Resistivity and Thermal Expansion (4.2–820 K) of Skutterudites after Severe Plastic Deformation via HPT

Thermoelectric materials with a high figure of merit, ZT, are the essential basis to build thermoelectric generators, which can directly convert heat into electricity. Severe plastic deformation (SPD) via high-pressure torsion (HPT) was successfully applied to enhance ZT of ball-milled and hot-pressed skutterudites as well as to produce bulk nanostructured skutterudites directly from powders. SPD introduces many defects into the sample and in parallel the crystallite size is significantly reduced. During measurement-induced heating these defects anneal partially out, and the grains grow. In this work for the first time systematically the changes of the temperature-dependent electrical resistivity and of thermal expansion were compared. It could be shown that for p- and n-type skutterudites, being hot-pressed and HPT-processed as well as directly HPT-processed from compacted powder, these changes occur more or less simultaneously within the same temperature ranges. This evaluation gives a much deeper insight into the thermoelectric behavior of HPT samples under the influence of changing temperature.     

The stresses in single lap joints with a functionally graded adhesive bondline: an efficient modelling approach

In this work, an efficient analytical model for the stress analysis of single lap joints with a functionally graded adhesive bondline is proposed which considers peel as well as shear stresses in the adhesive. The model takes into account the nonlinear geometric characteristics of a single lap joint under tensile loading and allows for the analysis of various adhesive Young's modulus variations. The obtained stress distributions are compared to results of detailed Finite Element analyses and show a good agreement for several single lap joint configurations. In addition, different adhesive Young's modulus distributions and their effect on the peel and shear stresses are studied and discussed in detail. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Laser spectroscopy for QED tests in highly charged ions

An overview on laser spectroscopic work on highly charged ions (HCI) currently performed or in preparation at GSI is given. This includes laser spectroscopy on HCI in ion traps at the HITRAP facility and at the experimental storage ring (ESR).     

RERhZn (RE = Y,Sm, Gd–Lu) compounds with TiNiSi type structure – Synthesis and magnetic properties

The TiNiSi type intermetallic compounds RERhZn (RE = Y, Sm, Gd–Lu) were synthesized by induction melting of the elements in sealed tantalum ampoules. They were characterized by X-ray powder diffraction. Five structures were refined from single crystal X-ray diffractometer data: Pnma, Z = 4, a = 699.7(2), b = 405.6(2), c = 816.9(2) pm, wR2 = 0.038, 628 F² values for SmRhZn, a = 696.1(2), b = 405.6(1), c = 811.9(3) pm, wR2 = 0.028, 886 F² values for GdRhZn, a = 692.8(1), b = 403.0(1), c = 809.5(2) pm, wR2 = 0.039, 562 F² values, for TbRhZn, a = 690.6(3), b = 401.50(9), c = 808.2(2) pm, wR2 = 0.036, 763 F² values, for DyRhZn, and a = 688.6(5), b = 399.6(4), c = 808.3(7) pm, wR2 = 0.048, 546 F² values for HoRhZn with 20 variables for each refinement. The rhodium atoms have coordination number 9 (5 RE + 4 Zn atoms) in the form of a tricapped trigonal prism. Together the rhodium and zinc atoms build up three-dimensional [RhZn] networks with short Rh–Zn (263–269 pm in GdRhZn) and Zn–Zn (296 pm in GdRhZn) distances. The gadolinium atoms bind to the [RhZn] network by Gd–Rh bonds (292–294 pm). Magnetic susceptibility measurements show Pauli paramagnetism for YRhZn and van Vleck paramagnetism for SmRhZn. The remaining RERhZn compounds are Curie–Weiss paramagnets which show magnetic ordering at low temperatures.     

Structural elucidation of biologically active neomycin N‐octyl derivatives in a regioisomeric mixture by means of liquid chromatography/ion trap time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry

Structural elucidation of six regioisomers of mono‐N‐octyl derivatized neomycin is achieved using MSⁿ (up to n = 4) on an ion trap time‐of‐flight (IT‐TOF) instrument equipped with electrospray ionization. The mixture of six derivatized neomycin analogues was generated by reductive amination in a shotgun synthetic approach. In parallel to the liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) detection, the antibacterial activity of the neomycin regioisomers was tested by post‐column addition of buffer and bacterial inocula, subsequent microfractionation of the resulting mixture, incubation, and finally a chemiluminescence‐based bioactivity measurement based on the production of bacterial ATP. The MS‐based high‐resolution screening approach described can be applied in medicinal chemistry to help in designing and producing new antibiotic substances, which is particularly challenging due to the high functionality of most antibiotic substances, therefore requiring advanced (hyphenated) separation and detection techniques for compound mixtures. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.