No description available.

No description available.

Amorphous alloys have a range of desirable ferromagnetic, electrical, mechanical and chemical properties. For instance, the application of Fe-based soft ferromagnetic amorphous alloys as transformer core materials can cut the transformer core losses to about 1/4, with considerable energy saving. However, during manufacture, heat treatment and in service, amorphous alloys may need to be exposed to moderately high temperatures for a period of time, with possible degradation caused by oxidation and crystallisation. There has been almost no previous study of oxidation behaviour and the relationship between oxidation and crystallisation in amorphous alloys. Eight important amorphous alloys and an industrial crystalline silicon steel have been studied in the present work; amorphous Fe78Si9Bl3, Fe40Ni40B20, Fe40Ni40P14B6, Co58NilOFe5SillB16, Fe32Ni36Crl4P12B6, Co66Fe4NilSil5B14, Co76Fe2Mn4Si6B12 and Ni78Si8B14, and crystalline Fe94Si6. A combination of thermogravimetry, optical and electron microscopy, electron probe microanalysis, X-ray diffractometry and differential scanning calorimetry has been used to investigate the oxidation and crystallisation kinetics, oxide structure and composition, oxidation and crystallisation mechanisms and the effect of crystallisation on the oxidation behaviour. The results show that the oxidation resistance at 350 C in air increases in the order Fe40Ni40- P14B6 < Fe94Si6 < Co66Fe4NilSil5B14 < Co58NilOFe5SillB16 < Co76MnFe2- Si6B12 < Fe40Ni40B20 < Si78Si9B13 < Ni78Si8B14 < Fe32Ni36Crl4P12B6. Most of the amorphous alloys obey a parabolic oxidation rate law, but the oxidation kinetics, oxide growth mechanism and resulting oxide structure change sharply when crystallisation takes place in the amorphous alloys. Amorphous Fe78Si9B13 and Fe40Ni40B20 have better oxidation resistance than the corresponding crystalline alloys, while amorphous Fe40Ni40P14B6 and Co58NilOFe5Sil1B16 have poorer oxidation resistance than the crystalline counterparts. Most of the crystalline alloys also obey a parabolic oxidation rate law, except for the crystalline Co based alloys and Fe40Ni40B20, which obey a logarithmic rate law. In most cases, the amorphous and crystalline alloys oxidise to form a fine-scale multiphase oxide scale, except for amorphous Fe40Ni40P14B6, which oxidises to form a whisker-like thick layer of Fe203- In general, ion diffusion through fast transport paths such as grain boundaries and dislocations is the rate controlling process for oxide growth. Different oxidation kinetics and oxide growth mechanisms in amorphous and crystalline alloys of the same composition are caused by micro-chemical segregation of the alloying elements during crystallisation.

No description available.

Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 1999

The present work used ab initio density functional theory (DFT) to study two different physical phenomena crystallization fouling and clay-based polymer nanocomposites. In the first part, two foulant materials were studied including calcium carbonate, and calcium sulfate. The lattice energy and enthalpy of formations of each crystal system were predicted using DFT methods. The most stable forms of calcium carbonate foul ant, calcite and aragonite, were investigated. For calcium sulfate, both gypsum and anhydrite crystals were investigated. The thermodynamic solubility product of each crystal system, for both foul ants, was predicted from the lattice energy and enthalpy of formations. Comparison of the stability between the different crystal systems for the same foul ant material was carried out to elucidate the effect of crystal atomic configuration and space group on the stability of foulant materials. The effect of temperature on the formation and stability of foulant material was also carried out. The results obtained using DFT methods, for enthalpy of formation and thermodynamic solubility products, were comparable with the experimental data reported in the literature. In the second part, study has been made on the clay-based nylon 6 nanocomposite materials. The purpose was to understand the interfacial interactions between clay and polymer with and without surfactant component. Both sides of the clay were examined with nylon 6. In order to determine specifically the type of interfacial interaction between clay and nylon 6, the electron distribution around the whole system was predicted. The study was carried out at various isomorphic substitutions. The substitutions took place at both octahedral and tetrahedral layers of the clay. The strength between clay and nylon 6 was predicted by calculating the binding energy. The results obtained revealed that, the strength increases with the increase in the degree of isomorphic substitutions. The type of bond between nylon 6 and basal surface of the clay was found to be basically electrostatic interactions, and particularly hydrogen bonds. Whilst, the type of interactions between nylon 6 and clay edge surface was found to include covalent bonds as well as electrostatic interactions. The formation and breakage of covalent bonds between nylon 6 and clay means that, a chemical decomposition of the clay can happen when it is mixed with certain type of polymers. The presence of surfactant can decrease the interfacial interactions between clay and nylon 6.

Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 1999

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2008. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the World Wide Web.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Univ., 2004. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (M.Phil.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in electronic version.