Discontinuous Dissolution of Iron Aluminate Spinel in the Al2O3–Fe2O3 System

When sintered 85Al₂O₃–15Fe₂O₃ (in wt%) specimens consisting of corundum grains and spinel particles were annealed at temperature where only a corundum phase was stable, phase transformation of spinel into metastable FeAIO₃ and subsequently complete dissolution of the metastable phase occurred together with the migration of grain boundaries at the surface of the specimens. Since the grain boundary migration was induced by grain boundary diffusion of Fe₂O₃ from the transforming and dissolving particles, the boundary migration by temperature decrease corresponds to a discontinuous dissolution of the spinel particles and a chemically induced grain boundary migration by temperature change. Inside the specimens, however, the transformation—dissolution and the grain boundary migration were suppressed because of unavailable accommodation of the volume expansion due to the transformation.     

Effect of Twin-Plane Reentrant Edge on the Coarsening Behavior of Barium Titanate Grains

When BaTiO₃ ceramics were sintered at relatively low temperatures (≤1250°C), the grains with reentrant edges caused by a (111) double twin grew exclusively. As a result, a microstructure with a bimodal grain-size distribution composed of platelike large grains and fine matrix grains was obtained. In contrast, at the usual sintering temperature between 1250° and 1350°C, grains containing a (111) double twin did not exhibit any growth advantage. In this case, a coarse and uniform microstructure was obtained. When this coarse-grained specimen was further heat-treated at 1365°C, the grains possessing a double twin were observed to grow exclusively again. The results were explained in terms of a coarsening process controlled by two-dimensional nucleation.     

Abnormal Grain Growth of Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-35 mol% PbTiO3 Ceramics Induced by the Penetration Twin

Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃-35 mol% PbTiO₃ (PMN-35PT) specimens with a 5 mol% excess PbO were prepared by excessive heat treatment at 1150°C to induce abnormal grain growth. Through electron backscatter diffraction analysis and the observation of a three-dimensional morphology, the abnormally grown PMN-35PT grains were found to be twinned crystals with penetration characteristics. The morphology of the PMN-35PT twinned crystal was crystallographically analyzed. The abnormal grain growth of PMN-35PT is suggested to be due to preferential growth at the reentrant angles formed by twins.     

Adhesives formulated with chemically modified okara and phenol–resorcinol–formaldehyde for bonding fancy veneer onto high-density fiberboard

With an abrupt increase of petrochemical prices and the critical environmental issue related to the volatile organic compounds emitted from the adhesive resins, the development of environmentally friendly new adhesive systems is common issue. In our study, the okara, which is a residue from the production of tofu, was introduced to develop competitive bio-based adhesives for the production of fancy-veneered floor boards. Okara (AC and AK) was hydrolyzed with 1% sulfuric acid solution and 1% sodium hydroxide solution. Phenol–resorcinol–formaldehyde (PRF) prepolymer was prepared as a crosslinker of AC and AK. Adhesive resins were formulated with AC, AK and PRF prepolymer. The adhesive resins were used to fabricate floor boards composed of oak veneers onto high-density fiberboard. The experimental variables were three weight ratio of AC/AK to PRF (45/45/10, 40/40/20 and 35/35/30), three assembly time (0, 10 and 20 min), and two press time (90 and 120 s), respectively. The fancy-veneered high-density fiberboards were prepared and subject to testing of the dry tensile strength, glueline failure by wetting and formaldehyde emission. Dry tensile strengths of the boards exceeded the requirement of KS standard. The formaldehyde emissions were satisfied with the limitation specified in KS standard. Based on these results, okara has a potential to be used as a renewable raw material of environmentally friendly adhesive resin systems for production of floor boards, but further researches, such as biological hydrolysis of okara and various formulations of PRF prepolymer, are required to improve the adhesive strength and to reduce formaldehyde emission of okara-based adhesive resins.     

A CMOS burst-mode optical transmitter for 1.25-Gb/s ethernet PON applications

This brief presents a CMOS burst-mode optical transmitter suitable for use in 1.25-Gb/s Ethernet passive optical network applications. Based on feedback from the monitoring photodiode, in order to control consecutive burst data the proposed transmitter in this brief uses a reset mechanism, which allows fast responses from the beginning of a high-speed input burst. The chip is fabricated in mixed-mode 0.18-/spl mu/m CMOS technology and measurements are implemented in a chip-on-board configuration using a pig-tailed type Fabry-Perot laser. Under burst-mode operation of 1.25-Gb/s pseudorandom binary sequences, measurements show about 1-dBm averaged transmitted optical power with an over 12-dB extinction ratio over a wide temperature range.     

Loosening mechanism of threaded fastener for complex structures

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - Threaded fasteners are widely used in mechanical structures primarily owing to their easy disassembly for maintenance and low cost. However, the...     

High-performance IoT streaming data prediction system using Spark: a case study of air pollution

Neural Computing and Applications - Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices are becoming prevalent, and some of them, such as sensors, generate continuous time-series data, i.e., streaming data. These IoT...     

Discontinuous Dissolution and Grain-Boundary Migration in Al2O3-Fe2O3 by Oxygen Partial Pressure Change

When sintered 95Al₂O₃-5Fe₂O₃ (wt%) specimens constituting corundum grains and iron aluminate spinel precipitates were annealed under high oxygen partial pressure (P_o2) where only a corundum phase is stable, fast dissolution of particulate spinel precipitates occurred, together with the migration of corundum grain boundaries. Behind the migrating boundaries, a corundum solid solution enriched with Fe₂O₃ formed. Discontinuous dissolution (DD) of particulate spinel precipitates thus occurred by P_o2 increase. In contrast, when 95Al₂O₃-5Fe₂O₃ specimens constituting only corundum grains were annealed under low P_o2 where both corundum and spinel phases are stable, grain boundaries migrated without spinel precipitation, leaving behind a corundum phase depleted of Fe₂O₃, similar to chemically induced grain-boundary migration (CIGM) observed during solute depletion. The volatilization of Fe₂O₃ appeared to cause the boundary migration without precipitation. The observed CIGM and DD would suggest various possibilities of microstructure control in other oxide systems through oxygen partial pressure change.     

Effect of Li2O and PbO Additions on Abnormal Grain Growth in the Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–35 mol% PbTiO3 System

Abnormal grain growth in Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃–35 mol% PbTiO₃ (PMN-35PT) ceramics doped with Li₂O and PbO has been investigated. Replacing the PbO dopant with up to 2 mol% Li₂O caused an increase in the number of abnormal grains. For the composition containing 2 mol% Li₂O and 6 mol% PbO, the amount of abnormal grain growth decreased with increasing sintering temperature. Single crystals of ∼6 mm × 6 mm × 2 mm thickness were grown from the 2 mol% Li₂O, 6 mol% PbO-containing composition via the templated grain growth method. Grain growth behavior with temperature is explained in terms of the effect of Li₂O on interface-reaction-controlled grain growth and the critical driving force.     

Electromechanical Properties of PMN–PZT Piezoelectric Single Crystals Near Morphotropic Phase Boundary Compositions

Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃–PbZrO₃–PbTiO₃ (PMN–PZT) ferroelectric single crystals near morphotropic phase boundary compositions were fabricated by solid-state crystal growth. The Curie temperatures ( T _C) of the grown PMN–PZT crystals were found to be on the order of 210°C, with ferroelectric phase transition temperatures ( T _{R – T} ) in the range of 96°–165°C. The electromechanical coupling factors k ₃₃ and k ₃₂ were found to be >90% and >−87%, respectively. The coercive field E _C for all the compositions was on the order of 5 kV/cm, double the value of pure Pb(Mg_1/3Nb_2/3)O₃–PbTiO₃ (PMNT) crystals. The temperature dependence of the piezoelectric and electromechanical properties and dc bias effect on the dielectric behavior were investigated. The temperature usage range under dc bias was found to be improved when compared with pure PMNT crystals with similar piezoelectric properties.