Iranian Journal of Materials science and Engineering
Volume:11 Issue: 3, Sep 2014

The synthesis of mesoporous CuFe2O4 spinel by several nanocasting strategies (i.e., multi-step nanocasting, one step nanocasting, modified solid-liquid), in which copper and iron nitrates are used as precursors and Pluronic P123 as surfactant, is explored. We have also checked the effect of pH, citric acid and sodium citrate in multi-step nanocasting method. The modified solid-liquid method which contains impregnating mesoporous silica by molten state salts in a non-ionic solvent seems to be the best choice to obtain single phase ordered mesoporous copper ferrite. Other methods suffer from the presence of copper oxide or hematite as impurities or lack of integrity in the mesoporous structure. Increasing pH up to 9.5 does not enhance the phase formation inside the pores of the silica matrix. The citric acid yields a fine structure but does not facilitate the phase formation. Adding sodium citrate neither heals the phase formation nor the structure of the final product. Moreover, vinyl- functionalized mesoporous silica exploited in this study as a hard template entraps both metal nitrates in the pores, assisting impregnation procedure

This study is focused on the effects of electroslag remelting by prefused slag (CaO, Al2O3, and CaF2) on macrostructure and reduction of inclusions in the medical grad of 316LC (316LVM) stainless steel. Results showed that in order to obtain uniform ingot structures during electroslag remelting, the shape and depth of the molten pool should be carefully controlled. High melting rates lead to deeper pool depths and interior radial solidification characteristics. Furthermore, decrease in the melting rate caused more reduction of non-metallic inclusions. In practice, large shrinkage cavities formed during the conventional casting process in the primary ingots were the cause of the fluctuation in the melting rate, pool depth and extension of equiaxal crystals zone

Ni-P Electroless coatings provide appropriate resistance to wear and corrosion. Co-deposition of particles between layers can improve their properties, especially general corrosion and erosion-corrosion behavior by means of nano diamond as reinforcing particles. In this study Ni-P/nano diamond composite deposition were deposited on steel substrate. Structure of the coatings and corrosion resistance of theme were investigated by scanning electron microscopy and corrosion tests in salty media. The composite structure of the deposit was evaluated as nano size without using any surfactants. Also results for the composite coating show better corrosion protection and higher hardness comparing with as -deposited Ni-P. The optimum concentration of diamond nanometer particles were found by evaluation of scanning electron microscopy pictures, hardness measurement, linear polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results

In the present research, to form niobium carbide coating on the surface of AISI L2 steel Thermo-Reactive Deposition method (TRD) in a molten bath was used. Niobium carbide coating treatment was carried out at 1173 K, 1273 K, and 1373 K for 2, 4, and 8 hours. The molten bath contained 20wt.% borax (Na2B4O7), 5 wt.% boric acid (B2O3), and 75 wt.% ferro-niobium. The presence and properties of the coated layer were studied by means of Optical Microscopy (OM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis. The thickness of coating ranged between 6.6 µm to 33µm depending on treatment time, and temperature. The effects of treatment time and temperature on the coating thickness were studied. Kinetic study of the formation of NbC coating showed that growth of the coating is under the control of diffusion. The activation energy of the process was estimated to be 122 kJ/mol. A practical formula to estimate the coating thickness was suggested.

Well crystallized pure calcium zirconate (CaZrO3) nanopowder was successfully synthesized using the molten-salt method. CaCl2, Na 2CO3, micro-ZrO 2and nano-ZrO 2 were used as starting materials. On heating, Na2CO3 reacted with CaCl 2to form NaCl and CaCO 3. Nano CaZrO 3 was formed by reacting equimolar amounts of in situformed CaCO 3 (or CaO) and ZrO 2 in molten Na 2CO3-NaCl eutectic mixture. CaZrO 3 particle size and synthesis temparture was tailored as a function of ZrO 2particle size. Due to the usage of nano-ZrO 2, the molten salt synthesis (MSS) temperature was decreased and possible impurity phases in the final product were suppressed. The synthesis temperature was lowered to 800°C and soaking time of the optimal synthesis condition was reduced to 3h. After washing with hot-distilled water, the n-ZrO2sample heated at 800°C for 3h, was single phase CaZrO 3with 70-90 nm in particle size, while the m-ZrO 2sample heated at 1000°C for 3h, was single phase CaZrO 3 with 250-400 nm in particle size. Based on the TEM observation and thermodynamic analysis, the synthesized CaZrO 3 grains retained the morphology of the ZrO2 nanopowders, which indicated that a template formation mechanism play a dominant role in synthesis process

The effect of aging time and temperature on the microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti-13V-11Cr-3Al and Ti-13V-11Cr-3Al-0.2C was studied. The carbon addition increases the rate of age hardening as well as the peak hardness of aged samples. The presence of titanium carbides in Ti-13V-11Cr-3Al-0.2C limits grain growth during the process. The observations in this work are discussed in terms of the effect of the microstructural changes in quenched and aged samples associated with the presence of carbide precipitates

In the present paper, the influence of cobalt additive on the sintering/infiltration behavior of W-Cu composite was studied. For this purpose, the mixed powders of tungsten and cobalt were compacted by CIP method and then sintered at 1450, 1550 and 1600 °C in a hydrogen atmosphere. The sintered specimens at 1550 °C were subsequently infiltrated with liquid copper at 1250 °C for 10, 60 and 120 min. The microstructure and composition of samples were evaluated using SEM, EDS as well as XRD techniques. The density of the sintered samples was measured by Archimedes method. Vickers indentation test was used to measurement hardness. It was found that sintering mechanism of tungsten powder depends on temperature and cobalt additive content. Also, the best infiltration behavior was observed in the samples with optimum cobalt value. In addition, it was found that the W-W contiguity as well as dihedral angle decreases as cobalt increases. Density and hardness of infiltrated specimens are attained 16.28-16.79 g.cm-3 and 220-251 VHN, respectively.

Silver nanoparticles are being given considerable attention because of their interesting properties and potential applications. One such exploitable use is as the major constituent of conductive inks and pastes used for printing various electronic components. This paper presents a novel direct-writing process for fabrication of the first deposited silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) (50-200nm) electrode via a thermal inkjet printer. In this method, AgNPs were chemically deposited by ejection of ascorbic acid and silver nitrate solutions onto different substrates such as paper and textile fabrics. Silver deposited patterns were used as electrodes in different electrochemical experiments and their morphology was also investigated in SEM observations. The highest conductivity of deposited electrodes obtained on paper as the substrate was found to be around 5.54x105 S/m. Inkjet fabricated electrodes exhibited acceptable electrochemical behavior in experiments designed for measuring the concentration of hydrogen peroxide as a fundamental procedure for early determination of glucose. This novel inkjet silver deposition technique is introduced to be considered as a promising method for ultimate single step fabrication of different electrochemical bio-sensors.

The rapidly solidified prealloyed alpha brass powder with a size range of 40 to 100 μm produced by water atomization process was consolidated using liquid phase sintering process. The relationships between sintering temperature, physic-mechanical properties and microstructural characteristics were investigated. Maximum densification was obtained at 930 °C, under 600 MPa compacting pressure, with 60 min holding time. The microstructure of the sintered brass was influenced by dezincification and structural coarsening during supersolidus liquid phase sintering. As a consequence of Kirkendall effect atomic motion between Cu and Zn atoms caused to dezincification at the grain boundaries and formation of ZnO particles on the pore surfaces. It was concluded that microstructural analysis is in a well agreement with obtained physical and mechanical properties. Also, the amount of liquid phase, which depends on sintering temperature, results in different load bearing cross section areas, and it affects the type of fracture morphologies.

In order to improve the corrosion resistance of aluminosilicate refractories by molten aluminum, alkaline fluoride NaF and cryolite Na3AlF6 powders were studied. Both physical and chemical properties are known to influence wetting and corrosion behavior. This paper devoted to determine the influence of alkaline fluoride and cryolite added to andalusite based castable on the reaction with aluminum alloys. These additives led to the in-situ formation of celsian phases within the refractory matrix that led to improved corrosion resistance at 1300°C. Phase analysis revealed that celsian formation suppressed the formation of mullite within refractories, thereby reducing Penetration