Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Technology, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-77).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1926.

Universiẗat, Diss., 2001--München.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 1943. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on October 29, 2007) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Mg-V and Mg-Zr alloys with nominal compositions 1, 6, 17.5, 27 wt% V and 2, 8.6 and 10.6 wt% Zr respectively were produced by PVD. All deposits exhibited compositional inhomogeneity, columnar microstructures and a strong basal texture. The solid solubilities of V and Zr in Mg were extended approximately to 17 wt% V and 10 wt% respectively. Grain refinement occurred with increasing solute content. The solid solution break up temperature decreased as the V and Zr content in the alloys increased. Pure V precipitated when the extended solid solubility of was exceeded. Both c and a lattice parameters, as well as the c/a ratio decreased with increasing V content in the Mg-V alloys. The slight increase of the a-lattice parameter and the decrease of the c one led to a decrease of the c/a ratio with increasing Zr additions in the Mg-Zr alloys. The air-formed oxide on the surfaces of the Mg-V alloys consisted predominantly of hydromagnesite at the outermost surface with Mg(OH)2 in excess of MgO underneath. No evidence of V oxide in the surface film was found. Magnesium oxide was also found between the grains of the deposits. The air-formed oxide on the surfaces of the Mg-Zr alloys consisted of ZrO2, MgO and possibly Zr sub-oxide. The presence of the oxides beween the columnar grains gave rise to graded metal/oxide interfaces. The outermost surfaces of the Mg-Zr alloys were similar to the Mg-V ones. Analysis of changes of the Auger parameters of the Mg-V and Mg-Zr alloys was also undertaken in order to investigate the electronic changes that take place upon alloying Mg with V and Zr. Charge transfer between 0.09 and 0.11 electrons/atom from Mg to V as well as changes in the V d charge were calculated by measuring the Mg and V Auger parameters and using the charge transfer model of Thomas and Weightman. Electron transfer between 0.02 and 0.03 electrons/atom from Mg to Zr was also found to occur upon alloying Mg with Zr. The electron transfer has been related to changes in crystal structure. The Mg-V and Mg-Zr alloys were examined after immersion in 3 wt% NaCl solution for 5 and 15 minutes, 9 hours and 7 days. The dramatic increase in the corrosion rate of the Mg-V alloys was attributed to the precipitation of pure V. The unsatisfactory corrosion performance of the Mg-V alloys was attributed to the absence of compositional uniformity through the thickness of the Mg-V deposits and the low thermodynamic stability of the corrosion products in the saline environment. Hydromagnesite at the outermost surface and Mg(OH)2, MgO and V2O4 in the bulk of the corrosion layer were the corrosion products. MgH2 and areas enriched in metallic V within the bulk of the corrosion products were also detected. The low corrosion rates of the Mg-Zr alloys, the lowest ever reported for Mg alloys, were attributed to the nature of the corrosion products and particularly the Zr contribution. The corrosion products were enriched in Zr, and were non-porous and in many cases well adherent. X-ray and electron diffraction suggested the existence of only Mg(OH)2 and MgO in the corrosion products, indirectly implying the participation of zirconium oxide/hydroxide in an amorphous/nanocrystalline state. Surface analysis indicated that a Zr oxide coexisted with Mg(OH)2 and MgO below a magnesium carbonate overlayer and also suggested the existence of Zr hydrous oxide (hydroxide). The repetition of the substrate pattern, as well as the fact that Zr hydroxide was replaced with ZrO2 and Zr sub-oxide as the metal-oxide interface was approached, implied a corrosion mechanism involving inwards diffusion of the anionic species.

This thesis includes a description of modifications of the Hilger atomic absorption apparatus, which was used for most of the work. These modifications were restricted to the atomiser and burner, which were replaced by a modified "Eel" flame. photometer atomiser-burner and resulted in improved sensitivity and instrumental stability for the atomic absorption of magnesium. A comparison of the performance of this unit with that of the unmodified Hilger apparatus is given. A "Handigas" butane-propane mixture)-air flame was used for most of this work, but a coal-gas-air flame was also studied and found to give slightly greater sensitivity. The method was found to be subject to interference from many elements. Strontium salts, employed as releasing agents to overcome the effect of other elements, were not completely effective as milligram amounts of several elements interfered even when strontium was present. Among the more serious interfering elements are: aluminium, iron, manganese and zirconium (less than 20 p.p.m. interfere); the alkali and alkaline earth metal salts (more than 200-500 p.p.m. interfere); phosphate (more than 100 p.p.m. P₂0₅ uranium (more than 4,000 p.p.m.); arsenate and vanadate. An attempt is made to explain the mechanism of some of these interfering effects. A combination of strontium salt and acetyl acetone was found to over-come the effects of small amounts of several elements that form complexes with acetyl acetone (e.g. iron and aluminium) far more effectively than strontium alone. Larger amounts of many interfering elements are removed by a solvent extraction procedure employing acetyl acetone and chloroform. Elements which cannot be removed by this means may be separated by anion-exchange, volatilisation, electrolysis or precipitation. A spiking technique, which compensates JT/GB for the effects of small amounts of interfering elements, is described and enables many samples to be analysed without prior separations. The method described has good sensitivity (the limit of determination is approximately 1 microgram of magnesium in 50 ml. of solution). It has been applied to the analysis of clay samples, iron ore, limestone and uranium metal, oxides and processing solutions. The coefficient of variation of the method was determined using two clay samples and results of 2.0 and 4.6 percent, at magnesium oxide concentrations of 0.65 and 0.22 percent respectively, wore obtained. The speed of the method compares favourably with others described for the determination of microgram amounts of magnesium, but increases if large amounts of interfering elements are present.

No description available.

Aluminum alloys are widely used in aircraft industry for their strength and light weight. Those alloys that are hardened by precipitation, especially the Copper-rich of the 2000 series, are prone to corrosion and are protected against it using chromate containing coatings. The primary component of these coating systems is Chromium 6+ (CrVI) that has been found to be very toxic in the environment and carcinogenic, toxic and mutagenic in humans. The Mg-rich primer development is the result of a successful multi-year project funded by the US Air-force with its objective the replacement of coatings based on CrVI with a class of coatings less toxic and with comparable protective performances. The Mg rich primer fulfilled the USAF requirements and it is currently undergoing commercial and military qualifications testing. The use of Mg as one of the active pigments in coatings allows the primer to protect the underlying Al sacrificially, not considered possible for this substrate until now. Mg is anodic to most of the other structural metals and when particulate Mg became available commercially, the concept of the primer was first developed by analogy to Zn-rich coatings for steel. When Mg and Al are in contact and immersed in a corrosive environment, magnesium corrodes preferentially and protects the aluminum.

The aim of the thesis was to design a methodology for in-situ evaluation of degradation of selected magnesium alloys using AFM in SBF solutions. Study of the degradation of magnesium alloys in a chemically different corrosive environments of simulated body fluid (SBF - Hank's solution). For the pilot study were used magnesium alloys AZ31 and AZ61, manufactured by advanced method of squeeze casting. Part of the thesis was to evaluate the influence of the chemical composition and structure on the degradation properties of these alloys.