236 OMEGA-1 cm-1.

Synthesis and characterization of barium bis(citrato) oxozirconate(iv) tetrahydrate--A new molecular precursor for fine particle BaZrO3

Barium metazirconate (BaZrO3) fine powder has been produced by thermally decomposing a molecular precursor, barium bis(citrato)oxozirconate(IV) tetrahydrate at about 700-degrees-C. The precursor, Ba[ZrO(C6H6O7)2] . 4H2O (BZO) has been synthesized and characterized by employing a combination of spectroscopic and thermoanalytical techniques. The precursor undergoes thermal decomposition in three major stages: (i) dehydration to give an anhydrous barium zirconyl citrate, (ii) decomposition of the anhydrous citrate in a multistep process to form an ionic oxycarbonate intermediate, Ba2Zr2O5CO3, and (iii) decomposition of the oxycarbonate to produce BaZrO3 fine powder. The particle size of the resultant BaZrO3 is about 0.2 mum, and the surface area is found to be 4.0 m2 g-1.

Photocatalysis on Fine Powders of Perovskite Oxides

Fine powders of semiconductor oxides have been widely used as photocatalysts for many reactions. Among the various photocatalytic reactions, water splitting has been given much importance, since it is a promising chemical route for solar energy conversion. Perovskite oxides, in particular SrTiO, have been commonly used as photocatalysts because some of them can decompose H,O into H, and 0, without an external bias potential (1). In turn, this is because the conduction band (CB) edges of some of the perovskite oxides are more negative than the H+/H, energy level. Since the catalytic activity is related to the surface properties of the solids, fine powders rather than single crystals are used. Photocatalysis on fine powers can be conveniently discussed in three parts, viz. preparation, characterization and their catalytic activity. Presently, photo-decomposition of water using SrTiO, fine powders is discussed in greater detail, although other photocatalytic reactions on various perovskite oxides are also briefly dealt with.

Crystal Structure Engineering by Fine-Tuning the Surface Energy: The Case of CdE (E = S/Se) Nanocrystals

We prove that CdS nanocrystals can be thermodynamically stabilized in both wurtzite and zinc-blende crystallographic phases at will, just by the proper choice of the capping ligand. As a striking demonstration of this, the largest CdS nanocrystals (similar to 15 nm diameter) ever formed with the zinc-blende structure have been synthesized at a high reaction temperature of 310 degrees C, in contrast to previous reports suggesting the formation of zinc-blende CdS only in the small size limit (< 4.5 nm) or at a lower reaction temperature (<= 240 degrees C). Theoretical analysis establishes that the binding energy of trioctylphosphine molecules on the (001) surface of zinc-blende CdS is significantly larger than that for any of the wurtzite planes. Consequently, trioctylphosphine as a capping agent stabilizes the zinc-blende phase via influencing the surface energy that plays an important role in the overall energetics of a nanocrystal. Besides achieving giant zinc-blende CdS nanocrystals, this new understanding allows us to prepare CdSe and CdSe/CdS core/shell nanocrystals in the zinc-blende structure.

Characteristic water contents of a fine-grained soil-water system

This paper critically appraises the limitations of the liquid-limit water content of clayey soils determined conventionally either by percussion cup or by the cone penetration method. It is shown that the conventional liquid limit and plastic limit are arbitrary, strength-based water contents and that they cannot represent the plasticity limits, and that the state of the soil-water system at the conventional liquid limit does not correspond to a stress-free reference state. The present investigation identifies three characteristic limiting water contents for a soil-water system which have well-defined, unique mechanisms controlling them, namely the free swell limit, settling limit and shrinkage limit. Simple procedures for the determination of the free swell limit and settling limit of natural soils are presented. The settling limit is shown to be the 'real liquid limit' of any clayey soil. With a number of experimental illustrations, it is clearly shown that the settling limit represents the maximum water-holding capacity of clayey soils and that it corresponds to the stress-free reference state.