Relación entre la microestructura y las propiedades tecnológicas en gres porcelánico. Revisión bibliográfica

Porcelain stoneware is a strongly sintered ceramic material fabricated from ball clays-quartz-feldspar mixtures. Porcelain stoneware is characterized by its excellent technical and functional properties (low water absorption, high mechanical properties, resistant to chemical substances and cleaning agents, aesthetic possibilities …). These characteristic and technical features make that among the different types of ceramic tile, porcelain stoneware is the ceramic product that in the last years has best withstood the economic crisis in the construction sector. These properties are related to the microstructure of porcelain stoneware, which is a grain and bond type with large particles of filler (quartz), mullite crystals, a silica-rich amorphous phase and porosity. The understanding of the relationship between the microstructure and the properties of porcelain stoneware is hardly important for the development and design of these materials whose tendency is the manufacture of thinner tiles with higher dimensions but must continue to comply the specific technical requirements.El gres porcelánico es un material sinterizado fabricado a partir de una mezcla de arcillas, cuarzo y feldespato. Tecnológicamente, el gres porcelánico se caracteriza por sus excelentes características técnicas y funcionales (baja absorción de agua, buenas propiedades mecánicas, resistente a substancias químicas, posibilidades estéticas…). Estas cualidades han propiciado que, entre los diferentes tipos de baldosa cerámica, es el gres porcelánico el producto que mejor ha resistido la crisis económica sufrida por el Sector de la Construcción. Las propiedades tecnológicas están relacionadas con su microestructura, compuesta de partículas de cuarzo, cristales de mullita, fase amorfa y porosidad. El conocimiento de la relación entre la microestructura y las propiedades tecnológicas del gres porcelánico es de gran importancia para avanzar en el diseño y desarrollo de estos materiales, cuya tendencia es la fabricación de piezas de mayor formato y menor espesor pero que deben seguir cumpliendo con los requerimientos especificados para su aplicación

Determination of Soluble Sugars in Arabidopsis thaliana Leaves by Anion Exchange Chromatography

Determination of soluble sugars is basic for the study of carbon metabolism in plants. Soluble sugar quantitation can be achieved by enzymatic methods implying different coupled reactions. Here we describe a simple method that allows rapid determination of the most abundant soluble sugars (glucose, fructose and sucrose) in Arabidopsis leaves by anion exchange chromatography. We have applied this method to study the levels of soluble sugars during the photoperiodic transition to flowering (Ortiz-Marchena et al., 2014).España, MINECO projects CSD2007-00057, BIO2008-02292, and BIO2011-28847-C02-00España, Junta de Andalucía P06-CVI-01450 and P08-AGR-0358

Glass forming ability and thermal stability of F-phlogopite based glasses

This paper presents the results of a study that analyses the effect of fluorine content on glass forming ability (GFA), glass stability (GS) and preferred crystallisation mechanism for a series of glasses in the SiO2-Al2O3-MgO-K2O-F system. Three glass compositions, with fluorine contents ranging from 4.50 to 5.70 wt. %, were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The GS was established by estimating different parameters derived from characteristic temperatures of non-isothermal DSC curves, namely, the working range (TTS), reduced glass transition temperature (Tgr), Weinberg (Kw), Hrubÿ (KH) and Lu-Liu (KLL) parameters. The prevalent crystallisation mechanism for each glass was assessed by determining the dissimilarity in crystallisation temperature (Tp) between fine ( 120°C/min) and obtaining amorphous glasses is only possible by fast cooling of the melt. In a subsequent thermal treatment, a volume crystallization mechanism will be prevalent in the process of devitrification of these F-phlogopite based glasses. Nevertheless, the increasing on the fluorine content in the glass composition leads to a variation in the location of the first developed crystals from the internal volume of the glass particle to surface sites. The results established by DSC analyses are verified by the results obtained from field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).R. Casasola and J. M. Pérez express their gratitude to the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) for their contract through the JAE Program (JAEPre-08-00456 and JAEDoc-08-00362, respectively), which is co-financed by the European Social Fund. The financial support through the projects MAT 2006-05977 and MAT2013-40477-P is also recognised.Peer reviewe

Blue organic seven segment display based on poly (9,9-dioctyfluorene)with β-phase emission

In this work, organic seven segment displays based on poly(9,9-dioctyfluorene), PFO, have been fabricated. PFO has consolidated as an attractive material for PLEDs due to its efficient blue emission [1] and high hole mobility. Additionally, PFO has a particular conformation, called β-phase associated to extended PFO chain conformation, which is of great interest for potential device applications because, among all others, it has the highest photoluminescence quantum efficiency [2] and the best colour stability [3]. The structure fabricated uses Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) as anode, Poly(3,4 -ethylenedioxythiophene) /poly(4- styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) as hole transport layer and Ba:Al as cathode. After thoroughly cleaning the substrates (covered with ITO) a photolithography process is carried out in order to pattern the anode. Next, the organic layers (PEDOTT:PSS and PFO) are spin casted. Finally, metals (Ba~30 nm and Al~100 nm) are thermally evaporated in an atmosphere of 6x10 -6 Torr. PFO is dissolved in toluene at 1 % wt. A detailed description of the fabrication process can be found in [4]. Finally, the device is encapsulated (using an epoxy and a glass tap) and contacts are indium soldered on the pads. In figure 1, we can observe the shadow mask used for the anode photolitography process (left) and the final device lighting in a zero configuration (right)

Purification of Starch Granules from Arabidopsis Leaves and Determination of Granule-Bound Starch Synthase Activity

Starch constitutes the most important carbon reserve in plants and is composed of branched amylopectin and linear amylose. The latter is synthesized exclusively by the Granule-Bound Starch Synthase (GBSS, EC 2.4.1.21). Here we report a readily reproducible, specific and highly sensitive protocol, which includes the isolation of intact starch granules from Arabidopsis thaliana leaves and the subsequent determination of GBSS activity. We have applied this method to study GBSS activity in diurnal cycles in vegetative growth and during the photoperiodic transition to flowering in Arabidopsis (Tenorio et al., 2003; Ortiz-Marchena et al., 2014).España,MINECO CSD2007-00057, BIO2008-02292, and BIO2011-28847-C02-00España, Junta de Andalucía P06-CVI-01450 and P08-AGR-0358

Evidences of evanescent Bloch waves in Phononic Crystals

We show both experimentally and theoretically the evanescent behaviour of modes in the Band Gap (BG) of finite Phononic Crystal (PC). Based on experimental and numerical data we obtain the imaginary part of the wave vector in good agreement with the complex band structures obtained by the Extended Plane Wave Expansion (EPWE). The calculated and measured acoustic field of a localized mode out of the point defect inside the PC presents also evanescent behaviour. The correct understanding of evanescent modes is fundamental for designing narrow filters and wave guides based on Phononic Crystals with defects.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Conformal Spinning Quantum Particles in Complex Minkowski Space as Constrained Nonlinear Sigma Models in U(2,2) and Born's Reciprocity

We revise the use of 8-dimensional conformal, complex (Cartan) domains as a base for the construction of conformally invariant quantum (field) theory, either as phase or configuration spaces. We follow a gauge-invariant Lagrangian approach (of nonlinear sigma-model type) and use a generalized Dirac method for the quantization of constrained systems, which resembles in some aspects the standard approach to quantizing coadjoint orbits of a group G. Physical wave functions, Haar measures, orthonormal basis and reproducing (Bergman) kernels are explicitly calculated in and holomorphic picture in these Cartan domains for both scalar and spinning quantum particles. Similarities and differences with other results in the literature are also discussed and an extension of Schwinger's Master Theorem is commented in connection with closure relations. An adaptation of the Born's Reciprocity Principle (BRP) to the conformal relativity, the replacement of space-time by the 8-dimensional conformal domain at short distances and the existence of a maximal acceleration are also put forward.Comment: 33 pages, no figures, LaTe