Tribological behavior of graphene reinforced chemically bonded ceramic coatings

To investigate tribological behavior of graphene reinforced chemically bonded ceramic coatings at different temperatures, tribological tests at room temperature, 200 °C and 500 °C were carried out. Results show that the fracture toughness and the hardness of the coating are improved with the introduction of graphene. Besides, the friction coefficient of the coating decreases with the addition of graphene at the room temperature and 200 °C. The coating without graphene achieves the similar friction coefficient at all temperatures. However, the coating with graphene achieves the lowest friction coefficient at 200 °C, and achieves the highest at 500 °C. In addition, the wear rate of the coating decreases with the increase of graphene. Besides, the wear rate at 200 °C is almost similar with that at room temperature. In contrast, the wear rate at 500 °C is much larger than those at room temperature and 200 °C. The mechanisms for graphene to decrease the friction coefficient and improve the wear resistance of chemically bonded ceramic coatings at evaluated temperatures are clarified.     

Nanostructured titanium nitride for highly sensitive localized surface plasmon resonance biosensing

Titanium nitride (TiN) as an alternative plasmonic ceramic material with superb properties including high hardness, outstanding corrosion resistance and excellent biocompatibility, has exhibited great potential for optical biochemical sensing applications. By sputtering about 35 nm–50 nm TiN on glass (f-TiN), the surface was found to provide sensing capability toward NaCl solution through the phenomenon of surface plasmon resonance. When the TiN film of about 27 nm–50 nm in thickness was sputtered onto a roughened glass surface (R–TiN), the sensing capability was improved. This was further improved when holes at nanoscale were created in the TiN film of about 19 nm–27 nm in thickness (NH–TiN). The roughened surface and nanohole patterns provided confinement of surface plasmons and significantly improved the sensitivity toward the local refractive index changes. In detail, the calculated refractive index resolution (RIR) of the optimal NH–TiN sensors for NaCl was found to be 9.5 × 10⁻⁸ refractive index unit (RIU), which had outperformed the f-TiN and R–TiN sensors. For biosensing, the optimized NH–TiN sensor was found to be capable to detect both small and large biomolecules, i.e. biotin (molecular weight of 244.3 g/mol) and human IgG (160,000 g/mol), in a label-free manner. Especially, the NH–TiN sensor significantly improved sensitivity in detecting small molecules due to the localized plasmonic confinement of electromagnetic field. Combining with the excellent mechanical and durability properties of TiN, the proposed NH–TiN can be a strong candidate for plasmonic biosensing applications.     

Mechanical,forming and biological properties of Ti-Fe-Zr-Y alloys prepared by 3D printing

Biomedical Ti-Fe-Zr-Y alloys were prepared by 3D printing on pure titanium substrate. The influences of Zr on mechanical, forming, and biological properties of the alloys were investigated in detail. The results showed that with increasing the Zr addition, the surface roughness, friction coefficient and worn volume decrease at first and then increase, the lowest values obtained at 5.86 at.% Zr addition. The ultimate compression stress and specific strength gradually decrease. The studied alloys have no cytotoxicity. They can promote the early adhesion and proliferation of cells. The eutectic alloy with 5.86 at.% Zr addition has the best ability of apatite deposition, it exhibits a better comprehensive performance among the studied alloys, which is superior to the Ti_70.5Fe_29.5 and Ti-6Al-4 V alloys.     

Influence of cerium content on the corrosion behavior of Al-Co-Ce amorphous alloys in 0.6 M NaCl solution

The effect of cerium content on the corrosion behavior of Al-Co-Ce amorphous alloys in 0.6 M NaCl solution was investigated by cyclic polarization, Mott-Schottky and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy techniques. Results indicated that the open circuit potential of Al-Co-Ce amorphous alloys displayed a decreased tendency with the increase in Ce content, and the amorphous alloy with 4 at.% Ce presented both the lowest passive current density and donor density indicating the best corrosion resistance, while adding excess Ce led to the reduced corrosion resistance of Al-Co-Ce alloys. Furthermore, it was found that a low Ce content is beneficial to the formation of a more protective passive film on Al-Co-Ce amorphous alloys, and the corrosion inhibition reactions of Al-Co-Ce alloys in 0.6 M NaCl solution were changed with the increase in Ce content and the detailed reasons were discussed.     

Surfactant-assisted preparation of fluoride-substituted hydroxyapatite nanorods

Fluoride-substituted hydroxyapatite (FHAp) nanorods have been successfully prepared by adding Tween80. As compared to the spheroidal morphology without any surfactant, the FHAp nanorods prepared with Tween80 were elongated along the c-axis. The reason was attributable to the enlarged difference between the growth rates of crystal surfaces due to the adsorption of Tween80. The effects of the pH value on the apatite formation were investigated by calculating the solubility isotherms of the Ca²⁺–PO₄³⁻–F⁻–H₂O system in conjunction with experimental results, and it was found that acidic solutions were unfavorable to FHAp preparation and the proper pH should be controlled at about 9 when preparing the FHAp nanorods with the addition of Tween80.     

Performance tests of a new non-invasive sensor unit and ultrasound electronics

Industrial applications involving pulsed ultrasound instrumentation require complete non-invasive setups due to high temperatures, pressures and possible abrasive fluids. Recently, new pulser-receiver electronics and a new sensor unit were developed by Flow-Viz. The complete sensor unit setup enables non-invasive Doppler measurements through high grade stainless steel. In this work a non-invasive sensor unit developed for one inch pipes (22.5 mm ID) and two inch pipes (48.4 mm ID) were evaluated. Performance tests were conducted using a Doppler string phantom setup and the Doppler velocity results were compared to the moving string target velocities. Eight different positions along the pipe internal diameter (22.5 mm) were investigated and at each position six speeds (0.1–0.6 m/s) were tested. Error differences ranged from 0.18 to 7.8% for the tested velocity range. The average accuracy of Doppler measurements for the 22.5 mm sensor unit decreased slightly from 1.3 to 2.3% across the ultrasound beam axis. Eleven positions were tested along the diameter of the 48.4 mm pipe (eight positions covered the pipe radius) and five speeds were tested (0.2–0.6 m/s). The average accuracy of Doppler measurements for the 48.4 mm sensor unit was between 2.4 and 5.9%, with the lowest accuracy at the point furthest away from the sensor unit. Error differences varied between 0.07 and 11.85% for the tested velocity range, where mostly overestimated velocities were recorded. This systematic error explains the higher average error difference percentage when comparing the 48.4 mm (2.4–5.9%) and 22.5 mm (1.3–2.3%) sensor unit performance. The overall performance of the combined Flow-Viz system (electronics, software, sensor) was excellent as similar or higher errors were typically reported in the medical field. This study has for the first time validated non-invasive Doppler measurements through high grade stainless steel pipes by using an advanced string phantom setup.     

First-principles study of structural,mechanical, and thermodynamic properties of cubic Y2O3 under high pressure

The structural, mechanical, and thermodynamic properties of cubic Y₂O₃ crystals at different hydrostatic pressures and temperatures are systematically investigated based on density functional theory within the generalized gradient approximation. The calculated ground state properties, such as equilibrium lattice parameter a₀, the bulk modulus B₀, and its pressure derivative B₀′ are in favorable agreement with the experimental and available theoretical values. The pressure dependence of a/a₀ and V/V₀ are also investigated. Furthermore, the elastic constants C_ij, bulk modulus B, shear modulus G, Young's modulus E, the ductile or brittle (B/G), Vickers hardness H_v, isotropic wave velocities and sound velocities are calculated in detail in a pressure range from 0 to 14 GPa. It was found that the Debye temperature decreases monotonically with an increase in pressure, the calculated elastic anisotropic factors indicate that Y₂O₃ has low anisotropy at zero pressure, and that its elastic anisotropy increases as the pressure increases. Finally, the thermodynamic properties of Y₂O₃, such as the dependence of the heat capacities C_V and C_P, the thermal expansion coefficient α, the isothermal bulk modulus, and the Grüneisen parameter γ on temperature and pressure, are discussed from 0 to 2000 K and from 0 to 14 GPa, respectively, applying the non-empirical Debye model in the quasi-harmonic approximation.     

Going from green to white color electroluminescence through a nanoscale complex of Zinc (II)

In this paper, we report application of four novel Nano Zinc (II) complexes as the emitter dyes in organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). The Nano Zinc (II) complexes emission, particularly its absorption, fluorescence spectra and quantum yield, tuned by varying sizes which affects environments of the Zinc (II) ion. OLED Devices with Nano Zinc (II) complexes were fabricated, giving rise to devices with peak emission ranging from 498 to 541 nm. Here, we have successfully employed sonoelectrochemical method for fabricating white OLEDs. The white emission ascribed to the exciton emission in Nano Zinc (II) complex emitter and from exciplex formation at the interface of PVK/Nano Zinc (II) complex. The experimental results demonstrate that this approach is ideal for color tuning of single and multilayer conducting semiconducting thin films used in the fabrication of organic electronic devices such as OLEDs.     

Investigation of electrochemical corrosion behavior in a 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution of boronized dual-phase steel

In this study, corrosion behaviors of boronized and non-boronized dual-phase steel were investigated with Tafel extrapolation and linear polarization methods in a 3.5 wt.% NaCl solution. Microstructure analyses show that the boride layer on the dual-phase steel surface had a flat and saw smooth morphology. It was detected by X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis that the boride layer contained FeB and Fe₂B phases. The amount of martensite increases with an increase in the intercritical annealing temperature. Both the amount of martensite and the morphology of the phase constituents have an influence on the corrosion behavior of dual-phase steel. A higher corrosion tendency was observed with an increased amount of martensite. The corrosion resistance of boronized dual-phase steel is higher compared with that of dual-phase steel.     

Fabrication and microstructure of porous SiC ceramics with Al2O3 and CeO2 as sintering additives

In the present study, porous silicon carbide ceramics were prepared via spark plasma sintering at relatively low temperatures using Al₂O₃ and CeO₂ as sintering additives. Sacrificial template was selected as the pore forming mechanism, and gelcasting was used to fix the slurry in a short time. The evolution process of the microstructures during different steps was observed by SEM. The influence of the sintering temperature and sintering additives on the shrinkage and porosity of the samples was studied. The microstructures of different samples were characterized, and the mechanical properties were also evaluated.