The contribution of 211 particles to the mechanical reinforcement mechanism of 123 superconducting single domains

Hardness and fracture toughness of Dy-123 single-domains were studied by Vickers micro-indentation. A significant anisotropy of the mechanical properties was observed. Hardness tests give higher values when performed in (001) planes rather than in planes parallel to the c-axis. Moreover cracks pattern around the indentation follows preferential orientation in planes parallel to the c-axis whereas a classical ''four-cracks'' pattern is observed in the (001) planes. It has been possible to show the crucial role played by the 211-particles in the deviating mechanism of cracks and the relevance of the 211-particle distribution high homogeneity in the material.Comment: 14 pages, including 5 figures and 1 Table. submitted to Supercond. Sci. Techno

Spectre infrarouge des borosilicates cristallins et vitreux M1BSi2O6

peer reviewe

Magnetotransport properties of a single grain boundary in a bulk La-Ca-Mn-O material

peer reviewedBesides the "intrinsic" colossal magnetoresistance effect observed in single crystals, the polycrystalline manganate compounds also exhibit an "extrinsic" magnetoresistance related to the presence of grain boundaries. We report electrical transport and magnetic measurements carried out on a bigrain sample extracted from a floating zone method-grown rod of calcium doped lanthanum manganate. Electrical resistance was measured both within a grain and across the grain boundary, between 20 and 300 K and from 0 to 8 T. Magnetoresistance values up to 99% are reached within the grain. The temperature dependence of the resistance across the grain boundary displays a "foot-like" feature towards the bottom of the transition. Low field and high field magnetoresistance effects are examined. We compare our results for a "bulk" grain boundary to those obtained by other authors for bicrystal thin films and bulk polycrystalline materials. (C) 2001 American Institute of Physics

Influence of the shaping effect on hardness homogeneity by Vickers indentation analysis

In this study, indentation technique (Vickers indentation) has been unconventionally used to evaluate the homogeneity of barium zirconate ceramic samples which have been shaped through different routes. Statistical tools have been used to estimate the con-elation which can be established between heterogeneities within the samples and their shaping ways. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Cu doping as a tool for understanding CMR

Doping at the Mn-site in CMR manganate-based perovskites has been shown to affect strongly the physical properties of those compounds. We study here the effect of copper substitution in the low doping range on the electrical transport properties of La0.7Ca0.3MnO3. It turns out that the transition temperature decrease observed in doped samples can be drastically reduced by addition of silicon dioxide SiO2. It is shown that copper is trapped in a secondary phase composed of La,Ca,Si,Cu and O. The resultant Mn-site vacancies appear to be less detrimental to the electronic conduction than the likely antiferromagnetic clusters induced by the copper ions in the Mn-O network

Study of the morphology of copper hydroxynitrate nanoplatelets obtained by controlled double jet precipitation and urea hydrolysis

A copper hydroxynitrate of stoichiometry Cu-2(OH)(3)NO3, analogous to the layered double hydroxide family, was synthesized by the so-called controlled double jet precipitation technique, and by hydrolysis of urea in the presence of copper nitrate. Special attention has been focused on the size, morphology and agglomeration tendency of the particles. The aim of this work is to define the optimum precipitation conditions in terms of quality and dispersability of the recovered product. Such platelet-like particles Can be used as anisotropic fillers in nanocomposite materials. Several reaction parameters such as flow and concentration of the reactant solutions, design of the reactor and addition of a growth modifier were studied. (C) 2003 Elsevier -Science B.V. All rights reserved

Structural and electrical properties of tellurovanadate glasses containing Li2O

Glassy materials are promising intercalation compounds, due to their open network structure and absence of grain boundaries. Some glasses containing alkali ions and a high concentration of transition metal ions can present mixed ionic-electronic conductivity and are therefore potential candidates for application as cathode material in Li-ion batteries. The present work is devoted to the ternary system xLi(2)O-(1-x)[0.3V(2)O(5)-0.7TeO(2)] with 0 <= x <= 0.4. These compounds were prepared by heat treatment in air at 800 degrees C followed by traditional quenching. Raman spectroscopy and V-51 nuclear magnetic resonance measurements were performed in order to highlight the structural short range order modifications induced by the introduction of the Li2O network modifier. These structural effects can be related to the electrical behaviour, as studied by complex impedance spectroscopy measurements. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Electrical transport and magnetic properties of Mn3O4-La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 ceramic composites prepared by a one-step spray-drying technique

peer reviewedLa0.7Ca0.3MnO3/Mn3O4 composites can be synthesized in one step by thermal treatment of a spray-dried precursor, instead of mixing pre-synthesized powders. Another advantage of this composite system is that a long sintering step can be used without leading to significant modification of the manganite composition. The percolation threshold is reached at ~ 20 vol% of manganite phase. The 77 K low field magnetoresistance is enhanced to ~ 11 % at 0.15 T when the composition is close to the percolation threshold. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Low-field magnetoresistance in La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 manganite compounds prepared by the spray drying technique

peer reviewedCalcium-substituted lanthanum manganite compounds were synthesized by the spray drying technique. This method - whose main advantages are versatility, high reproducibility and scalability - yields small grain materials of high homogeneity and displaying low-field magnetoresistance effects. We report about the physical and chemical characterizations of these samples in order to investigate the potential interest of spray drying for the production of materials for low-field magnetoresistance applications. We have studied the dependence of the low-field magnetoresistance on the temperature and duration of the thermal treatment applied to the pelletized powders. The issue of the shape anisotropy (demagnetisation effects) influence on the magnetoresistance properties has also been dealt with. (C) 2005 Springer Science + Business Media, Inc

Vibrational analysis of Ag3(PO2NH)3, Na3(PO2NH)3.H2O, Na3(PO2NH)3.4H2O, [C(NH2)3]3(PO2NH)3.H2O and (NH4)4(PO2NH)4.4H2O

FT IR and FT Raman spectra of Ag3(PO2NH), (Compound I), Na3(PO2NH)3.H2O (Compound II), Na3(PO2NH)3.4H2O (Compound III), [C(NH2)3]3(PO2NH)3.H2O (Compound IV) and (NH4)4(PO2NH)4.4H2O (Compound V) are recorded and analyzed on the basis of the anions, cations and water molecules present in each of them. The PO2NH− anion ring in compound I is distorted due to the influence of Ag+ cation. Wide variation in the hydrogen bond lengths in compound III is indicated by the splitting of the v2 and v3 modes of vibration of water molecules. The NH4 ion in compound V occupies lower site symmetry and exhibits hindered rotation in the lattice. The correlations between the symmetric and asymmetric stretching vibrations of P-N-P bridge and the P-N-P bond angle have also been discussed