Self-strengthening and high temperature sintering in binder-free silicon nitride

A thermal strengthening process, which occurs during low-temperature heating of binder-free silicon nitride, has been investigated using simultaneous thermal analysis, dilatometry and FTIR and shown to occur in separate stages over clearly identifiable temperatures. Reactions which give the strengthening are the loss of physically and chemically combined water and the decomposition of ammonium carbonate and various hydrosilicates. Compacts have bend strengths of 8–10 MPa after strengthening at 500°C and 30–34 MPa after strengthening at 900°C. High-temperature dilatometry shows several stages of sintering. The maximum rate occurs at 1800°C with shrinkage commencing at 1450°C. Densities of 98.3% theoretical are obtained on heating to 1900°C.     

Evaluation of the calibration errors on cooling of a differential scanning calorimeter using different sets of standard metals

The temperature calibration on cooling of thermal analysis instruments is important for the accurate study of the non-isothermal crystallization kinetics of semi-crystalline polymers. In previous works, a methodology was proposed for performing the calibration on cooling of differential scanning calorimeters (DSCs) with standard metals, and the calibration errors were checked using transitions of high-purity liquid crystals. In this work, alternative, physically meaningful, procedures for carrying out the calibration on cooling are analyzed and validated. The calibration errors are evaluated also with liquid crystalline transitions, when the calibration is performed with standard metals, in a wide temperature range, and when due account is taken for the need of isothermal corrections to the temperature measurements. It is shown that any pair of standard metals may be used to calibrate on cooling, that the calibration errors increase for wider working temperature ranges and that, providing that certain conditions are fulfilled, both calibration procedures yield similar results.     

一种新型的表面声波阻抗传感器及其在液相体系中的应用

一种新型的表面声波阻抗传感器及其在液相体系中的应用姚守拙，陈康，刘德忠，聂利华（湖南大学化学化工系，长沙，４１００８２）关键词表面声波，阻抗传感器，液相应用表面声波传感器（ＳＡＷＳ）具有较高的灵敏度和检测精度，已广泛应用于气体微量组分分析、色谱检测和...     

Electrochemical Determination of Ascorbic Acid in Room Temperature Ionic Liquid BPPF6 Modified Carbon Paste Electrode

A room temperature ionic liquid N‐butylpyridinium hexafluorophosphate (BPPF₆) was used as a binder to make an ionic liquid modified carbon paste electrode (IL‐CPE), which showed good characteristics such as simple preparation procedure, fast electrochemical response and good conductivity. The electrochemical oxidation of ascorbic acid (AA) on the new IL‐CPE was carefully studied. The oxidation peak potential of AA on the IL‐CPE appeared at 109 mV (vs. SCE), which was about 338 mV decrease of the overpotential compared to that obtained on the traditional carbon paste electrode (CPE) and the oxidation peak current was increased for about four times. The electrochemical parameters of AA on the IL‐CPE were calculated with the charge transfer coefficient (α) and the electrode reaction rate constant (k_s) as 0.87 and 0.800 s^?1, respectively. Based on the relationship of the oxidation peak current and the concentration of AA a sensitive analytical method was established with cyclic voltammetry. The linear range for AA determination was in the range from 1.0×10^?5 to 3.0×10^?3 mol/L with the linear regression equation as I_p (μA)=?2.52–0.064C (μmol/L) (n=13, γ=0.9942) and the detection limit was calculated as 8.0×10^?6 mol/L (3σ). The proposed method was free of the interferences of coexisting substances such as dopamine (DA) and amino acids etc., and successfully applied to the vitamin C tablets determination.     

Preparation and application of cryptand-coated piezoelectric crystal gas-chromatographic detector

A re-usable and sensitive cryptand-22-coated quartz-crystal membrane piezoelectric sensor with a homemade computer interface for signal acquisition and data processing was prepared and applied as a gas-chromatographic (GC) detector for various organic molecules. The oscillating frequency of the quartz crystal decreased due to the adsorption of organic molecules on cryptand-22. Effects of functional group, molar mass, steric hindrance and polarity of organic molecules on frequency responses of the cryptand-coated piezoelectric crystal detector were investigated. The cryptand-coated piezoelectric crystal GC detector had demonstrated high sensitivity for various polar organic molecules and good reproducibility when re-used. The frequency responses of the cryptand-coated crystal for various molecules were in the following order: carboxylic acids (RCOOH)primary amines (R-NH₂)>alcohols (ROH)>secondary amines (R₂NH)>tertiary amines (R₃N)>ketones. More polar molecules exhibited better frequency responses. The effect of temperature and amount of coating on the frequency responses of cryptand-coated crystal GC detector were also investigated. The cryptand-coated piezoelectric crystal GC detector compared well with the commercial thermal conductivity detector (TCD).     

New Temperature Integral Approximate Formula for Non-isothermal Kinetic Analysis

A new approximate formula for temperature integral is proposed. The linear dependence of the new fomula on x has been established. Combining this linear dependence and integration-by-parts, new equation for the evaluation of kinetic parameters has been obtained from the above dependence. The validity of this equation has been tested with data from numerical calculating. And its deviation from the values calculated by Simpson's numerical integrating was discussed. Compared with several published approximate formulae, this new one is much superior to all other approximations and is the most suitable solution for the evaluation of kinetic parameters from TG experiments. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Low-temperature electrothermal vaporization of thenoyltrifluoroacetone complex of Sc(III) and Y(III) for sample introduction in an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry,and their determination in biological samples

A new method for inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) determination of trace Sc and Y, based on gaseous compound introduction into the plasma as their thenoyltrifluoroacetone (TTA) complexes by electrothermal vaporization was developed. Using the reagent TTA as chemical modifier can not only enhance the analytical signals, but also reduce the vaporization temperature. At a temperature of 1,000 °C the trace Sc and Y can be vaporized completely into ICP. The factors affecting the formation of the chelate and its vaporization behavior, such as drying time, vaporization temperature/time, reaction medium and the amount of TTA, were investigated in detail. Under the optimized conditions (drying temperature/time 100 °C/10 s, vaporization temperature/time 1,000 °C/4 s), the limits of detection for Sc and Y were 19 pg and 34 pg (3), respectively, and the relative standard deviations for Sc and Y were 4.2% (c _Sc=0.2 g mL^–1; n=7) and 2.6% (c _Y=0.5 g mL^–1; n=7). The linear ranges of the calibration graphs cover three orders of magnitude. The method was applied to the analysis of the biological reference materials (GBW 07602, bush branches and leaves; GBW 07604, poplar leaves), and the results obtained were in good agreement with the certified values.     

Effect of carbonate incorporation on the structural and superconducting properties of the double chain compound Y2Ba4Cu7O15−x

Structural investigations on powder samples of Y₂Ba₄Cu₇O_15–x with different carbonate content have been performed. Powder x-ray Rietveld refinements showed the remarkable influence of carbonate incorporation on the lattice parameters. Most important is the decrease of T_c with increasing carbonate content. We assign these effects to an incorporation of the carbonate ion into the crystal lattice, copper vacancies at the Cu(1) position and a possible misorientation of the copper oxygen single chains. No change of the structure (e. g. superstructure) could be found.     

立规聚甲基丙烯酸热表征研究

本文对不同立构的聚甲基丙烯酸(PMAA)进行了热表征。实验结果表明,在30℃～200℃内未出现玻璃化转变。间同PMAA分别在-245℃和-280℃发生脱水反应和脱羧,而全同PMAA只在-185℃观察到脱水反应。这种热稳定性的明显差别与不同立构PMAA链上相邻羧酸距离有关。实验数据证实PMAA脱水反应为无规反应,服从一级动力学反应方程。脱水温度和间同立构含量成正比,脱水反应活化能间同PMAA比全同PMAA高～7Kcal/mol。     

The structure and electrochemical characteristics of La0.67Mg0.33 (Ni0.8Co0.1Mn0.1) x (x=2.5–5.0) multiphase alloys for nickel-metal hydride batteries

This paper presents results concerning structure and electrochemical characteristics of the La_0.67Mg_0.33 (Ni_0.8Co_0.1Mn_0.1) _x (x=2.5–5.0) alloy. It can be found from the result of the Rietveld analyses that the structures of the alloys change obviously with increasing x from 2.5 to 5.0. The main phase of the alloys with x=2.5–3.5 is LaMg₂Ni₉ phase with a PuNi₃-type rhombohedral structure, but the main phase of the alloys with x=4.0–5.0 is LaNi₅phase with a CaCu₅-type hexagonal structure. Furthermore, the phase ratio, lattice parameter and cell volume of the LaMg₂Ni₉phase and the LaNi₅ phase change with increasing x. The electrochemical studies show that the maximum discharge capacity increases from 214.7 mAh/g (x=2.5) to 391.1 mAh/g (x=3.5) and then decreases to 238.5 mAh/g (x=5.0). As the discharge current density is 1,200 mA/g, the high rate dischargeability (HRD) increases from 51.1% (x=2.5) to 83.7% (x=3.5) and then decreases to 71.6% (x=5.0). Moreover, the exchange current density (I ₀) of the alloy electrodes first increases and then decrease with increasing x from 2.5 to 5.0, which is consistent with the variation of the HRD. The cell volume reduces with increasing x in the alloys, which is detrimental to hydrogen diffusion and accordingly decreases the low-temperature dischargeability of the alloy electrodes.