RE2O3 dissolution kinetics and mechanisms in CAS silicate melt: Influence of the rare earth

Fine particles of sand, dust or volcanic ashes ingested by aircraft engines are well-known to damage 8YPSZ Thermal Barrier Coating (TBC). In service, these particles deposit on hot TBC surface (≥ 1200°C) as molten silicate and infiltrate coating porous microstructure. They are mainly constituted of CaO-MgO-Al2O3-SiO2 (CMAS) in variable proportions and also contain metallic oxides. Gd2Zr2O7 TBC has shown efficiency to mitigate synthetic CMAS infiltration due to its reactivity with CMAS [1]. Indeed, the dissolution reaction leads to rapid formation of a sealing-layer in the topcoat mainly constituted of crystalline Ca2Gd8(SiO4)6O2 apatite. However, this phase is not always stable in contact with CMAS and many rare-earth silicates may compete with apatite crystallization [2]. Several rare-earth oxides RE2O3 can be considered to replace yttria in ZrO2-based TBC but little is known on reaction kinetics and thermodynamics involving RE2O3 and multi-component CMAS system. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Manufacture of silicide coatings for the protection of niobium alloys against high temperature oxidation

At the moment, silicide coatings provide the best protection against high temperature oxidation for niobium alloys. These are envisaged for replacing nickel base alloys currently used in the hot section of turbo-engines. Silicides confer higher protectiveness to Nb base system when compared to the environmental resistance presented by Nb alloys coated with aluminides. One major advantage of silicides is probably the great number of possibilities for modifying their composition as well as their crystallographic structure. Thus, many elemental substitutions were performed over the past 20 years in order to optimize their performances in terms of oxidation resistance. The works performed at the University of Nancy focused currently on the M3M\u273CrSi6 phase which has Nb3Fe3CrSi6 as prototype [i]. Initially, the coatings were developed for the protection of niobium alloys, strengthened by solid solution and in which the niobium content was rather high, in the range of 95 weight %. The first stage of the works was devoted to thermodynamic studies leading to the determination of phase equilibria in the Nb-Fe-Cr-Si system. Then, the obtained results were used to determine the compositions of masteralloys and the conditions of the pack-cementation processs (temperature, gas atmosphere and time) for depositing the Nb3Fe3CrSi6 phase as superficial layer, in avoiding the growth of brittle silicides as well as silicide sensitive to pest phenomeno

A novel multiplex real-time PCR for the identification of mycobacteria associated with zoonotic tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death worldwide from a single infectious agent. An ability to detect the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) in clinical material while simultaneously differentiating its members is considered important. This allows for the gathering of epidemiological information pertaining to the prevalence, transmission and geographical distribution of the MTC, including those MTC members associated with zoonotic TB infection in humans. Also differentiating between members of the MTC provides the clinician with inherent MTC specific drug susceptibility profiles to guide appropriate chemotherapy

Microanalysis of a Grain Boundary's Blocking Effect in Lanthanum Silicate Electrolyte for Intermediate-Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

In order to study the grain boundary's (GB's) blocking effect in lanthanum silicate electrolyte, high density Al-doped apatite-type lanthanum silicate was synthesized and characterized by impedance spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and transmission electron microscopy. Microstructural characterization indicated that the GB's blocking effect was an intrinsic effect. Further microanalysis shows that the GB region is rich in La and poor in Si in comparing with the grain interior (GI). Our discussion suggested that the chemical variation from GI to GB, on the one hand, could degrade the GB region's conductivity; on the other hand, it introduced a strong space-charge effect at GBs. The latter was believed to play a dominant role in the GB's blocking effect