Recently, the necessity of designing and applying tool materials that perform machining of difficult-to-cut materials in a cryogenic treatment where demand is increasing. The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of cryogenically treated WC-5 wt% NbC hard materials fabricated by a pulsed current activated sintering process. The densely consolidated specimens are cryogenically exposed to liquid nitrogen for 6, 12, and 24 h. All cryogenically treated samples exhibit compressive stress in the sintered body compared with the untreated sample. Furthermore, a change in the lattice constant leads to compressive stress in the specimens, which improves their mechanical performance. The cryogenically treated samples exhibit significant improvement in mechanical properties, with a 10.5 % increase in Vickers hardness and a 60 % decrease in the rupture strength compared with the untreated samples. However, deep cryogenic treatment of over 24 h deteriorates the mechanical properties indicating that excessive treatment causes tensile stress in the specimens. Therefore, the cryogenic treatment time should be controlled precisely to obtain mechanically enhanced hard materials.

A nuclear, biological, chemical (NBC) canister was indigenously developed using active carbon impregnated with ammoniacal salts of copper (II), chromium (VI) and silver (I), and high efficiency particulate aerosol filter media. The NBC canister was evaluated against carbon tetra chloride (CCl4) vapours, which were used as a simulant for persistent chemical warfare agents under dynamic conditions for testing breakthrough times of canisters of gas masks in the National Approval Test of Respirators. The effects of CCl4 concentration, test flow rate, temperature, and relative humidity (RH) on the breakthrough time of the NBC canister against CCl4 vapour were also studied. The impregnated carbon that filled the NBC canister was characterized for surface area and pore volume by N2 adsorption-desorption isotherm at liquid nitrogen temperature. The study clearly indicated that the NBC canister provides adequate protection against CCl4 vapours. The breakthrough time decreased with the increase of the CCl4 concentration and flow rate. The variation in temperature and RH did not significantly affect the breakthrough behaviour of the NBC canister at high vapour concentration of CCl4, whereas the breakthrough time of the NBC canister was reduced by an increase of RH at low CCl4 vapour concentration.

The sodium bicarbonate cotransporter (NBC) protein is functionally expressed in salivary glands. In this experiment, we examined the role of NBC in HCO₃-formation in human parotid gland acinar cells. Intracellular pH (pHi) was measured in 2'-7'-bis(carboxyethyl)-5(6)-carboxyfluorescein (BCECF)-loaded cells. Acetazolamide (0.1 mM) and 4,4'-diisothio cyanatostilbene-2,2'-disulphonic acid (DIDS, 0.5 mM) were used as specific inhibitors of carbonic anhydrase and NBC, respectively. The degree of inhibition was assessed by measuring the pHi recovery rate (△pHi/min) after cell acidification using an ammonium prepulse technique. In control experiments, △pHi/min was 1.40±0.06. Treatment of cells with 0.5 mM DIDS or 0.1 mM acetazolamide significantly reduced △pHi/min to 1.14±0.14 and 0.74±0.15, respectively. Simultaneous application of DIDS and acetazolamide further reduced △pHi/min to 0.47±0.10. Therefore, DIDS and acetazolamide reduced △pHi/min by 19% and 47%, respectively, while simultaneous application of both DIDS and acetazolamide caused a reduction in △pHi/min of 67%. These results suggest that in addition to carbonic anhydrase, NBC also partially contributes to HCO₃- formation in human parotid gland acinar cells.

The indentation technique has been one of the most commonly used techniques for the measurement of the mechanical properties of materials due to its experimental ease and speed. Recently, the scope of indentation has been enlarged down to the nanometer range through the development of instrumentations capable of continuously measuring load and displacement. In addition to testing hardness, the elastic modulus of submicron area could be measured from an indentation load-displacement (P-h) curve. In this study, the hardness values of the constituent phases in Ti()-NbC-Ni cermets were evaluated by nanoindentation. SEM observation of the indented surface was indispensable in order to separate the hardness of each constituent phase since the Ti()-based cermets have relatively inhomogeneous microstructure. The measured values of hardness using nanoindentation were GPa for hard phase and GPa for binder phase. The effect of NbC addition on hardness was not obvious in this work.

The introduction of ceramic particulate into metallic powder will unavoidably lower the compressibility and formability of the mixed powder. In this study, warm compaction, which is a simple and low cost technique to produce high density PM parts, was introduced in preparing composite. The aim of this paper is to prepare the warm compacted NbC particulate reinforced Fe-based composite, then study its tribological behavior and application in the valve-guide cup. A 15 wt.% NbC reinforced iron-based composite was prepared. It possesses a relative density of 98%, a tensile strength of 515 MPa, a hardness of HRC 58 and a remarkable tribological behavior.

The present study investigates the behavior of the sintering and hardness of stainless steel samples reinforced with NbC and TaC. Matrixes of pure stainless steel were compacted with addition of up to 3% wt NbC or TaC in a cylindrical die of steel at 700 MPa and sintered in an electrical resistance furnace under argon atmosphere. The sintered samples were characterized by density and hardness measurement, optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The preliminary results show that the size and distribution of carbides influence in the sintering and hardness of the sintered samples.

The development of Fe-based metal matrix composites (MMCs) with high content of hard phase has been approached by combining the use of advanced powder metallurgy techniques like high-energy milling (HEM), cold isostatic pressing (CIP) and vacuum sinterings. A 30% vol. of NbC particles was mixed with Fe powder by HEM in a planetary mill during 10h, characteristing the powder by the observation of morphology and microstructure by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). After of sintering process the variation of density, hardness,carbon content and the microstructural changes observed, permits to find the optimal conditions of processing. Afterwards, a heat treatment study was performed to study the hardenability of the composite.

고분해능 전자에너지손실 및 자외선광전자 분광법을 사용하여 단결정 NbC(111)면의 산소횹착을 연구하였다. NbC(111) 표면에는 산소가 원자 및 분자상태로 흡착되었다. 산소원자는 3-fold hollow site에 흡착되며 진동수는 548cm-1이었다. 산소분자의 신축진동수는 968cm-1로서 기체상태인 산소분자의 진동수보다 크게 낮았으며, 산소분자의 흡착으로 일함수가 증가하였다. 이는 NbC(111) 기판으로부터 산소분자의 2ppig 궤도로 전자가 이동하였음을 보여주는 증거이다.