Fabrication of highly dense SiN4 ceramics without additives by high pressure sintering

Silicon nitride (Si3N4) is one of candidate materials for the engineering ceramics which is used at high temperatures. The mechanical strengths of hot pressed or sintered Si2N4 ceramics containing some amount of additives, however, are deteriorated at elevated temperatures. To improve the high temperature strength of Si3N4 ceramics, an attempt to consolidate Si3N4 without additives was made by high pressure sintering technique. Scanning electron micrographs of fracture surfaces of the sintered bodies showed the bodies had finely grained and fully self-bonded sintered bodies were 310N sq m at room temperature and 174N/sq m at 1200 C

High pressure sintering of non-oxide materials

Pure materials of AIN, alpha-Si3N4 and TiC, without additives were sintered at 800 C to 1400 C under the pressures of 30 kbar and 50 kbar for 0.5 hours. The maximum density of sintered bodies for the cited materials was nearly 100% for AIN, 98% for TiC and 96% for alpha-Si3N4

Sintering and properties of Si3N4 with and without additives by HIP treatment

Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP) of Si3N4 powders with and without additives was performed using a glass container, and various kinds of pressureless-sintered Si3N4 were HIP'ed without a container. The effects of HIP treatment on density, microstructure, flexural strength, microhardness, and fracture toughness on Si3N4 ceramics were studied. Using a glass container it was difficult to reach theoretical density. The microhardness of HIP'ed Si3N4 without additives was low, and the fracture toughness of HIP'ed Si3N4 with and without additives was 22 to 25 W/m-K, and it decreased with increasing the amount of additives. The density and flexural strength, and hardness of pressureless-sintered Si3N4 which contained Al2O and Y2O3 as oxide additives were remarkably improved by HIP treatment using nitrogen as a pressure transmitting gas. It is very important to select the sintering conditions for fabricating the presintered body of Si3N4 in order to improve the mechanical properties of Si3N4 by HIP treatment

A small and light weight heat exchanger for on-board helium refrigerator

A small and light weight heat exchanger used for small helium refrigerator has been developed by Sumitomo Heavy Industries, Ltd. This heat exchanger is a laminated metal heat exchanger which consists of perforated aluminum metal plates and glassfiber reinforced plastic separators. The size is from 100 mm to 28 mm in diameter and about 300 mm in length. The weight is from 2.5 kg to 0.6 kg. Also it can be used between room temperature and liquid helium temperature. The thermal efficiency obtained has been more than 96%. The heat exchanger has been practically used for on-board helium refrigerator in Japanese National Railways' superconducting magnetic levitated trains

Fabrication and characterization of Si3N4 ceramics without additives by high pressure hot pressing

High pressure hot-pressing of Si3N4 without additives was performed using various kinds of Si3N4 powder as starting materials, and the relation between densification and alpha-beta phase transformation was studied. The temperature dependences of Vickers microhardness and fracture toughness were also examined. Densification of Si3N4 was divided into three stages, and it was found that densification and phase transformation of Si3N4 under pressure were closely associated. The results of the temperature dependence of Vickers microhardness indicated that the high-temperature hardness was strongly influenced not only by the density and microstructure of sintered body but also by the purity of starting powder. The fracture toughness values of Si3N4 bodies without additives were 3.29-4.39 MN/m to the 3/2 power and independent of temperature up to 1400 C

Effects of solute and vacancy segregation on antiphase boundary migration in stoichiometric and Al-rich Fe₃Al: a phase-field simulation study

Effects of segregation of solute atoms and vacancies on migration of antiphase boundaries (APBs) in stoichiometric (Fe-25 at%Al) and Al-rich (Fe-28 at%Al) Fe₃Al at 673 K have been studied using a phase-field method in which local vacancy concentration is taken into account [Koizumi Y, Allen SM, Minamino Y. Acta Mater 2008;56:5861, ibid. 2009;57:3039]. Boundary mobility (M) of APBs having different phase-shift vectors of a/4 and a/2 (hereafter denoted as B2-APB and D0₃-APB, respectively) was evaluated by measuring the boundary velocity of shrinking circular APBs. Similar effects of the segregation on the migration of B2-APBs were observed in both compositions. Vacancies segregated and Al-atoms were depleted at B2-APBs in both compositions. Vacancy concentration at B2-APBs was up to 80% higher than that in the bulk. As a result, the migration of B2-APBs was greatly enhanced by the vacancy segregation. In contrast, the segregation to D0₃-APBs showed a marked composition dependence. Vacancies were depleted and Al-atoms segregated at D0₃-APBs in the Al-rich Fe₃Al, whereas vacancies segregated and Al-atoms were depleted at D0₃-APB in the stoichiometric Fe₃Al. The Al segregation in the Al-rich Fe3Al decreased M of D0₃-APBs much more significantly than the Al-depletion in the stoichiometric Fe₃Al. As the APDs shrank, D0₃-APBs broke away from the segregation atmospheres and the M increased rapidly in both compositions. A greater increase in the M due to the breakaway was observed in the Al-rich Fe₃Al than in Fe₃Al with the stoichiometric composition.Iketani Science and Technology Promotion Foundatio

Behavior of self-propelled acetone droplets in a Leidenfrost state on liquid substrates

It is demonstrated that non-coalescent droplets of acetone can be formed on liquid substrates. The fluid flows around and in an acetone droplet hovering on water are recorded to shed light on the mechanisms which might lead to non-coalescence. For sufficiently low impact velocities, droplets undergo a damped oscillation on the surface of the liquid substrate but at higher velocities clean bounce-off occurs. Comparisons of experimentally observed static configurations of floating droplets to predictions from a theoretical model for a small non-wetting rigid sphere resting on a liquid substrate are made and a tentative strategy for determining the thickness of the vapor layer under a small droplet on a liquid is proposed. This strategy is based on the notion of effective surface tension. The droplets show self-propulsion in straight line trajectories in a manner which can be ascribed to a Marangoni effect. Surprisingly, self-propelled droplets can become immersed beneath the undisturbed water surface. This phenomenon is reasoned to be drag-inducing and might provide a basis for refining observations in previous work

CoFeB Thickness Dependence of Thermal Stability Factor in CoFeB/MgO Perpendicular Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

Thermal stability factor (delta) of recording layer was studied in perpendicular anisotropy CoFeB/MgO magnetic tunnel junctions (p-MTJs) with various CoFeB recording layer thicknesses and junction sizes. In all series of p-MTJs with different thicknesses, delta is virtually independent of the junction sizes of 48-81 nm in diameter. The values of delta increase linearly with increasing the recording layer thickness. The slope of the linear fit is explained well by a model based on nucleation type magnetization reversal.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

Large thermal Hall coefficient in bismuth

We present a systematical study of thermal Hall effect on a bismuth single crystal by measuring resistivity, Hall coefficient, and thermal conductivity under magnetic field, which shows a large thermal Hall coefficient comparable to the largest one in a semiconductor HgSe. We discuss that this is mainly due to a large mobility and a low thermal conductivity comparing theoretical calculations, which will give a route for controlling heat current in electronic devices.Comment: 4pages, 3 figure

Fundamental and clinical evaluation of "SCC RIABEAD" kit for immuno radiometric assay of squamous cell carcinoma related antigen.

Classic vector control strategies target mosquitoes indoors as the main transmitters of malaria are indoor-biting and –resting mosquitoes. However, the intensive use of insecticide-treated bed-nets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying have put selective pressure on mosquitoes to adapt in order to obtain human blood meals. Thus, early-evening and outdoor vector activity is becoming an increasing concern. This study assessed the effect of a deltamethrin-treated net (100 mg/m2) attached to a one-meter high fence around outdoor cattle enclosures on the number of mosquitoes landing on humans. Mosquitoes were collected from four cattle enclosures: Pen A – with cattle and no net; B – with cattle and protected by an untreated net; C – with cattle and protected by a deltamethrin-treated net; D – no cattle and no net. A total of 3217 culicines and 1017 anophelines were collected, of which 388 were Anopheles gambiae and 629 An. ziemanni. In the absence of cattle nearly 3 times more An. gambiae (p<0.0001) landed on humans. The deltamethrin-treated net significantly reduced (nearly three-fold, p<0.0001) culicine landings inside enclosures. The sporozoite rate of the zoophilic An. ziemanni, known to be a secondary malaria vector, was as high as that of the most competent vector An. gambiae; raising the potential of zoophilic species as secondary malaria vectors. After deployment of the ITNs a deltamethrin persistence of 9 months was observed despite exposure to African weather conditions. The outdoor use of ITNs resulted in a significant reduction of host-seeking culicines inside enclosures. Further studies investigating the effectiveness and spatial repellence of ITNs around other outdoor sites, such as bars and cooking areas, as well as their direct effect on vector-borne disease transmission are needed to evaluate its potential as an appropriate outdoor vector control tool for rural Africa