Study of alkaline hydrothermal activation of belite cements by thermal analysis

The effect of alkaline hydrothermal activation of class-C fly ash belite cement was studied using thermal analysis (TG/DTG) by determining the increase in the combined water during a period of hydration of 180 days. The results were compared with those obtained for a belite cement hydrothermally activated in water. The two belite cements were fabricated via the hydrothermal-calcination route of class-C fly ash in 1 M NaOH solution (FABC-2-N) or demineralised water (FABC-2-W). From the results, the effect of the alkaline hydrothermal activation of belite cement (FABC-2-N) was clearly differentiated, mainly at early ages of hydration, for which the increase in the combined water was markedly higher than that of the belite cement that was hydrothermally activated in water. Important direct quantitative correlations were obtained among physicochemical parameters, such as the combined water, the BET surface area, the volume of nano-pores, and macro structural engineering properties such as the compressive mechanical strength

Absence of hot gas within the Wolft-Rayet Bubble around WR16

We present the analysis of XMM-Newton archival observations towards the Wolf-Rayet (WR) bubble around WR16. Despite the closed bubble morphology of this WR nebula, the XMM-Newton observations show no evidence of diffuse emission in its interior as in the similar WR bubbles NGC6888 and S308. We use the present observations to estimate a 3-\sigma upper limit to the X-ray luminosity in the 0.3-1.5 keV energy band equal to 7.4x10^{32} erg s^{-1} for the diffuse emission from the WR nebula, assuming a distance of 2.37 kpc. The WR nebula around WR16 is the fourth observed by the current generation of X-ray satellites and the second not detected. We also examine FUSE spectra to search for nebular O VI absorption lines in the stellar continuum of WR16. The present far-UV data and the lack of measurements of the dynamics of the optical WR bubble do not allow us to confirm the existence of a conductive layer of gas at T~3x10^5 K between the cold nebular gas and the hot gas in its interior. The present observations result in an upper limit of n_e < 0.6 cm^-3 on the electron density of the X-ray emitting material within the nebula.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; To appear in Astronomy and Astrophysic

XMM-Newton Detection of Hot Gas in the Eskimo Nebula: Shocked Stellar Wind or Collimated Outflows?

The Eskimo Nebula (NGC 2392) is a double-shell planetary nebula (PN) known for the exceptionally large expansion velocity of its inner shell, ~90 km/s, and the existence of a fast bipolar outflow with a line-of-sight expansion velocity approaching 200 km/s. We have obtained XMM-Newton observations of the Eskimo and detected diffuse X-ray emission within its inner shell. The X-ray spectra suggest thin plasma emission with a temperature of ~2x10^6 K and an X-ray luminosity of L_X = (2.6+/-1.0)x10^31 (d/1150 pc)^2 ergs/s, where d is the distance in parsecs. The diffuse X-ray emission shows noticeably different spatial distributions between the 0.2-0.65 keV and 0.65-2.0 keV bands. High-resolution X-ray images of the Eskimo are needed to determine whether its diffuse X-ray emission originates from shocked fast wind or bipolar outflows.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysics Letter