A polymer based sensor for phosphate detection in water

This paper presents the detection of phosphate (PO4-3) concentration in water by using a commercial quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) sensor that was coated with a novel polymeric affinity layer for the first time. The QCM sensor was exposed to PO4-3 and chloride (Cl-) solutions in various concentrations to investigate the sensitivity of the affinity layer. Changes in the viscosity of a solution, and weak binding of ions onto the polymeric layer eliminated the effect of PO4-3 binding to the polymer and hardened the concentration detection. Therefore, we have proposed a new method in which an intermediate Cl- solution is applied before introducing the PO4-3 solution to detect the concentration level in a continuous flow

Fabrication and Characterization of Magnetostrictive Amorphous FeGaSiB thin films

In this work, amorphous FeSiB and FeGaSiB thin films have been fabricated on silicon substrates using a co-sputtering- evaporation deposition technique. The effect of adding gallium into FeSiB (Metglas) thin films on the structure, magnetic properties and magnetostriction have been studied. From x-ray diffraction (XRD), all the films were amorphous and the observed peaks were for the Si substrate. X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) measurements were carried out to determine the film’s composition, which was found to be Fe83Ga11Si5.2 B0.8. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) images were taken to measure the film thickness along with studying the surface topography. It was found that the film surface had an average roughness of 0.461 nm. For both FeSiB and FeGaSiB thin films, the effect of the thickness of the films on the magnetic properties and magnetostriction were investigated. The results showed that adding Ga into the FeSiB films changed the magnetic properties by reducing the saturation induction along with changing the magnetic anisotropy from uniaxial to isotropic. For the FeGaSiB films, the coercive field decreased and the saturation field (Hs) increased with film thickness. The magnetostriction constants of the FeGaSiB films were all larger than the FeSiB films for thicknesses greater than 40nm

Optimizing laser additive manufacturing process for Fe-based nano-crystalline magnetic materials

Fe-based amorphous magnetic alloys offer new opportunities for magnetic sensors, actuators and magnetostrictive transducers due to their high saturation magnetostriction (λs = 20–40 ppm) compared with that of amorphous Co-based alloys (λs = −3 to −5 ppm). Due to the conventional production limitations of Fe-based glassy alloys, including dimensional limitations and poor mechanical properties, this has led to a search for novel fabrication techniques. Recently, the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technique has attracted attention for the production of Fe-based magnetic bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) as it provides high densification, which brings about excellent mechanical properties, and high cooling rate during the process. Optimization of process parameters in the LPBF technique have been studied using the volumetric energy input (E), which includes the major build parameters; laser power (P), scan speed (v), layer thickness (t) and hatch spacing (h). This study investigates how the major process parameters influence the physical and magnetic properties of LPBF-processed Fe-based amorphous/nanocrystalline composites ((Fe87.38Si6.85B2.54Cr2.46C0.77 (mass %)). Various process parameter combinations with P (90, 100, 120 and 150 W) and v (700, 1000 and 1300 mm/s) were applied with t of 30, 50 and 70 µm and h of 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 µm. It was found that bulk density improves as P and t increases, v and h decreases, i.e., high E is necessary, however, 99.45% of bulk density was achieved with E of 61.22 J/mm3 (P = 150 W, v=700 mm/s, h=50 µm and t = 70 µm), which indicates the importance of understanding how parameters affect the specific materials. In addition, the magnetic properties differ significantly due to the nanocrystalline phases present in the microstructure, with their size depending on the process parameters considerably. Owing to the laser scanning nature, the microstructure evolves as molten pools (MP) and heat affected zones (HAZ) due to the high thermal gradient that occurred between laser tracks. MP form around the scans, containing α-Fe(Si) nanograins mainly, whereas HAZ generally contains Fe2B and Fe3Si nanocrystalline clusters. The size and quantities of those nanocrystallites determine the magnetic properties. With the same E (60 J/mm3), v (1000 mm/s) and t (50 µm), only changing P and h caused samples to have different saturation magnetization; 206 emu/gr (P: 90 W and h: 30 µm) and 150 emu/gr (P: 150 W and h: 50 µm). In general, the saturation magnetisation, Ms of LPBF-processed samples changes between 130 and 206 emu/gr, which is much higher than that of feedstock powder (102 emu/gr) due to their nanocrystalline structures. The coercivity (Hc) is in the range of 14.55 and 34.68 Oe, which is considered high for soft-magnetic behaviour (Hc ≤ 12.5 Oe), resulting from the larger crystallite size and the presence of defects (pores and cracks) in the microstructure

Enhancing soft‐magnetic properties of Fe‐based nanocrystalline materials with a novel double‐scanning technique

This article presents a novel scanning technique for the laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) of Fe-based soft-magnetic alloys, which have low glass forming ability, and microstructural change happens during LPBF process. This technique involves double scanning where 1) the first scan applied uses high energy density (E = P/vht, where P is the laser power, v is the laser scan speed, h is the hatch spacing, and t is the layer thickness) with different process parameters (P: 30, 40, and 50 W, v: 500, 600, and 700 mm s−1, h: 20 and 30 μm, and t: 50 μm) to achieve high density and 2) the second scan employed before the spreading subsequent powder layer uses low E (=20 J mm−3, P = 20 W, v = 1000 mm s−1, h = 20 μm, and t = 50 μm) to refine the microstructure and thus reduce coercivity. This increases the saturation magnetization to a maximum value of 226.81 Am2 kg−1 and reduces the coercivity to a lowest value recorded (130 A m−1). Likewise, the bulk density (94.59–99.25%) is enhanced significantly with double scanning, especially the samples produced using high P (50 W) resulting from the relieving of the mechanical and thermal stress evolving during the process

Laser additive manufacturing of Fe-based magnetic amorphous alloys

Fe-based amorphous materials offer new opportunities for magnetic sensors, actuators, and magnetostrictive transducers due to their high saturation magnetostriction (λs = 20–40 ppm) and low coercive field compared with polycrystalline Fe-based alloys, which have high magnetostriction but large coercive fields and Co-based amorphous alloys with small magnetostriction (λs = −3 to −5 ppm). Additive layer manufacturing (ALM) offers a new fabrication technique for more complex net-shaping designs. This paper reviews the two different ALM techniques that have been used to fabricate Fe-based amorphous magnetic materials, including the structural and magnetic properties. Selective laser melting (SLM)—a powder-bed fusion technique—and laser-engineered net shaping (LENS)—a directed energy deposition method—have both been utilised to fabricate amorphous alloys, owing to their high availability and low cost within the literature. Two different scanning strategies have been introduced by using the SLM technique. The first strategy is a double-scanning strategy, which gives rise to maximum relative density of 96% and corresponding magnetic saturation of 1.22 T. It also improved the glassy phase content by an order of magnitude of 47%, as well as improving magnetic properties (decreasing coercivity to 1591.5 A/m and increasing magnetic permeability to around 100 at 100 Hz). The second is a novel scanning strategy, which involves two-step melting: preliminary laser melting and short pulse amorphisation. This increased the amorphous phase fraction to a value of up to 89.6%, and relative density up to 94.1%, and lowered coercivity to 238 A/m. On the other hand, the LENS technique has not been utilised as much as SLM in the production of amorphous alloys owing to its lower geometric accuracy (0.25 mm) and lower surface quality, despite its benefits such as providing superior mechanical properties, controlled composition and microstructure. As a result, it has been commonly used for large parts with low complexity and for repairing them, limiting the production of amorphous alloys because of the size limitation. This paper provides a comprehensive review of these techniques for Fe-based amorphous magnetic materials

Optimization of magnetocaloric properties of arc-melted and spark plasma-sintered LaFe11.6Si1.4

LaFe11.6Si1.4 alloy has been synthesized in polycrystalline form using both arc melting and spark plasma sintering (SPS). The phase formation, hysteresis loss and magnetocaloric properties of the LaFe11.6Si1.4 alloys synthesized using the two different techniques are compared. The annealing time required to obtain the 1:13 phase is significantly reduced from 14 days (using the arc melting technique) to 30 min (using the SPS technique). The magnetic entropy change (ΔSM) for the arc-melted LaFe11.6Si1.4 compound, obtained for a field change of 5 − 0T (decreasing field), was estimated to be 19.6 J kg−1 K−1. The effective RCP at 5T of the arc-melted LaFe11.6Si1.4 compound was determined to be 360 J kg−1 which corresponds to about 88 % of that observed in Gd. A significant reduction in the hysteretic losses in the SPS LaFe11.6Si1.4 compound was observed. The ΔSM, obtained for a field change of 5 − 0T (decreasing field), for the SPS LaFe11.6Si1.4 compound decreases to 7.4 J kg−1 K−1. The TC also shifts from 186 (arc-melted) to 230 K (SPS) and shifts the order of phase transition from first to second order, respectively. The MCE of the SPS LaFe11.6Si1.4 compound spreads over a larger temperature range with the RCP value at 5T reaching 288 J kg−1 corresponding to about 70 % of that observed in Gd. At low fields, the effective RCP values of the arc-melted and spark plasma-sintered LaFe11.6Si1.4 compounds are comparable, thereby clearly demonstrating the potential of SPS LaFe11.6Si1.4 compounds in low-field magnetic refrigeration applications

Synthesis of magnetocaloric LaFe11.6Si1.4 alloy by spark plasma sintering

LaFe11.6Si1.4 alloys have been successfully fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS). An annealing study of the SPS LaFe11.6Si1.4 alloys at different temperatures ranging from 1373 to 1523 K for annealing times from 30 minutes to 72 hours was carried out. This annealing study showed that LaFe11.6Si1.4 samples annealed at 1473K (for annealing times between 30 minutes and 6 hours) have a significantly higher amount of the NaZn13-type phase compared to samples annealed at other temperatures. Thus the critical annealing temperature which enhances the formation of the NaZn13-type phase in SPS LaFe11.6Si1.4 compounds is 1473K. A second study investigated the effect of different particle sizes of the starting powders on the formation of the NaZn13-type phase. This study found that the samples synthesized using larger sized powder particles exhibited a significantly higher amount of the NaZn13-type phase compared to samples synthesized using smaller sized powder particles, for the same heat treatment

Magnetic properties of the complex concentrated alloy system CoFeNi0.5Cr0.5Alx

We study the change in magnetisation with paramagnetic Al addition in the CoFeNi0.5Cr0.5–Alx (x: 0, 0.5, 1, and 1.5) complex concentrated alloy. The compositions were developed utilising the Mulliken electronegativity and d-electron/atom ratio. Spherical FeCr rich nanoprecipitates are observed for X: 1.0 and 1.5 in an AlCoNi-rich matrix. A ~ 5 × increase in magnetisation (from 22 to 96 Am2/kg) coincides with this nanoprecipitate formation—the main magnetic contribution is determined to be from FeCr nanoprecipitates. The magnetisation increase is strange as paramagnetic Al addition dilutes the ferromagnetic Fe/Co/Ni additions. In this paper we discuss the magnetic and structural characterisation of the CoFeNi0.5Cr0.5–Alx composition and attempt to relate it to the interfacial energy

Testing mapping algorithms of the cancer-specific EORTC QLQ-C30 onto EQ-5D in malignant mesothelioma

Background: In order to estimate utilities for cancer studies where the EQ-5D was not used, the EORTC QLQ-C30 can be used to estimate EQ-5D using existing mapping algorithms. Several mapping algorithms exist for this transformation, however, algorithms tend to lose accuracy in patients in poor health states. The aim of this study was to test all existing mapping algorithms of QLQ-C30 onto EQ-5D, in a dataset of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma, an invariably fatal malignancy where no previous mapping estimation has been published. Methods: Health related quality of life (HRQoL) data where both the EQ-5D and QLQ-C30 were used simultaneously was obtained from the UK-based prospective observational SWAMP (South West Area Mesothelioma and Pemetrexed) trial. In the original trial 73 patients with pleural mesothelioma were offered palliative chemotherapy and their HRQoL was assessed across five time points. This data was used to test the nine available mapping algorithms found in the literature, comparing predicted against observed EQ-5D values. The ability of algorithms to predict the mean, minimise error and detect clinically significant differences was assessed. Results: The dataset had a total of 250 observations across 5 timepoints. The linear regression mapping algorithms tested generally performed poorly, over-estimating the predicted compared to observed EQ-5D values, especially when observed EQ-5D was below 0.5. The best performing algorithm used a response mapping method and predicted the mean EQ-5D with accuracy with an average root mean squared error of 0.17 (Standard Deviation; 0.22). This algorithm reliably discriminated between clinically distinct subgroups seen in the primary dataset. Conclusions: This study tested mapping algorithms in a population with poor health states, where they have been previously shown to perform poorly. Further research into EQ-5D estimation should be directed at response mapping methods given its superior performance in this study