Oxygen vacancy levels on gadolinia-doped ceria interlayer deposited by atmospheric pressure plasma jet for solid oxide fuel cells

The oxygen vacancy levels as a factor on different gadolinia-doped ceria interlayer (GDCi) films deposited on yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte substrates by an atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) via precursor solution of nitrate salts are investigated. Focusing on the effect of carrier gases, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Raman, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) are implemented for the materials characterization of the as-deposited GDCi films and sintered-GDCi films at various temperatures. The higher level of oxygen vacancies in GDCi films adhered on 8YSZ electrolyte are evidently analyzed using Ar as the carrier gas during the deposition, of which the interdiffusion resulted in the formation of (GDC + YSZ) solid solution for sintering over 1300?°C degraded the total conductivity. The deposition of GDCi films on 8YSZ by APPJ method using O₂ carrier gas significantly improved the total conductivities of the whole electrolyte layers. Moreover, this study provides the useful insight into the oxygen vacancy levels on GDC films as interlayer (GDCi) to improve the values of open circuit voltage in LSM/GDCi/YSZ/Pt full-cell, as well as offering the efficiency of APPJ as one step deposition process.     

Effect of titanium diboride on the homogeneity of boron carbide ceramic by flash spark plasma sintering

A novel method, namely flash spark plasma sintering (FSPS), combining flash sintering and electric field assisted sintering, was utilized to densify boron carbide/titanium diboride (B₄C/TiB₂) composites. Further, sintering homogeneity of the composites with different contents of TiB₂ was systematically investigated and theoretical model was built. Results indicated that addition of 50?wt% TiB2 led to the densification of B₄C/TiB₂ composite by up to 97.7% with regional range 1.9% at 1872?°C under pressure of 4?MPa in 60?s. The preferential pathway of TiB₂ network proves to disperse the central current and distribute thermal flow throughout the specimen possibly via tunneling, electronic field emission effect at first stage and lower-resistance composite pathway latter, contributing to the increased homogeneity.     

HA/β-TCP plasma sprayed coatings on Ti substrate for biomedical applications

The present work focuses on the fabrication of βTCP (β-tricalcium phosphate) and HA/βTCP (hydroxyapatite/β-tricalcium phosphate) composite coatings by plasma spraying. The starting powders were produced via solid-state method using 2 wt% MgO to stabilize βTCP phase. The synthesized powders were preliminarily granulated to be used by the plasma spray process. Coatings obtained on titanium substrates are uniform and well adherent but due to the high temperature and cooling rate typical for plasma spraying process, βTCP phase is almost totally transformed into the α allotrope. Thermal treatment at 800 °C allows the reconversion of the phase αTCP→ βTCP. It is therefore possible to produce coatings with tuneable dissolution properties by selecting the proper initial powder mixture and the specific thermal treatment.     

The effect of Al2O3-MgO additives on the microstructure of spark plasma sintered silicon nitride

It was shown that spark plasma sintered silicon nitride with a high content of Al₂O₃ and MgO consists of α and β silicon nitride, the main phase being α silicon nitride. The increase in the sintering temperature did not lead to significant changes in the phase composition as occurs in silicon nitride added with Al₂O₃-Y₂O₃. It was found that increasing in SPS temperature above 1650 °C leads to an insignificant increase in the density. A complex shaped equiaxed grain microstructure was shown in both cases. However, doping with aluminum and yttrium oxides allows obtaining an elongated grain microstructure. The Hall-Petch effect was observed for the microhardness of the investigated SPSed silicon nitride. The microhardness of the described ceramics was rather high and more than 1900 HV compared to the pressureless sintered at 1800 °C silicon nitride with the microhardness equal to 1511 HV.     

Effect of C/Ti ratio on densification,microstructure and mechanical properties of TiCx prepared by reactive spark plasma sintering

Titanium carbide (TiC) has been widely used as reinforcement in metal matrix composites and is known to exist over a wide range of stoichiometry. In this study, the effect of C/Ti ratio on the densification kinetics, grain size, lattice parameter, hardness and elastic modulus of TiC_x prepared by reactive spark plasma sintering (RSPS) is presented. Commercial purity titanium was ball milled with 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, 15 and 17.5 wt% carbon black powder for 5 h and subjected to RSPS to prepare TiC_x samples with different C/Ti ratio. Dense TiC_x samples with ‘x′ ranging from 0.34 to 0.78 could be prepared by RSPS at 1400 °C. Increasing C/Ti ratio was found to increase the activation energy thereby reducing the rate of sintering and also resulted in finer grain size. The lattice parameter and the ratio of intensities of (200) to (111) peaks were correlated with the C/Ti ratio. The hardness and elastic modulus were shown to increase significantly with increase in C/Ti ratio.     

Effects of skim milk concentrate dry matter and spray drying air temperature on formation of capsules with varying particle size and the survival microbial cultures in a microcapsule matrix

The impact of total solid (TS) content in combination with the feed rate and air inlet temperature on the survival of Lactobacillus paracasei ssp. paracasei F19 after spray drying in a skim milk matrix has been investigated and correlated with the capsule size. Depending on the experimental conditions, the survival rates ranged from 64 to 0.2%. The higher the air inlet temperature, the lower was the survival rate and an inversely correlation between the TS content and particle size has been determined. These results clearly indicate that process stress analyses and product-related characteristics must not be regarded separately.     

Microstructural,mechanical and tribological properties of suspension plasma sprayed YSZ/h-BN composite coating

Brittleness, relative high friction coefficient and wear rate limit the applications of ceramic coatings as wear-resistant layers. However, because embedding additives with ceramic matrix has demonstrated to be an effective way to improve coating performances, different contents and size of h-BN were added into an YSZ suspension. Afterwards, the YSZ/h-BN composite coatings were manufactured by suspension plasma spray and their tribological analysis indicated that: i) the reduction of the friction coefficient and wear rate can be achieved by incorporating h-BN into YSZ coating. ii) finer h-BN particle is more helpful to enhance the tribological properties of the coating. iii) the optimum content is dependent on h-BN particle sizes. iv) when the contents and the size of the h-BN inclusion increase, the probability distribution of the micro-hardness can become bi-modal. Three worn surface conditions were summarized and their wear mechanisms were discussed as well.     

New anti-ablation candidate for carbon/carbon composites: Preparation,composition and ablation behavior of Y2Hf2O7 coating under an oxyacetylene torch

Y₂Hf₂O₇ possesses low thermal conductivity and high melting point, which make it promising for a new anti-ablation material. For evaluating the thermal stability and the potential applications of Y₂Hf₂O₇ on anti-ablation protection of C/C composites, Y₂Hf₂O₇ ceramic powder was synthesized by solution combustion method and Y₂Hf₂O₇ coating was prepared on the surface of SiC coated C/C composites using SAPS. Results shown that the coating exhibits good ablation resistance under the heat flux of 2.4?MW/m² with the linear and mass ablation rates are 0.16?μm?s^?1 and ?0.028?mg?s^?1, respectively, after ablation for 40?s. With the prolonging of the ablation time, the increasing thermal stress causes the increase of cracks. Moreover, the chemical erosion from SiO₂ and the physical volatilization of low temperature molten products aggravate failure of the Y₂Hf₂O₇ coating.     

Induction plasma spheroidization of ZrB2-SiC powders for plasma-spray coating

To improve the microstructure and properties of ZrB₂-SiC (ZrB₂-30?vol%SiC, Z7S3) coatings, a facile synthesis route involving induction plasma spheroidization (IPS) has been proposed, and the morphologies, particle size distributions, and phase compositions of the feedstock powders were analysed by scanning electron microscopy and focused ion beam techniques. The obtained results showed that the surfaces of the produced powders contained eutectic-like and granular zones. Owing to the existence of a temperature gradient, the internal microstructure of the IPS-treated powder exhibited a three-layered structure consisting of a ′surface shell′, a ′transition layer′, and a ′porous core′. Additionally, the properties of the IPS-treated samples were compared with those of the spray-dried (SD) powders. The former exhibited good plastic deformation properties, and their single splats contained flattened structures, while the single splats of the SD powder melted only partially retaining some of their original characteristics.     

快速灵敏的LC-MS/MS法测定人血浆中阿莫西林并应用于两种制剂的一致性评价

目的: 建立快速灵敏的LC-MS/MS法测定人血浆中阿莫西林浓度，并用于两种阿莫西林胶囊的一致性评价。方法: 采用岛津公司LCMS-8060型LC-MS/MS仪，以MRM模式测定阿莫西林（m/z 366.00/114.00）的浓度，d4-阿莫西林作内标（m/z 370.10/114.05），离子源为ESI源。色谱柱选用Waters ACQUITY BEH C18（2.1×50 mm，1.7 μm），梯度洗脱。血浆样本加入内标，经甲醇沉淀蛋白后取上清液进样检测。结果: 所建方法经验证，其线性、准确度、精密度、最低定量限、提取回收率、特异性、基质效应、稳定性等各项指标均符合CFDA的指导原则及最新核查标准要求，并较文献报道中的方法有处理简单、灵敏度高、色谱峰形好的优点。结论: 所建方法快速、灵敏，适用于人血浆中阿莫西林浓度的检测。用于一致性评价的样本实测，两种制剂生物等效。