Evaluating the Key Finding of Texture Smoothing & Filtering TechniquesÂ

No Abstrac

Microstructure and Property Evolution in Cold Worked Equiatomic Fe-Pd During Isothermal Annealing.

In this work the evolution of microstructure and magnetic properties in cold deformed, equiatomic FePd during isothermal annealing has been studied. During annealing of the disordered cold deformed FePd at temperatures below the critical ordering temperature, Tc = 928 K (655 ºC), concomitant annealing and ordering (FCC -> L1sub0) reactions take place. The effects of the processing parameters - stored energy of cold work and temperature - on microstructural and property evolution are investigated. The combined solid state reaction (CR) produces complex microstructures that exhibit enhanced magnetic hardness (coercivity) relative to the conventionally processed material. The magnetic age hardening response of the CR processed FePd has been reported. For fully equiaxed polycrystalline microstructures of the ordered FePd phase a correlation between the average grain size and the coercivity has been observed. Based on these purely microstructural observations a qualitative coercivity mechanism analysis has been performed in order to elucidate the origin of the decrease in magnetic hardness (coercivity) in the overaged condition

Improving intermediate temperature performance of NI-YSZ cermet anodes for solid oxide fuel cells by infiltration of nickel nanoparticles and mixed ionic electronic conductors

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are one of the most efficient and environment-friendly devices for electricity generation. One critical challenge of SOFC commercialization is high cell operating temperatures (800°C-1000°C), which lead to high material costs, high performance degradation rates, long start-up and shutdown times, and limited portable applications. Intermediate temperature (600°C-800°C) operation of SOFCs is limited by sluggish electrode reaction kinetics. The objective of this research is to improve intermediate temperature performance of commercially available Ni-YSZ cermet anode supported SOFCs by liquid infiltration of the anode. One effective method to improve kinetics of electrochemical reactions at the anode is to increase the density of reaction sites, which are known as the triple phase boundaries (TPBs). The porous Ni-YSZ cermet anodes were liquid infiltrated with Ni nanoparticles, leading to a four-fold increase in TPB density in the anode. The improved electrochemical performance of the infiltrated cells compared to the uninfiltrated cells highlights the effectiveness of anode infiltration in facilitating improved anode electrochemical reaction kinetics. However, the post-electrochemical testing characterization revealed that Ni nanoparticles were not stable due to Ni coarsening and were mostly isolated indicating that not all of the additional TPBs were fully utilized in electrochemical reactions due to the lack of an electronic pathway between the Ni nanoparticles. In order to improve microstructural stability of the infiltrated Ni nanoparticles, and to fully utilize the added TPBs, co-infiltration of Ni with a mixed ionic and electronic conductor (MIEC) was carried out. Two MIEC materials are chosen based on their chemical stability and conductivity in the anode operating environments; Gd0.1Ce0.9O2-δ (GDC), a predominantly an ionic conductor, and La0.6Sr0.3Ni0.15Cr0.85¬O3-δ (LSNC), a predominantly electronic conductor, and cells were successfully co-infiltrated to form Ni-GDC and Ni-LSNC nanostructures with the MIEC phases connecting the Ni nanoparticles. Stability tests demonstrated that both MIECs inhibited Ni nanoparticle coarsening. Electrochemical studies showed that Ni-GDC is the most effective for improved anode kinetics. A long-term (120 hours) electrochemical test indicated that infiltration of Ni-GDC into Ni-YSZ cermet anode effectively improves overall cell performance at intermediate temperatures and maintains the performance gain for a long period of time

Multiscale Representations for Manifold-Valued Data

We describe multiscale representations for data observed on equispaced grids and taking values in manifolds such as the sphere $S^2$, the special orthogonal group $SO(3)$, the positive definite matrices $SPD(n)$, and the Grassmann manifolds $G(n,k)$. The representations are based on the deployment of Deslauriers--Dubuc and average-interpolating pyramids "in the tangent plane" of such manifolds, using the $Exp$ and $Log$ maps of those manifolds. The representations provide "wavelet coefficients" which can be thresholded, quantized, and scaled in much the same way as traditional wavelet coefficients. Tasks such as compression, noise removal, contrast enhancement, and stochastic simulation are facilitated by this representation. The approach applies to general manifolds but is particularly suited to the manifolds we consider, i.e., Riemannian symmetric spaces, such as $S^{n-1}$, $SO(n)$, $G(n,k)$, where the $Exp$ and $Log$ maps are effectively computable. Applications to manifold-valued data sources of a geometric nature (motion, orientation, diffusion) seem particularly immediate. A software toolbox, SymmLab, can reproduce the results discussed in this paper

X-Ray imaging applied to the characterization of polymer foam's cellular structure and its evolution

Las espumas poliméricas son materiales celulares que poseen una fase sólida continua y otra gaseosa bien discontinua (celda cerrada) o continua (celda abierta). Habitualmente estas estructuras se describen mediante parámetros macroscópicos como la densidad relativa y otros microscópicos como el tamaño de celda o la densidad de celdas. Además, estos materiales poseen características peculiares como anisotropía, orientación de los poros y tortuosidad que les proporcionan propiedades físicas singulares. Convencionalmente el estudio de las espumas poliméricas se realiza mediante el análisis de la estructura celular final obtenida. Ello se debe principalmente a que es complicado detener el proceso de expansión una vez se ha iniciado. Debido a esto los estadios intermedios durante los procesos de espumado no son accesibles, es decir, no se obtiene información acerca de los mecanismos que generan la estructura final. Estos mecanismos físico-químicos fundamentales que gobiernan la generación y evolución de la estructura celular durante el espumado son la nucleación y el crecimiento. Por el contrario, existen otros mecanismos que son responsables de la degeneración de la estructura celular son el drenaje, la coalescencia y el coarsening. Los inconvenientes que existen para abordar el estudio de estos mecanismos durante el proceso de espumado, junto con las peculiaridades de estos sistemas hacen que las técnicas de imagen mediante rayos X sean una herramienta extraordinaria para el estudio in-situ de la evolución de la estructura celular y los mecanismos de espumado. Además, de manera complementaria, la imagen mediante rayos X permite la obtención de tomogramas para el estudio de la estructura celular en el estado final. Incluso es posible llegar más lejos gracias a los últimos desarrollos en tomografía rápida. Esta técnica es capaz de estudiar en 3D la evolución de la estructura celular en el tiempo. Uno de los requisitos esenciales para el estudio de las espumas poliméricas mediante la imagen con rayos X y que condiciona su aplicabilidad es la correcta selección de los componentes y el diseño del equipo de imagen. Esto se debe principalmente a características intrínsecas a las espumas poliméricas: baja absorción de los rayos X, espesores reducidos, estructura de celdas en el rango micrométrico, rápida evolución durante su fabricación y otras peculiaridades morfológicas de su estructura.Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada, Cristalografía y Minerealogí

Solidification and Gravity VII

International audienc

Activity-controlled annealing of colloidal monolayers.

Molecular motors are essential to the living, generating fluctuations that boost transport and assist assembly. Active colloids, that consume energy to move, hold similar potential for man-made materials controlled by forces generated from within. Yet, their use as a powerhouse in materials science lacks. Here we show a massive acceleration of the annealing of a monolayer of passive beads by moderate addition of self-propelled microparticles. We rationalize our observations with a model of collisions that drive active fluctuations and activate the annealing. The experiment is quantitatively compared with Brownian dynamic simulations that further unveil a dynamical transition in the mechanism of annealing. Active dopants travel uniformly in the system or co-localize at the grain boundaries as a result of the persistence of their motion. Our findings uncover the potential of internal activity to control materials and lay the groundwork for the rise of materials science beyond equilibrium

Image-space decomposition algorithms for sort-first parallel volume rendering of unstructured grids

Ankara : Department of Computer Engineering and Information Science and the Institute of Engineering and Science of Bilkent University, 1997.Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 1997.Includes bibliographical references leaves 96-100.Kutluca, HüseyinM.S