National Institute Of Materials Physics - Romania

For practical applications of superconductors, understanding the vortex matter and dynamics is of paramount importance. An important issue in this context is the transition of the vortex glass, which is a true superconducting phase, into a vortex liquid phase having a linear dissipation. By using multi-harmonic susceptibility studies, we have investigated the vortex glass-vortex liquid phase transitions in CaKFe4As4 and BaFe2(As0.68P0.32)(2) single crystals. The principle of our method relates the on-set of the third-harmonic susceptibility response with the appearance of a vortex-glass phase in which the dissipation is non-linear. Similar to the high-critical temperature cuprate superconductors, we have shown that even in these iron-based superconductors with significant lower critical temperatures, such phase transition can be treated as a melting in the sense of Lindemann's approach, considering an anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau model. The experimental data are consistent with a temperature-dependent London penetration depth given by a 3D XY fluctuations model. The fitting parameters allowed us to extrapolate the vortex melting lines down to the temperature of liquid hydrogen, and such extrapolation showed that CaKFe4As4 is a very promising superconducting material for high field applications in liquid hydrogen, with a melting field at 20 K of the order of 100 T.

In the quest for novel rare earth (RE)-free magnetic materials, which also exhibit other additional properties such as good corrosion resistance and potential to operate at higher temperatures, an alloy deriving from the binary FePt system, with Mo and B addition, has been synthesized for the first time, using the out-of-equilibrium method of rapid solidification form the melt. The alloy with the composition Fe49Pt26Mo2B23 has been subjected to thermal analysis through differential scanning calorimetry in order to detect the structural disorder - order phase transformation as well as to study the crystallization processes. For the stabilization of the formed hard magnetic phase, the sample has been annealed at 600 degrees C and further structurally and magnetically characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, Fe-57 Mossbauer spectrometry as well as magnetometry experiments. It has been proven that after annealing at 600 degrees C the tetragonal hard magnetic L1(0) phase emerges via crystallization from a disordered cubic precursor and becomes the predominant phase in terms of relative abundance. Moreover, it has been revealed by quantitative analysis via Mossbauer spectroscopy that the annealed sample exhibits a complex phase structure, where the L1(0) hard magnetic phase is accompanied by few other soft magnetic phases, in minority abundance: the cubic A1, orthorhombic Fe2B and residual intergranular region. The magnetic parameters have been derived from 300 K hysteresis loops. It was shown that, contrary to the as-cast sample which behaves as a typical soft magnet, the annealed sample presents strong coercivity and high remanent magnetization, accompanied by a large saturation magnetization. These findings offers good insight into the potential developing of novel class of RE-free permanent magnets, based on Fe-Pt-Mo-B, where the magnetic performance emerges from the co-existence of hard and soft magnetic phases in controlled and tunable proportions, capable of finding good applicability in fields requiring good catalytic properties and strong corrosion resistance.

In the quest for novel rare earth (RE)-free magnetic materials, which also exhibit other additional properties such as good corrosion resistance and potential to operate at higher temperatures, an alloy deriving from the binary FePt system, with Mo and B addition, has been synthesized for the first time, using the out-of-equilibrium method of rapid solidification form the melt. The alloy with the composition Fe49Pt26Mo2B23 has been subjected to thermal analysis through differential scanning calorimetry in order to detect the structural disorder - order phase transformation as well as to study the crystallization processes. For the stabilization of the formed hard magnetic phase, the sample has been annealed at 600 degrees C and further structurally and magnetically characterized by means of X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, Fe-57 Mossbauer spectrometry as well as magnetometry experiments. It has been proven that after annealing at 600 degrees C the tetragonal hard magnetic L1(0) phase emerges via crystallization from a disordered cubic precursor and becomes the predominant phase in terms of relative abundance. Moreover, it has been revealed by quantitative analysis via Mossbauer spectroscopy that the annealed sample exhibits a complex phase structure, where the L1(0) hard magnetic phase is accompanied by few other soft magnetic phases, in minority abundance: the cubic A1, orthorhombic Fe2B and residual intergranular region. The magnetic parameters have been derived from 300 K hysteresis loops. It was shown that, contrary to the as-cast sample which behaves as a typical soft magnet, the annealed sample presents strong coercivity and high remanent magnetization, accompanied by a large saturation magnetization. These findings offers good insight into the potential developing of novel class of RE-free permanent magnets, based on Fe-Pt-Mo-B, where the magnetic performance emerges from the co-existence of hard and soft magnetic phases in controlled and tunable proportions, capable of finding good applicability in fields requiring good catalytic properties and strong corrosion resistance.

In fusion reactors, such as ITER or DEMO, the plasma used to generate nuclear reactions will reach temperatures that are an order of magnitude higher than in the Sun's core. Although the plasma is not supposed to be in contact with the reactor walls, a large amount of heat generated by electromagnetic radiation, electrons and ions being expelled from the plasma will reach the plasma-facing surface of the reactor. Especially for the divertor part, high heat fluxes of up to 20 MW/m(2) are expected even in normal operating conditions. An improvement in the plasma-facing material (which is, in the case of ITER, pure Tungsten, W) is desired at least in terms of both a higher recrystallization temperature and a lower brittle-to-ductile transition temperature. In the present work, we discuss three microengineering routes based on inclusions of nanometric dispersions, which are proposed to improve the W properties, and present the microstructural and thermophysical properties of the resulting W-based composites with such dispersions. The materials' behavior after 6 MeV electron irradiation tests is also presented, and their further development is discussed.

In the present work, nanocrystalline NixCo1-xFe2O4 oxides with average crystallite size between 11 nm and 111 nm have been analyzed by Mossbauer spectroscopy, hysteresis loops, field cooled (FC) and zero field cooled (ZFC) magnetization measurements. A core-shell model has been proposed. Accordingly, the Mossbauer spectra evidence a ferrimagnetic core and a disordered shell (spin-glass), the latter increasing with Ni concentration. Hysteresis curves reveal the ferromagnetic nature of the investigated compounds and transformation from single- to multi-domain behaviour at a critical particle size dependent on Ni2+ ion concentration. The magnetic properties of finest powders (average crystallite size similar to 11 nm) are the most sensitive to the Ni2+ ions content. A general increase in the coercive field, H-C, with reducing temperature according to the modified Kneller's formula H-c(T) = H-c(0)[1-(T/T-B)(beta) where beta = 0.45 occurs. A high saturation magnetization of about 90 emu/g and an increase in H-C from about 0.3 kOe at 300 K to 7 kOe at 10 K have been observed for the sample Ni0.1Co0.9Fe2O4 (x = 0.1). Increasing magnetization and coercive field with reducing temperature are also explained within the core shell model. FC and ZFC data show strong dependence of the magnetic properties on crystallite size and concentration of Ni2+ ions.

In the present work, nanocrystalline NixCo1-xFe2O4 oxides with average crystallite size between 11 nm and 111 nm have been analyzed by Mossbauer spectroscopy, hysteresis loops, field cooled (FC) and zero field cooled (ZFC) magnetization measurements. A core-shell model has been proposed. Accordingly, the Mossbauer spectra evidence a ferrimagnetic core and a disordered shell (spin-glass), the latter increasing with Ni concentration. Hysteresis curves reveal the ferromagnetic nature of the investigated compounds and transformation from single- to multi-domain behaviour at a critical particle size dependent on Ni2+ ion concentration. The magnetic properties of finest powders (average crystallite size similar to 11 nm) are the most sensitive to the Ni2+ ions content. A general increase in the coercive field, H-C, with reducing temperature according to the modified Kneller's formula H-c(T) = H-c(0)[1-(T/T-B)(beta) where beta = 0.45 occurs. A high saturation magnetization of about 90 emu/g and an increase in H-C from about 0.3 kOe at 300 K to 7 kOe at 10 K have been observed for the sample Ni0.1Co0.9Fe2O4 (x = 0.1). Increasing magnetization and coercive field with reducing temperature are also explained within the core shell model. FC and ZFC data show strong dependence of the magnetic properties on crystallite size and concentration of Ni2+ ions.

Yttrium iron garnet nanoparticles were exposed to mechanochemical activation by high-energy ball milling for 0, 2, 4, 8 and 12 h, with and without graphene nanoparticles. The samples were subsequently characterized by Mo center dot ssbauer spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), magnetic measurements and optical diffuse reflec-tance spectroscopy. Examination of the quadrupole doublet's abundance as function of ball milling time indi-cated that graphene slowed down the precipitation of the yttrium iron perovskite (yttrium orthoferrite) phase. The increased linewidth of the doublet showed that the carbon from graphene preferentially entered the lattice of the yttrium orthoferrite. The saturation magnetization decreased with decreasing particle size for prolonged milling due to the occurrence of the antiferromagnetic hematite phase. The enhanced absorption in the infrared region could be associated with the incorporation of carbon from graphene in the lattice of the yttrium ortho-ferrite. The results are interesting for sensing and microwave applications.

This work was devoted to the first multi-parametric unitary comparative analysis of a selection of sintered piezoceramic materials synthesised by solid-state reactions, aiming to delineate the most promising biocompatible piezoelectric material, to be further implemented into macro-porous ceramic scaffolds fabricated by 3D printing technologies. The piezoceramics under scrutiny were: KNbO3, LiNbO3, LiTaO3, BaTiO3, Zr-doped BaTiO3, and the (Ba0.85Ca0.15)(Ti0.9Zr0.1)O-3 solid solution (BCTZ). The XRD analysis revealed the high crystallinity of all sintered ceramics, while the best densification was achieved for the BaTiO3-based materials via conventional sintering. Conjunctively, BCTZ yielded the best combination of functional properties-piezoelectric response (in terms of longitudinal piezoelectric constant and planar electromechanical coupling factor) and mechanical and in vitro osteoblast cell compatibility. The selected piezoceramic was further used as a base material for the robocasting fabrication of 3D macro-porous scaffolds (porosity of similar to 50%), which yielded a promising compressive strength of similar to 20 MPa (higher than that of trabecular bone), excellent cell colonization capability, and noteworthy cytocompatibility in osteoblast cell cultures, analogous to the biological control. Thereby, good prospects for the possible development of a new generation of synthetic bone graft substitutes endowed with the piezoelectric effect as a stimulus for the enhancement of osteogenic capacity were settled.

The changes of properties and preferential interactions based on subtle energetic differences are important characteristics of organic molecules, particularly for their functionalities in biological systems. Only slightly energetically favored interactions are important for the molecular adsorption and bonding to surfaces, which define their properties for further technological applications. Here, prochiral tetracenothiophene molecules are adsorbed on the Cu(111) surface. The chiral adsorption configurations are determined by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy studies and confirmed by first-principles calculations. Remarkably, the selection of the adsorption sites by chemically different moieties of the molecules is dictated by the arrangement of the atoms in the first and second surface layers. Furthermore, we have investigated the thermal effects on the direct desulfurization reaction that occurs under the catalytic activity of the Cu substrate. This reaction leads to a product that is covalently bound to the surface in chiral configurations.

Shape memory alloys, especially ferromagnetic shape memory alloys, are interesting new materials for the manufacturing of stents. Iron-palladium alloys in particular can be used to manufacture self-expanding temporary stents due to their optimum rate of degradation, which is between that of magnesium and pure iron, two metals commonly used in temporary stent research. In order to avoid blood clotting upon the introduction of the stent, they are often coated with anticoagulants. In this study, sulfated pectin, a heparin mimetic, was synthesized in different ways and used as coating on multiple iron-palladium alloys. The static and dynamic prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) of the prepared materials were compared to samples uncoated or coated with polyethylene glycol. While no large differences were observed in the prothrombin time measurements, the activated partial thromboplastin time increased significantly with all alloys coated with sulfated pectin. Aside from that, sulfated pectin synthesized by different methods also caused slight changes in the activated partial thromboplastin time. These findings show that iron-palladium alloys can be coated with anticoagulants to improve their utility as material for temporary stents. Sulfated pectin was characterized by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and the coated alloys by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX).