Molten salt synthesis of MAX phases in the Ti-Al-C system

The molten salt method was used to synthesise the MAX phase compounds Ti₂AlC and Ti₃AlC₂ from elemental powders. Between 900–1000?°C, Ti₂AlC was formed alongside ancillary phases TiC and TiAl, which decreased in abundance with increasing synthesis temperature. Changing the stoichiometry and increasing the synthesis temperature to 1300?°C resulted in formation of Ti₃AlC₂ alongside Ti₂AlC and TiC. The type of salt flux used had little effect on the product formation. The reaction pathway for Ti₂AlC was determined to be the initial formation of TiC_1-x templating on the graphite and titanium aluminides.     

Effect of an increase in the nitrogen content of the working gas on the microstructure of reactive sputtered TiN thin films

TiN films were deposited on (100)-Si substrates by RF-reactive sputtering. The effects of processing parameters and substrate orientation on the stoichiometry, resistivity and microstructure of reactively sputtered TiN thin films were investigated. The RF-power was fixed at 50 W, and the nitrogen content in the working gas was adjusted so that target nitridation occurred at a relatively low nitrogen content, 2.6% N₂, in a fixed total flow rate of gases of 46.25 standard cubic centimetres (sccm). The N₂ percentage was varied from 2.6% to 15.4%. The films were continuous and 200 nm thick. Films deposited with the substrate facing the target exhibited 111-texturing, while films on substrates lying in the same plane of the target surface had 100-texturing. Both X-rays photoelectron spectroscopy and high-resolution detailed scans of the Auger electron energy spectrum were used for the stoichiometry determination. On the 100-textured TiN films, the N/Ti ratio was 1.0 at low N₂ flow rates; the N/Ti ratio rapidly increased with N₂ flow rate, and then levelled off. The films had resistivities ranging from 85 to 1340 µ cm, and the functional dependence of both N/Ti and the resistivity values behaved similarly with increasing N₂. X-ray single-line profile analysis of the 200-reflection indicated that the average crystallite size decreased and the average strain increased with increasing nitrogen content in the working gas. The Si/TiN structures were heat treated in the temperature range from 300 to 600°C in a quartz tube under 1 atm (10⁵Pa) of flowing high purity Ar gas. Heat treatment at 300°C did not affect the TiN film integrity, while treatment at 400–600°C resulted in void-type defects.     

Dielectric Properties of the "Twinned" 8H-Hexagonal Perovskite Ba8Nb4Ti3O24

The dielectric properties of dense ceramics of the "twinned" 8H-hexagonal perovskite Ba₈Nb₄Ti₃O₂₄ are reported. Single-phase powders were obtained from the mixed-oxide route at 1325°C and ceramics (>92% of the theoretical X-ray density) by sintering in air or flowing O₂ at 1400°–1450°C. The ceramics are dc insulators with a band gap >3.4 eV that resonate at microwave frequencies with relative permittivity, ɛ_r∼44–48, quality factor, Q × f _r∼21 000–23 500 GHz (at f _r∼5.5 GHz) and temperature coefficient of resonant frequency, TC _f,∼+115 ppm/K.     

Synthesis,structure, and characterization of the thorium zirconolite CaZr1-xThxTi2O7 system

A series of zirconolite ceramics with composition CaZr_1-xTh_xTi₂O₇ (Δx = 0.10) were reactively sintered at 1350°C for 20 h, in air (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.60) and 5% H₂/N₂ (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.40). A sample with composition corresponding to x = 0.20 was also produced by hot isostatic pressing (HIP) at 1300°C and 100 MPa for 4 hours. Th⁴⁺ immobilization was most readily achieved under oxidizing conditions, with Th⁴⁺ preferentially incorporated within a pyrochlore-structured phase in the range 0.10 ≤ x ≤ 0.50, yet formation of the zirconolite-4M polytype was not observed. We report the novel synthesis of single-phase pyrochlore with nominal composition CaZr_0.40Th_0.60Ti₂O₇ when targeting x = 0.60. Th⁴⁺ incorporation under reducing conditions produced a secondary Th-bearing perovskite, comprising 24.2 ± 0.6 wt% of the phase assemblage when targeting x = 0.40, alongside 8.8 ± 0.3 wt% undigested ThO₂. Under reducing conditions, powder XRD data were consistent with zirconolite adopting the 3T polytype structure. The sample produced by HIP presented a nonequilibrium phase assemblage, yielding a major phase of zirconolite-2M alongside accessory Th⁴⁺-bearing phases ThTi₂O₆, ThO₂, and perovskite. These data highlight the efficacy of Th⁴⁺ as a Pu⁴⁺ surrogate, with implications for the formation of Zr-stabilized Th-pyrochlore phases as matrices for waste with elevated Th⁴⁺ content.     

The association between price of regular-grade gasoline and injury and mortality rates among occupants involved in motorcycle- and automobile-related motor vehicle collisions

Motorcyclists have been reported to be more likely to die in a motor vehicle collision (MVC) than automobile occupants. With the recent increase in the pump price of gasoline, it has been reported that people are switching to motorcycles as main modes of transportation. This study evaluated the association between motor vehicle collision-related injury and mortality rates and increases in gasoline prices for occupants of automobiles and riders of motorcycles.There were an estimated 1,270,512 motorcycle MVC and 238,390,853 automobile MVC involved occupants in the U.S. from 1992 to 2007. Higher gasoline prices were associated with increased motorcycle-related injuries and deaths; however, this association no longer remained after accounting for changes in the number of registered vehicles.The current study observed that, while the number of injuries and fatalities in motorcycle-related MVCs increase with increasing gasoline price, rates remained largely unchanged. This suggests that the observed increase in motorcycle-related injuries and fatalities with increasing gasoline price is more a factor of the number of motorcycles on the road rather than operator characteristics.     

Cray/Blitz—1984 chess champion

The chess program “Cray Blitz” is the current World Computer Chess Champion and North American Computer Chess Champion (ACM). The program has also played in human chess tournaments and is a chess master. At speed chess, where its ability to perform very accurate analysis is particularly important, it has maintained a performance rating of over 2600 for the past two years. This indicates that at speed chess, the program is one of the top players, electronic or human, in the world. It is currently running on a Cray XMP-48 computer system and has been designed around the parallelism that the XMP architecture provides.     

ZnO和CaO对模拟高放废液硅酸盐玻璃固化体性能的影响研究

针对有些高放废液含有较多Fe、Cr、Ni过渡金属元素,在玻璃固化工艺过程中易于形成晶体,导致熔融玻璃体的黏度增加、化学稳定性变差以及工艺过程中易出现出料口堵塞等问题,研究了废物包容量为15%和20%、添加ZnO(5.6%)和CaO(1.75%)的配方对形成的4种玻璃固化体的物理性能(密度、硬度、断裂韧性)、化学性能(产品一致性测试和蒸汽腐蚀测试)和结构(X射线衍射析晶分析、拉曼光谱分析)的影响。研究分析显示,提高废物包容量至20%以及添加ZnO和CaO均可促进硼硅酸盐玻璃固化体网络结构的稳定性和化学稳定性,并增强玻璃体的密度,提高硬度;但玻璃固化体的高温黏度升高,断裂韧性下降。