National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

Phase transformation behavior of Ti50Ni30Cu20 shape memory alloys prepared by powder metallurgy is analyzed with respect to the duration of mechanical alloying. The processed blends were studied by differential scanning calorimetry and room temperature X-ray diffraction. The martensitic transformations evidenced by thermal scans are discussed in correlation with the relative phase content obtained from the refinement of the X-ray diffraction patterns. (c) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Barium titanate (BaTiO3) has been doped in situ with 5 mol% thulium by a sol-gel method. The as-prepared gel powder consists of nanosized grains (20-30 nm) and crystallizes on the cubic BaTiO3 lattice, at 700 degrees C. Ba0.95Tm0.05TiO3 ceramics derived from this powder have tetragonal perovskite structure and contain a small amount of Tm2Ti2O7 pyrochlore phase. These ceramics exhibit dielectric constants of 4282-3240 and dielectric loss (tan delta) of 0.1077-0.0161 at Curie temperature T-c=132 degrees C and at 10 Hz-100 kHz, respectively. For a drive voltage of 400 V, the hysteresis loop recorded at the frequency of 100 Hz shows a remnant polarization (P-r) value of 76 mu C/cm2 and a coercive field (E-c) of 124 V and for 1 kHz a remnant polarization (P-r) value of 58 mu C/cm2 and a coercive field (E-c) of 116 V.

The article reports the preparation and complex characterization of iron-containing phosphate glasses considered to be ecological materials, as they contain nontoxic compounds related to environment. The oxide system Li2O-MgO-(CaO)-Al2O3-P2O5-(FeO/Fe2O3) was investigated in respect to its structural changes caused by MgO replacement with CaO and by the iron addition. UV-vis-NIR (ultraviolet-visible-near infrared) spectroscopy as well as thermo-gravimetric (TG) measurements, differential thermo-analysis (DTA), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, electronic paramagnetic resonance (EPR), and Mossbauer (nuclear gamma resonance) spectroscopy have been used to investigate redox states and coordination symmetry of iron, together with vitreous network changes during the heat treatment up to 1000 degrees C. UV-vis-NIR transmission spectroscopy revealed no structural modifications when MgO was substituted by CaO, but noteworthy absorption bands attributed to Fe2+/Fe3+ species. TG analysis made in the 20-1000 degrees C range shows low weight loss accompanied by several thermal effects, as evidenced by DTA. XRD patterns for the glass samples heat treated at about 700 degrees C revealed the presence of different phosphate crystalline phases containing Mg, Al, and Fe ions. EPR spectroscopy revealed the presence of paramagnetic Fe3+ ions and the change of the first coordination symmetry, when the samples are heated below the vitreous transition temperature. Mossbauer spectroscopy has evidenced two paramagnetic species, Fe2+ and Fe3+, both in octahedral coordination symmetry and a clustering process supported by only Fe3+ ions.

It is proposed a processing route to obtain dense (>= 90%) nanometric La0.9Sr0.1Ga0.8Mg0.2O3-x (LSGM) electrolyte ceramic by reacting under spark-plasma-sintering (SPS) conditions a relatively poor mixture of intermediate powdered La/Sr- and Ga/Mg-based products synthesized separately by precipitation and hydrothermal methods, respectively. Samples with particle size of 9-20, 37-93, and 120-240 nm were measured from the electrical conductivity viewpoint. A fast transport path along grain boundaries was not observed and, a higher nano particle size improves total conductivity in our samples. Results suggest that it is necessary to make a clear distinction between particle size from microscopy observation and crystallite size from structural (e.g. XRD) measurements when looking at the general conductivity - grain size dependence. This dependence is complex and the use of an unconventional, far from equilibrium technique such as SPS might influence it. Currently, a good understanding is missing, but pending on materials, technology specifics and the complex relationship between them, some of the usually promoted ideas from literature such as the necessity of high mixing levels in the precursor powders, of high pressure application during sintering, of low particle size (nano) in the sintered ceramic for a higher conductivity, of high purity phase and so on require careful consideration. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Superconducting materials have contributed significantly to the development of modern materials science and engineering. Specific technological solutions for their synthesis and processing helped in understanding the principles and approaches to the design, fabrication and application of many other materials. In this review, we explore the bidirectional relationship between the general and particular synthesis concepts. The analysis is mostly based on our studies where some unconventional technologies were applied to different superconductors and some other materials. These technologies include spray-frozen freeze-drying, fast pyrolysis, field-assisted sintering (or spark plasma sintering), nanoblasting, processing in high magnetic fields, methods of control of supersaturation and migration during film growth, and mechanical treatments of composite wires. The analysis provides future research directions and some key elements to define the concept of 'beautiful' technology in materials science. It also reconfirms the key position and importance of superconductors in the development of new materials and unconventional synthesis approaches.

Power applications of superconducting coated conductors in high magnetic fields require thick films with high critical current density J (c) and strong artificial pinning centers. Here, we report on the artificial pinning centers induced in YBCO quasi-multilayer films interspaced with palladium (Pd) nano-dots. Quasi-multilayered (QM) YBa2Cu3O7-delta (YBCO) films composed of YBCO layers interspaced with quasi-layers of palladium nano-dots were grown by pulsed laser deposition on SrTiO3(100) substrates. DC magnetization and frequency-dependent measurements showed high J (c) comparable with best YBCO films in thin quasi-multilayers and significant improvement of J (c) in thick quasi-multilayers. TEM study shows regions of planar defects, stacking faults, and pore formations suitable for immobilizing vortices. These defects significantly contribute to the pinning of magnetic flux and increase critical current in the films.

The combination of two methods: Ag substrate decoration and introduction of BZO nano-inclusions has been used in a pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method to increase the critical density (J (c) ) of YBCO films. The films were deposited on single crystal SrTiO3 (STO) substrates decorated with various architecture of Ag nano-dots. We have studied the diameter and density of Ag nano-dots and their influence on J (c) of BZO-added YBCO films. We found that 15 laser pulses on the Ag target gives an optimum result in increasing J (c) in comparison with BZO-doped YBCO films of the same thickness in self-field and low applied magnetic fields. A higher number of laser pulses on the Ag target led to increasing critical current density in high applied magnetic fields only (above 2 T). We have studied films of the thickness from 0.4 mu m to 3.8 mu m and found that the highest J (c) at all applied fields investigated is achieved for a 1.2 mu m thick film. The transmission electron microscopy clearly shows BZO nano-rods that provide strong c-axis pinning centres in the films.

The discovery of superconductivity in MgB2 and, more recently, in iron pnictides, revived the interest in two-component and other exotic superconductors, including in the field of vortex matter, as was shown recently by the discovery of "type 1.5" superconductivity. However, even some "older" exotic cuprates grown by high-pressure techniques showed interesting anomalies related to the interplay between Josephson and magnetic coupling and/or two-gap superconductivity. Here, we will present two such examples of exotic vortex matter: magnetically-coupled pancake-vortex molecules in super-multilayered cuprates, and vortex molecules composed of fractional flux quanta glued by an interband phase difference soliton, and will discuss the major differences between MgB2 and such multilayer cuprates in terms of the relative strength of the interband interaction and, respectively, in terms of the coherence and penetration lengths.

A range of nano techniques is explored in order to increase the critical current in pulsed laser deposited (PLD) superconducting YBa2Cu3O (x) (YBCO) thin films. The structural measurements are linked with magnetic and transport measurements of the films. The effectiveness of PLD techniques is analyzed from the point of view of the dimensionality of nanostructures formed prior to and during the film growth. It is shown that a combination of two-dimensional substrate decoration with nanoparticles before the film deposition and one-dimensional growth of external phase nanorods during the deposition offers a high critical current in magnetic field both along the c-axis and in the ab-plane of YBCO.

The low frequency collective movements of proteins associated with biologically relevant conformational transitions are situated in the terahertz (THz) spectral region. THz spectroscopy experiments have revealed that each molecular species has a unique absorption pattern in THz domain. We used time-domain THz spectroscopy (TDS) to study the conformation and flexibility of bovine serum albumin (BSA), a protein whose 3D structure is unknown. We performed THz spectroscopy experiments on lyophilized BSA. Theoretical spectra were obtained by normal modes analysis performed on BSA structures generated by homology modeling and molecular dynamics simulations. The agreement between experimental and theoretical data allowed us to validate the model of BSA and also to gain insight into BSA vibrations in THz domain.