Kinetics of mullitization from sol-gel synthesized precursors

The aim of this study is to shed more light on the formation of mullite and the kinetics of mullitization from sol-gel synthesized precursors. Tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and aluminum nitrate nonahydrate (ANN) were used, as a source of silica and alumina, respectively, for the synthesis of homogenous mullite precursor powder. The mullitization process was characterized by thermogravimetry (TG), differential thermal analysis (DTA), thermodilatometric analysis (TDA), and x-ray powder diffraction (XRD) techniques. It was found that mullite started to crystalize at temperatures of 1050, 1200, and 1241 °C as determined by XRD, DTA, and TDA, respectively?. Mullite crystallization kinetics was thoroughly investigated under isothermal and non-isothermal conditions using DTA. The activation energy for mullite formation was calculated, for different crystallization fractions, following the Freidman, Kissinger, Boswell, and Ozawa methods. The average values were found to be 1282.92, 1324.30, 1336.93, and 1283.09 kJ/mol, respectively. The kinetic parameters and the crystallization mechanism were determined and the results were compared with those available in the literature. The Sestak Berggren SB(m,n) model was found to be the most suitable for the determination of mullite crystallization mechanism. The calculated average values of the Gibbs free energy (ΔG^#), enthalpy (ΔH^#), and entropy (ΔS^#) for mullite formation, at different heating rates, were 433.98 kJ/mol, 1294.20 kJ/mol, and 566.23 J/mol.K, respectively.     

Facile Preparation of Mn3O4 Hausmanite Nanoplates from a New Octahedral Manganese (III) Schiff Base Complex

A novel bidentate Schiff base ligand L (L = N-(4-amino-2-chloro-phenyl)-2-hydroxybenzaldehyde) and the subsequent octahedral manganese(III) Schiff base complex MnL ₃ have been synthesized and characterized by, FT-IR spectroscopy and elemental analyses (CHN). Additionally, Schiff base ligand has been characterized by ¹H NMR spectroscopy. Thermogravimetric analysis of the ligand and its metal complexes reveals their thermal stability and decomposition pattern. Thus, the MnL ₃ complex has been investigated as a novel precursor for the facile preparation of Mn₃O₄ nanoparticles via solid-state thermal decomposition under aerobic conditions, at a temperature of ca. 450 °C The resulting Mn₃O₄ nanocrystals were characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The XRPD studies reveal the characteristic diffraction peaks indexed to the Mn₃O₄ hausmanite structure, while the absence of additional peaks tends to clearly indicate the high purity of the sample. In addition, the TEM/SEM investigations displayed the nanoplate shape of the rather monodisperse crystalline Mn₃O₄ nanoparticles, with an average diameter of ca. 10 nm. The statistical distribution of the nanoparticles size has to be provided with an histogram graphic.     

Changes in the morphology of interstellar ice analogues after hydrogen atom exposure

The morphology of water ice in the interstellar medium is still an open question. Although accretion of gaseous water could not be the only possible origin of the observed icy mantles covering dust grains in cold molecular clouds, it is well known that water accreted from the gas phase on surfaces kept at 10 K forms ice films that exhibit a very high porosity. It is also known that in the dark clouds H(2) formation occurs on the icy surface of dust grains and that part of the energy (4.48 eV) released when adsorbed atoms react to form H(2) is deposited in the ice. The experimental study described in the present work focuses on how relevant changes of the ice morphology result from atomic hydrogen exposure and subsequent recombination. Using the temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) technique and a method of inversion analysis of TPD spectra, we show that there is an exponential decrease in the porosity of the amorphous water ice sample following D-atom irradiation. This decrease is inversely proportional to the thickness of the ice and has a value of ?(0) = 2 × 10(16) D-atoms cm(-2) per layer of H(2)O. We also use a model which confirms that the binding sites on the porous ice are destroyed regardless of their energy depth, and that the reduction of the porosity corresponds in fact to a reduction of the effective area. This reduction appears to be compatible with the fraction of D(2) formation energy transferred to the porous ice network. Under interstellar conditions, this effect is likely to be efficient and, together with other compaction processes, provides a good argument to believe that interstellar ice is amorphous and non-porous.     

Stochastic Attractors for Shell Phenomenological Models of Turbulence

Recently, it has been proposed that the Navier–Stokes equations and a relevant linear advection model have the same long-time statistical properties, in particular, they have the same scaling exponents of their structure functions. This assertion has been investigate rigorously in the context of certain nonlinear deterministic phenomenological shell model, the Sabra shell model, of turbulence and its corresponding linear advection counterpart model. This relationship has been established through a “homotopy-like” coefficient λ which bridges continuously between the two systems. That is, for λ=1 one obtains the full nonlinear model, and the corresponding linear advection model is achieved for λ=0. In this paper, we investigate the validity of this assertion for certain stochastic phenomenological shell models of turbulence driven by an additive noise. We prove the continuous dependence of the solutions with respect to the parameter λ. Moreover, we show the existence of a finite-dimensional random attractor for each value of λ and establish the upper semicontinuity property of this random attractors, with respect to the parameter λ. This property is proved by a pathwise argument. Our study aims toward the development of basic results and techniques that may contribute to the understanding of the relation between the long-time statistical properties of the nonlinear and linear models.     

Uniform continuity and growth of real continuous functions

The purpose of this paper is to understand whether there exists any link between the uniform continuity of a real function defined on an unbounded interval and its growth at infinity. The primary objective is to present some results from teaching experience which help in the comprehension of this notion and yield some classroom techniques. It is well known that a uniformly continuous function has a monomial growth; it will be proved that there does not exist another growth of positive order. After introducing three kinds of growth, some results are recalled in connection with the behaviour near infinity of a uniformly continuous function. Using a series of counterexamples, it is shown that the uniform continuity of a function cannot be described by its asymptotic behaviour near infinity. Finally, some useful properties of the averaging convergence are reviewed, and how this is related to uniform continuity is investigated.     

Preparation of new copolymer (polystyrene/TMSPM grafted on DDA-fractionated algerian montmorillonite) hybrid organoclay by radical copolymerization: structural study,thermal stability and hydrophobicity area

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Polystyrene/organo-Algerian montmorillonite hybrid material was prepared by radical copolymerization of styrene monomer in the presence of the double...