ZrB2 ceramic and ZrB2 ceramic composites with the addition of SiC, WC, and SiC/WC are successfully synthesized by a spark plasma sintering method. During high-temperature oxidation, SiC additive form a SiO2 amorphous outer scale layer and SiC-deplete ZrO2 scale layer, which decrease the oxidation rate. WC addition forms WO3 during the oxidation process to result in a ZrO2/WO3 liquid sintering layer, which is known to improve the antioxidation effect. The addition of SiC and WC to ZrB2 reduces the oxygen effective diffusivity by one-fifth of that of ZrB2. The addition of both SiC and WC shows the formation of a SiO2 outer dense glass layer and ZrO2/WO3 layer so that the anti-oxidation effect is improved three times as much as that of ZrB2. Therefore, SiC- and WC-added ZrB2 has a lower two-order oxygen effective diffusivity than ZrB2; it improves the anti-oxidation performance 3 times as much as that of ZrB2.
Fe3O4/SiO2/YVO4:Eu3+ multifunctional nanoparticles are successfully synthesized by facile stepwise sol-gel processes. The multifunctional nanoparticles show a spherical shape with narrow size distribution (approximately 40 nm) and the phosphor shells are well crystallized. The Eu3+ shows strong photoluminescence (red emission at 619 nm, absorbance at 290 nm) due to an effective energy transfer from the vanadate group to Eu. Core-shell structured multifunctional nanoparticles have superparamagnetic properties at 300 K. Furthermore, the core-shell nanoparticles have a quick response time for the external magnetic field. These results suggest that the photoluminescence and magnetic properties could be easily tuned by either varying the number of coating processes or changing the phosphor elements. The nanoparticles may have potential applications for appropriate fields such as laser systems, optical amplifiers, security systems, and drug delivery materials.
Additively manufactured metallic components contain high surface roughness values, which lead to unsatisfactory high cycle fatigue resistance. In this study, high cycle fatigue properties of selective laser melted Ti-6Al- 4V alloy are investigated and the effect of dry-electropolishing, which does not cause weight loss, on the fatigue resistance is also examined. To reduce the internal defect in the as-built Ti-6Al-4V, first, hot isostatic pressing (HIP) is conducted. Then, to improve the mechanical properties, solution treatment and aging are also implemented. Selective laser melting (SLM)-built Ti64 shows a primary α and secondary α+β lamellar structure. The sizes of secondary α and β are approximately 2 μm and 100 nm, respectively. On the other hand, surface roughness Ra values of before and after dry-electropolishing are 6.21 μm and 3.15 μm, respectively. This means that dry-electropolishing is effective in decreasing the surface roughness of selective laser melted Ti-6Al-4V alloy. The comparison of high cycle fatigue properties between before and after dry-electropolished samples shows that reduced surface roughness improves the fatigue limit from 150 MPa to 170 MPa. Correlations between surface roughness and high cycle fatigue properties are also discussed based on these findings.
Magnetic 0-D Nd2Fe14B powders are successfully fabricated using 1-D Nd2Fe14B nanowire formed by an efficient and facile electrospinning process approach. The synthesized Nd-Fe-B fibers and powders are investigated for their microstructural, crystallographic, and magnetic properties according to a series of subsequent heat treatments. Each heat-treatment process leads to the removal of organic impurities and the formation of the respective oxides/composites of Nd, Fe, and B, resulting in the formation of Nd2Fe14B powders. Nd-Fe-B fibers exhibit the following magnetic properties: The coercivity (Hci) of 3260 Oe, a maximum magnetization at 3T of 109.44 emu/g, and a magnetization remanence (Mr) of 44.11 emu/g. This process easily mass produces hard magnetic Nd2Fe14B powders using a 1-D synthesis process and can be extended to the experimental design of other magnetic materials.
Iron oxides currently attract considerable attention due to their potential applications in the fields of lithiumion batteries, bio-medical sensors, and hyperthermia therapy materials. Magnetite (Fe3O4) is a particularly interesting research target due to its low cost, good biocompatibility, outstanding stability in physiological conditions. Hydrothermal synthesis is one of several liquid-phase synthesis methods with water or an aqueous solution under high pressure and high temperature. This paper reports the growth of magnetic Fe3O4 particles from iron powder (spherical, <10 μm) through an alkaline hydrothermal process under the following conditions: (1) Different KOH molar concentrations and (2) different synthesis time for each KOH molar concentrations. The optimal condition for the synthesis of Fe3O4 using Fe powders is hydrothermal oxidation with 6.25 M KOH for 48 h, resulting in 89.2 emu/g of saturation magnetization at room temperature. The structure and morphologies of the synthesized particles are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD, 2θ = 20°–80°) with Cu-kα radiation and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), respectively. The magnetic properties of magnetite samples are investigated using a vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The role of KOH in the formation of magnetite octahedron is observed.
Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a typical inorganic material that has an excellent photocatalytic property and a high refractive index. It is used in water/air purifiers, solar cells, white pigments, refractory materials, semiconductors, etc.; its demand is continuously increasing. In this study, anatase and rutile phase titanium dioxide is prepared using hydroxyl and carboxyl; the titanium complex and its mechanism are investigated. As a result of analyzing the phase transition characteristics by a heat treatment temperature using a titanium complex having a hydroxyl group and a carboxyl group, it is confirmed that the material properties were different from each other and that the anatase and rutile phase contents can be controlled. The titanium complexes prepared in this study show different characteristics from the titania-formation temperatures of the known anatase and rutile phases. It is inferred that this is due to the change of electrostatic adsorption behavior due to the complexing function of the oxygen sharing point, which crystals of the TiO6 structure share.
In this work, ultra-fine calcium oxide (CaO) powder derived from eggshells is used as the starting material to synthesize mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA). The prepared CaO powder is confirmed to have an average particle size of 500 nm. MTAs are synthesized with three types of fine CaO-based powders, namely, tricalcium silicate (C3S), dicalcium silicate (C2S), and tricalcium aluminate (C3A). The synthesis behavior of C3S, C2S and C3A with ultra-fine CaO powder and the effects of C3A content and curing time on the properties of MTA are investigated. The characteristics of the synthesized MTA powders are examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission-scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM), and a universal testing machine (UTM). The microstructure and compressive strength characteristics of the synthesized MTA powders are strongly dependent on the C3A wt.% and curing time. Furthermore, MTA with 5 wt.% C3A is found to increase the compressive strength and shorten the curing time.
Macro-porous carbon foams are fabricated using cured spherical phenolic resin particles as a matrix and furfuryl alcohol as a binder through a simple casting molding. Different sizes of the phenolic resin particles from 100– 450 μm are used to control the pore size and structure. Ethylene glycol is additionally added as a pore-forming agent and oxalic acid is used as an initiator for polymerization of furfuryl alcohol. The polymerization is performed in two steps; at 80oC and 200oC in an ambient atmosphere. The carbonization of the cured body is performed under Nitrogen gas flow (0.8 L/min) at 800oC for 1 h. Shrinkage rate and residual carbon content are measured by size and weight change after carbonization. The pore structures are observed by both electron and optical microscope and compared with the porosity results achieved by the Archimedes method. The porosity is similar regardless of the size of the phenolic resin particles. On the other hand, the pore size increases in proportion to the phenol resin size, which indicates that the pore structure can be controlled by changing the raw material particle size.
In the development of advanced ceramic tools, material improvements and design freedom are critical in improving tool performance. However, in the die press molding method, many factors limit tool design and make it difficult to develop innovative advanced tools. Ceramic 3D printing facilitates the production of prototype samples for advanced tool development and the creation of complex tooling products. Furthermore, it is possible to respond to mass production requirements by reflecting the needs of the tool industry, which can be characterized by small quantities of various products. However, many problems remain in ensuring the reliability of ceramic tools for industrial use. In this study, alumina inserts, a representative ceramic tool, was manufactured using the digital light process (DLP), a 3D printing method. Alumina inserts prepared by 3D printing are pressurelessly sintered under the same conditions as coupon-type specimens prepared by press molding. After sintering, a hot isostatic pressing (HIP) treatment is performed to investigate the effects of relative density and microstructure changes on hardness and fracture toughness. Alumina inserts prepared by 3D printing show lower relative densities than coupon specimens prepared by powder molding but indicate similar hardness and higher fracture toughness values.