Investigations on the sintering behaviour of porcelain

Unter ökonomischen und ökologischen Zwängen geht der Trend in der Porzellanherstellung dahin, den Brennprozess immer weiter zu beschleunigen und damit die Brenndauer zu verkürzen. Die Aufheizrate beim Brand wird dazu zunehmend erhöht. In der Folge treten, durch fehlende Standfestigkeit des sinternden Scherbens bedingt, bleibende Verformungen auf. Außerdem führen große Dichtegradienten im Scherben zu Rissen, die sich beim Brand nicht mehr schließen. Eine bessere Kenntnis der Sinterphänomene während des Brandes trägt zur Lösung dieser Probleme bei. Deshalb wurden in dieser Arbeit Methoden der Sinteranalyse auf Porzellan angewandt und erweitert: die Aufstellung eines Kinetic Field, die Untersuchung der Temperaturleitfähigkeit und die Analyse des Verformungsverhaltens beim Brand. Die Untersuchungen fanden in einer umgebauten und erweiterten Thermo- Optischen Meßanlage (TOM) statt. In dieser Meßanlage können gleichzeitig die Schwindung und die Temperaturleitfähigkeit in-situ während der Sinterung gemessen werden. Um die industriellen Brennbedingungen von Porzellan möglichst genau in den Labormaßstab zu übertragen, wurde die TOM um den Betrieb unter wasserdampfhaltiger Brennatmosphäre erweitert. Zur Untersuchung des Verformungsverhaltens von Porzellan während der Sinterung in der TOM wurde weiterhin ein Aufbau entwickelt, der besonders den optischen Gegebenheiten in der Meßeinrichtung Rechnung trägt. Während der Sinterung kann die Probe mit einer definierten Kraft belastet und die resultierende Verformung optisch gemessen werden. In Versuchsreihen zum Porzellanbrand, bei denen Aufheizraten, Maximaltemperaturen, Belastungen und Atmosphären verändert wurden, wurden gleichzeitig Schwindung und Temperaturleitfähigkeit gemessen. Aus den Schwindungsdaten der unbelasteten Sinterungen wurde ein Kinetic Field von Porzellan erstellt. Es zeigt die Sintergeschwindigkeit in Abhängigkeit von der Temperatur und der Aufheizrate. Das Kinetic Field erlaubt, die Sintervorgänge von Porzellan abhängig von den Brennparametern vorherzusagen. Es ist somit ein wichtiges Werkzeug zur Optimierung von Brennvorgängen, da es den Schritt von arbeits- und kostenintensiven "Trial and Error"-Versuchen zu materialangepaßten theoretischen Optimierungen ermöglicht. Mittels Finite-Differenzen-Verfahren wurden die Dichtegradienten im Porzellanscherben während des Brandes berechnet. Diese Berechnung konnte erstmals gekoppelt, unter Berücksichtigung sowohl der Wärmeleitfähigkeits- als auch der Dichteentwicklung, erfolgen. Dichtegradienten begünstigen die Ausbildung von Rissen beim Brand. Die Berechnung der Dichtegradienten kann auf jedes beliebige Brennregime angewandt werden. So kann im Vorfeld der industriellen Umsetzung ein Brennprogramm auf minimale Dichtegradienten und geringe Rißneigung während des Brandes optimiert werden. Aus Verformungsmessungen wurde die Standfestigkeit von Porzellan während des Brandes bestimmt. Sie beeinflußt wesentlich die Verformung des Scherbens während des Brandes. Auch hier kann durch wenige Versuche im Labor die Verformung von Porzellan während des industriellen Brandes vorhergesagt werden. Dadurch wird die Optimierung auf geringste Verformung möglich. Bei der Untersuchung der Sintergeschwindigkeit des untersuchten Porzellans fallen zwei charakteristische Maxima auf, die in den Temperaturbereichen auftreten, in denen die Dichtegradienten im Scherben stark ausgebildet sind und in denen auch die Standfestigkeit gering ist. Diese Erscheinungen werden mit Sinterphänomenen der Flüssigphasensinterung in Verbindung gebracht. Sie resultieren aus mehreren, teils gegeneinander wirkenden und sich überlagernden Sintervorgängen. Beim Brand unter industrieller, feuchter Brennatmosphäre treten die einzelnen Sinterphänomene unabhängig von der Aufheizrate immer bei der gleichen Temperatur auf. Dieses Verhalten ist sehr ungewöhnlich und wurde bisher noch nicht beobachtet. Es kann dadurch erklärt werden, daß die feuchte Atmosphäre die Viskosität der glasbildenden Schmelzphase im Werkstück stark erniedrigt und in der Folge Gleichgewichtsphänomene der Sinterung geschwindigkeitsbestimmend werden. Aus den gesammelten Erkenntnissen wurden Hinweise zur optimierten Brennführung beim Brand des hier untersuchten Porzellans formuliert. Ziel war es, Produkte ohne Verformungen und Risse mit dem kürzestmöglichen Brennzyklus zu erhalten. Dazu sollte die Aufheizung möglichst schnell erfolgen, so daß Bereiche niedriger Festigkeit schnell durchfahren werden. Die obere Grenze der Aufheizgeschwindigkeit wird durch Temperatur- und Dichtegradienten im Werkstück bestimmt, die zu mechanischen Spannungen und damit zu Rissen führen können. Dieses Verhalten konnte rechnerisch simuliert werden. In Verbindung mit neuen Ofentechnologien ist es möglich, die Dauer des Porzellanglattbrandes auf deutlich unter vier Stunden zu verringern.With raising economic and ecologic demands, the firing process during the manufacturing of porcelain is speeded up more and more. Heating rates are increased and the total firing time is reduced. As a result, due to lack of stability, deformation of the sintering porcelain body occurs. Additionally, large density gradients initiate cracks in the porcelain body. Increased knowledge of the sintering phenomena during porcelain firing is needed to solve these problems. Therefore, methods of sintering analysis were applied to porcelain and extended when needed: the kinetic field, in-situ thermal diffusivity measurements and the analysis of deformation behaviour during the sintering process. All measurements were carried out in a Thermo-Optical Measurement Device (TOM). With this laboratory installation, shrinkage and thermal diffusivity of a sample can be determined simultaneously and in-situ during sintering. To precisely transfer the industrial manufacturing conditions of porcelain to the laboratory, the TOM was upgraded to work with industrial gas atmospheres containing water vapour. Furthermore, a measurement setup for in-situ determination of the deformation behaviour in the TOM was developed. The sample is loaded with a well-defined weight during sintering and the resulting deformation is measured optically. In laboratory trials, the firing process of porcelain was simulated using different heating rates, maximum temperatures, loads and gas atmospheres. Sample shrinkage and thermal diffusivity were measured concurrently. The shrinkage data of unloaded samples was used to develop the kinetic field of porcelain. The kinetic field shows the sintering velocity as a function of temperature and heating rate. It allows the prediction of the sintering activity of porcelain during the firing process depending on the sintering parameters. Therefore, the kinetic field is a valuable tool for the optimisation of firing processes, as it may replace labour-intensive trial and error¨experiments by a material-adapted theoretical optimisation. Finite difference calculations were used to determine the density gradients in a porcelain body during sintering. Density gradients favour the formation of cracks during sintering. The calculations were carried out in a coupled way, incorporating the changes of both thermal diffusivity and density during the sintering process. Finite difference calculations can be applied to any sintering regime and allow to optimise a sintering process for minimised density gradients and crack formation in the run-up to the industrial implementation. Using deformation measurements, the stability of loaded porcelain during sintering was examined. The stability considerably determines the deformation of the porcelain body during firing. Only a small number of laboratory experiments allow the prediction of the deformation behaviour during industrial firing and allow the optimisation of the firing process with respect to minimised deformation. The examination of the sintering velocity of porcelain revealed two characteristic maxima. They coincide with the two temperature ranges where strong density gradients occur in the porcelain body and the deformation resistance is low. This is associated with liquid phase sintering phenomena. The effects result from several sintering processes that partly superimpose themselves and partly act against each other. When sintering under industrial atmosphere that contains water vapour, the specific sintering phenomena occur, irrespective of the heating rate, at identical temperatures. This behaviour is unusual and has not been observed before. It is explained by assuming that the water vapour-containing atmosphere drastically lowers the viscosity of the liquid phase in the porcelain body. Consequently, equilibrium phenomena become dominant for the velocity of sintering. All results were combined to propose an optimised firing regime for the porcelain that was examined. The aim was to produce porcelain bodies without deformations or cracks with the shortest possible firing cycle. To reach this aim, the initial heating rate should be as high as possible, so that the zones of small deformation resistance are quickly passed. The upper boundary of the initial heating rate is set by the developing temperature and density gradients, that induce mechanical strains and therefore cracks in the porcelain body. The whole complex behaviour was simulated. Together with new kiln technologies it is possible to reduce noticeably the firing time of porcelain to less than four hours

Feuerfestindustrie

Die Feuerfestindustrie ist eine der Grundstoffindustrien in der modernen Industrielandschaft in Deutschland. Die betrachtete Rohstoffschmelzanlage wird bei etwa 3,5 MW betrieben. Sie kann durch kurzzeitige Lasterhöhungen über 3,7 MW hinaus betrieben werden. Auch Lastreduktionen unterhalb 3,2 MW sind möglich, sofern die technischen Voraussetzungen vorliegen und der flüssige Schmelzkorund in der Rohstoffschmelzanlage nicht zu erstarren beginnt

Investigation of the influence of impurities typical in secondary raw materials on the behavior of high alumina castables – Part 1: Design of the castables, setting properties and high temperature fracture behavior

The research was carried out using a primary high alumina raw material that was selectively spiked with typical elements found in secondary raw materials. These artificially spiked raw materials were processed into cement-free high alumina monolithics by 1:1 substitution of the corresponding high alumina matrix fraction in the formulation. Regardless of the impurity, the rheology and setting behavior of the developed model refractory castables showed a very high degree of comparability with the reference material. The same workability allowed the production of comparable test pieces for hot wedge splitting tests. The effects on high temperature fracture behavior observed in this study can therefore be attributed solely to the impurities

Investigation of the role of impurities typical in secondary raw materials on the behaviour of high alumina castables - Part II: Influence on thermomechanical behaviour

The present work investigated the effect of relatively small additions of impurities originating in secondary raw materials on the thermomechanical properties of alumina castables bonded with active alumina. Castable compositions containing impurities for testing were selected on the basis of predictions from thermochemical calculations of their phase composition and the formation of large amounts of liquid phase at the temperature of 1600 °C. Viscosity of the emerging liquid phase was also calculated. The selected alumina castables with impurities from the systems: CaO–SiO2. Na2O–SiO2. Fe2O3–CaO. Fe2O3–CaO–SiO2 and TiO2–CaO–SiO2 were tested for thermomechanical properties by analysing the effect of impurities on refractoriness under load (RUL) creep in compression (CiC) and resonant frequencies and damping changes versus temperature (RFDA). Real composition of tested material via high temperature X-ray diffraction (HT-XRD) were verified. The obtained results indicate that impurities introduced into the refractory castables in a total amount of 0,18 wt% (2% in the fraction 0–45 μm) and in the most unfavourable ratio from the point of view of phase equilibria have an observable effect on the properties of the material at elevated temperature. The obtained results show that in the case of introducing impurities into the material with mutual proportions of shares limiting the formation of the liquid phase. It will be possible to maintain the thermomechanical properties of alumina castables at a satisfactory level (compared to the pure one) from the industrial process perspective in which it will be used. The obtained results shed new light on the possibilities of the conscious use of secondary raw materials in refractory monolithics technology

Determination of the rheological properties of Matrigel for optimum seeding conditions in microfluidic cell cultures

Hydrogels are increasingly used as a surrogate extracellular matrix in three-dimensional cell culture systems, including microfluidic cell culture. Matrigel is a hydrogel of natural origin widely used in cell culture, particularly in the culture of stem cell-derived cell lines. The use of Matrigel as a surrogate extracellular matrix in microfluidic systems is challenging due to its biochemical, biophysical, and biomechanical properties. Therefore, understanding and characterising these properties is a prerequisite for optimal use of Matrigel in microfluidic systems. We used rheological measurements and particle image velocimetry to characterise the fluid flow dynamics of liquefied Matrigel during loading into a three-dimensional microfluidic cell culture device. Using fluorescence microscopy and fluorescent beads for particle image velocimetry measurements (velocity profiles) in combination with classical rheological measurements of Matrigel (viscosity versus shear rate), we characterised the shear rates experienced by cells in a microfluidic device for three-dimensional cell culture. This study provides a better understanding of the mechanical stress experienced by cells, during seeding of a mixture of hydrogel and cells, into three-dimensional microfluidic cell culture devices. (C) 2018 Author(s)

First on-sky results of ERIS at VLT

editorial reviewedERIS (Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph) is a new adaptive optics instrument installed at the Cassegrain focus of the VLT-UT4 telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile. ERIS consists of two near infrared instruments: SPIFFIER, an integral field unit (IFU) spectrograph covering J to K bands, and NIX, an imager covering J to M bands. ERIS has an adaptive optics system able to work with both LGS and NGS. The Assembly Integration Verification (AIV) phase of ERIS at the Paranal Observatory was carried out starting in December 2021, followed by several commissioning runs in 2022. This contribution will describe the first preliminary results of the on-sky performance of ERIS during its commissioning and the future perspectives based on the preliminary scientific results

An Intronless β-amyrin Synthase Gene is More Efficient in Oleanolic Acid Accumulation than its Paralog in Gentiana straminea

Paralogous members of the oxidosqualene cyclase (OSC) family encode a diversity of enzymes that are important in triterpenoid biosynthesis. This report describes the isolation of the Gentiana straminea gene GsAS2 that encodes a β-amyrin synthase (βAS) enzyme. Unlike its previously isolated paralog GsAS1, GsAS2 lacks introns. Its predicted protein product was is a 759 residue polypeptide that shares high homology with other known β-amyrin synthases (βASs). Heterologously expressed GsAS2 generates more β-amyrin in yeast than does GsAS1. Constitutive over-expression of GsAS2 resulted in a 5.7 fold increase in oleanolic acid accumulation, while over-expression of GsAS1 led to a 3 fold increase. Additionally, RNAi-directed suppression of GsAS2 and GsAS1 in G. straminea decreased oleonolic acid levels by 65.9% and 21% respectively, indicating that GsAS2 plays a more important role than GsAS1 in oleanolic acid biosynthesis in G. straminea. We uses a docking model to explore the catalytic mechanism of GsAS1/2 and predicted that GsAS2, with its Y560, have higher efficiency than GsAS1 and mutated versions of GsAS2 in β-amyrin produce. When the key residue in GsAS2 was mutagenized, it produced about 41.29% and 71.15% less β-amyrin than native, while the key residue in GsAS1 was mutagenized to that in GsAS2, the mutant produced 38.02% more β-amyrin than native GsAS1

Complete genome sequence of the myxobacterium Sorangium cellulosum

The genus Sorangium synthesizes approximately half of the secondary metabolites isolated from myxobacteria, including the anti-cancer metabolite epothilone. We report the complete genome sequence of the model Sorangium strain S. cellulosum So ce56, which produces several natural products and has morphological and physiological properties typical of the genus. The circular genome, comprising 13,033,779 base pairs, is the largest bacterial genome sequenced to date. No global synteny with the genome of Myxococcus xanthus is apparent, revealing an unanticipated level of divergence between these myxobacteria. A large percentage of the genome is devoted to regulation, particularly post-translational phosphorylation, which probably supports the strain's complex, social lifestyle. This regulatory network includes the highest number of eukaryotic protein kinase-like kinases discovered in any organism. Seventeen secondary metabolite loci are encoded in the genome, as well as many enzymes with potential utility in industry