Use of Solid State Carbothermic Reduction in Production of Transition Metals and Their Carbides

The use of solid state carbothermic reduction as a precursor to the smelting of transition metal ores was examined . The advantages of the introduction of a prereduction stage include enabling the more efficient use of fines and the achievement of higher energy efficiencies. A solid state reduction using carbon as the reductant offers a simpler alternative for their treatment. Subsequent treatment of the reduced material could include intensive bath smelting to produce ferroalloys or, in some case, solid state separation of the transition metal carbide where this has commercial significance.

Solid−solid phase transition of tungsten induced by high pressure:A molecular dynamics simulation

The phase transition of tungsten(W)under high pressures was investigated with molecular dynamics simulation.The structure was characterized in terms of the pair distribution function and the largest standard cluster analysis(LSCA).It is found that under 40−100 GPa at a cooling rate of 0.1 K/ps a pure W melt first crystallizes into the body-centred cubic(BCC)crystal,and then transfers into the hexagonal close-packed(HCP)crystal through a series of BCC−HCP coexisting states.The dynamic factors may induce intermediate stages during the liquid−solid transition and the criss-cross grain boundaries cause lots of indistinguishable intermediate states,making the first-order BCC−HCP transition appear to be continuous.Furthermore,LSCA is shown to be a parameter-free method that can effectively analyze both ordered and disordered structures.Therefore,LSCA can detect more details about the evolution of the structure in such structure transition processes with rich intermediate structures.

Topological phase transition in compressed van der Waals superlattice heterostructure BiTeCl/HfTe_(2)

Based on first-principles calculations,we investigate the electronic band structures and topological properties of heterostructure BiTeCl/HfTe_(2) under c-direction strain.In the primitive structure,this material undergoes a phase transition from an insulator with a narrow indirect gap to a metal by strong spin-orbital coupling.When strain effect is considered,band inversion at time-reversal invariant point Z is responsible for the topological phase transition.These nontrivial topologies are caused by two different types of band crossings.The observable topological surface states in(110)surface also support that this material experiences topological phase transition twice.The layered heterostructure with van der Waals force provides us with a new desirable platform upon which to control topological phase transition and construct topological superconductors.

Solid state recycling of Mg-Gd-Y-Zn-Zr alloy chips by isothermal sintering and equal channel angular pressing

The Mg-7Gd-4Y-2Zn-0.5Zr alloy chips were successfully recycled through isothermal sintering and equal channel angular pressing(ECAP).The mechanical properties and microstructure evolution of samples during the recycling process were studied in detail.The eutectic phases in the as-cast alloy transform into long period-stacking ordered(LPSO)phases after homogenization,which can improve the plasticity of the material.After isothermal sintering,the density of the sample is lower than that of the homogenized sample,and oxide films are formed adjacent to the bonding interface of the metal chips.Hence,the plasticity of the sintered sample is poor.Dense samples are fabricated after ECAP.Although the grains are not refined compared to the sintered sample,the microstructure becomes more uniform due to recrystallization.Fiber interdendritic LPSO phase and kinked 14H-LPSO phase are formed in the alloy due to the shear deformation during the ECAP process,which improves the strength and plasticity of the sample significantly.Furthermore,the basal texture is weakened due to the Bc route of the ECAP process,which can increase the Schmid factor of the basal slip system and improve the elongation of the sample.After 2 ECAP passes,the fully densified recycled billet shows superior mechanical properties with an ultimate tensile strength of 307.1 MPa and elongation of 11.1%.

Effects of high-pressure heat treatment on the solid-state phase transformation and microstructures of Cu_(61.13)Zn_(33.94)Al_(4.93) alloys

The phase transformation activation energy of the Cu61.13Zn33.94A14.93 alloys, which were treated at 4 GPa and 700 ℃ for 15 minutes, was calculated by means of differential scanning calorimetry curves obtained at various heating and cooling rates. Then, the effects of high-pressure heat treatments on the solid-state phase transformation and the microstructures of Cu61.13Zn33.94A14.93 alloys were investigated. The results show that high-pressure heat treatments can refine the grains and can change the preferred orientation from （111） to （200） of α phase. Compared with the as-cast alloy, the sample with high-pressure heat treatment has finer grains, lower β＇→β and/β→β＇ transformation temperature and activation energy. Furthermore, we found that high cooling rate favours the formation of fine needle-like α phase in the range of 5-20℃/min.

SOLID PHASE TRANSITION OF SYNDIOTACTIC POLYSTYRENE IN SUPERCRITICAL CO_2

Solid phase transition of the a form crystals to the 3 form crystals in syndiotactic polystyrene (sPS) samples has occurred in supercritical CO2. This transformation is different from those detected under other conditions. The effects of some factors (e.g. time, temperature, and pressure) on the solid phase transformation of sPS in supercritical CO2 were analyzed in detail. Experimental results show that longer time, higher temperature or higher pressure favors the transformation of the a form crystals to the beta form crystals.

Analytic equation of state for solids with multi-exponential potential based on analytic mean field potential approach and applied to the epsilon phase of solid oxygen

The thermodynamic properties of the ε phase of solid oxygen are studied by using the analytic mean field approach （AMFP）. Analytic expressions for the Helmholtz free energy, internal energy and equation of state of solid oxygen have been derived based on the multi-exponential potential. The formulism for the case of double-exponential （DE） model is applied to the ε phase of solid oxygen. Its four potential parameters are determined through fitting the experimental compression data of the ε phase of solid oxygen. Numerical results of the pressure dependence of the volume calculated by using the AMFP are in good agreement with the original experimental data. This suggests that the AMFP is a useful approach to study the thermodynamic properties of the ε phase of solid oxygen. Furthermore, we predict the variation of the volume, lattice parameters and intermolecular distances with pressure, and some thermodynamic quantities versus volume, at several higher temperatures.

The contribution of solid-state chemistry in the determination of multicomponent phase diagrams

For a long period of time, the determination of phase diagrams was only supported by experiments related to thermal effects or thermodynamic measurements： thermal analysis, calorimetric measurements, vapor pressures, and EMF measurements. As a matter of fact, solid-solid transformations were not so accurately determined and could not be taken into account in the system＇s analysis. First, X-ray diffraction methods were used as a support for the thermal analysis. Second, the implementation of novel tools in structural analysis （for example, the Rietveld method） has permitted to increase the knowledge of phase stability. Finally, modeling the phases using a Calphad method needed increasingly more structural results to determine and better understand the phase diagrams. On the other hand, the Calphad method has been widely developed for metallic systems, for oxide systems, and in the past 10 years, for some semi-conductor systems, for example, gallium arsenide, cadmium telluride, and lead telluride systems. In such applications, it is very important to bring point defects in the modeling of the phases to map the defects as a function of the chemical composition. Owing to its complexity, this characteristic, the knowledge of which is crucial for the understanding and the control of potential physical applications, was ignored in the previous assessment of semi-conductor systems.

SOLID-STATE PHASE TRANSFORMATION OF WELDED METAL IN CONTROL OF WELDING DISTORTION PROCESS

Based on the tests of a build-up welding at plate edge (BWPE) and amulti-layer build-up welding on plate (MBWP), the article studies on the solid-state phasetransformations which affect welding distortion process and on the influence rule of transformationstarting temperature (TST) of welded metal to the welding residual distortion. The weldingdistortion can be decreased or controlled by the transformation volume expansion caused bysolid-state phase transformation of welded metal during the cooling. The test results of BWPE showthat when TST is at about 190 deg C, the bending distortion of welded specimen is the smallest, andits displacements at free end are decreased to 58 percent and 67 percent compared with those ofconventional welding electrodes A102 and E5015, which TST are less than room temperature and equalto 758 deg C respectively. The test results of MBWP show that when TST were at 100 approx 250 deg C.the welded specimen would appear reversible bending distortion compared with those of A102 andE5015. The maximum deflection value of reversible bending distortion in 8 mm thick plate is -2.94 mmat about 170 deg C of TST. The test results provide a valuable method to decrease or to controlwelding residual distortion.

Phase transitions of the five-state clock model on the square lattice

Using the tensor renormalization group method based on the higher-order singular value decomposition, we have studied the phase transitions of the five-state clock model on the square lattice. The temperature dependence of the specific heat indicates the system has two phase transitions, as verified clearly by the correlation function at three representative tem- peratures. By calculating the magnetic susceptibility, we obtained only the upper critical temperature as To2 = 0.9565（7）. Investigating the fixed-point tensor, we precisely locate the transition temperatures at Tcl = 0.9029（1） and Tc2 = 0.9520（1）, consistent well with the Monte Carlo and the density matrix renormalization group results.

Critical Behavior of the Energy Gap and Its Relation with the Berry Phase Close to the Excited State Quantum Phase Transition in the Lipkin Model

In our previous work [Phys. Rev. A 85 （2012） 044102], we studied the Berry phase of the ground state and exited states in the Lipkin model. In this work, using the Hellmann-Feynman theorem, we derive the relation between the energy gap and the Berry phase closed to the excited state quantum phase transition （ESQPT） in the Lipkin model. It is found that the energy gap is approximately linearly dependent on the Berry phase being closed to the ESQPT for large N. As a result, the critical behavior of the energy gap is similar to that of the Berry phase. In addition, we also perform a semiclassical qualitative analysis about the critical behavior of the energy gap.

Effect of high Pressure on the Solid-State Phase Transformation Microstructure of Cu-Zn Alloy

The solid-state phase transformation microstructure of Cu-Zn alloy under different high pressure were investigated by means of SEM and XRD. The results show that the α phase with smaller grain size, different shape and random distribution appears in the Cu-Zn alloy, when the solid-state phase transformation generation in the Cu-Zn alloy under 25～750 ℃ and 3～6 GPa high pressure, and the volume fraction of transformation phase decreases with increasing pressure, under high pressure (6 GPa), the changes of microstructure of Cu-Zn alloy is not obvious. In addition, the effect of high pressure on the solid-state phase transformation microstructure of Cu-Zn alloy was discussed.

DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF MULTI-STEP AMPLITUDE QUANTIZATION WEIGHTED 2-D SOLID-STATE ACTIVE PHASED ARRAY ANTENNAS

An aperture design technique using multi-step amplitude quantization for two-dimensional solid-state active phased arrays to achieve low sidelobe is described. It can be applied to antennas with arbitrary complex aperture. Also, the gain drop and sidelobe degradation due to random amplitude and phase errors and element (or T/R module) failures are investigated.

Phase transition and dynamics of iron under ramp wave compression

The ramp wave compression experiments of iron with different thicknesses were performed on the magnetically driven ramp loading device CQ-4.Numerical simulations of this process were done with Hayes multi-phase equation of state (H-MEOS) and dynamic equations of phase transition.The calculated results of H-MEOS are in good agreement with those of shock phase transition,but are different from those under ramp wave compression.The reason for this is that the bulk modulus of the material in the Hayes model and the wave velocity are considered constant.Shock compression is a jump from the initial state to the final state,and the sound speed is related to the slope of the Rayleigh line.However,ramp compression is a continuous process,and the bulk modulus is no longer a constant but a function of pressure and temperature.Based on Mumaghan equation of state,the first-order correction of the bulk modulus on pressure in the Hayes model was carried out.The numerical results of the corrected H-MEOS agree well with those of pure iron in both ramp and shock compression phase transition experiments.The calculated results show that the relaxation time of iron is about 30 ns and the phase transition pressure is about 13 GPa.There are obvious differences between the isentropic and adiabatic process in terms of pressure-specific volume and temperature-pressure.The fluctuation of the sound speed after 13 GPa is caused by the phase transition.

Influence of Model Parameters on Hadron-Quark Phase Transition in Neutron Star Matter

We study the influence of the model parameters on the phase transitions, the equation of state （EOS）, and the corresponding mass-radius relations in the interior of neutron stars. The numerical analysis shows that the coupling constants of hyperons have a slight influence on the phase transitions and EOS, but an obvious influence on the particle fractions, while the bag constant B and coupling constant g have an important influence on the phase transitions, the EOS, and the mass-radius relations. We find that both the bag constant B and coupling constant g play the same role in the description of the interactions between quarks of hybrid stars. The maximum mass calculated by using the bag constant determined with experimental data （ranging from 175 to 200 MeV） falls in the interval of 1.4 ～1.7 solar mass. The corresponding radius is between 9.3 and 12 km. These results are in agreement with observed values of neutron stars. The possibility of the existence of a third family is discussed. The detection of a third family may provide a signature for a phase transition inside neutron stars.

Ground-State Phase Diagram of Transverse Spin-2 Ising Model with Longitudinal Crystal-Field

The transverse spin-2 Ising ferromagnetic model with a longitudinal crystal-field is studied within the mean-field theory based on Bogoliubov inequality for the Gibbs free energy. The ground-state phase diagram and the tricritical point are obtained in the transverse field Ω/ zJ-longitudinal crystal D / zJ field plane. We find that there are the first order-order phase transitions in a very small range of D /zJ besides the usual first order-disorder phase transitions and the second order-disorder phase transitions,

Solid state synthesis of nano-mineral particles

Many researchers in academia and industries are interested in reducing particle sizes from few submicrometers to nano-meter levels.These nano-particles find application in several areas including ceramics,paints,cosmetics,microelectronics,sensors,textiles and biomedical,etc.This article reviews the present state of the art for solid state synthesis of mineral nano-particles by wet milling,including their operating variables such as ball size,solid mass fraction and suspension stability.This article concludes and recommends with a critical discussion of nano-particles synthesis and a few common strategies to overcome stability issues.

Pair phase transition and its evolution on even ^(64～68)Ge isotopes

By using a microscopic sdIBM-2+2q.p. approach which is the phenomenological core plus two-quasi-particle model and the experimental single-particle energies, the levels of the ground-band, β-band, γ-band, and partial two-quasi-particle states on 64~68 Ge isotopes are successfully reproduced. Based on the phenomenological model and microscopic approach, it has been deduced that no s-boson in the nucleus is breaking up and aligning; and that when one d-boson does, the minimum aligned energy can be calculated. This paper explicitly indicates that, with the increase of neutron number, an evolution process of PPT objectes, i.e. from the two-quasi-proton states (on64Ge nucleus) to the two-quasi-neutron states (on 68Ge nucleus) may take place in even Ge isotopes.

Theoretical study on order–disorder phase transition of CH3NH3PbCl3

Order–disorder phase transitions for CH3NH3PbCl3 are studied with density functional theory. Our calculations show that the disorder is manifested in two aspects in the cubic phase, namely, the disorder of orientation and rotation of organic groups. Organic groups of [CH3] and [NH3] in cubic crystals can easily rotate around its C3 axis. At the same time,[CH3NH3]^+ organic groups can also orient to different spatial directions due to the weak interactions between organic group and inorganic frame. Our results show that its possible phase transition path starts from the deviation of organic groups from the crystal c-axis. Its structural transition changes from disordered cubic phase to hydrogen-only disordered tetragonal structure in the process of decreasing symmetry. The disordered high temperature cubic phase can be expressed as a statistical average of substructures we rebuilt. The electrostatic repulsive force between adjacent organic groups triggers out the formation of low temperature phase on cooling.

Structure phase transformation and equation of state of cerium metal under pressures up to 51 GPa

This study presents high pressure phase transitions and equation of states of cerium under pressures up to 51 GPa at room temperature. The angle-dispersive x-ray diffraction experiments are carried out using a high energy synchrotron x-ray source. The bulk moduli of high pressure phases of cerium are calculated using the Birch-Mumaghan equation. We discuss and correct several previous controversial conclusions, which are caused by the measurement accuracy or personal explanation. The c/a axial ratio of e-Ce has a maximum value at about 29 GPa, i.e., c/a ≈ 1.690.