Effects of rare earth on inclusions and corrosion resistance of 10PCuRE weathering steel

The types,morphologies and distributions of nonmetallic inclusions in Cu-P weathering steels with and without rare earth were analyzed through a quantitative image analyzer,scanning electron microscopy(SEM)and energy dispersive spectroscopy(EDS)attached to SEM.Solid-soluble content of rare earth in the steels was analyzed by non-aqua electroanalysis and ICP.The results showed that rare earth modified the types and the morphologies of inclusions in the weathering steels.The small spherical rare earth oxysulfides and rare earth sulphides replaced the elongated MnS inclusions in the RE weathering steels.The rare earth inclusions dispersedly distributed and most inclusions were smaller than 2 μm in size.The optimum content of RE was 0.0065%-0.016% for 10PCuRE weathering steels containing about0.002% oxygen and 0.004% sulfur.Solid-soluble content of rare earth in steels was(14-20)x 10-6,which can act as a micro-alloying element.The corrosion resistance of 10PCuRE weathering steels and Q235 were studied by dry-wet cyclic immersion test.Their corrosion rates were obtained respectively.The polarization curves and pitting corrosion behaviors of weathering steels with and without rare earth were measured by electrochemical methods.The corrosion resistance of Cu-P weathering steels was improved by adding an appropriate amount of rare earth.Less and fewer rare earth inclusions largely decreased pitting susceptibility and rate of pit propagation.The pitting potential and the resistance against pitting corrosion of the RE weathering steel were significantly improved due to the modification of rare earth to inclusions.     

Lanthanide NIR luminescence for telecommunications, bioanalyses and solar energy conversion

Present-day advanced technologies heavily rely on the exciting magnetic and spectroscopic properties of lanthanide ions. In particular, their ability to generate well-characterized and intense near-infrared (NIR) luminescence is exploited in any modern fiber-optic telecommunication network. In this feature article, we first summarize the whereabouts underlying the design of highly luminescent NIR molecular edifices and materials. We then focus on describing the main trends in three applications related to this spectral range: telecommunications, biosciences, and solar energy conversion. In telecommunications, efforts concentrate presently on getting easily processable polymer-based waveguide amplifiers. Upconversion nanophosphors emitting in the visible after NIR excitation are now ubiquitous in many bioanalyses while their application to bio-imaging is still in its early stages; however, highly sensitive NIR-NIR systems start to be at hand for both in vitro and in vivo imaging, as well as dual probes combining magnetic resonance and optical imaging. Finally, both silicon-based and dye-sensitized solar cells benefit from the downconversion and upconversion capabilities of lanthanide ions to harvest UV and NIR solar light and to boost the overall quantum efficiency of these next-generation devices.     

Thermal and radiative characteristics of oxyfluoride glass singly doped with lanthanide ions

Rare earths-doped oxyfluoride glasses based on germanium oxide and lead fluoride were prepared from commercial raw materials. The glasses with general composition of 50GeO2-(50-x-y)PbO-yPbF2-xLnF3 (Ln=Pr3+-Yb3+), contained different concentrations of optically active dopants (x=0.2 mol.% and 2 mol.%) and PbF2 (y≤15 mol.%). The differential thermal analysis (DTA) was used to determine both thermal characteristic and thermal stability properties of the glasses in the function of the kind of dopant, its concentration, and a glass composition. Characteristic glass temperatures such as glass transition temperature (Tg), glass crystallization temperature (Tc) and temperature corresponding to the maximum of the crystallization rate (Tpc) were evaluated. On the basis of obtained results, the thermal stabilities of glasses under study were evaluated using various thermal stability criteria (Dietzel factor ?T, Saad-Poulain factors H' and S). It was found that the increase in rare earth fluoride contents influenced thermal characteristics when the characteristic temperatures of the individual glass was shifted towards higher values. The effect of the PbF2 content and the kind of rare earth impurity on the glass stability was observed. Absorption spectra of lanthanide-doped glasses were measured at room temperature and used to determine the phenomenological intensity parameters Ωt and next, to estimate radiative properties of lanthanide ions in this matrix. Radiative transition probabilities of luminescent states of Ln3+, branching ratios and radiative lifetimes were determined. The variation of the Ωt along the lanthanide series was presented and discussed.     

Evaluation of D113 cation exchange resin for the removal of Eu(Ⅲ) from aqueous solution

Batch adsorption experiments were conducted for the adsorption of Eu(Ⅲ) ions from aqueous solution by D113 resin. The results indicated that D113 resin could adsorb Eu(Ⅲ) ion effectively from aqueous solution. The adsorption was strongly dependent on pH of the medium with enhanced adsorption as the pH turned from 3.50 to 7.00 and the optimal adsorption condition was in HAc-NaAc medium with pH value of 6.50. The maximum uptake capacity of Eu(Ⅲ) ions was 290.9 mg/g D113 at 298 K, at an initial pH value of 6.50. The overall adsorption process was best described by Lagergren-first-order kinetics. When Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms were tested, the latter had a better fit with the experimental data. The thermodynamic parameters such as free energy (G) which were all negative, indicated that the adsorption of Eu(Ⅲ) ions onto D113 resin was spontaneous and the positive value of enthalpy (H) showed that the adsorption was endothermic in nature. Thomas model was applied to experimental column data to determine the characteristic parameters of column useful for process design. Furthermore, Eu(Ⅲ) could be eluted by using 3.0 mol/L HCl solution and the D113 resin could be regenerated and reused.     

Phase structure and temperature dependent luminescence properties of Sr2LiSiO4F: Eu2+ and Sr2MgSi2O7: Eu2+ phosphors

Green-emitting Sr2LiSiO4F:Eu2+ and blue-emitting Sr2MgSi2O7:Eu2+ phosphors were synthesized by the conventional high temperature solid-state route,respectively.Their structures and photoluminescenee properties were comparatively investigated.It was found that the mixture phases of Sr2MgSi2O7 and SrF2 were obtained when a part of Sr2+ in Sr2LiSiO4F was replaced by some amount of Mg2+ in order to design the possible SrMgLiSiO4F:Eu2+ phosphor.Based on the photoluminescence analysis,Sr2LiSiO4F:Eu2+ phosphor exhibited a green broad emission band of main peak at 513 nm under the excitation of 365 nm,while the Sr2MgSi2O7:Eu2+ and SrMgLiSiO4F:Eu2+ phosphor showed blue emission centered at 467 nm.The temperature dependent photoluminescence properties and room temperature decay time for the three kinds of phosphors were also discussed in this paper.     

Er3+-substituted W-type barium ferrite: preparation and electromagnetic properties

Er3+-substituted W-type barium ferrites Ba1-xErx(Zn0.3Co0.7)2Fe16O27(x=0.00,0.05,0.10,0.15,0.20)were synthesized by polymer adsorbent combustion method.Samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis(XRD),X-ray fluorescence(XRF),scanning electron microscopy(SEM)and network analyzer to investigate the relationships among Er3+concentration,crystal structure,surface mcrphology and electromagnetic properties.All the XRD patterns showed pure phase of W-type barium ferrite when x≤0.15,while the impurity phase of ErFeO3 appeared when x=0.20.The pure W-type barium ferrite showed a hexagonal flake shape.In addition,the microwave electromagnetic properties of samples were analyzed in the frequency range of 2-18 GHz.It was indicated that the electromagnetic properties were significantly improved when Er3+doping content was 0.10.The reasons were also discussed using electromagnetic theory.The optimized ferrite exhibited excellent microwave absoption performance.The maximum of reflection loss(RL)reached about-27.4 dB and RL was below-10dB at the frequency range from 8.4 GHz to 18 GHz,when the thickness was 2.6 mm.     

EXAFS investigation and luminescent properties of nanosized Tb: Lu2O3 phosphors

Nanosized terbium doped Lu2O3 phosphors were synthesized via a modified co-precipitation processing.The as-prepared Tb:Lu2O3 phosphors was consisted of well crystallized nanosized sphere particles with a diameter of about 30 nnx Local structure of Tb ions in Lu2O3 lattice was investigated by an analytical approach based on Fourier transformation of the extended X-ray absorption fine structure(EXAFS) data.X-ray near edge structure (XANES) spectra suggested that all Tb ions doped were tervalonce.EXAFS results indicated that Tb ions have entered the Lu2O3 cubic lattice by means of solid solution.The coordination number and first shell Tb-O distance dropped with the increasing of Tb concentration.Emission spectra of the phosphors was shown to be typical for Tb3+ with main components at 542,550 and 490 nm,derived from irradiative relaxation of 5D4 level.The emission intensity decreased severely with the increasing of Tb concentration from 1 mol.% to 15 tool.%,suggesting a significant concentration quenching above 1 mol.% Tb.The reduction of emission intensity was interpreted by higher distortion derived relaxation among the surface state resident Tb3+ ions.     

Multi-Pass Simulation of Heavy Plate Rolling Including Intermediate Forced Cooling

Thermomechanical Controlled Processing (TMCP) including accelerated cooling after the final hot rolling pass is a well-established technology,widely applied in HSLA steel plate production.However,there are still certain limitations,especially for thicker plate.The rolling schedule includes a long holding period (HP) after the roughing stage to allow the temperature to fall sufficiently for optimised TMCP during finishing.Intermediate Forced Cooling (IFC) applied during the HP can increase productivity by decreasing the required hold time,can restrict austenite grain growth,and can also improve the subsequent strain penetration in thick plate with further metallurgical benefits.Multi-pass plane strain compression (PSC) tests have been performed on the thermomechanical compression (TMC) machine at Sheffield University including different severities of IFC.Clearly it is impossible to simulate all aspects of the temperature and strain gradients present in thick plates in laboratory specimens,and most of the tests were conducted at temperatures and strains calculated by Finite Element modelling as relevant to specific positions through the plate thickness.However,some aspects of the gradients were addressed with tests using cold platens.The results have indeed shown that IFC can shorten the HP and reduce austenite grain growth and its variation across thick plate.     

Process optimization of electroless copper plating and its influence on electrochemical properties of AB5-type hydrogen storage alloy

The amount of Cu coating by chemical plating was investigated based on quadratic regression orthogonal experimental design being adapted to the variation law of temperature,pH value and Ni2+concentration,and the relevant regression equation was expressed as y=2.1609+0.5295×10-3T2-0.0342P2-0.0265N2+0.0023TP+0.0020TH+0.0199PN-0.0959T+0.3814P-0.2073N.The results showed that the deposition rate augmented with the increasing in temperature,pH value and Ni2+concentration.The experimental parameters of the optimal coating were temperature 75 ℃,pH value 8.5 and Ni2+concentration 1.2 g/L.The electrochemical tests indicated that the cycle stability increased from 60.66% to 75.58%,indicating that the treated alloy exhibited better corrosion resistance.     

Overview of Particles and Bubbles in Continuously Cast Steel

This paper gives an overview of phenomena associated with particles and bubbles in continuously cast steel. During steel processing from deoxidation to solidification the inclusion population undergoes changes with opportunities of removal. Flotation is an important separation mechanism. Inclusion particles may accumulate in the solidifying strand, thus forming enriched bands, which depend on the type of casting machine. Bubbles are created during inert gas injection. They also change in size, can float out, but also form accumulation bands. The interaction of bubbles and particles is discussed. Internal structure that recently has been observed on the inner surface of bubbles will be reviewed.