Density functional theory was used to study the adsorption mechanism of hydrated Lu(OH)2+ and Al(OH)2+ ions on (001) kaolinite surface. Calculation results showed that the respective most stable hydration configurations in the water system were Lu(OH)(H2O)72+ and Al(OH)(H2O)52+. Both hydrated ions were adsorbed on the outer layer of the (001) kaolinite aluminium octahedral and silica tetrahedral surfaces through hydrogen bonding. The two hydrated ions were adsorbed on the deprotonated (001) aluminium octahedral kaolinite surface via coordination bonds, with electrons transferred from the water ligand O 2p to the Al 2 s, Lu 5d, and the surface O 2p orbitals. Owing to its smaller radius and fewer water ligands, hydrated Al(OH)2+ was more easily adsorbed on the (001) kaolinite surface than hydrated Lu(OH)2+. The experimental adsorption and microcalorimetry results supported this conclusion, and it is hypothesised that hydrated ions mainly act on the kaolinite surface via inner-layer adsorption.

A solid-phase extraction resin SIRs-P227/XAD-7HP was prepared by impregnating extractant P227 onto macroporous resin XAD-7HP beads. SIRs-P227/XAD-7HP beads were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The adsorption kinetics, particle size effect, adsorption isotherm, pHequilibrium–lgD relationship (where D is distribution coefficient), desorption, adsorption selectivity for heavy rare earths, and impurity ions were studied. The results showed that the adsorption kinetics of Lu(III) on the SIRs-P227/XAD-7HP beads fitted the Morris–Weber model best. The adsorbance decreased as the particle size increased. The pHequilibrium–lgD relationship fitted well with a straight line, and the slope was 1.56. The experimental data fitted well with Langmuir adsorption. The calculated maximum adsorption capacity was 23.8 mg·g−1, while the experimental datum was 22.7 mg·g−1 at the given conditions. The adsorbed Lu(III) can be easily stripped by 0.1 mol·L−1 HCl. The adsorption selectivity of SIRs-P227/XAD-7HP for heavy REs exhibited the following order: Lu > Yb > Tm > Er > Ho. The adjacent heavy rare earth (RE) separation factors βLu/Yb, βYb/Tm, βTm/Er, and βEr/Ho were 1.57, 3.00, 3.03, and 2.23, respectively, at liquid/solid ratio (L/S) equal to 3:20. The adsorption selectivity for impurity ions exhibited the following order: Fe > Lu > Tm > Zn > Mg > Ca > Ho > Co > Ni > Cu > Al.

In this study, oxygen vacancy modified TiO2 nanorod array photoelectrode was prepared by reducing hydrogen atmosphere to increase its free charge carrier density. Subsequently, a p-type conductive poly 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene (PEDOT) layer was deposited on the surface of oxygen vacancy modified TiO2, to inhibit the surface states. Meanwhile, a p-n heterojunction formed between PEDOT and TiO2 to improve the separation of photo-induced carriers further. The photocurrent of TiO2 nanorod array increased to nearly 0.9 mA/cm(2) after the co-modification under standard sunlight illumination, whose value is nearly nine times higher than that of pure TiO2 nanorod array. Thus, this is a promising modification method for TiO2 photoanode photoelectrochemical (PEC) performance improving.

In order to improve the anti-corrosion and anti-wear properties of titanium alloy, a microarc oxidation (MAO) coating was fabricated on the surface of TA2. The influences of SiC nanoparticles on the microstructure and corrosion behavior of MAO coatings were investigated. The results show that the introduction of SiC nanoparticles into the base electrolyte increases the coating thickness of MAO coating. The thickness, surface roughness and micropore size of the coating increase with the increasing applied voltage. The microcracks in the coating decrease by SiC particles. The phase composition of coatings consists of rutile phase, anatase phase, SiC and SiO2. The OCP and corrosion potential increase by MAO treatment. The introduction of SiC nanoparticles reduces the anodic current density, thus improving the corrosion property of the microarc oxidation coatings.

The mean impact value (MIV)method which is an effective factor weight analysis method was used to quantitatively analyze the effect weight of 15 impact factors on the aging properties of polycarbonate (chromatic aberration, tensile strength, elongation at break, and bending strength) and the corresponding exposure time, climatic factors and environmental factors. The impact factors were exposure time, mean temperature, humidity, sunshine hours, precipitation, wind speed, sea salt ion, SOS, HC1, NO2, H,S, sulfation rate, NH3, water soluble dust fall, and non-water soluble dust fall. The results show that with the regulation rate increasing from 15% to 25% gradually, for the certain aging property, the effect weight of certain impact factor change little, while the sensitivities of aging properties to various impact factors are different; the climatic factors and exposure time are the greatest factors influencing the aging properties of polycarbonate, among environmental factors, the influence of dust fall quantity on the aging properties is the largest; exposure time is the main impact factor influencing chromatic aberration and elongation at break, mean relative humidity has the greatest impact on tensile strength and bending strength.

In the paper the coupling impurities theory is used, and both s-d interaction effect and phonon effect in dilute magnetic alloys are discussed. The Green's function is used to analyse the Hamiltonian of the system. In copper-iron dilute magnetic alloy the magnetic impurities interaction has a huge impact on thermoelectric power in the condition of high concentration of iron. Theoretic value of thermoelectric power of dilute magnetic copper-iron alloy with high concentration of iron changing with temperature is given. We have chosen three typical copper-iron dilute magnetic alloys and calculated the thermoelectric power under the effect of impurities and the effect of impurities interaction. Their atomic percentage concentrations are 0.1%, 0.13% and 0.15% respectively. Theoretical value of the thermoelectric power under the effect of impurities interaction in copper-iron alloy complies with experimental value. This paper provides the basic theoretical analysis for promoting the application of low-temperature copper-iron dilute magnetic thermocouple.

Noncrystalline nickel phosphide (Ni-P) nanoparticles have drawn great attention due to their high potential as catalysts. However, the structure of noncrystalline Ni-P nanoparticles is still unknown, which may shed light on explaining the catalysis mechanism of the Ni-P nanoparticles. In this paper, noncrystalline Ni-P nanoparticles were synthesized. Their morphology, particle size, element contents, local atomic structures, as well as the catalysis in the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate were studied. The results demonstrate that the as-prepared Ni-P nanoparticles are spherical with an average diameter of about 13.5 nm. The Ni and P contents are, respectively, 78.15% and 21.85%. The noncrystalline nature of the as-prepared Ni-P nanoparticles can be attributed to cross-linkage between P-doping f.c.c.-like Ni centers and Ni3P-like P centers. The locally ordered Ni centers and P centers are the nuclei sites, which can explain well the origin of initial nuclei to form the crystalline phases after high-temperature annealing. The starting temperature of high-temperature decomposition of ammonium perchlorate was found having a significant decrease in the presence of the noncrystalline Ni-P nanoparticles. Therefore, the as-prepared noncrystalline Ni-P nanoparticles can be used as a potential catalyst in the thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate.

Pulse discharge method was used in liquid phase to prepare nickel phosphide nanoparticles. The size and morphology of the as-prepared nanoparticles were found to be easily controlled through changing reaction parameters such as temperature, reactants concentration, reactants molar ratio, pulse discharge number, and pulse discharge voltage. The optimal reaction parameters have been obtained by single-factor experiments. X-ray diffraction, X-ray absorption fine structure spectra, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope, and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrum were used to characterize the as-prepared Ni-P nanoparticles. Vibrating Sample Magnetometer was used as magnetic measurements of the Ni-P nanoparticles. The results demonstrate that the as-prepared Ni-P nanoparticles are in amorphous phase, and consist of Ni and P elements. The P-content in the as-prepared Ni-P nanoparticles increases with the increasing of Ni-P particle size, and is independent on the initial concentration of P-concentration in the reaction solution. The Ni-P nanoparticles have totally about 12 near-neighbors of Ni-Ni and Ni-P around center Ni. The Ni-Ni distance increases with the increasing particle size. The as-prepared Ni-P nanoparticles present paramagnetic nature. Their saturated magnetizations are also size-dependent. The larger Ni-P particles has lower saturated magnetization, which can be attributed to the entrance of P into Ni lattice, causing a larger Ni-Ni separation and a looser, distorted local atomic structure. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The crystallization process of noncrystalline Ni–P nanoparticles could be evaluated quantitatively through the standard deviation of ΔR/R from XAFS spectra of P.

The crystallization behavior of amorphous Ni-P nanoparticles produced by liquid pulsed-discharge was studied by using in situ high temperature XRD at beamline 4B9A of Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) was used to observe the morphology and Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectrometry (ICP-AES) was used to analyze the chemical composition of the as-prepared Ni-P nanoparticles. TEM results show that the average size of the as-prepared nanoparticles is about 13.5 nm. ICP-AES identifies the Ni-P nanoparticles contain 13.16 wt. % (21.85 at. %) of P and 86.84 wt. % (78.15% at. %) of Ni. Eight XRD patterns were, respectively, collected at 300, 373, 473, 573, 673, 773, 873 and 973K under low-vacuum condition (0.1 Pa). XRD results show that the as-prepared Ni-P nanoparticles are amorphous, no peaks of crystalline phases can be observed until 573K. Afterwards, the crystallization of the amorphous phase undergoes the formation and decomposition of some metastable phases. Finally, the obtained stable phases are the bct Ni 3 P and fcc Ni cryatalline phases. Both are randomly distributed in the sample. The crystallization mechanisms of the as-prepared amorphous Ni-P nanoparticles has also been discussed at the end of this paper.

Fracture mechanism of W fiber/ZrTiCuNiBeNb metallic glass composites was studied. The results show that with the W fiber volume fraction increasing, the fracture mode of composite changes from the "self-sharpening" controlled by the glass matrix to the "fiber tearing". Under compression load,the W fibers are subjected to complex stresses including bending stress and stress concentration formed due to pile-up of shear bands in martrix acting on W fibers besides the applied stresses. When the stresses are lower than fracture strength of W fiber, the matrix deformation can cut over the fibers and the composite shows "self-sharpening" characteristic. On the contrary, when stresses are higher than fracture strength of W fiber, fibers are unstable and split along the grain boundaries, the composite shows "fiber tearing" characteristics.

Effects of silicon element on the load-displacement curves and the mechanical properties of Mg60Cu30Y10 amorphous alloys were investigated using nano indenter II. Results show that the load-displacement curves of Mg60Cu30-xY10Six amorphous alloys exhibit discontinuous serrations during nanoindentation, which corresponds to the formation and propagation of individual shear bands. And the loading curves become smoother and smoother until the serrations disappear with increasing of the silicon content. And the serrations of Mg60Cu30-xY10Six bulk amorphous alloys disappear gradually with the increasing of loading rates and strain rates. However, the mechanical properties of Mg60Cu30-xY10Six bulk amorphous alloys are not improved determinately with increasing of the component content and quantity.

A new idea to fabricate copper matrix composites strengthened by in-situ Al2O3 particulate is adopted. Ther-modynamic considerations and dynamic considerations are given to the in-situ reactions. SEM observation and EDS a-nalysis show that in-situ Al2O3 particulates distribute in copper matrix and the particulate is 0. 5μm micrometre in diameter averagely. That particulates are round cornered, and have a good cohesion with the matrix in the materials.

A nanocrystalline Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy was synthesized by mechanically milling at cryogenic temperature (cryomilling). The effect of cryomilling process on the microsturcture, phase transformation in solid, grain size and microstrain of this alloy was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), optical microscopy (OM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). During the cryomilling, the second phase MgZn_2 was gradually disappeared and ultimately super-saturated to α-Al. With increasing milling time, the grain size of the alloy decreased sharply. Howerver there were still a few coase grains in the core of powders after low-speed (200r·min~ -1 ) cryomilling for 10h. Contrastively, high speed (400r·min~ -1 ) cryomilling could result in more uniform nanometer grains. According to the XRD results, the average grain size was 45nm after low speed cryomilling for 6h and kept stable until 10 h, but the average grain size reduced to 34nm after farther high speed cryomilling for 5h. The microstrain increased gradually to a maximum, and then fell off along the milling processing.

The preparation of bulk nanocrystalline Al-10Zn-3Mg-1.8Cu(mass fraction,%) alloy by mechanically milling at cryogenic temperature(cryomilling) and hot pressing in vacuum was studied.By X-ray diffraction(XRD) and transmission electron microscopy(TEM),the effects of cryomilling process on the phase transformations in solid,the grain size and the thermal stability for this alloy were investigated.The results show that the grain size of the as-atomized Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy powder is gradually reduced and approaches 37nm after 15h cryomilling.The average grain size reaches about 100nm after hot pressing in vacuum.After hot extrusion and heat treatment,the grains grow to about 300nm.The results obtained herein suggest that the significant thermal stability of the bulk nanocrystalline Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy may be attributed to the solute drag of the alloy elements and the impurity elements,which can prevent the grain growth.And more,the zener pinning from grain boundary of the nano-scale Al_2O_3 arising from cryomilling and the fine MgZn_2 phase also play an important role.

Manganese toughened high strength Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy was prepared by powder metallurgy method and analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that fine precipitates containing manganese uniformly distribute through the aluminum matrix, and coarse precipitates containing manganese are not found in the Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Mn alloy. After T6 heat treatment, the ultimate tensile strength and the yield strength of the manganese toughened aluminum alloy are 774 MPa and 755 MPa respectively. SEM micrographs of tensile fracture surface show that the fracture of aluminum alloy toughened with manganese exhibits smaller size of dimple and lower fraction of intergranual fracture surface than those of aluminum alloy without manganese. This result indicates that the addition of manganese to high strength aluminum is beneficial to the increase of ductility of high strength aluminum alloy.

Supersaturated Al-Zn-Mg-Cu-Mn alloy powder was made using the spray and high energy ball milling method, and XRD was used to investigate the decomposition process of the supersaturated alloy. The results showed that the balanced phase precipitated from the supersaturated alloy was η phase (MgZn2) when the decomposition temperature was below 350℃, and no balance or metastable phases containing manganese were detected by the XRD method. When the decomposition temperature was 350℃ for a long time, or above 350℃, there were two phases precipitated from the supersaturated alloy. One was the balanced η phase (MgZn2), and the other was Al6Mn, which was directly precipitated from the alloy, but not transformed from any metastable phase of manganese.

The development status of nanocomposites was introduced,and some kinds of preparation technology of nano-SiC particle reinforced Al matrix composite were reviewed.Microstructures of Al matrix composite were analyzed.Several important questions of nano-SiC particle reinforced Al matrix composite preparation technology were synthetically evaluated.Furthermore the future research directions and the prospects of the preparation techniques of Al matrix nanocomposites were predicted.

The grain growth behavior in reactive spray formed 7075+2.91vol%TiC Al alloy was studied and compared with that of spray formed 7075 Al alloy at semi-solid state. The effects of in-situ TiC particles on the microstructure of spray formed 7075 Al alloy were also investigated. The specimens were heat-treated isothermally at various temperatures between the solidus and liquidus of 7075 Al alloy for times in the range of 10-60 min, then quenched in water. The microstructure of reheated specimens was characterized using scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy. The grain size was measured using a mean linear intercept method. Results show that the in-situ TiC particles can effectively retard grain growth and refine the grain at a limited size. The grain growth exponent in Arrhenius equation increases from 2 to 3, which indicates that the in-situ TiC particles have the significant pinning effect on grain coarsening in the semi-solid state.

Titanium with many high properties is used in every field,but the formidable cost for its produc-tion has limited the development of titanium industry.The methods,developed to produce titanium for more than fiftyyears,are outlined in this paper,with their advantages and disadvantages commented briefly.It is held that only bymeans of reducing production cost,through developing new process techniques or improving traditional ways,titaniumindustry can be expected to have a great development.