Topical Problems in Elemental Analysis of Advanced Ceramic Materials

Selected prominent problems in the analysis of advanced ceramic materials are surveyed. The importance of reliability of results is discussed in the field of elemental trace- and microanalysis in view of its interaction with economy, power of detection, local resolution and speciation selectivity. Particular problems in the analysis of major constituents, trace components and microlocal distributions are based on the striking propertics of ceramics; they are exemplified. Analytical assistance must start from the beginning of the production processing, in the preparation of the powdered base materials. Determination of the stoichiometry requires high accuracy and differentiation of chemical species in bulk and surface analysis of ceramic base powders. Element trace determination by direct instrumental methods requires standard reference materials for calibration; these are currently inavailable in a sufficient variety. For optimum reliability and power of detection, element traces must be prepared in isolated form in a small excitation volume for analysis. A review on the state-of-the-art of wet-chemical combined procedures is presented. Decomposition position procedures are emphasized, due to their risk of contributing severe systematic error. Combustion in elementary fluorine is presented for decomposition of refractory materials. The performance of some direct procedures is discussed. Very efficient methods are available for element trace determinations in ceramic materials, offering high detection power. Several approaches for high-resolution local microanalysis in non-conductive ceramic materials are identified as the most promising development in the analysis of sintered compact ceramic products and devices.     

Oxidation of Styrene in a Silent Discharge Plasma

A silent discharge plasma reactor has been developed to study the oxidation of styrene vapor in argon/oxygen mixtures. A number of analytical techniques were employed to determine the destruction efficiency and to characterize the intermediate products. The destruction efficiency was measured as a function of initial styrene concentration, temperature, and energy density of the plasma. The formation of solid products was observed in most experiments. At low temperature (100°C), the solid deposit was polymeric in nature, while at high temperature (300°C) the solid appeared to be amorphous carbon. A combination of high temperature and high energy density resulted in high destruction efficiency and minimal production of solid films. The destruction efficiency vs. energy density is shown to be more complex than a simple model predicting exponential behavior. Several reasons for the discrepancy are suggested. The e-folding energy density for the destruction of styrene is compared to literature values for other organic compounds, measured using similar types of plasma reactors.     

A novel microwave dielectric ceramic Ca2Zn4Ti16O38: Preparation and dielectric properties

A novel microwave dielectric powder with composition of Ca₂Zn₄Ti₁₆O₃₈ was synthesized through a citrate sol-gel process. The development of crystalline phases with heat-treating temperature for the gel derived powders was evaluated by using thermo-gravimetric analysis and X-ray powder diffraction analysis techniques. The pure phase of Ca₂Zn₄Ti₁₆O₃₈ with crichtonite crystal structure was obtained at relatively low temperature of 1000 °C. The synthesized powder has high reactivity and the dense ceramics with single crystalline phase were obtained at low sintering temperature of 1100 °C. Impedance spectroscopy and microwave dielectric measurements on sintered samples showed the present compound to be a modest dielectric insulator with excellent dielectric properties of ε_r∼47-49, Qf value ∼27,800-31,600 GHz and τ_f∼+45 to +50 ppm/°C. It shows comparable microwave dielectric properties to other moderate-permittivity microwave dielectrics, but much lower sintering temperature of 1100 °C.     

Dielectric analysis of polystyrene microcapsules using scanning dielectric microscope

 A dielectric imaging technique with a scanning dielectric microscope was applied to polystyrene microcapsules in an aqueous environment to study the electrical properties of individual ones. The dielectric images obtained over a frequency range from 10 kHz to 10 MHz showed frequency dependence, which indicated dielectric dispersion (or relaxation) due to interfacial polarization or the build up of charge on the boundaries between the microcapsule shell and the aqueous phases. The dielectric dispersion was analyzed based on an equivalent electrical circuit model and a shell-sphere model in which a spherical core is covered with an insulating shell. Received: 26 September 1997 Accepted: 26 December 1997     

The application of dielectric analysis to drying latex films

Measurements of real and imaginary capacitance (C andC) have been made during the drying of a film-forming latex. In one experiment dielectric measurements at frequencies between 1 Hz and 100 kHz were made simultaneously with gravimetric measurements on a microbalance. It was found that both the rate of water evaporation and the a.c. conductance decrease sharply at high polymer volume fraction. These results are discussed qualitatively in terms of a model for the film-forming process. In another experimentC andC were recorded at 10 Hz along with automatic measurements of the build-up of the scratch resistance of the film. It was found that the mechanical response to film-formation appears significantly earlier than the dielectric response. This is also discussed qualitatively in terms of the model.The authors would like to thank Dr. I. Abrahams, Dr. S. Bell, and Dr. M. Reading for useful discussions regarding this work and M. Bahra for his help with the TFA measurements.     

Creeping motion of an assemblage of composite spheres relative to a fluid

The sedimentation of a homogeneous distribution of spherical composite particles and the fluid flow through a bed of these particles are investigated theoretically. Each composite particle is composed of a spherical solid core and a surrounding porous shell. In the fluid-permeable porous shell, idealized hydrodynamic frictional segments are assumed to distribute uniformly. The effect of interactions among the particles is taken into explicit account by employing a fundamental cell-model representation which is known to provide good predictions for the motion of a swarm of nonporous spheres within a fluid. In the limit of a small Reynolds number, the Stokes and Brinkman equations are solved for the flow field in a unit cell, and the drag force exerted by the fluid on the particle is obtained in a closed form. For a distribution of composite spheres, the normalized mobility of the particles decreases or the particle interactions increase monotonically with a decrease in the permeability of their porous shells. The effect of particle interactions on the creeping motion of composite spheres relative to a fluid can be quite significant in some situations. In the limiting cases, the analytical solutions describing the drag force or mobility for a suspension of composite spheres reduce to those for suspensions of solid spheres and of porous spheres. The hydrodynamic behavior for composite spheres may be approximated by that for permeable spheres when the porous layer is sufficiently thick, depending on the permeability.     

三电极共面介质阻挡放电的放电特性及诱导气流实验研究

等离子体流动控制激励器由于其响应速度快、激励频带宽、能量损耗低、可靠性强的优势,在航空航天领域的主动流动控制等方面得到了广泛应用.文章提出了一种新型的等离子体气动激励器——三电极共面介质阻挡放电激励器,研究了该激励器电极结构对放电特性和诱导气流速度的影响,并与传统共面介质阻挡放电和沿面介质阻挡放电激励器进行了比较.结果表明:（1）随着激励电压的提高,高压电极和地电极之间先出现了丝状放电并逐渐延伸到第三电极;（2）随着第三电极与高压电极之间的距离增大,诱导气流速率从2.4 m/s下降到0 m/s,而第三电极宽度的变动对诱导气流速度影响可忽略不计;（3）相同外部条件下,该激励器诱导的气流速度小于沿面介质阻挡放电激励器,但高于共面介质阻挡放电激励器.      

稀土钐离子可见荧光量子产率的精确测试与计算

采用积分球配以CCD光谱测试系统,在蓝色半导体发光二极管激发下,对Sm3 掺杂的低声子能量、高折射率铋碲酸盐玻璃的荧光光谱进行测试。实现了荧光发射特性绝对评价为目的的绝对光谱功率分布测定,为发光与激光材料荧光发射特性的精确测量与表征提供了一种准确方法。荧光测试系统由直径为25.4cm的积分球配以CCD探测器组成,通过标准卤素灯定标,辅助卤素灯校正积分球内环境变化,解析出样品的绝对光谱功率分布,并进一步计算出光量子数分布,求得荧光量子产率等荧光特征参量。测试与计算结果表明,对应可见区Sm3 四个特征发射峰,总荧光量子产率为7.55%。     

Gold Nanoparticles as Effective ion Traps in Poly(dimethylsiloxane) Cross-Linked by Metal-Ligand Coordination

At this time, the development of advanced elastic dielectric materials for use in organic devices, particularly in organic field-effect transistors, is of considerable interest to the scientific community. In the present work, flexible poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) specimens cross-linked by means of ZnCl₂-bipyridine coordination with an addition of 0.001 wt. %, 0.0025 wt. %, 0.005 wt. %, 0.04 wt. %, 0.2 wt. %, and 0.4 wt. % of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) were prepared in order to understand the effect of AuNPs on the electrical properties of the composite materials formed. The broadband dielectric spectroscopy measurements revealed one order of magnitude decrease in loss tangent, compared to the coordinated system, upon an introduction of 0.001 wt. % of AuNPs into the polymeric matrix. An introduction of AuNPs causes damping of conductivity within the low-temperature range investigated. These effects can be explained as a result of trapping the Cl⁻ counter ions by the nanoparticles. The study has shown that even a very low concentration of AuNPs (0.001 wt. %) still brings about effective trapping of Cl⁻ counter anions, therefore improving the dielectric properties of the investigated systems. The modification proposed reveals new perspectives for using AuNPs in polymers cross-linked by metal-ligand coordination systems.     

一种用于强激光系统的高比能脉冲电容器

 为了满足“神光-Ⅲ”原型装置能源系统的需要,桂林金属膜电容器厂研制成功一种高比能脉冲电容器,其尺寸为295 mm×138 mm×730(830) mm,额定电压25 kV,额定电容及偏差为55 μF,0~5 %,损耗角正切值(2.5 kV,50 Hz)小于 0.1%,比能达0.56 J/cm³ 。对该型电容器进行性能测试,所得电容偏差都在2%~5%范围,损失角正切值小于0.05%;极间耐压试验全部通过,极-地耐压试验全部通过。寿命试验中,放电电流5 kA,1×10⁴次充放电后,电容量下降1.8%。该型电容器目前已投入运行,工作情况良好。