Effect of Fe – substitution on phase transformation,optical, electrical and dielectrical properties of BaTiO<Subscript>3</Subscript> nanoceramics synthesized by sol-gel auto combustion method

The structural, microstructural, optical, electrical and dielectrical properties of nanocrystalline Fe substituted BaTiO₃ synthesized by sol-gel auto combustion have been investigated. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis revealed the existence of the tetragonal phase for lower Fe content (x = 0.0–0.3) whereas, coexistence of the tetragonal and hexagonal structure of higher Fe content (x = 0.4 and 0.5). The lattice constant (a and c) and unit cell volume (V) increases with increase in Fe content; and an average crystallite size (t) was recorded in the range of ~14–20 nm. The surface morphology as examined using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and the compositional stoichiometry was confirmed by energy dispersive spectrum (EDS) analysis. The UV-Vis spectra showed that the band gap energy sensitively depends on the Fe concentration x. DC-electrical conductivity (σ) was recorded in the temperature range of 333–714 K which was found to be increases with increasing temperature and Fe concentration; indicating that an electrical conduction was a thermally activated process. The type of temperature dependent DC conductivity indicates that the electrical conduction in the material is a thermally activated process. The dependencies of the conductivity contributions were predicted from the simple defect model presented, in which oxygen vacancies charge compensate Fe substitution of Ti. Dielectrical property was measured as a function of frequency in the range 50 Hz - 5 MHz at room temperature which was found to be higher at lower frequencies. Dielectric constant (ε’) and loss tangent (tan δ) shows strong compositional as well as frequency dependences.     

Production of granola breakfast cereal by fluidised bed granulation

In the fluidised bed granulation process the effect of nozzle air pressure and binder spray rate on key aggregate quality attributes were studied. The experimental results show that a decrease in nozzle air pressure leads to larger mean granule size. The combination of lowest nozzle air pressure and lowest binder spray rate results in granules with the highest levels of hardness and crispness. The combination of low nozzle air pressure and low binder spray rate results in the least distribution span. Granola hardness was affected by nozzle air pressure. Nozzle air pressure and binder spray rate did not have significant effect on crispness.     

Electrospinning of linear homopolymers of poly(methyl methacrylate): exploring relationships between fiber formation, viscosity, molecular weight and concentration in a good solvent

A series of seven linear homopolymers of poly(methylmethacrylate) ranging from 12,470 to 365,700 g/mol M_w, were utilized to further explore scaling relationships between viscosity and concentration in a good solvent at 25 °C and to investigate the impact of these relationships on fiber formation during electrospinning. For each of the polymers investigated, chain dimensions (hydrodynamic radius and radius of gyration) were measured by dynamic light scattering to determine the critical chain overlap concentration, c^*. The experimentally determined c^*, was found to be in good agreement with the theoretically determined value that was calculated by the criteria c^*∼1/[η], where the intrinsic viscosity was estimated from the Mark-Houwink parameters, K and a (at 25 °C in dimethyl formamide) obtained from the literature. The plot of the zero shear viscosity vs. c/c^* distinctly separated into different solution regimes, viz. dilute (c/c^*<1), semidilute unentangled (1<c/c^*<3) and semidilute entangled (c/c^*>3). The crossover between semidilute unentangled and semidilute entangled regimes in the present investigation occurred at c/c^*∼3, which, therefore, marked the onset of the critical chain entanglement concentration, c_e, according to the procedure utilized by Colby and co-workers [Colby RH, Rubinstein M, Daoud M. J de Phys II 1994;4(8):1299-310. [52]]. Electrospinning of all solutions was carried out at identical conditions to ascertain the effects of solution concentration, molecular weight, molecular weight distribution and viscosity on fiber formation and morphological features of the electrospun material. Only polymer droplets were observed to form from electrospinning of solutions in the dilute concentration regime due to insufficient chain overlap. As the concentration was increased, droplets and beaded fibers were observed in the semidilute unentangled regime; and beaded as well as uniform fibers were observed in the semidilute entangled regime. Uniform fiber formation was observed at c/c^*∼6 for all the narrow MWD polymers (M_w of 12,470-205,800 g/mol) but for the relatively broad MWD polymers (M_w of 34,070 and 95,800 g/mol), uniform fibers were not formed until higher concentrations, c/c^*∼10, were utilized. Dependence of fiber diameter on concentration and viscosity was also determined, viz. fiber dia∼(c/c^*)^3.1 and respectively. These scaling relationships were in general agreement with that observed by Mckee et al. [McKee MG, Wilkes GL, Colby RH, Long TE. Macromolecules 2004;37(5):1760-67. [33]].     

Low-Temperature Sintering of La(Ca)CrO3 Powder Prepared through the Combustion Process

Ultrafine La(Ca)CrO₃ (LCC) powder was prepared through the glycine–nitrate gel combustion process. It was shown for the first time that the use of relatively inexpensive CrO₃ as a starting material for chromium has potential for the bulk preparation of sinter-active LCC powder. As-prepared powder, when calcined at 700°C, resulted in LCC along with a small amount of CaCrO₄. The calcined powder was found to be composed of soft agglomerates with a particle size of ≈70–290 nm. The cold pressing and sintering of the calcined powder at 1200°C resulted in the mono-phasic La_0.7Ca_0.3CrO₃ with density ≈98% of its theoretical value. This is the lowest sintering temperature ever reported for La_0.7Ca_0.3CrO₃. The conductivity of the sintered La_0.7Ca_0.3CrO₃ at 1000°C was found to be ≈57 S/cm in air. The sintering and electrical behavior achieved for La_0.7Ca_0.3CrO₃ may find application as an interconnect material for high-temperature solid oxide fuel cells if problems with chemical expansion and poor conductivity in fuel can be overcome.     

Process Variation Study of SELBOX Inverted- T Junctionless FinFET for High-Performance Applications

This work investigates the performance of the inverted-T (IT) junctionless (JL) FinFET with selective buried oxide (SELBOX) topology. The electrical charac     

Stochastic analysis of nonlinear vehicle systems using a generalized harmonic linearization technique

The discrete harmonic linearization method which is applicable to stochastic systems could not provide an equivalent stiffness coefficient for a nonlinear restoring element. In this paper, this technique is generalized to obtain linear representations of both nonlinear restoring and damping elements, based on a principle of energy similarity of dynamic elements. A numerical iterative procedure is presented to compute the local linear coefficients of nonlinear dynamic elements. A nonlinear system is then represented by a set of its complex frequency response function matrices, as functions of the excitation frequency. Stochastic analysis of general multi-DOF nonlinear vehicle systems is established in terms of response PSD characteristics.