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Basic single particle impact studies were carried out on copper, steel and dural. By calculating the coefficient of restitution without employing the usual small indentation approximations, closer agreement was found with experimental data. The experimentally determined dynamic hardness was found to be between 1.3 and 1.4 times the quasi-static indentation hardness. A notable feature of these experiments was the formation of surface rings in the bottom of the impact crater. These impacts were analysed in a manner analogous to that used for the impact of a liquid drop on a rigid substrate where damage is caused by the detachment of the shock wave from the contact periphery. An extension of the single particle impact studies was an investigation into the chipping car paint. The failure mechanism was found to be primarily shear debonding at the coating/substrate interface which facilitated the formation of chips and subsequent corrosion of the metal substrate. Suggestions were made to improve the performance of the paint system. In the area of multiple particle impact, considerable improvements were made to the existing erosion apparatus and associated instrumentation, particularly in the area of particle velocity measurement. This was then used to investigate the behaviour of a range of materials including pure metals, nimonic alloys and polymer specimens. The nimonic alloys were found to have an angular response more typical of a brittle material than of a ductile metal. Most of the materials studied exhibited incubation times which were shown to correspond to between ten and several hundred impacts on the same target area. Study of titanium metal (which emits sparks during erosion) at normal incidence showed that some mass loss is actually occurring throughout the incubation period, although the specimen may be exhibiting a net mass gain. This mass loss is thought to be due to a single impact mechanism such as cutting or ploughing, which is then swamped by a co-operative mechanism to produce a linear erosion rate. The incubation period cannot therefore be due solely to the superposition of a linear mass loss and a saturating rate of embeddment.

Rapid solidification processing is widely used in industry, but the underlying mechanisms are not completely understood. In the present work, an effort is made to understand the effects of rapid heat extraction and large undercooling on the solidification sequence, in particular: (1) the transition from diffusion-limited growth to impingement-limited growth; and (2) crystal nucleation in deeply undercooled liquids. Rapid solidification can be achieved either by (1) rapid quenching, or (2) large undercooling. Accordingly, two different methods are used in the present work. They are, (a) nanosecond pulsed laser quenching, and (b) bulk undercooling in a liquid flux. Thin films prepared by d.c. magnetron getter sputtering have been used in pulsed laser quenching. Both pure metals (Fe, Zr, Ti, Co, Ge) and binary alloys (Nb-Ni, Ti-Co) prepared by this method are investigated. Alloys Fe<SUB>40</SUB>Ni<SUB>40</SUB>B<SUB>20</SUB>, Ni<SUB>75</SUB>Si<SUB>8</SUB>B<SUB>17</SUB> and elemental Ge have been used in bulk undercooling. The metastable structures obtained are analysed by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, electron probe microanalysis, transmission electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The results obtained are discussed in terms of non-equilibrium crystal nucleation and growth processes.

Tissue sequestration and biliary elimination are two of the important mechanisms by which mammalian body defends against heavy metal insults. In rats or rabbits that had received Pb, Cd, Hg, As and ²¹⁰Po, these metal ions were sequestered in the choroid plexus at concentrations of Pb, Cd, Hg, As and Po that were 57, 33, 12, 13 and 5 times higher, respectively, than those found in the brain cortex. In addition, the concentrations of these heavy metal ions were many fold greater in the choroid plexus than in the CSF or blood. The accumulation of Pb in the choroid plexus was dose-dependent and time-related. When the choroid plexus was incubated, in vitro, with ouabain, the latter significantly inhibited the uptake of Cd from the CSF side of the choroid plexus. Cystine concentration was four times greater in the choroid plexus than in brain cortex. Results suggest that the choroid plexus sequesters toxic metal and metalloid ions. It appears to do this in order to protect the CSF and brain from toxic heavy metals in the blood. The effect of N-(2,3-dimercaptopropyl) phthalamidic acid (DMPA), meso-dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) and 2,3-dimercapto-1-propane sulfonic acid (DMPS) on biliary excretion of Cd was studied in rat chronic intoxication mode. DMPA (0.10 mmol/kg, iv), when given to rats three days after exposure to Cd, elicited within 30 min a 20-fold increase in biliary Cd excretion. GSH in rat bile was also increased three fold as compared to control. Neither DMSA nor DMPS increased biliary Cd or GSH. Upon iv administration, DMPA, not DMSA, appeared in bile. An altered, presumably disulfide, form of DMPS was also found in bile. Incubation of DMPA or DMSA with Cd-saturated MT resulted in the removal of Cd from MT. DMPS, however, promoted the formation of MT polymers. DMPA protected biliary GSH from autoxidation. Gel filtration and autoradiographic study of rat bile samples showed that the radioactivity of Cd was correlated with both GSH and DMPA. The evidence supports the mechanism that the increase of biliary Cd by DMPA is the result of DMPA entering cells and removing Cd from MT. Protection of GSH autoxidation by DMPA may facilitate Cd elimination via the bile.

A high speed stirring apparatus was constructed for following the kinetics of metal ion extraction by chelating agents. The semi-automated system is capable of measuring reactions with half lives of 20 seconds or more with data being collected every second. Experimental data obtained with the device are superior to those collected by batch shakers, fixed interface cells, falling drop, or other stirring devices. The use of a microporous Teflon membrane phase separator along with the thermodynamic relation, the Gibbs Equation, enabled the measurement of drop sizes in a two phase liquid-liquid dispersion. This allowed the determination of the quantity of interfacial area as a function of stir rate. The effect of interfacial area on the rate of extraction of five different chelating agents with various divalent metal ions was determined in this study. The role of the interfacial area in extraction kinetics was found in a system where diffusional effects are negligible. This information provides an answer to the question of whether the rate determining step of extraction occurs in either the bulk aqueous phase or in the interfacial region. The proportionality between rate and specific interfacial area was employed to find the magnitude of the contributions of the bulk and interfacial components and also allowed the calculation of the individual rate constants. Evaluation of the bulk and interfacial rate constants yields important fundamental information as to the chemical nature and differences between the chloroform/water interface and the bulk aqueous phase. The results appear to illustrate that the interface is a more conducive medium for reaction between metal and ligand than the aqueous phase. The role of foreign species, namely nonionic surfactants, on the rate of extraction was investigated to explore their applicability in solvent extraction. Nonionic surfactants were found to enhance the rates of extraction to different extents in different metal systems.

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