Microstructure and mechanical properties of Mg-3Sn-1Ca reinforced with AlN nano-particles

Microstructural evolution and strengthening mechanisms of Mg-3Sn-1Ca based alloys with additions of different amounts of Al N nanoparticles were investigated.It was found that with increasing the amount of AlN nano-particles the grain size decreases obviously.The existence of AlN nano-particles could refine the primary crystal phases CaMgSn,which provided more heterogeneous nucleation sites for the formation of magnesium.Moreover,such nano-particles could also restrict the grain growth during solidification.After adding AlN nano-particles,both the tensile properties at room temperature and high temperature 250℃and the hardness are largely improved.The improvement of strength is attributed to grain refinement and second phase refinement.

High temperature frictional wear behaviors of nano-particle reinforced NiCoCrAlY cladded coatings

The NiCoCrAlY coatings strengthened by three nano-particles with the same addition were prepared on a Ni-base super alloy using laser cladding technique. The dry frictional wear behaviors of the coatings at 500 ℃ in static air were investigated. The comparison was made with the coating without nano-particles. The results show that the wear mechanism of the NiCoCrAlY coatings with nano-particles, like the coating without nano-particles, is the delamination wear due to the strong plastic deformation and oxidative wear. However, the frictional coefficient of the coatings increases and presents the decrease trend with the increase of sliding distance after adding nano-particles. Moreover, the wear rate of the coatings with nano-particles is only 34.0%-64.5% of the coating without nano-particles. Among the three nano-particles, the improvement of nano-SiC on the high temperature wear resistance of the coating is the most significant.

Microstructure and Oxidation Behaviors of Nano-particles Strengthened NiCoCrAlY Cladded Coatings on Superalloys

Nano-particles which can largely improve the microstructure and oxidation resistance of materials are often used as a strengthening component in metal matrix composites. However, few studies were reported on its application in the bond coat of duplex structure thermal barrier coating（TBC）. Three kinds of NiCoCrAlY coatings strengthened by different nano-particles with the same addition （1%, mass fraction） were prepared by the laser cladding technique on Ni-based superalloy substrates, aiming to study the effects of the nano-particles on microstructure and oxidation resistance of NiCoCrAlY coatings （the bond coat of the duplex structure thermal barrier coatings）. Scanning electron microscope （SEM）, X-ray diffractometer（XRD） and thermogravimetry were employed to investigate their morphologies, phases and cyclic oxidation behaviors in atmosphere at 1 050℃, compared with the coating without nano-particles. With the addition of nano-particles, the growth pattern of the grains at the interface changed from epitaxial growth to non-epitaxial growth or part-epitaxial growth; slender dendrites were broken and cellularized; cracks and pores were restrained; and the oxidation weight-gain and the stripping resistance of the oxide scale were improved as well. Among the three kinds of nano-particles, the SiC nano-particles showed the most improvement on microstructure, while the CeO2 nano-particles were insufficient, but its effects on the oxidation resistance are the same as those of the SiC nano-particles. Based on the discussions of the influence mechanism, it is believed that CeO2 nano-particles would show better improvement than SiC nano-particles if the proper amount is added and the proper preparation technique of micro-nanometer composite powders is adopted, with the synergistic action of nanometer effect and reactive element effect.

Effect of nano-particle size on product distribution and kinetic parameters of Fe/Cu/La catalyst in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis

Effects of nano-particle size on hydrocarbon production rates and distributions for precipitated Fe/Cu/La catalysts in Fischer-Tropsch synthesis were investigated.Nano-structured iron catalyst was prepared by micro-emulsion method.The concept of two superimposed AndersonSchulz-Flory （ASF） distributions has been applied for the representation of the effects of reaction conditions and nano-particles size on kinetics parameters and product distributions.These results reveal that by reducing the particle size of catalyst,the break in ASF distributions was decreased.Also useful different kinetics equations for synthesis of C3 to C9 and C10 to C22 were determined by using α1 and α2 chain growth probabilities.

Surface tension of lithium bromide aqueous solution/ammonia with additives and nano-particles

In order to investigate the effect of additives and nano-particle on the surface tensions of lithium bromide(Li Br) aqueous solution/ammonia, many experiments were carried out based on Wilhelmy plate method. Firstly, the surface tension of Li Br aqueous solution with 1-octanol was measured and then the comparison between the measured results and previous experimental results was given to verify the measuring accuracy. Some new additives, such as cationic surfactants cetyltrimethyl ammonium chloride(CTAC), and cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide(CTAB) were chosen in the experiments. The experimental results show that CTAC and CTAB can obviously reduce the surface tension of Li Br aqueous solution/ammonia. In addition, it is found that nano-particles cannot remarkably decrease the surface tension of Li Br aqueous solution/ammonia. However, the mixed addition of additives and nano-particles can remarkably affect the surface tension of Li Br aqueous solution/ammonia. That is to say, additives play more important role in reducing the surface tension of Li Br aqueous solution/ammonia. But nano-particles may enhance the heat transfer in the absorption refrigeration process.

Influence of SiO_2 nano-particles on microstructures and properties of Ni-W-P/CeO_2-SiO_2 composites prepared by pulse electrodeposition

Ni-W-P base composites containing CeO2 and SiO2 nano-particles were prepared on common carbon steel surface by pulse co-deposition of Ni,W,P,CeO2 and SiO2 nano-particles.The influence of SiO2 concentrations in bath on microstructures and properties of Ni-W-P/CeO2-SiO2 composites was studied,and the characteristics were assessed by chemical compositions,element distribution,surface morphologies,deposition rate and microhardness.The results indicate that when SiO2 concentration in bath is controlled at 20 g/L,the composites possess the fastest deposition rate,the highest microhardness,compact microstructures,smaller crystallite sizes and uniform distribution of W,P,Ce and Si within Ni-W-P matrix metal.Increasing SiO2 concentration in bath from 10 to 20 g/L leads to the refinement in grain size and the inhomogeneity of microstructures.While when SiO2 concentration is increased to 30 g/L,the crystallite sizes increase again and some bosses with nodulation shape appear on the surface of composites.

Preparation and Characterization of Fe3O4 Magnetic Nano-particles by ^（60）Co γ-ray Irradiation

By using a new method, ^60Co γ-ray irradiation, Fe3O4 magnetic nano-particles were successfully synthesized at room temperature under ambient pressure. The structure, morphology and magnetic properties of these nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, transmission electron microscope （TEM） and vibrating sample magnetometer （VSM）, respectively. The radiation formation mechanism was also discussed. The results show that the absorbed dose can greatly influence the structure, morphology and magnetic properties of the products. XRD and TEM studies show that the product prepared by γ-ray irradiation （10 kGy） is pure FesO4 phase and the mean diameter of these nano-particles is about 21 nm. The Fe3O4 nano-particles synthesized by γ-ray irradiation （10 kGy） are mainly in small cubic shape and the size uniformity of these particles is good.

The influence of nano-particle tracers on the slip length measurements by microPTV

Direct measurement of slip length is based on the measured fluid velocity near solid boundary. However, previous micro particle image velocimetry/particle tracking velocimetry （microPIV/PTV） measurements have reported surprisingly large measured near-wall velocities of pressure-driven flow in apparent contradiction with the no-slip hy-pothesis and experimental results from other techniques. To better interpret the measured results of the microPIV/PTV, we performed velocity profile measurements near a hy-drophilic wall （z = 0.25-1.5 μm） with two sizes of tracer particles （φ 50 nm and φ200 nm）. The experimental results indicate that, at less than 1 μm from the wall, the deviations between the measured velocities and no-slip theoretical values obviously decrease from 93% of φ200 nm particles to 48% of φ50 nm particles. The Boltzmann-like exponential measured particle concentrations near wall were found. Based on the non linear Boltzmann distribution of particle concentration and the effective focus plane thickness, we illustrated the reason of the apparent velocity increase near wall and proposed a method to correct the measured velocity profile. By this method, the deviations between the corrected measured velocities and the no-slip theoretical velocity decrease from 45.8% to 10%, and the measured slip length on hy-drophilic glass is revised from 75 nm to 16 nm. These results indicated that the particle size and the biased particle concentration distribution can significantly affect near wall velocity measurement via microPIV/PTV, and result in larger measured velocity and slip length close to wall.

BRITTLE-DUCTILE TRANSITION OF PP/EPDM/ELASTOMERIC NANO-PARTICLE TERNARY BLENDS

The brittle-ductile transition is a very important phenomenon for polymer toughening. Polypropylene （PP） is often toughened by using rubbers, e.g., ethylene-propylene diene monomer （EPDM） has often been used as a modifier. In this article, the toughening of PP by using a new kind of rubber, known as elastomeric nano-particle （ENP）, and the brittleductile transition of PP/EPDM/ENP was studied. Compared to PP/EPDM binary blends, the brittle-ductile transition of PP/EPDM/ENP ternary blends occurred at lower EPDM contents. SEM experiment was carried out to investigate the etched and impact-fractured surfaces. ENP alone had no effect on the impact strength of PP, however, with the same EPDM content, PP/EPDM/ENP ternary blends had smaller particle size, better dispersion and smaller interparticle distance in contrary to PP/EPDM binary blends, which promoted the brittle-ductile transition to occur earlier.

Pressure-Induced Structural Transitions of the Zinc Sulfide Nano-particles with Different Sizes

ZnS nano-particles with average sizes of 10 nm and 5 nm were fabricated by sol-gel method, and their pressure-induced phase transformations were in-situ examined in a diamond anvil cell by energy dispersive X-ray diffraction （EDXD） from ambient pressure to 35.0 GPa. From the obtained interplanar spacing data,the volume compression ratios were derived at different pressures, and then the bulk modulus and its pressure derivative were obtained by fitting to the Murnaghan equation. It is found that both ZnS nano-particles initially in the zinc-blende phase transformed to cubic NaCl structure in the presence of pressure and the transition was reversible when the pressure was released. Moreover, it is suggested that a smaller particle size will induce a larger transition pressure.

Crystallization characteristics of Ni-W-P composite coatings reinforced by CeO_2 and SiO_2 nano-particles

Ni-W-P composite coatings reinforced by Ce O2 and Si O2 nano-particles on the surface of common carbon steels, were prepared by double pulse electrodeposition. The crystallization course was characterized by phase structures, crystallinity, grain sizes and microstructures. The results indicate that as-deposited composite coating is amorphous. Whereas it turns into the crystalline structure with 98.25% crystallinity, and Ni3 P, Ni2 P and Ni5P2 alloy phases precipitate from structures at 400 °C. Thereafter, Ni2 P and Ni5P2 metastable alloy phases turn into Ni3 P stable alloy phase at 500 °C. The crystallization course of the composite coating has finished when being heat-treated at 700 °C. The average sizes of Ni grains increase with the rise of heat treatment temperature from400 °C to 700 °C. Ce O2 and Si O2 nano-particles deposited into Ni-W-P alloys can delay the crystallization course and habit the growth of alloy phases.

Friction and Wear of Polymer Composites Filled by Nano-Particles: A Review

Composites formed by adding nano-scale particles to a polymer matrix results in improving electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties of the composite. Good tribological properties can be obtained for polymers filled with nano-scale fillers compared to that filled with micro-scale particles. The friction and wear resistance of these composites is found to increase with increasing filler concentration. It is also possible to use multi-functional fillers to develop high performance composites which cannot be achieved by using a single filler.

Conditions for laser-induced plasma to effectively remove nano-particles on silicon surfaces

Particles can be removed from a silicon surface by means of irradiation and a laser plasma shock wave.The particles and silicon are heated by the irradiation and they will expand differently due to their different expansion coefficients,making the particles easier to be removed.Laser plasma can ionize and even vaporize particles more significantly than an incident laser and,therefore,it can remove the particles more efficiently.The laser plasma shock wave plays a dominant role in removing particles,which is attributed to its strong burst force.The pressure of the laser plasma shock wave is determined by the laser pulse energy and the gap between the focus of laser and substrate surface.In order to obtain the working conditions for particle removal,the removal mechanism,as well as the temporal and spatial characteristics of velocity,propagation distance and pressure of shock wave have been researched.On the basis of our results,the conditions for nano-particle removal are achieved.

Improvement of the Conductivity of Silver Nanowire Film by Adding Silver Nano-Particles

The change of conductivity and transparency of silver nanowire （AgNW） films by adding silver nano-particles （AgNPs） onto their surface is studied. The results show that the conductivity of the AgNW film is greatly improved with its sheet resistance reduced about 78. 7% to 51.9Ω/sq, and there is no obvious reduction of the transmittance. Further studies show that there is a self-assembling process pushing the AgNPs to concentrate at the intersecting points between AgNWs to weld them, which would reduce the intersection resistance between the AgNWs. This self-assembling behavior is led by the surface interactivities among the dispersing liquid of AgNPs, the surface of the substrate and AgNWs when the dispersing liquid is drying.

γ-Fe Nano-particles from Fe(CO)_5 by CW CO_2 Laser-driven

γ-Fe nano-particles with size of 20-40 nm were produced by SF6-sensitized CW CO2 laser-induced gaseous pyrolysis of Fe(Co) 5, The γ-Fe stabte in reaction zone at above 910℃ was formed.The rapid quenching prevents from the γ-Fe transforming to α-Fe as rapidly cooling from high temperature to room temperature, The characteristics of the particles were examined at room temperature by TEM. electron diffraction and XRD. It was proved that about 70% of γ-Fe phase in the particles was present. In addition. the lattice constant of the γ-Fe was 0.364 nm in place of 0.360 nm

Lubrication Mechanism of Micro/Nano-particles on Sialon

The tribological properties of Sialon sliding against AISI52100 steel ball under the lubrication of solid particle additives, as micro-borate particle and nano-PbS particle, were evaluated by a SRV ball-on-disc test rig. The chemical composition of the worn surface was characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The morphologies of the worn surfaces of Sialon were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that the particles can reduce the friction coefficient of the pairs and the wear volume of Sialon significantly. The wear resistance of micro-borate is superior to that of nano-PbS while the friction-reducing ability of PbS is better than that of borate. According to the XPS and SEM results, the wear resistance of PbS is mainly depended on the tribochemical film mainly composed of PbSO 4, which deposited on the worn surface with good bonding strength. No tribochemical reaction or deposited film was detected or observed on the worn surface of Sialon under the lubrication of borate, indicating that the possible physically deposited film generated from micro particle can also greatly reduce the wear volume of Sialon, though the friction reducing ability of which is inferior to that of nano PbS particle.

Comparison of PVDF porous membranes modified by two different methods using composite nano-particles

To improve the hydrophilicity and anti-fouling performance in water treatment,both entrapped method and deposited method were used to modify polyvinylidene fluoride(PVDF)porous membrane with composite Al2O3/TiO2 nano-particles.Neat PVDF membrane was prepared and its property was also compared with that of the modified membranes.Membrane permeation flux and anti-fouling performance were measured using a membrane cell.The contact angle between water and membrane surface was detected in order to denote the membrane hydrophilicity.Membrane morphology and surface structure were examined by atomic-force microscopy(AFM)and scanning electron microscopy(SEM).Experimental results showed that modified membranes had higher permeation fluxes than that of the neat PVDF membrane.The addition of nano-particles altered membrane surface morphology and increased surface roughness.Due to the hydrophilicity of nano-particles,however,the membrane anti-fouling performance was improved instead of worsened.The entrapped membrane exhibited better anti-fouling performance than the deposited membrane and the neat membrane.

Electronic spin susceptibility of metallic superconductive nano-particles

We have observed the thermodynamic properties of metallic superconductive nano-particles in the grand canonical ensemble; and the level distribution and the level correlation between the discrete electronic energy levels are considered in the calculation of the electronic spin susceptibility of the ensemble numerically. The quantum effect, even-odd effect and other special effects existing in the metallic nano-particles are also studied in this article.

Heat-Affected Behavior of the Magnetic Properties of Iron Nano-Particles

The high surface energy makes metal nano-particles reactive and easy to get oxidized or burned in the open air, which results in decreasing or entirely losing their functions and properties. In this paper, the magnetic property behavior of iron nano-particle, which is one kind of the typical magnetic nano-materials, has been investigated. The iron nano-particles were heated to different temperatures in an open-air stove. After that, they were firstly examined by TEM to observe the changes of their outline of shapes and then measured by VSM to trace the changes of their magnetic properties. The test results show that iron nano-particles can keep their magnetic property with saturation magnetic induction intensity Bs around 136—161 emu/g,remanent magnetic induction intensity Br around 14.8—17.4 emu/g and coercive force Hc around 290—302 Oe when the temperature goes up to 523 K. The explanation to such outstanding oxidization-proof ability has been given that there exists a single crystal and lattice-shared Gamma-Fe2O3 shell covering the pure iron core, which prevents the spherical iron nano-particles from further oxidization.

Hydrothermal Fabrication of Rod-like Rutile Nano-Particles

Rutile phase exhibits higher refractive index and h id ing power, good chemical stability, and is becoming a candidate material for the high-temperature separation and catalysis applications. The thermodynamically stable feature of rutile among the three polymorphs of TiO 2 usually hinders ob taining nano-sized rutile phase by a conventional calcining way. However, acid peptization of amorphous TiO 2 is favorable to the formation of rutile phase. I n this work, well-crystallized and well-dispersed rod-like rutile particles w ith specific surface areas of 49.1 and 35.0 m 2/g were prepared by hydrothermal ly treating the acid peptized TiO 2 amorphous sols at relatively low temperatur es of 200 ℃ or 240 ℃, respectively. The formation of non-touching rutile part icles is attributed to high long-range electrostatic forces between particles i n the presence of the high concentration of the peptizer. The acid peptization w ould easily break the ≡Ti-O-Ti≡ bonds to form ≡Ti-OH or HO-Ti-OH species depending on the amount of acid, and create conditions for the formation of rut ile nuclei after structural rearrangements.