Volume 35, Issue 9 -

Monoclinic BiVO 4 photocatalyst was successfully synthesized by hydrothermal method under appropriate temperature. The photocatalytic performance of BiVO 4 was improved by calcining at appropriate temperature. The structural and morphological properties of the synthesized BiVO 4 photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), respectively. It is confirmed that the photocatalytic activity of the prepared catalysts was evaluated by the photodegradation of RhB under visible-light irradiation. BiVO 4 calcined under appropriate temperature exhibited higher photocatalytic activity than uncalcined BiVO 4 under visible light irradiation because calcination might effectively increases the purity of monoclinic bismuth vanadate.

Nickel films were deposited on silicon substrates using magnetron sputtering method. The pretreatment process of nickel films under high temperature and ammonia atmosphere was investigated. The thickness of nickel film has a great influence on growth morphology of carbon nanotubes (CNTs). Too large or too small thickness would do harm to the orientated growth of CNTs. The inner structure, elements composition and growth mechanism have been confirmed by TEM and EDX characterization. The surface wettability and drag reduction property of CNTs were investigated. This paper can provide a new, effective method to further develop the practical application in micro/nano devices field.

The present paper is focused on the effect of manganese on microstructure development of admixed Fe-Mn-C sintered steels along with diffusion characteristics of manganese in the iron matrix. Admixed systems were prepared on the base of sponge iron powder, with addition of 0.3% C and 3% Mn added as ferromanganese. Sintering at 1,023, 1,173, 1,323, 1,423 and 1,473 K for 180 s was carried out in laboratory tube furnace in an atmosphere of pure gases mixture 25% N 2 +75% H 2 with the dew point of 243 K. The results show that admixed sintered manganese steels exhibit heterogeneity of microstructure due to the local chemical heterogeneities of these materials, in particular for those areas with a high manganese concentration. On the basis of calculation of manganese apparent diffusion coefficient and penetration depth, results reveal that diffusion-induced grain boundary migration (DIGM) is the dominant alloying mechanism in sintered manganese steels.

The effect of specimen thickness on the creep response of Ni-based single-crystal superalloy DD6 was investigated. With the thickness of 0.3 mm, 0.6 mm and 1.2 mm, a series of thin-wall specimens were tested in this paper respectively at 760℃, 980℃ and 1,100℃. Under the conditions of lower temperatures and higher stresses, the creep life of thin-wall specimens increases with the increase of δ , but it is almost equal under higher temperatures and lower stresses conditions. Compared with the standard specimens, an obvious reduction (about 60%) of creep life of the thin-wall specimens was found at 760℃, whereas it is almost the same at 980℃ and 1,100℃. Therefore, obvious thickness effect is prone to lower temperature and higher stress. The thickness effect is a comprehensive effect, which is caused by fracture mode, the degree of necking, the shape and quantity of creep cavities, oxide thickness, etc. Under each condition, an increased thickness resulted in increased creep strain to rupture.

In this work, 2D and 3D, time-dependent flow simulations with relevance to the melt motion during directional solidification of superalloy under a traveling magnetic field (TMF) are presented. Numerical results indicate that the velocity at the front of solidification interface increases rapidly in the area-changeable transition region under the no TMF. However, the downward TMF is able to either stabilize or destabilize the flow in this transition region, which is determined by the effects of the strength of the magnetic field. Under the weak downward TMF, the natural convection is suppressed and the interface always maintains flat in the process of directional solidification, providing favorable conditions for the growth of crystal. Flow is deeply destabilizing with the increase of magnetic field intensity. Finally, in terms of thermal field, flow field and interface shape, their 2D and 3D simulation results are also compared respectively.

High temperature interactions of alumina–carbon refractories with molten iron were investigated at 1,823 K in argon atmosphere. These studies were specifically focussed on the decomposition of alumina in the simultaneous presence of carbon and iron, and associated refractory degradation. Refractory mixtures were prepared by blending 90 wt% alumina with 10 wt% synthetic graphite; 5–15 wt% iron powder was then mixed with the refractory mixture. Using phenol formaldehyde as a binder, pellets were prepared from various blends; these were heat treated at 1,823 K for 30 min in Ar atmosphere. The presence of molten iron significantly enhanced the decomposition of alumina resulting in an enhanced refractory degradation as well as the formation of a new reactant product. This product was identified as a Fe–Al intermetallic phase from SEM/EDS (scanning electron microscopy/energy-dispersive spectroscopy) and x-ray microdiffraction investigations.

To obtain appropriate chemical composition and thermo-mechanical schedules for processing the V-N microalloyed 600 MPa grade high strength rebar, the microstructure analysis during dynamic continuous cooling and tensile tests of three experimental steels with different nitrogen contents were conducted. The results show that increasing nitrogen content promotes ferrite transformation and broadens the bainite transformation interval, when the nitrogen content is in the range of 0.019–0.034 mass%. Meanwhile, the martensite start temperatures decrease and the minimal cooling rate to form martensite increases. To achieve a good combination of strength and ductility, the cooling rates should be controlled in the range of 0.5–3°C/s, leading to the microstructure of ferrite, pearlite and less than 10% bainite (volume fraction). Furthermore, all the experimental steels satisfy the performance requirement of 600 MPa grade rebar and the rebar with nitrogen content of 0.034 mass% shows the highest strength through systematically comparative investigation.

The deformation behavior of an isothermally compressed Ti555211 titanium alloy was examined by an Arrhenius-type constitutive model using experimental data obtained from hot compression tests; these tests were performed at temperatures and strain rates of 750–950°C and 0.001–1 s −1 , respectively. Activation energies of hot deformation were calculated in 0.05 intervals for strains ranging from 0.1 to 0.7. The respective values of were obtained for the ( α + β ) and β region. In addition, the predictive capability of the model was described by the average absolute relative error (AARE) and the correlation coefficient ( R ). The simulated values were compared with the experimental values, and R and AARE of 0.99084 and 6.914%, respectively, were obtained for the Arrhenius-type constitutive model. These values were indicative of the good predictive capabilities of the developed strain-compensated constitutive equation. Moreover, in this work isothermal compression tests, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) were used to systematically investigate the high-temperature deformation behavior of Ti555211 alloy under different processing conditions. EBSD and TEM were used to reveal the substructure and grain orientation of samples of the hot-deformed Ti555211 alloy. The phenomenon of discontinuous yielding was also discussed.

The compressive deformation behaviors of 410 martensitic stainless steel were investigated on a Gleeble-1500 thermomechanical simulator, and the experimental stress–strain data were obtained. The measured flow stress was corrected for friction and temperature. A constitutive equation that accounts for the influence of strain was established, and the hot-processing maps at different strain were plotted. The microstructure evolution of the hot-deformation process was studied on the basis of microstructural observations at high temperatures. Phase-transformation experiments on 410 steel were conducted at high temperatures to elucidate the effects of temperature on the delta-ferrite content. The initial forging temperature and optimum process parameters were obtained on the basis of the processing map and the changes in the delta-ferrite content at high temperatures.

Three kinds of sample bricks of ceramic cups for blast furnace hearth were studied by dynamic corrosion tests based on different corrosion systems, i.e., liquid iron system, liquid slag system and liquid iron–slag system. Considering the influence of temperature and sample rotational speed, the corrosion profiles and mass loss of the samples were analyzed. In addition, the microstructure of the corroded samples was observed by optical microscope (OM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). It was found that the corrosion profiles could be divided into iron corrosion region, slag corrosion region and iron–slag corrosion region via corrosion degree after iron–slag corrosion experiment. The most serious corrosion occurred in iron–slag corrosion region. This is due to Marangoni effect, which promotes a slag film formed between liquid iron and ceramic cup and results in local corrosion. The corrosion of the samples deepened with increasing temperature of liquid iron and slag from 1,623 K to 1,823 K. The variation of slag composition had greater influence on the erosion degree than that of rotational speed in this experiment. Taking these results into account the ceramic cup composition should be close to slag composition to decrease the chemical reaction. A microporous and strong material should be applied for ceramic cup.

Current–voltage characteristics of indium-embedded indium oxide thin films (600–850 Å), with Ag electrodes approximately 1000 Å thick, prepared by reactive evaporation of pure metallic indium in partial air pressure have been studied for substrate temperatures between 50 and 125°C. The optical properties of these films have also been investigated as a function of metallic indium concentration and substrate temperature. I – V characteristics of all the samples are non-ohmic, independent of metallic indium concentration. The conductivity of the films increases but the optical transmission decreases with increasing metallic indium concentration. Metallic indium concentration was found to be an important parameter affecting the film properties. Furthermore, two possible conduction mechanisms are proposed.

Porous cordierite ceramics were prepared with starch as pore-forming agent by solid-state method. The green bodies were sintered at 1,100–1,400 °C for 2 h. The characterization was focused on thermal analysis, phase evolution, sintering behavior, porosity and micro-structural changes. The results show that cordierite becomes the main crystallization phase at 1,200 °C. The shrinkage behavior shows the most obvious dependence on the sintering temperature and starch content, and it can be divided into three stages. Moreover, the open porosity increases with the increase of starch content, but the pore-forming effectivity decreases. Nevertheless, compared with the open porosity curves, the bulk density curves are more in line with the linear rule. The microphotographs show the densification process with the sintering temperature and the variation of pore connectivity with the starch content.

The red long-lasting phosphors (LLPs) Zn x Ca 1– x TiO 3 : y Pr 3+ (ZCTP) were successfully prepared via the sol–gel method. The effects of Zn 2+ content and Pr 3+ molar concentration on the luminescent properties of ZCTP LLPs were characterized by X-ray diffraction, excitation and emission spectra, long-lasting decay curves and thermoluminescence (TL) curves. In this study, the results indicated that luminescent properties of Zn 0.2 Ca 0.8 TiO 3 :0.2 %Pr 3+ phosphor was the best. In addition, when Pr 3+ molar concentration reached 0.8 mol %, concentration quenching effect was obvious.