Microstructure and Thermal Conductivity of As-Cast and As-Solutionized Mg–Rare Earth Binary Alloys

The microstructure and thermal conductivity of four groups of Mg–rare earth（RE） binary alloys（Mg–Ce,Mg–Nd, Mg–Y and Mg–Gd） in as-cast and as-solutionized states were systematically studied. Thermal conductivity was measured on a Netzsch LFA457 using laser flash method at room temperature. Results indicated that for as-cast alloys, the volume fraction of second phases increased with the increase of alloying elements. After solutionizing treatment, a part or most of second phases were dissolved in α-Mg matrix, except for Mg–Ce alloys. The thermal conductivity of as-cast and as-solutionized Mg–RE alloys decreased with the increase of concentrations. The thermal conductivity of as-solutionized Mg–Nd,Mg–Y and Mg–Gd alloys was lower than that of as-cast alloys. Thermal conductivity of as-solutionized Mg–Ce alloys was higher than that of as-cast alloys, because of the elimination of lattice defects and fine dispersed particles during solutionizing treatment. Different RE elements have different influences on the thermal conductivity of Mg alloys in the following order： Ce 〈 Nd 〈 Y 〈 Gd. Ce has the minimum effect on thermal conductivity of Mg alloys, because of the very low solubility of Ce in the α-Mg matrix. The variations in the atomic radius of the solute elements with Mg atom（ r）, valence, configuration of extranuclear electron of the solute atoms, and the maximum solid solubility of elements in the α-Mg matrix were suggested to be the main reasons for the differences in thermal conductivity of resulting Mg–RE alloys.

Microstructure and properties of as-cast Cu-Cr-Zr alloys with lanthanum addition

Cu-0.45 Cr-0.2 Zr-xLa（x = 0-0.48） alloys were prepared by vacuum casting. The effects of La addition and orientation on the microstructure and properties of the as-cast alloy were investigated by an optical microscope, a scanning electron microscope with an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer, a tensile testing machine and an electrical conductivity tester. The result shows that the addition of La significantly refines the columnar grainsize and decreases the secondary dendrite arm spacing. Trace addition of La improves the room temperature ultimate tensile strength,elongation and electrical conductivity mainly by purifying during melting and casting. The ultimate tensile strength, elongation and electrical conductivity significantly decrease with the increase of La content due to formation of coarse particles and oxides, which severely harm the performance of the Cu-0.45 Cr-0.2 Zr-xLa alloys. The Cu-0.45 Cr-0.2 Zr-0.13 La alloy possesses a good combination of room temperature ultimate tensile strength, elongation and electrical conductivity. In addition, room temperature ultimate tensile strength and electrical conductivity along transverse direction of the ingot are higher than that along longitudinal direction,which is mainly ascribed to different distribution of grain boundary and grain orientation.

Hybridization between microstructure and magnetization improvement in lead and RE co-doped BiFeO_3

The crystal structure,magnetic and electrical properties of Bi（0.96）Pb（0.04） FeO3 and Bi（0.92）Pb（0.04）RE（0.04）FeO3（RE=La,Sm,Dy and Yb）polycrystalline samples were prepared by the flash autocombustion technique.X-ray diffraction（XRD）measurements show that the rare-earth doped compositions crystallized in rhombohedral symmetry of space group R3 c.The undoped sample consisted needle shape particles while rare earth substitution preferred platelet like particles as clarified from high resolution transmission electron microscopy（HRTEM）.Morphological features were examined using field emission scanning electron microscopy（FESEM）.Magnetization measurements showed that Yb^3＋ samples possessed the highest room temperature saturation magnetization while when Bi^3＋ ions were substituted by La^3＋ ions,a smaller MS（0.28 emu/g）was obtained.The coexistence of ferroelectric and magnetic transitions was detected using DSC and χM,indicating the multiferroic characteristics of Bi（0.92）Pb（0.04）RE（0.04）FeO3 crystallites.The Néel temperature shifted upwards with decreasing the ionic radius of rare earth ion.Nice correlation was established between microstructure,morphology and magnetic properties in view of the contribution of magnetocrystalline and shape anisotropy in the magnetic parameters values.

Preparation and characterization of Ce_(0.8)La_(0.2–x)Y_xO_(1.9) as electrolyte for solid oxide fuel cells

In this study, ultrafine Ce0.8La0.2–x Y x O1.9（for x=0, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20） powders were successfully prepared by the sol-gel method.The samples were characterized by fourier transform infrared（FTIR）, thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry（TG-DSC）, X-ray diffraction（XRD）, scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, AC impedance and thermal expansion measurements.Experimental results indicated that highly phase-pure cubic fluorite electrolyte Ce0.8La0.2–x Y x O1.9 powders were obtained after calcining at 600 °C.The as-synthesized powders exhibited high sintering activity, the Ce0.8La0.2–x Y x O1.9 series electrolytes which have higher relative densities over 96% could be obtained after sintered at 1400 °C for 4 h.Ce0.8La0.15Y0.05O1.9 electrolyte sintered at 1400 °C for 4 h exhibited higher oxide ionic conductivity（σ800 oC=0.057 S/cm）, lower electrical activation energy（E a=0.87 e V） and moderate thermal expansion coefficient（TEC=15.5×10-6 K-1, temperature range 25–800 °C）.

Synthesis kinetics and thermophysical properties of La_2(Zr_(0.7)Ce_(0.3))_2O_7 ceramic for thermal barrier coatings

La2（Zr0.7Ce0.3）2O7 （LZ7C3） ceramic was synthesized by solid state reaction with La2O3, ZrO2 and CeO2 as starting materials. The synthesis kinetics, phase structure, mass loss and microstructure were studied by thermo gravimetric-different thermal analyzer （TG-DTA）, X-ray difference （XRD） and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. The thermal conductivity and thermal expansion coefficient were measured by laser-flash method and pushing-rod method, respectively. XRD results showed that LZ7C3 was a mixture of La2Zr2O7 （LZ, pyro- chlore） and La2Ce2O7 （LC, fluorite）. The lowest synthesis temperature and time of LZ7C3 were 1400 oC and 5 h. There were no peaks of La2O3 when the powder granularity was about 0.82 μm in the synthesis process. The atom ratio La：Zr：Ce of prepared LZ7C3 powder was very close to 10：7：3 which was the theory value of LZ7C3. The thermal conductivity of LZ7C3 decreased gradually with the temperature increased up to 1200 oC, and was located within 0.79 to 1.02 W/（m·K）, which was almost 50% lower than that of LZ, whereas its thermal expansion coefficient was larger and the value was 11.6×10-6 K-1.

Preparation and characterization of LSO-SDC composite electrolytes

The properties of LSO-SDC composite electrolytes prepared by the mixed powder with different LSO/SDC mass ratios were studied. The apatite-type lanthanum silicates La10Si6O27（LSO） and Sm0.2Ce0.8O1.9（SDC） were synthesized via sol-gel process and glycine-nitrate process（GNP）, respectively. The phase structure, microstructure, relative density, thermal expansion properties and oxygen ion conductivity of the samples were investigated by means of techniques such as X-ray diffraction（XRD）, scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, Archimedes method, dilatometer, and AC impedance spectroscopy. The results showed that SDC addition to the samples could enhance the density of the samples. However, the LSO-SDC composite electrolyte sintered at 1550 oC was over sintering when the SDC content was 50 wt.%. At the lower content of SDC（0–10 wt.%）, the decrease of conductivity was predominantly attributed to the reducing concentration of carriers. However, the conductivities of the composite electrolytes increased with the increasing SDC content（10 wt.%–40 wt.%） because of the enhanced percolation of highly conductive SDC component in the microstructure of composite electrolytes. In addition,the dependence of conductivity on p（O2） showed that LSO-SDC composite electrolytes were stable in the examined range of p（O2）.

Thermoelectric properties of Yb x Co_4 Sb_(12) system

Yb x Co 4 Sb 12 polycrystals were fabricated by vacuum melting combined with hot-press sintering.The effect of Yb-filling on thermoelectric property of unfilled skutterudite CoSb 3 was investigated,which indicated the enhancement of the power factor of the material.Transport properties of materials changed from semi-conductor to semi-metal during the measurement of electrical conductivity,which indicated the change of electronic band structure.The maximum value of electrical conductivity was about 190000 S/m at 300 K for all samples.On the basis of Yb-filling,power factor of Yb 0.2 Co 4 Sb 12 reached 5-6 mW/（m·K） during the measurement temperature.Thermal conductivity decreased with increase of Yb content,and the thermal conductivity of Yb 0.2 Co 4 Sb 12 reached 3.2 W/（m·K） at 600 K.The ZT value of Yb 0.2 Co 4 Sb 12 reached 1.16 at 700 K due to positive contribution from high power factor and low thermal conductivity.

Thermal and transport properties of La_(2–x)Nd_xMo_2O_9

Single-phase La_（2–x）Nd_xMo_2O_9（0≤x≤1.8） compounds were prepared using solid-state reaction technique. Their structural and thermal p roperties were characterized by room and high temperatures X-ray diffraction（XRD）, thermo gravimetric analysis-differential scanningcalorimetry（TG-DSC）, and high temperature Raman spectra. The transport properties were investigated using D.C. four-probe technique and Hebb-Wagner polarization method. The substitution limit of Nb^（3＋） in La_（2–x）Nd_xMo_2O_9 was determined to be in the range of 1.8

Influence of dopant concentration on the transparent and thermal properties of Nd_2O_3-doped alumina translucent ceramics

The transparent and thermal developments of high-purity Al_2O_3 doped with different levels of Nd_2O_3 were investigated. Dopant levels ranged from 500–1500 ppm（Nd/Al atomic ratio）. The samples were characterized with X-ray diffraction（XRD）, scanning electron microscopy（SEM）, Raman spectroscopy, transmittance spectroscopy and specific heat measurement. Results revealed that with proper Nd doped, Nd^（3＋） ions solid dissolved in Al_2O_3 lattice, resulting in small and uniform grain and high bonding vibration, which was beneficial to transparent and thermal properties. With 1000 ppm Nd doped, Al_2O_3 translucent ceramics showed a total transmittance of 89% and thermal conductivity of 41.7 W/m/K, indicating a potential application as substrate for effective heat dissipation and multi emitting surface in LEDs module.