Search

Like micro-silica (MS), nano-silica (NS) can also be considered as a supplementary cementitious material for production of high-performance mortar and concrete. To investigate the influence of MS and NS on the fresh properties of mortar or the mortar phase of concrete, an experimental program encompassing mortar mixes with various water, cement, MS and NS contents was launched for undergoing flowability, cohesiveness and adhesiveness measurements. It was found that the NS added, albeit at much smaller dosage, has greater effects than the MS added on the fresh properties of mortar. More importantly, NS has negative effects on flowability, but positive effects on cohesiveness and adhesiveness. These results suggest that by enhancing the cohesiveness and adhesiveness, the addition of NS in conjunction with MS is a promising method for producing mortar with high adhesiveness requirement, as reflected by the results of the newly developed stone rod adhesion test.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.23.4.16632

Sialon-SiC composite powders were synthesized from kyanite tailings through the carbothermal reduction nitridation (CRN) technique. Using Sialon-SiC composites to substitute Si3N4 composites via the CRN technique synthesize Sialon/Si3N4-SiC composite refractories. The phase composition, cross section morphology, and the substituent amount of Sialon-SiC composites impact on refractories mechanical properties were investigated, respectively. The optimized synthesis temperature for the CRN reaction was found to be 1550 °C for 4 h with the excess carbon 20%. The substituent amount of Sialon-SiC was 25%, the mechanical properties of Sialon/Si3N4-SiC composite refractories reached optimal performance, which bending strength value was 41.8 MPa and compression strength value was 61.6 MPa.

ZrO2 fibers and belts have been fabricated by heat-treating the hybrid fibers and belts which were prepared by electrospinning method. Fiber and belt properties, for instance, surface morphology, diameter of fibers, crystallization formation, etc. were investigated by various techniques, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffractometer (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy dispersive spectrum (EDS) included. It was found that more belts and thicker fibers appeared with increasing PVP content. Using N,N,N-trimethyl-1-dodecanaminium bromide (DTAB) can avoid formation of belts and reduce the diameter of fibers from a range of 270 to 750 nm to a range of 90 to 150 nm. It all obtained monoclinic ZrO2 fibers and belts after heat-treating (respectively at 700, 800, 900 °C) hybrid fibers and belts. The higher temperature heat-treatment leads rougher fibers and belts.

Super-grade bauxite, pure silicon carbide, andalusite and metal silicon were used as the raw materials to produce plastic phase mullite-SiC bricks. By analysis of the microstructure, physical and chemical properties, it proves that the introduction of metal plastic phase can improve the properties of bricks, such as lower porosity, higher cold crush strength, and wearing resistance. It also can improve the toughness, and effectively relieve the thermal and mechanical stress when using in cement kilns. By analysis of the comparison with MA spinel bricks and ordinary mullite-SiC bricks, the plastic phase mullite-SiC bricks have good thermal shock resistance and lower thermal conductivity. The result shows that the bricks can replace MA spinel bricks using in the transition zone of cement kilns and realizes the aim of saving energy and a long service life.

Cordierite samples were prepared using quartz sand tailings, industrial alumina and magnesite tailings as raw materials by high-temperature reaction. The influence of mineral composition and sintering temperature on the final phase composition and physical properties of cordierite were studied. The results shown that a large number of cordierite generated at 1300 °C. When the ratio of Al2O3/SiO2 equals to 1.08, the flexural strength of samples increased to 27.66 MPa.

Mullite material was prepared from quartz (SiO2) and industrial alumina (γ-Al2O3). The effects of mineral composition and sintering temperature on the final phase composition and physical properties of mullite were investigated. The results shown that a large number of mullite phase was emerged in samples when the ratio of alumina to silica (A/S) was 2.55. At 1500 oC and 1600 oC, the flexural strength of the samples reached to 87.13 MPa and 89.50 MPa, respectively. Consider the environmental protection and energy saving, the optimal sintering temperature was 1500 °C.

The performance and phase behavior of Quartz - Aluminum Matrix Composites at different temperatures were studied. Quartz aluminum matrix composites were prepared by powder metallurgy method. At the temperature that was less than 660.4°C(the melting point of aluminum), a portion of quartz was happened decomposition and revivification to silicon, most aluminum still existed in the form of metal aluminum. All quartz were happened at the temperature that was higher than 660.4°C. When the temperature is 700°C, the compressive strength of S5(added 40% quartz) is up to 46.02MP. The higher the value of compressive strength was, the less the amount of quartz were happened decomposition. At the temperature more than the melting point of aluminum, Quartz was revivification to silicon, aluminum is oxidized to Al2O3. When the amount of silica exceeded 10%, the mechanical properties of composites declined consequently.

The total bauxite reserves of China are about 3.7 billion tons, however the principal and the first-class bauxite reserves account for only about 20%. A large number of coal gangue was accumulated on the surface of earth, which not only encroaches land but also pollutes the environment. In this study, low-grade bauxite with alumina content of 53.18 wt.% originating from Shanxi Yangquan and coal gangue with alumina content of 38.07 wt.% originating from Shanxi Datong were used to synthesize mullite materials. Bauxite and gangue were mixed by the ratio of 1 to 1. The ingredients were prepared according to the alumina content of 45.63 wt.% and 70 wt.%, by adding a certain amount of industrial alumina, respectively. The samples were sintered at 1350°C to 1600°C after being milled, dried and formed. The influence of alumina content and sintering temperature on the phase, microscopic morphology and properties of samples were discussed. The results show that, the main phases of the sample with the alumina content of 70 wt.% were mullite (more than 60 %) and corundum after being sintered for 4h at 1600 °C. The phenomenon of columnar mullite and granular corundum staggering had been observed. The bulk density and the bending strength of sample is 3.21 g/cm3and of 220.73 MPa respectively.

This paper mainly discusses the influences of heating temperatures and CeO2additive contents on the phase transformations of zirconia from zircon ore by carbothermal reduction. The phase transformations of zirconia from zircon ore by carbothermal reduction were monitored by X-ray diffraction. The microstructure of the product was characterized by scanning electron microscopy. The results show that without adding CeO2, the optimized heating temperature of zircon carbothermal reduction was 1600 °C and the main phases of the product were m-ZrO2, ZrC and β-SiC, t-ZrO2; After adding CeO2, the main phase of the products consists of t-ZrO2, m-ZrO2, ZrC and β-SiC when the heating temperature is 1600 °C. CeO2additive can be introduced into zirconia lattice and can cause it to form cerium stabilized zirconia. Zirconia in the product would be turned into partially stabilized zirconia with cerium addition from 5 wt% to 20 wt%. However, the form of zirconia in the product is not changed greatly with the amount of CeO2additive increase.

In this paper, the KNN powders with Li+ substituted (K0.5Na0.5)+ were prepared by the sol-gel method in order to make powders pure, (Na0.50+xK0.50-2xLix) -NbO3 (x=0, 0.04, 0.06, 0.08) ceramics were prepared by pressureless sintering. The phase composition of powders was determined by XRD. The effects of the Li+ substitution on piezoelectric and ferroelectric properties of ceramics were systematically studied for determining optimal Li+ content. Li+ can significantly increase the piezoelectric constant of ceramic. When Li+ content was 0.04, piezoelectric properties of ceramics were the best, d33=115 pC/N, Pr=6.35 μC/cm2, Ec=14.24 kV/cm.

Alumina from sericite phyllite was extracted by the way of limestone self-pulverization sintering technique. The key technical processes, including self-pulverization sintering, clinker leaching reaction and the carbonation decomposition, were investigated systematically. The results showed that the main phases of pulverized clinker consisted of γ-C2S and C12A7, and the self-pulverization rate was 95% . The dissolution rate of Al2O3 clinker could reach 86.7% when the concentration of Na2CO3 solution was 7% and the solid-liquid ratio was 1:3. The Al(OH)3 prepared at 80°C carbonation temperature and pH=10.5 was relatively pure, with hexagonal plate-like crystals. The α-alumina could be acquired by calcination at 1200°C with the content of 99.71% Al2O3 and 0.02% Na2O. This work provided optimal technological parameters for effectively extracting alumina from the sericite and other inexpensive non-bauxite mineral resources with A/S ratio lower than 1.

Tourmaline has characteristics of repeatedly producing electric dipole polarity transformation. Using FTO glass substrate coated with conductive films as raw materials, the research aims to prepare functional glass materials, which have spontaneous polarization effect, absorption of wideband electromagnetic radiation and high visible light transmittance. This paper applied Magnetron Sputtering deposition technique, studying on tourmaline as target, sputtering on conductive FTO glass, using multiple means to measure and analyze the surface morphology, component, structure, electrical and magnetic properties. And the functions of tourmaline as composite electromagnetic shielding films are also discussed in the paper.

Ultralong single crystal Sialon nanobelts were prepared on a graphite cover coated with Ni(NO3)2 by facile thermal chemical vapor deposition reactions of Si, Al, and Al2O3 with flowing N2 at 1450 °C. The as-synthesized Sialon nanobelts were up to several millimeters long and several hundred nanometers wide, and they had width/thickness ratios of 5–15. Their growth process was codominated by a Ni-catalytic vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) base-growth mechanism and a vapor–solid (VS) tip-growth mechanism. The former was responsible for the initial nucleation and proto-nanobelt formation of Sialon and the subsequent growth along the [100] direction, and the latter additionally contributed the growth at tips. The room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectrum showed that the as-synthesized Sialon nanobelts had a special emission with two maximum peaks at 409 nm (3.03 eV) and 428 nm (2.90 eV) located in the violet-blue spectral range, making possible potential applications in LED and optoelectronic nanodevices.

Ta-doped Li3V2(PO4)3 cathode material coated by carbon was synthesized via a sol-gel method. Effects of Ta5+ doping on the physical structure and electrochemical performances of the Li3V2(PO4)3/C cathode materials were investigated. Compared with the undoped sample, the Ta-doped samples had no excess peaks but the larger particle size and the narrower distribution of the particle size, indicating that Ta5+ entered into the structure of (Li1-5xTax)3V2(PO4)3/C rather than forming any impurities. When x was up to 0.01, the best electrochemical properties of the Ta-doped cathode materials had been displayed at the charge and discharge rate of 0.1C with the voltage of 3.0～4.8V. The analysis of cyclic voltammetry revealed that the polarization of the Li3V2(PO4)3/C cathode materials could be effectively decreased by Ta5+ doping(x=0.01), mainly resulting from the better electronic conductivity.

Doped ceria-based (Gd0.2Ce0.8O1.9, GDC) solid electrolytes were prepared by Solid-phase synthesis method. The effect of doping bismuth oxide and samarium oxide on the phase and microstructure of GDC was investigated. The phase composition was analyzed by the X-ray diffraction (XRD).The single cubic fluorite structure was observed after doping these oxides. Appearance and microstructure of doped ceria-based solid electrolytes were analyzed by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and the transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results showed that the doped trivalent cations had entered into the ceria structure uniformly. The density, porosity rate and water absorption of GDC were measured by Archimedes principle. It indicated that the density of doped GDC solid electrolyte increased with the rising of sintering temperature.

Lanthanum magnesium hexaaluminate (LaMgAl11O19, LMA) has attracted much interest as its widely used in solid state lasers, TV phosphors and fluorescent lamps. In this paper, LaMgAl11O19 ceramic was pressureless sintered at 1650 °C for 10 h in air atmosphere using LaMgAl11O19 powders prepared by solid-state reaction at 1500 °C for 4 h. The result indicated that the synthesis temperature of LaMgAl11O19 powders was about 1500 °C. The LMA ceramic sample was dense and had a microstructure of platelet-like gains. The excitation spectrum shows two wide bands with the peaks at about 254 nm and 265 nm by monitoring the strongest 362 nm emission, and the emission spectra is consisted of a broad band emission with their peaks near 362 nm with a half-width about 5 nm exciting with 265 nm wavelength.

In this paper, the mineral composition and main mineral morphology of bauxite were studied from ZhongXiang deposit, HuBei province. Through Electron Microscope Identification, there are two main rock types, oolitic, bean-like and aphanitic or fine crystalline structure of bauxite. The main mineral morphology is micro-crystalline or flake, crumby forms. The mineral and chemical compositions of samples were investigated by XRD, EPMA analysis tests. The EPMA results showed that Al2O3 content is 47.95% ~ 75.04%, in association with other isomorphous impurities, such as Si, Fe, Ti and Mg in varying proportions. The mineral compositions of bauxite ore are mainly aluminum, iron, silicon minerals, which totally account for from 83.01% to 86.40%. The XRD revealed that diaspore, hematite and kaolinite are the major mineral components in the bauxite ores. The bauxite from ZhongXiang deposits is a type of high diaspore bauxite, partly with clay minerals. Furthermore, the function of bauxite as a good fire-resistant material was discussed.

ZrO2 ceramics have been widely used to many fields with its excellent physical and chemical properties, but the mechanical properties of YSZ ceramics, especially the fracture toughness, decline caused by the failure of the phase transformation toughening at high temperature. In this investigation, plate-like LaMgAl11O19 toughened ZrO2 ceramics were prepared by pressureless sintering at 1550 °C for 3h in air . The bulk density of the sintered samples are between 5.5 to 6.0 g/cm3, and the relative density are above 93%. The mechanical properties of the ZrO2-LaMgAl11O19 ceramics were studied systematically at room temperature. The flexure strength and fracture toughness of ZrO2-LaMgAl11O19 ceramic are 811.8 MPa and 13.9 MPa•m½ with the LMA addition of 2wt%.

Ti(C,N) powder was prepared via carbothermal reduction nitridation (CRN) using rutile and carbon black as the raw material. The phase evolution and the reaction mechanism during the CRN synthesis of Ti(C,N) were investigated, and the effect of reaction temperature and C/TiO2molar ratio on the phase composition and x value in TiC1–xNxwas analyzed. The XRD and SEM results show that: Ti(C,N) powder was synthesized at 1500°C for 4h with the C/TiO2molar ratio of 2.2, under the nitrogen pressure of 0.2MPa. Irregular granular structure and the growth stripes were observed in the final products. The growth of Ti(C,N) grains in CRN process was followed by the gas-solid mechanism.The phase compositions of the products were quite dependent on the reaction temperature and the C/TiO2molar ratio. The TiN content in Ti(C,N) decreased with the increase of reaction temperature. TiC1–xNxpowder with different x values can be synthesized by optimizing the experiment conditions including the synthesis temperature and the C/TiO2molar ratio.

Fiber-like SiC had been synthesized using used silica bricks and carbon powder as raw materials by carbothermal reduction. A new kind of beaded SiC also had been found in the specimen. The result showed that well-crystallized β-SiC fibers began to appear at 1550 °C with excessive of 100 wt% content of carbon. While at 1600 °C for 6 h with excessive of 100 wt% content of carbon, the as-synthesized SiC fibers were grown with some beads in the fiber strings. The beaded SiC consisted of strings with diameters of less than 0.5 μm (or even 0.1μm) and periodic beads with diameters of 0.5-1.0 μm. Vapor-solid (VS) mechanism and vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) mechanism were also discussed in the synthesizing process of fiber-like SiC. This kind of fiber-like SiC may used as reinforce materials in ceramic composites, the fracture toughness of brittle ceramics can be effectively improved via the incorporation of strong SiC fibers into the matrix due to crack deflection, bridging and fiber pull-out. Moreover, these toughening mechanisms do not diminish as temperature increases.

Calcium hexaluminate (CA6) because of its high stability, high melting point and low thermal conductivity properties make it as a new high-temperature insulation materials are valued. In this paper, chemical analysis and XRD were used to investigate the composition of the white beach sand mineral from Perth coast of Western Australia. The main composition of it was carbonate. White beach sand as calcium source respectively, and industrial alumina as aluminum source synthesized CA6 at 1550°C-1650°C for 3h. The results showed that: synthetic CA6 shapes in platelet crystalline. Influence of different amounts of alumina and sintering temperature on synthesis of calcium hexaluminate are studied.The main phase of the samples with different amounts of alumina which decrease or increase 5%, 10% and 15% alumina around theory are CA6. The porosity of the samples obtained is about 53%. The bending strength of Sample S-0 of theoretical ratio values up to 7.73Mpa. Sintering temperature from 1500°C to 1650°C is not conductive to the improvement of apparent porosity of CA6 materials.

The erosion wear resistance of YSZ ceramics is worth studying because solid particle erosion is one of the main causes of destroying the materials and apparatuses. In this paper, 8YSZ ceramics reinforced by NiCr alloy and Al2O3 particles were pressureless sintered at an optimized sintering condition. The facture toughness reached a maximum value of 4.6 MPa•m 1/2 when the addition of NiCr alloy is 12 vol.%, which was much higher than that of the pure 8YSZ ceramic (2.0 MPa•m 1/2) fabricated in the same condition. Solid particle erosion wear behavior of NiCr-Al2O3-ZrO2 (8Y) ceramics composites was performed by self-designed sand blasting type solid particle erosion wear equipment, using 36# SiC particles as abrasive particles with the 90o erosion angle. The effect of the volume addition of NiCr alloy on the erosion wear of NiCr-Al2O3-ZrO2 (8Y) ceramic composites at room temperature was investigated. The results show that the volume erosion rate of the ceramic composites decreased as the volume addition of the NiCr alloy increasing. Crossing cracks, plastic deformation and minor chipping are the major erosion mechanisms.

In this paper, we focus on the phase behaviors of talc minerals by carbothermal reduction (CR) method. The effects of temperature and carbon addition are both discussed in our work. In the experiment, acid-leaching talc was employed as raw material, carbon coke powders were adopted as reducing agent. The XRD results show that: When acid-leaching talc was used as raw material, quartz and few enstatite can be obtained at 1300 °C, with the temperature increasing, the diffraction intensities of enstatite increased. At 1550 °C, enstatite transformed to magnesium silicate and obvious β-SiC can be detected. At 1600 °C, the main phases in the final product are magnesium silicate and β-SiC. The SEM results reveal that the preferred, as-fabricated silicon carbide has morphology of irregular shape. Relatively pure β-SiC can be obtained by using acid-leaching talc mixed together with excess 50% of theoretical quantity of carbon powder sintered at 1550 °C for 4 h.

CaAl12O19-Al2O3 composite ceramics were synthesized by in situ solid state reaction using CaCO3 and industrial α-Al2O3 powders. The effects of sintering temperature and ratio of CA6 (CaAl12O19) content on phases and microstructure of the final composite ceramics were studied by XRD and SEM. The result showed that sheet-like CA6 appeared in the materials when sintering temperature was higher than 1400°C and grew up with the increased of the sintering temperature. The optimum sintering temperature was 1600°C, when the sample containing 20wt% CA6 was sintered at 1600°C, the bulk density was 3.21g/cm3, the apparent porosity achieved 9.94% and the bending strength gained 149.88MPa. With the increasing of CA6 content in the final composite ceramics, the bulk density and the bending strength increased firstly and then decreased. The lowest apparent porosity 1.42%, a density of 3.60g/cm3 and the highest bending strength of 265.10MPa were achieved for the sample containing 10wt% CA6 sintered at 1600°C.

In this paper, Na0.54K0.42Li0.4NbO3 nano-powders were prepared by the sol-gel method, Na2CO3, K2CO3, Li2CO3and Nb2O5as raw materials, citric acid as coordination agent, ethylene glycol as esterifying agent, polyethylene glycol as dispersing agent. From the XRD, TG-DTA and TEM analysis, powders’ size, lattice constants and surface topography were studied. The results showed that under the condition of 600°C × 2h, nano-powders showed good dispersiveness and no reuniting, with pure orthorhombic perovskite structure and various grain sizes was 40.78 nm.

Solid particle erosion wear behavior of 3YSZ ceramics were performed by self-designed sand blasting type high-temperature solid particle erosion wear equipment, using 36#corundum as abrasive particles. 3YSZ ceramics were pressureless sintered in air atmosphere at 1500°C for 3h. The fracture toughness and Vickers hardness could achieve 10.3 MPa•m1/2and 12.8 GPa, respectively. The effect of temperature (25°C, 400°C, 600°C, 800°C, 1000°C) and the total weight of the abrasive particles (300g, 900g, 1800g) at room temperature on the erosion wear of 3YSZ ceramic were investigated. The volume erosion rate raised and developed a nonlinear dependence on the weight of corundum abrasive particles at room temperature. The slope of the curve decreased gradually. At elevated temperature, volume erosion rate increased as the temperature went up. Nonlinear fitting presents the relationship between the volume erosion rate of 3YSZ ceramics and the corresponding temperature. Plastic deformation is the major erosion mechanism at room temperature when the weight of corundum particles was 300g and 900g. Minor chipping instead of it when the temperature grew up to 400 and 600°C or the corundum particles was as much as 1800g at 25°C. When 3YSZ targets were eroded at 800°C and 1000°C, the material removal are mainly attributed to lateral cracks for an ideally brittle material. Crack propagation is the controlling factor of volume erosion rate.

Rutile and fly ash powders were nitridized at different temperatures for 4 h. The influence of temperature on phase composition of nitridation products from rutile and fly ash was studied. XRD, SEM and EDS analyses show that: the phase compositions of the products was quite dependent on the reaction temperature. Mullite, O'-Sialon and X-Sialon were formed from 1400 °C to 1450 °C. Rising temperature would get Mullite nitrided. Meanwhile, O'-Sialon and X-Sialon would be nitrided and transformed into β-Sialon. At temperatures above 1550 °C, the main phases of the products were hexagonal columnar β-Sialon and irregular TiC0.3N0.7 grains.

By using the industrial waste boron mud as raw material, graphite as reductant, coke particles as burying materials. During carbothermal reduction process, the Mg-Fe forsterite phase in boron mud row materials can transformed into forsterite and Fe2O3 at 1550°C and 1600°C for 3 h, and the Fe3C can be generated from the partial reduction of Fe2O3 with graphite, The main phase in samples calcined under 1650°C for 3 h contained forsterite, Fe2O3, Fe3C and β-SiC. The compound powder of Mg2SiO4 and β-SiC was prepared through the carbothermal reduction process. The effects of different graphite proportion (theoretical proportion, exceeding 10%, 50% and 100%) and firing temperature (1550°C, 1600°C and 1650°C) on the phase transformation and microstructure of the products were investigated by XRD, SEM and EDS. The results show that β-SiC powders were obtained at 1650°C for 3 h when graphite content was theoretical.

Phase behaviors of zircon at different temperatures via carbothermal reduction-nitridation were investigated in this study. By using zircon as raw material, with carbon coke as reducing agent, the influence of reaction temperatures (1450, 1500, 1550 and 1600 °C, respectively) on phase behaviors and microstructure of the products was characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The results shows that by carbothermal reduction-nitridation, the main phases in the final products of zircon are m-ZrO2, c-ZrO2, β-SiC, ZrN and β-Si3N4at different temperatures for 4 hours.

A WTi(C,N)-06 cemented carbide with TaC and NbC is studied as the research objective in this paper. The phase composition of the cemented carbide was analyzed by using XRD method, and the microstructure of the cemented carbide was studied and evaluated by using optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. According to the comparison with a general-grained cemented carbide, the addition of TaC and NbC can suppress the grain growth of WC crystal, and it is also good for improving mechanism performance. The average grain size of WTi(C,N)-06 cemented carbide is 2.1μm, density 12.9g/cm3, hardness 74HRC, and bending strength 2378MPa.

In this study we observed the phase behavior of silica brick used in the process of carbothermal reduction. At 1550°C, there are liner β-SiC in clumps huddled together; At 1550°C, short line clumps changed into filamentous, mixed together. There are many particles and some β-SiC lines and few filamentous β-SiC at 1600°C . Different ratio of carbon coke also effect the phase behavior. From the results we obtained SiC powders. SiC refractory powders were prepared via carbothermal reduction method using used silica bricks as raw materials. The effects of carbon content, temperature and holding time on the phase composition and microstructure were analyzed. XRD and SEM analyses show that: β-SiC refractory powders were synthesized at 1600°C for 6 h with100 wt% excessive of carbon content. With the increase of carbon content, the reaction temperature and holding time, content of β-SiC gradually increased while that of cristobalite decreased.

A new metal–Sialon based ceramic composite of FeMo–Sialon has been processed using Si3N4, α-Al2O3 and FeMo70 alloy powders as the main raw materials. To explain why this composite has excellent mechanical properties, microstructure characterizations are carried out using the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED). The results show that FeMo, FeSi2 and Mo have formed an alloy mixture of Mo–Fe–Si in the FeMo–Sialon ceramic composite. Elongated β-Sialon crystals, interlacing with each other, vary in size. The Y-SiAlON glass, as an inter-granular phase, surrounds the grain boundaries of β-Sialon crystals. Some of β-Sialon crystals are semi-surrounded by dumbbell-like Mo–Fe–Si particles. The good mechanical properties of FeMo–Sialon composite are greatly dependent on the elongated Sialon grains and Mo–Fe–Si particles with interlocking structures.

Nd-Sialon microcrystals with a novel orthogonal array morphology were developed by inducing catalysis of Fe for the first time, via a combination of vapor-liquid-solid (VLS) and vapor-solid (VS) growth mechanisms. The chemical composition of Nd-Sialon crystals was determined to be NdSi 5.4 Al 1.6 O 0.6 N 9.4 . The morphology of the tips strongly depended on the relative position of the liquid droplet to the crystal. Furthermore, the crystal growth process of Nd-Sialon microcrystals with the novel morphology was discussed. The Nd-Sialon single crystal shows UV-to-blue emission when it is excited by a wavelength of 325 nm. Nd-Sialon is envisioned to have potential in many functional applications, such as white LEDs, detector arrays, MEMS, and optical components. This work shines a light on the growth of Nd-Sialon single crystals for potential laser application.

In this paper, the effect of gel-calcination on piezoelectric property in (1-x) BiScO3-xPbTiO3 with the composition of x=0.635 is investigated. According to previous work, the heating rate of 200°C/h and holding for 210min having been taken as the basic processing condition. The BSPT powders were obtained from the same sol solution but calcined at different temperatures, and then the powders were used to prepare BSPT ceramics. The result shows that for the bulk ceramics with higher relative density ( higher than 95%), with the increasing calcining temperature of the gel (from 420°C to 500°C), the piezoelectric coefficient d33 of ceramic specimens first increases to maximum of 636pC/N at 450°C, then shows a fluctuation. In this work how the powder activity and the grain size affect (which was leaded by powder particle size) piezoelectric properties of BSPT ceramics are discussed.

Two MCrAlY overlay coatings (NiCrAlYSi and NiCoCrAlYHf) were deposited on a DS superalloy of Ni-Al-Cr-Co-W-Mo-Ta-Hf system by vacuum arc deposition method. The two coatings show a good protection for the DS superalloy during the isothermal oxidation test at 1150 for 100 h. A continuous alumina-based scale was formed at the surfaces of the coated specimens after oxidation. Y2O3, NiO and SiO2 are also detectable in the oxide scale. For the Hf-bearing coating, some HfO2 particles exist at the interface between the coating and the substrate. But after the cyclic thermal oxidation at 1100°C, the Hf-free coating exhibited better oxidation resisitance than the Hf-bearing coating. The HfO2 blocks between the coat and the substrate may be the crack initiation which leads to the failure of the coating.

Yttrium iron garnet (YIG) nanopowders were synthesized by sol-gel method using Fe(NO3)3·9H2O, Y(NO3)3·6H2O as raw materials. The influence of heat treatment, the citric acid to metal nitrates molar ratio (CA / MN) and PH value on the synthesized powders were investigated using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermal analyses (DTA/TGA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). YIG powders with average grain size of 80~90nm were synthesized after calcining at 1000°C for 4h.

Rod-like α-sialon was synthesized successfully using pure SiO2 and AlN as the starting materials, carbon black as reductant, CaF2 and Y2O3 as addition agent by carbothermal reduction-nitridation. The effects of reaction temperature (1450°C, 1500°C, 1600°C and 1700°C) and additive (Li2CO3, CaF2, Y2O3 and Y2O3+CaF2) on phases and microstructure of the final products were studied by XRD and SEM. The results showed that α-sialon was synthesized by carbothermal reduction-nitridation at 1700°C for 3 hours. The morphology of the synthesized α-sialon was rod-like.

Transformation of the microstructure of molybdenum disilicide heating unit in nitrogen atmosphere at 1700°C was investigated by XRD, SEM and EDS. The results showed that MoSi2 was transformed to polyhedral Si3N4 crystals groups distributed across in the matrix with irregular geometry Mo5Si3 and Mo3Si crystals, and the Si3N4 crystal groups were dense areas, while the Mo5Si3 and Mo3Si groups were loose areas after being heated in nitrogen atmosphere at 1700°C for 3h. The thickness of conversion zone of MoSi2 matrix was about 30μm and the loose Mo5Si3 and Mo3Si areas can damage the dense structure of MoSi2 matrix.

Single phase YIG powders were synthesized successfully using Fe2O3 and Y2O3 as starting materials by solid state reaction, and YIG ceramics were prepared by pressureless sintering. The influence of synthesizing temperature and Fe2O3 content on the final production were studied The effect of Fe2O3 content on volume density and microstructure of the sintered YIG was also investigated. The results showed that single phase YIG powders were synthesized by solid state reaction at 1400°C for 3h. When Fe2O3 content was excessive 3 wt%, YIG ceramics with a density of 5.294g·cm-3 was fabricated by sintering at 1480°C for 2.5h.

The phase transformation of Tangshan ironstone-tailings between 900°C ~1200°C in air was investigated by DTA-TG. XRD and SEM analyses indicated that the ironstone-tailings, sintered at 900° and 1000°C respectively, mainly were composed of α-quartz, anorthite [(Na0.45Ca0.55)(Al1.55Si2.45O8)], tremolite and a little of hematite. For the sample sintered at 1100°C, augite appeared and tremolite disappeared. Fayalite formed in the sample sintered at 1200°C. The two samples both exhibited contraction character in the range of experimental temperature.

N-doped TiO2 nanostructured composite (TiO2-N) films with excellent photocatalytic performance under visible light were successfully formed on glass and stainless steel substrates by spin-coating process. The photoreduction performance of as-prepared coatings was characterization by reduction of Ag+ and measurement of photovoltaic response. It was found that Ag+ can be easily reduced to metallic Ag and obvious photocurrent and photovoltage were observed by V-I recording under visible light irradiation. Crystalline structure, nitrogen states in the lattice, composition and surface morphology of the nanostructured films were analyzed by XRD, XPS and SEM.

Fe-SiAlON-MoSi2 composites were prepared using FeSi75, α-Al2O3, and MoSi2 powders as starting materials at 1400 oC, 1500 oC, 1600 oC and 1700 oC, respectively, for 3h in a flowing nitrogen under the pressure of 0.9MPa. The results showed that the main phases of Fe-SiAlON-MoSi2 composite were β-SiAlON with deferent Z-values, MoSi2, and Fe3Si. Z-value of the obtained β-SiAlON depanded on α-Al2O3 content and the sintering temperature. The morphology of SiAlON phase changed from fibre-like of low Z-value to hexagonal prism-like of high Z-value.

High pressure die casting is the most common method in making magnesium alloys for both auto parts and 3C products. Pressure variations in the mold during mold filling and solidification process have direct influences on the quality and properties of die castings. In this paper, a cylinder head cover was produced to experimentally study pressure variations in the mold during magnesium alloy die-casting process in real time for the first time. Pressure varies at different positions in the mold during die casting process. This study indicates that mold filling and solidification process of magnesium alloy die castings can be described by pressure curves obtained by pressure measurement at different test positions in the cavity in real time.

Well-aligned TiO2nanotube arrays were fabricated by anodizing Ti foil in viscous F−containing organic electrolytes, and the crystal structure and morphology of the TiO2nanotube array were characterized and analyzed by XRD, SEM, and TEM, respectively. The photocatalytic activity of the TiO2nanotube arrays was evaluated in the photocatalytic (PC) and photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye in different supporting solutions. The excellent performance of ca. 97% for color removal was reached after 90 min in the PEC process compared to that of PC process which indicates that a certain external potential bias favors the promotion of the electrode reaction rate on TiO2nanotube array when it is under illumination. In addition, it is found that PEC process conducted in supporting solutions with low pH and containing Cl−is also beneficial to accelerate the degradation rate of MB.

Ni/Al-Al2O3 gradient ceramic coating was prepared on Q235 steel by plasma spraying. Microstructure and corrosion behavior in boiling 5%HCl solution of the samples sprayed with this coating were investigated. The results showed that thickness of Al2O3 ceramic coating was increased greatly and almost no connected pores formed in the gradient coating due to the existent of Ni/Al-Al2O3 transition interlayer coatings. The corrosion resistance of Q235 steel with Ni/Al-Al2O3 gradient composite ceramic coating in boiling 5%HCl solution was greatly improved.

A new environment friendly method to synthesize sialon composites using fly ash with high content of Al2O3 by carbon-thermal reduction-nitridation was presented. The results showed that sintering temperature and the pressure of N2 gas are in favor of the nitrification synthesis of Sialon composites. When Samples wear buried in silicon powder and sintered at 1400°C under N2 atmosphere, Sialon (Si4Al2O2N6) had been synthesized.

The corrosion behavior of BF slag to sialon bonded corundum refractories using reaction nitriding technology at 1500°C was investigated by crucible test method. The results show that the reaction products of slag corrosion are anorthite, magnalium-spinel and glass phases. The corundum grains can react with MgO in the slag to produce magnalium-spinel, accompanying by expansion and liquating stepwise by slag. Erosion mechanism is oxidation-erosion-dissolving. This study is very necessary and useful to improve the property of BF slag resistance and to yield better overall properties of sialon bonded corundum refractories.