Fabrication and properties of pressure-sintered reaction-bonded Si3N4 ceramics with addition of Eu2O3–MgO–Y2O3

Dense pressure-sintered reaction-bonded Si₃N₄ (PSRBSN) ceramics were obtained by a hot-press sintering method. Precursor Si powders were prepared with Eu₂O₃–MgO–Y₂O₃ sintering additive. The addition of Eu₂O₃–MgO–Y₂O₃ was shown to promote full nitridation of the Si powder. The nitrided Si₃N₄ particles had an equiaxial morphology, without whisker formation, after the Si powders doped with Eu₂O₃–MgO–Y₂O₃ were nitrided at 1400 °C for 2 h. After hot pressing, the relative density, Vickers hardness, flexural strength, and fracture toughness of the PSRBSN ceramics, with 5 wt% Eu₂O₃ doping, were 98.3 ± 0.2%, 17.8 ± 0.8 GPa, 697.0 ± 67.0 MPa, and 7.3 ± 0.3 MPa m^1/2, respectively. The thermal conductivity was 73.6 ± 0.2 W m^?1 K^?1, significantly higher than the counterpart without Eu₂O₃ doping, or with ZrO₂ doping by conventional methods.     

Heteroalleles in Common Wheat: Multiple Differences between Allelic Variants of the Gli-B1 Locus

The Gli-B1-encoded γ-gliadins and non-coding γ-gliadin DNA sequences for 15 different alleles of common wheat have been compared using seven tests: electrophoretic mobility (EM) and molecular weight (MW) of the encoded major γ-gliadin, restriction fragment length polymorphism patterns (RFLPs) (three different markers), Gli-B1-γ-gliadin-pseudogene known SNP markers (Single nucleotide polymorphisms) and sequencing the pseudogene GAG56B. It was discovered that encoded γ-gliadins, with contrasting EM, had similar MWs. However, seven allelic variants (designated from I to VII) differed among them in the other six tests: I (alleles Gli-B1i, k, m, o), II (Gli-B1n, q, s), III (Gli-B1b), IV (Gli-B1e, f, g), V (Gli-B1h), VI (Gli-B1d) and VII (Gli-B1a). Allele Gli-B1c (variant VIII) was identical to the alleles from group IV in four of the tests. Some tests might show a fine difference between alleles belonging to the same variant. Our results attest in favor of the independent origin of at least seven variants at the Gli-B1 locus that might originate from deeply diverged genotypes of the donor(s) of the B genome in hexaploid wheat and therefore might be called “heteroallelic”. The donor’s particularities at the Gli-B1 locus might be conserved since that time and decisively contribute to the current high genetic diversity of common wheat.     

Spectroscopic properties and thermally stable orange-red luminescence of Sm:Zr:LiNbO3 and Sm:Hf:LiNbO3 for white LED applications

LiNbO₃ crystals activated by Sm³⁺ and co-doped with Zr⁴⁺ (Sm:Zr:LN) or Hf⁴⁺ (Sm:Hf:LN) were prepared by the Czochralski method. Detailed investigation on spectroscopic properties was conducted on the frame of Judd-Ofelt (J-O) theory. The J-O intensity parameters Ω_i (i = 2, 4, 6), fluorescence branching ratios and radiative lifetime of excited level ⁴G_5/2 were determined. Furthermore, the thermal stability of the strong orange-red emissions obtained under near-UV excitation in both crystals was evaluated. As high as 100% and 97% of integrated intensities at room temperature in Sm:Zr:LN and Sm:Hf:LN respectively were retained at 423 K, demonstrating the suppressed thermal attenuation. The temperature sensing performance based on fluorescence intensity ratio strategy was degraded at higher temperatures with relatively low sensitivities, while the shift of CIE chromaticity coordinates of Sm:Zr:LN and Sm:Hf:LN in the orange-red region was insignificant, demonstrating the color constancy with increasing temperature. With the efficient and thermally stable orange-red luminescence, Sm:Zr:LN and Sm:Hf:LN could serve as promising candidate materials for near-UV excited white light-emitting diodes.     

Sounds Stimulation on In Vitro HL1 Cells: A Pilot Study and a Theoretical Physical Model

Mechanical vibrations seem to affect the behaviour of different cell types and the functions of different organs. Pressure waves, including acoustic waves (sounds), could affect cytoskeletal molecules via coherent changes in their spatial organization and mechano-transduction signalling. We analyzed the sounds spectra and their fractal features. Cardiac muscle HL1 cells were exposed to different sounds, were stained for cytoskeletal markers (phalloidin, beta-actin, alpha-tubulin, alpha-actinin-1), and studied with multifractal analysis (using FracLac for ImageJ). A single cell was live-imaged and its dynamic contractility changes in response to each different sound were analysed (using Musclemotion for ImageJ). Different sound stimuli seem to influence the contractility and the spatial organization of HL1 cells, resulting in a different localization and fluorescence emission of cytoskeletal proteins. Since the cellular behaviour seems to correlate with the fractal structure of the sound used, we speculate that it can influence the cells by virtue of the different sound waves’ geometric properties that we have photographed and filmed. A theoretical physical model is proposed to explain our results, based on the coherent molecular dynamics. We stress the role of the systemic view in the understanding of the biological activity.     

珠江口盆地珠一坳陷古近系高自然伽马砂岩形成机制及油气地质意义

运用放射性元素寻找油气是一种非常规油气勘探手段。近年来,在珠江口盆地珠一坳陷富烃凹陷周边古近系钻遇高自然伽马(GR)砂岩,其GR值(100~300 API)甚至大于同区泥岩的GR值(100~200 API)。为了弄清该特殊现象背后的地质意义,对珠江口盆地珠一坳陷古近系高自然伽马砂岩开展了铀(U)、钍(Th)、钾(K)等3种元素含量与GR值的相关趋势线分析,从井震特征、岩性特征及矿物成分特征等入手分析了砂岩GR值增高的主要原因及成因机制,探讨了放射性元素聚集的条件、运移通道、驱动力以及油气意义。结果表明:西江、惠州地区由U含量增高导致砂岩GR值偏高,恩平、番禺地区由K,Th含量增高导致砂岩GR值偏高;砂岩GR值增高有两大成因机制,一是地下流体带来的放射性元素离子U4+在氧化-还原面处富集后导致地层GR值偏高,这种特殊现象说明在具有连通基底大断裂旁的圈闭中,U4+的富集指示了曾经油气的存在,证实了研究区油气运移通道的有效性,对于油气藏的预测有着非常重要的指导性意义,二是地表流体带来的含放射性元素的矿物大量沉积后导致地层GR值偏高,含放射性元素矿物性质不稳定,可指示近源供给的存在,对于判断物源及沉积环境有着非常重要的意义。该研究成果为预测研究区油气成藏有利区带提供了依据。     

Domain walls in ferroelectrics

Spontaneous unit-cell deformation accompanies spontaneous polarization in perovskite ferroelectrics, thereby making it energetically favorable for domain walls to form on particular planes that satisfy mechanical compatibility. Historically, domain walls are found analytically, solving for walls with compatible strains within the wall plane. However, analytical solutions do not give any information about relative energetics of nonideal domain walls. Here, the orientation of the most favorable domain walls and the relative energetics of nonideal domain walls are predicted by calculating strain mismatch and charge discontinuity over all possible domain wall orientations. This is done for common ferroelectric phase symmetries of tetragonal, rhombohedral, orthorhombic, and monoclinic type. In tetragonal and rhombohedral symmetry, the domain walls are independent of any external stimulus as long as the symmetry is maintained. In orthorhombic and monoclinic symmetry, the orientation of certain mechanically permissible domain walls changes with temperature and/or electric field as the unit cell distorts, while others do not. Additionally, in monoclinic systems, domain wall planes are shown to exist that are not perfectly permissible but are very close to permissible, thus, these walls were not found by prior analytical methods. The visualization of strain compatibility of all the domain walls makes it easy to see precisely on which planes domain walls are expected or not expected and how the domain walls change their orientation under the effect of external stimulus. Such an analysis can also be used to investigate the relative and changing energetics of nonideal domain walls in systems under thermal, compositional, electrical, and mechanical stimuli.     

Synergistic effect of bulk phase doping and layered-spinel structure formation on improving electrochemical performance of Li-Rich cathode material

In this study, La was doped into the lithium layer of Li-rich cathode material and formed a layered-spinel hetero-structure. The morphology, crystal structure, element valence and kinetics of lithium ion migration were studied by field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The La doped lithium-rich cathode material exhibited similar initial discharge capacity of 262.8 mAh g^?1 at 0.1 C compared with the undoped material, but the discharge capacity retention rate can be obviously improved to 90% after 50 cycles at 1.0 C. Besides that, much better rate capability and Li⁺ diffusion coefficient were observed. The results revealed that La doping not only stabilized the material structure and reduced the Li/Ni mixing degree, but also induced the generation of spinel phase to provide three-dimensional diffusion channels for lithium ion migration. Moreover, the porous structure of the doped samples also contributed to the remarkable excellent electrochemical performance. All of these factors combined to significantly improve the electrochemical performance of the material.     

Methods and mechanisms for uniformly refining deformed mixed and coarse grains inside a solution-treated Ni-based superalloy by two-stage heat treatment

The uniform refinement mechanisms and methods of deformed mixed and coarse grains inside a solution-treatment Ni-based superalloy during two-stage annealing treatment have been investigated.The two-stage heat treatment experiments include an aging annealing treatment(AT)and a subsequent recrystallization annealing treatment(RT).The object of AT is to precipitate some δ phases and consume part of storage energy to inhibit the grain growth during RT,while the RT is to refine mixed and coarse grains by recrystallization.It can be found that the recrystallization grains will quickly grow up to a large size when the AT time is too low or the RT temperature is too high,while the deformed coarse grains cannot be eliminated when the AT time is too long or the RT temperature is too low.In addition,the mixed microstructure composed of some abnormal coarse recrystallization grains(ACRGs)and a large number of fine grains can be observed in the annealed specimen when the AT time is 3 h and RT tem-perature is 980℃.The phenomenon attributes to the uneven distribution of δ phase resulted from the heterogeneous deformation energy when the AT time is too short.In the regions with a large number of δ phases,the recrystallization nucleation rate is promoted and the growth of grains is limited,which results in fine grains.However,in the regions with few δ phases,the recrystallization grains around grain boundaries can easily grow up,and the new recrystallization nucleus is difficult to form inside grain,which leads to ACRGs.Thus,in order to obtain uniform and fine annealed microstructure,it is a prereq-uisite to precipitate even-distributed δ phase by choosing a suitable AT time,such as 12 h.Moreover,a relative high RT temperature is also needed to promote the recrystallization nucleation around δ phase.The optimal annealing parameters range for uniformly refining mixed crystal can be summarized as:900℃×12 h+990℃×(40-60 min)and 900℃×12 h+1000℃×(10-15 min).