Binder assisted graphene derivatives as lubricants in copper: Improved tribological performance for industrial application

Originally derived from graphite, high-quality single-layer graphene is an excellent anti-wear and -friction additive in metal matrix. Here, the tribological performance of 3 different commercialized graphene derivatives (e.g., graphene oxide [GO], reduced graphene oxide [RGO], and graphene nanoplatelet [GNP]) as additives in a Cu matrix, were investigated from an industrial perspective. To increase the interaction of graphene derivatives with Cu particles, and addressing the aggregation problem of the graphene derivatives, different binders (polyvinyl alcohol [PVA] and cellulose nanocrystals [CNC]) were introduced into the system. Benefiting from such a strategy, a uniform distribution of the graphene derivatives in Cu matrix was achieved with graphene loading up to 5 wt %. After high-temperature sintering, the graphene is preserved and well distributed in the Cu matrix. It was found that the GNP-containing sample shows the most stable friction coefficient behavior. However, GO and RGO also improve the tribological performance of Cu under different circumstances.

Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Ti-6Al-4V Welds Produced with Different Processes

The effect of defects and microstructure on the mechanical properties of Ti-6Al-4V welds produced by tungsten inert gas welding; plasma arc welding; electron beam welding; and laser beam welding was studied in the present work. The mechanical properties of different weld types were evaluated with respect to micro hardness; yield strength; ultimate tensile strength; ductility; and fatigue at room temperature and at elevated temperatures (200 °C and 250 °C). Metallographic investigation was carried out to characterize the microstructures of different weld types, and fractographic investigation was conducted to relate the effect of defects on fatigue performance. Electron and laser beam welding produced welds with finer microstructure, higher tensile ductility, and better fatigue performance than tungsten inert gas welding and plasma arc welding. Large pores, and pores located close to the specimen surface, were found to be most detrimental to fatigue life.

Controllable Coating Graphene Oxide and Silanes on Cu Particles as Dual Protection for Anticorrosion

Although two-dimensional nanosheets like graphene could be ideal atomic coatings to prevent corrosion, it is still controversial whether they are actually effective due to the presence of parasitic effects such as galvanic corrosion. Here, we reported a reduced graphene oxide (RGO) coating strategy to protect sintered Cu metal powders from corrosion by addressing the common galvanic corrosion issue of graphene. A layer of silane molecules, namely, (3-aminopropyl)triethoxysilane (APTES), is deposited between the surface of Cu particles and the graphene oxide (GO), acting as a primer to enhance adhesion and as an insulating interlayer to prevent the direct contact of the Cu with conductive RGO, mitigating the galvanic corrosion. Due to this core-shell coating, the RGO uniformly distributes in the Cu matrix after sintering, avoiding aggregation of RGO, which takes place in conventional GO-Cu composites. The dual coating of GO and silane results in bulk samples with improved anticorrosion properties, as demonstrated by galvanostatic polarization tests using Tafel analysis. Our development not only provides an efficient synthesis method to controllably coat GO on the surface of Cu but also suggests an alternative strategy to avoid the galvanic corrosion effect of graphene to improve the anticorrosion performance of metal.

All-Electrochemical Nanofabrication of Stacked Ternary Metal Sulfide/Graphene Electrodes for High-Performance Alkaline Batteries

Energy-storage materials can be assembled directly on the electrodes of a battery using electrochemical methods, this allowing sequential deposition, high structural control, and low cost. Here, a two-step approach combining electrophoretic deposition (EPD) and cathodic electrodeposition (CED) is demonstrated to fabricate multilayer hierarchical electrodes of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and mixed transition metal sulfides (NiCoMnS_x ). The process is performed directly on conductive electrodes applying a small electric bias to electro-deposit rGO and NiCoMnS_x in alternated cycles, yielding an ideal porous network and a continuous path for transport of ions and electrons. A fully rechargeable alkaline battery (RAB) assembled with such electrodes gives maximum energy density of 97.2 Wh kg^-1 and maximum power density of 3.1 kW kg^-1 , calculated on the total mass of active materials, and outstanding cycling stability (retention 72% after 7000 charge/discharge cycles at 10 A g^-1 ). When the total electrode mass of the cell is considered, the authors achieve an unprecedented gravimetric energy density of 68.5 Wh kg^-1 , sevenfold higher than that of typical commercial supercapacitors, higher than that of Ni/Cd or lead-acid Batteries and similar to Ni-MH Batteries. The approach can be used to assemble multilayer composite structures on arbitrary electrode shapes.

Can Appropriate Thermal Post-Treatment Make Defect Content in as-Built Electron Beam Additively Manufactured Alloy 718 Irrelevant?

Electron beam melting (EBM) is gaining rapid popularity for production of complex customized parts. For strategic applications involving materials like superalloys (e.g., Alloy 718), post-treatments including hot isostatic pressing (HIPing) to eliminate defects, and solutionizing and aging to achieve the desired phase constitution are often practiced. The present study specifically explores the ability of the combination of the above post-treatments to render the as-built defect content in EBM Alloy 718 irrelevant. Results show that HIPing can reduce defect content from as high as 17% in as-built samples (intentionally generated employing increased processing speeds in this illustrative proof-of-concept study) to <0.3%, with the small amount of remnant defects being mainly associated with oxide inclusions. The subsequent solution and aging treatments are also found to yield virtually identical phase distribution and hardness values in samples with vastly varying as-built defect contents. This can have considerable implications in contributing to minimizing elaborate process optimization efforts as well as slightly enhancing production speeds to promote industrialization of EBM for applications that demand the above post-treatments.

Nanocrystalline Electrodeposited Fe-W/Al2O3 Composites: Effect of Alumina Sub-microparticles on the Mechanical, Tribological, and Corrosion Properties

In this study, nanocrystalline Fe-W alloy and Fe-W/Al₂O₃ composite coatings with various contents of sub-microsized alumina particles have been obtained by electrodeposition from an environmentally friendly Fe(III)-based electrolyte with the aim to produce a novel corrosion and wear resistant material. The increase in volume fraction of Al₂O₃ in deposits from 2 to 12% leads to the grain refinement effect, so that the structure of the coatings change from nanocrystalline to amorphous-like with grain sizes below 20 nm. Nevertheless, the addition of particles to the Fe-W matrix does not prevent the development of a columnar structure revealed for all the types of studied coatings. The observed reduction in both hardness and elastic modulus of the Fe-W/Al₂O₃ composites is attributed to the apparent grain size refinement/amorphization and the nanoporosity surrounding the embedded Al₂O₃ particles. In the presence of 12 vol% of Al₂O₃ in deposits, the wear rate decreases by a factor of 10 as compared to Fe-W alloy tested under dry friction conditions due to the lowering of tribo-oxidation. The addition of alumina particles slightly increases the corrosion resistance of the coatings; however, the corrosion in neutral chloride solution occurs through the preferential dissolution of Fe from the matrix. The obtained results provide a possibility to integrate the nanocrystalline Fe-W/Al₂O₃ composite coatings into various systems working under dry friction conditions, for example, in high-temperature vacuum systems.

Notizen: The Crystal Structure of MnIn2Se4, a Ternary Layered Semiconductor

Single crystals of MnIn2Se4 have been grown by the chemical vapour phase transport technique using AlCl3 as the transporting agent. The structure was refined to R = 0.064, Rw, = 0.059 for 609 reflections. MnIn2Se4 (R 3̄m, hexagonal axes a = 4.051(1), c = 39.464(2) Å, c/a = 9.74, Z = 3) crystallizes with a nearly close-packed layered structure (sequence of the Se layers ABCA|CABC|BCAB) with Moct (= 0.56 Mn + 0.44 In) in octahedral coordination (Moct,–Se = 6 × 2.721(1) A) and Mtet (= 0.78 In + 0.22 Mn) in tetrahedral coordination (Mtet-Se = 1 × 2.527(2) and 3 × 2.593(1) Å). The overall layer sequences is ΑβΒαCyA| Cα AγBβC| BγCβAα B.

Analytical TEM study of annealed nanocrystalline cobalt-phosphorous electrodeposits

Investigation of thermal stability of two nanocrystalline Co-P alloys shows that P atoms segregate to the grain boundaries upon annealing until precipitation of Co(2)P and CoP precipitates takes place. The P-rich precipitates formed have been investigated by analytical transmission electron microscopy to obtain statistical results of precipitate size, volume fraction and spatial distribution. Electron spectroscopic imaging maps show that the P-rich precipitates are 33 +/- 9 nm in Co-1.1at.%P and 33 +/- 12 nm in Co-3.2at.%P. The main differences between the alloys are the precipitate size distribution (Co-3.2at.%P having broader distribution) and precipitate volume number density (Co-3.2at.%P has 1.8 times more precipitates than Co-1.1at.%P). The volume fraction of precipitates is 3.0% in Co-1.1at.%P and 4.4% in Co-1.1at.%P. Most of the precipitates are of nearly spherical or slightly elongated shape, and only a few have a platelet-like shape as expected from previous tomographic atom probe measurements. Due to the truncation and projection effects, the composition of the precipitates could not be determined.

EBSD characterization of carbide-carbide boundaries in WC-Co composites

A sample of WC-6wt%Co was investigated for grain boundary character distribution and occurrence of coincidence site lattice (CSL) boundaries on a statistical basis. For this purpose orientation measurements of the grains were carried out using electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD). The dominant misorientation relationships were determined by complementary EBSD data representation tools such as orientation maps, misorientation angle distribution histograms and the sectioned three-dimensional misorientation space. It was found that the grain boundary character distribution of the material is nearly random and the CSL boundaries are not present in statistically significant amounts. It was also found that the amount of binder phase does not play a role in the formation of special boundaries. The paper focuses on the methodology of characterizing grain boundaries in a hexagonal material using EBSD.

Cognitive and affective disturbances in multiple sclerosis

The emotional and relationship problems associated with MS have not always been fully appreciated by the medical profession, which has tended to concentrate on the physical aspects of this disease. Yet the psychological problems of MS often cause more suffering than physical effects.

Aqua[1-(2,6-dichloro-4-hydroxyphenyl)-2- phenylethylenediamine]sulfatoplatinum(II) complexes with variable substituents in the 2-phenyl ring, II: Correlation of molecular structure and estrogenic activity of breast and prostate cancer inhibiting. [erythro-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-(2-halo-4- hydroxyphenyl)ethylenediamine]platinum(II) complexes

Complete three-dimensional X-ray crystal structure analyses of estrogenic [erythro-1-(2,6-dichloro-4-hydroxyphenyl)-2-(2-halo-4- hydroxyphenyl)ethylenediamine]diiodoplatinum(II) complexes (halo = fluoro:erythro-8PtI2 and halo = chloro:erythro-9-PtI2) which were synthesized for application in breast and prostate cancer, have been carried out. 6239 as well as 6521 reflexes were measured and refined to an R-value of 0.105 and 0.066, respectively. The molecules of erythro-8-PtI2 are displaced laterally from a possible Pt-Pt-axis separated, alternatingly, by Pt-Pt-distances of 3.62 A and 6.27 A. A comparable structure possesses erythro-9-PtI2 with Pt-Pt-distances of 3.59 A and 6.32 A. The ethylenediamine ligands of erythro-8-PtI2 and erythro-9-PtI2 are puckered and exist in half chair conformations. For both complexes the 2,6-dichloro-4-hydroxyphenyl ring is equatorially arranged, while the 2-halo-4-hydroxyphenyl ring is nearly perpendicular to the N-Pt-N plane. The O-O-distance between the phenolic oxygens amounts to 8.1 A in erythro-8-PtI2 and to 7.8 A in erythro-9-PtI2. Though these O-O-distances differ strongly from that (12.1 A), which is considered to be necessary for the binding of an estrogen to its receptor, [1-(2,6-dichloro-4-hydroxyphenyl)- 2-(2-halo-4-hydroxyphenyl)ethylenediamine)]platinum(II) complexes show estrogenic effects which are, however, strongly reduced compared to that of therapeutically used estrogens like diethylstilbestrol. The relationship between molecular structure and estrogenicity as well as the significance of the latter for antitumor activity and untoward side effects are thoroughly discussed.