Effect of surface treatment on segregation of impurities in haematite

Surface segregation of various impurities such as Mg, Si, Ca, Al and Cr were determined for the haematite phase (Fe₂O₃) annealed in two different gas compositions involving (1) air at 1173 K, and (2) a gas mixture containing sulphur at 773 K. The objective of work was to establish the effect of the gas-phase composition on segregation of lattice defects. The near-surface segregation profiles of the impurities were determined by secondary ion mass spectrometry. The depth profile analysis was made by sputtering using an Ar⁺ primary beam of energy 30 keV. The surface charge was neutralized by an electron gun. It was found that annealing Fe₂O₃ under a gas phase containing sulphur resulted in the formation of an Fe(SO₄)₃ surface layer. It was observed that the two surface treatment procedures applied (both with and without sulphur) result in Mg enrichment in the near-surface region of Fe₂O₃. Si and Ca exhibit an enrichment and impoverishment after the surface treatments 1 and 2, respectively. Finally, the near-surface layer is impoverished in Cr and Al after both types of surface treatment. Experimental results are discussed in terms of segregation driving forces of the respective elements and the possible effect of sulphur on the gas-solid heterogeneous kinetics.     

Order Distance Estimation in Porous Glasses via Transformed Correlation Function of Small-Angle Scattering

A mesoporous two-phase system, consisting of colloidal silica in the cavities of the main silica frame work of a macroporous glass, was investigated by use of Small-Angle X-ray scattering. The transformed correlation function _T(r) was determined for this material for distances r<40 nm. The application of the intrinsic properties of _T(r) yields estimations for two fundamental order distances L ₁=11 nm and L ₂=120 nm of the~porous glass possessing a clear geometric interpretation: L ₁, a short-order-range, is the mean chord length of the mesopores plus the mean chord length in the secondary particles. L ₂, a long-order-range, is an estimation of the mean diameter of a macropore plus the mean free distance in the silica framework which separates two nearly parallel segments of two adjacent macropores.     

Quality assessment for a visual and automatic license plate recognition

Video transmission and analysis is often utilized in applications outside of the entertainment sector, and generally speaking this class of video is used to perform specific tasks. Examples of these applications include security and public safety. The Quality of Experience (QoE) concept for video content used for entertainment differs significantly from the QoE of surveillance video used for recognition tasks. This is because, in the latter case, the subjective satisfaction of the user depends on achieving a given functionality. Recognizing the growing importance of video in delivering a range of public safety services, we focused on developing critical quality thresholds in license plate recognition tasks based on videos streamed in constrained networking conditions. Since the number of surveillance cameras is still growing it is obvious that automatic systems will be used to do the tasks. Therefore, the presented research includes also analysis of automatic recognition algorithms.     

Determination of porosity of reduced hematite by stereologic methods

The stereologic analysis of a solid grain has been applied for determination of its porosity. The investigations were carried out on a natural hematite grain reduced to magnetite at 723 K. Stereologic analysis enabled the porosity of this material to be determined on the basis of independently measured grain contours and volume fractions of grain components: hematite, magnetite and pores. A conformity criterion has been formulated, regarding determination of grain volume on the basis of known densities of components and their measured volume fractions in the grain, and on the basis of weight and apparent grain density measurements. The volume increase accompanying reduction of hematite to magnetite, determined from these independent measurements, was in the range 7–19%. By measuring Ferets diameter, the volume of the convex envelope of the grain increased as a result of phase transformation by about 11%. Simultaneously, the volume of the solid phase was found to decrease by 1.5%. The total porosity of the reduced grain, determined by stereologic analysis amounted to 17.5%; 7.7% of which was related to cracks and large pores, and 9.8% to small pores in the magnetite phase. The porosity value determined by the classical mercury method was approximately the same.     

Verification of schedulability for real-time programs

Assume that a real-time programP ^T consisting of a number of parallel processes is executed on a system having a setPr of processors which are shared between the processes by a real-time schedulerS ^T. Assume that P^T must meet some timing deadlines. We show that such an implementation ofP ^T can be represented as a transformationL(P ^T) and that the deadlines ofP ^T will be met if they are satisfied by the timing properties of the transformed program. The condition for feasibility of a real-time program executed under a scheduler is formalized and rules are provided for verification. The schedulerS ^T can be specifiedgenerically and applied to different programs, making it unnecessary to introduce low-level operations such as scheduling primitives into the programming language. Thus real-time program specification and Schedulability can be considered in the same framework and the timing properties of a program can be determined at the specification level. By separating the specification of the scheduler from that of the program, the feasibility of an implementation can be proved by considering a scheduling policy rather than its implementation details.     

Polyurethane-POSS hybrids: Molecular dynamics studies

A series of hybrid polyurethane-POSS materials have been synthesized on the basis of poly(tetramethylene glycol) (Terathane 1400^®) as soft component, 4,4′-methylenebis(phenylisocyanate) (MDI) as hard component, and 1,4-butanediol as chain extender. POSS particles properly modified have been tethered on the main chain by substitution of the chain extender to weight fractions up to 10%. AFM measurements indicate the formation of POSS crystallites in the PU matrix, extended structures at low POSS content and more regular, smaller structures at higher POSS content. A detailed investigation of molecular mobility by means of Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Thermally Stimulated Depolarization Currents (TSDC) and, mainly, Broadband Dielectric Relaxation Spectroscopy (DRS) has been conducted in all samples of the series and in addition in neat Terathane, as reference. Four relaxations have been studied in detail: two secondary relaxations γ and β, the segmental α relaxation (dynamic glass transition) and an α′ relaxation slower than α associated with crystallinity in neat Terathane and with the presence of hard microdomains in the polyurethane and the hybrids. Secondary relaxations remain unaffected by POSS. The glass transition temperature rises by a few degrees and, in consistency with that, segmental dynamics slightly slows down with increasing POSS content. In addition, the dielectric strength of the segmental relaxation decreases with increasing POSS content, suggesting that a fraction of polymer is immobilized, making no contribution to the relaxation. These results are discussed in relation to morphology.     

The effect of particle size and volume fraction on the aging behavior of a liquid-phase sintered SiC/aluminum composite

The aging response of a SiC particulate reinforced powder metallurgy aluminum composite was examined as a function of particle size and volume fraction. The addition of SiC particles ranging in size from 24 to 142μm at 9 vol pct had no effect on the aging kinetics of the composites. Acceleration of the aging behavior or inhibition of the initial stage of the age-hardening process was observed at 18 and 27 vol pct. The accelerated aging kinetics were consistent with smaller particles creating larger thermal misfit dislocation densities. In addition, it was shown that different combinations of ceramic particle size and volume fraction lead to similar effects on the aging behavior. Loss of the initial hardening response was attributed to the suppression of Guinier-Preston (GP) zone formation due to the annihilation of excess vacancies at the thermal misfit dislocations. Formerly Graduate Student, Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Michigan Technological University     

L cell virus: infectivity for type N and B mouse embryo cells

The efficiency of focus formation of four L cell virus populations was significantly higher on type N mouse embryo fibroblast cultures than on type B cells. [5-3H]uridine-incorporating material sedimenting at a density of 1.158/g/cm3 was observed in the supernatant fluids of type N and B cultures infected with the four viral populations.     

Beneficial effects of nitrogen atomization on an austenitic stainless steel

Fully dense nitrogenated austenitic stainless steels were produced by gas atomization and HIP consolidation. The base alloy, 304L, contained about 0.15 wt pct nitrogen when melted under a nitrogen atmosphere, and a modified version of 304L with 23 wt pct Cr contained 0.21 wt pct nitrogen. A series of experiments using various combinations of N₂ and Ar as the melt chamber backfill gas and atomizing gas demonstrated that the nitrogen content of the powder was largely controlled by the backfill gas and that the fraction of hollow particles was determined by the atomization gas. The hollow powder particles, which are common in inert-gas atomized materials, were virtually eliminated in the nitrogen atomized powders. Additional atomizing experiments using copper and a nickel-base superalloy indicate that low gas solubility in the metal leads to gas entrapment. Hardness and compression behavior (yield strength and flow stress) are substantially improved with the addition of nitrogen. The results of this study suggest that the properties of nitrogenated stainless steels fabricated in this manner are comparable to other high nitrogen austenitic alloys. G.M. JANOWSKI, formerly NRC/NIST Postdoctoral Research Associate, National Institute of Standards and Technology.