High-dielectric-constant nanograin BaTiO_(3)-based ceramics for ultra-thin layer multilayer ceramic capacitors via grain grading engineering

Four BT-based ceramic samples were prepared using a grain grading approach.The bigger-grained(~100 nm)and smaller-grained(~70 nm)BaTiO_(3)(BT)powders were mixed.The smaller-grained BT powder controlled the average grain size and guaranteed the reliability,while the bigger-grained powder enhanced the dielectric constant.Various percentages of bigger-grained BT powder were introduced to balance the average grain size and the dielectric constant.As the proportion of bigger grains increased,the dielectric constant(εr)improved significantly.The room-temperatureεr of 25%bigger-grain mixed BT(2623)was~50%higher than that of the sample with a similar average grain size without grain grading.The ceramic mixed with 15%bigger-grained BT showed comprehensive dielectric performance,which met the EIA X5R standard and provided a considerableεr of 1841 along with a low dielectric loss of 0.78%.Notably,the average grain size was 90 nm,which favors the applications in ultra-thin multilayer ceramic capacitors.

Research on the Relationship between Grain Composition and Repose Angle of Coal Gangue in Dongkuang Mine, Heshan City, Guangxi, China

Heshan, a city in Southwest China, has been built over an old coal mining area. Due to low level of reclamation, coal gangue had been stacked in large heaps and caused geological environ- mental problems. To facilitate designing management project of coal gangue, we made an investigation of the largest coal gangue heap in Dongkuang Mine of Heshan. Firstly, the grain composition of coal gangue was estimated through the sieving method, then the representative grading curve was drawn through the statistics method of coarse grain content, and lastly the relationship between the repose an- gle and grain grading was studied by piling up coal gangue with different mix proportion. The result indicates that there is a wider range of grain size in the upper part of coal gangue heap, and the repre- sentative grain grading is well graded and easy to be compacted as filling materials. Besides, the wavy relationship curve of repose angle and coarse grain content shows that the content of 70% is the infiec- tion point of ascent stage and 85% the inflection point of descent stage of the repose angle. What＇s more, the repose angle corresponding to the representative grading of coal gangue is approximately 38.4° and this has guiding significance for management project of coal gangue.

Impact of climate change on fluctuations of grain harvests in China from the Western Han Dynasty to the Five Dynasties(206 BC–960 AD)

The occurrence of bumper or poor grain harvests in ancient China plays an important role in explaining how past climate changes affected the economy.Because of the lack of long-term continuous and high-resolution quantitative data for reconstructing the series of grain harvests in ancient China,understanding of the impacts and mechanisms involved in climate change is limited.This study presents a method designed for reconstructing grain harvest series by quantifying grain output levels based on the descriptions in historical documents.The method involves setting the grain output level for each year based on very specific meanings of different words,calculating a yield index based on the structure of each level and assessing grain yields(bumper or poor harvests)every 10 years.First,1636 records related to grain yields(including crop yields,food security,agricultural disasters,grain prices,grain storage and people's livelihoods)for each year were retrieved from history books called the Twenty-Four Histories.Second,using this method,a 10-year resolution graded grain harvest series from the Western Han Dynasty to the Five Dynasties(206 BC–960 AD)is reconstructed.Finally,the relationship between the variations in temperature and precipitation and the fluctuation of grain yields is examined.The results show that from the Western Han Dynasty to the Five Dynasties,bumper,average and poor harvest decades accounted for 33.3%,39.3%and 27.4%of the 1,166-year period,respectively.The grain yields during 206 BC–960 AD can be divided into three stages:a period of bumper harvests during 206–51 BC,poor harvests during 50 BC–590 AD and bumper harvests during 591–960 AD.Bumper harvest decades typically experienced a warm climate with normal or high levels of precipitation,while poor harvest decades had a cold and dry climate.A positive correlation was found between temperature and grain yield because a warm climate allows a full use of resources.The observed relationship between precipitation and grain yield indicated that both flooding and droughts cause poor harvests,which confirms that agricultural production in the monsoon climate of eastern China is greatly impacted by conditions of limited heat and extreme precipitation.