ESR Refining Potential for Titanium Alloys using a CaF2‐based Active Slag

Since the end of the Cold War and due to the needs to produce titanium more cost‐efficient and thus more attractive for its civilian use, the electroslag remelting (ESR) process has become an increasingly important topic of international research programmes, because titanium and titanium aluminides can be chemically refined by ESR in some degree. Using ESR, titanium turnings from machining steps and scrap from foundries can be remelted, refined and provided as secondary titanium for the market at relatively favourable prices. This article investigates the removability of the main impurities out of titanium and titanium‐aluminium alloys by electroslag remelting using the active slag system CaF₂‐Ca‐(CaO). Thermochemical and kinetic aspects of the ESR process are considered.     

Increasing the Complexity of Magnetic Core/Shell Structured Nanocomposites for Biological Applications

This Review article ponders core/shell structured nanoparticles that can be prepared with features that combine properties of different materials, including ligands that enhance their biocompatibility. These nanocomposites are not classified in terms of synthesis, but rather by how these features are distributed in the final morphology, attending to connected or isolated materials that end up in interacting or not‐interacting functionalities. In particular, we have focused on magnetic core/shell‐structured particles with a directly connected, coupled, or isolated second functionality. The current progress on methods in colloidal solution that have allowed the great development of these multifunctional magnetic and active spheres on biological and biomedical fields is reported.     

Optical and electrical characterization of fluorine doped cadmium oxide thin films prepared by the sol-gel method

Highly transparent and conducting fluorine (F) doped cadmium oxide (CdO) thin films were deposited on glass slides by the sol-gel method. The films were doped by the addition of ammonium fluoride to the precursor solution whose optimum concentration was determined. The films were fired in an open atmosphere at 350 °C and after that, exposed to annealing treatments in different atmospheres (N₂, N₂/H₂ mixture and Ar) at the same temperature. The films were characterized by ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The resistivity was determined by the four probes method and current-voltage measurements in accordance with the standard Van der Pauw configuration. The CdO:F thin films obtained, showed high polycrystalline quality and high transmission in the visible region (≥ 90%), shifting towards the blue region of the absorption edge as the fluorine concentration in the precursor solution was increased from 0 to 30 at.%. The lowest resistivity values were reached for the samples with F content higher or equal to 5% and annealed in either N₂ or a 96/4 N₂/H₂ gas mixture. Our resistivity value reached in the CdO:F layers was 4.5 × 10^{− 4} Ω cm (20 Ω/square).