Effect of Treatment Temperature on Iron Nitride Foils Irradiated with Nitrogen Plasma

We investigated the effect of treatment temperature on the magnetic property of iron nitride foils irradiated with nitrogen plasma. The iron nitride foils irradiated with nitrogen plasma were composed of ε-Fe2/3N, γ'-Fe4N and γ nitrogen austenite in α-Fe of the matrix. The saturation magnetization of the iron nitride foils decreased with increasing the surface temperature. The coercive force of the iron nitride foils increased with increasing the surface temperature.

Analysis of Magnetism in High Nitrogen Austenitic Stainless Steel and Its Elimination by High Temperature Gas Nitriding

Stable austenitic structure in medical stainless steels is basically required for surgical implantation. A weak magnetism was found in a high nitrogen nickel-free austenitic stainless steel for cardiovascular stent application. This magnetic behavior in high nitrogen stainless steel was investigated by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction （XRD）, electron probe microanalysis （EPMA） and superconducting quantum interference device （SQUID）. The results showed that the magnetism came from the composition segregation of ferrite formation elements such as Cr and Mo in the steel and some 6-ferrites were locally formed during the pressurized electroslag remelting process. The magnetism of high nitrogen stainless steel could be eliminated by a proper high temperature gas nitriding （HTGN）.

Synthesis of Nano-Size AlN Powders by Carbothermal Reduction from Plasma-Assisted Ball Milling Precursor

Nano-size aluminum nitride （A1N） powders have been successfully synthesized with a high efficiency method through annealing from milling assisted by discharge plasma （p-milling） alumina （Al2O3） precursors. The characterization of the p-milling Al2O3 powders and the synthesized AlN are investigated. Compared to conventional ball milling （c-milling）, it can be found that the precursors by p-milling have a finer grain size with a higher specific surface area, which lead to a faster reaction efficiency and higher conversion to A1N at lower temperatures. The activation energy of p-milling Al2O3 is found to be 371.5 kJ/mol, a value that is much less than the reported value of the unmilled and the conventional milled Al2O3. Meanwhile, the synthesized AlN powders have unique features, such as an irregular lamp-like morphology with uniform particle distribution and fine average particle size. The results are attributed to the unique synergistic effect of p-milling, which is the effect of deformation, fracture, and cold welding of Al2O3 powders resulting from ball milling, that will be enhanced due to the introduction of discharge plasma.

First-principles verification of CuNNi_3 and ZnNNi_3 as phonon mediated superconductors

Very recently, a new Ni-based antiperovskite nitride superconductor CuNNi3 has been successfully synthesized. We investigate the electronic structures, phonon dispersions, and electron–phonon interactions of CuNNi3 and the isostructual ZnNNi3 by first-principles approach. By analyzing the Eliashberg function we obtain the superconducting transition temperature Tc 3.16 K(3.53 K), which is in good agreement with corresponding experimental Tc 3.2 K(3 K) for Cu NNi3(ZnNNi3). They can be verified as conventional phonon-mediated superconductors.