WorldWideScience

Sample records for rietveld refinement analysis

  1. Mathematical aspects of Rietveld refinement and crystal structure ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Administrator

    The core mathematics, goodness-of-fit parameters of Rietveld refinement technique is introduced for structural ... transducers in medical and solar applications (Obmann ..... Prince 1985 in Structure and statistics in crystallography (ed.).

  2. Rietveld analysis, powder diffraction and cement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Peterson, V.

    2002-01-01

    Full text: Phase quantification of cement is essential in its industrial use, however many methods are inaccurate and/or time consuming. Powder diffraction is one of the more accurate techniques used for quantitative phase analysis of cement. There has been an increase in the use of Rietveld refinement and powder diffraction for the analysis and phase quantification of cement and its components in recent years. The complex nature of cement components, existence of solid solutions, polymorphic variation of phases and overlapping phase peaks in diffraction patterns makes phase quantification of cements by powder diffraction difficult. The main phase in cement is alite, a solid solution of tricalcium silicate. Tricalcium silicate has been found to exist in seven modifications in three crystal systems, including triclinic, monoclinic, and rhombohedral structures. Hence, phase quantification of cements using Rietveld methods usually involves the simultaneous modelling of several tricalcium silicate structures to fit the complex alite phase. An industry ordinary Portland cement, industry and standard clinker, and a synthetic tricalcium silicate were characterised using neutron, laboratory x-ray and synchrotron powder diffraction. Diffraction patterns were analysed using full-profile Rietveld refinement. This enabled comparison of x-ray, neutron and synchrotron data for phase quantification of the cement and examination of the tricalcium silicate. Excellent Rietveld fits were achieved, however the results showed that the quantitative phase analysis results differed for some phases in the same clinker sample between various data sources. This presentation will give a short introduction about cement components including polymorphism, followed by the presentation of some problems in phase quantification of cements and the role of Rietveld refinement in solving these problems. Copyright (2002) Australian X-ray Analytical Association Inc

  3. Rietveld refinement with time-of-flight powder diffraction data from pulsed neutron sources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    David, W.I.F.; Jorgensen, J.D.

    1990-10-01

    The recent development of accelerator-based pulsed neutron sources has led to the widespread use of the time-of-flight technique for neutron powder diffraction. The properties of the pulsed source make possible unusually high resolution over a wide range of d spacings, high count rates, and the ability to collect complete data at fixed scattering angles. The peak shape and other instrument characteristics can be accurately modelled, which make Rietveld refinement possible for complex structures. In this paper we briefly review the development of the Rietveld method for time-of-flight diffraction data from pulsed neutron sources and discuss the latest developments in high resolution instrumentation and advanced Rietveld analysis methods. 50 refs., 12 figs., 14 tabs

  4. Profex: a graphical user interface for the Rietveld refinement program BGMN

    OpenAIRE

    Doebelin, Nicola; Kleeberg, Reinhard

    2015-01-01

    Profex is a graphical user interface for the Rietveld refinement program BGMN. Its interface focuses on preserving BGMN’s powerful and flexible scripting features by giving direct access to BGMN input files. Very efficient workflows for single or batch refinements are achieved by managing refinement control files and structure files, by providing dialogues and shortcuts for many operations, by performing operations in the background, and by providing import filters for CIF and XML crystal str...

  5. Possibilities and limitations of parametric Rietveld refinement on high pressure data. The case study of LaFeO3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Etter, Martin; Mueller, Melanie; Dinnebier, Robert E.; Hanfland, Michael

    2014-01-01

    Parametric Rietveld refinement is a powerful technique to apply directly physical or empirical equations to the refinement of in situ powder diffraction data. In order to investigate the possibilities and limitations of parametric Rietveld refinements for high pressure data four competitive crystallographic approaches were used to carry out a full structural investigation of the orthoferrite LaFeO 3 (Pbnm at ambient conditions) under high pressure up to 47 GPa. Approach A with traditional Rietveld refinement using atomic coordinates, Approach B where the Rietveld refinement was done by using the rigid body method, Approach C where symmetry modes were used and Approach D where the newly developed method of the rotational symmetry mode description for a rigid body was used. For all approaches sequential as well as parametric refinements were carried out, confirming a second order phase transition of LaFeO 3 to a higher symmetric phase (space group Ibmm) at around 21.1?GPa and an isostructural first order phase transition at around 38 GPa. Limitations due to non-hydrostatic conditions as well as the possibilities of a direct modeling of phase transitions with parametric Rietveld refinement are discussed in detail. (orig.)

  6. Modulation wave approach to the structural parameterization and Rietveld refinement of low carnegieite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Withers, R.L.; Thompson, J.G.

    1993-01-01

    The crystal structure of low carnegieite, NaAlSiO 4 [M r =142.05, orthorhombic, Pb2 1 a, a=10.261(1), b=14.030(2), c=5.1566(6) A, D x =2.542 g cm -3 , Z=4, Cu Kα 1 , λ=1.5406 A, μ=77.52 cm -1 , F(000)=559.85], is determined via Rietveld refinement from powder data, R p =0.057, R wp =0.076, R Bragg =0.050. Given that there are far too many parameters to be determined via unconstrained Rietveld refinement, a group theoretical or modulation wave approach is used in order to parameterize the structural deviation of low carnegieite from its underlying C9 aristotype. Appropriate crystal chemical constraints are applied in order to provide two distinct plausible starting models for the structure of the aluminosilicate framework. The correct starting model for the aluminosilicate framework as well as the ordering and positions of the non-framework Na atoms are then determined via Rietveld refinement. At all stages, chemical plausibility is checked via the use of the bond-length-bond-valence formalism. The JCPDS file number for low carnegieite is 44-1496. (orig.)

  7. Possibilities and limitations of parametric Rietveld refinement on high pressure data. The case study of LaFeO{sub 3}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Etter, Martin; Mueller, Melanie; Dinnebier, Robert E. [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Festkoerperforschung, Stuttgart (Germany); Hanfland, Michael [European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble (France)

    2014-04-01

    Parametric Rietveld refinement is a powerful technique to apply directly physical or empirical equations to the refinement of in situ powder diffraction data. In order to investigate the possibilities and limitations of parametric Rietveld refinements for high pressure data four competitive crystallographic approaches were used to carry out a full structural investigation of the orthoferrite LaFeO{sub 3} (Pbnm at ambient conditions) under high pressure up to 47 GPa. Approach A with traditional Rietveld refinement using atomic coordinates, Approach B where the Rietveld refinement was done by using the rigid body method, Approach C where symmetry modes were used and Approach D where the newly developed method of the rotational symmetry mode description for a rigid body was used. For all approaches sequential as well as parametric refinements were carried out, confirming a second order phase transition of LaFeO{sub 3} to a higher symmetric phase (space group Ibmm) at around 21.1?GPa and an isostructural first order phase transition at around 38 GPa. Limitations due to non-hydrostatic conditions as well as the possibilities of a direct modeling of phase transitions with parametric Rietveld refinement are discussed in detail. (orig.)

  8. Characterization of barium titanate powder doped with sodium and potassium ions by using Rietveld refining

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andrade, M.C.; Assis, J.T.; Pereira, F.R.

    2009-01-01

    A solid-reaction synthesis of doped barium titanate was done by employing barium carbonates, sodium, potassium and titanium oxides with classic procedures. Rietveld refining of X ray diffraction data of perovskite samples with tetragonal symmetry was applying and show good agreement. Besides, the treatment performed from 600 deg C produces nanocrystals of barium titanate with average size of 33 nm. The presence of endothermic peaks related to BaTiO 3 formation at relatively low temperatures was determined by thermal analysis. A pseudo-Voigt Thompson-Cox-Hastings function was used to fit the standard samples of barium titanate. The Rietveld method has showed be efficient to detect the influences of temperature and doping on barium titanate microstructures. (author)

  9. Determination of Cation Distributions in Mineral Structures by use of the Rietveld Full-Profile Refinement Technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nord, A.G.

    1986-01-01

    Use of the Rietveld full-profile refinement technique with X-ray or neutron powder diffraction data for the determination of divalent-metal cation distributions in three mineral structure types (farringtonite, grafonite, sarcopside) is demonstrated. The accuracy of the conventional cation distribution coefficient Ksub(D) is about 5-10 percent with 24-46 parameters to be refined, and the averaged metal-oxygen distances are reliable and well correlated to the observed cation distribution pattern. In particular the usefulness of the Rietveld technique in combination with Moessbauer spectroscopy is stressed. Some concluding remarks are also given

  10. Structural Rietveld refinement and vibrational study of MgCr{sub x}Fe{sub 2−x}O{sub 4} spinel ferrites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sabri, K. [Laboratoire des Sciences et technique de l’Environnement et de la Valorisation, département de Génie des Procédés, Université de Mostaganem, Mostaganem (Algeria); Rais, A., E-mail: amrais@yahoo.com [Laboratoire des Sciences et technique de l’Environnement et de la Valorisation, département de Génie des Procédés, Université de Mostaganem, Mostaganem (Algeria); Taibi, K. [Laboratoire de Science et Génie des Matériaux, USTHB, Alger, Algéria (Algeria); Moreau, M.; Ouddane, B. [Laboratory of LASIR Spectrochemistry, University of Science and Technology, 59650 Villeneuve d’Ascq (France); Addou, A. [Laboratoire des Sciences et technique de l’Environnement et de la Valorisation, département de Génie des Procédés, Université de Mostaganem, Mostaganem (Algeria)

    2016-11-15

    Spinel ferrites with the general formula MgCr{sub x}Fe{sub 2−x}O{sub 4} (0≤x≤1) were synthesized by the standard ceramic technique and characterized by X-ray diffraction. The XRD patterns confirmed that the mixed ferrite samples are in the cubic spinel structure which is further validated by Rietveld refinement in the space group Fd3m. The crystal structure and cell parameters were refined by Rietveld analysis. The vibrational study was achieved using Fourier Transform-InfraRed (FT-IR) and Raman spectroscopy. From FT-IR band frequencies, the force constants K{sub t} and K{sub o} , for tetrahedral (A) and octahedral (B) sites respectively, have been calculated and discussed with the trend of bond lengths obtained from Rietveld refinement. For all compositions, Raman spectra revealed the five active modes showing the vibration of O{sup 2−} ions at both the A-site and B-site ions. The frequencies trend with chromium content of both FT-IR and Raman spectra showed a shift toward higher values for all modes.

  11. Full quantitative phase analysis of hydrated lime using the Rietveld method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lassinantti Gualtieri, Magdalena, E-mail: magdalena.gualtieri@unimore.it [Dipartimento Ingegneria dei Materiali e dell' Ambiente, Universita Degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Vignolese 905/a, I-41100 Modena (Italy); Romagnoli, Marcello; Miselli, Paola; Cannio, Maria [Dipartimento Ingegneria dei Materiali e dell' Ambiente, Universita Degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, Via Vignolese 905/a, I-41100 Modena (Italy); Gualtieri, Alessandro F. [Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita Degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, I-41100 Modena (Italy)

    2012-09-15

    Full quantitative phase analysis (FQPA) using X-ray powder diffraction and Rietveld refinements is a well-established method for the characterization of various hydraulic binders such as Portland cement and hydraulic limes. In this paper, the Rietveld method is applied to hydrated lime, a non-hydraulic traditional binder. The potential presence of an amorphous phase in this material is generally ignored. Both synchrotron radiation and a conventional X-ray source were used for data collection. The applicability of the developed control file for the Rietveld refinements was investigated using samples spiked with glass. The results were cross-checked by other independent methods such as thermal and chemical analyses. The sample microstructure was observed by transmission electron microscopy. It was found that the consistency between the different methods was satisfactory, supporting the validity of FQPA for this material. For the samples studied in this work, the amount of amorphous material was in the range 2-15 wt.%.

  12. Full quantitative phase analysis of hydrated lime using the Rietveld method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lassinantti Gualtieri, Magdalena; Romagnoli, Marcello; Miselli, Paola; Cannio, Maria; Gualtieri, Alessandro F.

    2012-01-01

    Full quantitative phase analysis (FQPA) using X-ray powder diffraction and Rietveld refinements is a well-established method for the characterization of various hydraulic binders such as Portland cement and hydraulic limes. In this paper, the Rietveld method is applied to hydrated lime, a non-hydraulic traditional binder. The potential presence of an amorphous phase in this material is generally ignored. Both synchrotron radiation and a conventional X-ray source were used for data collection. The applicability of the developed control file for the Rietveld refinements was investigated using samples spiked with glass. The results were cross-checked by other independent methods such as thermal and chemical analyses. The sample microstructure was observed by transmission electron microscopy. It was found that the consistency between the different methods was satisfactory, supporting the validity of FQPA for this material. For the samples studied in this work, the amount of amorphous material was in the range 2–15 wt.%.

  13. Quantitative phase analysis of a highly textured industrial sample using a Rietveld profile analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shin, Eunjoo; Huh, Moo-Young; Seong, Baek-Seok; Lee, Chang-Hee

    2001-01-01

    For the quantitative phase analysis on highly textured two-phase materials, samples with known weight fractions of zirconium and aluminum were prepared. Strong texture components prevailed in both zirconium and aluminum sheet. The diffraction patterns of samples were measured by the neutron and refined by the Rietveld method. The preferred orientation correction of diffraction patterns was carried out by means of recalculated pole figures from the ODF. The present Rietveld analysis of various samples with different weight fractions showed that the absolute error of the calculated weight fractions was less than 7.1%. (author)

  14. Rietveld refinement of magnetic structures from pulsed-neutron-source powder-diffraction data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robinson, R.A.; Lawson, A.C.; Larson, A.C.; Von Dreele, R.B.; Goldstone, J.A.

    1994-01-01

    The General Structure Analysis System, GSAS, has recently been modified to include magnetic neutron- scattering cross-sections. Low-temperature diffraction data have been taken on the hexagonal noncollinear antiferromagnet UPdSn on both the HIPD and the NPD powder diffractometers ail LANSCE. The low-resolution data reveal that the magnetic structure has orthorhombic symmetry (magnetic space group P c m'c2 1 ) between 25K and 40K, and monoclinic symmetry (magnetic space group PC 1121 ) below 25K. The high-resolution data reveal that there are structural distortions with corresponding symmetry changes in each of these phases, to give chemical space groups Cmc2 1 and P2 1 , respectively, while the paramagnetic phase above 40K has space group P6 3 mc. Using GSAS, we have refined data sets from both diffractometers simultaneously, including both magnetic and structural cross-sections. Magnetoelastic coefficients for the distortions have been extracted and we have determined the sign of the coupling between the structural monoclinicity and the magnetic monoclinicity. The magnetic results from Rietveld refinement are in good agreement with model fitting to the integrated intensities of seven independent magnetic reflections and these, in turn, agree with measurements made on the same sample using the constant-wavelength reactor technique. Our results therefore validate, to some level, both the technique of using spallation sources for complicated magnetic structures and the specifics of the GSAS Rietveld code

  15. Profex: a graphical user interface for the Rietveld refinement program BGMN.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doebelin, Nicola; Kleeberg, Reinhard

    2015-10-01

    Profex is a graphical user interface for the Rietveld refinement program BGMN . Its interface focuses on preserving BGMN 's powerful and flexible scripting features by giving direct access to BGMN input files. Very efficient workflows for single or batch refinements are achieved by managing refinement control files and structure files, by providing dialogues and shortcuts for many operations, by performing operations in the background, and by providing import filters for CIF and XML crystal structure files. Refinement results can be easily exported for further processing. State-of-the-art graphical export of diffraction patterns to pixel and vector graphics formats allows the creation of publication-quality graphs with minimum effort. Profex reads and converts a variety of proprietary raw data formats and is thus largely instrument independent. Profex and BGMN are available under an open-source license for Windows, Linux and OS X operating systems.

  16. Chemical analysis of superconductor material by Rietveld method; Analise quimica de material superconductor atraves do metodo de Rietveld

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Garcia Junior, E.S.; Gomes Junior, G.G.; Ogasawara, T., E-mail: georges@metalmat.ufrj.b [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (COPPE/UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-Graduacao de Engenharia. Dept. de Eng. Metalurgica e Materiais; Bispo, E.R.; Polasek, A. [Centro de Pesquisas de Energia Eletrica (CEPEL), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Amorim, H.S. [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (IF/UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Inst. de Fisica

    2010-07-01

    Among the main superconducting systems, the system Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O is extremely important because it presents two stages of high superconducting critical temperature. To manufacture samples of the superconducting phase (Bi, Pb){sub 2}Sr{sub 2}Ca{sub 2}Cu{sub 3}Ox (Bi-2223) were used oxides and carbonates of high purity. The mixture was calcined and sintered for 100-200h in air. To characterize the material we used X-ray diffraction, SEM / EDS and measurement of critical temperature (Tc). The Rietveld method was used for structure refinement, and quantification of phases and to estimate the chemical composition of samples in order to obtain greater control of chemical composition using only the data of X-ray diffraction. The results were compared with the refinement results of X-ray fluorescence and was observed a discrepancy of about 8%. This result indicates that the Rietveld method can be an interesting alternative to perform chemical analysis. (author)

  17. Determination of phases of {alpha} - Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}: SiO{sub 2} compound by the Rietveld refinement

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Palomares S, S.A. [Istituto Materiali Speciali per Elettronica e Magnetismo (MASPEC), Parco Area delle Scienze 37A-43010 Loc. Fontanni, Parma (Italy); Ponce C, S.; Martinez, J.R. [Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Autonoma de San Luis Potosi, 78000 San Luis Potosi (Mexico); Ruiz, F. [Instituto Potosino de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica, Av. V. Carranza 2025, San Luis Potosi (Mexico)

    2002-07-01

    We use a variation of the Rietveld refinement method to calculate the amorphous content of composites formed by a silica xerogel amorphous matrix and iron particles embedded into. In order to apply the Rietveld refinement to amorphous structures an initial crystalline model is assumed with the same composition as the material to be modelled. In this work we try to refine the structure of compounds using the program MAUD. It is shown how this program can be used to determine the amorphous and crystalline fractions in composites consisting of an amorphous matrix and incorporated iron oxide particles. The analysed compounds underwent different thermal treatments. (Author)

  18. Rietica - a visual Rietveld program

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hunter, B.A.

    2000-01-01

    Full text: Rietica is a Rietveld analysis program that allows interaction with the refinement process on a cycle by cycle basis using a graphic interface. Rietica was developed to aid in the creation and updating of the Rietveld input files, as well as to control the LHPM program. It is a Windows 95 based program allowing point and click control of all the functionality of LHPM. Some of the features of the Rietica program are: multiple x-ray and/or neutron histograms (datasets) allowing different scales, zeros, peak profile types and values, backgrounds, wavelengths, preferred orientations for each histogram - all of which are refinable, (1) ability to calculate and refine neutron time-of-flight (TOF) data, (2) ability to refine Δf' and Δf'' now allows extra flexibility with synchrotron diffraction data, (3) can interpolate x-ray form factors from a series of (sin(θ)/λ, f) values (eg Bessel functions), (4) a new absorption correction formula allowing μR > 1.0 for cylindrical geometry and a flat plate absorption correction based surface roughness, (5) new background functions, (6) quantitative phase analysis routines, (7) point and click data entry and program control, (8) data display and easy background and excluded region input via mouse control, (9) control of the refinement process, including automatic updating of the calculated pattern display after each step, (10) can refine using 3 strategies: a) a point and click mode of data entry and refinement control (beginners/intermediate/advanced users); b) a manual editing of the input file, but still with all the benefits of the visual interface and online graphics (intermediate/advanced users); and c) a Basic scripting language that can be used to control the refinement process and graphics output. It could be used, say, for automatic refinement of large numbers of datasets (advanced users). The program currently reads in LHPM and GSAS/Fullprof/DWBS experiment files and export in a variety of formats. The

  19. Structural studies of TiC1−xOx solid solution by Rietveld refinement and first-principles calculations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jiang, Bo; Hou, Na; Huang, Shanyan; Zhou, Gege; Hou, Jungang; Cao, Zhanmin; Zhu, Hongmin

    2013-01-01

    The lattice parameters, structural stability and electronic structure of titanium oxycarbides (TiC 1−x O x , 0≤x≤1) solid solution were investigated by Rietveld refinement and first-principles calculations. Series of TiC 1−x O x were precisely synthesized by sintering process under the vacuum. Rietveld refinement results of XRD patterns show the properties of continuous solid solution in TiC 1−x O x over the whole composition range. The lattice parameters vary from 0.4324 nm to 0.4194 nm decreasing with increasing oxygen concentration. Results of first-principles calculations reveal that the disorder C/O structure is stable than the order C/O structure. Further investigations of the vacancy in Ti 1−Va (C 1−x O x ) 1−Va solid solution present that the structure of vacancy segregated in TiO-part is more stable than the disorder C/O structure, which can be ascribed to the Ti–Ti bond across O-vacancy and the charge redistributed around Ti-vacancy via the analysis of the electron density difference plots and PDOS. - Graphical abstract: XRD of series of titanium oxycarbides (TiC 1−x O x , 0≤x≤1) solid solution prepared by adjusting the proportion of TiO in the starting material. Highlights: • Titanium oxycarbides were obtained by sintering TiO and TiC under carefully controlled conditions. • Rietveld refinement results show continuous solid solution with FCC structure in TiC 1−x O x . • The disorder C/O structure is stable than the order C/O structure. • Introduction of vacancy segregated in TiO-part is more stable than disorder C/O structure. • Ti–Ti bond across O-vacancy and the charge redistributed around Ti-vacancy enhance structural stability

  20. Characterization of barium titanate powder doped with sodium and potassium ions by using Rietveld refining; Caracterizacao do po de titanato de bario dopado com ions sodio e potasio com o refinamento de Rietveld

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Andrade, M.C.; Assis, J.T.; Pereira, F.R., E-mail: mcalixto@iprj.uerj.b [Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (IPRJ/UERJ), Nova Friburgo, RJ (Brazil). Instituto Politecnico; Araujo, J.C. [Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FFP/UERJ), Sao Goncalo, RJ (Brazil). Fac. de Formacao de Professores; Moreira, E.L.; Moraes, V.C.A.; Lopes, A.R. [Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas (CBPF/MCT), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2009-07-01

    A solid-reaction synthesis of doped barium titanate was done by employing barium carbonates, sodium, potassium and titanium oxides with classic procedures. Rietveld refining of X ray diffraction data of perovskite samples with tetragonal symmetry was applying and show good agreement. Besides, the treatment performed from 600 deg C produces nanocrystals of barium titanate with average size of 33 nm. The presence of endothermic peaks related to BaTiO{sub 3} formation at relatively low temperatures was determined by thermal analysis. A pseudo-Voigt Thompson-Cox-Hastings function was used to fit the standard samples of barium titanate. The Rietveld method has showed be efficient to detect the influences of temperature and doping on barium titanate microstructures. (author)

  1. Rietveld refinement of Y2O3 using the pearson VII profile shape function

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smrcok, L.

    1989-01-01

    Very good agreement between the observed and the calculated intensities was obtained using the Pearson VII profile shape function. The variable exponent m could be refined only in the damped iterations involving exclusively the profile parameters. Simultaneous refinement of the m with the positional and/or thermal parameters has led to large oscillations of the shifts of almost all parameters. Precision of the refined atomic coordinates is better than those from previously published Rietveld refinement and is comparable with single crystal results. The degree of serial correlation in residuals has been determined by the use of the Durbin-Watson d statistic. Normal probability plot based on δR i has been almost linear with the slope greater than one. The weighting scheme with w i = 1/y oi has proved to be good first approximation. (author)

  2. Magnesium substitution in carbonated hydroxyapatite: Structural and microstructural characterization by Rietveld's refinement

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lala, S. [Materials Science Division, Department of Physics, The University of Burdwan, Golapbag, Burdwan 713104, West Bengal (India); Ghosh, M.; Das, P.K. [Department of Biological Chemistry, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Jadavpur, Kolkata 700 032 (India); Das, D. [UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, Kolkata 700098 (India); Kar, T. [Department of Materials Science, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Jadavpur, Kolkata 700032 (India); Pradhan, S.K., E-mail: skpradhan@phys.buruniv.ac.in [Materials Science Division, Department of Physics, The University of Burdwan, Golapbag, Burdwan 713104, West Bengal (India)

    2016-02-15

    Four stoichiometric compositions of nanocrystalline Mg doped carbonated hydroxyapatite (cHAp) powders are synthesized by mechanical alloying (ball milling) the powder mixtures of CaCO{sub 3}, CaHPO{sub 4}.2H{sub 2}O and MgO in open air at room temperature. FTIR analysis confirms the A-type carbonation in all milled HAp powder samples (A-cHAp). Microstructure characterization in terms of lattice imperfections and phase quantification of ball milled samples are made by analyzing XRD patterns employing Rietveld's structure refinement method. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study of 15 mol % Mg doped A-cHAp sample reveals microstructure similar to that obtained from XRD pattern analysis. Cumulative effect of Mg substitution and mechanical alloying results in amorphization of a major part of crystalline A-cHAp, analogous to native bone mineral. Rietveld analysis reveals that the Ca2 vacancy site is energetically more favorable for occupation of Mg substitution. MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide] assay test reveals sufficiently high percentage cell viability confirming the cytocompatibility of the sample. - Graphical abstract: Mg substitution for Ca2 site. - Highlights: • Single phase Mg doped A-cHAp synthesized by mechanical alloying (MA). • FTIR analysis confirms A-type carbonation in HAp. • Amorphization of a part of crystalline A-cHAp due to MA and Mg insertion. • Mg{sup 2+} ions substitute the Ca2 vacancy site. • High cell viability under MTT assay.

  3. Profile agreement indices in Rietveld and pattern-fitting analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hill, R.J.; Fischer, R.X.

    1990-01-01

    Two definitions of profile agreement indices are now in common use for estimating the degree of fit in Rietveld refinement and in structure-independent pattern-fitting methods of powder diffraction analysis. In the original program written by Rietveld, the background was subtracted and the 'non-peak' regions of the pattern were removed from further consideration in a preliminary data-reduction stage prior to structure refinement. However, the agreement indices used in many of the more recent programs retain the background counts in the observed step intensities and include all portions of the pattern in the sums. These latter definitions are strongly dependent on the signal-to-noise ratio and on the relative amount of 'background-only' regions and do not, therefore, provide a sound basis for comparing the degree of fit of peak profile and crystal structure model refinements in the general case. The extent of this dependence is illustrated quantitatively using conventional and synchrotron X-ray and constant-wavelength and time-of-flight neutron data sets with different inherent background levels and peak densities. The unweighted background-corrected peak-only profile agreement index R' p =Σ i vertical strokeY io -Y ic vertical stroke/Σ i vertical strokeY io -Y ib vertical stroke (and, to a lesser extent, its weighted equivalent) is recommended as the most appropriate criterion of fit for comparative work between diffraction patterns of all kinds. (orig.)

  4. Rietveld analysis system RIETAN (translation)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Izumi, Fujio

    1991-09-01

    This is the manual of the RIETAN system (a Rietveld analysis program) which is originally written in Japanese by Fujio Izumi. The manual consists of two parts. Part I is a general description of the fundamental concepts and methods of the RIETAN system. Part II is the user's manual of the RIETAN which mainly describes in detail how to create user's data sets, procedures of Rietveld analysis and how to read the results of analysis. (author)

  5. Refinement by Rietveld method of a rolled sheet Al-Mg-Si 6063 alloy with preferential orientation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carrio, J.A.G.; Hattori, C.S.; Miranda, L.F.; Domingues Junior, N.I.; Lima, N.B.; Couto, A.A.; Aguiar, A.A.

    2010-01-01

    The Rietveld refinement of a sample with preferential orientation was accomplished using data of X ray diffraction of a rolled 6063 aluminum alloy. The refinement of the preferential orientation by spherical harmonic was accomplished using a symmetry of sample mmm (rolling) until the order of 8 and was compared with experimental pole figures. The four pole figures presented indicate a sharp texture of the planes (111), (200), (220) and (311). The calculated pole figures obtained from the refinement of the X ray diffraction spectrum can incur in mistakes of preferential orientation. This happens because the measure is restricted to the planes parallel to the surface without inference to the symmetry of the sample. (author)

  6. The role of iron in tetrahedrite and tennantite determined by Rietveld refinement of neutron powder diffraction data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andreasen, Jens Wenzel; Makovicky, Emil; Lebech, Bente

    2008-01-01

    Rietveld refinement of neutron powder diffraction data on four samples of synthetic, iron-bearing tetrahedrite (Cu12-xFexSb4S13) with x = 0.28, 0.69, 0.91, 2.19 and four samples of synthetic tennantite (Cu12-xFexAs4S13) with x = 0.33, 0.38, 0.86, 1.5 indicate unambiguously that iron is incorporated...

  7. Quantitative study of Portland cement hydration by X-ray diffraction/Rietveld analysis and independent methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scrivener, K.L.; Fuellmann, T.; Gallucci, E.; Walenta, G.; Bermejo, E.

    2004-01-01

    X-ray diffraction (XRD) is a powerful technique for the study of crystalline materials. The technique of Rietveld refinement now enables the amounts of different phases in anhydrous cementitious materials to be determined to a good degree of precision. This paper describes the extension of this technique to a pilot study of the hydration of a typical Portland cement. To validate this XRD-Rietveld analysis technique, its results were compared with independent measures of the same materials by the analysis of backscattered electron images (BSE/IA) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). In addition, the internal consistency of the measurements was studied by comparing the XRD estimates of the amounts of hydrates formed with the amounts expected to form from the XRD estimates of the amounts of anhydrous materials reacted

  8. Effect of powder sample granularity on fluorescent intensity and on thermal parameters in x-ray diffraction Rietveld analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sparks, C.J.; Specht, E.D.; Ice, G.E.; Kumar, R.; Zschack, P.; Shiraishi, T.; Hisatsune, K.

    1991-01-01

    The effect of sample granularity on diffracted x-ray intensity was evaluated by measuring the 2θ dependence of x-ray fluorescence from various samples. Measurements were made in the symmetric geometry on samples ranging from single crystals to highly absorbing coarse powders. A characteristic shape for the absorption correction was observed. A demonstration of the sensitivity of Rietveld refined site occupation parameters is made on CuAu and Cu 50 Au 44 Ni 6 alloys refined with and without granularity corrections. These alloys provide a good example of the effect of granularity due to their large linear x-ray absorption coefficients. Sample granularity and refined thermal parameters obtained from the Rietveld analysis were found to be correlated. Without a granularity correction, the refined thermal parameters are too low and can actually become negative in an attempt to compensate for granularity. A general shape for granularity correction can be included in refinement procedures. If no granularity correction is included, data should be restricted to above 30 degrees 2θ, and thermal parameters should be ignored unless extreme precautions are taken to produce >5 μm particles and high packing densities

  9. In-situ high-energy X-ray diffraction and batch Rietveld refinement of phase changes in titanium aluminides

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Whitfield, R.

    2007-01-01

    Full text: We have used the Rietveld refinement method for the analysis of high-energy X-ray power diffraction for quantitatve phase analysis. This method has the advantage of being able to model the multiple phases appearing in the diffraction pattern and tell us about the composition of the phases of a sample as we change the temperature. It has been applied to various TiAl compounds allowing us to follow in detail the phase transitions of the intermetallics when heated to around 1400 0 Cand subsequently cooled. Small amounts of additives like V, Cr and Gd as well as signatures from different production processes can be seen to have an effect on the phase transitions. With increasing temperature we can see the evolution of the unit cell due to thermal expansion, chemical segregation and the relative proportion of phase changes

  10. Analysis of Polymorphic Nanocrystals of TiO2 by X-Ray Rietveld Refinement and High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy: Acetaldehyde Decomposition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. Carrera

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available In this work, TiO2 nanocrystals were synthesized by the sol-gel method. These materials were annealed at 200 and 500∘C; and characterized by the XRD-Rietveld refinement; and by BET and TEM. As for the low-temperature-treated sample (200∘C, nanocrystals with small crystallite sizes (7 nm and high abundance of anatase, coexisting with the brookite phase, were obtained. Meanwhile, the sample annealed at 500∘C showed an increased crystallite size (22 nm and an important polymorphic increment. The sample annealed at 200∘C showed a high activity in the photocatalytic decomposition of acetaldehyde.

  11. Refinement of the crystal structure of lead titanate with different degrees of imperfection of cationic and anionic sublattices by the Rietveld method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akimov, A.I.; Savchuk, G.K.; Rubtsov, V.A.; Letko, A.K.

    2003-01-01

    The parameters of the crystal structure of lead titanate with different degrees of imperfection of the anionic and cationic sublattices are refined by the Rietveld method. The experiments are carried out on a DRON-4 diffractometer (CuK α radiation; 20 deg. d 5.0-6.0%

  12. Rietveld refinement and FTIR analysis of bulk ceramic Co3-xMnxO4 compositions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meena, P. L.; Kumar, Ravi; Sreenivas, K.

    2013-02-01

    Co3-xMnxO4 (x = 0.0, 0.6, 1.2) prepared by solid state reaction method and characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR). Lattice parameters (a), oxygen parameter (u), and ionic radii of cations have been determined through Rietveld analysis. Both a and u parameters are related to expansion of octahedral site as Mn content in Co3O4. Analysis of XRD data show that Mn (x ≤ 1.2) is accommodated at the octahedral site, while retaining the cubic spinel structure. FTIR results also confirm the same and signify strong interactions due to overlapping of Co and Mn octahedra.

  13. Effect of data quality on quantitative phase analysis (QPA) using the Rietveld method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scarlett, N.; Madsen, I.; Lwin, T.

    1999-01-01

    Full text: Quantitative phase analysis using the Rietveld method has become a valuable tool in modern X-ray diffraction. XRD is a recognised research tool and has been successfully employed in the developmental stages of many industrial processes. It is now becoming increasingly important as a means of process control either (i) in site quality control laboratories or (ii) even on-line. In on-line applications, the optimisation of data collection regimes is of critical importance if rapid turn-around, and hence timely process control, is to be achieved. This paper examines the effect of data quality on the quantification of phases in well characterised suites of minerals. A range of data collection regimes has been systematically investigated with a view to determining the minimum data required for acceptable quantitative phase analyses. Data has been collected with variations in the following process factors: 1st step, width ranging from 0.01 to 0.3 deg 2θ ;2nd step, counting time ranging from 0.0125 to 4 sec/step 3rd step, upper limit in the scan range varying from 40 to 148 deg 2θ. The data has been analysed using whole-pattern (Rietveld) based methods using two distinctly different analytical approaches: (i) refinement of only pattern background and individual scale factors for each phase; (ii) refinement of unit cell dimensions, overall thermal parameters, peak width and shape in addition to the background and scale factors. The experimental design for this work included a ternary design of the three component phases (fluorite, CaF 2 ; zincite, ZnO; corundum, Al 2 O 3 ) to form seven mixtures of major and minor phases of different scattering powers and the combination of the three process factors (variables) to form a factorial plan. The final data generation plan is a combination/crossing of the three process variable factorial plan with the three component mixture plan. It allows a detailed data analysis to provide information on the effect of the process

  14. Crystal structures of iron bearing tetrahedrite and tennantite at 25 and 250 degrees C by means of Rietveld refinement of synchrotron data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Friese, K.; Grzechnik, A.; Makovicky, E.

    2008-01-01

    Rietveld refinement of X-ray synchrotron data was performed for two synthetic tetrahedrite samples, with 0.61 and 1.83 Fe atoms, and two synthetic tennantite samples with 0.10 and 1.23 Fe atoms p.f.u. M-12(Sb,As)(4)S-13. Measurements were performed at 25 and 250 degrees C. For both the phases...

  15. Rietveld structure refinement and elastic properties of MgAlxCrxFe2-2xO4 spinel ferrites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thummer, K. P.; Tanna, Ashish R.; Joshi, Hiren H.

    2017-05-01

    MgAlxCrxFe2-2xO4 (x = 0.1, 03 & 0.6) ferrites are synthesized by solid state reaction method. The Rietveld refinement of X-ray diffraction (XRD) data confirms the cubic spinel structure with Fd3m space group. The Fourier Transform Infrared Transmission Spectroscopy (FTIR) is employed to study elastic properties of present systems at 300K. The force constants for tetrahedral (A) and octahedral (B) sites of the spinel lattice are determined by infrared spectral and X-ray diffraction analysis. The elastic constants like bulk modulus, rigidity modulus, Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio and Debye temperature are determined. The vibrational frequency of both the interstitial sites increases as Al-Cr content increases hence the force constant and elastic moduli for all the samples are found to increase for the present ferrite system.

  16. Measurements of Residual Stresses In Cold-Rolled 304 Stainless Steel Plates Using X-Ray Diffraction with Rietveld Refinement Method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parikin; Killen, P; Rafterry, A.

    2009-01-01

    The determination of the residual stresses using X-ray powder diffraction in a series of cold-rolled 304 stainless steel plates, deforming 0, 34, 84, 152, 158, 175 and 196 % reduction in thickness has been carried out. The diffraction data were analyzed using the Rietveld structure refinement method. The analysis shows that for all specimens, the martensite particles are closely in compression and the austenite matrix is in tension. Both the martensite and austenite, for a sample reducing 34% in thickness (containing of about 1% martensite phase) the average lattice strains are anisotropic and decrease approximately exponential with an increase in the corresponding percent reduction (essentially phase content). It is shown that this feature can be qualitatively understood by taking into consideration the thermal expansion mismatch between the martensite and austenite grains. Also, for all cold-rolled stainless steel specimens, the diffraction peaks are broader than the unrolled one (instrumental resolution), indicating that the strains in these specimens are inhomogeneous. From an analysis of the refined peak shape parameters, the average root-mean square strain, which describes the distribution of the inhomogeneous strain field, was predicted. The average residual stresses in cold-rolled 304 stainless steel plates showed a combination effect of hydrostatic stresses of the martensite particles and the austenite matrix. (author)

  17. Rietveld and impedance analysis of cold and hot rolled duplex and lean duplex steels for application in paper and pulp industry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Esteves, Luiza; Lins, Vanessa de Freitas Cunha, E-mail: luizaeq@yahoo.com.br [Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil). Departamento de Engenharia Quimica; Paiva, Paulo Renato Perdigao [Centro Federal de Educacao Tecnologica de Minas Gerais (CEFET), Belo Horizonte, MG (Brazil); Viana, Adolfo Kalergis do Nascimento [APERAM South America, Timoteo, MG (Brazil)

    2017-01-15

    In this study, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Rietveld Refinement were performed to identify and quantify the ferrite and austenite phase of cold and hot rolled duplex stainless steels (UNS S31803) and lean duplex stainless steels (UNS S32304). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was applied to evaluate the chemical behavior of duplex and lean duplex stainless steels in white, green, and black liquors of paper and pulp industry. Rietveld analysis results showed a higher austenite content than the standard limit for duplex steels in the hot rolled condition. The hot rolling condition plays a major role in improving corrosion resistance in white liquor mainly for the lean duplex steel. (author)

  18. Rietveld and impedance analysis of cold and hot rolled duplex and lean duplex steels for application in paper and pulp industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Esteves, Luiza; Lins, Vanessa de Freitas Cunha; Viana, Adolfo Kalergis do Nascimento

    2017-01-01

    In this study, X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Rietveld Refinement were performed to identify and quantify the ferrite and austenite phase of cold and hot rolled duplex stainless steels (UNS S31803) and lean duplex stainless steels (UNS S32304). Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was applied to evaluate the chemical behavior of duplex and lean duplex stainless steels in white, green, and black liquors of paper and pulp industry. Rietveld analysis results showed a higher austenite content than the standard limit for duplex steels in the hot rolled condition. The hot rolling condition plays a major role in improving corrosion resistance in white liquor mainly for the lean duplex steel. (author)

  19. Rietveld refinement of the crystal structures of Rb2XSi5O12 (X = Ni, Mn

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anthony M. T. Bell

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available The synthetic leucite silicate framework mineral analogues Rb2XSi5O12 {X = Ni [dirubidium nickel(II pentasilicate] and Mn [dirubidium manganese(II pentasilicate]} have been prepared by high-temperature solid-state synthesis. The results of Rietveld refinements, using X-ray powder diffraction data collected using Cu Kα X-rays, show that the title compounds crystallize in the space group Pbca and adopt the cation-ordered structure of Cs2CdSi5O12 and other leucites. The structures consist of tetrahedral SiO4 and XO4 units sharing corners to form a partially substituted silicate framework. Extraframework Rb+ cations sit in channels in the framework. All atoms occupy the 8c general position for this space group. In these refined structures, silicon and X atoms are ordered onto separate tetrahedrally coordinated sites (T-sites. However, the Ni displacement parameter and the Ni—O bond lengths suggest that for the X = Ni sample, there may actually be some T-site cation disorder.

  20. Rietveld refinement and dielectric relaxation of a new rare earth based double perovskite oxide: BaPrCoNbO{sub 6}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bharti, Chandrahas, E-mail: bharti.chandrahas@gmail.com [Sensor and Actuator Division, CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, 196, Raja SC Mullick Road, Kolkata 700032 (India); Das, Mrinmoy K.; Sen, A. [Sensor and Actuator Division, CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, 196, Raja SC Mullick Road, Kolkata 700032 (India); Chanda, Sadhan; Sinha, T.P. [Department of Physics, Bose Institute, 93/1, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, Kolkata-700009 (India)

    2014-02-15

    A new rare earth based double perovskite oxide barium praseodymium cobalt niobate, BaPrCoNbO{sub 6} (BPCN) is synthesized by solid-state reaction technique. Rietveld analysis of X-ray diffraction (XRD) data shows that the compound crystallizes in a perovskite like tetragonal structure which belongs to the I4/mmm space group with lattice parameters a=b=5.6828(9) Å, c=8.063(2) Å. Structural analysis reveals 1:1 ordered arrangement for the Co{sup 2+} and Nb{sup 5+} cations over the six-coordinate B-sites of BPCN. The superlattice line (1 0 1) at 2θ=19.10° arising from the alternate ordering of Co{sup 2+} and Nb{sup 5+} sites is observed in the XRD pattern which confirms the presence of cation ordering in BPCN. Fourier transform infrared spectrum shows two phonon modes of the sample due to the antisymmetric NbO{sub 6} stretching vibration. The relaxation dynamics of the conductive process in BPCN is investigated in the temperature range 303 to 503 K and in the frequency range 100 Hz to 1 MHz using impedance spectroscopy. The relaxation mechanism of the sample in the framework of electric modulus formalism is modeled by Davidson–Cole model (DCM). The values of α (distribution of relaxation time) for the DCM varies from 0.1 to 0.3 which suggests the asymmetric distribution of relaxation time for BPCN. The activation energy of the sample, calculated from both conductivity and modulus spectra, are found to be almost the same ∼0.4 eV, which indicates that the conduction mechanism for BPCN is polaron hopping. The scaling behaviour of the imaginary part of electric modulus suggests that the relaxation follows the same mechanism at various temperatures. - Graphical abstract: Rietveld refinement plot for BPCN. Inset shows the schematic presentation of the BPCN tetragonal unit cell. The Co{sup 2+} atoms are located at the centers of the CoO{sub 6} (blue) octahedra. The Nb{sup 5+} atoms are located at the centers of the NbO{sub 6} (green) octahedra. Display Omitted

  1. Synthesis and refinement of ferroelectric ceramic BaBi4Ti4O15 (BBT) using Rietveld Methods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva, P.M.O.; Sales, A.J.M.; Carneiro, J.C.S.; Sancho, E.O.; Sales, J.C.; Sombra, A.S.B.

    2012-01-01

    The lead zirconate titanate (PZT) has potential application in nonvolatile ferroelectric memory and capacitors, however this material is linked to environmental pollution. In order to remedy this problem, we propose the synthesis of the compound, BaBi 4 TI 4 O 15 (BBT) because of similarity to PZT. The phase of the BBT has been prepared by the method of solid state. Reagents (BaCO 3 , Bi 2 O 3 and TiO 2 ) were ground for 6 hours at 360 rpm in a planetary ball mill and suffered high energy heat treatment for 2 hours at temperatures of 850, 900, 950 and 1000 ° C. The calcined powder was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and refined by the program DBWSTools 2.3 Beta based on the Rietveld method. The results obtained confirmed the refinement of the single-phase with tetragonal structure BaBi 4 TI 4 O 15 for all samples. The sample calcined at 950 °C presented the best densification (7.508 g/cm³). (author)

  2. Rietveld refinement of the structures of 1.0 C-S-H and 1.5 C-S-H

    KAUST Repository

    Battocchio, Francesco

    2012-11-01

    Low-Q region Rietveld analyses were performed on C-S-H synchrotron XRD patterns, using the software MAUD. Two different crystal structures of tobermorite 11 Å were used as a starting model: monoclinic ordered Merlino tobermorite, and orthorhombic disordered Hamid tobermorite. Structural modifications were required to adapt the structures to the chemical composition and the different interlayer spacing of the C-S-H samples. Refinement of atomic positions was done by using special constraints called fragments that maintain interatomic distances and orientations within atomic polyhedra. Anisotropic crystallite size refinement showed that C-S-H has a nanocrystalline disordered structure with a preferred direction of elongation of the nanocrystallites in the plane of the Ca interlayer. The quality of the fit showed that the monoclinic structure gives a more adequate representation of C-S-H, whereas the disordered orthorhombic structure can be considered a more realistic model if the lack of long-range order of the silica chain along the c-direction is assumed. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. A summary of available Rietveld and related software resources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cranswick, L.M.D

    1999-01-01

    Full text: There is a wide variety of Rietveld software available from both commercial and academic institutions. These resources will be reviewed along with the importance of validating Rietveld quantitative analysis results and gaining skills in complementary areas. This part of the workshop will mention a number of relevant programs and their main functionality: Rietveld software, Rietveld utilities, Rietveld friendly software and other powder diffraction utilities. Some of the main benefits of appreciating the availability of a wide range of software include: cross validation of results, data quality and diffractometer alignment, exploring new areas of research and analysis, solving new problems, nuances that occur as part of Rietveld analysis. Copyright (1999) Australian X-ray Analytical Association Inc

  4. Crystal phase analysis of SnO2-based varistor ceramic using the Rietveld method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moreira, M.L.; Pianaro, S.A.; Andrade, A.V.C.; Zara, A.J.

    2006-01-01

    A second addition of l mol% of CoO to a pre calcined SnO 2 -based ceramic doped with 1.0 mol% of CoO, 0.05 mol% of Nb 2 O 5 and 0.05 mol% of Cr 2 O 3 promotes the appearance of a secondary phase, Co 2 SnO 4 , besides the SnO 2 cassiterite phase, when the ceramic was sintered at 1350 deg. C/2 h. This was observed using X-ray powder diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray techniques. Rietveld refinement was carried out to quantify the phases present in the ceramic system. The results of the quantitative analysis were 97 wt.% SnO 2 and 3 wt.% Co 2 SnO 4 . The microstructural analysis showed that a certain amount of cobalt ion remains into cassiterite grains

  5. Tailoring diffraction technique Rietveld method on residual stress measurements of cold-can oiled 304 stainless steel plates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parikin; Killen, P.; Anis, M.

    2003-01-01

    Tailoring of diffraction technique-Rietveld method on residual stress measurements of cold-canailed stainless steel 304 plates assuming the material is isotopic, the residual stress measurements using X-ray powder diffraction is just performed for a plane lying in a large angle. For anisotropic materials, the real measurements will not be represented by the methods. By Utilizing of all diffraction peaks in the observation region, tailoring diffraction technique-Rietveld analysis is able to cover the limitations. The residual stress measurement using X-ray powder diffraction tailored by Rietveld method, in a series of cold-canailed stainless steel 304 plates deforming; 0, 34, 84, 152, 158, 175, and 196 % reduction in thickness, have been reported. The diffraction data were analyzed by using Rietveld structure refinement method. Also, for all cold-canailed stainless steel 304 plates cuplikans, the diffraction peaks are broader than the uncanailed one, indicating that the strains in these cuplikans are inhomogeneous. From an analysis of the refined peak shape parameters, the average root-mean square strain, which describes the distribution of the inhomogeneous strain field, was calculated. Finally, the average residual stresses in cold-canailed stainless steel 304 plates were shown to be a combination effect of hydrostatic stresses of martensite particles and austenite matrix. The average residual stresses were evaluated from the experimentally determined average lattice strains in each phase. It was found the tensile residual stress in a cuplikan was maximum, reaching 442 MPa, for a cuplikan reducing 34% in thickness and minimum for a 196% cuplikan

  6. Crystal structure analysis of LaMnO_3 with x-ray diffraction technique using the Rietveld method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Engkir Sukirman; Wisnu Ari Adi; Yustinus Purwamargapratala

    2010-01-01

    Crystal structure analysis of LaMnO_3 using the Rietveld method has been carried out. The LaMnO_3 sample was synthesized with high energy mechanical milling from the raw materials of La_2O_3 and MnO_2 with the appropriate mol ratio. Milling were performed for 10 hours, pelletized and hereinafter sintered at 1350 °C for 6 hours. The sample characterizations covered the crystal structure and electric-magnetic properties of the materials by X-ray diffraction technique using the Rietveld method and the four point probe, respectively. The Rietveld refinement results based on the X-rays diffraction data indicate that the sample of LaMnO_3 is single phase with the crystal system: orthorhombic, the space group: Pnma No. 62 and the lattice parameters: a = 55.4405(9) Å; b = 7.717(1) Å dan c = 5.537(1) Å. The material owns Magnetic Resonance (MR) respond of 7 %, the mean value of crystallite size, D = 17 nm and lattice strain, e = - 0.5 %. So, the material go through a compressive strain, and according to the Nanda's strain model, it becomes a type G antiferromagnetic insulator. Because the insulator properties of the material does not change although being hit by the external magnetic field, hence the MR respond is only caused by the order of electron spin. Therefore at room temperature, LaMnO_3_._0 just exhibits a small MR respond. (author)

  7. Rietveld refinement and electronic structure studies for the Sm2FeMnO6 new complex perovskite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Landinez Tellez, D.A.; Munevar, J.A.; Arbey Rodriguez, J.M.; Fajardo, F.; Roa-Rojas, J.

    2008-01-01

    We report synthesis and crystalline structure study of the Sm 2 FeMnO 6 new complex perovskite, by X-ray diffraction experiments and through the application of Rietveld refinement. Results revealed the crystallization of system in a structure given by Pmn21 (no. 31) space group and lattice parameters a=7.621(1) A, b=5.675(3) A and c=5.378(3) A. Ab initio calculations of density of states (DOS) and electronic structure were carried out for this perovskite-like system by the density functional theory (DFT) and using the full-potential linearized augmented plane waves (FP-LAPW) method. All calculations were carried out using spin polarization. Material evidences a conductor-like character, predominantly due to d-xy Fe orbital of the spin down channel. Magnetic response of system has contributions of Fe and Mn spin up orientation. The calculated magnetic moment in cell was 34.48 μ B and the magnetic moment in interstitial was 1.54 μ B

  8. Rietveld refinement and dielectric studies of Bi{sub 0.8}Ba{sub 0.2}FeO{sub 3} ceramic

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kaswan, Kavita, E-mail: kaswan.kavita@gmail.com; Agarwal, Ashish; Sanghi, Sujata; Rangi, Manisha; Jangra, Sandhaya; Singh, Ompal [Department of Applied Physics, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar 125001, Haryana (India)

    2016-05-23

    Polycrystalline Bi{sub 0.8}Ba{sub 0.2}FeO{sub 3} ceramic has been synthesized via conventional solid state reaction technique. The Rietveld refinement of x-ray powder diffraction revealed that the sample has a rhombohedral crystal structure (space group R3c). With increase in temperature, the values of dielectric constant (ϵ′) and dielectric loss (tan δ) are found to be increase at different frequencies which may be the result of increase in the number of charge carriers and their mobilities due to the thermal activation. Further the ac conductivity data is analyzed by using Jonscher’s universal power law. The values of frequency exponent ‘s’ lies in the range 0.2 ≤ s ≤ 0.7 and decreases with increase in temperature which can be explained on the basis of CBH (Correlated Barrier Height) model.

  9. PETROGRAPHY AND APPLICATION OF THE RIETVELD METHOD TO THE QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF PHASES OF NATURAL CLINKER GENERATED BY COAL SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pinilla A. Jesús Andelfo

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available

    Fine-grained and mainly reddish color, compact and slightly breccious and vesicular pyrometamorphic rocks (natural clinker are associated to the spontaneous combustion of coal seams of the Cerrejón Formation exploited by Carbones del Cerrejón Limited in La Guajira Peninsula (Caribbean Region of Colombia. These rocks constitute remaining inorganic materials derived from claystones, mudstones and sandstones originally associated with the coal and are essentially a complex mixture of various amorphous and crystalline inorganic constituents. In this paper, a petrographic characterization of natural clinker, aswell as the application of the X-ray diffraction (Rietveld method by mean of quantitative analysis of its mineral phases were carried out. The RIQAS program was used for the refinement of X ray powder diffraction profiles, analyzing the importance of using the correct isostructural models for each of the existing phases, which were obtained from the Inorganic Crystal Structure Database (ICSD. The results obtained in this investigation show that the Rietveld method can be used as a powerful tool in the quantitative analysis of phases in polycrystalline samples, which has been a traditional problem in geology.

  10. Micro-structural study and Rietveld analysis of fast reactor fuels: U–Mo fuels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chakraborty, S.; Choudhuri, G.; Banerjee, J.; Agarwal, Renu; Khan, K.B.; Kumar, Arun

    2015-01-01

    U–Mo alloys are the candidate fuels for both research reactors and fast breeder reactors. In-reactor performance of the fuel depends on the microstructural stability and thermal properties of the fuel. To improve the fuel performance, alloying elements viz. Zr, Mo, Nb, Ti and fissium are added in the fuel. The first reactor fuels are normally prepared by injection casting. The objective of this work is to compare microstructure, phase-fields and hardness of as-cast four different U–Mo alloy (2, 5, 10 and 33 at.% Mo) fuels with the equilibrium microstructure of the alloys. Scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectrometer and optical microscope have been used to characterize the morphology of the as-cast and annealed alloys. The monoclinic α'' phase in as-cast U-10 at.% Mo alloy has been characterized through Rietveld analysis. A comparison of metallographic and Rietveld analysis of as-cast (dendritic microstructure) and annealed U-33 at.% Mo alloy, corresponding to intermetallic compound, has been reported here for the first time. This study will provide in depth understanding of microstructural and phase evolution of U–Mo alloys as fast reactor fuel. - Highlights: • U–Mo alloys in as-cast as well as in annealed conditions have been studied using Optical Microscope, SEM, XRD. • The monoclinic α'' phase in as-cast U-10 at.% Mo alloy has been characterized through Rietveld analysis. • The dendritic microstructure of γ-(U,Mo) and B.C.C. ‘Mo’ phase of 33 at.% U–Mo alloy have been analysed. • Rietveld analysis has been done to optimize lattice parameters and calculate phase fractions in annealed alloys. • The Vickers microhardness of U_2Mo phase shows lower hardness than two phase microstructures in annealed alloys.

  11. Micro-structural study and Rietveld analysis of fast reactor fuels: U–Mo fuels

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chakraborty, S., E-mail: sibasis@barc.gov.in [Radiometallurgy Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085 (India); Choudhuri, G. [Atomic Fuels Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085 (India); Banerjee, J. [Radiometallurgy Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085 (India); Agarwal, Renu [Product Development Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085 (India); Khan, K.B.; Kumar, Arun [Radiometallurgy Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, 400085 (India)

    2015-12-15

    U–Mo alloys are the candidate fuels for both research reactors and fast breeder reactors. In-reactor performance of the fuel depends on the microstructural stability and thermal properties of the fuel. To improve the fuel performance, alloying elements viz. Zr, Mo, Nb, Ti and fissium are added in the fuel. The first reactor fuels are normally prepared by injection casting. The objective of this work is to compare microstructure, phase-fields and hardness of as-cast four different U–Mo alloy (2, 5, 10 and 33 at.% Mo) fuels with the equilibrium microstructure of the alloys. Scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectrometer and optical microscope have been used to characterize the morphology of the as-cast and annealed alloys. The monoclinic α'' phase in as-cast U-10 at.% Mo alloy has been characterized through Rietveld analysis. A comparison of metallographic and Rietveld analysis of as-cast (dendritic microstructure) and annealed U-33 at.% Mo alloy, corresponding to intermetallic compound, has been reported here for the first time. This study will provide in depth understanding of microstructural and phase evolution of U–Mo alloys as fast reactor fuel. - Highlights: • U–Mo alloys in as-cast as well as in annealed conditions have been studied using Optical Microscope, SEM, XRD. • The monoclinic α'' phase in as-cast U-10 at.% Mo alloy has been characterized through Rietveld analysis. • The dendritic microstructure of γ-(U,Mo) and B.C.C. ‘Mo’ phase of 33 at.% U–Mo alloy have been analysed. • Rietveld analysis has been done to optimize lattice parameters and calculate phase fractions in annealed alloys. • The Vickers microhardness of U{sub 2}Mo phase shows lower hardness than two phase microstructures in annealed alloys.

  12. Rietveld profile analysis of calcined AlPO/sub 4/-11 using pulsed neutron powder diffraction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Richardson, J.W. Jr.; Pluth, J.J.; Smith, J.V.

    1988-08-01

    Aluminium phosphate, AlPO/sub 4/, M/sub r/=121.95, orthorhombic, Icmm (disordered Al, P), Icm2 (ordered Al, P), a=13.5333(8), b=18.4845(10), c=8.3703(4) A, V=2094 A/sup 3/, Z=20, D/sub x/=1.93 g cm/sup -3/, T approx. = 295 K, R/sub wp/=0.031, R/sub F//sup 2/=0.109 (Icmm) and R/sub wp/=0.027, R/sub F//sup 2/=0.058 (Icm2) for 1017 independent reflections. Sample calcined at 873 K and dehydrated at 573 K. Time-of-flight neutron powder diffraction data were taken on the GPPD diffractometer at the Argonne National Laboratory Intense Pulsed Neutron Source. The structure was refined by Rietveld profile analysis in the range d=0.86-3.91 A in two space groups: Icmm assuming no ordering of Al and P, and Icm2 assuming strict alternation of Al and P on tetrahedral nodes. (orig./BHo).

  13. Application of the Rietveld method in structural analysis of catalysts based on CuO/CeO2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Neiva, L.S.; Ribeiro, M.A.; Bispo, A.; Simoes, A.N.; Gama, L.

    2011-01-01

    This work has as aim to synthesize catalysts composed by CuO/CeO 2 by means two distinct methods of synthesis, they are: combustion synthesis and Pechini. The catalysts composed by CuO/CeO 2 were synthesized with CuO in condition of dopant element. The value of the CuO concentration ranged between 0 and 0.5 mol. Has been done a structural analysis related to how the kind of synthesis method used influences over physical characteristic of the catalytic material. The obtained catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction with refinement by Rietveld method. According to results, the synthesized catalysts showed crystalline structures formed mostly by CeO 2 phase, as expected, since this is the host matrix for the dopant element. The catalysts obtained by the Pechini method presented structures with a smaller amount of segregated phases formed by CuO, according to the results of the structural analysis. (author)

  14. Combined PDF and Rietveld studies of ADORable zeolites and the disordered intermediate IPC-1P

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Morris, S. A.; Wheatley, P. S.; Položij, M.; Nachtigall, P.; Eliášová, Pavla; Čejka, Jiří; Lucas, T. C.; Hriljac, J. A.; Pinar, A. B.; Morris, R. E.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 45, č. 36 (2016), s. 14124-14130 ISSN 1477-9226 R&D Projects: GA ČR GBP106/12/G015 Institutional support: RVO:61388955 Keywords : Distribution functions * Rietveld refinement * Zeolites Subject RIV: CF - Physical ; Theoretical Chemistry Impact factor: 4.029, year: 2016

  15. The IPNS rietveld analysis software package for TOF [time-of-flight] powder diffraction data: Recent developments

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rotella, F.J.; Richardson, J.W. Jr.

    1987-01-01

    A system of FORTRAN programs for the analysis of time-of-flight (TOF) neutron powder diffraction data via the Rietveld method at IPNS has been modified recently, making it possible to analyze data that exhibit diffraction maxima broadened due to anisotropic strain and that can be modeled by individual atomic anharmonic thermal vibrations. The observation of noncrystalline scattering in data from some powder samples has led to the development of software to fit such scattering by a function related to a radial distribution function through Fourier-filtering techniques. The ''user friendliness'' of the IPNS Rietveld package has been enhanced by the development of ''RIETVELD,'' a menu-based VAX/VMS command language routine for interactive file manipulation and program execution

  16. Rietveld analysis and electronic bands structure on Tc superconductors systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aldea, N.; Tiusan, C. V.; Sandu, V.

    1999-01-01

    A procedure for simultaneous refinement of structural and micro-structural disorder parameters for polycrystalline YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-x system is proposed. It is based on Rietveld method combined with Fourier analysis for broadened peaks Another purpose of this paper consists in electronic structure determination studied by using the self-consistent Tight Binding Linear Muffin-Tin Orbital Atomic Spheres Approximation TB-LMTO-ASA methods. The Rietveld method uses an analytical function that describes the profiles, usually pseudo-Voigt (pV) or Pearson VII (PVII). The parameters of the analytical profiles describe its amplitude, position and peak shape. The full width at half maximum (FWHM) is supposed to vary with the diffraction angle in agreement with the Caglioti, Paoletti and Ricci's relationship. The best structural parameters are determined in the least squares sense by the minimisation a classical residual using the Marquardt method. In this case, the peak profiles were modelled by the pseudo-Voigt function corrected by the instrumental asymmetry. The physical information obtained are: scale factor, lattice parameters, atomic position and displacements, atomic occupation numbers, temperature factor (isotropy or anisotropy), preferred orientation parameter, crystalline size and micro-strain along different crystallographic directions, distributions of crystallite size and micro-strain functions. This procedure was implemented on computer code and it has a friendly graphical interface based on pull down menus technique. From the experimental point of view the X-ray diffraction data were collected using a horizontal powder diffractometer in the Bragg-Brentano (BB) geometry with a Ni filtered CuKα, λ = 1.54178 A, at room temperature using a DRON 2 set-up. The diffraction profiles were measured with a proportional gas detector, a single channel pulse-height discrimination and a standard associated counting circuit. The electronic band calculations are based on the TB

  17. Application of the Rietveld method in structural analysis of catalysts based on CuO/CeO{sub 2}; Aplicacao do metodo de Rietveld na analise estrutural de catalisadores a base de CuO/CeO{sub 2}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Neiva, L.S.; Ribeiro, M.A.; Bispo, A.; Simoes, A.N.; Gama, L., E-mail: lsoutoneiva@yahoo.com.br [Universidade Federal de Campina Grande (UFCG), PB (Brazil). Departamento de Engenharia de Materiais

    2011-07-01

    This work has as aim to synthesize catalysts composed by CuO/CeO{sub 2} by means two distinct methods of synthesis, they are: combustion synthesis and Pechini. The catalysts composed by CuO/CeO{sub 2} were synthesized with CuO in condition of dopant element. The value of the CuO concentration ranged between 0 and 0.5 mol. Has been done a structural analysis related to how the kind of synthesis method used influences over physical characteristic of the catalytic material. The obtained catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction with refinement by Rietveld method. According to results, the synthesized catalysts showed crystalline structures formed mostly by CeO{sub 2} phase, as expected, since this is the host matrix for the dopant element. The catalysts obtained by the Pechini method presented structures with a smaller amount of segregated phases formed by CuO, according to the results of the structural analysis. (author)

  18. Rietveld refinement of the structures of 1.0 C-S-H and 1.5 C-S-H

    KAUST Repository

    Battocchio, Francesco; Monteiro, Paulo J.M.; Wenk, Hans-Rudolf

    2012-01-01

    Low-Q region Rietveld analyses were performed on C-S-H synchrotron XRD patterns, using the software MAUD. Two different crystal structures of tobermorite 11 Å were used as a starting model: monoclinic ordered Merlino tobermorite, and orthorhombic

  19. Separation of the overlapping effects in spectra for WDXRF using the Rietveld method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salvador, Vera Lucia Ribeiro

    2005-01-01

    This work presents a new methodology for the overlapping spectra separation obtained by the technique of wavelength dispersion X-ray fluorescence (WDXRF). This methodology allows to improve the conventional analytic results and to facilitate the determination of chemical species of a same element without chemical separation, by means of the separation of coming spectra of electronic transitions of valence electrons or chemical effects in internal electrons. With the software 'GSAS-EXPGUI' and the method of Rietveld overcomes the problem of overlapping lines of the present species in the sample and it facilitates the determination of the same ones simultaneously, without the need of samples patterns and calibration curves, what means an expressive gain in relation to other techniques. The preparation of the surface of the sample for the collection of the spectrum represents a critical stage for the acting of the analysis whose effects can be minimized being used the refinement of Rietveld, that allows the determination of the relationships of the intensities of the lines put upon by means of mathematical models, what establishes the basic conditions for obtaining of more precise results in the quantitative analysis. In the case of the determination of chemical species it can separate, for example Cr (III), Cr (VI) and Fe (II), Fe(III) that present overlapping of almost 100%. (author)

  20. Neutron irradiated uranium silicides studied by neutron diffraction and Rietveld analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Birtcher, R.C.; Mueller, M.H.; Richardson, J.W. Jr.; Faber, J. Jr.

    1989-11-01

    Uranium silicides have been considered for use as reactor fuels in both high power and low enrichment applications. However, U 3 Si was found to become amorphous under irradiation and to become mechanically unstable to rapid growth by plastic flow. U 2 Si 2 appears to be stable against amorphization at low displacement rates, but the extent of this stability is uncertain. Although the mechanisms responsible for plastic flow in U 3 Si and other amorphous systems are unknown, as is the importance of crystal structure for amorphization, it may not be surprising that these materials amorphize, in light of the fact that many radioactive nuclide - containing minerals are known to metaminctize (lose crystallinity) under irradiation. The present experiment follows the detailed changes in the crystal structures of U 3 Si and U 3 Si 2 introduced by neutron bombardment and subsequent uranium fission at room temperature. U-Si seems the ideal system for a neutron diffraction investigation since the crystallographic and amorphous forms can be studied simultaneously by combining conventional Rietveld refinement of the crystallographic phases with Fourier-filtering of the non-crystalline scattering component

  1. Investigation on the evolution of microstructure and texture of electroplated Ni–Ti composite coating by Rietveld method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhao, Yuantao, E-mail: zhaoyuantao@sjtu.edu.cn; Cai, Fei, E-mail: caifei32@126.com; Wang, Chengxi, E-mail: sjtucxw@sjtu.edu.cn; Chai, Ze, E-mail: zechaisjtu@163.com; Zhu, Kaiyuan, E-mail: xrd125@163.com; Xu, Zhou, E-mail: xuzhou@sjtu.edu.cn; Jiang, Chuanhai, E-mail: chjiang-sjtu@hotmail.com

    2015-10-30

    Highlights: • Ni–Ti composite coatings were prepared by electroplating. • Morphology and Ti content of Ni–Ti coatings were studied upon SEM and EDXS. • Microstructures of Ni–Ti coatings were studied upon the Rietveld method. • The texture of Ni–Ti coatings was studied upon the pole figure. - Abstract: Rietveld refinement was utilized to investigate the evolution of microstructure and texture of the Ni–Ti composite coatings electroplated at different applied current densities. Scanning Electron Microscope and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy were utilized to investigate the morphology and chemical composition of the coatings. Relative texture coefficients (RTC) and measured pole figures were utilized to investigate the texture evolution of the coatings. The results showed that the surface morphology of the coatings changed from a colonial structure to a polyhedral one. And the incorporated Ti content decreased with increasing applied current density. As the applied current density increased, the crystallite sizes increased and their distribution got less uniform, and the microstrain and dislocation density decreased. The results of simulated pole figures obtained from Rietveld refinement illustrated that the texture of the coatings changed from no obvious texture to a strong [2 0 0] fiber texture with increasing applied current density. The texture evolution obtained from simulated pole figures was confirmed by the result of RTC and the measured pole figures. The evolutions of the microstructure and texture were derived from the change of the applied current density and incorporated Ti content in the Ni–Ti composite coatings.

  2. Micro-structural study and Rietveld analysis of fast reactor fuels: U-Mo fuels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakraborty, S.; Choudhuri, G.; Banerjee, J.; Agarwal, Renu; Khan, K. B.; Kumar, Arun

    2015-12-01

    U-Mo alloys are the candidate fuels for both research reactors and fast breeder reactors. In-reactor performance of the fuel depends on the microstructural stability and thermal properties of the fuel. To improve the fuel performance, alloying elements viz. Zr, Mo, Nb, Ti and fissium are added in the fuel. The first reactor fuels are normally prepared by injection casting. The objective of this work is to compare microstructure, phase-fields and hardness of as-cast four different U-Mo alloy (2, 5, 10 and 33 at.% Mo) fuels with the equilibrium microstructure of the alloys. Scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectrometer and optical microscope have been used to characterize the morphology of the as-cast and annealed alloys. The monoclinic α'' phase in as-cast U-10 at.% Mo alloy has been characterized through Rietveld analysis. A comparison of metallographic and Rietveld analysis of as-cast (dendritic microstructure) and annealed U-33 at.% Mo alloy, corresponding to intermetallic compound, has been reported here for the first time. This study will provide in depth understanding of microstructural and phase evolution of U-Mo alloys as fast reactor fuel.

  3. Structural refinement, photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy of wurtzite Mn-doped Zn O pellets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marquina, J.; Martin, J.; Luengo, J.; Vera, F.; Roa, L. [Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Optica, Universidad de los Andes, Merida 5101 (Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of); Gonzalez, J. [Centro de Estudios de Semiconductores, Universidad de los Andes, Merida 5101 (Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of); Rodriguez, F.; Renero L, C.; Valiente, R. [Malta-Consolider Team, CITIMAC, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Cantabria, Santander 69005 (Spain); Delgado, G. E., E-mail: marquinajesus@gmail.com [Laboratorio de Cristalografia, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de los Andes, Merida 5101 (Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of)

    2017-11-01

    We report the results of the Rietveld refinement, photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy of Mn-doped Zn O ceramic pellets. Rietveld refinement shows that samples crystallize in the wurtzite structure and for the Mn-doped sample indicated that the Mn atoms substitute the Zn tetrahedral crystallographic sites in the Zn O host lattice. The emission and absorption spectra of Mn-doped Zn O have been investigated in the visible-UV region and the data have been interpreted in terms of the wurtzite Zn O electronic structure. Two broad bands, one due to superposition between donor bound excitons (DX) and free excitons (FX) and other due free-to bond excitonic recombination (FB) dominates the low-temperature photoluminescence spectra of Mn-doped Zn O bulk. In the Raman spectrum, an extra mode at ∼520 cm{sup -1} has been observed in agreement with earlier works, and it is an indicator for the incorporation of Mn{sup +2} ions into the Zn O host matrix since it is not is observed in Zn O pristine. Rietveld refinement of the X-ray diffraction patterns, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) technique, and Raman spectroscopies were performed to study these effects. (Author)

  4. Quantitative phase analysis of uranium carbide from x-ray diffraction data using the Rietveld method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Singh Mudher, K.D.; Krishnan, K.

    2003-01-01

    Quantitative phase analysis of a uranium carbide sample was carried out from the x-ray diffraction data by Rietveld profile fitting method. The method does not require the addition of any reference material. The percentage of UC, UC 2 and UO 2 phases in the sample were determined. (author)

  5. The Rietveld method applied to the quantitative mineralogical analysis of some soil samples from Argentina Aplicación del método de Rietveld al análisis mineral��gico cuantitativo de algunas muestras de suelos de la Argentina

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stella M Zabala

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available The mineralogical quantification of soils species is mainly obtained by analysis of X-ray diffraction (XRD patterns. The classic method, for these analyses, is limited to semi quantitative determinations due to the overlapping of different specie's peaks and processes of absorption of the constituents, the wide range of particle size distribution, etc. The use of the Rietveld method for XRD quantitative analysis, in mixtures of minerals, has allowed to improve the accuracy of the quantitative results and to extend it to complex systems, as soils, transforming it in a meaningful tool for soils investigation. In this work, quantitative results obtained by the application of classic and Rietveld methods, are compared in different soils samples from Argentina. A set of mixtures of minerals with similar composition to three studied samples, was also quantified by Rietveld method, with absolute error lower than 3%. Obtained results indicate that quantitative analysis by Rietveld method, can improve the results found by XRD classic method and may be used for the quantitative determination of soil minerals.La cuantificación mineralógica de componentes del suelo es obtenida principalmente por análisis de espectros de difracción de rayos X (DRX. El método clásico aplicado para dicho análisis está limitado a determinaciones semi-cuantitativas debido a la superposición de picos de las distintas especies y procesos de absorción de los constituyentes, el amplio rango de distribución de tamaño de partícula, etc. El uso del método de Rietveld para el análisis cuantitativo por DRX, en mezclas de minerales, ha permitido mejorar la exactitud de los resultados cuantitativos y extenderlo a sistemas complejos, como lo son los suelos, transformándose en una herramienta significativa para su investigación. En este trabajo se comparan los resultados cuantitativos obtenidos por la aplicación del método clásico y de Rietveld, a diferentes muestras de

  6. Crystal structure refinement of Ba5Nb4O15 and Ba5Nb4O15-x by Rietveld analysis of neutron and X-ray diffraction data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pagola, S.; Leyva, G.; Casais, M.T.; Alonso, J.A.; Rasines, I.; Carbonio, R.E.

    1996-01-01

    Both X-ray and neutron diffraction data were analyzed by the Rietveld method, taking as starting structural model that of the Ba 5 Ta 4 O 15 structure. The results of such an analysis show that the progressive elimination of oxygen ions produce only small changes in the structure. A decrease in the unit-cell parameters as the number of oxygen vacancies increases has been observed, which can be correlated with a gradual loss of oxygen ions in the close-packed layers. No ordering of the oxygen vacancies was found even in the sample with the highest x value, x=0.56. (orig.)

  7. A modified Rietveld method to model highly anisotropic ceramics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tutuncu, G.; Motahari, M.; Daymond, M.R.; Ustundag, E.

    2012-01-01

    High energy X-ray diffraction was employed to probe the complex constitutive behavior of a polycrystalline ferroelectric material in various sample orientations. Pb(Zn,Nb)O 3 –Pb(Zr,Ti)O 3 (PZN–PZT) ceramics were subjected to a cyclic bipolar electric field while diffraction patterns were taken. Using transmission geometry and a two-dimensional detector, lattice strain and texture evolution (domain switching) were measured in multiple sample directions simultaneously. In addition, texture analysis suggests that non-180° domain switching is coupled with lattice strain evolution during uniaxial electrical loading. As a result of this material’s high strain anisotropy, the full-pattern Rietveld method was inadequate to analyze the diffraction data. Instead, a modified Rietveld method, which includes an elastic anisotropy term, yielded significant improvements in the data analysis results.

  8. Rietveld refinement, dielectric and magnetic properties of Nb modified Bi0.80Ba0.20FeO3 ceramic

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jangra, Sandhaya; Sanghi, Sujata; Agarwal, Ashish; Rangi, Manisha

    2018-05-01

    Bi0.80Ba0.20Fe0.95Nb0.05O3 ceramic has been prepared via conventional solid state reaction method. Structure analysis was carried out by X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique at room temperature. XRD pattern confirmed the crystalline nature of prepared sample. Rietveld analysis used for further structural investigations and confirmed the existence of rhombohedral symmetry (R3c space group). The dielectric response shows dispersion at lower frequency range and becomes frequency independent at high frequency. The approximation of conduction mechanism is determined by the temperature dependent behavior of frequency exponent `s'. Fitting results suggests the applicability of small polaron conduction mechanism at lower temperatures and CBH model at higher temperature. Room temperature magnetic measurements give the evidence of significant enhancement in magnetic properties with remanent magnetization (Mr = 0.1218 emu/g) and coercive field (Hc = 3.5342 kOe).

  9. Structural analysis of a carbonated hydroxyapatite by the Rietveld method using different profile functions; Analise estrutural de uma hidroxiapatita carbonatada pelo metodo de Rietveld aplicando funcoes de perfil diferentes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Araujo, Jorge C. de [Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UERJ), RJ (Brazil). Dept. de Matematica], e-mail: jcaraujo@iprj.uerj.br; Moreira, Elizabeth L.; Moraes, Valeria Conde Alves [Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas (CBPF), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)], e-mail: beth@cbpf.br, e-mail: conde@cbpf.br; Moreira, Ana Paula D. [Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF), Niteroi, RJ (Brazil). Inst. de Quimica. Dept. de Quimica Analitica], e-mail: duarteap@gmail.com

    2008-10-15

    The crystal structure of the synthetic hydroxyapatite with 12.8 ({+-} 0,64) wt. % CO{sub 3}{sup 2-} ion content was analyzed by X-ray diffraction using the Rietveld refinement method employing Pearson VII and pseudo-Voigt functions to fit the X-ray profile. The results obtained for unit cell parameters when compared to pattern hydroxyapatite showed a decrease in the a (=b) parameter and an increase in the c parameter without significant difference between the functions employed. The separation of the anisotropic broadening of reflections originated from unit cell strains indicated that this effect is dominant in reflection line broadening, principally to hkl plans with an interatomic distance lower than 2,24 angstrom. Modifications in the atomic coordinates of C atom were noted mainly in PO{sub 4}{sup 3-} (B site) and OH{sup -} (A site) sites. The average crystallite size in the crystallography axis directions (002 and 300) suggests equi axial morphology. The results obtained to CO{sub 3}{sup 2}- content were 11.72 ({+-} 0,64) wt. % to Pearson VII and 13.20 ({+-} 0,64) wt. % to pseudo-Voigt function. The refinement of the occupancy factors to C atoms in both sites PO{sub 4}{sup 3-}(B) and OH{sup -} (A) indicated higher insertion in phosphate site than hydroxide site. However, the relative occupancy of the C atom observed in the B site is lower than in the A site. (author)

  10. The analysis of powder diffraction data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    David, W.I.F.; Harrison, W.T.A.

    1986-01-01

    The paper reviews neutron powder diffraction data analysis, with emphasis on the structural aspects of powder diffraction and the future possibilities afforded by the latest generation of very high resolution neutron and x-ray powder diffractometers. Traditional x-ray powder diffraction techniques are outlined. Structural studies by powder diffraction are discussed with respect to the Rietveld method, and a case study in the Rietveld refinement method and developments of the Rietveld method are described. Finally studies using high resolution powder diffraction at the Spallation Neutron Source, ISIS at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory are summarized. (U.K.)

  11. Synthesis and structural characterisation using Rietveld and pair distribution function analysis of layered mixed titanium-zirconium phosphates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burnell, Victoria A.; Readman, Jennifer E.; Tang, Chiu C.; Parker, Julia E.; Thompson, Stephen P.; Hriljac, Joseph A.

    2010-01-01

    Crystalline metal (IV) phosphates with variable zirconium-to-titanium molar ratios of general formula (Ti 1-x Zr x )(HPO 4 ) 2 .H 2 O have been prepared by precipitation of soluble salts of the metals with phosphoric acid and heating the amorphous solids in 12 M H 3 PO 4 in an autoclave. The new materials are structurally characterised by Rietveld analysis of synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data and pair distribution function (PDF) analysis of high energy synchrotron X-ray total scattering data. A broad range of zirconium-titanium phosphate solid solutions were formed showing isomorphous substitution of titanium by zirconium in the α-titanium phosphate lattice and vice versa for titanium substitution into the α-zirconium phosphate lattice. In both cases the solubility is partial with the coexistence of two substituted phases observed in samples with nominal compositions between the solubility limits. - Graphical abstract: Layered phosphates of general formula (Ti 1-x Zr x )(HPO 4 ).H 2 O have been prepared by the hydrothermal treatment of amorphous gels in phosphoric acid and characterised by Rietveld analysis of high resolution synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data and pair distribution function analysis of high energy synchrotron X-ray total scattering data.

  12. Rietveld refinement of the crystal structure of perovskite solar cells using CH3NH3PbI3 and other compounds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ando, Yuji; Ohishi, Yuya; Suzuki, Kohei; Suzuki, Atsushi; Oku, Takeo

    2018-01-01

    The crystal structures of perovskite thin films including CH3NH3PbI3, CH3NH3Pb1-xSbxI3, and CH3NH3PbI3-yCly in the solar cell configuration were studied by using Rietveld refinement. For the CH3NH3PbI3 and CH3NH3Pb1-xSbxI3 samples, satisfactory agreement with the measured profiles was obtained with a weighted profile R-factor (Rwp) of as low as 3%. It was shown that the site occupancy of methylammonium (MA) was decreased in the antimonized cell due to the compensation effect of an increased positive charge brought about by replacing Pb2+ with Sb3+. Photovoltaic measurements showed that the power conversion efficiency was enhanced by adding a small amount of Sb to the CH3NH3PbI3 cell, but it was monotonically decreased as the mole fraction of Sb exceeded 0.03. This variation of the conversion efficiency was considered as a result of suppressed crystallization of PbI2 and carrier recombination via MA vacancies in the antimonized cells. In the case of CH3NH3PbI2.88Cl0.12 sample, the agreement with the measured profile with an Rwp of as high as 7% suggested the co-existence of cubic and tetragonal phases in the chlorinated cell.

  13. Structure of the new Tl(Ba sub 1.0 Sr sub 1.0) PrCu sub 2 O sub 7-x by Rietveld analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, P.; Fun, H. K.; Lee, T.J.; Ku, H.C.; Lai, C.C.

    1994-01-01

    The crystalline structure of Tl(Ba sub 1.0 Sr sub 1.0)PrCu sub 2 O sub 7-x was obtained at room temperature from x-ray powder diffraction with CuK sub α radiation using Rietveld analysis. Tl(Ba sub 1.0 Sr sub 1.0)PrCu sub 2 O sub 7-x isomorphous at both room temperature (300 K) and low temperature (100 K) with TlBa sub 2 ca Cu sub 2 O sub 7-x type (1212) structure, crystallized with space group P4/mmm and one formula in the unit cell. At 300 K, cell parameters a=3.8892(2) A, c=12.3099(6) A, the structure was refined with 25 parameters to R sub WP = 6.30%, R sub P = 4.38% for 3551 step intensities and R sub b = 5.01%, R sub f = 4.20% for 156 reflections. The goodness of fitting S=3.18. At 100K, cell parameters a=3.8866(4) A, c= 12.289(1) A, the structure was refined with 26 parameters to R sub WP = 8.42%, R sub P = 6.21% for 2676 step intensities and R sub b = 6.72%, R sub f = 5.28% for 120 reflections. The goodness of fitting S=2.32. Reasonable anisotropic thermal parameters were obtained. The compositions of Ba and Sr atoms were refined to about Ba sub 1.1 Sr sub 0.9 compared with the stoichiometric Ba sub 1.0 Sr sub 1.0

  14. Application of the Rietveld method in powders of strontium-doped lanthanum manganite calcined in different temperatures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chiba, R.; Vargas, R.A.; Martinez, L.G.; Andreoli, M.; Seo, E.S.M.

    2010-01-01

    The strontium-doped lanthanum manganite (LSM) is a ceramic material used as cathode in device called High Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell. In this work, the LSM was synthesized by the citrate technique with the objective to get powders without the formation of secondary phases, such as lanthanum oxide and the lanthanum hydroxide, harmful for the functional performance of the device. The definitive calcination temperatures had been 700, 900 and 1100 deg C, due the decomposition of the polymeric precursors to present stabilization from 480 deg C. The analysis by X-ray diffraction of the calcined powders in different temperatures shows the formation only of phase LSM of hexagonal crystalline structure, type pseudo-perovskite. Using the refinement of Rietveld was determined the parameters and volumes of unity cells, atomic positions and occupations. These results confirm that the chemical compositions obtained are similar to the nominal. (author)

  15. Rietveld refinement and dielectric properties of (Na{sub 0.5}Bi{sub 0.5}TiO{sub 3})-(Bi{sub 0.8}Ba{sub 0.2}FeO{sub 3}) ceramics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kaswan, Kavita, E-mail: kaswan.kavita@gmail.com; Agarwal, Ashish; Sanghi, Sujata; Singh, Ompal [Department of Applied Physics, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar-125001 (India)

    2015-06-24

    (1-x)(Na{sub 0.5}Bi{sub 0.5}TiO{sub 3})-x(Bi{sub 0.8}Ba{sub 0.2}FeO{sub 3}) lead free ceramics (NBT, NBT-BBFO; x = 0.0, 0.1 respectively) have been synthesized by conventional solid state reaction method. Crystalline phase of sintered ceramics was investigated at room temperature using X-ray diffraction. Rietveld refinement of XRD data performed by FullProf revealed that both the samples exhibited rhombohedral structure with R3c space group. Dielectric properties of these ceramics were studied at different temperatures in a wide frequency range using impedance analyzer. Dielectric constant and dielectric loss were found to be increase with increase of BBFO content. The prepared ceramics exhibit a broad maximum in dielectric permittivity at 593K and dispersive permittivity at high temperatures. The NBT-BBFO sample shows a relaxor ferroelectric behavior at different frequencies.

  16. Presence of a monoclinic (Pm) phase in the morphotropic phase boundary region of multiferroic (1 − x)Bi(Ni{sub 1/2}Ti{sub 1/2})O{sub 3}-xPbTiO{sub 3} solid solution: A Rietveld study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pandey, Rishikesh, E-mail: akhilesh-bhu@yahoo.com, E-mail: aksingh.mst@itbhu.ac.in; Singh, Akhilesh Kumar, E-mail: akhilesh-bhu@yahoo.com, E-mail: aksingh.mst@itbhu.ac.in [School of Materials Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi 221005 (India)

    2014-07-28

    We present here the results of structural studies on multiferroic (1 − x)Bi(Ni{sub 1/2}Ti{sub 1/2})O{sub 3}-xPbTiO{sub 3} solid solution using Rietveld analysis on powder x-ray diffraction data in the composition range 0.35 ≤ x ≤ 0.55. The stability region of various crystallographic phases at room temperature for (1 − x)Bi(Ni{sub 1/2}Ti{sub 1/2})O{sub 3}-xPbTiO{sub 3} is determined precisely. Structural transformation from pseudo-cubic (x ≤ 0.40) to tetragonal (x ≥ 0.50) phase is observed via phase coexistence region demarcating the morphotropic phase boundary. The morphotropic phase boundary region consists of coexisting tetragonal and monoclinic structures with space group P4mm and Pm, respectively, stable in composition range 0.41 ≤ x ≤ 0.49 as confirmed by Rietveld analysis. The results of Rietveld analysis completely rule out the coexistence of rhombohedral and tetragonal phases in the morphotropic phase boundary region reported by earlier workers. A comparison between the bond lengths for “B-site cations-oxygen anions” obtained after Rietveld refinement, with the bond length calculated using Shannon-Prewitt ionic radii, reveals the ionic nature of B-O (Ni/Ti-O) bonds for the cubic phase and partial covalent character for the other crystallographic phases.

  17. Rietveld originals : Handle with care!

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zijlstra, H.

    2009-01-01

    The work of architect Gerrit Th. Rietveld (1888 – 1964) is appreciated throughout the world. Many of the well-known buildings he designed have survived to the present. Some have been restored or refurbished, depending on the condition of the building, current needs of the building users, etc.

  18. Preparation and Crystal Structures of Some AIVB2IIO4 Compounds: Powder X-Ray Diffraction and Rietveld Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Jeyadheepan

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The AIVB2IIO4 compounds such as cadmium tin oxide (Cd2SnO4 or CTO and zinc tin oxide (Zn2SnO4 or ZTO are synthesized by solid state reaction of the subsequent binary oxides. The synthesized powders were analyzed through the powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD. Cell search done on the PXRD patterns shows that the Cd2SnO4 crystallizes in orthorhombic structure with space group Pbam and the cell parameters as a=5.568(2 Å, b=9.894(3 Å, and c=3.193(1 Å and the Zn2SnO4 crystallizes as cubic with the space group Fd3 -m and with the cell parameter a=8.660(2 Å. Rietveld refinement was done on the PXRD patterns to get the crystal structure of the Cd2SnO4 and Zn2SnO4 and to define the site deficiency of atoms which causes the electrical properties of the materials.

  19. Study of the superconducting compound Hg,Re-1223 by X-Ray diffraction with application of Rietveld method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Putvinskis, Rodrigo

    2008-01-01

    The objective of this work was to study the crystal structure of the superconductor compound of nominal composition Hg 0,82 Re 0,18 Ba 2 Ca 2 Cu 3 O 8+δ and general formula Hg,Re- 1223 and different oxygen contents, by the X-ray diffraction technique, by using the Rietveld method. The studied samples present different oxygen stoichiometry because during the synthesis process, had been heat treated under different oxygen/argon gas mixtures in the ratios: 5:95, 10:90 and 15:85. The results of structural refinement for the samples show that different oxygen contents imply in different cell parameters, atomic positions and distances for the main phase of each sample. The segregation of two superconducting phases with the same crystal structure, but slightly different cell parameters was confirmed for the studied samples both by Rietveld analysis and anomalous X-ray diffraction experiments. It was also confirmed that one of the segregated phases does not incorporate Re cations its composition. The main phase, who incorporates the Re cations, is here called Hg,Re-1223 and the Re-free secondary phase is called Hg- 1223. It was found that the superconducting phases present different crystallite sizes and the sample treated under gas flow composed of 10% oxygen and 90% argon presents the highest fraction of superconducting phases. From these results it was possible to conclude that the sample produced from the precursor compound treated under flow of O 2 /Ar gas at the ratio 10/90 presents the better results for the synthesis of this superconducting compound. (author)

  20. Crystal structures of new cuprates containing CO3 analyzed by the Rietveld method of neutron powder diffraction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miyazaki, Y.; Yamane, H.; Kajitani, T.; Hiraga, K.; Hirai, T.; Morii, Y.; Funahashi, S.

    1993-01-01

    New compounds containing CO 3 groups, Sr 2 CuO 2 (CO 3 ), (C 0.4 Cu 0.6 )Sr 2 (Y 0.86 Sr 0.14 )Cu 2 O 7 and (C 0.35 Cu 0.65 )Sr 2 (Y 0.73 Ce 0.27 ) 2 Cu 2 O 9 , were prepared as stable phases at 1273-1303 K in a flowing gas of O 2 -CO 2 . The crystal structures of these compounds were refined by means of the Rietveld analysis for neutron powder diffraction data collected using a high resolution powder diffractometer (HRPD) in the JRR-3M reactor hall of the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI). Positions of CO 3 groups were satisfactorily determined. The distances of C-O bonds in the CO 3 groups were around 1.3A and the O-C-O angles were almost equal to the ideal bond angle of 120deg. (author)

  1. Quantitative phase analysis of alumina/calcium-hexaluminate composites using neutron diffraction data and the Rietveld method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asmi, D.; Low, I.M.; O'Connor, B.H.; Kennedy, S.J.

    2000-01-01

    Full text: The Al 2 O 3 -CaO system is the basis of an important class of high-temperature refractories in the steel industry. It contains a number of stable intermediate compounds which include C 3 A, C 12 A 7 , CA, CA 2 , and CA 6 . These calcium aluminates are also important constituents of high alumina cement and have been used to produce high-strength and high-toughness ceramic-polymer composite materials. More recently, alumina composites containing 30 wt% CA 6 platelets have been developed by An et al which show characteristics of self-reinforcement and enhanced toughening through crack-bridging. In this paper, we describe the use of high-temperature neutron diffraction to monitor the in-situ phase formation and abundances of calcium aluminates (CA, CA 2 , and CA 6 ) in alumina composites containing 5-50 wt % CA 6 .at temperatures in the range 1000 - 1600 deg C. These composites were produced using reaction sintering of alumina and calcium oxide. For comparison purposes, control samples of pure α-alumina and CA 6 were also produced. Determination of relative phase abundances in these materials has been performed using the standardless Rietveld refinement method. Results show that the relative phase abundance of calcium aluminates in the composites increased with temperature and in proportion with the amount of calcium oxide present. The formation temperatures of CA, CA 2 , and CA 6 have been observed to occur at 1000 deg , 1200 deg, and ∼1350 deg C respectively, which agree well with results obtained from x-ray diffraction, synchrotron radiation diffraction and differential thermal analysis

  2. EL APARADOR DE RIETVELD DEL MUSEO NACIONAL DE ARTES DECORATIVAS (MADRID.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María Villalba Salvador

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Este artículo trata de hacer una aproximación al estudio de una de las piezas más relevantes de la historia del diseño de mobiliario de vanguardia: el aparador de Rietveld, también conocido como Buffet Elling. Su diseño data de 1919, y responde a la estética propia del autor en aquellos años posteriores a la Primera Guerra Mundial, cuyas piezas son coincidentes con los planteamientos artísticos del grupo De Stijl. Es representativo de los principios básicos de la obra de Rietveld, uno de los pioneros del funcionalismo junto con J.J.P. Oud, en cuanto a la opción por el diseño y la arquitectura, y por la producción en masa y el diseño industrial accesible al conjunto de la sociedad. Merece destacar la colaboración de Gerard A. Van de Groenekan, asistente de Rietveld a lo largo de toda su trayectoria artística. Esta pieza nos ayuda a estudiar el pensamiento de Gerrit Th. Rietvel en relación con el diseño de vanguardia.This article tries to be an approach to the study of one of the most relevant pieces of furniture in the history of the design of avant-garde furniture: Rietveld´s dresser, also known as Elling Buffet. It was designed in 1919, and it shows the author´s aesthetics in the years that followed World War I, with pieces that are much related to the artistic orientation of the group De Stijl. It clearly shows the main characteristics of Rietveld´s work, one of the pioneers of functionalism, together with J.J.P. Oud, regarding design and architecture, mass production and industrial design accessible to society as a whole. It is worth mentioning the collaboration of Gerard A. Van de Groenekan, Rietveld´s assistant throughout his artistic trajectory. This piece of furniture helps us study Rietveld´s thinking regarding avant-garde design.

  3. Quantitative analysis of retained austenite in laser melted martensitic stainless steel

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Seleka, T

    2007-11-01

    Full Text Available of this study was to determine if X-ray diffraction (XRD) was sufficient for quantifying the volume percentage of retained austenite. After a preliminary qualitative analysis, a Rietveld full pattern refinement program was used to quantify the volume percentage...

  4. Rietveld refinement of the orthorhombic Pbca structures of Rb2CdSi5O12, Cs2MnSiO5O12, Cs2CoSi5O12 and Cs2NiSi5O12 leucites by synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bell, A.M.T.; Henderson, C.M.B.

    1996-01-01

    Analysis of high-resolution synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction patterns for hydrothermally synthesized Rb 2 CdSi 5 O 12 and Cs 2 MnSi 5 O 12 leucite analogues, and dry-synthesized Cs 2 CoSi 5 O 12 and Cs 2 NiSi 5 O 12 leucite analogues showed that they have an orthorhombic Pbca structure. The structures have been refined by the Rietveld method, showing that the tetrahedrally coordinated atoms (Si, Cd, Mn, Co and Ni) are ordered on separate sites. The Cs 2 MnSi 5 O 12 , Cs 2 CoSi 5 O 12 and Cs 2 NiSi 5 O 12 leucite samples are unusual in containing SiO 4 tetrahedra which are more distorted, on average, than the larger MnO 4 , CoO 4 and NiO 4 tetrahedra. The JCPDS file numbers for Rb 2 CdSi 5 O 12 , Cs 2 MnSi 5 O 12 and Cs 2 CoSi 5 O 12 are 46-1491, 46-1492 and 46-1493, respectively. (orig.)

  5. A research of the mineralogy phases of clinker in a spanish cement using the method of Rietveld

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Castanon Ana M; Garcia Granda Santiago; Guerrero Ana M; Gomez Fernandez Fernando

    2012-01-01

    In order to introduce continuously a quality control method in a Spanish cement factory to improve the final product feature new research methodology is being developed. The Rietveld method [1] has been successfully used to analyze the composition of the main phases of clinker. Using this methodologies, research has been carried out to quantize appropriately the minor phase of free lime which is extremely important in the clinker quality. This method leads to satisfactory results on samples with contents in CaO from 3%. These results are possible combining X- ray diffraction and fluorescence techniques as well as the chemical analysis data. Clinker, the Rietveld method, free lime.

  6. Mineralogical characterization of a highly-weathered soil by the Rietveld Method Caracterização mineralógica de um solo altamente intemperizado pelo Método de Rietveld

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    André Maurício Brinatti

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available The mineralogical characterization through mineral quantification of Brazilian soils by X-ray diffraction data using the Rietveld Method is not common. A mineralogical quantification of an Acric Ferralsol from the Ponta Grossa region, state of Paraná, Brazil, was carried out using this Method with X-Ray Diffraction data to verify if this method was suitable for mineral quantification of a highly-weathered soil. The A, AB and B3 horizons were fractioned to separate the different particle sizes: clay, silt, fine sand (by Stokes Law and coarse sand fractions (by sieving, with the procedure free of chemical treatments. X-ray Fluorescence, Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry, Infrared Spectroscopy and Mössbauer Spectroscopy were used in order to assist the mineral identification and quantification. The Rietveld Method enabled the quantification of the present minerals. In a general way, the quantitative mineralogical characterization by the Rietveld Method revealed that quartz, gibbsite, rutile, hematite, goethite, kaolinite and halloysite were present in the clay and silt fractions of all horizons. The silt fractions of the deeper horizons were different from the more superficial ones due to the presence of large amounts of quartz. The fine and the coarse sand fractions are constituted mainly by quartz. Therefore, a mineralogical quantification of the finer fraction (clay and silt by the Rietveld Method was successful.A caracterização mineralógica por meio da quantificação dos minerais presentes em solos brasileiros por difração de raios X usando o Método de Rietveld é, ainda, pouco comum. Neste trabalho foi realizada a quantificação mineralógica de um Latossolo Vermelho ácrico da região de Ponta Grossa, Paraná, Brasil, utilizando o Método de Rietveld com dados de Difração de Raios X e também verificado se o método foi adequado na quantificação mineral de um solo altamente intemperizado. Os horizontes A

  7. Application of the Rietveld method to assess chromium(VI) speciation in chromite ore processing residue

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chrysochoou, Maria; Dermatas, Dimitris

    2007-01-01

    The Rietveld method allows the quantification of crystalline phases and amorphous material identified by X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) and other diffraction methods. The method assists in determining the speciation of contaminants in solid matrices both qualitatively and quantitatively in a statistically defensible approach, as it does not focus on a microscale. Rietveld was applied to chromite ore processing residue (COPR), a cementitious waste containing hexavalent chromium. Calcium aluminum chromium oxide hydrates (CACs) were the crystalline phases identified by XRPD that bind Cr 6+ in COPR according to their chemical formula. Rietveld quantification, combined with mass balances on Cr 6+ , showed that CACs may bind Cr 6+ in variable percentages, ranging from 25% to 85%. Analysis of duplicate samples showed that material variability is the predominant factor of uncertainty in evaluating the role of CACs in Cr 6+ speciation, provided that a consistent quantification strategy is pursued. The choice of strategy was performed on the basis of the pertinent literature, preliminary analyses of the equipment and the software settings, and mass balances. The correlation between the average CAC-bound Cr 6+ concentration and the total Cr 6+ for five samples (R 2 = 0.94), extracted from different zones and soil borings, suggests that CACs are a primary sink for Cr 6+ in COPR

  8. Quantitative Mineralogical Analysis of Mars Analogues Using CHEMIN Data and Rietveld Refinement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bish, D. L.; Sarrazin, P.; Chipera, S. J.; Vaniman, D. T.; Blake, D.

    2004-01-01

    Mineralogical analysis is a critical component of planetary surface exploration. Chemical data alone leave serious gaps in our understanding of the surfaces of planets where complex minerals may form in combination with H, S, and halogens. On such planets (e.g., Mars) a single chemical composition may represent a range of mineral assemblages. For example, Viking chemical analyses of excavated duricrust indicate that Mg and S are correlated and 10% MgSO4 (anhydrous weight) is a likely cementing agent. Pathfinder chemical data support a similar abundance of MgSO4 in the most altered materials. However, there are many possible Mg-sulfates with widely varying hydration states (including dehydrated and 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, 6-, and 7-hydrates). In addition, other sulfate minerals such as gypsum (CaSO4 .2H2O) and other salts containing Cl may also exist. X-ray diffraction (XRD) has the ability to decipher mixtures of these phases that would be difficult, if not impossible to unravel using only chemical or spectral data.

  9. In situ X-ray Rietveld analysis of Ni-YSZ solid oxide fuel cell anodes during NiO reduction in H2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Reyes Rojas, A; Esparza-Ponce, H E; Fuentes, L; Lopez-Ortiz, A; Keer, A; Reyes-Gasga, J

    2005-01-01

    A synthesis and characterization of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anodes of nickel with 8%mol yttrium stabilized zirconia (Ni-YSZ) is presented. Attention was focused on the kinetics and phase composition associated with the transformation of NiO-YSZ to Ni-YSZ. The anodes were prepared with an alternative synthesis method that includes the use of nickel acetylacetonate as an inorganic precursor to obtain a highly porous material after sintering at 1400 deg. C and oxide reduction (NiO-YSZ → Ni-YSZ) at 800 deg. C for 8 h in a tubular reactor furnace using 10% H 2 /N 2 . The obtained material was compressed by unidirectional axial pressing into 1 cm-diameter discs with 15-66 wt% Ni and calcinated from room temperature to 800 deg. C. A heating rate of 1 deg. C min -1 showed the best results to avoid any anode cracking. Their structural and chemical characterization during the isothermal reduction were carried out by in situ time-resolved X-ray diffraction, refined with the Rietveld method (which allowed knowing the kinetic process of the reduction), scanning electron microscopy and X-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy. The results showed the formation of tetragonal YSZ 8%mol in the presence of nickel, a decrement in the unit cell volume of Ni and an increment of Ni in the Ni-YSZ anodes during the temperature reduction. The analysis indicated that the Johnson-Mehl-Avrami equation is unable to provide a good fit to the kinetics of the phase transformation. Instead, an alternative equation is presented

  10. Quantitative determination of phases in ZrO2 (MgO) (Y2O3) using the Rietveld method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Castro, Antonio Carlos de

    2007-01-01

    The key objective of this work is the crystallographic characterization of the zircon co-doped with Yttria and magnesium with the application of the Rietveld method for quantitative phase analysis of zircon polymorph (zircon monoclinic, tetragonal, and cubic). Samples of zircon polymorph were obtained from zircon doped with Yttria and magnesium at defined molar concentrations. The zircon polymorph stability during subeutetoid aging at 1350 deg C were investigated to determine ZrO 2 - MgO - Y 2 0 3 phases degradation and to define the solid solutions stability environment. ZrO 2 powders doped with 8 mol por cent of MgO and 1 mol por cent of Y 2 O 3 , and 9 mol por cent of MgO and 0 mol por cent of Y 2 O 3 have been prepared by chemical route using the co-precipitation method. These samples have been calcinate at 550 deg C, sintered at 1500 deg C and characterized by the Rietveld method using the X-ray diffraction data. The variation of the lattice parameter, changes in the phase composition and their microstructures are discussed. The application of the Rietveld method for quantitative phase analysis of zircon polymorph (zircon tetragonal and cubic) reveals no formation of tetragonal phase and indicating that the matrix is the cubic phase with low concentration of monoclinic phase.(author)

  11. Crystal structure refinement of α-Si3N4 using synchrotron radiation powder diffraction data: unbiased refinement strategy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Toraya, H.

    2000-01-01

    The crystal structure of α-silicon nitride (Si 3 N 4 ) was refined by the Rietveld method using synchrotron radiation powder diffraction data (wavelength = 1.2 A) collected at station BL-4B2 in the photon factory. A refinement procedure that adopted a new weight function, w = 1/Y o e (Y o is the observed profile intensity and e ≅ 2), for the least-squares fitting [Toraya (1998). J. Appl. Cryst. 31, 333-343] was studied. The most reasonable structural parameters were obtained with e = 1.7. Crystal data of α-Si 3 N 4 : trigonal, P31c, a = 7.75193 (3), c = 5.61949 (4) A, V = 292.447 (3) A 3 , Z = 4; R p = 5.08, R wp = 6.50, R B = 3.36, R F = 2.26%. The following five factors are considered equally important for deriving accurate structural parameters from powder diffraction data: (i) sufficiently large sin θ/λ range of >0.8 A -1 ; (ii) adequate counting statistics; (iii) correct profile model; (iv) proper weighting on observations to give a uniform distribution of the mean weighted squared residuals; (v) high-angular-resolution powder diffraction data. (orig.)

  12. Quantitative determination of phases in ZrO{sub 2} (MgO) (Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}) using the Rietveld method; Determinacao quantitativa de fases em ZrO{sub 2} - MgO - Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} utilizando o metodo de Rietveld

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Castro, Antonio Carlos de

    2007-07-01

    The key objective of this work is the crystallographic characterization of the zircon co-doped with Yttria and magnesium with the application of the Rietveld method for quantitative phase analysis of zircon polymorph (zircon monoclinic, tetragonal, and cubic). Samples of zircon polymorph were obtained from zircon doped with Yttria and magnesium at defined molar concentrations. The zircon polymorph stability during subeutetoid aging at 1350 deg C were investigated to determine ZrO{sub 2} - MgO - Y{sub 2}0{sub 3} phases degradation and to define the solid solutions stability environment. ZrO{sub 2} powders doped with 8 mol por cent of MgO and 1 mol por cent of Y{sub 2}O{sub 3}, and 9 mol por cent of MgO and 0 mol por cent of Y{sub 2}O{sub 3} have been prepared by chemical route using the co-precipitation method. These samples have been calcinate at 550 deg C, sintered at 1500 deg C and characterized by the Rietveld method using the X-ray diffraction data. The variation of the lattice parameter, changes in the phase composition and their microstructures are discussed. The application of the Rietveld method for quantitative phase analysis of zircon polymorph (zircon tetragonal and cubic) reveals no formation of tetragonal phase and indicating that the matrix is the cubic phase with low concentration of monoclinic phase.(author)

  13. Homogeneity characterisation of (U,Gd)O2 sintered pellets by X-ray diffraction powder analysis applying Rietveld method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leyva, Ana G.; Vega, Daniel R.; Trimarco, Veronica G.; Marchi, Daniel E.

    1999-01-01

    The (U,Gd)O 2 sintered pellets are fabricated by different methods. The homogeneity characterisation of Gd content seems to be necessary as a production control to qualify the process and the final product. The micrographic technique is the most common method used to analyse the homogeneity of these samples, this method requires time and expertise to obtain good results. In this paper, we propose an analysis of the X-ray diffraction powder patterns through the Rietveld method, in which the differences between the experimental data and the calculated from a crystalline structure model proposed are evaluated. This result allows to determine the cell parameters, that can be correlated with the Gd concentration, and the existence of other phases with different Gd ratio. (author)

  14. Influence of the milling time in the microstructural parameters of TA2O5-Al powder refined by Rietveld method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brito, R.A.; Mendes, M.W.D.; Alves Junior, C.; Costa, F.A. da; Gomes, U.U.

    2009-01-01

    Mechanical alloying (MA) is a solid-state powder processing technique involving repeated welding, fracturing, and re-welding of powder particles in a high energy mill. This process is used for producing of fine powders containing unique microstructures. The process starts with mixing of the powders in the desired proportion. Then, the mixture is milled using the established time in the high-energy mill. The powder particles are submitted to repeated cycles of cold working and fracture, and the final product correspond to a composite powder, containing characteristics different of the initial constituents. Ta 2 O 5 -Al powders were milled in a planetary ball mill for different times in order to evaluate the influence of the milling time in their microstructural parameters like crystallite size and micro deformation. The microstructural parameters were obtained by the Rietveld Method. The results showed that the microstructural parameters were influenced by the increase of the milling time. (author)

  15. Dos artículos de Rietveld Comprensión. Nuevo Funcionalismo en la Arquitectura

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Editor Cuaderno de Notas

    1995-12-01

    Full Text Available Los siguientes dos artículos de Rietveld (1888-1964 fueron publicados por primera vez en la revista i10 en 1928 y en De Vrije Bladen en 1932 respectivamente. Esta es su primera traducción al castellano, para lo que se ha partido de sus correspondientes traducciones inglesas; "Inzicht" (comprensión, en el libro de Theodore M.. Brown, The Work of G. Rietveld architect, Utrecht 1958, y "Nieuwe zakelijkheid in de Nederlandsche architectuur" (Nueva objetividad en la arquitectura holandesa, en la monografía-catálogo, Gerrit Rietveld 1888-1964. The complet works, Central Museum, Utrecht, 1992. En cuanto al último, de bastante mayor extensión, contaba originariamente con ilustraciones de obras de JA.Brinkman y L.C. van der Vlugt, A. Bodón, J. Duiker, J.J.P. Oud y Le Corbusier como único arquitecto extranjero representado, aparte de las de sus propio trabajo.

  16. Structural determination of new solid solutions [Y2-x Mx ][Sn2-x Mx ]O7-3x/2 (M = Mg or Zn by Rietveld method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohamed Douma

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available New [Y2-x Mx][Sn2-x Mx]O7-3x/2 (0 ≤x≤ 0.30 for M = Mg and 0 ≤x≤ 0.36 for M = Zn solid solutions with the pyrochlore structure were synthesized via high-temperature solid-state reaction method. Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD patterns and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR spectra showed that these materials are new non-stoichiometric solid solutions with the pyrochlore type structure. The structural parameters for the solids obtained were successfully determined by Rietveld refinement based on the analysis of the PXRD diagrams. Lattice parameter (a of these solid solutions decreases when x increases in both series. All samples obtained have the pyrochlore structure Fd-3m, no. 227 (origin at center -3m with M2+ (M = Mg2+ or Zn2+ cations in Y3+ and Sn4+ sites, thus creating vacancies in the anionic sublattice.

  17. Crystal-Chemical Analysis of Soil at Rocknest, Gale Crater

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morrison, S. M.; Downs, R. T.; Blake, D. F.; Bish, D. L.; Ming, D. W.; Morris, R. V.; Yen, A. S.; Chipera, S. J.; Treiman, A. H.; Vaniman, D. T.; hide

    2013-01-01

    The CheMin instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity performed X-ray diffraction analysis on Martian soil [1] at Rocknest in Gale Crater. In particular, crystalline phases from scoop 5 were identified and analyzed with the Rietveld method [2]. Refined unit-cell parameters are reported in Table 1. Comparing these unit-cell parameters with those in the literature provides an estimate of the chemical composition of the crystalline phases. For instance, Fig. 1 shows the Mg-content of Fa-Fo olivine as a function of the b unit-cell parameter using literature data. Our refined b parameter is indicated by the black triangle.

  18. A Study on the quantification of hydration and the strength development mechanism of cementitious materials including amorphous phases by using XRD/Rietveld method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamada, Kazuo; Hoshino, Seiichi; Hirao, Hiroshi; Yamashita, Hiroki

    2008-01-01

    X-ray diffraction (XRD)/Rietveld method was applied to measure the phase composition of cement. The quantative analysis concerning the progress of hydration was accomplished in an error of about the maximum 2-3% in spite of including amorphous materials such as blast furnace slag, fly ash, silica fume and C-S-H. The influence of the compressive strength on the lime stone fine powder mixture material was studied from the hydration analysis by Rietveld method. The two stages were observed in the strength development mechanism of cement; the hydration promotion of C 3 S in the early stage and the filling of cavities by carbonate hydrate for the longer term. It is useful to use various mixture materials for the formation of the resource recycling society and the durability improvement of concrete. (author)

  19. Strain and stress tensors of rolled uranium plate by Rietveld refinement of TOF neutron-diffraction data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Balzar, D.; Popa, N.C.; Vogel, S.

    2010-01-01

    We report the complete macroscopic average strain and stress tensors for a cold-rolled uranium plate, based on the neutron TOF measurements. Both tensors were determined by the least-squares refinement of the interplanar spacings of 19 Bragg reflections. Based on the pole figures, as determined by GSAS, a triclinic sample symmetry of the uranium plate was assumed. Strain and stress are tensile in both the transverse and rolling directions and very small in the normal direction (through the thickness of the plate). Shear strain and stress components are compressive and of significant magnitude.

  20. Analysis model for forecasting extreme temperature using refined rank set pair

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qiao Ling-Xia

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available In order to improve the precision of forecasting extreme temperature time series, a refined rank set pair analysis model with a refined rank transformation function is proposed to improve precision of its prediction. The measured values of the annual highest temperature of two China’s cities, Taiyuan and Shijiazhuang, in July are taken to examine the performance of a refined rank set pair model.

  1. Refined isogeometric analysis for a preconditioned conjugate gradient solver

    KAUST Repository

    Garcia, Daniel; Pardo, D.; Dalcin, Lisandro; Calo, Victor M.

    2018-01-01

    Starting from a highly continuous Isogeometric Analysis (IGA) discretization, refined Isogeometric Analysis (rIGA) introduces C0 hyperplanes that act as separators for the direct LU factorization solver. As a result, the total computational cost

  2. X-ray diffraction analysis of stan nite, wurtz-stan nite and pseudo-cubic quaternary compounds by Rietveld method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Quintero, M.; Quintero, E.; Moreno, E.; Alvarez, S.; Rincon, C.; Grima, P.; Bocaranda, P.; Rivero, D. [Universidad de Los Andes, Centro de Estudios de Semiconductores, 5101 Merida (Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of); Marquina, J. [Universidad de Los Andes, Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Optica, 5101 Merida (Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of); Henao, J. A.; Macias, M. A., E-mail: mquinterg@gmail.com [Universidad Industrial de Santander, Facultad de Ciencias, Escuela de Quimica, Grupo de Investigacion en Quimica Estructural, Apdo. Aereo 678, Bucaramanga (Colombia)

    2014-07-01

    Room temperature X-ray powder diffraction measurements were carried out on nine polycrystalline samples of the Cu{sub 2}B{sup II}C{sup IV}X{sub 4} (B=Mn, or Fe, or Co; C=Si, or Ge, or Sn; X=S, or Se or Te) magnetic semiconductor compounds. The diffraction patterns were used to show the equilibrium conditions and to derive crystalline parameters values. The results showed that four of these compounds have a tetragonal stan nite structure with space group 142 m(N{sup o} 121), two and orthorhombic wurtz-stan nite structure with space group Pmn2{sub 1}(N{sup o} 31) and three of them and orthorhombic pseudo-cubic structure with space group F222 (N{sup o} 22). In each case, the structure was refined using the Rietveld method. When the obtained atomic parameter values for the tetragonal compounds were plotted as a function of molecular weight W, it was found that the values of the atomic positions, the cation-anion bond distances, tetragonal distortion and internal distortion of the compounds containing S and /or Se lay on different lines. Also, it was found that when the experimental points of the cation-anion bond distances d{sub Cu-VI}, d{sub II-VI} and d{sub IV-VI} were plotted against the effective lattice parameter a{sub c} = (V/N){sup 1/3}, a linear variation of these distances with a{sub c} was obtained. Values of the ionic energy gap C{sub i} and homopolar energy gap E{sub h} using the Phillips-Van Vechten scheme, with the present experimental crystallographic results as well as using the atomic data, were determined. It was found that the observed and predicted values of C{sub i} and E{sub h} lie on the same straight line. (Author)

  3. Study the oxidation kinetics of uranium using XRD and Rietveld method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yanzhi; Guan, Weijun; Wang, Qinguo; Wang, Xiaolin; Lai, Xinchun; Shuai, Maobing

    2010-03-01

    The surface oxidation of uranium metal has been studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Rietveld method in the range of 50~300°C in air. The oxidation processes are analyzed by XRD to determine the extent of surface oxidation and the oxide structure. The dynamics expression for the formation of UO2 was derived. At the beginning, the dynamic expression was nonlinear, but switched to linear subsequently for uranium in air and humid oxygen. That is, the growth kinetics of UO2 can be divided into two stages: nonlinear portion and linear portion. Using the kinetic data of linear portion, the activation energy of reaction between uranium and air was calculated about 46.0 kJ/mol. However the content of oxide as a function of time was linear in humid helium ambience. Contrast the dynamics results, it prove that the absence of oxygen would accelerate the corrosion rate of uranium in the humid gas. We can find that the XRD and Rietveld method are a useful convenient method to estimate the kinetics and thermodynamics of solid-gas reaction.

  4. Rietveld quantitative phase analysis of high surface area commercial alumina doped with niobia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gomes, L.B.; Pereira, A.S.; Pokorny, A.; Bergmann, C.P.

    2014-01-01

    The quantification of crystalline phases present in a given material can provide important information about the phenomena related to the diffusion of new elements in a ceramic matrix, as well as the formation and precipitation of minority phases and their microstructural evaluation. In this work, a high content of niobia (16 and 32 %w.t)was added to a high specific surface commercial alumina powder. The specimens were uniaxially pressed (200 MPa) and sintered in two stages: a first step at 1100°C for 3, 6 or 9 hours followed by a second step at 1350°C for 3 hours. The crystalline phases were analyzed by X-ray Diffraction (XRD) and quantified by the Rietveld method. The morphology of the samples was evaluated by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). From the results obtained, some aluminum niobates phases expected for the Al_2O_3-Nb_2O_5 system could be identified as an intergranular phase and their relative fraction was quantified. (author)

  5. Multivariate refined composite multiscale entropy analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Humeau-Heurtier, Anne

    2016-01-01

    Multiscale entropy (MSE) has become a prevailing method to quantify signals complexity. MSE relies on sample entropy. However, MSE may yield imprecise complexity estimation at large scales, because sample entropy does not give precise estimation of entropy when short signals are processed. A refined composite multiscale entropy (RCMSE) has therefore recently been proposed. Nevertheless, RCMSE is for univariate signals only. The simultaneous analysis of multi-channel (multivariate) data often over-performs studies based on univariate signals. We therefore introduce an extension of RCMSE to multivariate data. Applications of multivariate RCMSE to simulated processes reveal its better performances over the standard multivariate MSE. - Highlights: • Multiscale entropy quantifies data complexity but may be inaccurate at large scale. • A refined composite multiscale entropy (RCMSE) has therefore recently been proposed. • Nevertheless, RCMSE is adapted to univariate time series only. • We herein introduce an extension of RCMSE to multivariate data. • It shows better performances than the standard multivariate multiscale entropy.

  6. Study the oxidation kinetics of uranium using XRD and Rietveld method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang Yanzhi; Guan Weijun; Wang Qinguo; Wang Xiaolin; Lai Xinchun; Shuai Maobing, E-mail: yanzhizh@163.com [China Academy of Engineering Physics, PO Box 919-71, Mianyang, Sichuan, 621900 (China)

    2010-03-15

    The surface oxidation of uranium metal has been studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Rietveld method in the range of 50{approx}300deg. C in air. The oxidation processes are analyzed by XRD to determine the extent of surface oxidation and the oxide structure. The dynamics expression for the formation of UO{sub 2} was derived. At the beginning, the dynamic expression was nonlinear, but switched to linear subsequently for uranium in air and humid oxygen. That is, the growth kinetics of UO{sub 2} can be divided into two stages: nonlinear portion and linear portion. Using the kinetic data of linear portion, the activation energy of reaction between uranium and air was calculated about 46.0 kJ/mol. However the content of oxide as a function of time was linear in humid helium ambience. Contrast the dynamics results, it prove that the absence of oxygen would accelerate the corrosion rate of uranium in the humid gas. We can find that the XRD and Rietveld method are a useful convenient method to estimate the kinetics and thermodynamics of solid-gas reaction.

  7. Analysis and interpretation of diffraction data from complex, anisotropic materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tutuncu, Goknur

    Most materials are elastically anisotropic and exhibit additional anisotropy beyond elastic deformation. For instance, in ferroelectric materials the main inelastic deformation mode is via domains, which are highly anisotropic crystallographic features. To quantify this anisotropy of ferroelectrics, advanced X-ray and neutron diffraction methods were employed. Extensive sets of data were collected from tetragonal BaTiO3, PZT and other ferroelectric ceramics. Data analysis was challenging due to the complex constitutive behavior of these materials. To quantify the elastic strain and texture evolution in ferroelectrics under loading, a number of data analysis techniques such as the single peak and Rietveld methods were used and their advantages and disadvantages compared. It was observed that the single peak analysis fails at low peak intensities especially after domain switching while the Rietveld method does not account for lattice strain anisotropy although it overcomes the low intensity problem via whole pattern analysis. To better account for strain anisotropy the constant stress (Reuss) approximation was employed within the Rietveld method and new formulations to estimate lattice strain were proposed. Along the way, new approaches for handling highly anisotropic lattice strain data were also developed and applied. All of the ceramics studied exhibited significant changes in their crystallographic texture after loading indicating non-180° domain switching. For a full interpretation of domain switching the spherical harmonics method was employed in Rietveld. A procedure for simultaneous refinement of multiple data sets was established for a complete texture analysis. To further interpret diffraction data, a solid mechanics model based on the self-consistent approach was used in calculating lattice strain and texture evolution during the loading of a polycrystalline ferroelectric. The model estimates both the macroscopic average response of a specimen and its hkl

  8. Structural refinement of Nd[Fe(CN)6].4H2O and study of NdFeO3 obtained by its oxidative thermal decomposition at very low temperatures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Navarro, M. Carolina; Pannunzio-Miner, Elisa V.; Pagola, Silvina; Gomez, M. Ines; Carbonio, Raul E.

    2005-01-01

    The crystal structure of Nd[Fe(CN) 6 ].4H 2 O has been refined by Rietveld analysis using high resolution synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction data. It belonged to the orthorhombic crystal system, Cmcm space group, with cell parameters: a=7.473952(1)A, b=12.919104(2)A and c=13.800549(2)A. The change in space group from P6 3 /m which is observed in the pentahydrates (LnFe(CN) 6 .5H 2 O) to Cmcm in the tetrahydrates has been analyzed to be a consequence of the change in 9-fold coordination of Nd 3+ in the pentahydrates to 8-fold coordination in the tetrahydrates, which changes the Nd 3+ environment from tricapped trigonal prism to a distorted tricapped trigonal prism or square antiprism. Its decomposition process in air to produce NdFeO 3 has been followed by thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis, IR spectroscopy and laboratory powder XRD. We found that it is possible to synthesize crystalline NdFeO 3 at temperatures as low as 380 o C and refine the structure of single phase crystalline NdFeO 3 synthesized by this method at 600 deg. C

  9. Quantitative determination of the crystalline phases of the ceramic materials utilizing the Rietveld method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kniess, C.T.; Prates, P.B.; Lima, J.C. de; Kuhnen, N.C.; Riella, H.G.; Maliska, A.M.

    2009-01-01

    Ceramic materials have properties defined by their chemical and micro-structural composition. The quantification of the crystalline phases is a fundamental stage in the determination of the structure, properties and applications of a ceramic material. Within this context, this study aims is the quantitative determination of the crystalline phases of the ceramic materials developed with addition of mineral coal bottom ash, utilizing the X ray diffraction technique, through the method proposed by Rietveld. For the formulation of the ceramic mixtures a {3,3} simplex-lattice design was used, giving ten formulations of three components (two different types of clays and coal bottom ash). The crystalline phases identified in the ceramic materials after sintering at 1150 deg C during two hours are: quartz, tridimite, mullite and hematite. The proposed methodology utilizing the Rietveld method for the quantification relating to crystalline phases of the materials was shown to be adequate and efficient. (author)

  10. The use of the Rietveld method as an evaluation tool in the stages of production of nanostructured hard metal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Batista, A.C.; Perpetuo, G.J.; Oliveira, H.C.P. de; Silva, T.R.G. da

    2014-01-01

    The processing of the composite WC-10% Co, with nanometric grain size was analyzed aiming at identifying changes undergone by the material during mixing and compaction steps. Use the X-ray diffraction and the Rietveld method to obtain accurate data on the behavior of powders before these steps. This paper describes the use of the Rietveld method as an evaluation tool to obtain information about the behavior of powders of WC and Co steps during mixing and compaction prior to sintering of the composite. (author)

  11. Mineralogical analysis of clays in hardsetting soil horizons, by X-ray fluorescence and X-ray diffraction using Rietveld method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prandel, L.V.; Saab, S.C.; Brinatti, A.M.; Giarola, N.F.B.; Leite, W.C.; Cassaro, F.A.M.

    2014-01-01

    Diffraction and spectroscopic techniques have been shown to be suitable for obtaining physical and mineralogical properties in polycrystalline soil samples, and also in their precursor compounds. For instance, the X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy allows obtaining the elemental composition of an investigated sample, while the X-ray diffraction (XRD) technique permits obtaining qualitative and quantitative composition of the soil minerals through the Rietveld method (RM). In this study Yellow Latosol (Oxisol), Yellow Argisol (Ultisol) and Gray Argisol (Ultisol) soil samples, classified as “hardsetting soils”, extracted from areas located at Northeast and Southeast of Brazilian coast were investigated. The soils and their fractions were analyzed in an EDX-700 and an XRD-6000 (Cu K α radiation). XRF results indicate high percentages of Si and Al, and small percentage of Fe and Ti in the investigated samples. The DRX data and RM indicate that there was a predominance of kaolinite and halloysite minerals (kaolin group minerals) in the clay fractions, which are presumably responsible for the formation of kaolinitic plasma in these soils. Also, the obtained results showed that the XRF, XRD techniques and RM were very helpful for investigating the mineralogical composition of a hardsetting soil. - Highlights: ► Elemental composition of soil samples through X-Ray fluorescence. ► Mineralogical quantification through X-ray diffraction and Rietveld method. ► Oxisol and Ultisol, Brazil ‘Barreiras’ formation. ► High amounts of Si and Al oxides and low amounts of Fe and Ti oxides. ► Predominance of kaolinite in the clay fraction

  12. Measuring coalition functioning: refining constructs through factor analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Louis D; Feinberg, Mark E; Greenberg, Mark T

    2012-08-01

    Internal and external coalition functioning is an important predictor of coalition success that has been linked to perceived coalition effectiveness, coalition goal achievement, coalition ability to support evidence-based programs, and coalition sustainability. Understanding which aspects of coalition functioning best predict coalition success requires the development of valid measures of empirically unique coalition functioning constructs. The goal of the present study is to examine and refine the psychometric properties of coalition functioning constructs in the following six domains: leadership, interpersonal relationships, task focus, participation benefits/costs, sustainability planning, and community support. The authors used factor analysis to identify problematic items in our original measure and then piloted new items and scales to create a more robust, psychometrically sound, multidimensional measure of coalition functioning. Scales displayed good construct validity through correlations with other measures. Discussion considers the strengths and weaknesses of the refined instrument.

  13. A research of the mineralogy phases of clinker in a spanish cement using the method of Rietveld

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Castanon, Ana M; Garcia, Granda Santiago; Guerrero, Ana M; Gomez Fernandez, Fernando

    2012-01-01

    In order to introduce continuously a quality control method in a Spanish cement factory to improve the final product feature new research methodology is being developed. The Rietveld method [1] has been successfully used to analyze the composition of the main phases of clinker. Using this methodologies, research has been carried out to quantize appropriately the minor phase of free lime which is extremely important in the clinker quality. This method leads to satisfactory results on samples with contents in CaO from 3%. These results are possible combining X- ray diffraction and fluorescence techniques as well as the chemical analysis data.

  14. Crystal structure refinement and microwave dielectric properties of new low dielectric loss AZrNb2O8 (A: Mn, Zn, Mg and Co) ceramics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramarao, S.D.; Murthy, V.R.K.

    2013-01-01

    Graphical abstract: -- The effects of substituting different cations (Mn, Zn, Mg and Co) at the A-site of AZrNb 2 O 8 compounds on structural parameters such as packing fraction and B-site octahedral distortion were studied using X-ray powder diffraction in conjunction with Rietveld refinement. Variations in the dielectric constant (ε r ) were explained by the ionic polarizability of the compositions. The quality factor (Q × f) and temperature coefficient of resonant frequency (τ f ) were correlated with the packing fraction and B-site octahedral distortions (δ) in these compositions, respectively

  15. Study of selection and purification of Brazilian bentonite clay by elutriation: a XRF, SEM and Rietveld analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Alves, J.L.; Zanini, A.E.; Souza, M.E. de; Nascimento, M.L.F., E-mail: jeff_eq@yahoo.com.br, E-mail: mlfn@ufba.br [Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA/PROTEC/PEI), Salvador, BA (Brazil). Departamento de Engenharia Quimica

    2016-01-15

    Clays obtained from nature have a lot of impurities. Therefore, for best using of these materials, it is necessary its selection and purification. Thus, the aim of this work is to separate and to purify the smectite fractions using water as a solvent at a low flux mixed with a bentonite clay extracted from a mine in Vitoria da Conquista - Bahia / Brazil. For this a separation method of fractions of expandable clays based on the Stokes' Law was applied - this process is called elutriation, in order to ensure and to expand possible industrial applications of this material. The samples were characterized by analysis of X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence and scanning electron microscopy. The Rietveld method enabled the quantification of main phase minerals: montmorillonite, kaolinite, nontronite and quartz, reaching 85% in mass of montmorillonite phase at the end of the process. Results showed that the method used was efficient to remove almost all quartz, carbonates and organic matter from the sample. It was also observed a monomodal grain size distribution of elutriated materials with thinner grains, around (18.1 ± 1.8) μm at the end of the process. It has been concluded that the method developed and applied showed promising characters to be applied to elutriate kilograms of clays and could be used in industrial scale. (author)

  16. Study of selection and purification of Brazilian bentonite clay by elutriation: a XRF, SEM and Rietveld analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. L. Alves

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Clays obtained from nature have a lot of impurities. Therefore, for best using of these materials, it is necessary its selection and purification. Thus, the aim of this work is to separate and to purify the smectite fractions using water as a solvent at a low flux mixed with a bentonite clay extracted from a mine in Vitória da Conquista - Bahia / Brazil. For this a separation method of fractions of expandable clays based on the Stokes' Law was applied - this process is called elutriation, in order to ensure and to expand possible industrial applications of this material. The samples were characterized by analysis of X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence and scanning electron microscopy. The Rietveld method enabled the quantification of main phase minerals: montmorillonite, kaolinite, nontronite and quartz, reaching 85% in mass of montmorillonite phase at the end of the process. Results showed that the method used was efficient to remove almost all quartz, carbonates and organic matter from the sample. It was also observed a monomodal grain size distribution of elutriated materials with thinner grains, around (18.1 ± 1.8 μm at the end of the process. It has been concluded that the method developed and applied showed promising characters to be applied to elutriate kilograms of clays and could be used in industrial scale.

  17. Study of selection and purification of Brazilian bentonite clay by elutriation: a XRF, SEM and Rietveld analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alves, J.L.; Zanini, A.E.; Souza, M.E. de; Nascimento, M.L.F.

    2016-01-01

    Clays obtained from nature have a lot of impurities. Therefore, for best using of these materials, it is necessary its selection and purification. Thus, the aim of this work is to separate and to purify the smectite fractions using water as a solvent at a low flux mixed with a bentonite clay extracted from a mine in Vitoria da Conquista - Bahia / Brazil. For this a separation method of fractions of expandable clays based on the Stokes' Law was applied - this process is called elutriation, in order to ensure and to expand possible industrial applications of this material. The samples were characterized by analysis of X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence and scanning electron microscopy. The Rietveld method enabled the quantification of main phase minerals: montmorillonite, kaolinite, nontronite and quartz, reaching 85% in mass of montmorillonite phase at the end of the process. Results showed that the method used was efficient to remove almost all quartz, carbonates and organic matter from the sample. It was also observed a monomodal grain size distribution of elutriated materials with thinner grains, around (18.1 ± 1.8) μm at the end of the process. It has been concluded that the method developed and applied showed promising characters to be applied to elutriate kilograms of clays and could be used in industrial scale. (author)

  18. Synthesis of nano intermetallic Nb{sub 3}Sn by mechanical alloying and annealing at low temperature

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    López, M., E-mail: marlope@udec.cl [Department of Materials Engineering, Universidad de Concepción, Edmundo Larenas 270, Concepción (Chile); Jiménez, J.A. [Department of Physical Metallurgy, Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Metalúrgicas, C.S.I.C., Av. Gregorio del Amo 8, 28040 Madrid (Spain); Ramam, K.; Mangalaraja, R.V. [Department of Materials Engineering, Universidad de Concepción, Edmundo Larenas 270, Concepción (Chile)

    2014-11-05

    Highlights: • Intermetallic Nb{sub 3}Sn nano grains were synthesized by powder metallurgy route. • Structure analysis was studied using a multiphase Rietveld refinement fit. • The presence of Nb{sub 3}Sn 86% and NbO 8% was identified. • More tin content in the equilibrium Nb–Sn diagram was obtained. • Magnetic properties show Nb{sub 3}Sn powders are soft super paramagnetic materials. - Abstract: In this study, intermetallic Nb{sub 3}Sn of nanometer-sized grains was synthesized by powder metallurgy route. Elemental powders of Nb and Sn in the stoichiometric proportions were mechanically alloyed for 3 h in a high-energy mill under a protective atmosphere of argon. X-ray diffraction patterns of milled powders confirmed the formation of a Nb(Sn) solid solution evidenced by the presence of Nb peaks only, which are shifted to higher angles. Rietveld refinements used to analyze this XRD pattern indicated a better fit when a tetragonal structure with the space group I4/mmm is used instead the Nb cubic lattice with space group Im−3m. Size-strain analysis from line-broadening of peak profiles by using “double-Voigt” approaches showed that the broadening is due to both a small crystallite size (around 6 nm) and microstrains. Subsequent heat treatment of the Nb(Sn) powder mixture was required for the formation of the Nb{sub 3}Sn ordered phase. X-ray diffraction patterns obtained after a thermal treatment at 700 °C for 1 h were fitted using a multiphase Rietveld refinement. Although the resulting powders are composed mainly by Nb{sub 3}Sn (up to 87 weight%), certain amount of other intermetallic phases like Nb{sub 6}Sn{sub 5}, NbSn{sub 2} and Nb and Sn oxides were also determined. In agreement with the Rietveld refinement analysis, microprobe analysis also revealed that changes in chemical composition at different sites of powder particles are preserved even after annealing at 700 °C. Magnetic properties measured at 300 K on resulted Nb{sub 3}Sn powders

  19. Quantitative multiphase analysis of archaeological bronzes by neutron diffraction

    CERN Document Server

    Siano, S; Celli, M; Pini, R; Salimbeni, R; Zoppi, M; Kockelmann, W A; Iozzo, M; Miccio, M; Moze, O

    2002-01-01

    In this paper, we report the first investigation on the potentials of neutron diffraction to characterize archaeological bronze artifacts. The preliminary feasibility of phase and structural analysis was demonstrated on standardised specimens with a typical bronze alloy composition. These were realised through different hardening and annealing cycles, simulating possible ancient working techniques. The Bragg peak widths that resulted were strictly dependent on the working treatment, thus providing an important analytical element to investigate ancient making techniques. The diagnostic criteria developed on the standardised specimens were then applied to study two Etruscan museum pieces. Quantitative multiphase analysis by Rietveld refinement of the diffraction patterns was successfully demonstrated. Furthermore, the analysis of patterns associated with different artifact elements also yielded evidence for some peculiar perspective of the neutron diffraction diagnostics in archeometric applications. (orig.)

  20. Creating value in refining

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cobb, C.B.

    2001-01-01

    This article focuses on recent developments in the US refining industry and presents a model for improving the performance of refineries based on the analysis of the refining industry by Cap Gemini Ernst and Young. The identification of refineries in risk of failing, the construction of pipelines for refinery products from Gulf State refineries, mergers and acquisitions, and poor financial performance are discussed. Current challenges concerning the stagnant demand for refinery products, environmental regulations, and shareholder value are highlighted. The structure of the industry, the creation of value in refining, and the search for business models are examined. The top 25 US companies and US refining business groups are listed

  1. Study of the crystallite size of nitrosylpentacyanoferrate through refinement of structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jimenez G, J.A.; Yee M, H.T.; Balmaceda E, J.; Reguera R, E.

    2006-01-01

    The development reached in the instrumentation and in the computer science of the diffraction of rays X, it has enlarged the reach of the method of powders considerably, in the resolution of crystalline structures of polycrystalline material converting it in a potent tool that, attended by spectroscopic techniques, it allows the fine characterization to atomic scale of having been accustomed to crystalline. In the thesis it is developed an effective methodology of determination of the crystallite size and structural refinement starting from data of diffraction of powders, based on the use of the equation of Sherrer for the estimate of the crystallite size and the method of Rietveld for the structural refinement; supplemented with the employment of the spectroscopic methods (IR and Moessbauer). The combined use of these techniques in the structural study of having been accustomed to crystalline lens of high complexity provides a novel and advanced work. The estimate of the crystallite size, it has been little explored to study accustomed to crystalline such as the pentacyanonitrosyl ferrates. One of the reasons for the which have intended to study the glass size in these structures it is due to that the molecular materials have attracted the attention of the international scientific community for their promissory properties in fields so diverse as: the absorption, desorption and separation of gases among others. Of the entreated information by means of databases and articles of scientific popularization were refined the structures of two compounds (NPCo and NPNi) obtained by powders diffraction; offering the possibility to develop a titled work: 'Physical description of the desorption of the water in nano structured material of nitrosyl penta cyano ferrates' which is carried out in parallel way to this thesis. This tools supplemented with the spectroscopic methods, potent the reach of the methods of diffraction of powders for the structural study of having been

  2. Study of crystallite size of yttria-stabilized zirconia powders by Rietveld method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leite, Wellington Claiton; Brinatti, Andre Mauricio; Ribeiro, Mauricio Aparecido; Andrade, Andre Vitor Chaves de; Chinelatto, Adriana Scoton Antonio; Chinelatto, Adilson Luiz

    2009-01-01

    The yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) is used in a great variety of applications, for example, electrolytes of solid oxide fuel cells and oxygen sensors. In the study of YSZ, the particle size powders and sintering processes are important to define the final properties of the zirconia products. The objectives of this work were to determine the phases and the crystalline size using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) data and the Rietveld Method (RM) of the YSZ powders obtained by chemical synthesis based on the Pechini method. It was used ZrOCl 2.8 H 2 O and Y(NO 3 ) 3.5 H 2 O as precursors reagents. After calcination at 550 deg C during 24 hours, the powder was analyzed by XRD and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). From XRD and using Rietveld method were verified that there is only cubic phase with lattice parameter a = 5.1307(1) Å and the space group Fm3m. Due to substitution of the Zr atoms in the Y atoms sites, there were vacancies in 17.72 % of O atoms sites. However, the percentage of substitution of Zr atoms in Y atoms sites in the structure not was determinate because the curves of atomic scattering of them are very similar. Using Scherrer equation and considering anisotropy effect, the average crystalline size was determinate: 10,43 nm (c axis) and 10,39 (b axis). This spherical symmetry also observed for SEM. (author)

  3. Rietveld analysis using powder diffraction data with anomalous scattering effect obtained by focused beam flat sample method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanaka, Masahiko; Katsuya, Yoshio; Sakata, Osami

    2016-01-01

    Focused-beam flat-sample method (FFM) is a new trial for synchrotron powder diffraction method, which is a combination of beam focusing optics, flat shape powder sample and area detectors. The method has advantages for X-ray diffraction experiments applying anomalous scattering effect (anomalous diffraction), because of 1. Absorption correction without approximation, 2. High intensity X-rays of focused incident beams and high signal noise ratio of diffracted X-rays 3. Rapid data collection with area detectors. We applied the FFM to anomalous diffraction experiments and collected synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data of CoFe_2O_4 (inverse spinel structure) using X-rays near Fe K absorption edge, which can distinguish Co and Fe by anomalous scattering effect. We conducted Rietveld analyses with the obtained powder diffraction data and successfully determined the distribution of Co and Fe ions in CoFe_2O_4 crystal structure.

  4. Effect of titania on the characteristics of a Tin-Platinum catalyst

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Morales-Gil, P., E-mail: moralesp@imp.mx; Nava, N. [Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo (Mexico); Baggio-Saitovitch, E. [Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas (Brazil)

    2015-06-15

    Pt-Sn bimetallic catalysts dispersed on alumina are commonly used for reforming and dehydrogenation reactions. In this research work, Pt and Sn were supported on titania. The resulting interactions between the components in the prepared samples, before and after treatment with hydrogen, were studied by Mössbauer spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and Rietveld refinement. The results show the presence of Pt and SnO{sub 2} after calcinations. After the reduction process, metallic Pt, PtSn, and Pt{sub 3}Sn alloys were identified. The Rietveld refinement analysis shows that some Ti{sup 4+} atoms were replaced by Sn{sup 4+} atoms in the titania structure. Finally, the Mössbauer spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction results indicate that metallic platinum and SnO{sub 2} are encapsulated by a TiOx layer.

  5. The new insight into the structure-activity relation of Pd/CeO2-ZrO2-Nd2O3 catalysts by Raman, in situ DRIFTS and XRD Rietveld analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, X; Yang, L; Lin, J; Zhou, R

    2016-01-28

    Pd/CeO2-ZrO2-Nd2O3 (CZN) catalysts with different CeO2/ZrO2 molar ratios were synthesized and have been characterized by multiple techniques, e.g. XRD in combination with Rietveld refinement, UV-Raman, XPS and in situ DRIFTS. The XRD pattern of CZN with CeO2/ZrO2 molar ratios ≥1/2 can be indexed satisfactorily to the fluorite structure with a space group Fm3̄m, while the XRD patterns of CZ12 only display diffraction peaks of the tetragonal phase (S.G. P42/nmc). Nd addition can effectively stabilize the cubic structure of the CZN support and increase the enrichment of defect sites on the surface, which may be related to the better catalytic activity of Pd/CZN12 catalysts compared with Pd/CZ12. The presence of moderate ZrO2 can increase the concentration of O* active species, leading to accelerate the formation of nitrate species and thus enhance the catalytic activity of NOx and HC elimination. The Pd-dispersion decreases with the increasing Zr content, leading to the decreased CO catalytic activity, especially for the aged catalysts. The change regularity of the OSC value is almost the same with the in situ dynamic operational window, demonstrating that the in situ dynamic operational window is basically affected by the OSC value.

  6. Rietveld analysis using powder diffraction data with anomalous scattering effect obtained by focused beam flat sample method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tanaka, Masahiko, E-mail: masahiko@spring8.or.jp; Katsuya, Yoshio, E-mail: katsuya@spring8.or.jp; Sakata, Osami, E-mail: SAKATA.Osami@nims.go.jp [Synchrotron X-ray Station at SPring-8, National Institute for Materials Science 1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo, Hyogo 679-5198 (Japan)

    2016-07-27

    Focused-beam flat-sample method (FFM) is a new trial for synchrotron powder diffraction method, which is a combination of beam focusing optics, flat shape powder sample and area detectors. The method has advantages for X-ray diffraction experiments applying anomalous scattering effect (anomalous diffraction), because of 1. Absorption correction without approximation, 2. High intensity X-rays of focused incident beams and high signal noise ratio of diffracted X-rays 3. Rapid data collection with area detectors. We applied the FFM to anomalous diffraction experiments and collected synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction data of CoFe{sub 2}O{sub 4} (inverse spinel structure) using X-rays near Fe K absorption edge, which can distinguish Co and Fe by anomalous scattering effect. We conducted Rietveld analyses with the obtained powder diffraction data and successfully determined the distribution of Co and Fe ions in CoFe{sub 2}O{sub 4} crystal structure.

  7. Local and average structures of 0.7Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3 - 0.3PbZrO3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krishna, P.S.R.; Shinde, A.B.; Narasimhan, S.L.; Tiwari, V.S.; Singh, G.

    2005-01-01

    The local and average structure of 0.7Pb(Mg 1/3 Nb 2/3 )O 3 - 0.3PbZrO 3 (PMN-PZ) was studied by neutron diffraction. The Rietveld refinement was carried out to determine the average, long-range crystallographic structure, while the pair density function (PDF) analysis was used in studying the local atomic structure. The local atomic structure determined by the PDF analysis, was found to be significantly different from the average crystallographic structure determined by the Rietveld analysis. These results show that the conflict between the local structural preference and the average structure is not limited to relax or ferroelectric oxides, but may be widely prevalent in mixed-ion ferroelectrics. (author)

  8. Structure of 3 at.% and 9 at.% Si-doped HfO{sub 2} from combined refinement of X-ray and neutron diffraction patterns

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhao, Lili [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, NC 27695 (United States); School of Information Science and Technology, Northwest University, Xi' an 710127 (China); Hou, Dong; Usher, Tedi-Marie; Iamsasri, Thanakorn; Fancher, Chris M.; Forrester, Jennifer S. [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, NC 27695 (United States); Nishida, Toshikazu [Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Florida, FL 32611 (United States); Moghaddam, Saeed [Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Florida, FL 32611 (United States); Jones, Jacob L., E-mail: jacobjones@ncsu.edu [Department of Materials Science and Engineering, North Carolina State University, NC 27695 (United States)

    2015-10-15

    The crystal structure of 3 at.% and 9 at.% Si-doped HfO{sub 2} powder was determined through refinements using X-ray and neutron diffraction patterns. The lattice parameters, atomic positions, dopant occupancy, and the second phase fraction were determined with high precision using a combined full pattern fitting via the Rietveld method. The results show that both 3 at.% and 9 at.% Si-doped HfO{sub 2} powder exhibit the monoclinic crystal structure with P 1 2{sub 1}/c 1 space group. Through the combined refinement, the crystal structure parameters, especially for the positions and occupancies of the lighter atoms, were more precisely determined compared to independent X-ray diffraction refinement. Although the ionic radius of Si{sup 4+} is smaller than Hf{sup 4+}, with increasing Si occupancy, the unit cell volume slightly increases; possible mechanisms for this effect are discussed. Moreover, the refined results provide evidence of the existence of a non-equilibrium phase of Hf{sub x}Si{sub 1−x}O{sub 2}. The second phase (SiO{sub 2}) fraction is determined as 0.17 at.% for 3 at.% Si-doped HfO{sub 2} powders and 1.7 at.% for 9 at.% Si-doped HfO{sub 2} powders. - Highlights: • X-ray and neutron diffraction patterns were used to determine crystal structure. • Results from independent refinements and a combined refinement were compared. • Highly precise structural parameters were obtained by the combined refinement. • Structural data of 3 at.% and 9 at.% Si-doped HfO{sub 2} are provided. • The unit cell volume slightly increases with Si concentration from 3 to 9 at.%.

  9. Analysis of neutron diffraction spectra acquired in situ during stress-induced transformations in superelastic NiTi

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vaidyanathan, R.; Bourke, M.A.; Dunand, D.C.

    1999-01-01

    Neutron diffraction spectra were obtained during various stages of a reversible stress-induced austenite to martensite phase transformation in superelastic NiTi. This was accomplished by neutron diffraction measurements on bulk polycrystalline NiTi samples simultaneously subjected to mechanical loading. Analysis of the data was carried out using individual lattice plane (hkl) reflections as well as by Rietveld refinement. In the Rietveld procedure, strains in austenite were described in terms of an isotropic (hkl independent) and an anisotropic (hkl dependent) component. At higher stresses, austenite lattice plane reflections exhibited nonlinear and dissimilar elastic responses which may be attributed to the transformation. The texture evolution is significant in both austenite and martensite phases during the transformation and two approaches were used to describe this evolving texture, i.e., an ellipsoidal model due to March - Dollase and a generalized spherical-harmonic approach. The respective predictions of the phase fraction evolution as a function of applied stress were compared. A methodology is thus established to quantify the discrete phase strains, phase volume fractions, and texture during such transformations. copyright 1999 American Institute of Physics

  10. THE QUESTION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF OIL REFINING IN RUSSIA: AN ECONOMETRIC ANALYSIS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sokolov A. V.

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available The relations between the financial statements’ figures of the complex of refining companies - the core of Russian refining industry from 2006 to 2013 - were analyzed using component and regression analysis from the standpoint of the effectiveness of their activities during the modernization period. Through the component analysis the main factors that influenced the final financial results of the enterprises during the given period were determined. Regression models of panel data with fixed and random effects were made for 19 enterprises. Regression analysis revealed no statistically significant dependencies of the efficiency (profitability on the production scale (enterprise revenue. The dynamics of certain types of expenses were analyzed in order to explain the differences in the profitability dynamics. It revealed virtually no difference in the values of the individual effects of enterprises in different areas of specialization (profile.

  11. Price Relationships in the Petroleum Market: An Analysis of Crude Oil and Refined Product Prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asche, Frank; Gjoelberg, Ole; Voelker, Teresa

    2001-08-01

    In this paper the relationships between crude oil and refined product prices are investigated in a multivariate framework. This allows us to test several (partly competing) assumptions of earlier studies. In particular, we find that the crude oil price is weakly exogenous and that the spread is constant in some but not all relationships. Moreover, the multivariate analysis shows that the link between crude oil prices and several refined product prices implies market integration for these refined products. This is an example of supply driven market integration and producers will change the output mix in response to price changes. (author)

  12. Price relationships in the petroleum market. An analysis of crude oil and refined product prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asche, Frank; Gjoelberg, Ole; Volker, Teresa

    2003-01-01

    In this paper the relationships between crude oil and refined product prices are investigated in a multivariate framework. This allows us to test several (partly competing) assumptions of earlier studies. In particular, we find that the crude oil price is weakly exogenous and that the spread is constant in some but not all relationships. Moreover, the multivariate analysis shows that the link between crude oil prices and several refined product prices implies market integration for these refined products. This is an example of supply driven market integration and producers will change the output mix in response to price changes

  13. Price relationships in the petroleum market: an analysis of crude oil and refined product prices

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asche, F.; Gjoelberg, O.; Voelker, T.

    2003-01-01

    In this paper the relationships between crude oil and refined product prices are investigated in a multivariate framework. This allows us to test several (partly competing) assumptions of earlier studies. In particular, we find that the crude oil price is weakly exogenous and that the spread is constant in some but not all relationships. Moreover, the multivariate analysis shows that the link between crude oil prices and several refined product prices implies market integration for these refined products. This is an example of supply driven market integration and producers will change the output mix in response to price changes. (author)

  14. Towards automated crystallographic structure refinement with phenix.refine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Afonine, Pavel V., E-mail: pafonine@lbl.gov; Grosse-Kunstleve, Ralf W.; Echols, Nathaniel; Headd, Jeffrey J.; Moriarty, Nigel W. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, One Cyclotron Road, MS64R0121, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Mustyakimov, Marat; Terwilliger, Thomas C. [Los Alamos National Laboratory, M888, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States); Urzhumtsev, Alexandre [CNRS–INSERM–UdS, 1 Rue Laurent Fries, BP 10142, 67404 Illkirch (France); Université Henri Poincaré, Nancy 1, BP 239, 54506 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy (France); Zwart, Peter H. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, One Cyclotron Road, MS64R0121, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Adams, Paul D. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, One Cyclotron Road, MS64R0121, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)

    2012-04-01

    phenix.refine is a program within the PHENIX package that supports crystallographic structure refinement against experimental data with a wide range of upper resolution limits using a large repertoire of model parameterizations. This paper presents an overview of the major phenix.refine features, with extensive literature references for readers interested in more detailed discussions of the methods. phenix.refine is a program within the PHENIX package that supports crystallographic structure refinement against experimental data with a wide range of upper resolution limits using a large repertoire of model parameterizations. It has several automation features and is also highly flexible. Several hundred parameters enable extensive customizations for complex use cases. Multiple user-defined refinement strategies can be applied to specific parts of the model in a single refinement run. An intuitive graphical user interface is available to guide novice users and to assist advanced users in managing refinement projects. X-ray or neutron diffraction data can be used separately or jointly in refinement. phenix.refine is tightly integrated into the PHENIX suite, where it serves as a critical component in automated model building, final structure refinement, structure validation and deposition to the wwPDB. This paper presents an overview of the major phenix.refine features, with extensive literature references for readers interested in more detailed discussions of the methods.

  15. Gerrit Rietveld. Casas después de la Schroeder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rafael García

    1997-07-01

    Full Text Available Las historias de la arquitectura moderna han incidido una y otra vez en un reducido número de obras que por su insistente atención, han llegado a convertirse en hitos imprescindibles. Entre estos edificios canónicos y prácticamente obligados, está la célebre casa Schröder-Schräder (1924' del arquitecto holandés Gerrit Rietveld. Ampliamente conocida por el público interesado, su gran popularidad ha tenido sin embargo, el efecto de dejar en segundo plano el resto de su obra arquitectónica. A ello se debe añadir además, el hecho de que su trayectoria está fundamentalmente asociada al movimiento neoplasticista, lo que ha tenido por resultado desviar la atención de una obra posterior, más difícilmente clasificable. Sin embargo, ello no significa que dicha obra sea en absoluto carente de atractivo.

  16. Study on structural refinement and electrochemical behaviour of Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3-δ as cathode materials for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFC)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kautkar, Pranay R.; Shirbhate, Shraddha C.; Acharya, Smita A.

    2018-05-01

    Ba0.5Sr0.5Co0.8Fe0.2O3-δ (BSCF) was prepared by ethylene glycol-citrate combined sol-gel combustion route and calcined at optimized temperature 1050°C. The X-ray Diffraction (XRD) data revealing the crystal purity of BSCF cathode was refined by the Cubic-type structure having the space group Pm-3m by Rietveld analysis. Refined lattice parameter of BSCF cathode is a = 3.9759 Å and unit cell volume is 62.85 (4) Å3, Co/Fe-O bond length from VESTA program figured out to be 1.987 (3) Å. Electron density distribution (EDD) of the unit cell of BSCF cathode shows the bonding feature with oxygen ions, this could represent oxygen vacancies are present in the lattice. These results reflected in electrochemical impedance spectra measurement of symmetric cell. Area of specific resistance (ASR) of the BSCF cathode was found to be 0.17 Ω.cm2 at 700°C and respective activation energy (Ea) 1.15 eV. It shows surface exchange at cathode interface, surface diffusion and self-diffusion happened through Ce0.85Sd0.15O1.95 (SDC15) electrolyte.

  17. Refining margins and prospects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baudouin, C.; Favennec, J.P.

    1997-01-01

    Refining margins throughout the world have remained low in 1996. In Europe, in spite of an improvement, particularly during the last few weeks, they are still not high enough to finance new investments. Although the demand for petroleum products is increasing, experts are still sceptical about any rapid recovery due to prevailing overcapacity and to continuing capacity growth. After a historical review of margins and an analysis of margins by regions, we analyse refining over-capacities in Europe and the unbalances between production and demand. Then we discuss the current situation concerning barriers to the rationalization, agreements between oil companies, and the consequences on the future of refining capacities and margins. (author)

  18. Refining intra-protein contact prediction by graph analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eyal Eran

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Accurate prediction of intra-protein residue contacts from sequence information will allow the prediction of protein structures. Basic predictions of such specific contacts can be further refined by jointly analyzing predicted contacts, and by adding information on the relative positions of contacts in the protein primary sequence. Results We introduce a method for graph analysis refinement of intra-protein contacts, termed GARP. Our previously presented intra-contact prediction method by means of pair-to-pair substitution matrix (P2PConPred was used to test the GARP method. In our approach, the top contact predictions obtained by a basic prediction method were used as edges to create a weighted graph. The edges were scored by a mutual clustering coefficient that identifies highly connected graph regions, and by the density of edges between the sequence regions of the edge nodes. A test set of 57 proteins with known structures was used to determine contacts. GARP improves the accuracy of the P2PConPred basic prediction method in whole proteins from 12% to 18%. Conclusion Using a simple approach we increased the contact prediction accuracy of a basic method by 1.5 times. Our graph approach is simple to implement, can be used with various basic prediction methods, and can provide input for further downstream analyses.

  19. Refined analysis results for multimedia network costs and profits

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tahkokorpi, M.; Falch, Morten; Skouby, Knud Erik

    This deliverable describes the techno-economic business model developed in EURORIM WP3 and presents the refined results of the multimedia service delivery cost-profit calculations......This deliverable describes the techno-economic business model developed in EURORIM WP3 and presents the refined results of the multimedia service delivery cost-profit calculations...

  20. The relationship between viscosity and refinement efficiency of pure aluminum by Al-Ti-B refiner

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yu Lina [Key Laboratory of Liquid Structure and Heredity of Materials, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, 73 Jingshi Road, Jinan 250061 (China); Liu Xiangfa [Key Laboratory of Liquid Structure and Heredity of Materials, Ministry of Education, Shandong University, 73 Jingshi Road, Jinan 250061 (China)]. E-mail: xfliu@sdu.edu.cn

    2006-11-30

    The relationship between viscosity and refinement efficiency of pure aluminum with the addition of Al-Ti-B master alloy was studied in this paper. The experimental results show that when the grain size of solidified sample is finer the viscosity of the melt is higher after the addition of different Al-Ti-B master alloys. This indicates that viscosity can be used to approximately estimate the refinement efficiency of Al-Ti-B refiners in production to a certain extent. The main reason was also discussed in this paper by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) experiment.

  1. Tin-Platinum catalysts interactions on titania and silica

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nava, N.; Del Angel, P.; Salmones, J.; Baggio-Saitovitch, E.; Santiago, P.

    2007-01-01

    Pt-Sn was supported on titania and silica, and the resulting interactions between the components in prepared samples and the resulting interactions between the components before and after treatment with hydrogen were characterized by Moessbauer spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Rietveld refinement, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and catalytic tests data. Results show the presence of Pt and SnO 2 after calcinations, and Pt 3 Sn, PtSn and PtSn 3 after reduction. Rietveld analysis shows that some Ti 4+ are replaced by Sn 4+ atoms in the titania structure. Finally, HRTEM and the practically absence of activity observed confirms that metallic platinum is encapsulated

  2. Towards automated crystallographic structure refinement with phenix.refine

    OpenAIRE

    Afonine, Pavel V.; Grosse-Kunstleve, Ralf W.; Echols, Nathaniel; Headd, Jeffrey J.; Moriarty, Nigel W.; Mustyakimov, Marat; Terwilliger, Thomas C.; Urzhumtsev, Alexandre; Zwart, Peter H.; Adams, Paul D.

    2012-01-01

    phenix.refine is a program within the PHENIX package that supports crystallographic structure refinement against experimental data with a wide range of upper resolution limits using a large repertoire of model parameterizations. It has several automation features and is also highly flexible. Several hundred parameters enable extensive customizations for complex use cases. Multiple user-defined refinement strategies can be applied to specific parts of the model in a single refinement run. An i...

  3. Influence of diopside: feldspar ratio in ceramic reactions assessed by quantitative phase analysis (X-ray diffraction - Rietveld method)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuzmickas, L.; Andrade, F.R.D.; Szabo, G.A.J.; Motta, J.F.M.; Cabral Junior, M.

    2013-01-01

    White ceramics were produced with raw mixtures prepared with varying proportions of diopside-rich rock (0 to 20 wt.%) and potassic feldspar (40 to 20 wt.%), and fixed proportions of kaolinite (40 wt.%) and quartz (20 wt.%), fired in a temperature range from 1170 to 1210 deg C. The phases identified in the experimental ceramics were quartz, anorthite, mullite and glass, and their relative mass proportions were determined by X-ray diffraction (Rietveld method). The addition of diopside as a partial substitute for potassic feldspar causes the formation of a calcium silicate, analogous of the natural anorthite (CaSi 2 Al 2 O 8 ) in the ceramics, with proportional reduction in its glass and mullite contents. Water absorption and porosity of the ceramic bodies clearly decrease with increasing firing temperature, while the effect of the raw mixture composition on the physical and mechanical properties of the ceramics is less evident. Diopside-rich rock has low iron content (1.5 wt.% Fe 2 O 3 ) and, therefore, promotes white burning. (author)

  4. Influence of diopside: feldspar ratio in ceramic reactions assessed by quantitative phase analysis (X-ray diffraction - Rietveld method)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kuzmickas, L.; Andrade, F.R.D.; Szabo, G.A.J. [Universidade de Sao Paulo (IGc/USP), SP (Brazil). Inst. de Geociencias. Dept. de Mineralogia e Geotecnia; Motta, J.F.M.; Cabral Junior, M., E-mail: lukuzmickas@gmail.com, E-mail: dias@usp.br, E-mail: gajszabo@usp.b, E-mail: motta.jf@gmail.com, E-mail: marsis@ipt.br [Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnologicas (IPT), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil). Secao de Recursos Minerais e Tecnologia Ceramica

    2013-04-15

    White ceramics were produced with raw mixtures prepared with varying proportions of diopside-rich rock (0 to 20 wt.%) and potassic feldspar (40 to 20 wt.%), and fixed proportions of kaolinite (40 wt.%) and quartz (20 wt.%), fired in a temperature range from 1170 to 1210 deg C. The phases identified in the experimental ceramics were quartz, anorthite, mullite and glass, and their relative mass proportions were determined by X-ray diffraction (Rietveld method). The addition of diopside as a partial substitute for potassic feldspar causes the formation of a calcium silicate, analogous of the natural anorthite (CaSi{sub 2}Al{sub 2}O{sub 8}) in the ceramics, with proportional reduction in its glass and mullite contents. Water absorption and porosity of the ceramic bodies clearly decrease with increasing firing temperature, while the effect of the raw mixture composition on the physical and mechanical properties of the ceramics is less evident. Diopside-rich rock has low iron content (1.5 wt.% Fe{sub 2}O{sub 3}) and, therefore, promotes white burning. (author)

  5. Steel refining possibilities in LF

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dumitru, M. G.; Ioana, A.; Constantin, N.; Ciobanu, F.; Pollifroni, M.

    2018-01-01

    This article presents the main possibilities for steel refining in Ladle Furnace (LF). These, are presented: steelmaking stages, steel refining through argon bottom stirring, online control of the bottom stirring, bottom stirring diagram during LF treatment of a heat, porous plug influence over the argon stirring, bottom stirring porous plug, analysis of porous plugs disposal on ladle bottom surface, bottom stirring simulation with ANSYS, bottom stirring simulation with Autodesk CFD.

  6. The Analysis of the Refined Financial Management of Modern Enterprises

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li Ran

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper briefly introduces the concept of the refined financial management, elaborates on its characteristics and puts forward some main points about it. It also comes up with some personal suggestions for reference on effective ways of refining financial management.

  7. Sintering effect on structural, magnetic and optical properties of Ni{sub 0.5}Zn{sub 0.5}Fe{sub 2}O{sub 4} ferrite nano particles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kannan, Y.B., E-mail: ybkans@gmail.com [Department of Physics, Arumugam Pillai Seethai Ammal College, Tiruppattur 630211 (India); Saravanan, R. [PG & Research Department of Physics, The Madura College, Madurai 625011 (India); Srinivasan, N. [PG & Research Department of Physics, Thiagarajar College, Madurai 625009 (India); Ismail, I. [Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology Laboratory, Institute of Advanced Technology, University Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor (Malaysia)

    2017-02-01

    Ni{sub 0.5}Zn{sub 0.5}Fe{sub 2}O{sub 4} nano ferrite particles have been prepared by mechanical alloying via high energy ball milling and sintered at different temperatures from 700 °C to 1000 °C. Spinel structure is confirmed from the analysis of XRD data. Rietveld refinement method is employed to refine the XRD powder data and the structural parameters are calculated from the refinement. Small amount of hematite phase is found in all samples. The SEM, EDAX and XRF analysis reveals respectively the morphology, stoichiometric composition and purity of the powder samples. Using Maximum Entropy Method (MEM) the values of the bond strength between various sites interactions in ferrites are evaluated and compared with theoretical predictions of strengthening/weakening of various sites interactions from the values of interionic distances and interionic bond angles. Ferromagnetic nature of the samples is confirmed from the vibrating sample magnetometer study. The obtained low saturation magnetization values are attributed to presence of second phase. The optical band gap energy of the samples was determined by using UV–VIS techniques. - Highlights: • Raw XRD data were refined using Rietveld refinement method using JANA 2006 software. • Fraction of zinc ions occupies at B site. • Bond strength between the atoms at A-site and B-site is studied by employing maximum entropy method (MEM). • From the MEM result, numerical values of the bond strength between various interactions (A–B, A–A, B–B) have been evaluated. • Various sites interactions results are compared with that of hitherto existing theoretical predictions.

  8. Effect of Cu{sup 2+} and Ni{sup 2+} substitution at the Mn site in (La{sub 0.63}Ca{sub 0.37})MnO{sub 3}: A neutron powder diffraction investigation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Martinelli, A., E-mail: alberto.martinelli@spin.cnr.it [CNR-SPIN, C.so Perrone 24, 16152 Genova (Italy); Ferretti, M. [CNR-SPIN, C.so Perrone 24, 16152 Genova (Italy); Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale, Università di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 31, 16146 Genova (Italy); Castellano, C. [Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Chimica Strutturale e Stereochimica Inorganica, Via G. Venezian 21, 20133 Milano (Italy); Cimberle, M.R. [IMEM-CNR, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genova (Italy); Ritter, C. [Institute Laue—Langevin, 6 rue Jules Horowitz, 38042 Grenoble Cedex 9 (France)

    2013-04-15

    The crystal and magnetic structures of the (La{sub 0.63}Ca{sub 0.37})(Mn{sub 1−x}TM{sub x})O{sub 3} compounds (x=0.00, 0.03, 0.08; TM=Cu{sup 2+}, Ni{sup 2+}) were investigated between 5 K and 300 K by means of dc magnetic measurements and neutron powder diffraction analysis followed by Rietveld refinement. Both substituting cations lead to a reduction of the long range ferromagnetic ordering temperature; ferromagnetism is strongly suppressed in the 8% Cu-substituted sample, where long- and short-range FM magnetic orders coexist together with short-range A-type AFM order. This particular feature can be related to the Jahn–Teller character of Cu{sup 2+}, absent in Ni{sup 2+}, and suggests the occurrence of a quantum critical point in the (La{sub 0.63}Ca{sub 0.37})(Mn{sub 1−x}Cu{sub x})O{sub 3} system. - Graphical abstract: Rietveld refinement plot of (La{sub 0.63}Ca{sub 0.37})(Mn{sub 0.92}Cu{sub 0.08})O{sub 3} showing in the inset the coexistence of broad A-type AFM peaks with FM ones. Highlights: ► (La{sub 0.63}Ca{sub 0.37})MnO{sub 3} was substituted with Ni and Cu. ► Neutron powder diffraction and Rietveld refinement were carried out. ► A quantum critical point possibly occurs in the (La{sub 0.63}Ca{sub 0.37})(Mn{sub 1−x}Cu{sub x})O{sub 3} system.

  9. Tin-Platinum catalysts interactions on titania and silica

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nava, N. [Instituto Mexicano del Petroleo Lazaro Cardenas 152, 07730 Mexico, D.F. (Mexico)], E-mail: tnava@imp.mx; Del Angel, P. [Instituto Mexicano del Petroleo Lazaro Cardenas 152, 07730 Mexico, D.F. (Mexico); Salmones, J. [Instituto Politecnico Nacional-ESIQIE UPALM, 07738 Mexico, D.F. (Mexico); Baggio-Saitovitch, E. [Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Fisicas, Rua Dr. Xavier Sigaud 150, 22290-180 Rio de Janeiro, Brasil (Brazil); Santiago, P. [Instituto de Fisica, UNAM, Mexico, D. F., 04510 Mexico (Mexico)

    2007-09-30

    Pt-Sn was supported on titania and silica, and the resulting interactions between the components in prepared samples and the resulting interactions between the components before and after treatment with hydrogen were characterized by Moessbauer spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Rietveld refinement, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and catalytic tests data. Results show the presence of Pt and SnO{sub 2} after calcinations, and Pt{sub 3}Sn, PtSn and PtSn{sub 3} after reduction. Rietveld analysis shows that some Ti{sup 4+} are replaced by Sn{sup 4+} atoms in the titania structure. Finally, HRTEM and the practically absence of activity observed confirms that metallic platinum is encapsulated.

  10. Interstitial positions of tin ions in alpha-(FerichSn)(2)O-3 solid solutions prepared by mechanical alloying

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jiang, Jianzhong; Lin, Rong; Nielsen, Kurt

    1997-01-01

    The microstructure of samples of 91, 85, and 71 mol % alpha-Fe-2-O-3-SnO2. prepared by mechanical alloying, has been studied by x-ray diffraction with Rietveld structure refinements, On the basis of the structure refinements to the whole x-ray diffraction patterns for the four as-milled samples, ......, it is found that tin ions do not substitute iron ions in the solid solution, although this model is generally assumed in the literature. The Sn4+ ions occupy the empty octahedral holes in the lattice of the alpha-Fe2O3 phase.......The microstructure of samples of 91, 85, and 71 mol % alpha-Fe-2-O-3-SnO2. prepared by mechanical alloying, has been studied by x-ray diffraction with Rietveld structure refinements, On the basis of the structure refinements to the whole x-ray diffraction patterns for the four as-milled samples...

  11. Segmental Refinement: A Multigrid Technique for Data Locality

    KAUST Repository

    Adams, Mark F.; Brown, Jed; Knepley, Matt; Samtaney, Ravi

    2016-01-01

    We investigate a domain decomposed multigrid technique, termed segmental refinement, for solving general nonlinear elliptic boundary value problems. We extend the method first proposed in 1994 by analytically and experimentally investigating its complexity. We confirm that communication of traditional parallel multigrid is eliminated on fine grids, with modest amounts of extra work and storage, while maintaining the asymptotic exactness of full multigrid. We observe an accuracy dependence on the segmental refinement subdomain size, which was not considered in the original analysis. We present a communication complexity analysis that quantifies the communication costs ameliorated by segmental refinement and report performance results with up to 64K cores on a Cray XC30.

  12. Segmental Refinement: A Multigrid Technique for Data Locality

    KAUST Repository

    Adams, Mark F.

    2016-08-04

    We investigate a domain decomposed multigrid technique, termed segmental refinement, for solving general nonlinear elliptic boundary value problems. We extend the method first proposed in 1994 by analytically and experimentally investigating its complexity. We confirm that communication of traditional parallel multigrid is eliminated on fine grids, with modest amounts of extra work and storage, while maintaining the asymptotic exactness of full multigrid. We observe an accuracy dependence on the segmental refinement subdomain size, which was not considered in the original analysis. We present a communication complexity analysis that quantifies the communication costs ameliorated by segmental refinement and report performance results with up to 64K cores on a Cray XC30.

  13. Refining revolution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fesharaki, F.; Isaak, D.

    1984-01-01

    A review of changes in the oil refining industry since 1973 examines the drop in capacity use and its effect on profits of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries compared to world refining. OPEC countries used their new oil revenues to expand Gulf refineries, which put additional pressure on OECD refiners. OPEC involvement in global marketing, however, could help to secure supplies. Scrapping some older OECD refineries could improve the percentage of capacity in use if new construction is kept to a minimum. Other issues facing refiners are the changes in oil demand patterns and government responses to the market. 2 tables.

  14. Applying the X-ray diffraction analysis for estimating the height and width of nanorods in low symmetry crystal multiphase materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mokhtari, Ali; Soleimanian, Vishtasb; Dehkordi, Hamed Aleebrahim; Dastafkan, Kamran

    2017-11-01

    In this work the potential of Rietveld refinement procedure is used to study the shape and size of non-spherical nanocrystallites. The main advantages of this approach are that not only it can successfully extend to all nanomaterials with different crystal symmetries but also it can evaluate the various phases of multiple materials comparing to electron microscopy methods. Therefore, between seven crystal systems, the formulation of monoclinic and hexagonal crystals is developed. This procedure is applied for the mixture of sodium carbonate and zinc oxide nanocrystallites at different fractions of doped gadolinium oxide. It is found that the crystallites of sodium carbonate and zinc oxide have the rod and ellipsoidal shapes, respectively. The microstructure results are compared with the results of scanning electron microscopy imaging. Good agreement is achieved between the results of scanning electron microscopy and Rietveld methods.

  15. Dielectric and magnetic characterization of the electroceramic Ba2Co2Fe12O22 doped with Bi2O3 for applications in electronics components

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pires Junior, G.F.M.; Sales, A.J.M.; Rodrigues, H.O.; Sombra, A.S.B.

    2012-01-01

    The objective of this work is to study the dielectric and magnetic properties of electroceramics (Ba 2 Co 2 Fe 12 O 22 - Co 2 Y) doped with (3; 5 and 10 wt%) of Bi 2 O 3 in order to promote better dielectric and magnetic properties for applications in electronics. Phase Co 2 Y was obtained through the method of solid-state reaction. The structural characterization was performed by X-ray Diffraction using the Rietveld refinement. Magnetic hysteresis curves of the samples were obtained at room temperature. The Impedance Spectroscopy was used in the study of the dielectric function of frequency in the range 100-100 MHz, at room temperature. It follows that the Rietveld refinement confirmed the structure to the hexagonal crystalline phase obtained. The curve analysis confirmed the magnetic hysteresis behavior of the ferrimagnetic samples. Furthermore, the samples showed large values of dielectric permittivity (30.8) and small dielectric loss (3,66 x10 -1 ) at 100 MHz for the sample B1, making them passive miniaturization. (author)

  16. Crystal structure refinement, dielectric and magnetic properties of Ca/Pb substituted SrFe{sub 12}O{sub 19} hexaferrites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hooda, Ashima [Department of Physics, Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal 131039, Haryana (India); Sanghi, Sujata, E-mail: sutkash@yahoo.com [Department of Applied Physics, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar 125001, Haryana (India); Agarwal, Ashish [Department of Applied Physics, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar 125001, Haryana (India); Dahiya, Reetu [Department of Physics, Hindu Girls College, Sonepat 131001, Haryana (India)

    2015-08-01

    SrFe{sub 12}O{sub 19} (SFO), Sr{sub 0.5}Ca{sub 0.5}Fe{sub 12}O{sub 19} (SCFO) and Sr{sub 0.5}Pb{sub 0.5}Fe{sub 12}O{sub 19} (SPFO) hexaferrites have been synthesized by a conventional solid state reaction technique. Powder X-ray diffraction and Rietveld refinement confirm the presence of M-type hexagonal phase in prepared samples. However in SCFO, secondary phase was also present with main phase. Analysis of Nyquist's plots of SFO hexaferrite revealed the contribution of many electrically active regions corresponding to bulk mechanism, distribution of grain boundaries and electrode processes also. Both conductivity and electric modulus formalisms have been employed to study the relaxation dynamics of charge carriers. A perfect overlapping of the normalized plots of modulus isotherms on a single ‘super curve’ for all the studied temperatures reveals a temperature independence of dynamic processes involved in conduction and for relaxation. In SPFO sample coercivity is reduced effectively but accompanied with increase in magnetization, which is requirement for hexaferrites to be used as magnetic recording media. - Highlights: • Samples have hexagonal phase with space group P6{sub 3}/mmc. • SPFO hexaferrite may be used for microwave devices. • SPFO hexaferrite may be used for magnetic recording media.

  17. Temperature-Induced Desorption of Methyl tert-Butyl Ether Confined on ZSM-5: An In Situ Synchrotron XRD Powder Diffraction Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elisa Rodeghero

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available The temperature-induced desorption of methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE from aqueous solutions onto hydrophobic ZSM-5 was studied by in situ synchrotron powder diffraction and chromatographic techniques. This kind of information is crucial for designing and optimizing the regeneration treatment of such zeolite. The evolution of the structural features monitored by full profile Rietveld refinements revealed that a monoclinic (P21/n to orthorhombic (Pnma phase transition occurred at about 100 °C. The MTBE desorption process caused a remarkable change in the unit-cell parameters. Complete MTBE desorption was achieved upon heating at about 250 °C. Rietveld analysis demonstrated that the desorption process occurred without any significant zeolite crystallinity loss, but with slight deformations in the channel apertures.

  18. Synthesis, magnetic properties and Moessbauer spectroscopy for the pyrochlore family Bi{sub 2}BB Prime O{sub 7} with B=Cr and Fe and B Prime =Nb, Ta and Sb

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Blanco, Maria C. [INFIQC (CONICET), Dpto. de Fisicoquimica, Fac. de Ciencias Quimicas, U.N.C., Cordoba (X5000HUA) (Argentina); Franco, Diego G. [INFIQC (CONICET), Dpto. de Fisicoquimica, Fac. de Ciencias Quimicas, U.N.C., Cordoba (X5000HUA) (Argentina); Centro Atomico Bariloche - CNEA, Av. E. Bustillo 9500, S.C. de Bariloche (8500), R.N. (Argentina); Jalit, Yamile; Pannunzio Miner, Elisa V. [INFIQC (CONICET), Dpto. de Fisicoquimica, Fac. de Ciencias Quimicas, U.N.C., Cordoba (X5000HUA) (Argentina); Berndt, Graciele; Paesano, Andrea [Departamento de Fisica, Universidade Estadual de Maringa, Parana (Brazil); Nieva, Gladys [Centro Atomico Bariloche - CNEA, Av. E. Bustillo 9500, S.C. de Bariloche (8500), R.N. (Argentina); Carbonio, Raul E., E-mail: carbonio@mail.fcq.unc.edu.ar [INFIQC (CONICET), Dpto. de Fisicoquimica, Fac. de Ciencias Quimicas, U.N.C., Cordoba (X5000HUA) (Argentina)

    2012-08-15

    The samples Bi{sub 2}BB Prime O{sub 7}, with B=Cr and Fe and B Prime =Nb, Ta and Sb were prepared by solid state method. The crystallographic structure was investigated on the basis of X-ray powder diffraction data. Rietveld refinements show that the crystal structure is cubic, space group Fd-3m. The Bi{sup 3+} cation on the eight-coordinate pyrochlore A-site shows displacive disorder, as a consequence of its lone pair electron configuration. There is also a considerable A-site disorder shown by Rietveld Analysis and confirmed in the case of the iron containing samples with Moessbauer spectroscopy. The magnetic measurements show paramagnetic behavior at all temperatures for the Cr oxides. The Fe pyrochlores show antiferromagnetic order around 10 K.

  19. X-ray diffraction analysis of KY3F10 nanoparticles doped with Nd and preliminary studies for its use in high-dose radiation dosimetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ichikawa, Rodrigo U.; Linhares, Horacio M.S.M.D.; Silva, Andre S.B. da; Teixeira, Maria I.; Ranieri, Izilda M.; Turrillas, Xavier; Martinez, G.

    2017-01-01

    In this work, the structure and microstructure of Nd:KY 3 F 10 nanoparticles was probed using X-ray synchrotron diffraction analysis. Rietveld refinement was applied to obtain cell parameters, atomic positions and atomic displacement factors to be compared with the ones found in literature. X-ray line profile methods were applied to determine mean crystallite size and crystallite size distribution. Thermoluminescent (TL) emission curves were measured for different radiation doses, from 0.10kGy up to 10.0kGy. Dose-response curves were obtained by area integration beneath the peaks from TL. The reproducibility of the results in this work has shown that this material can be considered a good dosimetric material. (author)

  20. X-ray diffraction analysis of KY3F10 nanoparticles doped with Nd and preliminary studies for its use in high-dose radiation dosimetry

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ichikawa, Rodrigo U.; Linhares, Horacio M.S.M.D.; Silva, Andre S.B. da; Teixeira, Maria I.; Ranieri, Izilda M.; Turrillas, Xavier; Martinez, G., E-mail: ichikawa@usp.br, E-mail: andre.santos.silva@usp.br, E-mail: miteixeira@ipen.br, E-mail: iranieri@ipen.br, E-mail: lgallego@ipen.br, E-mail: horaciolinhares@id.uff.br, E-mail: xturrillas@icmab.es [Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares (IPEN/CNEN-SP), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil); Universidade Federal Fluminense (INFES/ UFF), Niteroi, RJ (Brazil); Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB / CSIC) (Spain)

    2017-07-01

    In this work, the structure and microstructure of Nd:KY{sub 3}F{sub 10} nanoparticles was probed using X-ray synchrotron diffraction analysis. Rietveld refinement was applied to obtain cell parameters, atomic positions and atomic displacement factors to be compared with the ones found in literature. X-ray line profile methods were applied to determine mean crystallite size and crystallite size distribution. Thermoluminescent (TL) emission curves were measured for different radiation doses, from 0.10kGy up to 10.0kGy. Dose-response curves were obtained by area integration beneath the peaks from TL. The reproducibility of the results in this work has shown that this material can be considered a good dosimetric material. (author)

  1. Biomass refining for sustainable development : analysis and directions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Luo, Lin

    2010-01-01

    To understand the contribution of biomass refining to sustainable development, the technical, environmental and economic aspects are summarized in this thesis. This work begins from life cycle assessment (LCA) of bioethanol from lignocellulosic feedstocks such as corn stover, sugarcane and bagasse,

  2. English-Chinese oil refining dictionary. [English-Chinese

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chou, P; Zing, Z [eds.

    1979-01-01

    The dictionary is a collection of many disciplines but specialized in the terminology related to petroleum refining. It contains terms in areas such as refining, factory equipment and installation, petroleum products and test analysis, and instrument automation. It also contains terms in areas of petrochemistry, oil storage and transport, computer technology, and environmental protection. The total number of terms collected was approximately 53,000.

  3. Quantitative phase analysis and microstructure characterization of magnetite nanocrystals obtained by microwave assisted non-hydrolytic sol–gel synthesis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sciancalepore, Corrado, E-mail: corrado.sciancalepore@unimore.it [Department of Engineering “Enzo Ferrari”, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via Pietro Vivarelli 10, 41100 Modena (Italy); Bondioli, Federica [Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Parma, Parco Area delle Scienze, 181/A, 43124 Parma (Italy); INSTM Consortium, Via G. Giusti 9, 51121 Firenze (Italy); Manfredini, Tiziano [Department of Engineering “Enzo Ferrari”, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via Pietro Vivarelli 10, 41100 Modena (Italy); INSTM Consortium, Via G. Giusti 9, 51121 Firenze (Italy); Gualtieri, Alessandro [Department of Chemical and Geological Science, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via S. Eufemia 19, 41121 Modena Italy (Italy)

    2015-02-15

    An innovative preparation procedure, based on microwave assisted non-hydrolytic sol–gel synthesis, to obtain spherical magnetite nanoparticles was reported together with a detailed quantitative phase analysis and microstructure characterization of the synthetic products. The nanoparticle growth was analyzed as a function of the synthesis time and was described in terms of crystallization degree employing the Rietveld method on the magnetic nanostructured system for the determination of the amorphous content using hematite as internal standard. Product crystallinity increases as the microwave thermal treatment is increased and reaches very high percentages for synthesis times longer than 1 h. Microstructural evolution of nanocrystals was followed by the integral breadth methods to obtain information on the crystallite size-strain distribution. The results of diffraction line profile analysis were compared with nanoparticle grain distribution estimated by dimensional analysis of the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images. A variation both in the average grain size and in the distribution of the coherently diffraction domains is evidenced, allowing to suppose a relationship between the two quantities. The traditional integral breadth methods have proven to be valid for a rapid assessment of the diffraction line broadening effects in the above-mentioned nanostructured systems and the basic assumption for the correct use of these methods are discussed as well. - Highlights: • Fe{sub 3}O{sub 4} nanocrystals were obtained by MW-assisted non-hydrolytic sol–gel synthesis. • Quantitative phase analysis revealed that crystallinity up to 95% was reached. • The strategy of Rietveld refinements was discussed in details. • Dimensional analysis showed nanoparticles ranging from 4 to 8 nm. • Results of integral breadth methods were compared with microscopic analysis.

  4. Quantitative phase analysis and microstructure characterization of magnetite nanocrystals obtained by microwave assisted non-hydrolytic sol–gel synthesis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sciancalepore, Corrado; Bondioli, Federica; Manfredini, Tiziano; Gualtieri, Alessandro

    2015-01-01

    An innovative preparation procedure, based on microwave assisted non-hydrolytic sol–gel synthesis, to obtain spherical magnetite nanoparticles was reported together with a detailed quantitative phase analysis and microstructure characterization of the synthetic products. The nanoparticle growth was analyzed as a function of the synthesis time and was described in terms of crystallization degree employing the Rietveld method on the magnetic nanostructured system for the determination of the amorphous content using hematite as internal standard. Product crystallinity increases as the microwave thermal treatment is increased and reaches very high percentages for synthesis times longer than 1 h. Microstructural evolution of nanocrystals was followed by the integral breadth methods to obtain information on the crystallite size-strain distribution. The results of diffraction line profile analysis were compared with nanoparticle grain distribution estimated by dimensional analysis of the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images. A variation both in the average grain size and in the distribution of the coherently diffraction domains is evidenced, allowing to suppose a relationship between the two quantities. The traditional integral breadth methods have proven to be valid for a rapid assessment of the diffraction line broadening effects in the above-mentioned nanostructured systems and the basic assumption for the correct use of these methods are discussed as well. - Highlights: • Fe 3 O 4 nanocrystals were obtained by MW-assisted non-hydrolytic sol–gel synthesis. • Quantitative phase analysis revealed that crystallinity up to 95% was reached. • The strategy of Rietveld refinements was discussed in details. • Dimensional analysis showed nanoparticles ranging from 4 to 8 nm. • Results of integral breadth methods were compared with microscopic analysis

  5. Grain size dependent phase stabilities and presence of a monoclinic (Pm) phase in the MPB region of (1-x)Bi(Mg_1_/_2Ti_1_/_2)O_3_-_xPbTiO_3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Upadhyay, A.; Singh, A.K.

    2016-01-01

    The results of the room temperature structural studies on (1-x)Bi(Mg_1_/_2Ti_1_/_2)O_3_-_xPbTiO_3 ceramics using Rietveld analysis of the powder X-ray diffraction data in the composition range 0.28≤x≤0.45 are presented. The morphotropic phase boundary region exhibits coexistence of monoclinic (space group Pm) and tetragonal (space group P4mm) phases in the composition range 0.33≤x≤0.40. The structure is nearly single phase monoclinic (space group Pm) in the composition range 0.28≤x≤0.32. The structure for the compositions with x≥0.45 is found to be predominantly tetragonal with space group P4mm. Rietveld refinement of the structure rules out the coexistence of rhombohedral and tetragonal phases in the morphotropic phase boundary region reported by earlier authors. The Rietveld structure analysis for the sample x=0.35 calcined at various temperatures reveals that phase fraction of the coexisting phases in the morphotropic phase boundary region varies with grain size. The structural parameters of the two coexisting phases also change slightly with changing grain size. (author)

  6. Refined generalized multiscale entropy analysis for physiological signals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yunxiao; Lin, Youfang; Wang, Jing; Shang, Pengjian

    2018-01-01

    Multiscale entropy analysis has become a prevalent complexity measurement and been successfully applied in various fields. However, it only takes into account the information of mean values (first moment) in coarse-graining procedure. Then generalized multiscale entropy (MSEn) considering higher moments to coarse-grain a time series was proposed and MSEσ2 has been implemented. However, the MSEσ2 sometimes may yield an imprecise estimation of entropy or undefined entropy, and reduce statistical reliability of sample entropy estimation as scale factor increases. For this purpose, we developed the refined model, RMSEσ2, to improve MSEσ2. Simulations on both white noise and 1 / f noise show that RMSEσ2 provides higher entropy reliability and reduces the occurrence of undefined entropy, especially suitable for short time series. Besides, we discuss the effect on RMSEσ2 analysis from outliers, data loss and other concepts in signal processing. We apply the proposed model to evaluate the complexity of heartbeat interval time series derived from healthy young and elderly subjects, patients with congestive heart failure and patients with atrial fibrillation respectively, compared to several popular complexity metrics. The results demonstrate that RMSEσ2 measured complexity (a) decreases with aging and diseases, and (b) gives significant discrimination between different physiological/pathological states, which may facilitate clinical application.

  7. An empirical analysis of lumpy investment. The case of US petroleum refining industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asano, Hirokatsu

    2002-01-01

    This paper employs five econometric models to examine lumpy investment and investigates the investment behavior of the US petroleum refining industry. Firms in the industry are classified into three groups by their size. All three groups show zero investment, disinvestment and investment in accordance with economic conditions. The analysis finds the minimum amount of investment and disinvestment for each group, which suggests that the size of fixed costs of investment is substantial, regardless of firm size. However, small firms adjust capital stock more slowly than medium or large firms. The analysis also suggests the existence of a convex adjustment cost

  8. Study of effect of sintering time on the 2223 phase growth Bi-Pb-Sr-Ca-Cu-O superconductor by Rietveld method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parikin; Prasuad, W; Gunawan

    1996-01-01

    It has been reported that the sintering time is as important for the preparation of superconductor as the sintering temperature and method. This paper reports on the finding of the optimum sintering time in the preparation of the 2223 phase bismuth (Bi) superconductor. The samples were synthesized with nominal composition 1.84 : 0.34 : 1.91 : 2.03 : 3.06 from raw materials by solid state reaction and sintered at 860 o C for five days. The resintering were done three times, i.e. 24, 48 and 96 hours. The Rietveld analysis shows that the 2223 phase grows continuously as a function of the sintering time. The highest percentage of the 2223 phase (80.64%) were obtained at 96 hours sintering time. The result suggests that the 2223 phase can be obtained effectively by sintering with sufficiently long time

  9. Refinement of RAIM via Implementation of Implicit Euler Method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Yoonhee; Kim, Han-Chul [Korea Institute of Nuclear and Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-10-15

    The first approach is a mechanistic approach which is used in LIRIC in which more than 200 reactions are modeled in detail. This approach enables to perform the detailed analysis. However, it requires huge computation burden. The other approach is a simplified model approach which is used in the IMOD, ASTEC/IODE, and etc. Recently, KINS has developed RAIM (Radio-Active Iodine chemistry Model) based on the simplified model approach. Since the numerical analysis module in RAIM is based on the explicit Euler method, there are major issues on the stability of the module. Therefore, implementation of a stable numerical method becomes essential. In this study, RAIM is refined via implementation of implicit Euler method in which the Newton method is used to find the solutions at each time step. The refined RAIM is tested by comparing to RAIM based on the explicit Euler method. In this paper, RAIM was refined by implementing the implicit Euler method. At each time step of the method in the refined RAIM, the reaction kinetics equations are solved by the Newton method in which elements of the Jacobian matrix are expressed analytically. With the results of OECD-BIP P10T2 test, the refined RAIM was compared to RAIM with the explicit Euler method. The refined RAIM shows better agreement with the experimental data than those from the explicit Euler method. For the rapid change of pH during the experiment, the refined RAIM gives more realistic changes in the concentrations of chemical species than those from the explicit Euler method. In addition, in terms of computing time, the refined RAIM shows comparable computing time to that with explicit Euler method. These comparisons are attributed to ⁓10 times larger time step size used in the implicit Euler method, even though computation burden at each time step in the refined RAIM is much higher than that of the explicit Euler method. Compared to the experimental data, the refined RAIM still shows discrepancy, which are attributed

  10. Refinement of RAIM via Implementation of Implicit Euler Method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Yoonhee; Kim, Han-Chul

    2016-01-01

    The first approach is a mechanistic approach which is used in LIRIC in which more than 200 reactions are modeled in detail. This approach enables to perform the detailed analysis. However, it requires huge computation burden. The other approach is a simplified model approach which is used in the IMOD, ASTEC/IODE, and etc. Recently, KINS has developed RAIM (Radio-Active Iodine chemistry Model) based on the simplified model approach. Since the numerical analysis module in RAIM is based on the explicit Euler method, there are major issues on the stability of the module. Therefore, implementation of a stable numerical method becomes essential. In this study, RAIM is refined via implementation of implicit Euler method in which the Newton method is used to find the solutions at each time step. The refined RAIM is tested by comparing to RAIM based on the explicit Euler method. In this paper, RAIM was refined by implementing the implicit Euler method. At each time step of the method in the refined RAIM, the reaction kinetics equations are solved by the Newton method in which elements of the Jacobian matrix are expressed analytically. With the results of OECD-BIP P10T2 test, the refined RAIM was compared to RAIM with the explicit Euler method. The refined RAIM shows better agreement with the experimental data than those from the explicit Euler method. For the rapid change of pH during the experiment, the refined RAIM gives more realistic changes in the concentrations of chemical species than those from the explicit Euler method. In addition, in terms of computing time, the refined RAIM shows comparable computing time to that with explicit Euler method. These comparisons are attributed to ⁓10 times larger time step size used in the implicit Euler method, even though computation burden at each time step in the refined RAIM is much higher than that of the explicit Euler method. Compared to the experimental data, the refined RAIM still shows discrepancy, which are attributed

  11. Refining processes of selected copper alloys

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Rzadkosz

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available The analysis of the refining effectiveness of the liquid copper and selected copper alloys by various micro additions and special refiningsubstances – was performed. Examinations of an influence of purifying, modifying and deoxidation operations performed in a metal bath on the properties of certain selected alloys based on copper matrix - were made. Refining substances, protecting-purifying slag, deoxidation and modifying substances containing micro additions of such elements as: zirconium, boron, phosphor, sodium, lithium, or their compounds introduced in order to change micro structures and properties of alloys, were applied in examinations. A special attention was directed to macro and micro structures of alloys, their tensile and elongation strength and hot-cracks sensitivity. Refining effects were estimated by comparing the effectiveness of micro structure changes with property changes of copper and its selected alloys from the group of tin bronzes.

  12. The peak in neutron powder diffraction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laar, B. van; Yelon, W.B.

    1984-01-01

    For the application of Rietveld profile analysis to neutron powder diffraction data a precise knowledge of the peak profile, in both shape and position, is required. The method now in use employs a Gaussian shaped profile with a semi-empirical asymmetry correction for low-angle peaks. The integrated intensity is taken to be proportional to the classical Lorentz factor calculated for the X-ray case. In this paper an exact expression is given for the peak profile based upon the geometrical dimensions of the diffractometer. It is shown that the asymmetry of observed peaks is well reproduced by this expression. The angular displacement of the experimental profile with respect to the nominal Bragg angle value is larger than expected. Values for the correction to the classical Lorentz factor for the integrated intensity are given. The exact peak profile expression has been incorporated into a Rietveld profile analysis refinement program. (Auth.)

  13. Structural analysis and martensitic transformation in equiatomic HfPd alloy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hisada, S.; Matsuda, M.; Takashima, K.; Yamabe-Mitarai, Y.

    2018-02-01

    We investigated the crystal structure and the martensitic transformation in equiatomic HfPd alloy. The analysis of the crystal structure by electron diffraction and Rietveld refinement using X-ray diffraction data indicates that the space group of the martensitic phase is Cmcm, and the lattice parameters are a = 0.329 nm, b = 1.021 nm, and c = 0.438 nm. Martensitic variants are composed of the plate-like morphology of several hundred nm, and the boundaries between the variants have (021)Cmcm twin relations. This (021)Cmcm twin boundary seems to be sharp without ledge and steps. Differential scanning calorimetry measurement indicates that each martensitic transformation temperature is determined to be Ms = 819 K, Mf = 794 K, As = 928 K, and Af = 954 K. Based on the dimension change using a thermo-mechanical analyzer, the expansion and shrinkage of the sample occurred with the forward and reverse martensitic transformation, respectively.

  14. Biomolecular structure refinement using the GROMOS simulation software

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schmid, Nathan; Allison, Jane R.; Dolenc, Jožica; Eichenberger, Andreas P.; Kunz, Anna-Pitschna E.; Gunsteren, Wilfred F. van

    2011-01-01

    For the understanding of cellular processes the molecular structure of biomolecules has to be accurately determined. Initial models can be significantly improved by structure refinement techniques. Here, we present the refinement methods and analysis techniques implemented in the GROMOS software for biomolecular simulation. The methodology and some implementation details of the computation of NMR NOE data, 3 J-couplings and residual dipolar couplings, X-ray scattering intensities from crystals and solutions and neutron scattering intensities used in GROMOS is described and refinement strategies and concepts are discussed using example applications. The GROMOS software allows structure refinement combining different types of experimental data with different types of restraining functions, while using a variety of methods to enhance conformational searching and sampling and the thermodynamically calibrated GROMOS force field for biomolecular simulation.

  15. Biomolecular structure refinement using the GROMOS simulation software

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schmid, Nathan; Allison, Jane R.; Dolenc, Jozica; Eichenberger, Andreas P.; Kunz, Anna-Pitschna E.; Gunsteren, Wilfred F. van, E-mail: wfvgn@igc.phys.chem.ethz.ch [Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH, Laboratory of Physical Chemistry (Switzerland)

    2011-11-15

    For the understanding of cellular processes the molecular structure of biomolecules has to be accurately determined. Initial models can be significantly improved by structure refinement techniques. Here, we present the refinement methods and analysis techniques implemented in the GROMOS software for biomolecular simulation. The methodology and some implementation details of the computation of NMR NOE data, {sup 3}J-couplings and residual dipolar couplings, X-ray scattering intensities from crystals and solutions and neutron scattering intensities used in GROMOS is described and refinement strategies and concepts are discussed using example applications. The GROMOS software allows structure refinement combining different types of experimental data with different types of restraining functions, while using a variety of methods to enhance conformational searching and sampling and the thermodynamically calibrated GROMOS force field for biomolecular simulation.

  16. Structural and microstructural comparative analysis on metallic alloys of composition Cu{sub y%}-Ni{sub x%}-Me (Me = Sn, Cr, Al, Pt)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marques, I.M.; Okazaki, A.K.; Silveira, C.R. da; Carvalhal, M.A.; Monteiro, W.A.; Carrio, J.A.G. [Physics Department, CCH, Presbyterian Mackenzie University, Materials Science and Technology Centre, Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil); Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares (IPEN/CNEN-SP), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil)], e-mail: jgcarrio@mackenzie.br

    2010-07-01

    This work presents a comparative study of microstructural and electrical properties of polycrystalline material Cu-Ni alloys synthesized by conventional and powder metallurgy. A sample of Cu{sub 99,33%} Ni{sub 0,23%} Pt{sub 0,43%} was produced in electric furnace with voltaic arc and various samples containing Al, Sn and Cr as third element were produced by powder metallurgy. The microstructure of the samples was studied by optical microscopy, Vickers micro hardness and x rays powder diffraction. Their electrical conductivity was measured with a milliohmeter Agilent (HP) 4338B. Refinements of the crystalline structure of the samples were performed by the Rietveld method, using the refinement program GSAS. The refinement results and Fourier differences calculations indicate that the copper matrix structure presents not significant distortions by the used amounts of the other metal atoms. The refinement of non structural parameters allowed the micro-structural characterization. The dependence of the micro-structure with thermal and mechanical treatments is studied. (author)

  17. Refinement of the concept of uncertainty.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Penrod, J

    2001-04-01

    To analyse the conceptual maturity of uncertainty; to develop an expanded theoretical definition of uncertainty; to advance the concept using methods of concept refinement; and to analyse congruency with the conceptualization of uncertainty presented in the theory of hope, enduring, and suffering. Uncertainty is of concern in nursing as people experience complex life events surrounding health. In an earlier nursing study that linked the concepts of hope, enduring, and suffering into a single theoretical scheme, a state best described as 'uncertainty' arose. This study was undertaken to explore how this conceptualization fit with the scientific literature on uncertainty and to refine the concept. Initially, a concept analysis using advanced methods described by Morse, Hupcey, Mitcham and colleagues was completed. The concept was determined to be partially mature. A theoretical definition was derived and techniques of concept refinement using the literature as data were applied. The refined concept was found to be congruent with the concept of uncertainty that had emerged in the model of hope, enduring and suffering. Further investigation is needed to explore the extent of probabilistic reasoning and the effects of confidence and control on feelings of uncertainty and certainty.

  18. Cooling curve analysis in binary Al-Cu alloys: Part II- Effect of Cooling Rate and Grain Refinement on The Thermal and Thermodynamic Characteristics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mehdi Dehnavi

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The Al-Cu alloys have been widely used in aerospace, automobile, and airplane applications. Generally Al–Ti and Al–Ti–B master alloys are added to the aluminium alloys for grain refinement. The cooling curve analysis (CCA has been used extensively in metal casting industry to predict microstructure constituents, grain refinement and to calculate the latent heat of solidification. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of cooling rate and grain refinement on the thermal and thermodynamic characteristics of Al-Cu alloys by cooling curve analysis. To do this, Al-Cu alloys containing 3.7, and 4.8 wt.% Cu were melted and solidified with 0.04, 0.19, 0.42, and 1.08 K/s cooling rates. The temperature of the samples was recorded using a K thermocouple and a data acquisition system connected to a PC. Some samples were Grain refined by Al-5Ti-1B to see the effect of grain refinement on the aforementioned properties. The results show that, in a well refined alloy, nucleation will occur in a shorter time, and a undercooling approximately decreases to zero. The other results show that, with considering the cooling rate being around 0.1 °C/s, the Newtonian method is efficient in calculating the latent heat of solidification.

  19. Ab-initio crystal structure analysis and refinement approaches of oligo p-benzamides based on electron diffraction data

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Gorelik, Tatiana E; van de Streek, Jacco; Kilbinger, Andreas F M

    2012-01-01

    Ab-initio crystal structure analysis of organic materials from electron diffraction data is presented. The data were collected using the automated electron diffraction tomography (ADT) technique. The structure solution and refinement route is first validated on the basis of the known crystal stru...

  20. A refined element-based Lagrangian shell element for geometrically nonlinear analysis of shell structures

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Woo-Young Jung

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available For the solution of geometrically nonlinear analysis of plates and shells, the formulation of a nonlinear nine-node refined first-order shear deformable element-based Lagrangian shell element is presented. Natural co-ordinate-based higher order transverse shear strains are used in present shell element. Using the assumed natural strain method with proper interpolation functions, the present shell element generates neither membrane nor shear locking behavior even when full integration is used in the formulation. Furthermore, a refined first-order shear deformation theory for thin and thick shells, which results in parabolic through-thickness distribution of the transverse shear strains from the formulation based on the third-order shear deformation theory, is proposed. This formulation eliminates the need for shear correction factors in the first-order theory. To avoid difficulties resulting from large increments of the rotations, a scheme of attached reference system is used for the expression of rotations of shell normal. Numerical examples demonstrate that the present element behaves reasonably satisfactorily either for the linear or for geometrically nonlinear analysis of thin and thick plates and shells with large displacement but small strain. Especially, the nonlinear results of slit annular plates with various loads provided the benchmark to test the accuracy of related numerical solutions.

  1. An Isogeometric Design-through-analysis Methodology based on Adaptive Hierarchical Refinement of NURBS, Immersed Boundary Methods, and T-spline CAD Surfaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-22

    Bungartz HJ, Rank E, Niggl A, Romberg R. Extending the p-Version of Finite Elements by an Octree-Based Hierarchy. In: Widlund OB, Keyes DE (eds...generalization to higher dimensions. We test hierarchical refinement of NURBS for some elementary fluid and structural analysis problems in two and three...with straightforward implementation in tree data structures and simple generalization to higher dimensions. We test hierarchical refinement of NURBS

  2. Analysis of solvent dyes in refined petroleum products by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rostad, C.E.

    2010-01-01

    Solvent dyes are used to color refined petroleum products to enable differentiation between gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels. Analysis for these dyes in the hydrocarbon product is difficult due to their very low concentrations in such a complex matrix. Flow injection analysis/electrospray ionization/mass spectrometry in both negative and positive mode was used to optimize ionization of ten typical solvent dyes. Samples of hydrocarbon product were analyzed under similar conditions. Positive electrospray ionization produced very complex spectra, which were not suitably specific for targeting only the dyes. Negative electrospray ionization produced simple spectra because aliphatic and aromatic moieties were not ionized. This enabled screening for a target dye in samples of hydrocarbon product from a spill.

  3. A new approach to texture measurements: Orientation distribution function (ODF) determination by Rietveld refinement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vondreele, R.; Larson, A.; Lawson, A.; Sheldon, R.; Wright, S.

    1996-01-01

    The preferred orientation of crystal grains within a manufactured part is described most fully by its orientation distribution function (ODF), which is a mapping of the probability of each of the possible grain orientations with respect to the exterior dimensions. Traditionally, an ODF is determined from pole figures for a relatively small number of reflections. These pole figures are measured with x-rays or neutrons using short detector scans over the center of an individual diffraction peak for a large number of different sample orientations. This is efficient if the selected diffraction peaks are reasonably strong (relative to background) and well separated, such as in pure fcc and bcc metals. It is also appropriate for constant wavelength sources where collection of individual diffraction peak intensities is a reasonably efficient use of the source. However, the traditional method is not very efficient for neutron diffraction at a spallation source such as LANSCE where the entire diffraction pattern is accessible for each sample setting. Moreover, a different approach is necessary for complicated diffraction patterns, such as from composite materials, intermetallic compounds, high T c ceramics, polyphasic minerals and polymers where there is expected to be heavy overlap of adjacent diffraction peaks. In addition, the large number of settings normally collected for an individual pole figure may not be necessary, since the entire pattern is obtained at each setting. Thus, a new method of ODF analysis needs to be developed to handle the more complex diffraction patterns obtained from modern technological materials as well as take advantage of the particular characteristics of spallation neutron sources. This project sought to develop the experimental procedures and the mathematical treatment needed to produce an orientation distribution function (ODF) directly from full diffraction patterns from a sample in a limited number of orientations

  4. Petroleum refining industry in China

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Walls, W.D.

    2010-01-01

    The oil refining industry in China has faced rapid growth in oil imports of increasingly sour grades of crude with which to satisfy growing domestic demand for a slate of lighter and cleaner finished products sold at subsidized prices. At the same time, the world petroleum refining industry has been moving from one that serves primarily local and regional markets to one that serves global markets for finished products, as world refining capacity utilization has increased. Globally, refined product markets are likely to experience continued globalization until refining investments significantly expand capacity in key demand regions. We survey the oil refining industry in China in the context of the world market for heterogeneous crude oils and growing world trade in refined petroleum products. (author)

  5. Structure of Pigment Yellow 181 dimethylsulfoxide N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (1:1:1) solvate from XRPD + DFT-D

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Streek, Jacco van de

    2015-01-01

    The relatively complex structure of a triclinic disolvate was solved from low-resolution laboratory powder diffraction data through the intermediate use of dummy atoms and the combination with quantum-mechanical calculations. With only a 2.6 Å resolution laboratory powder diffraction pattern of the θ phase of Pigment Yellow 181 (P.Y. 181) available, crystal-structure solution and Rietveld refinement proved challenging; especially when the crystal structure was shown to be a triclinic dimethylsulfoxide N-methyl-2-pyrrolidone (1:1:1) solvate. The crystal structure, which in principle has 28 possible degrees of freedom, was determined in three stages by a combination of simulated annealing, partial Rietveld refinement with dummy atoms replacing the solvent molecules and further simulated annealing. The θ phase not being of commercial interest, additional experiments were not economically feasible and additional dispersion-corrected density functional theory (DFT-D) calculations were employed to confirm the correctness of the crystal structure. After the correctness of the structure had been ascertained, the bond lengths and valence angles from the DFT-D minimized crystal structure were fed back into the Rietveld refinement as geometrical restraints (‘polymorph-dependent restraints’) to further improve the details of the crystal structure; the positions of the H atoms were also taken from the DFT-D calculations. The final crystal structure is a layered structure with an elaborate network of hydrogen bonds

  6. Layered B-site cation ordering: A key factor in ferrimagnetism of Y{sub 2}MnCrO{sub 6}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hao, Lin [Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui (China); Yang, Lei [Collaborative Innovation Center for Magnetoelectric Industry, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, Hubei (China); Lee, Ming-Hsien; Lin, Tseh-Hsing [Department of Physics, Tamkang University, Taipei, Taiwan (China); Zhang, ZhongFeng; Xie, XiangNan [Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui (China); Zhu, Hong, E-mail: zhuh@ustc.edu.cn [Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui (China)

    2014-07-15

    Highlights: • Rietveld refinement and first-principles calculations are performed for Y{sub 2}MnCrO{sub 6}. • The layered B-site cation ordering is a more reliable structure for Y{sub 2}MnCrO{sub 6}. • Y{sub 2}MnCrO{sub 6} has an insulating ferrimagnetism (0 0 1)-ordered ground state. • The layered ordered pattern plays a key role for the ferrimagnetism in Y{sub 2}MnCrO{sub 6}. - Abstract: We report the Rietveld refinement of powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern and first-principles calculations for the half-Cr{sup 3+} doped YMnO{sub 3} compound. The Rietveld refinement results suggest that the compound has a monoclinic structure with the Mn{sup 3+}/Cr{sup 3+} layers alternately stacking along the [0 0 1] direction. The first-principles calculations show that the structure with layered B-site cation ordering has the lowest total energy; meanwhile, the insulating ferrimagnetic state is more favored compared to the ferromagnetic state, which is in agreement with the reported experimental results. Based upon Goodenough’s model of semi-covalent exchange, we argue that the anisotropic magnetic couplings between the Mn{sup 3+}/Cr{sup 3+} cations ordered in layered pattern play an important role for the ferrimagnetism in the compound.

  7. Grain size dependent phase stabilities and presence of a monoclinic (Pm) phase in the morphotropic phase boundary region of (1−x)Bi(Mg{sub 1/2}Ti{sub 1/2})O{sub 3}-xPbTiO{sub 3} piezoceramics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Upadhyay, Ashutosh; Singh, Akhilesh Kumar, E-mail: akhilesh-bhu@yahoo.com, E-mail: aksingh.mst@itbhu.ac.in [School of Materials Science and Technology, Indian Institute of Technology (Banaras Hindu University), Varanasi 221005 (India)

    2015-04-14

    Results of the room temperature structural studies on (1−x)Bi(Mg{sub 1/2}Ti{sub 1/2})O{sub 3}-xPbTiO{sub 3} ceramics using Rietveld analysis of the powder x-ray diffraction data in the composition range 0.28 ≤ x ≤ 0.45 are presented. The morphotropic phase boundary region exhibits coexistence of monoclinic (space group Pm) and tetragonal (space group P4 mm) phases in the composition range 0.33 ≤ x ≤ 0.40. The structure is nearly single phase monoclinic (space group Pm) in the composition range 0.28 ≤ x ≤ 0.32. The structure for the compositions with x ≥ 0.45 is found to be predominantly tetragonal with space group P4 mm. Rietveld refinement of the structure rules out the coexistence of rhombohedral and tetragonal phases in the morphotropic phase boundary region reported by earlier authors. The Rietveld structure analysis for the sample x = .35 calcined at various temperatures reveals that phase fraction of the coexisting phases in the morphotropic phase boundary region varies with grain size. The structural parameters of the two coexisting phases also change slightly with changing grain size.

  8. Study of the crystallite size of nitrosylpentacyanoferrate through refinement of structures; Estudio del tamano de cristalita de nitrosilpentacianoferratos mediante refinamiento de estructuras

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jimenez G, J.A.; Yee M, H.T. [ESFM-IPN, 07738 Mexico D.F. (Mexico); Balmaceda E, J. [IIM-UNAM, 04510 Mexico D.F. (Mexico); Reguera R, E. [CICATA-IPN, Av. Legaria 694, 11500 Mexico D.F. (Mexico)

    2006-07-01

    The development reached in the instrumentation and in the computer science of the diffraction of rays X, it has enlarged the reach of the method of powders considerably, in the resolution of crystalline structures of polycrystalline material converting it in a potent tool that, attended by spectroscopic techniques, it allows the fine characterization to atomic scale of having been accustomed to crystalline. In the thesis it is developed an effective methodology of determination of the crystallite size and structural refinement starting from data of diffraction of powders, based on the use of the equation of Sherrer for the estimate of the crystallite size and the method of Rietveld for the structural refinement; supplemented with the employment of the spectroscopic methods (IR and Moessbauer). The combined use of these techniques in the structural study of having been accustomed to crystalline lens of high complexity provides a novel and advanced work. The estimate of the crystallite size, it has been little explored to study accustomed to crystalline such as the pentacyanonitrosyl ferrates. One of the reasons for the which have intended to study the glass size in these structures it is due to that the molecular materials have attracted the attention of the international scientific community for their promissory properties in fields so diverse as: the absorption, desorption and separation of gases among others. Of the entreated information by means of databases and articles of scientific popularization were refined the structures of two compounds (NPCo and NPNi) obtained by powders diffraction; offering the possibility to develop a titled work: 'Physical description of the desorption of the water in nano structured material of nitrosyl penta cyano ferrates' which is carried out in parallel way to this thesis. This tools supplemented with the spectroscopic methods, potent the reach of the methods of diffraction of powders for the structural study of having

  9. On the refinement calculus

    CERN Document Server

    Vickers, Trevor

    1992-01-01

    On the Refinement Calculus gives one view of the development of the refinement calculus and its attempt to bring together - among other things - Z specifications and Dijkstra's programming language. It is an excellent source of reference material for all those seeking the background and mathematical underpinnings of the refinement calculus.

  10. North American refining

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Osten, James; Haltmaier, Susan

    2000-01-01

    This article examines the current status of the North American refining industry, and considers the North American economy and the growth in demand in the petroleum industry, petroleum product demand and quality, crude oil upgrading to meet product standards, and changes in crude oil feedstocks such as the use of heavier crudes and bitumens. Refining expansion, the declining profits in refining, and changes due to environmental standards are discussed. The Gross Domestic Product and oil demand for the USA, Canada, Mexico, and Venezuela for the years 1995-2020 are tabulated

  11. European refining: evolution or revolution?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cuthbert, N.

    1999-01-01

    A recent detailed analysis of the refining business in Europe (by Purvin and Gurtz) was used to highlight some key issues facing the industry. The article was written under five sub-sections: (i) economic environment (assessment of the economic prospects for Europe), (ii) energy efficiency and global warming (lists the four points of the EU car makers' voluntary agreement), (iii) fuel quality and refinery investment (iv) refinery capacity and utilisation and (v) industry structure and development. Diagrams show GDP per capita for East and West, European road fuel demand to 2015 and European net trade and European refinery ownership by crude capacity. It was concluded that the future of refining in Europe is 'exciting and challenging' and there are likely to be more large joint venture refineries. (UK)

  12. 3Drefine: an interactive web server for efficient protein structure refinement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhattacharya, Debswapna; Nowotny, Jackson; Cao, Renzhi; Cheng, Jianlin

    2016-07-08

    3Drefine is an interactive web server for consistent and computationally efficient protein structure refinement with the capability to perform web-based statistical and visual analysis. The 3Drefine refinement protocol utilizes iterative optimization of hydrogen bonding network combined with atomic-level energy minimization on the optimized model using a composite physics and knowledge-based force fields for efficient protein structure refinement. The method has been extensively evaluated on blind CASP experiments as well as on large-scale and diverse benchmark datasets and exhibits consistent improvement over the initial structure in both global and local structural quality measures. The 3Drefine web server allows for convenient protein structure refinement through a text or file input submission, email notification, provided example submission and is freely available without any registration requirement. The server also provides comprehensive analysis of submissions through various energy and statistical feedback and interactive visualization of multiple refined models through the JSmol applet that is equipped with numerous protein model analysis tools. The web server has been extensively tested and used by many users. As a result, the 3Drefine web server conveniently provides a useful tool easily accessible to the community. The 3Drefine web server has been made publicly available at the URL: http://sysbio.rnet.missouri.edu/3Drefine/. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

  13. Refinement of Parallel and Reactive Programs

    OpenAIRE

    Back, R. J. R.

    1992-01-01

    We show how to apply the refinement calculus to stepwise refinement of parallel and reactive programs. We use action systems as our basic program model. Action systems are sequential programs which can be implemented in a parallel fashion. Hence refinement calculus methods, originally developed for sequential programs, carry over to the derivation of parallel programs. Refinement of reactive programs is handled by data refinement techniques originally developed for the sequential refinement c...

  14. Assessment of firing conditions in old fired-clay bricks. The contribution of X-ray powder diffraction with the Rietveld method and small angle neutron scattering

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Viani, Alberto; Sotiriadis, Konstantinos; Len, A.; Šašek, Petr; Ševčík, Radek

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 116, June (2016), s. 33-43 ISSN 1044-5803 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) LO1219 Keywords : fired- clay brick * Rietveld method * small angle neutron scattering * X-ray diffraction * firing temperature Subject RIV: AL - Art, Architecture, Cultural Heritage Impact factor: 2.714, year: 2016 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1044580316300870

  15. A novel LaFeO3−XNX oxynitride. Synthesis and characterization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sierra Gallego, G.; Marín Alzate, N.; Arnache, O.

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: ► LaFeO 3 perovskite synthesized by auto combustion method. ► LaFeO 3−X N X oxynitride produced by ammonolysis reaction. ► Oxynitride characterized by XRD, Rietveld, SEM, EDX, BET, Raman, TGA and FTIR. ► Partial replacement of oxygen by nitrogen increases slightly the cell parameters. ► TGA shows that oxynitride start to decompose in air above 550 °C. Evolution of N 2 and NO was detected. - Abstract: A perovskite LaFeO 3 was synthesized by auto combustion method and then LaFeO 3−X N X oxynitride was produced by ammonolysis reaction. The synthesized LaFeO 3−X N X oxynitride was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Rietveld refinement, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) nitrogen adsorption, particle size distribution, Raman spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Nitrogen effect into the perovskite structure was confirmed by DRX. The structure refinement using the Rietveld method indicates that partial replacement of oxygen by nitrogen increases slightly the cell parameters of the LaFeO 3 perovskite. FTIR analysis show that bands at 995 and 1070 cm −1 in the oxynitrides spectra could be assigned to the stretching vibration modes of Fe–N bonds in the FeO 6−X N X octahedral. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that LaFeO 3−X N X oxynitride series start to decompose in air above 550 °C. During the decomposition it was found that some amount of nitrogen stays retained in the structure forming intermediate compounds. MS analysis of the gaseous products reveals the evolution of N 2 and NO, suggesting a complex reaction mechanism. To our knowledge, there are no reports on the synthesis and characterization of the LaFeO 3−X N X oxynitrides.

  16. Accurate quantitative XRD phase analysis of cement clinkers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kern, A.

    2002-01-01

    Full text: Knowledge about the absolute phase abundance in cement clinkers is a requirement for both, research and quality control. Traditionally, quantitative analysis of cement clinkers has been carried out by theoretical normative calculation from chemical analysis using the so-called Bogue method or by optical microscopy. Therefore chemical analysis, mostly performed by X-ray fluorescence (XRF), forms the basis of cement plan control by providing information for proportioning raw materials, adjusting kiln and burning conditions, as well as cement mill feed proportioning. In addition, XRF is of highest importance with respect to the environmentally relevant control of waste recovery raw materials and alternative fuels, as well as filters, plants and sewage. However, the performance of clinkers and cements is governed by the mineralogy and not the elemental composition, and the deficiencies and inherent errors of Bogue as well as microscopic point counting are well known. With XRD and Rietveld analysis a full quantitative analysis of cement clinkers can be performed providing detailed mineralogical information about the product. Until recently several disadvantages prevented the frequent application of the Rietveld method in the cement industry. As the measurement of a full pattern is required, extended measurement times made an integration of this method into existing automation environments difficult. In addition, several drawbacks of existing Rietveld software such as complexity, low performance and severe numerical instability were prohibitive for automated use. The latest developments of on-line instrumentation, as well as dedicated Rietveld software for quantitative phase analysis (TOPAS), now make a decisive breakthrough possible. TOPAS not only allows the analysis of extremely complex phase mixtures in the shortest time possible, but also a fully automated online phase analysis for production control and quality management, free of any human interaction

  17. New bismuth calcium oxysilicate with apatite structure: Synthesis and structural characterization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Uvarov, Vladimir; Shenawi-Khalil, Sanaa; Popov, Inna

    2010-01-01

    New bismuth calcium silicon oxide Ca 4 Bi 4.3 (SiO 4 )(HSiO 4 ) 5 O 0.95 , with apatite structure has been synthesized. The structure was refined from powder X-ray diffraction data. The refinement revealed that the phase has P6 3 /m (176) space group with unit cell parameters a=b=9.6090(7) A, c=7.0521(7) A, V=563.9 A 3 and c/a=0.734. The R wp factor at Rietveld refinement was equal to 0.082. The synthesized phase has an unusual quantity of cation vacancies in a crystal lattice. Mechanisms of compensation of the excess charge of a lattice are considered and checked experimentally using the FT-IR spectroscopy, the thermal analysis and the XPS analysis. - Graphical abstract: The fragment Ca 4 Bi 4.3 (SiO 4 )(HSiO 4 ) 5 O 0.95 structure along c-axis in polygonal mode.

  18. Refinement of the X-linked cataract locus (CXN) and gene analysis for CXN and Nance-Horan syndrome (NHS).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brooks, Simon; Ebenezer, Neil; Poopalasundaram, Subathra; Maher, Eamonn; Francis, Peter; Moore, Anthony; Hardcastle, Alison

    2004-06-01

    The X-linked congenital cataract (CXN) locus has been mapped to a 3-cM (approximately 3.5 Mb) interval on chromosome Xp22.13, which is syntenic to the mouse cataract disease locus Xcat and encompasses the recently refined Nance-Horan syndrome (NHS) locus. A positional cloning strategy has been adopted to identify the causative gene. In an attempt to refine the CXN locus, seven microsatellites were analysed within 21 individuals of a CXN family. Haplotypes were reconstructed confirming disease segregation with markers on Xp22.13. In addition, a proximal cross-over was observed between markers S3 and S4, thereby refining the CXN disease interval by approximately 400 Kb to 3.2 Mb, flanked by markers DXS9902 and S4. Two known genes (RAI2 and RBBP7) and a novel gene (TL1) were screened for mutations within an affected male from the CXN family and an NHS family by direct sequencing of coding exons and intron- exon splice sites. No mutations or polymorphisms were identified, therefore excluding them as disease-causative in CXN and NHS. In conclusion, the CXN locus has been successfully refined and excludes PPEF1 as a candidate gene. A further three candidates were excluded based on sequence analysis. Future positional cloning efforts will focus on the region of overlap between CXN, Xcat, and NHS.

  19. Southeast Asian oil markets and refining

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yamaguchi, N.D. [FACTS, Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii (United States)

    1999-09-01

    An overview of the Southeast Asian oil markets and refining is presented concentrating on Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand refiners. Key statistics of the refiners in this region are tabulated. The demand and the quality of Indonesian, Malaysian, Philippine, Singapore and Thai petroleum products are analysed. Crude distillation unit capacity trends in the Southeastern Asian refining industry are discussed along with cracking to distillation ratios, refining in these countries, and the impact of changes in demand and refining on the product trade.

  20. Southeast Asian oil markets and refining

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamaguchi, N.D.

    1999-01-01

    An overview of the Southeast Asian oil markets and refining is presented concentrating on Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand refiners. Key statistics of the refiners in this region are tabulated. The demand and the quality of Indonesian, Malaysian, Philippine, Singapore and Thai petroleum products are analysed. Crude distillation unit capacity trends in the Southeastern Asian refining industry are discussed along with cracking to distillation ratios, refining in these countries, and the impact of changes in demand and refining on the product trade

  1. Analysis and development of spatial hp-refinement methods for solving the neutron transport equation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fournier, D.

    2011-01-01

    The different neutronic parameters have to be calculated with a higher accuracy in order to design the 4. generation reactor cores. As memory storage and computation time are limited, adaptive methods are a solution to solve the neutron transport equation. The neutronic flux, solution of this equation, depends on the energy, angle and space. The different variables are successively discretized. The energy with a multigroup approach, considering the different quantities to be constant on each group, the angle by a collocation method called SN approximation. Once the energy and angle variable are discretized, a system of spatially-dependent hyperbolic equations has to be solved. Discontinuous finite elements are used to make possible the development of hp-refinement methods. Thus, the accuracy of the solution can be improved by spatial refinement (h-refinement), consisting into subdividing a cell into sub-cells, or by order refinement (p-refinement), by increasing the order of the polynomial basis. In this thesis, the properties of this methods are analyzed showing the importance of the regularity of the solution to choose the type of refinement. Thus, two error estimators are used to lead the refinement process. Whereas the first one requires high regularity hypothesis (analytical solution), the second one supposes only the minimal hypothesis required for the solution to exist. The comparison of both estimators is done on benchmarks where the analytic solution is known by the method of manufactured solutions. Thus, the behaviour of the solution as a regard of the regularity can be studied. It leads to a hp-refinement method using the two estimators. Then, a comparison is done with other existing methods on simplified but also realistic benchmarks coming from nuclear cores. These adaptive methods considerably reduces the computational cost and memory footprint. To further improve these two points, an approach with energy-dependent meshes is proposed. Actually, as the

  2. Effect of strontium on the grain refining efficiency of Mg-3Al alloy refined by carbon inoculation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Du Jun; Yang Jian; Kuwabara, Mamoru; Li Wenfang; Peng Jihua

    2009-01-01

    The effect of Sr on the grain refining efficiency of the Mg-3Al alloy refined by carbon inoculation has been investigated in the present study. A significant grain refinement was obtained for the Mg-3Al alloy treated with either 0.2% C or 0.2% Sr. The Al-C-O particles were found in the sample refined by 0.2% C, and the element O should come from reaction between Al 4 C 3 nuclei of Mg grains and water during the process of sample preparation. The grain size of the sample refined by carbon inoculation was further decreased after the combined addition of Sr. The grain size decreased with increasing Sr content. Much higher refining efficiency was obtained when the Sr addition was increased to 0.5%. Sr is an effective element to improve the grain refining efficiency for the Mg-Al alloys refined by carbon inoculation. The number of Al 4 C 3 particles in the sample refined by the combination of carbon and Sr was more than that in the sample refined by only carbon. No Al-C-O-Sr-rich particles were obviously found in the sample refined by the combination of carbon and a little (<0.5%) Sr addition

  3. Linearly Refined Session Types

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pedro Baltazar

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Session types capture precise protocol structure in concurrent programming, but do not specify properties of the exchanged values beyond their basic type. Refinement types are a form of dependent types that can address this limitation, combining types with logical formulae that may refer to program values and can constrain types using arbitrary predicates. We present a pi calculus with assume and assert operations, typed using a session discipline that incorporates refinement formulae written in a fragment of Multiplicative Linear Logic. Our original combination of session and refinement types, together with the well established benefits of linearity, allows very fine-grained specifications of communication protocols in which refinement formulae are treated as logical resources rather than persistent truths.

  4. Analysis of crystallite size and microdeformation crystal lattice the tungsten carbide milling in mill high energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva, F.T. da; Nunes, M.A.M.; Souza, C.P. de; Gomes, U.U.

    2010-01-01

    The tungsten carbide (WC) has wide application due to its properties like high melting point, high hardness, wear resistance, oxidation resistance and good electrical conductivity. The microstructural characteristics of the starting powders influences the final properties of the carbide. In this context, the use of nanoparticle powders is an efficient way to improve the final properties of the WC. The high energy milling stands out from other processes to obtain nanometric powders due to constant microstructural changes caused by this process. Therefore, the objective is to undertake an analysis of microstructural characteristics on the crystallite size and microdeformations of the crystal lattice using the technique of X-ray diffraction (XRD) using the Rietveld refinement. The results show an efficiency of the milling process to reduce the crystallite size, leading to a significant deformation in the crystal lattice of WC from 5h milling. (author)

  5. Synthesis and crystal structure of the quaternary compound AgFe{sub 2}GaTe{sub 4}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Delgado, Gerzon E., E-mail: gerzon@ula.ve [Laboratorio de Cristalografía, Departamento de Química, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida 5101 (Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of); Quintero, Eugenio; Tovar, Rafael; Grima-Gallardo, Pedro; Quintero, Miguel [Centro de Estudio de Semiconductores, Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Los Andes, Mérida 5101 (Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of)

    2014-11-15

    Highlights: • New quaternary compound. • Synthesis from solid state reaction. • Crystal structure. • Rietveld refinement. - Abstract: The crystal structure of the quaternary compound AgFe{sub 2}GaTe{sub 4}, belonging to the system I–II{sub 2}–III–VI{sub 4}, was characterized by Rietveld refinement using X-ray powder diffraction data. The powder pattern was composed by 84.5% of the principal phase AgFe{sub 2}GaTe{sub 4} and 15.5% of the secondary phase FeTe. This material crystallizes with stannite structure in the tetragonal space group I-42m (N° 121), Z = 2, unit cell parameters a = 6.3409(2) Å, c = 12.0233(4) Å, V = 483.42(3) Å{sup 3}, and is isostructural with CuFe{sub 2}InSe{sub 4}.

  6. Rietveld refinement of KLaTiO4 from X-ray powder data

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bai-Chuan Zhu

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Potassium lanthanum titanate(IV, KLaTiO4, has been synthesized by conventional solid-state reaction. It crystallizes isotypically with the NaLnTiO4 (Ln = La, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Y and Lu family. Five of the six atoms in the asymmetric unit (one K, one La, one Ti and two O atoms are situated on sites with 4mm symmetry, whereas one O atom has 2mm. site symmetry. The crystal structure can be described as being composed of single layers of distorted corner-sharing TiO6 octahedra extending parallel to (001. The layers are alternately separated by K+ and La3+ cations along [001]. The coordination number of both K+ and La3+ cations is nine, resulting in distorted KO9 and LaO9 polyhedra.

  7. Assume-Guarantee Abstraction Refinement Meets Hybrid Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bogomolov, Sergiy; Frehse, Goran; Greitschus, Marius; Grosu, Radu; Pasareanu, Corina S.; Podelski, Andreas; Strump, Thomas

    2014-01-01

    Compositional verification techniques in the assume- guarantee style have been successfully applied to transition systems to efficiently reduce the search space by leveraging the compositional nature of the systems under consideration. We adapt these techniques to the domain of hybrid systems with affine dynamics. To build assumptions we introduce an abstraction based on location merging. We integrate the assume-guarantee style analysis with automatic abstraction refinement. We have implemented our approach in the symbolic hybrid model checker SpaceEx. The evaluation shows its practical potential. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work combining assume-guarantee reasoning with automatic abstraction-refinement in the context of hybrid automata.

  8. European oil refining: strategies for a competitive future

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    MacDonald, James.

    1997-07-01

    European Oil Refining investigates how the industry came to be in crisis and what the future holds. As well as an extensive analysis of past and present market shifts, the report predicts likely future developments and their consequences for investors. The report reviews the European oil sector in a global context, calculates the cost to refiners of key environmental legislation, assesses the problems caused by changing product demand and crude supply, examines possible solutions to the problems of low margins and overcapacity, evaluates the key players' main strategies to increase their competitiveness, analyses the western European oil refining industry by country, details the refinery operations of the major countries of central and eastern Europe, profiles 15 of the major oil companies and estimates the increase in investment required as a result of legislative and demand changes. (author)

  9. Neutron diffraction studies on Ca1− xBaxZr4P6O24 solid solutions

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    P6O24 compositions from combined Rietveld refinements of powder X-ray and neutron diffraction data. All the studied compositions crystallize in rhombohedral lattice (space group R-3 No. 148). A continuous solid solution is concluded from ...

  10. Minimization of absorption contrast for accurate amorphous phase quantification: application to ZrO.sub.2./sub. nanoparticles

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Suzuki-Muresan, T.; Deniard, P.; Gautron, E.; Petříček, Václav; Jobic, S.; Grambow, B.

    2010-01-01

    Roč. 43, Part 5 (2010), 1092-1099 ISSN 0021-8898 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10100521 Keywords : x-ray diffraction * Rietveld refinement * nanoparticles Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 3.794, year: 2010

  11. Bayesian ensemble refinement by replica simulations and reweighting

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hummer, Gerhard; Köfinger, Jürgen

    2015-12-01

    We describe different Bayesian ensemble refinement methods, examine their interrelation, and discuss their practical application. With ensemble refinement, the properties of dynamic and partially disordered (bio)molecular structures can be characterized by integrating a wide range of experimental data, including measurements of ensemble-averaged observables. We start from a Bayesian formulation in which the posterior is a functional that ranks different configuration space distributions. By maximizing this posterior, we derive an optimal Bayesian ensemble distribution. For discrete configurations, this optimal distribution is identical to that obtained by the maximum entropy "ensemble refinement of SAXS" (EROS) formulation. Bayesian replica ensemble refinement enhances the sampling of relevant configurations by imposing restraints on averages of observables in coupled replica molecular dynamics simulations. We show that the strength of the restraints should scale linearly with the number of replicas to ensure convergence to the optimal Bayesian result in the limit of infinitely many replicas. In the "Bayesian inference of ensembles" method, we combine the replica and EROS approaches to accelerate the convergence. An adaptive algorithm can be used to sample directly from the optimal ensemble, without replicas. We discuss the incorporation of single-molecule measurements and dynamic observables such as relaxation parameters. The theoretical analysis of different Bayesian ensemble refinement approaches provides a basis for practical applications and a starting point for further investigations.

  12. Commercial refining in the Mediterranean

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Packer, P.

    1999-01-01

    About 9% of the world's oil refining capacity is on the Mediterranean: some of the world's biggest and most advanced refineries are on Sicily and Sardinia. The Mediterranean refineries are important suppliers to southern Europe and N. Africa. The article discusses commercial refining in the Mediterranean under the headings of (i) historic development, (ii) product demand, (iii) refinery configurations, (iv) refined product trade, (v) financial performance and (vi) future outlook. Although some difficulties are foreseen, refining in the Mediterranean is likely to continue to be important well into the 21st century. (UK)

  13. Techno-economic analysis of the deacetylation and disk refining process: characterizing the effect of refining energy and enzyme usage on minimum sugar selling price and minimum ethanol selling price.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Xiaowen; Shekiro, Joseph; Pschorn, Thomas; Sabourin, Marc; Tucker, Melvin P; Tao, Ling

    2015-01-01

    A novel, highly efficient deacetylation and disk refining (DDR) process to liberate fermentable sugars from biomass was recently developed at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The DDR process consists of a mild, dilute alkaline deacetylation step followed by low-energy-consumption disk refining. The DDR corn stover substrates achieved high process sugar conversion yields, at low to modest enzyme loadings, and also produced high sugar concentration syrups at high initial insoluble solid loadings. The sugar syrups derived from corn stover are highly fermentable due to low concentrations of fermentation inhibitors. The objective of this work is to evaluate the economic feasibility of the DDR process through a techno-economic analysis (TEA). A large array of experiments designed using a response surface methodology was carried out to investigate the two major cost-driven operational parameters of the novel DDR process: refining energy and enzyme loadings. The boundary conditions for refining energy (128-468 kWh/ODMT), cellulase (Novozyme's CTec3) loading (11.6-28.4 mg total protein/g of cellulose), and hemicellulase (Novozyme's HTec3) loading (0-5 mg total protein/g of cellulose) were chosen to cover the most commercially practical operating conditions. The sugar and ethanol yields were modeled with good adequacy, showing a positive linear correlation between those yields and refining energy and enzyme loadings. The ethanol yields ranged from 77 to 89 gallons/ODMT of corn stover. The minimum sugar selling price (MSSP) ranged from $0.191 to $0.212 per lb of 50 % concentrated monomeric sugars, while the minimum ethanol selling price (MESP) ranged from $2.24 to $2.54 per gallon of ethanol. The DDR process concept is evaluated for economic feasibility through TEA. The MSSP and MESP of the DDR process falls within a range similar to that found with the deacetylation/dilute acid pretreatment process modeled in NREL's 2011 design report. The DDR process is

  14. Refining Nodes and Edges of State Machines

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hallerstede, Stefan; Snook, Colin

    2011-01-01

    State machines are hierarchical automata that are widely used to structure complex behavioural specifications. We develop two notions of refinement of state machines, node refinement and edge refinement. We compare the two notions by means of examples and argue that, by adopting simple conventions...... refinement theory and UML-B state machine refinement influences the style of node refinement. Hence we propose a method with direct proof of state machine refinement avoiding the detour via Event-B that is needed by UML-B....

  15. Structure refinement of polycrystalline orthorhombic yttrium ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    The perovskite ceramic phases with composition Ca1−YTiO3+ (where = 0.1, 0.2 and 0.3; hereafter CYT-10, CYT-20 and CYT-30) have been synthesized by solid state reaction at 1050°C. The structure refinement using general structure analysis system (GSAS) software converges to satisfactory profile indicators ...

  16. Grain refinement of permanent mold cast copper base alloys. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sadayappan, M.; Thomson, J. P.; Elboujdaini, M.; Gu, G. Ping; Sahoo, M.

    2004-04-29

    Grain refinement behavior of copper alloys cast in permanent molds was investigated. This is one of the least studied subjects in copper alloy castings. Grain refinement is not widely practiced for leaded copper alloys cast in sand molds. Aluminum bronzes and high strength yellow brasses, cast in sand and permanent molds, were usually fine grained due to the presence of more than 2% iron. Grain refinement of the most common permanent mold casting alloys, leaded yellow brass and its lead-free replacement EnviroBrass III, is not universally accepted due to the perceived problem of hard spots in finished castings and for the same reason these alloys contain very low amounts of iron. The yellow brasses and Cu-Si alloys are gaining popularity in North America due to their low lead content and amenability for permanent mold casting. These alloys are prone to hot tearing in permanent mold casting. Grain refinement is one of the solutions for reducing this problem. However, to use this technique it is necessary to understand the mechanism of grain refinement and other issues involved in the process. The following issues were studied during this three year project funded by the US Department of Energy and the copper casting industry: (1) Effect of alloying additions on the grain size of Cu-Zn alloys and their interaction with grain refiners; (2) Effect of two grain refining elements, boron and zirconium, on the grain size of four copper alloys, yellow brass, EnviroBrass II, silicon brass and silicon bronze and the duration of their effect (fading); (3) Prediction of grain refinement using cooling curve analysis and use of this method as an on-line quality control tool; (4) Hard spot formation in yellow brass and EnviroBrass due to grain refinement; (5) Corrosion resistance of the grain refined alloys; (6) Transfer the technology to permanent mold casting foundries; It was found that alloying elements such as tin and zinc do not change the grain size of Cu-Zn alloys

  17. NOMAD-Ref: visualization, deformation and refinement of macromolecular structures based on all-atom normal mode analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindahl, Erik; Azuara, Cyril; Koehl, Patrice; Delarue, Marc

    2006-07-01

    Normal mode analysis (NMA) is an efficient way to study collective motions in biomolecules that bypasses the computational costs and many limitations associated with full dynamics simulations. The NOMAD-Ref web server presented here provides tools for online calculation of the normal modes of large molecules (up to 100,000 atoms) maintaining a full all-atom representation of their structures, as well as access to a number of programs that utilize these collective motions for deformation and refinement of biomolecular structures. Applications include the generation of sets of decoys with correct stereochemistry but arbitrary large amplitude movements, the quantification of the overlap between alternative conformations of a molecule, refinement of structures against experimental data, such as X-ray diffraction structure factors or Cryo-EM maps and optimization of docked complexes by modeling receptor/ligand flexibility through normal mode motions. The server can be accessed at the URL http://lorentz.immstr.pasteur.fr/nomad-ref.php.

  18. Anomalies in the refinement of isoleucine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berntsen, Karen R. M.; Vriend, Gert

    2014-01-01

    The side-chain torsion angles of isoleucines in X-ray protein structures are a function of resolution, secondary structure and refinement software. Detailing the standard torsion angles used in refinement software can improve protein structure refinement. A study of isoleucines in protein structures solved using X-ray crystallography revealed a series of systematic trends for the two side-chain torsion angles χ 1 and χ 2 dependent on the resolution, secondary structure and refinement software used. The average torsion angles for the nine rotamers were similar in high-resolution structures solved using either the REFMAC, CNS or PHENIX software. However, at low resolution these programs often refine towards somewhat different χ 1 and χ 2 values. Small systematic differences can be observed between refinement software that uses molecular dynamics-type energy terms (for example CNS) and software that does not use these terms (for example REFMAC). Detailing the standard torsion angles used in refinement software can improve the refinement of protein structures. The target values in the molecular dynamics-type energy functions can also be improved

  19. Anomalies in the refinement of isoleucine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Berntsen, Karen R. M.; Vriend, Gert, E-mail: gerrit.vriend@radboudumc.nl [Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein 26-28, 6525 GA Nijmegen (Netherlands)

    2014-04-01

    The side-chain torsion angles of isoleucines in X-ray protein structures are a function of resolution, secondary structure and refinement software. Detailing the standard torsion angles used in refinement software can improve protein structure refinement. A study of isoleucines in protein structures solved using X-ray crystallography revealed a series of systematic trends for the two side-chain torsion angles χ{sub 1} and χ{sub 2} dependent on the resolution, secondary structure and refinement software used. The average torsion angles for the nine rotamers were similar in high-resolution structures solved using either the REFMAC, CNS or PHENIX software. However, at low resolution these programs often refine towards somewhat different χ{sub 1} and χ{sub 2} values. Small systematic differences can be observed between refinement software that uses molecular dynamics-type energy terms (for example CNS) and software that does not use these terms (for example REFMAC). Detailing the standard torsion angles used in refinement software can improve the refinement of protein structures. The target values in the molecular dynamics-type energy functions can also be improved.

  20. Grain refinement of zinc-aluminium alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zaid, A.I.O.

    2006-01-01

    It is now well-established that the structure of the zinc-aluminum die casting alloys can be modified by the binary Al-Ti or the ternary Al-Ti-B master alloys. in this paper, grain refinement of zinc-aluminum alloys by rare earth materials is reviewed and discussed. The importance of grain refining of these alloys and parameters affecting it are presented and discussed. These include parameters related to the Zn-Al alloys cast, parameters related to the grain refining elements or alloys and parameters related to the process. The effect of addition of other alloying elements e.g. Zr either alone or in the presence of the main grain refiners Ti or Ti + B on the grain refining efficiency is also reviewed and discussed. Furthermore, based on the grain refinement and the parameters affecting it, a criterion for selection of the optimum grain refiner is suggested. Finally, the recent research work on the effect of grain refiners on the mechanical behaviour, impact strength, wear resistance, and fatigue life of these alloys are presented and discussed. (author)

  1. Multiscale Biological Materials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frølich, Simon

    of multiscale biological systems have been investigated and new research methods for automated Rietveld refinement and diffraction scattering computed tomography developed. The composite nature of biological materials was investigated at the atomic scale by looking at the consequences of interactions between...

  2. Refining and petrochemicals

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Constancio, Silva

    2006-07-01

    In 2004, refining margins showed a clear improvement that persisted throughout the first three quarters of 2005. This enabled oil companies to post significantly higher earnings for their refining activity in 2004 compared to 2003, with the results of the first half of 2005 confirming this trend. As for petrochemicals, despite a steady rise in the naphtha price, higher cash margins enabled a turnaround in 2004 as well as a clear improvement in oil company financial performance that should continue in 2005, judging by the net income figures reported for the first half-year. Despite this favorable business environment, capital expenditure in refining and petrochemicals remained at a low level, especially investment in new capacity, but a number of projects are being planned for the next five years. (author)

  3. Refining and petrochemicals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Constancio, Silva

    2006-01-01

    In 2004, refining margins showed a clear improvement that persisted throughout the first three quarters of 2005. This enabled oil companies to post significantly higher earnings for their refining activity in 2004 compared to 2003, with the results of the first half of 2005 confirming this trend. As for petrochemicals, despite a steady rise in the naphtha price, higher cash margins enabled a turnaround in 2004 as well as a clear improvement in oil company financial performance that should continue in 2005, judging by the net income figures reported for the first half-year. Despite this favorable business environment, capital expenditure in refining and petrochemicals remained at a low level, especially investment in new capacity, but a number of projects are being planned for the next five years. (author)

  4. Investigation on the formation of Cu-Fe nano crystalline super-saturated solid solution developed by mechanical alloying

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mojtahedi, M., E-mail: m.mojtahedi@gmail.com [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran 16846-13114 (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Goodarzi, M.; Aboutalebi, M.R. [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran 16846-13114 (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Ghaffari, M. [Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, UNAM-Institute of Materials Science and Nanotechnology, Bilkent University, Ankara 06800 (Turkey); Soleimanian, V. [Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Shahrekord University, P.O. Box 115, Shahrekord (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

    2013-02-15

    Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The deformation of the mechanically alloyed Cu-Fe powder is anisotropic. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The Rietveld method is more proper and results in smaller crystallite size than the Scherer and Williamson-Hall methods. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A dual phase super saturated solid solution achieved after 96 h of milling of the mixtures with 30, 50 and 70 wt.% of Iron. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A final proportion of approximately 85% FCC and 15% BCC structure obtained in all of the applied compositions. - Abstract: In this study, the formation of super saturated solid solution in the binary Cu-Fe system was investigated. Three powder blends with 30, 50 and 70 wt.% of Fe were milled for different times to 96 h. The variations of lattice parameter and inter-planar spacing were calculated and analyzed using X-ray diffraction analysis (XDA). The anisotropy of lattice deformation in the FCC phase was studied and the obtained results were compared to milled pure Cu powder. Furthermore, crystallite size was calculated using Scherer formula in comparison with Rietveld full profile refinement method. Considering the previous studies about the formation of non-equilibrium FCC and BCC phases, the phase evolution has been discussed and the proportion of each phase was calculated using Rietveld refinement method. Supplementary studies on the evolution of microstructure and formation of solid solution were carried out using high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). Finally, high angle annular dark field (HAADF) imaging was utilized to find out the level of homogeneity in the resulting phases. While true alloying takes place in each phase, the final structure consists of both FCC and BCC nano-crystallites.

  5. Grain refinement of aluminum and its alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zaid, A.I.O.

    2001-01-01

    Grain refinement of aluminum and its alloys by the binary Al-Ti and Ternary Al-Ti-B master alloys is reviewed and discussed. The importance of grain refining to the cast industry and the parameters affecting it are presented and discussed. These include parameters related to the cast, parameters related to the grain refining alloy and parameters related to the process. The different mechanisms, suggested in the literature for the process of grain refining are presented and discussed, from which it is found that although the mechanism of refining by the binary Al-Ti is well established the mechanism of grain refining by the ternary Al-Ti-B is still a controversial matter and some research work is still needed in this area. The effect of the addition of other alloying elements in the presence of the grain refiner on the grain refining efficiency is also reviewed and discussed. It is found that some elements e.g. V, Mo, C improves the grain refining efficiency, whereas other elements e.g. Cr, Zr, Ta poisons the grain refinement. Based on the parameters affecting the grain refinement and its mechanism, a criterion for selection of the optimum grain refiner is forwarded and discussed. (author)

  6. Refined isogeometric analysis for a preconditioned conjugate gradient solver

    KAUST Repository

    Garcia, Daniel

    2018-02-12

    Starting from a highly continuous Isogeometric Analysis (IGA) discretization, refined Isogeometric Analysis (rIGA) introduces C0 hyperplanes that act as separators for the direct LU factorization solver. As a result, the total computational cost required to solve the corresponding system of equations using a direct LU factorization solver dramatically reduces (up to a factor of 55) Garcia et al. (2017). At the same time, rIGA enriches the IGA spaces, thus improving the best approximation error. In this work, we extend the complexity analysis of rIGA to the case of iterative solvers. We build an iterative solver as follows: we first construct the Schur complements using a direct solver over small subdomains (macro-elements). We then assemble those Schur complements into a global skeleton system. Subsequently, we solve this system iteratively using Conjugate Gradients (CG) with an incomplete LU (ILU) preconditioner. For a 2D Poisson model problem with a structured mesh and a uniform polynomial degree of approximation, rIGA achieves moderate savings with respect to IGA in terms of the number of Floating Point Operations (FLOPs) and computational time (in seconds) required to solve the resulting system of linear equations. For instance, for a mesh with four million elements and polynomial degree p=3, the iterative solver is approximately 2.6 times faster (in time) when applied to the rIGA system than to the IGA one. These savings occur because the skeleton rIGA system contains fewer non-zero entries than the IGA one. The opposite situation occurs for 3D problems, and as a result, 3D rIGA discretizations provide no gains with respect to their IGA counterparts when considering iterative solvers.

  7. Smaller calcite lattice deformation caused by occluded organic material in coccoliths than in mollusk shell

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Frølich, Simon; Sørensen, Henning Osholm; Hakim, Sepideh Sadat

    2015-01-01

    The growth and nucleation of biominerals are directed and affected by associated biological molecules. In this paper, we investigate the influence of occluded biomolecules on biogenic calcite from the coccolithophorid Pleurochrysis carterae and from chalk, a rock composed predominantly of fossil....... Two heating cycles allow us to differentiate the effects of thermal agitation and organic molecules. Single peak analysis and Rietveld refinement were combined to show significant differences resulting from the occluded biomolecules on the mineral phase in biogenic calcite in the mollusk shell...

  8. Microstructure characterization and cation distribution of nanocrystalline cobalt ferrite

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Abbas, Y.M., E-mail: ymabbas@live.com [Suez Canal University, Faculty of Science, Physics Department, Ismailia (Egypt); Mansour, S.A.; Ibrahim, M.H. [Suez Canal University, Faculty of Science, Physics Department, Ismailia (Egypt); Ali, Shehab E., E-mail: shehab_physics@yahoo.com [Suez Canal University, Faculty of Science, Physics Department, Ismailia (Egypt)

    2011-11-15

    Nanocrystalline cobalt ferrite has been synthesized using two different methods: ceramic and co-precipitation techniques. The nanocrystalline ferrite phase has been formed after 3 h of sintering at 1000 deg. C. The structural and microstructural evolutions of the nanophase have been studied using X-ray powder diffraction and the Rietveld method. The refinement result showed that the type of the cationic distribution over the tetrahedral and octahedral sites in the nanocrystalline lattice is partially an inverse spinel. The transmission electronic microscope analysis confirmed the X-ray results. The magnetic properties of the samples were characterized using a vibrating sample magnetometer. - Highlights: > The refinement result showed that the cationic distribution over the sites in the lattice is partially an inverse spinel. > The transmission electronic microscope analysis confirmed the X-ray results. > The magnetic properties of the samples were characterized using a vibrating sample magnetometer.

  9. Niobium-base grain refiner for aluminium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva Pontes, P. da; Robert, M.H.; Cupini, N.L.

    1980-01-01

    A new chemical grain refiner for aluminium has been developed, using inoculation of a niobium-base compound. When a bath of molten aluminium is inoculated whith this refiner, an intermetallic aluminium-niobium compound is formed which acts as a powerful nucleant, producing extremely fine structure comparable to those obtained by means of the traditional grain refiner based on titanium and boron. It was found that the refinement of the structure depends upon the weight percentage of the new refiner inoculated as well as the time of holding the bath after inoculation and before pouring, but mainly on the inoculating temperature. (Author) [pt

  10. Indian refining industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Singh, I.J.

    2002-01-01

    The author discusses the history of the Indian refining industry and ongoing developments under the headings: the present state; refinery configuration; Indian capabilities for refinery projects; and reforms in the refining industry. Tables lists India's petroleum refineries giving location and capacity; new refinery projects together with location and capacity; and expansion projects of Indian petroleum refineries. The Indian refinery industry has undergone substantial expansion as well as technological changes over the past years. There has been progressive technology upgrading, energy efficiency, better environmental control and improved capacity utilisation. Major reform processes have been set in motion by the government of India: converting the refining industry from a centrally controlled public sector dominated industry to a delicensed regime in a competitive market economy with the introduction of a liberal exploration policy; dismantling the administered price mechanism; and a 25 year hydrocarbon vision. (UK)

  11. Spanish Refining

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lores, F.R.

    2001-01-01

    An overview of petroleum refining in Spain is presented (by Repsol YPF) and some views on future trends are discussed. Spain depends heavily on imports. Sub-headings in the article cover: sources of crude imports, investments and logistics and marketing, -detailed data for each are shown diagrammatically. Tables show: (1) economic indicators (e.g. total GDP, vehicle numbers and inflation) for 1998-200; (2) crude oil imports for 1995-2000; (3) oil products balance for 1995-2000; (4) commodities demand, by product; (5) refining in Spain in terms of capacity per region; (6) outlets in Spain and other European countries in 2002 and (7) sales distribution channel by product

  12. Magnetic and ferroelectric characteristics of Gd 3 + and Ti 4 + co ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    The crystallographicsite occupancies of Gd and Ti were confirmed by Rietveld refinement of XRD data,Mössbauer spectroscopy and magnetization measurements. An enhancement in ferromagnetic properties along with moderate ferroelectricproperties have been observed after co-doping. There was an increasing trend in ...

  13. The iron member of the CPO-27 coordination polymer series: Synthesis, characterization, and intriguing redox properties

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Märcz, Matthias; Johnsen, Rune; Dietzel, Pascal D.C.

    2012-01-01

    The microporous coordination polymer CPO-27-Fe was synthesized from iron salts and 2,5-dihydroxyterephthalic acid by microwave assisted solvothermal synthesis. The crystal structures of the as-synthesized compounds were determined by Rietveld refinement from powder X-ray diffraction data using...

  14. Asian oil refining. Demand growth and deregulation - an uncertain future

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sameer Nawaz.

    1996-01-01

    The objective of the report is to identify the most important features of the oil refining industry in Asia. Major developments in consumption patterns changes in regional importance of countries are discussed, highlighting potential future developments. The first chapter introduces the various refining processes and presents a simple model for the analysis of complex refineries. Chapter 2 examines the development of the Asian refining industry against a background of economic growth and analyses trends in consumption of all products in Asian countries. In Chapter 3, the key issues concerning the refining industry are examined, among them the forces driving consumption, including the importance of economic development, and electricity and transport demand. The importance of product imports and international trade is discussed, and the extent of government involvement and the effects of changing retail and market prices are analysed. Chapter 4 looks at the strategies that oil and gas companies are following in the Asian refining industry. Particular significance is attached to the vertical integration of the oil majors, Japanese and Middle Eastern oil companies. A brief overview of the importance of the petrochemical industry is presented. The countries of Asia that are involved in the refining industry are profiled in Chapter 5. The future trend in oil consumption is examined in Chapter 6. There follows a brief discussion of the plans to expand crude refining capacity in the various countries and a forecast of the state of overcapacity which will result. In the final chapter, brief profiles of some of the most important companies in the Asian refining industry are presented, discussing their major activities and future plans. (Author)

  15. Comparing Refinements for Failure and Bisimulation Semantics

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Eshuis, H.; Fokkinga, M.M.

    2002-01-01

    Refinement in bisimulation semantics is defined differently from refinement in failure semantics: in bisimulation semantics refinement is based on simulations between labelled transition systems, whereas in failure semantics refinement is based on inclusions between failure systems. There exist

  16. Crystal structure refinement with SHELXL

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sheldrick, George M., E-mail: gsheldr@shelx.uni-ac.gwdg.de [Department of Structural Chemistry, Georg-August Universität Göttingen, Tammannstraße 4, Göttingen 37077 (Germany)

    2015-01-01

    New features added to the refinement program SHELXL since 2008 are described and explained. The improvements in the crystal structure refinement program SHELXL have been closely coupled with the development and increasing importance of the CIF (Crystallographic Information Framework) format for validating and archiving crystal structures. An important simplification is that now only one file in CIF format (for convenience, referred to simply as ‘a CIF’) containing embedded reflection data and SHELXL instructions is needed for a complete structure archive; the program SHREDCIF can be used to extract the .hkl and .ins files required for further refinement with SHELXL. Recent developments in SHELXL facilitate refinement against neutron diffraction data, the treatment of H atoms, the determination of absolute structure, the input of partial structure factors and the refinement of twinned and disordered structures. SHELXL is available free to academics for the Windows, Linux and Mac OS X operating systems, and is particularly suitable for multiple-core processors.

  17. First-principles calculation on electronic properties of zinc oxide by zinc–air system

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmad Azmin Mohamad

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available First-principles calculations are performed to study the electronic properties of zinc oxide (ZnO formed on an anode after discharging a Zn–air system. Prior to calculation, the ZnO is characterised by X-ray diffraction using Rietveld refinement. Diffracted patterns proved the formation of single phase ZnO, while Rietveld analysis shows that the ZnO has a hexagonal wurtzite structure with lattice parameters, a = 3.244 and c = 5.199 Å. Geometry optimisation of the hexagonal wurtzite structure of the ZnO is performed using various exchange–correlation energy functionals. The local density approximation functional method is used to explain the structure, electronic band structure and density of state properties of hexagonal ZnO. The calculated energy band gap was 0.75 eV while the density of states reveals that the O 2p (the top valence band and Zn 4s (the bottom conduction band states domination.

  18. Latin American oil markets and refining

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamaguchi, N.D.; Obadia, C.

    1999-01-01

    This paper provides an overview of the oil markets and refining in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela, and examines the production of crude oil in these countries. Details are given of Latin American refiners highlighting trends in crude distillation unit capacity, cracking to distillation ratios, and refining in the different countries. Latin American oil trade is discussed, and charts are presented illustrating crude production, oil consumption, crude refining capacity, cracking to distillation ratios, and oil imports and exports

  19. Relational Demonic Fuzzy Refinement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fairouz Tchier

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available We use relational algebra to define a refinement fuzzy order called demonic fuzzy refinement and also the associated fuzzy operators which are fuzzy demonic join (⊔fuz, fuzzy demonic meet (⊓fuz, and fuzzy demonic composition (□fuz. Our definitions and properties are illustrated by some examples using mathematica software (fuzzy logic.

  20. On the Use of Dynamical Diffraction Theory To Refine Crystal Structure from Electron Diffraction Data: Application to KLa5O5(VO4)2, a Material with Promising Luminescent Properties.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colmont, Marie; Palatinus, Lukas; Huvé, Marielle; Kabbour, Houria; Saitzek, Sébastien; Djelal, Nora; Roussel, Pascal

    2016-03-07

    A new lanthanum oxide, KLa5O5(VO4)2, was synthesized using a flux growth technique that involved solid-state reaction under an air atmosphere at 900 °C. The crystal structure was solved and refined using an innovative approach recently established and based on three-dimensional (3D) electron diffraction data, using precession of the electron beam and then validated against Rietveld refinement and denisty functional theory (DFT) calculations. It crystallizes in a monoclinic unit cell with space group C2/m and has unit cell parameters of a = 20.2282(14) Å, b = 5.8639(4) Å, c = 12.6060(9) Å, and β = 117.64(1)°. Its structure is built on Cresnel-like two-dimensional (2D) units (La5O5) of 4*3 (OLa4) tetrahedra, which run parallel to (001) plane, being surrounded by isolated VO4 tetrahedra. Four isolated vanadate groups create channels that host K(+) ions. Substitution of K(+) cations by another alkali metal is possible, going from lithium to rubidium. Li substitution led to a similar phase with a primitive monoclinic unit cell. A complementary selected area electron diffraction (SAED) study highlighted diffuse streaks associated with stacking faults observed on high-resolution electron microscopy (HREM) images of the lithium compound. Finally, preliminary catalytic tests for ethanol oxidation are reported, as well as luminescence evidence. This paper also describes how solid-state chemists can take advantages of recent progresses in electron crystallography, assisted by DFT calculations and powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) refinements, to propose new structural types with potential applications to the physicist community.

  1. Panorama 2012 - Refining 2030

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marion, Pierre; Saint-Antonin, Valerie

    2011-11-01

    The major uncertainty characterizing the global energy landscape impacts particularly on transport, which remains the virtually-exclusive bastion of the oil industry. The industry must therefore respond to increasing demand for mobility against a background marked by the emergence of alternatives to oil-based fuels and the need to reduce emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHG). It is in this context that the 'Refining 2030' study conducted by IFP Energies Nouvelles (IFPEN) forecasts what the global supply and demand balance for oil products could be, and highlights the type and geographical location of the refinery investment required. Our study shows that the bulk of the refining investment will be concentrated in the emerging countries (mainly those in Asia), whilst the areas historically strong in refining (Europe and North America) face reductions in capacity. In this context, the drastic reduction in the sulphur specification of bunker oil emerges as a structural issue for European refining, in the same way as increasingly restrictive regulation of refinery CO 2 emissions (quotas/taxation) and the persistent imbalance between gasoline and diesel fuels. (authors)

  2. CZTS nanoparticle absorber layer for thin film solar cells

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Symonowicz, Joanna; Jensen, Kirsten M. Ørnsbjerg; Engberg, Sara Lena Josefin

    a pure CZTS kesterite phase without secondary phases as they result in structural inhomogeneity, local fluctuation of open circuit voltage and high carrier recombination [3]. This leads to poor device performance and repeatability issues. Here, we present how the synthesis parameters affect the resulting...... CZTS nanoparticles. The product is characterized by XRD, EDS, and Raman spectroscopy in order to fully detect possible secondary phases and characterize the CZTS phase. By combining Rietveld refinement of the XRD data with X-ray total scattering with PDF analysis, the nanoscale atomic structure...

  3. Barium strontium titanate powders prepared by spray pyrolysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brankovic, G.; Brankovic, Z.; Goes, M.S.; Paiva-Santos, C.O.; Cilense, M.; Varela, J.A.; Longo, E.

    2005-01-01

    Ultasonic spray pyrolysis (SP) has been investigated for the production of the barium strontium titanate (BST) powders from the polymeric precursors. The processing parameters, such as flux of aerosol and temperature profile inside the furnace, were optimized to obtain single phase BST. The powders were characterized by the methods of X-ray diffraction analysis, SEM, EDS and TEM. The obtained powders were submicronic, consisting of spherical, polycrystalline particles, with internal nanocrystalline structure. Crystallite size of 10 nm, calculated using Rietveld refinement, is in a good agreement with results of HRTEM

  4. Structural, dielectric and magnetic studies of Ba and Nb codoped BiFeO{sub 3} multiferroics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jangra, Sandhaya, E-mail: sndh17@gmail.com; Sanghi, Sujata; Agarwal, Ashish; Kaswan, Kavita; Rangi, Manisha; Singh, Ompal [Department of Applied Physics, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, Haryana-125001 (India)

    2016-05-23

    Polycrystalline materials with composition Bi{sub 0.8}Ba{sub 0.2}Fe{sub 1-x}Nb{sub x}O{sub 3} (x= 0.07, 0.10) were prepared via solid state reaction method. Preliminary analysis of structure was performed by XRD technique and confirmed formation of single phase crystalline materials. Rietveld refinement reveled that these materials have rhombohedral phase with R3c space group. Dielectric constant increased with temperature and Nb concentration. Ba and Nb co-doping suppress the spiral spin structure and produce net magnetization.

  5. スクッテルド鉱型化合物LnRu4P12(Ln=ランタニド)の構造と電子物性

    OpenAIRE

    内海, 貴徳; 関根, ちひろ; 木村, 繁之; 井上, 雅士; 城谷, 一民

    1999-01-01

    Ternary ruthenium phosphides LnRu4P12 (Ln=La,Ce,Pr,Nd,Sm,Eu,Gd and Tb) with the filled skutterudite-type structure have been prepared at high temperatures and high pressures. The crystal structure of a new compound TbRu4P12 is refined by the Rietveld analysis of the powder X-ray diffraction data. The physical properties of LnRu4P12 have been studied by means of electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, magnetization and specific-heat measurements at low temperatures. LaRu4P12 is a supe...

  6. Risk as economic category: systematics scientific approach and refinement contents

    OpenAIRE

    V.G. Vygovskyy

    2015-01-01

    The paper studies the categorical-conceptual apparatus of risk and its refinement based on a critical analysis of existing systematic scientific approaches. Determined that in the refinement of the economic nature of the risk of a number of controversial issues: the definition of the objective or subjective nature of risk; matching of concepts such as «risk», «danger», «loss», «probability of loss»; definition of negative or positive consequences of risk; identification of risk with its conse...

  7. The effect of B-site substitution on structural transformation and ionic conductivity in Ho2(ZryTi1−y)2O7

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shafique, Muhammad; Kennedy, Brenden J.; Iqbal, Yaseen; Ubic, Rick

    2016-01-01

    Compounds in the pyrochlore system Ho 2 (Zr y Ti 1−y ) 2 O 7 exhibit an order-disorder transition from pyrochlore to a defect-fluorite type structure. Compositions in this system were prepared via mechanical milling, followed by a two-step sintering process. Structural characterization was carried out via Rietveld refinements using neutron powder diffraction data, supported by X-ray diffraction to determine the phase and location of the pyrochlore-fluorite transformation. Unit-cell parameters were determined for the whole series using Rietveld refinements as well as the Nelson–Riley function. The neutron refinement results confirmed that the cation disorder was independent of the anion Frenkel disorder. The relation between the x-parameter in the oxygen 48f position and anion Frenkel disorder was found to be linear for the pyrochlore structure. The ionic conductivity studies were undertaken via AC impedance analysis to determine the electronic behaviour and its relation to the structural change in the temperature range 300°C–700 °C. The trends in ionic conductivity and activation energy were explained structurally via neutron powder diffraction and X-ray diffraction data. The pyrochlore-fluorite boundary composition (at y = 0.5) exhibited the lowest activation energy and highest ionic conductivity. - Highlights: • Ho 2 (Zr y Ti 1-y ) 2 O 7 structure changed from ordered pyrochlore to defect-fluorite at y = 0.6. • Ho 2 (Zr 0.5 Ti 0.5 ) 2 O 7 exhibited high ionic conductivity and low activation energy. • Doping improved stability in ionic conductivity behaviour at lower temperature.

  8. Refinement Types for TypeScript

    OpenAIRE

    Vekris, Panagiotis; Cosman, Benjamin; Jhala, Ranjit

    2016-01-01

    We present Refined TypeScript (RSC), a lightweight refinement type system for TypeScript, that enables static verification of higher-order, imperative programs. We develop a formal core of RSC that delineates the interaction between refinement types and mutability. Next, we extend the core to account for the imperative and dynamic features of TypeScript. Finally, we evaluate RSC on a set of real world benchmarks, including parts of the Octane benchmarks, D3, Transducers, and the TypeScript co...

  9. Analysis of a HP-refinement method for solving the neutron transport equation using two error estimators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fournier, D.; Le Tellier, R.; Suteau, C.; Herbin, R.

    2011-01-01

    The solution of the time-independent neutron transport equation in a deterministic way invariably consists in the successive discretization of the three variables: energy, angle and space. In the SNATCH solver used in this study, the energy and the angle are respectively discretized with a multigroup approach and the discrete ordinate method. A set of spatial coupled transport equations is obtained and solved using the Discontinuous Galerkin Finite Element Method (DGFEM). Within this method, the spatial domain is decomposed into elements and the solution is approximated by a hierarchical polynomial basis in each one. This approach is time and memory consuming when the mesh becomes fine or the basis order high. To improve the computational time and the memory footprint, adaptive algorithms are proposed. These algorithms are based on an error estimation in each cell. If the error is important in a given region, the mesh has to be refined (h−refinement) or the polynomial basis order increased (p−refinement). This paper is related to the choice between the two types of refinement. Two ways to estimate the error are compared on different benchmarks. Analyzing the differences, a hp−refinement method is proposed and tested. (author)

  10. Petroleum refining. 5, refinery operation and management; Le raffinage du petrole. 5. Exploitation et gestion de la raffinerie

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Favennec, J.P. (ed.)

    2001-07-01

    In this volume, the reader will find: an analysis of the refining industry's current environment and economics, including the importance of crude oil, the demand for petroleum products, markets and price setting mechanisms for crude oil and oil products, refining costs and margins, the evolution of the refining capacity and of constraints on the industry; a review of the tools available for optimising and controlling operations; an explanation of material balance management and a description of refinery management and organisation. Contents: I. Background to refining. 1. Oil and Energy. 2. Petroleum products applications, characteristics, markets. 3. International oil markets. 4. Refining: a technical summary investments, margins, costs probable future developments. II. Refining tools. 5. Introduction to linear programming as used in the refining industry. 6. Application of linear programming to refining. 7. Automation, process control and information technology. 8. Applications and their implementation. III. Management and organisation. 9. Management and optimisation of refinery operations. 10. Logistics: transport and dispatch. 11. Functional and organisational analysis. 12. Managerial aspects. Glossary. Index. (author)

  11. The US petroleum refining industry in the 1980's

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1990-10-11

    As part of the EIA program on petroleum, The US Petroleum Refining Industry in the 1980's, presents a historical analysis of the changes that took place in the US petroleum refining industry during the 1980's. It is intended to be of interest to analysts in the petroleum industry, state and federal government officials, Congress, and the general public. The report consists of six chapters and four appendices. Included is a detailed description of the major events and factors that affected the domestic refining industry during this period. Some of the changes that took place in the 1980's are the result of events that started in the 1970's. The impact of these events on US refinery configuration, operations, economics, and company ownership are examined. 23 figs., 11 tabs.

  12. Neutron Powder Diffraction and Constrained Refinement

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pawley, G. S.; Mackenzie, Gordon A.; Dietrich, O. W.

    1977-01-01

    The first use of a new program, EDINP, is reported. This program allows the constrained refinement of molecules in a crystal structure with neutron diffraction powder data. The structures of p-C6F4Br2 and p-C6F4I2 are determined by packing considerations and then refined with EDINP. Refinement is...

  13. Electronic structure and magnetic properties of FeWO{sub 4} nanocrystals synthesized by the microwave-hydrothermal method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Almeida, M.A.P. [INCTMN-DQ-Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos, Sao Carlos, P.O. Box 676, 13565-905, SP (Brazil); Cavalcante, L.S., E-mail: laeciosc@bol.com.br [INCTMN-Universidade Estadual, Paulista, P.O. Box 355, 14801-907, Araraquara, SP (Brazil); Morilla-Santos, C.; Filho, P.N. Lisboa [MAv-Universidade Estadual, Paulista, P.O. Box 473, 17033-360, Bauru, SP (Brazil); Beltran, A.; Andres, J.; Gracia, L. [Department de Quimica Fisica i Analitica, Universitat Jaume I, E-12071 Castello (Spain); Longo, E. [INCTMN-DQ-Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos, Sao Carlos, P.O. Box 676, 13565-905, SP (Brazil); INCTMN-Universidade Estadual, Paulista, P.O. Box 355, 14801-907, Araraquara, SP (Brazil)

    2012-11-15

    This communication reports that FeWO{sub 4} nanocrystals were successfully synthesized by the microwave-hydrothermal method at 443 K for 1 h. The structure and shape of these nanocrystals were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Rietveld refinement, and transmission electron microscopy. The experimental results and first principles calculations were combined to explain the electronic structure and magnetic properties. Experimental data were obtained by magnetization measurements for different applied magnetic fields. Theoretical calculations revealed that magnetic properties of FeWO{sub 4} nanocrystals can be assigned to two magnetic orderings with parallel or antiparallel spins in adjacent chains. These factors are crucial to understanding of competition between ferro- and antiferromagnetic behavior. Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Monophasic FeWO{sub 4} nanocrystals were synthesized by the microwave-hydrothermal method. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Rietveld refinement and clusters model for monoclinic structure Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Magnetic properties of FeWO{sub 4} nanocrystals at different temperatures.

  14. Crystal structure and magnetic properties of La2−x(Sr0.5Ca0.5)1+xMn2O7 (x=0.6, 0.8 and 1.0) Ruddlesden–Popper manganites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Raju, K.; Song, M.S.; Lee, J.Y.

    2014-01-01

    Double layer perovskite (Ruddlesden–Popper) manganites with the nominal composition of La 2−x (Sr 0.5 Ca 0.5 ) 1+x Mn 2 O 7 (x=0.6, 0.8 and 1.0) were synthesized via a solid state reaction route. X-ray and neutron diffraction were performed at room temperature and the crystal structure was refined using the Rietveld method based on the space group, I4/mmm. The temperature variation of the susceptibility revealed a spin glass transition at 28 K for x=0.6, a charge ordering transition at 245 K and a Neel transition at 170 K for x=1.0. - Highlights: • Lanthanum based double layered manganites were prepared by doping with the same amounts of Sr and Ca. • X-ray and neutron diffraction were performed and the crystal structure was refined using the Rietveld method. • Different magnetic transitions were observed depending upon the doping concentration. • Qualitative explanation for the various observed phenomena was given

  15. Structures and solid solution mechanisms of pyrochlore phases in the systems Bi2O3-ZnO-(Nb, Ta)2O5

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tan, K.B.; Khaw, C.C.; Lee, C.K.; Zainal, Z.; Miles, G.C.

    2010-01-01

    Research highlights: → Combined XRD and ND Rietveld structural refinement of pyrochlores. → Structures and solid solution mechanisms of Bi-pyrochlores. → Bi and Zn displaced off-centre to different 96g A-site positions. → Summary of composition-structure-property of Bi-pyrochlores. - Abstract: The crystal structures of two pyrochlore phases have been determined by Rietveld refinement of combined X-ray and neutron powder diffraction data. These are stoichiometric, Bi 1.5 ZnTa 1.5 O 7 and non-stoichiometric Bi 1.56 Zn 0.92 Nb 1.44 O 6.86 . In both structures, Zn is distributed over A- and B-sites; Bi and Zn are displaced off-centre, to different 96g A-site positions; of the three sets of oxygen positions, O(1) are full, O(2) contain vacancies and O(3) contain a small number of oxygen, again in both cases. Comparisons between these structures, those of related Sb analogues and literature reports are made.

  16. Local structure and disorder in crystalline Pb9Al8O21

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hannon, Alex C.; Barney, Emma R.; Holland, Diane; Knight, Kevin S.

    2008-01-01

    Crystalline Pb 9 Al 8 O 21 is a model compound for the structure of non-linear optical glasses containing lone-pair ions, and its structure has been investigated by neutron powder diffraction and total scattering, and 27 Al magic angle spinning NMR. Rietveld analysis (space group Pa3-bar (No. 205), a=13.25221(4) A) shows that some of the Pb and O sites have partial occupancies, due to lead volatilisation during sample preparation, and the non-stoichiometric sample composition is Pb 9-δ Al 8 O 21-δ with δ=0.54. The NMR measurements show evidence for a correlation between the chemical shift and the variance of the bond angles at the aluminium sites. The neutron total correlation function shows that the true average Al-O bond length is 0.8% longer than the apparent bond length determined by Rietveld refinement. The thermal variation in bond length is much smaller than the thermal variation in longer interatomic distances determined by Rietveld refinement. The total correlation function is consistent with an interpretation in which AlO 3 groups with an Al-O bond length of 1.651 A occur as a result of the oxygen vacancies in the structure. The width of the tetrahedral Al-O peak in the correlation function for the crystal is very similar to that for lead aluminate glass, indicating that the extent of static disorder is very similar in the two phases. - Graphical abstract: Combined neutron powder diffraction and total scattering, and 27 Al NMR on crystalline Pb 9 Al 8 O 21 shows it to be a non-stoichiometric compound with vacancies due to PbO volatilisation. A detailed consideration of the thermal and static disorder is given, showing that glass and crystal phases have very similar disorder at short range

  17. Microstructure characterization and cation distribution of nanocrystalline cobalt ferrite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abbas, Y.M.; Mansour, S.A.; Ibrahim, M.H.; Ali, Shehab E.

    2011-01-01

    Nanocrystalline cobalt ferrite has been synthesized using two different methods: ceramic and co-precipitation techniques. The nanocrystalline ferrite phase has been formed after 3 h of sintering at 1000 deg. C. The structural and microstructural evolutions of the nanophase have been studied using X-ray powder diffraction and the Rietveld method. The refinement result showed that the type of the cationic distribution over the tetrahedral and octahedral sites in the nanocrystalline lattice is partially an inverse spinel. The transmission electronic microscope analysis confirmed the X-ray results. The magnetic properties of the samples were characterized using a vibrating sample magnetometer. - Highlights: → The refinement result showed that the cationic distribution over the sites in the lattice is partially an inverse spinel. → The transmission electronic microscope analysis confirmed the X-ray results. → The magnetic properties of the samples were characterized using a vibrating sample magnetometer.

  18. Layered Metal Hydroxides Containing Calcium and Their Structural Analysis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Tae Hyun; Heo, Il; Lee, Sung Han; Oh, Jae Min [College of Science and Technology, Yonsei University, Wonju (Korea, Republic of); Paek, Seung Min [Kyungpook National University, Daegu (Korea, Republic of); Park, Chung Berm; Choi, Ae Jin [National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Science of R and D Eumseong (Korea, Republic of); Choy, Jin Ho [Ewha Womans University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2012-06-15

    Layered metal hydroxides (LMHs) containing calcium were synthesized by coprecipitation in solution having two different trivalent metal ions, iron and aluminum. Two mixed metal solutions (Ca{sup 2+}/Al{sup 3+} and Ca{sup 2+}/Fe{sup 3+} = 2/1) were added to sodium hydroxide solution and the final pH was adjusted to {approx}11.5 and {approx}13 for CaAl-and CaFe-LMHs. Powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) for the two LMH samples showed well developed (00l) diffractions indicating 2-dimensional crystal structure of the synthesized LMHs. Rietveld refinement of the X-ray diffraction pattern, the local structure analysis through X-ray absorption spectroscopy, and thermal analysis also confirmed that the synthesized precipitates show typical structure of LMHs. The chemical formulae, Ca{sub 2.04}Al{sub 1}(OH){sub 6}(NO{sub 3}){center_dot}5.25H{sub 2}O and Ca{sub 2.01}Fe{sub 1}(OH){sub 6}(NO{sub 3}){center_dot}4.75H{sub 2}O were determined by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). Particle morphology and thermal behavior for the synthesized LMHs were examined by field emission scanning electron microscopy and thermogravimetric differential scanning calorimetry

  19. Refined geometric transition and qq-characters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kimura, Taro; Mori, Hironori; Sugimoto, Yuji

    2018-01-01

    We show the refinement of the prescription for the geometric transition in the refined topological string theory and, as its application, discuss a possibility to describe qq-characters from the string theory point of view. Though the suggested way to operate the refined geometric transition has passed through several checks, it is additionally found in this paper that the presence of the preferred direction brings a nontrivial effect. We provide the modified formula involving this point. We then apply our prescription of the refined geometric transition to proposing the stringy description of doubly quantized Seiberg-Witten curves called qq-characters in certain cases.

  20. Correlação entre dados estruturais e bandas de vibração no infravermelho para a fase espinélio Zn7-xNi xSb2O12 Correlation between structural data and infraved vibrational bands of the Zn7-xNi xSb2O12 spinel phase

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. Gama

    2000-12-01

    Full Text Available A fase espinélio Zn7-xNi xSb2O12 tem apresentado propriedades magnéticas importantes, comportando-se como spin-glass. Desde que estas propriedades são fortemente dependentes da configuração precisa dos átomos nesta estrutura, foram utilizados neste trabalho, com o intuito de clarificar essa configuração, a espectroscopia de infravermelho, aliada ao refinamento de estruturas pelo método de Rietveld. O espectro de infravermelho mostra nas condições de contorno estudadas a presença de três das quatro bandas ativas comuns aos espinélios. Conforme resultados do refinamento pelo método de Rietveld, o níquel substitui o zinco primeiramente no sítio octaédrico e, em altas concentrações (x > ou = 3, migra para o sítio tetraédrico. Essa migração é indicada pelo "splitting", em torno de 520 cm-1, para (x > ou = 3, apresentado no espectro de infravermelho quando a banda n2 é afetada pela mudança do cátion bivalente.The Zn7-xNi xSb2O12 spinel phase shows important magnetic properties with a spin-glass behavior. As these properties are strongly dependent on the atomic configuration in the spinel structure, infrared spectroscopy and the structure refining by the Rietveld analysis have been studied. The infrared spectrum presents three to four of the common spinel active modes. The Rietveld analysis shows that Ni firstly substitutes for Zn in the octahedral site and, for large (x > or = 3 concentrations, migrates to the tetrahedral site. The indication of that migration is the splitting at approximately 520 cm-1, shown in the infrared spectrum when the nu 2 band is modified by the substitution of the divalent cation.

  1. Rietveld refinement, impedance spectroscopy and magnetic properties of Bi{sub 0.8}Sr{sub 0.2}FeO{sub 3} substituted Na{sub 0.5}Bi{sub 0.5}TiO{sub 3} ceramics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kumari, Rekha [Department of Applied Physics, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science & Technology, Hisar 125001, Haryana (India); Ahlawat, Neetu, E-mail: neetugju@yahoo.co.in [Department of Applied Physics, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science & Technology, Hisar 125001, Haryana (India); Agarwal, Ashish; Sanghi, Sujata [Department of Applied Physics, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science & Technology, Hisar 125001, Haryana (India); Sindhu, Monica [Department of Physics, MKJK College, Rohtak 124001, Haryana (India); Ahlawat, Navneet [Matu Ram Institute of Engineering and Management, Rohtak 124001, Haryana (India)

    2016-09-15

    We herein presented the investigation on the structural, electrical and magnetic properties of (1−x)(Na{sub 0.5}Bi{sub 0.5}TiO{sub 3})–x(Bi{sub 0.8}Sr{sub 0.2}FeO{sub 3}) polycrystalline ceramic samples, with x=0.1, 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7. These samples were prepared by conventional solid state reaction method and the crystalline phase of prepared ceramics was identified with the help of X-ray diffraction pattern. Rietveld analysis of the obtained XRD data confirmed that all the synthesized samples adopt the rhombohedral crystal structure with R3c space group. Impedance spectroscopic measurements were performed on all the compositions in the frequency range 10 Hz–5 MHz to probe the electrical microstructure of polycrystalline (1−x)(Na{sub 0.5}Bi{sub 0.5}TiO{sub 3})–x(Bi{sub 0.8}Sr{sub 0.2}FeO{sub 3}) ceramics, which changes significantly as a function of x (content of BSFO). A significant increase in dielectric constant has been observed with increase in BSFO concentration, which was attributed to enhancement of oxygen vacancies. Detailed study of impedance complex plane plots revealed the presence of non-Debye type relaxation for all the prepared systems and enabled us to separate the contribution from grains and grain boundaries. Equivalent circuit model (R{sub g}CPE{sub g})(R{sub gb}CPE{sub gb})(R{sub e}CPE{sub e}) was employed to explain the impedance data for all the prepared samples. The activation energies obtained from electric modulus as well as dc conductivity increase with increase in BSFO content, which approaches the value 1 eV and indicates an Arrehenius type thermally activated process. Remnant magnetization (M{sub r}) and coercive field (H{sub c}) are found to be increase with BSFO concentration. - Highlights: • (1−x)NBT–xBSFO (x=0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7) ceramics were prepared. • There is no change in crystal structure. • These can be used as data storage materials.

  2. Linkages between the markets for crude oil and the markets for refined products

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Didziulis, V.S.

    1990-01-01

    To understand the crude oil price determination process it is necessary to extend the analysis beyond the markets for petroleum. Crude oil prices are determined in two closely related markets: the markets for crude oil and the markets for refined products. An econometric-linear programming model was developed to capture the linkages between the markets for crude oil and refined products. In the LP refiners maximize profits given crude oil supplies, refining capacities, and prices of refined products. The objective function is profit maximization net of crude oil prices. The shadow price on crude oil gives the netback price. Refined product prices are obtained from the econometric models. The model covers the free world divided in five regions. The model is used to analyze the impacts on the markets of policies that affect crude oil supplies, the demands for refined products, and the refining industry. For each scenario analyzed the demand for crude oil is derived from the equilibrium conditions in the markets for products. The demand curve is confronted with a supply curve which maximizes revenues providing an equilibrium solution for both crude oil and product markets. The model also captures crude oil price differentials by quality. The results show that the demands for crude oil are different across regions due to the structure of the refining industries and the characteristics of the demands for refined products. Changes in the demands for products have a larger impact on the markets than changes in the refining industry. Since markets for refined products and crude oil are interrelated they can't be analyzed individually if an accurate and complete assessment of a policy is to be made. Changes in only one product market in one region affect the other product markets and the prices of crude oil

  3. Room temperature neutron diffraction and magnetic studies of multiferroic Pb{sub 0.9}Bi{sub 0.1}Fe{sub 0.55}Nb{sub 0.45}O{sub 3} solid solution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dadami, S. T.; Matteppanavar, S.; Shivaraja, I.; Angadi, B., E-mail: brangadi@gmail.com [Department of Physics, Bangalore University, Bangalore-560056 (India); Rayaprol, S.; Deshpande, S. K. [UGC-DAE-CSR, Mumbai Centre, BARC, Mumbai-400085 (India)

    2016-05-23

    The Pb{sub 0.9}Bi{sub 0.1}Fe{sub 0.55}Nb{sub 0.45}O{sub 3} (PBFNO) solid solution was synthesized by single step solid state reaction method and the optimized parameters are 700°C for 2hr (calcination) and 800°C for 3hr (sintering). The formation of desired material was confirmed using X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Neutron Diffraction (ND) studies. The structural and magnetic properties of the sintered pellets were investigated at room temperature (RT) through XRD, ND and Magnetic (M-H) studies. The structural analysis was carried out by Rietveld refinement through the Full Prof program. Rietveld refined XRD and ND patterns confirms the monoclinic structure with Cm space group and obtained cell parameters from the ND data are a = 5.651(2) Å, b = 5.658(2) Å, c = 4.005(1) Å and α = 90°, β = 89.98(1)°, γ = 90°. RT M-H curve studies have been carried out. It shows the clear opening of hysteresis (M–H) loop, is evidenced as the existence of weak ferromagnetism at RT. The M-H data shows existence weak ferromagnetism embedded in an antiferromagnetic matrix structure. The dielectric constant with frequency shows the formation of barrier layers at the grain and grain boundary interfaces gives rise to interfacial space charge polarization.

  4. Nano sized La2Co2O6 double perovskite synthesized by sol gel method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Solanki, Neha; Lodhi, Pavitra Devi; Choudhary, K. K.; Kaurav, Netram

    2018-05-01

    We report here the synthesis of double perovskite La2Co2O6 (LCO) compound by a sol gel route method. The double perovskite structure of LCO system was confirmed via X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Further, the lattice parameter, unit cell volume and bond length were refined by means of rietveld analysis using the full proof software. Debye Scherer formula was used to determine the particle size. The compound crystallized in triclinic structure with space group P-1 in ambient condition. We also obtained Raman modes from XRD spectra of poly-crystalline LCO sample. These results were interpreted for the observation of phonon excitations in this compound.

  5. Local structure studies of Fe{sub 2}TeO{sub 6} using x-ray absorption spectroscopy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Singh, Harishchandra, E-mail: singh85harish@gmail.com [Homi Bhabha National Institute, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore-452013 (India); Indus Synchrotron Utilization Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore-452013 (India); Yadav, A. K. [Atomic & Molecular Physics Division Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai – 400 094 (India)

    2016-05-23

    In the present study, we have performed EXAFS measurements on powder samples of Fe{sub 2}TeO{sub 6} (FTO) to probe the local structure surrounding at the Fe site. The structural parameters (atomic coordination and lattice parameters) of FTO used for simulation of theoretical EXAFS spectra of the samples have been obtained from Rietveld refined structure on synchrotron X-ray Diffraction (SXRD) data. Quite similar and satisfactory structural parameters have been obtained from both the study, indicating goodness of synchrotron structural analysis over EXAFS analysis. SXRD and EXAFS results shows absence of any secondary phase proves current synthesis superior over reported techniques.

  6. On the determination of crystallinity and cellulose content in plant fibres

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thygesen, Anders; Oddershede, Jette; Lilholt, Hans

    2005-01-01

    A comparative study of cellulose crystallinity based on the sample crystallinity and the cellulose content in plant fibres was performed for samples of different origin. Strong acid hydrolysis was found superior to agricultural fibre analysis and comprehensive plant fibre analysis for a consistent...... determination of the cellulose content. Crystallinity determinations were based on X-ray powder diffraction methods using side-loaded samples in reflection (Bragg-Brentano) mode. Rietveld refinements based on the recently published crystal structure of cellulose I beta followed by integration of the crystalline...... and 60 - 70 g/ 100 g cellulose in wood based fibres. These findings are significant in relation to strong fibre composites and bio-ethanol production....

  7. On Modal Refinement and Consistency

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nyman, Ulrik; Larsen, Kim Guldstrand; Wasowski, Andrzej

    2007-01-01

    Almost 20 years after the original conception, we revisit several fundamental question about modal transition systems. First, we demonstrate the incompleteness of the standard modal refinement using a counterexample due to Hüttel. Deciding any refinement, complete with respect to the standard...

  8. Influences of different degassing processes on refining effect and properties of 4004 Al alloy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wang Liping

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available In order to improve the plasticity of 4004 Al alloy and subsequently the productivity of 4004 Al foil, the research studied in detail the influence of the rotary impeller degassing process on the refining effect of 4004 Al alloy, in which the impacts of four major parameters: gas flow, rotational speed, refining time, and stewing time, on degassing rate of 4004 Al alloy was systematically studied by using an orthogonal experiment methodology. Results show that the rotational speed has the greatest impact on the degassing of 4004 Al alloy, followed by gas flow and refining time; stewing time has the least impact. The optimum purification parameters obtained by current orthogonal analysis were: rotor speed of 500 r·min-1, inert gas flow of 0.4 mL·h-1, refining time of 15 min, and stewing time of 6 min. Degassing rate using the optimum parameters reaches 68%. In addition, the comparison experiments among C2Cl6 refining, rotary impeller degassing, and combined treatment of C2Cl6 refining and rotary impeller degassing for 4004 Al alloy were performed. The experimental data indicated that the combined treatment of C2Cl6 refining and rotary impeller degassing has the best degassing effect. Degassing rate of C2Cl6 refining, rotary impeller degassing and combined refining treatment is 39%, 69.1% and 76.9%, respectively. The mechanical properties of the specimen refined by rotary impeller degassing were higher than those by C2Cl6 refining, but lower than those by combined refining treatment.

  9. Assessment of firing conditions in old fired-clay bricks: The contribution of X-ray powder diffraction with the Rietveld method and small angle neutron scattering

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Viani, Alberto, E-mail: viani@itam.cas.cz [Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics AS CR, Centre of Excellence Telč, Batelovská 485, CZ-58856 Telč (Czech Republic); Sotiriadis, Konstantinos [Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics AS CR, Centre of Excellence Telč, Batelovská 485, CZ-58856 Telč (Czech Republic); Len, Adél [Wigner Research Centre for Physics HAS, Konkoly-Thege 29-33, 1121 Budapest (Hungary); Šašek, Petr; Ševčík, Radek [Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics AS CR, Centre of Excellence Telč, Batelovská 485, CZ-58856 Telč (Czech Republic)

    2016-06-15

    Full characterization of fired-clay bricks is crucial for the improvement of process variables in manufacturing and, in case of old bricks, for restoration/replacement purposes. To this aim, five bricks produced in a plant in Czech Republic in the past have been investigated with a combination of analytical techniques in order to derive information on the firing process. An additional old brick from another brickyard was also used to study the influence of different raw materials on sample microstructure. The potential of X-ray diffraction with the Rietveld method and small angle neutron scattering technique has been exploited to describe the phase transformations taking place during firing and characterize the brick microstructure. Unit-cell parameter of spinel and amount of hematite are proposed as indicators of the maximum firing temperature, although for the latter, limited to bricks produced from the same raw material. The fractal quality of the surface area of pores obtained from small angle neutron scattering is also suggested as a method to distinguish between bricks produced from different raw clays. - Highlights: • Rietveld method helps in describing microstructure and physical properties of bricks. • XRPD derived cell parameter of spinel is proposed as an indicator of firing temperature. • SANS effectively describes brick micro and nanostructure, including closed porosity. • Fractal quality of pore surface is proposed as ‘fingerprint’ of brick manufacturing.

  10. Refining - Panorama 2008

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2008-01-01

    Investment rallied in 2007, and many distillation and conversion projects likely to reach the industrial stage were announced. With economic growth sustained in 2006 and still pronounced in 2007, oil demand remained strong - especially in emerging countries - and refining margins stayed high. Despite these favorable business conditions, tensions persisted in the refining sector, which has fallen far behind in terms of investing in refinery capacity. It will take renewed efforts over a long period to catch up. Looking at recent events that have affected the economy in many countries (e.g. the sub-prime crisis), prudence remains advisable

  11. Refinement by interface instantiation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hallerstede, Stefan; Hoang, Thai Son

    2012-01-01

    be easily refined. Our first contribution hence is a proposal for a new construct called interface that encapsulates the external variables, along with a mechanism for interface instantiation. Using the new construct and mechanism, external variables can be refined consistently. Our second contribution...... is an approach for verifying the correctness of Event-B extensions using the supporting Rodin tool. We illustrate our approach by proving the correctness of interface instantiation....

  12. Synthesis, structural and electrical characterizations of DySr.sub.5./sub.Ni.sub.2.4./sub.Cu.sub.0.6./sub.O.sub.12-δ./sub..

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hamdi, S.; Ouni, S.; Chaker, H.; Rohlíček, Jan; Ben Hassen, R.

    2011-01-01

    Roč. 184, č. 11 (2011), s. 2897-2901 ISSN 0022-4596 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10100521 Keywords : Rietveld refinement * K 2 NiF 4 -type structure * electrical resistivity * oxygen vacancies * iodometric titration Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 2.159, year: 2011

  13. Structural and electrical properties of Nd.sub.1.7./sub.Ba.sub.0.3./sub.Ni.sub.0.9./sub.Cr.sub.0.1./sub.O.sub.4+δ./sub. compound

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Jammali, M.; Hassen, R.B.; Rohlíček, Jan

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 27, č. 3 (2012), s. 184-188 ISSN 0885-7156 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10100521 Keywords : X-ray diffraction * sol-gel * Rietveld refinement * adiabatic small polaron hopping model * semi-conductive behaviour Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 0.544, year: 2012

  14. Methane storage mechanism in the metal-organic framework Cu3(btc)2: An in situ neutron diffraction study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Getzschmann, J.; Senkovska, I.; Wallacher, D.; Tovar, M.; Fairen-Jimenez, D.; Düren, T.; van Baten, J.M.; Krishna, R.; Kaskel, S.

    2010-01-01

    The adsorption of deutero-methane (CD4) in Cu3(btc)2 (HKUST-1) was investigated at 77 K using high-resolution neutron powder diffraction. Rietveld refinement of the neutron data revealed a sequential filling of the rigid framework at distinct preferred adsorption sites, and showed the importance of

  15. Thermoelastic and structural properties of ionically conducting cerate perovskites: (II) SrCeO3 between 1273 K and 1723 K

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knight, Kevin S.; Haynes, Richard; Bonanos, Nikolaos

    2015-01-01

    The temperature dependence of the crystal structure and the thermoelastic properties of SrCeO3 have been determined from Rietveld refinement of high resolution, neutron time-of-flight powder diffraction data collected in 5 K intervals between 1273 K and 1723 K. No evidence was found for critical ...

  16. Synthesis of Zr-Si-O-N phases by carbonitriding reaction. Characterization of crystalline phases using the Rietveld method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mazzoni A.D.

    2001-01-01

    Full Text Available Zirconium compounds are of great interest for ceramic application due to their excellent thermal and mechanical properties. Zirconium phases of the system Zr-O-C-N were obtained using carbonitriding reactions of zircon mineral (ZrO2.SiO2, under different reaction conditions. The reaction products were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD using the Rietveld method. Silicon was employed as internal standard. Zirconium compounds formed were m-ZrO2 (monoclinic, beta"-zirconium oxynitride and a cubic Zr(C,N,O phase whose lattice parameter a o depends on the composition. The crystallite sizes of the three zirconium phases were determined also by XRD. The minority phases present are the ones of the Si-O-N-C system. The reaction conditions employed allows to obtain reaction products with low or without silicon content.

  17. Relational Demonic Fuzzy Refinement

    OpenAIRE

    Tchier, Fairouz

    2014-01-01

    We use relational algebra to define a refinement fuzzy order called demonic fuzzy refinement and also the associated fuzzy operators which are fuzzy demonic join $({\\bigsqcup }_{\\mathrm{\\text{f}}\\mathrm{\\text{u}}\\mathrm{\\text{z}}})$ , fuzzy demonic meet $({\\sqcap }_{\\mathrm{\\text{f}}\\mathrm{\\text{u}}\\mathrm{\\text{z}}})$ , and fuzzy demonic composition $({\\square }_{\\mathrm{\\text{f}}\\mathrm{\\text{u}}\\mathrm{\\text{z}}})$ . Our definitions and properties are illustrated by some examples using ma...

  18. The future of the refining industry; L`avenir de l`industrie du raffinage

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Favennec, J P; Guerard, P; Freund, E; Obe, P; O` Brien, D; Montanier, J C

    1996-12-31

    An analysis of the situation and of the future prospects of the refining industry in Europe is given and compared to the other world areas (USA, south-east Asian). Nowadays, the refining industry imposes to take into account of the environmental constraints, of the products qualities and of the refineries emissions. New possible technologies are described. (O.M.) 21 refs.

  19. The future of the refining industry; L`avenir de l`industrie du raffinage

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Favennec, J.P.; Guerard, P.; Freund, E.; Obe, P.; O`Brien, D.; Montanier, J.C.

    1995-12-31

    An analysis of the situation and of the future prospects of the refining industry in Europe is given and compared to the other world areas (USA, south-east Asian). Nowadays, the refining industry imposes to take into account of the environmental constraints, of the products qualities and of the refineries emissions. New possible technologies are described. (O.M.) 21 refs.

  20. Magnetic ordering in the rare earth iron germanates HoFeGe2O7 and ErFeGe2O7

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cascales, C.; Puebla, E.G.; Klimin, S.

    1999-01-01

    RFeGe2O7 (R = Ho, Er) have been prepared in polycrystalline form, and their crystal structures have been refined from room-temperature high-resolution neutron diffraction data by the Rietveld method. Both materials are isostructural, space group P2(1)/m (no. 11), Z = 4. The most interesting feature...

  1. Synthesis, structure and thermoelectric properties of La1 ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Structural parameters for all the compounds were confirmed by the Rietveld refinement method usingpowder X-ray diffraction (XRD) data and exhibit the rhombhohedral crystal structure with space group R-3c (No. 167). Thescanning electron microscopy study reveals that the particles are spherical in shape and sizes, in the ...

  2. Synthesis and electrochemical properties of KPb_4_−_xCa_x(PO_4)_3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1.5) for oxidation of cadmium at graphite electrode

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lahrich, Sara; Manoun, Bouchaib; El Mhammedi, Moulay Abderrahim

    2017-01-01

    Chemically modified carbon paste electrode (CPE) for cadmium (II) analysis has been constructed by mixing KPb_4_−_xCa_x(PO_4)_3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1.5) (CaLA) and graphite powder. The lacunar apatite was synthesized using solid reaction and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (IR) and Raman spectroscopy. The refinement study was carried out using Rietveld method where the obtained results show a good agreement between the observed and calculated patterns. The detection of cadmium (II) was investigated in acetate buffer (pH 4.5) using differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPASV). The limit of detection obtained under the optimized experimental conditions was 5.35 × 10"−"7 mol L"−"1 with a relative standard deviation of 2.37%. Possible interferences were tested and evaluated in 5.0 × 10"−"5 mol L"−"1 cadmium (II) in the presence of other inorganic ions. Finally, the proposed method was successfully applied to determine cadmium (II) in seawater and mussel samples. Hence, the satisfactory results confirm the applicability of this sensor in practical analysis. - Highlights: • Synthesis and characterization of new lacunar apatites KPb_4_−_xCa_x(PO_4)_3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1.5). • Structural refinement of these compounds using Rietveld method. • A study of Ca doping effect in lacunar apatites for detecting Cd (II). • The electrochemical oxidation of Cd (II) was performed at CaLA-CPE using DPASV. • The proposed method was evaluated to detect cadmium in seawater and mussel samples.

  3. Optical and structural characterization of SrZr0,1Ti0,9O3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Delgado–Niño, Pilar; López–Rivera, S.A.; Mestres–Vila, Lourdes; Martínez–Sarrión, María Luisa; Valencia–Ríos, Jesús S.

    2012-01-01

    In this work, the ceramic compound SrTi 0.90 Zr 0,1 O 3 (SZT) was synthesized by the citrate method. This solid showed a 12 nm crystallite size, reflecting the high degree of crystallinity obtained by this synthesis route. Differential and gravimetric thermal analysis showed that the solid was formed from 520 °C; the chemical composition was determined by ICP–AES4, giving a stoichiometry corresponding to the SrTi 0.90 Zr 0.10 O 3 formula, and proved to be compatible with the X-ray diffraction data, refined by the Rietveld method. The morphology was explored by means of SEM and TEM, finding a homogenous particles distribution, arranged in lumps, susceptible to density changes by sintering between 1000 °C and 1200 °C. The photoluminescence (PL) spectrum shows a band between 470 nm and 520 nm, corresponding to the Ti and Zr ions 3d electronic transition. The SZT crystal structure is tetragonal with space group I4/mcm, number (140). - Highlights: ► The ceramic nano structured compound SrTi 0.90 Zr 0,1 O 3 was synthesized by the citrate method. ► Differential and gravimetric thermal analysis showed the right thermodynamical parameters ► Good agreement between the crystal structure, group theory and the optical properties was obtained. ► The sized and high crystallinity of the nanoparticules was confirmed by SEM and TEM. ► Crystal structure is tetragonal with space group I4/mcm was found by X-ray and Rietveld refinement.

  4. Structural and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline stannic substituted cobalt ferrite

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Abbas, Y.M., E-mail: ymabbas@live.com [Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia (Egypt); Mansour, S.A. [Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia (Egypt); Physics Department, Faculty of Science, King AbdulAziz University, Rabegh (Saudi Arabia); Ibrahim, M.H. [Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia (Egypt); Physics Department, Faculty of Science, King AbdulAziz University (Saudi Arabia); Ali, Shehab. E., E-mail: shehab_ali@science.suez.edu.eg [Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Suez Canal University, Ismailia (Egypt)

    2012-09-15

    The structural and magnetic properties of the spinel ferrite system Co{sub 1+x}Fe{sub 2-2x}Sn{sub x}O{sub 4} (x=0.0-1.0) have been studied. Samples in the series were prepared by the ceramic technique. The structural and microstructural evolutions of the nanophase have been studied using X-ray powder diffraction and the Rietveld method. The refinement result showed that the type of the cationic distribution over the tetrahedral and octahedral sites in the nanocrystalline lattice is partially an inverse spinel. Far infrared absorption spectra show two significant absorption bands, around 600 cm{sup -1} and 425 cm{sup -1}, which are respectively attributed to tetrahedral (A) and octahedral [B] vibrations of the spinel. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to study surface morphology. SEM images reveal particles in the nanosize range. The transmission electronic microscope (TEM) reveals that the grains are spherical in shape. TEM analysis confirmed the X-ray results. The magnetic properties of the prepared samples were characterized by using a vibrating sample magnetometer. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The spinel ferrite system has been formed at 1000 Degree-Sign C by using ceramic techniques. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Structural and microstructural evolutions have been studied using XRD and the Rietveld method. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The refinement result showed cationic distribution in the lattice is partially an inverse spinel. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The transmission electronic microscope analysis confirmed the X-ray results. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Magnetic properties of the samples were characterized by using a vibrating sample magnetometer.

  5. Structural and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline stannic substituted cobalt ferrite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abbas, Y.M.; Mansour, S.A.; Ibrahim, M.H.; Ali, Shehab. E.

    2012-01-01

    The structural and magnetic properties of the spinel ferrite system Co 1+x Fe 2−2x Sn x O 4 (x=0.0–1.0) have been studied. Samples in the series were prepared by the ceramic technique. The structural and microstructural evolutions of the nanophase have been studied using X-ray powder diffraction and the Rietveld method. The refinement result showed that the type of the cationic distribution over the tetrahedral and octahedral sites in the nanocrystalline lattice is partially an inverse spinel. Far infrared absorption spectra show two significant absorption bands, around 600 cm −1 and 425 cm −1 , which are respectively attributed to tetrahedral (A) and octahedral [B] vibrations of the spinel. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was used to study surface morphology. SEM images reveal particles in the nanosize range. The transmission electronic microscope (TEM) reveals that the grains are spherical in shape. TEM analysis confirmed the X-ray results. The magnetic properties of the prepared samples were characterized by using a vibrating sample magnetometer. - Highlights: ► The spinel ferrite system has been formed at 1000 °C by using ceramic techniques. ► Structural and microstructural evolutions have been studied using XRD and the Rietveld method. ► The refinement result showed cationic distribution in the lattice is partially an inverse spinel. ► The transmission electronic microscope analysis confirmed the X-ray results. ► Magnetic properties of the samples were characterized by using a vibrating sample magnetometer.

  6. Emission and Performance analysis of hydrotreated refined sunflower oil as alternate fuel

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Hemanandh

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available The experiments were conducted by using the hydrotreated refined sunflower oil as alternative fuel in a 4-stroke, stationary DI diesel engine at a constant speed of 1500 rpm. The effects of hydrotreated vegetable oil blends on diesel engine emission and performance were studied. The emission and performance were studied for different proportions such as HTSF B25 and HTSF B100 and at different loading conditions and comparison was made with petrodiesel. The emission and performance results of HTSF B25 and HTSF B100 showed that decrease in CO by 9% and 37%, HC by 42% and 55%, NOx by 10% and 18.18%, BSFC by 25% and 12.5%. The increase in brake thermal efficiency was by 10% and 38%. It was observed from the study that hydrotreatment of refined sunflower oil could be one of the best alternative fuels for the diesel engine.

  7. Creativity: a refinement of the concept for nursing practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fasnacht, Patsy H

    2003-01-01

    This paper seeks to remove some of the ambiguity surrounding the conceptual meaning of creativity using techniques of concept refinement to advance the concept. Creativity is an essential component of nursing practice that occurs daily in nurse's interactions with clients, families and other nurses. Failure to acknowledge and encourage creativity in beginning nurses may hinder future development and innovations in nursing practice and in nursing science. In order to promote the development of creativity it is first necessary to clarify and refine the concept as it applies to nursing. A comprehensive review of a variety of computer and online databases resulted in thousands of articles on creativity between the years 1966 and 1999. The final sample (n = 48) was obtained using both stratified random and purposive sampling techniques. A content analysis of the literature was conducted using methods identified by Morse and illustrated in the work of Hupcey et al. Having determined the concept to be partially mature, the concept was advanced using techniques of concept refinement. Content analysis of the literature yielded three differing definitions for creativity: revelation, birth and reincarnation. Creativity occurs in the presence of intrinsic motivation and a nurturing environment. While value is often used to identify whether a product is creative, the value of the product cannot determine whether the process has occurred. The product produced determines evidence of the process of creativity. Limitations of this investigation are the use of secondary sources and the relatively small sample size (n = 48). Refinement of the concept of creativity indicates that it is a process that may be developed and influenced by the environment and is recognized by the product produced. Further investigation is needed to explore methods and techniques for developing creativity in nursing.

  8. Oil industry consolidation and refined product prices. Evidence from US wholesale gasoline terminals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kendix, Michael; Walls, W.D.

    2010-01-01

    Our objective in this paper is to quantify the impact of petroleum industry consolidation on refined product prices, controlling for other important factors that could also impact prices. Our empirical analysis focuses on the US petroleum refining industry using data on industry consolidation and wholesale gasoline prices collected over the interval 2000-2008. We match refinery units to wholesale city-terminal gasoline markets, and then estimate pooled cross-section time-series regressions to quantify the impact of petroleum industry consolidation on wholesale gasoline prices at city-specific terminals. The results of the empirical analysis of mergers are mixed, showing that some petroleum industry mergers resulted in statistically significant increases in refined product prices; others resulted in statistically significant declines and still others had no statistical impact at all. Our analysis of the effects of measures of market concentration - one at the level of city-specific wholesale terminals and another at the level of regional spot markets - found evidence that less concentrated markets are associated with lower price levels. (author)

  9. Application of Al-2La-1B Grain Refiner to Al-10Si-0.3Mg Casting Alloy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jing, Lijun; Pan, Ye; Lu, Tao; Li, Chenlin; Pi, Jinhong; Sheng, Ningyue

    2018-05-01

    This paper reports the application and microstructure refining effect of an Al-2La-1B grain refiner in Al-10Si-0.3Mg casting alloy. Compared with the traditional Al-5Ti-1B refiner, Al-2La-1B refiner shows better performances on the grain refinement of Al-10Si-0.3Mg alloy. Transmission electron microscopy analysis suggests that the crystallite structure features of LaB6 are beneficial to the heterogeneous nucleation of α-Al grains. Regarding the mechanical performances, tensile properties of Al-10Si-0.3Mg casting alloy are prominently improved, due to the refined microstructures.

  10. Panorama 2007: Refining and Petrochemicals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Silva, C.

    2007-01-01

    The year 2005 saw a new improvement in refining margins that continued during the first three quarters of 2006. The restoration of margins in the last three years has allowed the refining sector to regain its profitability. In this context, the oil companies reported earnings for fiscal year 2005 that were up significantly compared to 2004, and the figures for the first half-year 2006 confirm this trend. Despite this favorable business environment, investments only saw a minimal increase in 2005 and the improvement expected for 2006 should remain fairly limited. Looking to 2010-2015, it would appear that the planned investment projects with the highest probability of reaching completion will be barely adequate to cover the increase in demand. Refining sector should continue to find itself under pressure. As for petrochemicals, despite a steady up-trend in the naphtha price, the restoration of margins consolidated a comeback that started in 2005. All in all, capital expenditure remained fairly low in both the refining and petrochemicals sectors, but many projects are planned for the next ten years. (author)

  11. Chromatography Analysis of Jatropha Curcas L Oil Raw and Refined

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chitue de Assuncao Nascimento, Juliano; Lafargue Perez, Francisco; Diaz Velazquez, Manuel

    2013-01-01

    The chromatography of gases is one of the most versatile methods utilized in the chemical laboratory, which permits the determinations of the percentages and types of fatty acids present in vegetable oils. The objective of this work was to carry out a comparative study of the composition of the fatty acids, of the mechanically extracted oil from the seed of the Jatropha curcas L plant in the raw and refined state, using the data obtained by gas chromatography. The fatty acids of the oil were determined as methylic esteres. The analyst was carried out in a gas chromatographer, with a detector of ionization by way of flame (FID), Agilent 7890A (Agilent, USA) coupled to HP Pentium 4 computer, with a data processing program. The temperatures of the injector and of the detector were 250 °C and 260 °C respectively. The data obtained chromatographically of the oil of Jatropha curcas L, raw and refined indicates that the refinery process did not vary the composition of the fatty acid, because there are no significant differences between them. Also, the results obtained by other investigators, showed that the predominant fatty acids obtained from the oil of the Jatropha curcas L were palmitic and stearic in the saturated fatty acids, and oleic and linoleic in the unsaturated fatty acids

  12. Chromatography analysis of Jatropha Curcas L oil raw and refined

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chitue de Assuncao Nascimento, Juliano; Lafargue Perez, Francisco; Diaz Velazquez, Manuel

    2013-01-01

    The chromatography of gases is one of the most versatile methods utilized in the chemical laboratory, which permits the determinations of the percentages and types of fatty acids present in vegetable oils. The objective of this work was to carry out a comparative study of the composition of the fatty acids, of the mechanically extracted oil from the seed of the Jatropha curcas L plant in the raw and refined state, using the data obtained by gas chromatography. The fatty acids of the oil were determined as methylic esteres. The analyst was carried out in a gas chromatographer, with a detector of ionization by way of flame (FID), Agilent 7890A (Agilent, USA) coupled to HP Pentium 4 computer, with a data processing program. The temperatures of the injector and of the detector were 250℃ and 260℃ respectively. The data obtained chromatographically of the oil of Jatropha curcas L, raw and refined indicates that the refinery process did not vary the composition of the fatty acid, because there are no significant differences between them. Also, the results obtained by other investigators, showed that the predominant fatty acids obtained from the oil of the Jatropha curcas L were palmitic and stearic in the saturated fatty acids, and oleic and linoleic in the unsaturated fatty acids

  13. Marine sediment pore-water profiles of phosphate d18O using a refined micro-extraction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Goldhammer, Tobias; Max, Thomas; Brunner, Benjamin

    2011-01-01

    and small amounts of marine porewaters available for analysis. We obtained porewater profiles of Pi oxygen isotopes using a refined protocol based on the original micro-extraction designed by Colman (2002). This refined and customized method allows the conversion of ultra-low quantities (0.5 – 1 μmol...

  14. Whole grain and refined grain consumption and the risk of type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of cohort studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aune, Dagfinn; Norat, Teresa; Romundstad, Pål; Vatten, Lars J

    2013-11-01

    Several studies have suggested a protective effect of intake of whole grains, but not refined grains on type 2 diabetes risk, but the dose-response relationship between different types of grains and type 2 diabetes has not been established. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies of grain intake and type 2 diabetes. We searched the PubMed database for studies of grain intake and risk of type 2 diabetes, up to June 5th, 2013. Summary relative risks were calculated using a random effects model. Sixteen cohort studies were included in the analyses. The summary relative risk per 3 servings per day was 0.68 (95% CI 0.58-0.81, I(2) = 82%, n = 10) for whole grains and 0.95 (95% CI 0.88-1.04, I(2) = 53%, n = 6) for refined grains. A nonlinear association was observed for whole grains, p nonlinearity cereals, wheat bran and brown rice, but these results were based on few studies, while white rice was associated with increased risk. Our meta-analysis suggests that a high whole grain intake, but not refined grains, is associated with reduced type 2 diabetes risk. However, a positive association with intake of white rice and inverse associations between several specific types of whole grains and type 2 diabetes warrant further investigations. Our results support public health recommendations to replace refined grains with whole grains and suggest that at least two servings of whole grains per day should be consumed to reduce type 2 diabetes risk.

  15. Refining margins: recent trends

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baudoin, C.; Favennec, J.P.

    1999-01-01

    Despite a business environment that was globally mediocre due primarily to the Asian crisis and to a mild winter in the northern hemisphere, the signs of improvement noted in the refining activity in 1996 were borne out in 1997. But the situation is not yet satisfactory in this sector: the low return on invested capital and the financing of environmental protection expenditure are giving cause for concern. In 1998, the drop in crude oil prices and the concomitant fall in petroleum product prices was ultimately rather favorable to margins. Two elements tended to put a damper on this relative optimism. First of all, margins continue to be extremely volatile and, secondly, the worsening of the economic and financial crisis observed during the summer made for a sharp decline in margins in all geographic regions, especially Asia. Since the beginning of 1999, refining margins are weak and utilization rates of refining capacities have decreased. (authors)

  16. Panorama 2009 - refining

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2008-01-01

    For oil companies to invest in new refining and conversion capacity, favorable conditions over time are required. In other words, refining margins must remain high and demand sustained over a long period. That was the situation prevailing before the onset of the financial crisis in the second half of 2008. The economic conjuncture has taken a substantial turn for the worse since then and the forecasts for 2009 do not look bright. Oil demand is expected to decrease in the OECD countries and to grow much more slowly in the emerging countries. It is anticipated that refining margins will fall in 2009 - in 2008, they slipped significantly in the United States - as a result of increasingly sluggish demand, especially for light products. The next few months will probably be unfavorable to investment. In addition to a gloomy business outlook, there may also be a problem of access to sources of financing. As for investment projects, a mainstream trend has emerged in the last few years: a shift away from the regions that have historically been most active (the OECD countries) towards certain emerging countries, mostly in Asia or the Middle East. The new conjuncture will probably not change this trend

  17. Geometric Effects of La1+xMg2-xNi9 (x=0.0~1.0) Ternary Alloys on Their Hydrogen Storage Capacities

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Zhiqing YUAN; Guanglie LU; Bin LIAO; Yongquan LEI

    2005-01-01

    Structural analysis was made using X-ray diffraction (XRD) Rietveld refinement on a series of La1+xMg2-xNi9(x=0.0~1.0) ternary alloys. Results showed that each of La1+xMg2-xNi9 alloys was a PuNi3-type structure stacked by LaNi5 and (La, Mg) Ni2 blocks. Electrochemical tests revealed that discharge abilities of these La-Mg-Ni ternary alloys mainly depended on their atomic distances between (La, Mg) and Ni, which could be modified by varying the atomic ratios of La/Mg.

  18. Adaptive local surface refinement based on LR NURBS and its application to contact

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zimmermann, Christopher; Sauer, Roger A.

    2017-12-01

    A novel adaptive local surface refinement technique based on Locally Refined Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (LR NURBS) is presented. LR NURBS can model complex geometries exactly and are the rational extension of LR B-splines. The local representation of the parameter space overcomes the drawback of non-existent local refinement in standard NURBS-based isogeometric analysis. For a convenient embedding into general finite element codes, the Bézier extraction operator for LR NURBS is formulated. An automatic remeshing technique is presented that allows adaptive local refinement and coarsening of LR NURBS. In this work, LR NURBS are applied to contact computations of 3D solids and membranes. For solids, LR NURBS-enriched finite elements are used to discretize the contact surfaces with LR NURBS finite elements, while the rest of the body is discretized by linear Lagrange finite elements. For membranes, the entire surface is discretized by LR NURBS. Various numerical examples are shown, and they demonstrate the benefit of using LR NURBS: Compared to uniform refinement, LR NURBS can achieve high accuracy at lower computational cost.

  19. Chemical and structural characterization of natural phosphate of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Powder X-ray diffraction fitting results confirm that compound belongs to the apatite family crystallising in the hexagonal system, space group P63/m. The cell parameters are: a = 9.3547(5) Å; c = 6.8929(4) Å. KEY WORDS: Natural phosphate, Fluoroapatite, Infrared, X-Ray diffraction, Rietveld structure refinement. Bull. Chem ...

  20. Synthesis, structural and ferromagnetic properties of La1–x Kx ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2016-08-26

    Aug 26, 2016 ... Synthesis, structural and ferromagnetic properties of La1–KMnO3 (0.0≤ 0.25) phases by solution combustion method ... Structural parameters were determined by the Rietveld refinement method using powder XRD data. Parent ... The ratio of the Mn3+/Mn4+ was determined by the iodometric titration.

  1. Crystal structure and charge density analysis of Li2NH by synchrotron X-ray diffraction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Noritake, T.; Nozaki, H.; Aoki, M.; Towata, S.; Kitahara, G.; Nakamori, Y.; Orimo, S.

    2005-01-01

    Complex hydrides, such as lithium amide (LiNH 2 ) and lithium imide (Li 2 NH), have recently been noticed as one of the most promising materials for reversible hydrogen storage. In this paper, we reveal the bonding nature of hydrogen in Li 2 NH crystal by synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction measurement at room temperature. The crystal structure was refined by Rietveld method and the charge density distribution was analyzed by maximum entropy method (MEM). The Li 2 NH crystal is anti-fluorite type structure (space group Fm3-bar m) consisting of Li and NH. Hydrogen atom occupies randomly the 48h (Wyckoff notation) sites around N atom. The refined lattice constant is a=5.0742(2)A. The charge density distribution around NH anion in Li 2 NH is almost spherical. The number of electrons within the sphere around the Li and NH is estimated from the obtained charge density distribution. As the result, the ionic charge is expressed as [Li 0.99+ ] 2 [NH] 1.21- . Therefore, it is confirmed experimentally that Li 2 NH is ionically bonded

  2. Study of Mechanical Features for Low Cycle Fatigue Samples of Metastable Austenitic Steel AISI 321 by Neutron Stress Analysis under Applied Load

    CERN Document Server

    Taran, Yu V; Eifler, D; Nebel, Th; Schreiber, J

    2002-01-01

    The elastoplastic properties of the austenitic matrix and martensitic volume areas induced during cyclic tensile-compressive loading of low carbon metastable austenitic stainless steel were studied in an in situ neutron diffraction stress rig experiment on the ENGIN instrument at the ISIS pulsed neutron facility. Samples prepared from the steel AISI 321 annealed at 1050 ^{\\circ}C and quenched in water were subjected to low-cycle fatigue under total-strain control with an amplitude of 1 % at a frequency of 0.5 Hz. Subsequent applied stress?elastic strain responses of the austenitic and martensitic phases were obtained by Rietveld and Le Bail refinements of the neutron diffraction spectra, and were used to determine the elastic constants of the phases as a function of fatigue level. The results of modified refinements accounting for the elastic anisotropy in polycrystalline materials under load are also presented. The residual strains in the austenitic matrix were determined as a function of fatigue cycling, us...

  3. Romanian refining industry assesses restructuring

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanasescu, D.G.

    1991-01-01

    The Romanian crude oil refining industry, as all the other economic sectors, faces the problems accompanying the transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy. At present, all refineries have registered as joint-stock companies and all are coordinated and assisted by Rafirom S.A., from both a legal and a production point of view. Rafirom S.A. is a joint-stock company that holds shares in refineries and other stock companies with activities related to oil refining. Such activities include technological research, development, design, transportation, storage, and domestic and foreign marketing. This article outlines the market forces that are expected to: drive rationalization and restructuring of refining operations and define the targets toward which the reconfigured refineries should strive

  4. Glycidyl fatty acid esters in refined edible oils: A review on formation, occurrence, analysis, and elimination methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glycidyl fatty acid esters (GEs), one of the main contaminants in processed oil, are mainly formed during the deodorization step in the oil refining process of edible oils and therefore occur in almost all refined edible oils. GEs are potential carcinogens, due to the fact that they hydrolyze into t...

  5. Action Refinement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gorrieri, R.; Rensink, Arend; Bergstra, J.A.; Ponse, A.; Smolka, S.A.

    2001-01-01

    In this chapter, we give a comprehensive overview of the research results in the field of action refinement during the past 12 years. The different approaches that have been followed are outlined in detail and contrasted to each other in a uniform framework. We use two running examples to discuss

  6. Effect of Al on Grain Refinement and Mechanical Properties of Mg-3Nd Casting Alloy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Lei; Feng, Yicheng; Wang, Liping; Chen, Yanhong; Guo, Erjun

    2018-05-01

    The effect of Al on the grain refinement and mechanical properties of as-cast Mg-3Nd alloy was investigated systematically by a series of microstructural analysis, solidification analysis and tensile tests. The results show that Al has an obvious refining effect on the as-cast Mg-3Nd alloy. With increasing Al content, the grain size of the as-cast Mg-3Nd alloy decreases firstly, then increases slightly after the Al content reaching 3 wt.%, and the minimum grain size of the Mg-3Nd alloy is 48 ± 4.0 μm. The refining mechanism can be attributed to the formation of Al2Nd particles, which play an important role in the heterogeneous nucleation. The strength and elongation of the Mg-3Nd alloy refined by Al also increase with increasing Al content and slightly decrease when the Al content is more than 3 wt.%, and the strengthening mechanism is attributed to the grain refinement as well as dispersed intermetallic particles. Furthermore, the microstructural thermal stability of the Mg-3Nd-3Al alloy is higher than that of the Mg-3Nd-0.5Zr alloy. Overall, the Mg-3Nd alloy with Al addition is a novel alloy with wide and potential application prospects.

  7. Optimization of Refining Craft for Vegetable Insulating Oil

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Zhu-Jun; Hu, Ting; Cheng, Lin; Tian, Kai; Wang, Xuan; Yang, Jun; Kong, Hai-Yang; Fang, Fu-Xin; Qian, Hang; Fu, Guang-Pan

    2016-05-01

    Vegetable insulating oil because of its environmental friendliness are considered as ideal material instead of mineral oil used for the insulation and the cooling of the transformer. The main steps of traditional refining process included alkali refining, bleaching and distillation. This kind of refining process used in small doses of insulating oil refining can get satisfactory effect, but can't be applied to the large capacity reaction kettle. This paper using rapeseed oil as crude oil, and the refining process has been optimized for large capacity reaction kettle. The optimized refining process increases the acid degumming process. The alkali compound adds the sodium silicate composition in the alkali refining process, and the ratio of each component is optimized. Add the amount of activated clay and activated carbon according to 10:1 proportion in the de-colorization process, which can effectively reduce the oil acid value and dielectric loss. Using vacuum pumping gas instead of distillation process can further reduce the acid value. Compared some part of the performance parameters of refined oil products with mineral insulating oil, the dielectric loss of vegetable insulating oil is still high and some measures are needed to take to further optimize in the future.

  8. Grain refining efficiency of Al-Ti-C alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Birol, Yuecel

    2006-01-01

    The problems associated with boride agglomeration and the poisoning effect of Zr in Zr-bearing alloys have created a big demand for boron-free grain refiners. The potential benefits of TiC as a direct nucleant for aluminium grains have thus generated a great deal of interest in TiC-bearing alloys in recent years. In Al-Ti-C grain refiners commercially available today, Al 3 Ti particles are introduced into the melt along with the TiC particles. Since the latter are claimed to nucleate α-Al directly, it is of great technological interest to see if reducing the Ti:C ratio further, i.e., increasing the C content of the grain refiner, will produce an increase in the grain refining efficiency of these alloys. A series of grain refiner samples with the Ti concentration fixed at 3% and a range of C contents between 0 and 0.75 were obtained by appropriately mixing an experimental Al-3Ti-0.75C alloy with Al-10Ti alloy and commercial purity aluminium. The grain refining efficiency of these grain refiners was assessed to investigate the role of the insoluble TiC and the soluble Al 3 Ti particles. The optimum chemistry for the Al-Ti-C grain refiners was also identified

  9. Grain refining efficiency of Al-Ti-C alloys

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Birol, Yuecel [Materials Institute, Marmara Research Center, TUBITAK, 41470 Gebze, Kocaeli (Turkey)]. E-mail: yucel.birol@mam.gov.tr

    2006-09-28

    The problems associated with boride agglomeration and the poisoning effect of Zr in Zr-bearing alloys have created a big demand for boron-free grain refiners. The potential benefits of TiC as a direct nucleant for aluminium grains have thus generated a great deal of interest in TiC-bearing alloys in recent years. In Al-Ti-C grain refiners commercially available today, Al{sub 3}Ti particles are introduced into the melt along with the TiC particles. Since the latter are claimed to nucleate {alpha}-Al directly, it is of great technological interest to see if reducing the Ti:C ratio further, i.e., increasing the C content of the grain refiner, will produce an increase in the grain refining efficiency of these alloys. A series of grain refiner samples with the Ti concentration fixed at 3% and a range of C contents between 0 and 0.75 were obtained by appropriately mixing an experimental Al-3Ti-0.75C alloy with Al-10Ti alloy and commercial purity aluminium. The grain refining efficiency of these grain refiners was assessed to investigate the role of the insoluble TiC and the soluble Al{sub 3}Ti particles. The optimum chemistry for the Al-Ti-C grain refiners was also identified.

  10. Synthesis of silver doped hydroxyapatite nanospheres using Ouzo effect

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marija Prekajski

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Nanoemulsion technique, based on Ouzo effect, was applied for synthesis of the pure and silver doped (2.5 and 5 mol% calcium hydroxyapatite (HAp. After calcination at 500 °C fully crystallized powders were obtained. X-ray powder diffraction analysis accompanied with Rietveld refinement revealed that the synthesized powders were single-phase hydroxyapatite. Raman spectroscopy also confirmed that the synthesized powders were single-phase. The obtained HAp particles were spherical in shape and their sizes were in the nanometer range which was revealed by field emission scanning electron microscopy analysis (FESEM. The successful synthesis of the single-phase Ag doped HAp showed that nanoemulsion method is a simple technique for obtaining pure and doped hydroxyapatite nanospheres.

  11. Microstructural analysis of the {delta} to {alpha}' phase transformation in plutonium alloys using X-ray diffraction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Platteau, C; Ravat, B; Texier, G; Oudot, B; Delaunay, F, E-mail: brice.ravat@cea.fr [CEA Valduc 21120 Is sur Tille (France)

    2010-03-15

    The partial martensitic {delta}{yields}{alpha}' transformation in plutonium alloys is sensitive to chemical composition, sample thermal history, as well as crystalline defects. The present work investigates the {delta}-Pu phase microstructure before and after the martensitic transformation {delta}{yields}{delta}+{alpha}'. More precisely, microstructural modifications of the host {delta}-phase, resulting from the stress induced by a cell volume difference of 19% between the {delta} and {alpha}'-phases, were analysed. Microstructural information about crystallite size and microstrain of a highly homogenized Pu-Ga alloy was extracted from x-ray diffraction patterns using a three dimension crystallite size and microstrain model. This is available in Rietveld refinement software and consists in anisotropic broadening analysis of diffraction peaks. Crystallite size doesn't significantly change with the phase transformation contrary to microstrain that is multiplied, on average, by five. Furthermore, internal normal and shear microstress are multiplied, respectively, by 2 and 13 when {alpha}'-phase appears. Last, dislocation densities, calculated from crystallite size and microstrain, are compared to TEM results available in the literature.

  12. Data refinement for true concurrency

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brijesh Dongol

    2013-05-01

    Full Text Available The majority of modern systems exhibit sophisticated concurrent behaviour, where several system components modify and observe the system state with fine-grained atomicity. Many systems (e.g., multi-core processors, real-time controllers also exhibit truly concurrent behaviour, where multiple events can occur simultaneously. This paper presents data refinement defined in terms of an interval-based framework, which includes high-level operators that capture non-deterministic expression evaluation. By modifying the type of an interval, our theory may be specialised to cover data refinement of both discrete and continuous systems. We present an interval-based encoding of forward simulation, then prove that our forward simulation rule is sound with respect to our data refinement definition. A number of rules for decomposing forward simulation proofs over both sequential and parallel composition are developed.

  13. Refinements of On-The-Fly Doppler Broadening via Gauss-Hermite Quadrature in Monte Carlo Reactor Analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jo, YuGwon; Cho, Nam Zin

    2017-01-01

    In this paper, the GHQ algorithm is refined in two aspects. One is that the Doppler broadened cross section in the low energy range is estimated by the two variations of GHQ (GHQ1 and GHQ2) and the two-point GLQ for both accuracy and computational efficiency. The other is a refined cross-section table lookup procedure for GHQ to reduce computing times. For the low energy range (y < 4), the effective cross section is estimated by the GHQ2 algorithm to improve both accuracy and computational efficiency. To further reduce the computing times for Doppler broadening, a procedure of cross-section table lookups for the GHQ algorithm is also refined. From the numerical results, we have shown that the GHQ2 algorithm removes oscillatory errors in the low energy range, which appear in the GHQ1 algorithm, while the computing time of the GHQ2 algorithm is much faster than that of the two-point GLQ algorithm. In conclusion, the “GHQ2/GHQ” algorithm (GHQ2 for y < 4 and GHQ for y ≥4) with the refined cross-section table lookup procedure can be an efficient and accurate OTF Doppler broadening algorithm for MC simulations, when the cross section data is piecewise linearly tabulated.

  14. Grain Refinement of Permanent Mold Cast Copper Base Alloys

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    M.Sadayappan; J.P.Thomson; M.Elboujdaini; G.Ping Gu; M. Sahoo

    2005-04-01

    Grain refinement is a well established process for many cast and wrought alloys. The mechanical properties of various alloys could be enhanced by reducing the grain size. Refinement is also known to improve casting characteristics such as fluidity and hot tearing. Grain refinement of copper-base alloys is not widely used, especially in sand casting process. However, in permanent mold casting of copper alloys it is now common to use grain refinement to counteract the problem of severe hot tearing which also improves the pressure tightness of plumbing components. The mechanism of grain refinement in copper-base alloys is not well understood. The issues to be studied include the effect of minor alloy additions on the microstructure, their interaction with the grain refiner, effect of cooling rate, and loss of grain refinement (fading). In this investigation, efforts were made to explore and understand grain refinement of copper alloys, especially in permanent mold casting conditions.

  15. Comparing Syntactic and Semantics Action Refinement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Goltz, Ursula; Gorrieri, Roberto; Rensink, Arend

    The semantic definition of action refinement on labelled configuration structures is compared with the notion of syntactic substitution, which can be used as another notion of action refinement in a process algebraic setting. The comparison is done by studying a process algebra equipped with

  16. Structures and solid solution mechanisms of pyrochlore phases in the systems Bi{sub 2}O{sub 3}-ZnO-(Nb, Ta){sub 2}O{sub 5}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tan, K.B., E-mail: tankb@science.upm.edu.m [Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor (Malaysia); Khaw, C.C. [Department of Engineering, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, 53300 Setapak, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia); Lee, C.K. [Academic Science Malaysia, 902-4 Jalan Tun Ismail, 50480 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia); Zainal, Z. [Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor (Malaysia); Miles, G.C. [Department of Engineering Materials, The University of Sheffield, Mappin Street, Sheffield, S1 3JD (United Kingdom)

    2010-10-22

    Research highlights: {yields} Combined XRD and ND Rietveld structural refinement of pyrochlores. {yields} Structures and solid solution mechanisms of Bi-pyrochlores. {yields} Bi and Zn displaced off-centre to different 96g A-site positions. {yields} Summary of composition-structure-property of Bi-pyrochlores. - Abstract: The crystal structures of two pyrochlore phases have been determined by Rietveld refinement of combined X-ray and neutron powder diffraction data. These are stoichiometric, Bi{sub 1.5} ZnTa{sub 1.5}O{sub 7} and non-stoichiometric Bi{sub 1.56}Zn{sub 0.92}Nb{sub 1.44}O{sub 6.86}. In both structures, Zn is distributed over A- and B-sites; Bi and Zn are displaced off-centre, to different 96g A-site positions; of the three sets of oxygen positions, O(1) are full, O(2) contain vacancies and O(3) contain a small number of oxygen, again in both cases. Comparisons between these structures, those of related Sb analogues and literature reports are made.

  17. Crystal structure and magnetic properties of La{sub 2−x}(Sr{sub 0.5}Ca{sub 0.5}){sub 1+x}Mn{sub 2}O{sub 7} (x=0.6, 0.8 and 1.0) Ruddlesden–Popper manganites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Raju, K.; Song, M.S.; Lee, J.Y., E-mail: jylee@yu.ac.kr

    2014-05-01

    Double layer perovskite (Ruddlesden–Popper) manganites with the nominal composition of La{sub 2−x}(Sr{sub 0.5}Ca{sub 0.5}){sub 1+x}Mn{sub 2}O{sub 7} (x=0.6, 0.8 and 1.0) were synthesized via a solid state reaction route. X-ray and neutron diffraction were performed at room temperature and the crystal structure was refined using the Rietveld method based on the space group, I4/mmm. The temperature variation of the susceptibility revealed a spin glass transition at 28 K for x=0.6, a charge ordering transition at 245 K and a Neel transition at 170 K for x=1.0. - Highlights: • Lanthanum based double layered manganites were prepared by doping with the same amounts of Sr and Ca. • X-ray and neutron diffraction were performed and the crystal structure was refined using the Rietveld method. • Different magnetic transitions were observed depending upon the doping concentration. • Qualitative explanation for the various observed phenomena was given.

  18. On the use of a composite moderator at the IBR-2 reactor: Advantages for the neutron-diffraction texture analysis of rocks

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Bulavin, M. V.; Vasin, R.N.; Kulikov, S.A.; Lokajíček, Tomáš; Levin, D.M.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 10, č. 4 (2016), s. 677-686 ISSN 1027-4510 Institutional support: RVO:67985831 Keywords : cold moderator * neutron-diffraction texture analysis * phase analysis * Rietveld method Subject RIV: DB - Geology ; Mineralogy

  19. Studies on the sedimentation and agglomeration behavior of Al-Ti-B and Al-Ti-C grain refiners

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gazanion, F.; Chen, X.G.; Dupuis, C. [Alcan International Ltd., Jonquiere, PQ (Canada). Arvida Research and Development Centre

    2002-07-01

    The sedimentation and agglomeration behavior of Al-Ti-B and Al-Ti-C grain refiners in liquid aluminum has been investigated using the LiMCA and PoDFA analysis techniques in combination with metallographic examination. The widely used Al-5%Ti-1%B and Al-3%Ti-0.15%C master alloys were chosen. Two aluminum alloys, an AAlxxx (commercially pure metal) and an AA5182 (Al-4.5%Mg) alloy, were prepared with different additions of grain refiners. The difference in particle behavior in liquid aluminum for both refiners is described and briefly analyzed in terms of sensitivity to agglomeration and grain refiner performance. Experimental results indicate that, in comparison with the Al-Ti-B refiner, the Al-Ti-C refiner is detrimentally affected by long holding periods due to the decomposition of TiC particles within the melt. (orig.)

  20. Influence of Alloy and Solidification Parameters on Grain Refinement in Aluminum Weld Metal due to Inoculation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schempp, Philipp [BAM, Germany; Tang, Z. [BIAS, Germany; Cross, Carl E. [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Seefeld, T. [BIAS, Germany; Pittner, A. [BAM, Germany; Rethmeier, M. [BAM, Germany

    2012-06-28

    The goals are: (1) Establish how much Ti/B grain refiner is need to completely refine aluminum weld metal for different alloys and different welding conditions; (2) Characterize how alloy composition and solidification parameters affect weld metal grain refinement; and (3) Apply relevant theory to understand observed behavior. Conclusions are: (1) additions of Ti/B grain refiner to weld metal in Alloys 1050, 5083, and 6082 resulted in significant grain refinement; (2) grain refinement was more effective in GTAW than LBW, resulting in finer grains at lower Ti content - reason is limited time available for equiaxed grain growth in LBW (inability to occlude columnar grain growth); (3) welding travel speed did not markedly affect grain size within GTAW and LBW clusters; and (4) application of Hunt CET analysis showed experimental G to be on the order of the critical G{sub CET}; G{sub CET} was consistently higher for GTAW than for LBW.

  1. On Syntactic and Semantic Action Refinement

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hagiya, M.; Goltz, U.; Mitchell, J.C.; Gorrieri, R.; Rensink, Arend

    1994-01-01

    The semantic definition of action refinement on labelled event structures is compared with the notion of syntactic substitution, which can be used as another notion of action refinement in a process algebraic setting. This is done by studying a process algebra equipped with the ACP sequential

  2. Refinement for Transition Systems with Responses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marco Carbone

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Motivated by the response pattern for property specifications and applications within flexible workflow management systems, we report upon an initial study of modal and mixed transition systems in which the must transitions are interpreted as must eventually, and in which implementations can contain may behaviors that are resolved at run-time. We propose Transition Systems with Responses (TSRs as a suitable model for this study. We prove that TSRs correspond to a restricted class of mixed transition systems, which we refer to as the action-deterministic mixed transition systems. We show that TSRs allow for a natural definition of deadlocked and accepting states. We then transfer the standard definition of refinement for mixed transition systems to TSRs and prove that refinement does not preserve deadlock freedom. This leads to the proposal of safe refinements, which are those that preserve deadlock freedom. We exemplify the use of TSRs and (safe refinements on a small medication workflow.

  3. Design of Grain Refiners for Aluminium Alloys

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tronche, A.; Greer, A. L.

    The efficiency of a grain refiner can be quantified as the number of grains per nucleant particle in the solidified product. Even for effective refiners in aluminium, such as Al-5Ti-1B, it is known from experiments that efficiencies are very low, at best 10-3 to 102. It is of interest to explore the reasons for such low values, and to assess the prospects for increased efficiency though design of refiners. Recently it has been shown [1] that a simple recalescence-based model can make quantitative predictions of grain size as a function of refiner addition level, cooling rate and solute content. In the model, the initiation of grains is limited by the free growth from nucleant particles, the size distribution of which is very important. The present work uses this model as the basis for discussing the effect of particle size distribution on grain refiner performance. Larger particles (of TiB2 in the case of present interest) promote greater efficiency, as do narrower size distributions. It is shown that even if the size distribution could be exactly specified, compromises would have to be made to balance efficiency (defined as above) with other desirable characteristics of a refiner.

  4. Analysis of crystallite size and microdeformation crystal lattice the tungsten carbide milling in mill high energy; Analise do tamanho do cristalito e microdeformacao da rede cristalina do carbeto de tugstenio moidos em moinho de alta energia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Silva, F.T. da; Nunes, M.A.M. [Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (PPGCEM/UFRN), Natal (Brazil). Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Ciencia e Engenharia de Materiais; Oliveira, R.M.V. de; Silva, G.G. da [Instituto Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (IFRN), Natal (Brazil); Souza, C.P. de; Gomes, U.U. [Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN), Natal (Brazil)

    2010-07-01

    The tungsten carbide (WC) has wide application due to its properties like high melting point, high hardness, wear resistance, oxidation resistance and good electrical conductivity. The microstructural characteristics of the starting powders influences the final properties of the carbide. In this context, the use of nanoparticle powders is an efficient way to improve the final properties of the WC. The high energy milling stands out from other processes to obtain nanometric powders due to constant microstructural changes caused by this process. Therefore, the objective is to undertake an analysis of microstructural characteristics on the crystallite size and microdeformations of the crystal lattice using the technique of X-ray diffraction (XRD) using the Rietveld refinement. The results show an efficiency of the milling process to reduce the crystallite size, leading to a significant deformation in the crystal lattice of WC from 5h milling. (author)

  5. A refinement methodology for object-oriented programs

    OpenAIRE

    Tafat , Asma; Boulmé , Sylvain; Marché , Claude

    2010-01-01

    International audience; Refinement is a well-known approach for developing correct-byconstruction software. It has been very successful for producing high quality code e.g., as implemented in the B tool. Yet, such refinement techniques are restricted in the sense that they forbid aliasing (and more generally sharing of data-structures), which often happens in usual programming languages. We propose a sound approach for refinement in presence of aliases. Suitable abstractions of programs are d...

  6. Bauxite Mining and Alumina Refining

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frisch, Neale; Olney, David

    2014-01-01

    Objective: To describe bauxite mining and alumina refining processes and to outline the relevant physical, chemical, biological, ergonomic, and psychosocial health risks. Methods: Review article. Results: The most important risks relate to noise, ergonomics, trauma, and caustic soda splashes of the skin/eyes. Other risks of note relate to fatigue, heat, and solar ultraviolet and for some operations tropical diseases, venomous/dangerous animals, and remote locations. Exposures to bauxite dust, alumina dust, and caustic mist in contemporary best-practice bauxite mining and alumina refining operations have not been demonstrated to be associated with clinically significant decrements in lung function. Exposures to bauxite dust and alumina dust at such operations are also not associated with the incidence of cancer. Conclusions: A range of occupational health risks in bauxite mining and alumina refining require the maintenance of effective control measures. PMID:24806720

  7. South Korea - oil refining overview

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hayes, D.

    1999-01-01

    Following the economic problems of the 1990s, the petroleum refining industry of South Korea underwent much involuntary restructuring in 1999 with respect to takeovers and mergers and these are discussed. The demand for petroleum has now pretty well recovered. The reasons for fluctuating prices in the 1990s, how the new structure should be cushioned against changes in the future, and the potential for South Korea to export refined petroleum, are all discussed

  8. Adaptive Mesh Refinement in CTH

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crawford, David

    1999-01-01

    This paper reports progress on implementing a new capability of adaptive mesh refinement into the Eulerian multimaterial shock- physics code CTH. The adaptivity is block-based with refinement and unrefinement occurring in an isotropic 2:1 manner. The code is designed to run on serial, multiprocessor and massive parallel platforms. An approximate factor of three in memory and performance improvements over comparable resolution non-adaptive calculations has-been demonstrated for a number of problems

  9. Bulletin of Materials Science | Indian Academy of Sciences

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    We have studied for the first time the effect of Ag addition (0–15 wt%) to the superconducting system, Nd 1.85 Ce 0.15 CuO 4 , on its crystal structure and local structural features, using synchrotron X-ray diffraction(SXRD) and Raman spectroscopy, respectively. SXRD and subsequent Rietveld refinement studies on powders ...

  10. Structural behaviour of AgNO3 at low temperatures by neutron ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    [4] F El-Kabbany, Y Badr, G Said and S Taha, Appl. Phys. A43, 65 (1987). [5] Z Shen, W F Sherman and G R Wilkinson, J. Mol. Struct. 175, 395 (1988). [6] R Rodriguez-Carvajal, FULLPROF: A Program for Rietveld Refinement, profile matching and integrated intensity, version 3.1 (LLB, France) (1995). [7] R Feyerherm, M F ...

  11. Price implications for Russia's oil refining

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khartukov, Eugene M.

    1998-01-01

    Over the past several years, Russia's oil industry has undergone its radical transformation from a wholly state-run and generously subsidized oil distribution system toward a substantially privatized, cash-strapped, and quasi-market ''petropreneurship''. This fully applies to the industry's downstream sector. Still unlike more dynamic E and C operations, the country's refining has turned out better fenced off competitive market forces and is less capable to respond to market imperatives. Consequently, jammed between depressed product prices and persistent feedstock costs, Russian refiners were badly hit by the world oil glut - which has made a radical modernization of the obsolete refining sector clearly a must. (author)

  12. Optimizing refiner operation with statistical modelling

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Broderick, G [Noranda Research Centre, Pointe Claire, PQ (Canada)

    1997-02-01

    The impact of refining conditions on the energy efficiency of the process and on the handsheet quality of a chemi-mechanical pulp was studied as part of a series of pilot scale refining trials. Statistical models of refiner performance were constructed from these results and non-linear optimization of process conditions were conducted. Optimization results indicated that increasing the ratio of specific energy applied in the first stage led to a reduction of some 15 per cent in the total energy requirement. The strategy can also be used to obtain significant increases in pulp quality for a given energy input. 20 refs., 6 tabs.

  13. Report on the analysis of the quality assurance and quality control data for the petroleum refining sector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thorton, N.; Michajluk, S.; Powell, T.; Lee, G.

    1992-07-01

    The Ontario Municipal-Industrial Strategy for Abatement (MISA) program has the ultimate goal of virtual elimination of persistent toxic contaminants from all discharges to provincial waterways. MISA effluent monitoring regulations, first promulgated for the petroleum refining sector, require direct dischargers to monitor their effluents for a specified number of contaminants and a specified frequency over a one-year period. The refineries were also required to carry out a quality control program on all process effluent streams and for specified analytical test groups. Two types of quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) data were required: field QA/QC, which would indicate problems with field contamination or sampling, and laboratory QA/QC, which would indicate problems with the laboratory. The objectives of QA/QC analysis are to identify the significance of biases, chronic contamination, data variability, and false results, to assess data validity, and to allow data comparability among companies and laboratories. Of the 149 parameters monitored in the petroleum refining sector, 34 qualified as candidates for setting effluent limits. The QA/QC evaluation of monitoring data for the 34 parameters confirmed the presence of 18 parameters at such levels that they could be used to set statistically valid quantitative limits. 50 tabs

  14. Kinetic Modeling of a Silicon Refining Process in a Moist Hydrogen Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Zhiyuan; Morita, Kazuki

    2018-06-01

    We developed a kinetic model that considers both silicon loss and boron removal in a metallurgical grade silicon refining process. This model was based on the hypotheses of reversible reactions. The reaction rate coefficient kept the same form but error of terminal boron concentration could be introduced when relating irreversible reactions. Experimental data from published studies were used to develop a model that fit the existing data. At 1500 °C, our kinetic analysis suggested that refining silicon in a moist hydrogen atmosphere generates several primary volatile species, including SiO, SiH, HBO, and HBO2. Using the experimental data and the kinetic analysis of volatile species, we developed a model that predicts a linear relationship between the reaction rate coefficient k and both the quadratic function of p(H2O) and the square root of p(H2). Moreover, the model predicted the partial pressure values for the predominant volatile species and the prediction was confirmed by the thermodynamic calculations, indicating the reliability of the model. We believe this model provides a foundation for designing a silicon refining process with a fast boron removal rate and low silicon loss.

  15. Grain refinement mechanism in A3003 alloy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cho, Hoon; Shin, Je-Sik; Lee, Byoung-Soo; Jo, Hyung-Ho

    2009-01-01

    In the present study, in order to find out an grain refinement mechanism, 0.1wt.% Al-10wt.%Ti master alloy was added into A3003 alloy melt contained in graphite crucible and in alumina crucible, and then the melt holding time at 750 deg. C was systematically changed from 1 min up to 120 min. It is interesting to note that the grain refinement and fading phenomena remarkably depend on the crucible material. The fading effect in the specimens using alumina crucible can be explained as the result of TiAl 3 phase dissolution into molten aluminium matrix. In the specimens using graphite crucible, the grain refinement was occurred gradually with increasing holding time. It was suggest that the continuous grain refinement is due to transition of refinement mechanism from TiAl 3 phase to TiC phase. It can be mentioned that the TiC formed from titanium and carbon solute in the aluminium melt, which came from the Al-10Ti alloy and the graphite crucible.

  16. Refining discordant gene trees.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Górecki, Pawel; Eulenstein, Oliver

    2014-01-01

    Evolutionary studies are complicated by discordance between gene trees and the species tree in which they evolved. Dealing with discordant trees often relies on comparison costs between gene and species trees, including the well-established Robinson-Foulds, gene duplication, and deep coalescence costs. While these costs have provided credible results for binary rooted gene trees, corresponding cost definitions for non-binary unrooted gene trees, which are frequently occurring in practice, are challenged by biological realism. We propose a natural extension of the well-established costs for comparing unrooted and non-binary gene trees with rooted binary species trees using a binary refinement model. For the duplication cost we describe an efficient algorithm that is based on a linear time reduction and also computes an optimal rooted binary refinement of the given gene tree. Finally, we show that similar reductions lead to solutions for computing the deep coalescence and the Robinson-Foulds costs. Our binary refinement of Robinson-Foulds, gene duplication, and deep coalescence costs for unrooted and non-binary gene trees together with the linear time reductions provided here for computing these costs significantly extends the range of trees that can be incorporated into approaches dealing with discordance.

  17. Basic effects of pulp refining on fiber properties--a review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gharehkhani, Samira; Sadeghinezhad, Emad; Kazi, Salim Newaz; Yarmand, Hooman; Badarudin, Ahmad; Safaei, Mohammad Reza; Zubir, Mohd Nashrul Mohd

    2015-01-22

    The requirement for high quality pulps which are widely used in paper industries has increased the demand for pulp refining (beating) process. Pulp refining is a promising approach to improve the pulp quality by changing the fiber characteristics. The diversity of research on the effect of refining on fiber properties which is due to the different pulp sources, pulp consistency and refining equipment has interested us to provide a review on the studies over the last decade. In this article, the influence of pulp refining on structural properties i.e., fibrillations, fine formation, fiber length, fiber curl, crystallinity and distribution of surface chemical compositions is reviewed. The effect of pulp refining on electrokinetic properties of fiber e.g., surface and total charges of pulps is discussed. In addition, an overview of different refining theories, refiners as well as some tests for assessing the pulp refining is presented. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Low-resolution refinement tools in REFMAC5

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nicholls, Robert A.; Long, Fei; Murshudov, Garib N.

    2012-01-01

    Low-resolution refinement tools implemented in REFMAC5 are described, including the use of external structural restraints, helical restraints and regularized anisotropic map sharpening. Two aspects of low-resolution macromolecular crystal structure analysis are considered: (i) the use of reference structures and structural units for provision of structural prior information and (ii) map sharpening in the presence of noise and the effects of Fourier series termination. The generation of interatomic distance restraints by ProSMART and their subsequent application in REFMAC5 is described. It is shown that the use of such external structural information can enhance the reliability of derived atomic models and stabilize refinement. The problem of map sharpening is considered as an inverse deblurring problem and is solved using Tikhonov regularizers. It is demonstrated that this type of map sharpening can automatically produce a map with more structural features whilst maintaining connectivity. Tests show that both of these directions are promising, although more work needs to be performed in order to further exploit structural information and to address the problem of reliable electron-density calculation

  19. Mechanical pulping with a sequential velocity refiner- a new concept

    Science.gov (United States)

    C.W. McMillin

    1978-01-01

    In previous research with refiner mechanical pulps, a theoretical stress analysis indicated that longitudinal tracheids of Pinus taeda L. fail while under torsional stress and unwind into ribbonlike elements that provide the coherence necessary for strength development. When macerated tracheids of loblolly pine were individually stressed in torsion...

  20. Refining of fossil resin flotation concentrate from western coal. Final report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jensen, G.F.; Miller, J.D.

    1995-02-16

    During the past several years, significant research efforts have been made to develop process technology for the selective flotation of fossil resin from western coals. As a result of these efforts, several new flotation technologies have been developed. Operation of a proof-of-concept continuous flotation circuit showed the selective flotation process to be sufficiently profitable to justify the development of a fossil resin industry. However, little attention has been given to the refining of the fossil resin flotation concentrate although solvent refining is a critical step for the fossil resin to become a marketable product. In view of this situation, DOE funded this two-year project to evaluate the following aspects of the fossil resin refining technology: 1) Characterization of the fossil resin flotation concentrate and its refined products; 2) Kinetics of fossil resin extraction; 3) Effects of operating variables on solvent extraction; 4) Extraction solvents; 5) Proof-of-concept continuous refining tests; and 6) Technical and economic analysis. The results from this research effort have led to the following conclusions: Hexane- or heptane-refined fossil resin has a light-yellow color, a melting point of 140 - 142{degrees}C, a density of 1.034 gram/cm, and good solubility in nonpolar solvents. Among the four solvents evaluated (hexane, heptane, toluene and ethyl acetate), hexane is the most appropriate solvent based on overall technical and economic considerations. Batch extraction tests and kinetic studies suggest that the main interaction between the resin and the solvent is expected to be the forces associated with solvation phenomena. Temperature has the most significant effect on extraction rate. With hexane as the solvent, a recovery of 90% cam be achieved at 50{degrees}C and 10% solids concentration with moderate agitation for 1 hour.

  1. Synthesis and electrochemical properties of KPb{sub 4−x}Ca{sub x}(PO{sub 4}){sub 3} (0 ≤ x ≤ 1.5) for oxidation of cadmium at graphite electrode

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lahrich, Sara [Univ Hassan 1, Laboratoire de Chimie et Modélisation Mathématique, Faculté Polydisciplinaire, 25000 Khouribga (Morocco); Univ Hassan 1, Laboratoire Sciences des Matériaux, des Milieux et de la Modélisation, Faculté Polydisciplinaire, 25000 Khouribga (Morocco); Manoun, Bouchaib [Univ Hassan 1, Laboratoire Sciences des Matériaux, des Milieux et de la Modélisation, Faculté Polydisciplinaire, 25000 Khouribga (Morocco); El Mhammedi, Moulay Abderrahim, E-mail: elmhammedi@yahoo.fr [Univ Hassan 1, Laboratoire de Chimie et Modélisation Mathématique, Faculté Polydisciplinaire, 25000 Khouribga (Morocco)

    2017-02-15

    Chemically modified carbon paste electrode (CPE) for cadmium (II) analysis has been constructed by mixing KPb{sub 4−x}Ca{sub x}(PO{sub 4}){sub 3} (0 ≤ x ≤ 1.5) (CaLA) and graphite powder. The lacunar apatite was synthesized using solid reaction and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectroscopy (IR) and Raman spectroscopy. The refinement study was carried out using Rietveld method where the obtained results show a good agreement between the observed and calculated patterns. The detection of cadmium (II) was investigated in acetate buffer (pH 4.5) using differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPASV). The limit of detection obtained under the optimized experimental conditions was 5.35 × 10{sup −7} mol L{sup −1} with a relative standard deviation of 2.37%. Possible interferences were tested and evaluated in 5.0 × 10{sup −5} mol L{sup −1} cadmium (II) in the presence of other inorganic ions. Finally, the proposed method was successfully applied to determine cadmium (II) in seawater and mussel samples. Hence, the satisfactory results confirm the applicability of this sensor in practical analysis. - Highlights: • Synthesis and characterization of new lacunar apatites KPb{sub 4−x}Ca{sub x}(PO{sub 4}){sub 3} (0 ≤ x ≤ 1.5). • Structural refinement of these compounds using Rietveld method. • A study of Ca doping effect in lacunar apatites for detecting Cd (II). • The electrochemical oxidation of Cd (II) was performed at CaLA-CPE using DPASV. • The proposed method was evaluated to detect cadmium in seawater and mussel samples.

  2. Oil refining expansion criteria for Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tavares, M.E.E.; Szklo, A.S.; Machado, G.V.; Schaeffer, R.; Mariano, J.B.; Sala, J.F.

    2006-01-01

    This paper assesses different strategies for the expansion of Brazil's oil refining segment, using criteria that range from energy security (reducing imports and vulnerability for key products) through to maximizing the profitability of this sector (boosting the output of higher value oil products) and adding value to Brazil's oil production (reducing exports of heavy acid oil). The development prospects are analyzed for conventional fuel production technology routes, sketching out three possible refining schemes for Brazilian oil and a GTL plant for producing gasoil from natural gas. Market scenario simulations indicate that investments will be required in Brazil's oil refining segment over and above those allocated to planned modifications in its current facilities, reducing the nation's vulnerability in terms of gasoil and petrochemical naphtha imports. Although not economically attractive, oil refining is a key activity that is crucial to oil company strategies. The decision to invest in this segment depends on local infrastructure conditions, environmental constraints and fuel specifications, in addition to oil company strategies, steady growth in demand and the definition of a government policy that eases institutional risks. (author)

  3. Oil refining expansion criteria for Brazil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tavares, Marina Elisabete Espinho; Szklo, Alexandre Salem; Machado, Giovani Vitoria; Schaeffer, Roberto; Mariano, Jacqueline Barboza; Sala, Janaina Francisco

    2006-01-01

    This paper assesses different strategies for the expansion of Brazil's oil refining segment, using criteria that range from energy security (reducing imports and vulnerability for key products) through to maximizing the profitability of this sector (boosting the output of higher value oil products) and adding value to Brazil's oil production (reducing exports of heavy acid oil). The development prospects are analyzed for conventional fuel production technology routes, sketching out three possible refining schemes for Brazilian oil and a GTL plant for producing gasoil from natural gas. Market scenario simulations indicate that investments will be required in Brazil's oil refining segment over and above those allocated to planned modifications in its current facilities, reducing the nation's vulnerability in terms of gasoil and petrochemical naphtha imports. Although not economically attractive, oil refining is a key activity that is crucial to oil company strategies. The decision to invest in this segment depends on local infrastructure conditions, environmental constraints and fuel specifications, in addition to oil company strategies, steady growth in demand and the definition of a government policy that eases institutional risks

  4. Nucleation mechanisms of refined alpha microstructure in beta titanium alloys

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Yufeng

    . Therefore, the nucleation mechanisms proposed could successfully explain the features of refined and super-refined precipitates microstructure in Ti-5553, validated by thermodynamic calculations and phase field modeling simulation. In addition to the study of microstructure evolution in beta titanium alloys upon various heat treatment conditions, another effort made in the current study is to apply various phase transformation analysis tools on titanium alloys in order to capture the initial stage of precipitation and investigate the kinetics of precipitation. Especially Electro-Thermo-Mechanical Tester (ETMT) is used to in-situ measure the physical properties change of Ti-5553 during heat treatment and therefore analyze the kinetics of phase transformation. This part of work can be treated as complementary work of the study of microstructure evolution in beta titanium alloys. In summary, refined and super-refined precipitates microstructure in Ti-5553 are studied using both modern characterization techniques and computational simulation. Nucleation mechanisms are proposed to explain all the features of two specific microstructures and critical heat treatment conditions are figured out. Therefore, this insightful study is not only beneficial to understanding the details of phase transformation in the scientific aspect but also complement to selection of heat treatment conditions in industry area.

  5. Accurate macromolecular crystallographic refinement: incorporation of the linear scaling, semiempirical quantum-mechanics program DivCon into the PHENIX refinement package

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Borbulevych, Oleg Y.; Plumley, Joshua A.; Martin, Roger I. [QuantumBio Inc., 2790 West College Avenue, State College, PA 16801 (United States); Merz, Kenneth M. Jr [University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida (United States); Westerhoff, Lance M., E-mail: lance@quantumbioinc.com [QuantumBio Inc., 2790 West College Avenue, State College, PA 16801 (United States)

    2014-05-01

    Semiempirical quantum-chemical X-ray macromolecular refinement using the program DivCon integrated with PHENIX is described. Macromolecular crystallographic refinement relies on sometimes dubious stereochemical restraints and rudimentary energy functionals to ensure the correct geometry of the model of the macromolecule and any covalently bound ligand(s). The ligand stereochemical restraint file (CIF) requires a priori understanding of the ligand geometry within the active site, and creation of the CIF is often an error-prone process owing to the great variety of potential ligand chemistry and structure. Stereochemical restraints have been replaced with more robust functionals through the integration of the linear-scaling, semiempirical quantum-mechanics (SE-QM) program DivCon with the PHENIX X-ray refinement engine. The PHENIX/DivCon package has been thoroughly validated on a population of 50 protein–ligand Protein Data Bank (PDB) structures with a range of resolutions and chemistry. The PDB structures used for the validation were originally refined utilizing various refinement packages and were published within the past five years. PHENIX/DivCon does not utilize CIF(s), link restraints and other parameters for refinement and hence it does not make as many a priori assumptions about the model. Across the entire population, the method results in reasonable ligand geometries and low ligand strains, even when the original refinement exhibited difficulties, indicating that PHENIX/DivCon is applicable to both single-structure and high-throughput crystallography.

  6. Valence electron structure analysis of refining mecha-nism of Sc and Ti additions on aluminum

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    LI PieJie; YE YiCong; HE LiangJu

    2009-01-01

    The mechanism of the difference of refining effect between Sc and Ti adding to aluminum can not be explained substantially with traditional theory. Valence electron structures of AI-Ti and Al-Sc alloys have been studied by using the empirical electron theory of solids and molecules (EET). The covalent bond electron numbers and interfacial electron density differences are calculated. The conclusion is that, in the two alloys, different covalent bond electron numbers of nucleation particles, and different electron densities on the interface between the second phase particles and the matrix, fundamentally lead to the difference of refining effect between Sc and Ti adding to aluminum.

  7. Refined large N duality for knots

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kameyama, Masaya; Nawata, Satoshi

    We formulate large N duality of U(N) refined Chern-Simons theory with a torus knot/link in S³. By studying refined BPS states in M-theory, we provide the explicit form of low-energy effective actions of Type IIA string theory with D4-branes on the Ω-background. This form enables us to relate...

  8. Region-of-interest volumetric visual hull refinement

    KAUST Repository

    Knoblauch, Daniel; Kuester, Falko

    2010-01-01

    This paper introduces a region-of-interest visual hull refinement technique, based on flexible voxel grids for volumetric visual hull reconstructions. Region-of-interest refinement is based on a multipass process, beginning with a focussed visual

  9. Interactive visual exploration and refinement of cluster assignments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kern, Michael; Lex, Alexander; Gehlenborg, Nils; Johnson, Chris R

    2017-09-12

    With ever-increasing amounts of data produced in biology research, scientists are in need of efficient data analysis methods. Cluster analysis, combined with visualization of the results, is one such method that can be used to make sense of large data volumes. At the same time, cluster analysis is known to be imperfect and depends on the choice of algorithms, parameters, and distance measures. Most clustering algorithms don't properly account for ambiguity in the source data, as records are often assigned to discrete clusters, even if an assignment is unclear. While there are metrics and visualization techniques that allow analysts to compare clusterings or to judge cluster quality, there is no comprehensive method that allows analysts to evaluate, compare, and refine cluster assignments based on the source data, derived scores, and contextual data. In this paper, we introduce a method that explicitly visualizes the quality of cluster assignments, allows comparisons of clustering results and enables analysts to manually curate and refine cluster assignments. Our methods are applicable to matrix data clustered with partitional, hierarchical, and fuzzy clustering algorithms. Furthermore, we enable analysts to explore clustering results in context of other data, for example, to observe whether a clustering of genomic data results in a meaningful differentiation in phenotypes. Our methods are integrated into Caleydo StratomeX, a popular, web-based, disease subtype analysis tool. We show in a usage scenario that our approach can reveal ambiguities in cluster assignments and produce improved clusterings that better differentiate genotypes and phenotypes.

  10. Structural and microstructural characterization of U3Si2 nuclear fuel using X-ray diffraction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ichikawa, Rodrigo U.; Garcia, Rafael H.L.; Silva, Andre S.B. da; Saliba-Silva, Adonis M.; Lima, Nelson B.; Martinez, Luis G.; Turrillas, Xavier

    2017-01-01

    In this work, two uranium silicide powdered samples, containing 67% and 42 mol% of Si, were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (named as 67 Si and 42 Si). For structural characterization, Rietveld refinement was used to estimate cell parameters, volume fraction (weight percent) of crystalline phases and atomic positions. For the main phases, X-ray line profile analysis (XLPA) was used to estimate mean crystallite sizes and micro strains. The 67 Si sample presents higher content of USi 2( tetragonal) and the 42 Si sample presents higher content of U 3 Si 2 (tetragonal) as identified and calculated from the XRD profiles. Overall there are no appreciable structural changes and the parameters refined are in good accordance with the ones reported in the literature. Mean crystallite sizes determined by XLPA revealed small crystallites of the order of 10 1 nm and low micro strain for all samples. (author)

  11. US refining reviewed

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamaguchi, N.D.

    1998-01-01

    The paper reviews the history, present position and future prospects of the petroleum industry in the USA. The main focus is on supply and demand, the high quality of the products, refinery capacity and product trade balances. Diagrams show historical trends in output, product demand, demand for transport fuels and oil, refinery capacity, refinery closures, and imports and exports. Some particularly salient points brought out were (i) production of US crude shows a marked downward trend but imports of crude will continue to increase, (ii) product demand will continue to grow even though the levels are already high, (iii) the demand is dominated by those products that typically yield the highest income for the refiner, (i.e. high quality transport fuels for environmental compliance), (iv) refinery capacity has decreased since 1980 and (v) refining will continue to have financial problems but will still be profitable. (UK)

  12. Neutrosophic Refined Similarity Measure Based on Cosine Function

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Said Broumi

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, the cosine similarity measure of neutrosophic refined (multi- sets is proposed and its properties are studied. The concept of this cosine similarity measure of neutrosophic refined sets is the extension of improved cosine similarity measure of single valued neutrosophic. Finally, using this cosine similarity measure of neutrosophic refined set, the application of medical diagnosis is presented.

  13. Future of French refining

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Calvet, B.

    1993-01-01

    Over recent years, the refining industry has had to grapple with a growing burden of environmental and safety regulations concerning not only its plants and other facilities, but also its end products. At the same time, it has had to bear the effects of the reduction of the special status that used to apply to petroleum, and the consequences of economic freedom, to which we should add, as specifically concerns the French market, the impact of energy policy and the pro-nuclear option. The result is a drop in heavy fuel oil from 36 million tonnes per year in 1973 to 6.3 million in 1992, and in home-heating fuel from 37 to 18 million per year. This fast-moving market is highly competitive. The French market in particular is wide open to imports, but the refining companies are still heavy exporters for those products with high added-value, like lubricants, jet fuel, and lead-free gasolines. The competition has led the refining companies to commit themselves to quality, and to publicize their efforts in this direction. This is why the long-term perspectives for petroleum fuels are still wide open. This is supported by the probable expectation that the goal of economic efficiency is likely to soften the effects of the energy policy, which penalizes petroleum products, in that they have now become competitive again. In the European context, with the challenge of environmental protection and the decline in heavy fuel outlets, French refining has to keep on improving the quality of its products and plants, which means major investments. The industry absolutely must return to a more normal level of profitability, in order to sustain this financial effort, and generate the prosperity of its high-performance plants and equipment. 1 fig., 5 tabs

  14. The evolution of oil refining in Europe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Reid, A. [CONCAWE, Brussels (Belgium)

    2013-04-01

    Back in 1963 when CONCAWE was founded, the world looked very different from what it is today, and so did the global and European refining industry. Oil product markets were expanding fast and new refineries were being built at a steady rate. The oil crisis of the 1970s brought an abrupt end to this, heralding a long era of consolidation and stepwise adaptation. At the same time the nature of the global oil business shifted from fully integrated companies producing, transporting and refining their own oil to a much more diversified situation where oil production ('upstream') and refining/distribution ('downstream') gradually became two essentially separate businesses. From being purely a 'cost centre' in an integrated chain, refining has become a separate activity in its own right, operating as a 'profit centre' between two global markets - crude oil and products - which, although not entirely independent, have their own dynamics and influences. In addition demand gradually shifted towards lighter products while the quality requirements on all products were considerably tightened. This article explores the new challenges that these changes have imposed on EU refiners, and describes CONCAWE's contributions to understanding their impact on refinery production and investments.

  15. Nano and micro reoriented domains and their relation with the crystal structure in the new ferroelectric boracite Zn3B7O13Br

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Campa-Molina, J; Ulloa-Godinez, S; Barrera, A; Bucio, L; Mata, J

    2006-01-01

    A new zinc brome boracite Zn 3 B 7 O 13 Br has been grown by a chemical transport reaction in closed quartz ampoules at 920 K. The crystal structure was characterized by Rietveld refinement. Ferroelectric nano and micro reorientable domains were found in this material using polarizing optical microscopy (PLM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Chemical analysis was performed with x-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX). In the crystal, a new structure transition at 586 K from orthorhombic (Pca 2 1 ) to cubic cell (F4-bar3c) has been found. This transition was corroborated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)

  16. Nano and micro reoriented domains and their relation with the crystal structure in the new ferroelectric boracite Zn3B7O13Br

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campa-Molina, J.; Ulloa-Godínez, S.; Barrera, A.; Bucio, L.; Mata, J.

    2006-05-01

    A new zinc brome boracite Zn3B7O13Br has been grown by a chemical transport reaction in closed quartz ampoules at 920 K. The crystal structure was characterized by Rietveld refinement. Ferroelectric nano and micro reorientable domains were found in this material using polarizing optical microscopy (PLM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Chemical analysis was performed with x-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDX). In the crystal, a new structure transition at 586 K from orthorhombic (Pca 21) to cubic cell (F\\overline 4 3c ) has been found. This transition was corroborated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC).

  17. Crystal structure of non-stoichiometric copper selenides studied by neutron scattering and X-ray diffraction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bikkulova, N.N.; Yagafarova, Z.A.; Asylguzhina, G.N.; Danilkin, S.A.; Fuess, H.; Skomorokhov, A.N.; Yadrovskii, E.L.; Beskrovnyi, A.I.

    2003-01-01

    Structural characteristics of non-stoichiometric copper selenides were studied by the elastic neutron and X-ray scattering techniques. Rietveld analysis was used to refine the structure of the high-temperature β-phase of the Cu 1.75 Se, Cu 1.78 Se, and Cu 1.83 Se samples. The homogeneity ranges of the cubic phase were determined. The modification of the crystal structure accompanying the β-α phase transition was studied for Cu 1.75 Se and Cu 1.98 Se compounds within the 443-10 K temperature range. It was shown that the phase transition is accompanied by distortions of the fcc lattice and the ordering of copper ions

  18. Strukturna karakterizacija CaMnOз nanoprahova dopiranih itrijumom i teorijsko modelovanje stabilnosti perovskitske strukture

    OpenAIRE

    Zagorac, Jelena B.

    2014-01-01

    In the first part of dissertation structural, microstructural and phase analysis of the nanopowders with the general formula Ca1-xYxMnO3 (0 ≤ x ≤ 1) were performed using XRPD diffraction technique and Rietveld refinement. The most abundant crystal phases in these nanopowders are the members of ABO3 solid solutions with the perovskite structure type. Seven nanopowders of nominal composition CaMnO3 (Ca100), Ca0.95Y0.05MnO3 (Ca95), Ca0.85Y0.15MnO3 (Ca85), Ca0.75Y0.25MnO3 (Ca75), ...

  19. Analysis of complex time series using refined composite multiscale entropy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu, Shuen-De; Wu, Chiu-Wen; Lin, Shiou-Gwo; Lee, Kung-Yen; Peng, Chung-Kang

    2014-01-01

    Multiscale entropy (MSE) is an effective algorithm for measuring the complexity of a time series that has been applied in many fields successfully. However, MSE may yield an inaccurate estimation of entropy or induce undefined entropy because the coarse-graining procedure reduces the length of a time series considerably at large scales. Composite multiscale entropy (CMSE) was recently proposed to improve the accuracy of MSE, but it does not resolve undefined entropy. Here we propose a refined composite multiscale entropy (RCMSE) to improve CMSE. For short time series analyses, we demonstrate that RCMSE increases the accuracy of entropy estimation and reduces the probability of inducing undefined entropy.

  20. X-ray and electron diffraction studies of the structures of pseudo-perovskite compounds Pb2(Sc,Ta)O6 and Pb2(Mg,W)O6

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baba-Kishi, K.Z.; Cernik, R.J.

    1992-01-01

    Electron diffraction patterns, X-ray precession patterns and synchrotron Rietveld powder diffraction profiles were used to study the crystal structure of the pseudo-perovskite compound Pb 2 (Sc, Ta)O 6 (PST). The results of a Rietveld refinement and single-crystal X-ray precession studies showed that PST has a lower symmetry than the cubic Fm3m in the paraelectric state. The remarkable similarities between the crystal structures of the antiferroelectric Pb 2 (Mg, W)O 6 (PMW) and ferroelectric PST are studied in detail by electron diffraction and it is suggested that PST is a weak or frustrated antiferroelectric oxide. The influence of the degree of structural long-range order on the existence of an antiferroelectric phase transition in PST and PMW is discussed. (orig.)

  1. Refining of raw materials, lignite present economic problems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Schirmer, G.

    1985-06-01

    East Germany seeks an economic intensification program that involves refining raw materials to a higher level. Lignite briquetting prior to liquefaction and gasification illustrates both the theoretical and practical aspects of that goal and also introduces questions of secure supplies. The author describes the special labor processes, use of technology, recycling of waste materials, and other new problems that the approach entails as the refined raw materials become new materials or energy sources. Economics based on the value of the refined product and the cost of the materials determine the degree of refinement. The concept also involves the relationship of producer and user as profits increase.

  2. Refining's-clean new jingle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reports that at a time when profit margins are slim and gasoline demand is down, the U.S. petroleum-refining industry is facing one of its greatest challenges; How to meet new federal and state laws for reformulated gasoline, oxygenated fuels, low-sulfur diesel and other measures to improve the environment. The American Petroleum Institute (API) estimates that industry will spend between $15 and $23 billion by the end of the decade to meet the U.S. Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) of 1990, and other legislation. ENSR Consulting and Engineering's capital-spending figure runs to between $70 and 100 billion this decade, including $24 billion to produce reformulated fuels and $10-12 billion to reduce refinery emissions. M.W. Kellogg Co. estimates that refiners may have to spend up to $30 billion this decade to meet the demand for reformulated gasoline. The estimates are wide-ranging because refiners are still studying their options and delaying final decisions as long as they can, to try to ensure they are the best and least-costly decisions. Oxygenated fuels will be required next winter, but federal regulations for reformulated gasoline won't go into effect until 1995, while California's tougher reformulated-fuels law will kick in the following year

  3. Petroleum movements and investments in the refining industry: The impact of worldwide environmental regulations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guariguata U., G.

    1995-01-01

    Since the enactment of the US Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, the worldwide refining industry has aligned itself to become increasing attuned to the future well-being of the environment. Refiners must now develop strategies which address careful selection of crude slates, significant increases and changes in product movements, and upgrading of facilities to meet growing demand--in short, strategies which allow them to make substantial increases in capital investments. The objective of this paper is to determine the regional capital investments refiners must make in order to comply with environmental legislation. The methodology in making this determination was founded on a comprehensive analysis of worldwide petroleum supply/demand and distribution patterns for the coming five years, and included evaluation of a set of linear programming (LP) models based on forecasts for regional product demands and projections of regional specifications. The models considered two scenarios, in which either (1) refinery expansion occurs chiefly in the market consuming regions, or (2) crude producers take control of incremental crude volumes and further expand their planned refining projects and the marketing of refined products. The results of these models, coupled with an understanding of geopolitical situations and economic analyses, provided estimates for capital expenditures for the coming decade. In specific, the following issues were addressed, and are discussed in this paper: refined product trade outlook; crude supply; crude quality; shipping; and capital investments

  4. Use of Rasch Analysis to Evaluate and Refine the Community Balance and Mobility Scale for Use in Ambulatory Community-Dwelling Adults Following Stroke

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pollock, Courtney L.; Brouwer, Brenda; Garland, S. Jayne

    2016-01-01

    Background The Community Balance and Mobility Scale (CB&M) is increasingly used to evaluate walking balance following stroke. Objective This study applied Rasch analysis to evaluate and refine the CB&M for use in ambulatory community-dwelling adults following stroke. Methods The CB&M content was linked to task demands and motor skill classifications. Rasch analysis was used to evaluate internal construct validity (structural validity) and refine the CB&M for use with ambulatory community-dwelling adults following stroke. The CB&M data were collected at 3 time points: at discharge from inpatient rehabilitation and at 6 and 12 months postdischarge (N=238). Rasch analysis evaluated scale dimensionality, item and person fit, item response bias, scoring hierarchy, and targeting. Disordered scoring hierarchy was resolved by collapsing scoring categories. Highly correlated and “misfitting” items were removed. Sensitivity to change was evaluated with standardized response means (SRMs) and one-way repeated-measures analysis of variance. Results The CB&M was primarily linked to closed body transport task demands. Significant item-trait interaction, disordered scoring hierarchies, and multidimensionality were found. Scoring categories were collapsed in 15/19 items, and 5 misfitting items were removed. The resulting stroke-specific 14-item unidimensional CB&M (CB&MStroke) fit Rasch model expectations, with no item response bias, acceptable targeting (13% floor effects and 0% ceiling effects), and moderate-to-strong sensitivity to change at 6 months postdischarge (SRM=0.63; 95% confidence interval=−1.523, −0.142) and 12 months postdischarge (SRM=0.73; 95% confidence interval=−2.318, −0.760). Limitations Findings are limited to a modest-sized sample of individuals with mild-to-moderate balance impairment following stroke. Conclusions The CB&MStroke shows promise as a clinical scale for measuring change in walking balance in ambulatory community-dwelling adults

  5. Refinement Checking on Parametric Modal Transition Systems

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Benes, Nikola; Kretínsky, Jan; Larsen, Kim Guldstrand

    2015-01-01

    Modal transition systems (MTS) is a well-studied specification formalism of reactive systems supporting a step-wise refinement methodology. Despite its many advantages, the formalism as well as its currently known extensions are incapable of expressing some practically needed aspects in the refin...

  6. Japan's refiner/marketers headed for major shakeout

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1996-01-01

    Japan's downstream oil industry is in a state of crisis and headed for a major shakeout. The major catalyst for this was a dramatic deregulation step during April 1996 that allowed refined petroleum product imports by non-refiners. The move, together with a sharp drop in refining margins, falling retail gasoline prices, and a service station sector on the brink of collapse, are all leading to massive changes in the way the country's refiners and marketers do business. This paper reviews the collapse of corporate profits during this period of deregulation; the development of a new price system geared toward bringing the prices of gasoline, fuel oil, and kerosene into line with each other to offset the fall in gasoline prices; and industry restructuring including mergers, acquisitions, and marketing consolidation. The paper then makes predictions on the outcome of these changes on the Japanese oil industry

  7. Refining Students' Explanations of an Unfamiliar Physical Phenomenon-Microscopic Friction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corpuz, Edgar De Guzman; Rebello, N. Sanjay

    2017-08-01

    The first phase of this multiphase study involves modeling of college students' thinking of friction at the microscopic level. Diagnostic interviews were conducted with 11 students with different levels of physics backgrounds. A phenomenographic approach of data analysis was used to generate categories of responses which subsequently were used to generate a model of explanation. Most of the students interviewed consistently used mechanical interactions in explaining microscopic friction. According to these students, friction is due to the interlocking or rubbing of atoms. Our data suggest that students' explanations of microscopic friction are predominantly influenced by their macroscopic experiences. In the second phase of the research, teaching experiment was conducted with 18 college students to investigate how students' explanations of microscopic friction can be refined by a series of model-building activities. Data were analyzed using Redish's two-level transfer framework. Our results show that through sequences of hands-on and minds-on activities, including cognitive dissonance and resolution, it is possible to facilitate the refinement of students' explanations of microscopic friction. The activities seemed to be productive in helping students activate associations that refine their ideas about microscopic friction.

  8. Direct observations of the MOF (UiO-66) structure by transmission electron microscopy

    KAUST Repository

    Zhu, Liangkui

    2013-01-01

    As a demonstration of ab initio structure characterizations of nano metal organic framework (MOF) crystals by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and electron diffraction tomography methods, a Zr-MOF (UiO-66) structure was determined and further confirmed by Rietveld refinements of powder X-ray diffraction. HRTEM gave direct imaging of the channels. © 2013 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

  9. Structural and spectroscopic investigation of lanthanum-substituted ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Administrator

    and one Y atom form two alternated equilateral triangles at level 1/4 and 3/4 centred on ..... Carpena et al observed that the localization of Nd. 3+ ions in the cationic sites depended ... Atomic coordinates, occupancy factors and thermal parameters after Rietveld refinement of Sr10–xLax(PO4)6–x. (SiO4)xO samples. Wyckoff.

  10. Pilot scale refinning of crude soybean oil | Mensah | Journal of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Pilot scale refinning of crude soybean oil. ... Abstract. A laboratory process for refining soybean has been scaled up to a 145 tonne per annum pilot plant to refine crude soybean oil. ... The quality of the refined oil was found to be within national and codex standard specifications for edible oil from vegetable sources.

  11. Technological studies on uranium refining at nuclear materials authority, Egypt

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohammed, H.S.

    1997-01-01

    In 1992 nuclear materials authority (NMA) took a decision to establish yellow cake refining. Unit so as to study refining of El-Atshan yellow cake which recently produced by ion-exchange pilot plant, production sector. The research studies followed the conventional refining rout to produce nuclear grade UO 3 . This implies investigations on some common solvents to refine the cake viz. tri alkyl phosphates, tri alkyl phosphine oxides, dialkyl phosphoric acid as well as high-molecular weight long-chain tertiary amines. Moreover, non-conventional refining process has also been presented depending on the selectivity of uranyl ion to be dissolved by carbonate and to be precipitated by hydrogen peroxide. Most of the proposed processes were found feasible to refine El-Atshan yellow cake. however, the non- conventional refining process appears to be the most promising, owing to its superior performance and economy

  12. Cavitation-aided grain refinement in aluminium alloys

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Atamanenko, T.V.

    2010-01-01

    This thesis deals with grain refinement under the influence of ultrasonic-driven cavitation in aluminium casting processes. Three major goals of this research were: (1) to identify the mechanism of the cavitation-aided grain refinement at different stages of solidification; (2) to reveal the

  13. Accurate macromolecular crystallographic refinement: incorporation of the linear scaling, semiempirical quantum-mechanics program DivCon into the PHENIX refinement package.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borbulevych, Oleg Y; Plumley, Joshua A; Martin, Roger I; Merz, Kenneth M; Westerhoff, Lance M

    2014-05-01

    Macromolecular crystallographic refinement relies on sometimes dubious stereochemical restraints and rudimentary energy functionals to ensure the correct geometry of the model of the macromolecule and any covalently bound ligand(s). The ligand stereochemical restraint file (CIF) requires a priori understanding of the ligand geometry within the active site, and creation of the CIF is often an error-prone process owing to the great variety of potential ligand chemistry and structure. Stereochemical restraints have been replaced with more robust functionals through the integration of the linear-scaling, semiempirical quantum-mechanics (SE-QM) program DivCon with the PHENIX X-ray refinement engine. The PHENIX/DivCon package has been thoroughly validated on a population of 50 protein-ligand Protein Data Bank (PDB) structures with a range of resolutions and chemistry. The PDB structures used for the validation were originally refined utilizing various refinement packages and were published within the past five years. PHENIX/DivCon does not utilize CIF(s), link restraints and other parameters for refinement and hence it does not make as many a priori assumptions about the model. Across the entire population, the method results in reasonable ligand geometries and low ligand strains, even when the original refinement exhibited difficulties, indicating that PHENIX/DivCon is applicable to both single-structure and high-throughput crystallography.

  14. Penetuan Bilangan Iodin pada Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil (HPKO) dan Refined Bleached Deodorized Palm Kernel Oil (RBDPKO)

    OpenAIRE

    Sitompul, Monica Angelina

    2015-01-01

    Have been conducted Determination of Iodin Value by method titration to some Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil (HPKO) and Refined Bleached Deodorized Palm Kernel Oil (RBDPKO). The result of analysis obtained the Iodin Value in Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil (A) = 0,16 gr I2/100gr, Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil (B) = 0,20 gr I2/100gr, Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil (C) = 0,24 gr I2/100gr. And in Refined Bleached Deodorized Palm Kernel Oil (A) = 17,51 gr I2/100gr, Refined Bleached Deodorized Palm Kernel ...

  15. Refined Analysis of Fatigue Crack Initiation Life of Beam-to-Column Welded Connections of Steel Frame under Strong Earthquake

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Weilian Qu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a refined analysis for evaluating low-cycle fatigue crack initiation life of welded beam-to-column connections of steel frame structures under strong earthquake excitation. To consider different length scales between typical beam and column components as well as a few crucial beam-to-column welded connections, a multiscale finite element (FE model having three different length scales is formulated. The model can accurately analyze the inelastic seismic response of a steel frame and then obtain in detail elastoplastic stress and strain field near the welded zone of the connections. It is found that the welded zone is subjected to multiaxial nonproportional loading during strong ground motion and the elastoplastic stress-strain field of the welded zone is three-dimensional. Then, using the correlation of the Fatemi-Socie (FS parameter versus fatigue life obtained by the experimental crack initiation fatigue data of the structural steel weldment subjected to multiaxial loading, the refined evaluation approach of fatigue crack initiation life is developed based on the equivalent plastic strain at fatigue critical position of beam end seams of crucial welded connections when the steel frame is subjected to the strong earthquake excitation.

  16. Modelling of the Effectiveness of Al-Ti-B Refiners in Commercial Purity Aluminium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bunn, A. M.; Evans, P. V.; Bristow, D. J.; Greer, A. L.

    Al-5Ti-1B (wt.%) alloys are effective grain refiners for DC-cast aluminium although as few as 1% of the TiB2 particles added to the melt nucleate grains. The aim of this work is to develop quantitative modelling for prediction of grain sizes in commercial purity aluminium. In this way the low efficiency of refiners can be understood, ultimately to clarify the design rules for a more effective refiner. The modelling focuses on the role of particle size distribution. This is in conjunction with measurements (by scanning electron microscopy and image analysis) of the particle size distributions in commercial Al-5Ti-1B refiners known to have differing performances. The undercooling required for heterogeneous nucleation of oc-Al on the surface of potent TiB2 particles is extremely low. Accordingly, the modelling is based on the assumption that the critical step for a particle to behave as an active growth centre is that required to initiate free growth from the particle surface, rather than the initial heterogeneous nucleation event. It is considered that further initiation of free growth of crystals is stopped by the onset of recalescence in the melt during solidification. Only those particles which are active growth centres at the point of recalescence will contribute towards the final grain size. Negligible interference between particles and spherical growth up to the point of recalescence are assumed; these assumptions are rigorously tested. The model tests the effect of varying the particle size distribution by using measured distributions from `good' and `poor' refiners. The variation of grain size with addition rate of refiner is examined. The model predicts an effective saturation, beyond which further addition has little effect. In general, good agreement is found between the grain-size predictions and conventional grain-refining tests.

  17. Facile synthesis of B-type carbonated nanoapatite with tailored microstructure

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gualtieri, Magdalena Lassinantti, E-mail: magdalena.gualtieri@unimore.it [Dipartimento Ingegneria “Enzo Ferrari”, Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, I-41125 Modena (Italy); Romagnoli, Marcello, E-mail: marcello.romagnoli@unimore.it [Dipartimento Ingegneria “Enzo Ferrari”, Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, I-41125 Modena (Italy); Hanuskova, Miriam, E-mail: Miriam.hanuskova@unimore.it [Dipartimento Ingegneria “Enzo Ferrari”, Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, I-41125 Modena (Italy); Fabbri, Elena, E-mail: Elena.fabbri@unimore.it [Dipartimento Ingegneria “Enzo Ferrari”, Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, I-41125 Modena (Italy); Gualtieri, Alessandro F., E-mail: Alessandro.gualtieri@unimore.it [Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche, Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia, I-41121 Modena (Italy)

    2014-12-15

    Nanolime and a phosphate-based chelating agent were used to synthesize B-type carbonated apatite. Developed Rietveld refinement strategies allowed one to determine process yield, product crystallinity as well as structural (unit cell) and microstructural (size, strain) parameters. The effect of synthesis temperature (20–60 °C) as well as Ca/P ratio (1.5–2.5) and solid content (10–30 wt%) of the starting batch on these properties were investigated. FTIR, TEM and gas adsorption data provided supporting evidence. The process yield was 42–60 wt% and found to be governed by the Ca/P ratio. The purified products had high specific surface area (107–186 m{sup 2}/g) and crystallinity (76–97%). The unit cell parameters, correlated to the degree of structural carbonate, were sensitive to the Ca/P ratio. Instead, temperature governed the microstructural parameters. Less strained and larger crystals were obtained at higher temperatures. Long-term aging up to 6 months at 20 °C compensated for higher crystal growth kinetics at higher temperature. - Graphical abstract: Controlled synthesis of carbonated apatite at moderate temperatures using nanolime and sodiumhexametaphosphate as starting reagent. - Highlights: • Chemical synthesis of nano-sized apatite with tailored microstructure was performed. • Colloidal Ca(OH){sub 2} and a phosphorus-based chelating agents were used as reagents. • The method is simple and reproducible which facilitate industrial process scale-up. • Rietveld refinement strategies for product characterization were developed. • Rietveld analyses provided yield, microstructural and structure information.

  18. Facile synthesis of B-type carbonated nanoapatite with tailored microstructure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gualtieri, Magdalena Lassinantti; Romagnoli, Marcello; Hanuskova, Miriam; Fabbri, Elena; Gualtieri, Alessandro F.

    2014-01-01

    Nanolime and a phosphate-based chelating agent were used to synthesize B-type carbonated apatite. Developed Rietveld refinement strategies allowed one to determine process yield, product crystallinity as well as structural (unit cell) and microstructural (size, strain) parameters. The effect of synthesis temperature (20–60 °C) as well as Ca/P ratio (1.5–2.5) and solid content (10–30 wt%) of the starting batch on these properties were investigated. FTIR, TEM and gas adsorption data provided supporting evidence. The process yield was 42–60 wt% and found to be governed by the Ca/P ratio. The purified products had high specific surface area (107–186 m 2 /g) and crystallinity (76–97%). The unit cell parameters, correlated to the degree of structural carbonate, were sensitive to the Ca/P ratio. Instead, temperature governed the microstructural parameters. Less strained and larger crystals were obtained at higher temperatures. Long-term aging up to 6 months at 20 °C compensated for higher crystal growth kinetics at higher temperature. - Graphical abstract: Controlled synthesis of carbonated apatite at moderate temperatures using nanolime and sodiumhexametaphosphate as starting reagent. - Highlights: • Chemical synthesis of nano-sized apatite with tailored microstructure was performed. • Colloidal Ca(OH) 2 and a phosphorus-based chelating agents were used as reagents. • The method is simple and reproducible which facilitate industrial process scale-up. • Rietveld refinement strategies for product characterization were developed. • Rietveld analyses provided yield, microstructural and structure information

  19. Refining a self-assessment of informatics competency scale using Mokken scaling analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoon, Sunmoo; Shaffer, Jonathan A; Bakken, Suzanne

    2015-01-01

    Healthcare environments are increasingly implementing health information technology (HIT) and those from various professions must be competent to use HIT in meaningful ways. In addition, HIT has been shown to enable interprofessional approaches to health care. The purpose of this article is to describe the refinement of the Self-Assessment of Nursing Informatics Competencies Scale (SANICS) using analytic techniques based upon item response theory (IRT) and discuss its relevance to interprofessional education and practice. In a sample of 604 nursing students, the 93-item version of SANICS was examined using non-parametric IRT. The iterative modeling procedure included 31 steps comprising: (1) assessing scalability, (2) assessing monotonicity, (3) assessing invariant item ordering, and (4) expert input. SANICS was reduced to an 18-item hierarchical scale with excellent reliability. Fundamental skills for team functioning and shared decision making among team members (e.g. "using monitoring systems appropriately," "describing general systems to support clinical care") had the highest level of difficulty, and "demonstrating basic technology skills" had the lowest difficulty level. Most items reflect informatics competencies relevant to all health professionals. Further, the approaches can be applied to construct a new hierarchical scale or refine an existing scale related to informatics attitudes or competencies for various health professions.

  20. Optimization bitumen-based upgrading and refining schemes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Munteanu, M.; Chen, J. [National Centre for Upgrading Technology, Devon, AB (Canada); Natural Resources Canada, Devon, AB (Canada). CanmetENERGY

    2009-07-01

    This poster highlighted the results of a study in which the entire refining scheme for Canadian bitumen as feedstocks was modelled and simulated under different process configurations, operating conditions and product structures. The aim of the study was to optimize the economic benefits, product quality and energy use under a range of operational scenarios. Optimal refining schemes were proposed along with process conditions for existing refinery configurations and objectives. The goal was to provide guidelines and information for upgrading and refining process design and retrofitting. Critical steps were identified with regards to the upgrading process. It was concluded that the information obtained from this study would lead to significant improvement in process performance and operations, and in reducing the capital cost for building new upgraders and refineries. The simulation results provided valuable information for increasing the marketability of bitumen, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental impacts associated with bitumen upgrading and refining. tabs., figs.

  1. 1991 worldwide refining and gas processing directory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1990-01-01

    This book ia an authority for immediate information on the industry. You can use it to find new business, analyze market trends, and to stay in touch with existing contacts while making new ones. The possibilities for business applications are numerous. Arranged by country, all listings in the directory include address, phone, fax and telex numbers, a description of the company's activities, names of key personnel and their titles, corporate headquarters, branch offices and plant sites. This newly revised edition lists more than 2000 companies and nearly 3000 branch offices and plant locations. This east-to-use reference also includes several of the most vital and informative surveys of the industry, including the U.S. Refining Survey, the Worldwide Construction Survey in Refining, Sulfur, Gas Processing and Related Fuels, the Worldwide Refining and Gas Processing Survey, the Worldwide Catalyst Report, and the U.S. and Canadian Lube and Wax Capacities Report from the National Petroleum Refiner's Association

  2. A Macdonald refined topological vertex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foda, Omar; Wu, Jian-Feng

    2017-07-01

    We consider the refined topological vertex of Iqbal et al (2009 J. High Energy Phys. JHEP10(2009)069), as a function of two parameters ≤ft\\lgroup x, y \\right\\rgroup , and deform it by introducing the Macdonald parameters ≤ft\\lgroup q, t \\right\\rgroup , as in the work of Vuletić on plane partitions (Vuletić M 2009 Trans. Am. Math. Soc. 361 2789-804), to obtain ‘a Macdonald refined topological vertex’. In the limit q → t , we recover the refined topological vertex of Iqbal et al and in the limit x → y , we obtain a qt-deformation of the original topological vertex of Aganagic et al (2005 Commun. Math. Phys. 25 425-78). Copies of the vertex can be glued to obtain qt-deformed 5D instanton partition functions that have well-defined 4D limits and, for generic values of ≤ft\\lgroup q, t\\right\\rgroup , contain infinite-towers of poles for every pole present in the limit q → t .

  3. Experiments in Knowledge Refinement for a Large Rule-Based System

    Science.gov (United States)

    1993-08-01

    empirical analysis to refine expert system knowledge bases. Aritificial Intelligence , 22:23-48, 1984. *! ...The Addison- Weslev series in artificial intelligence . Addison-Weslev. Reading, Massachusetts. 1981. Cooke, 1991: ttoger M. Cooke. Experts in...ment for classification systems. Artificial Intelligence , 35:197-226, 1988. 14 Overall, we believe that it will be possible to build a heuristic system

  4. Modified process for refining niobium by electron beam

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pinatti, D.G.; Takano, C.

    1982-01-01

    The experimental results, thermodynamic equilibrium and kinetic theory of the metal/gas interaction in refractory metals are reviewed. The adsorption and desorption of nitrogen, hydrogen and CO are reversible, whereas those of oxygen are irreversible, with adsorption of an oxygen atom and volatilisation of the metal oxide. Based upon this fact, a new electron beam refining technology is proposed for niobium, consisting of four points: preparation of an electrode by aluminothermic reduction; zone refining in the first melt; kinetic refining in subsequent melts and compact design of the refining plant. Experimental results from a 300 kW pilot plant were in complete agreement with the technology proposed, giving 2.4 times the productivity predicted by the conventional technology. (Author) [pt

  5. Crystal-Chemical Analysis Martian Minerals in Gale Crater

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morrison, S. M.; Downs, R. T.; Blake, D. F.; Bish, D. L.; Ming, D. W.; Morris, R. V.; Yen, A. S.; Chipera, S. J.; Treiman, A. H.; Vaniman, D. T.; hide

    2015-01-01

    The CheMin instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity performed X-ray diffraction analyses on scooped soil at Rocknest and on drilled rock fines at Yellowknife Bay (John Klein and Cumberland samples), The Kimberley (Windjana sample), and Pahrump (Confidence Hills sample) in Gale crater, Mars. Samples were analyzed with the Rietveld method to determine the unit-cell parameters and abundance of each observed crystalline phase. Unit-cell parameters were used to estimate compositions of the major crystalline phases using crystal-chemical techniques. These phases include olivine, plagioclase and clinopyroxene minerals. Comparison of the CheMin sample unit-cell parameters with those in the literature provides an estimate of the chemical compositions of the major crystalline phases. Preliminary unit-cell parameters, abundances and compositions of crystalline phases found in Rocknest and Yellowknife Bay samples were reported in. Further instrument calibration, development of 2D-to- 1D pattern conversion corrections, and refinement of corrected data allows presentation of improved compositions for the above samples.

  6. The Analysis of the Chloride and Fluoride Influences on the Reducer Refinement Processes (Carbo-N-Ox Aluminum Alloys

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bydałek A. W.

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available Slag refining slag with west materials was analysed used the DTA methods. In the paper a method of determining the reduction capability, with the Carbo-N-Ox method, of slag solutions was used. Some relations between the stimulators in the environment - slag - metal system allow to initiate mass exchange reactions in the process of slag refining.The presented in work course of behaviour permits on choice of basic composition of slaglite, the of necessary components stimulating quantities, as well as on accomplishment of opinion of ability refinement. The worked out programme Slag-Prop, after introduction of data with experiment, it allows on next corrections in composition of proposed mixtures also, should be put on properly elaborated factors of multistage reaction with essential usage of suitable stimulators.

  7. Grain refinement of AZ31 magnesium alloy by electromagnetic ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Low-frequency electromagnetic field; AZ31 magnesium alloy; Al4C3; grain refinement. Abstract. The effects of electromagnetic stirring and Al4C3 grain refiner on the grain refinement of semicontinuously cast AZ31 magnesium alloy were discussed in this investigation. The results indicate that electromagnetic stirring has an ...

  8. The European refining and distribution industry at the 2010 vista

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lacour, J.J.; Tessmer, G.; Ward, I.

    1998-01-01

    Oil company chairmen belonging to the AFTP, DGMK and IP associations met together to debate about the future of the European refining industry. The following topics were discussed: is it the end of the refining crisis? Which uncertainties will have to be met? What is the situation of petroleum products supply and demand? What are the consumers' expectations? How to face the environmental constraints? Which future for the refining activities in Europe? Seven round-tables took place with the following themes: the factors of uncertainty in the future of refining activities, the petroleum products supply and demand (automotive fuels, fuel oils, lubricants), the refining activities and the supply of consumers (service stations and supermarkets), the situation of the European petroleum policy, the European refining industry and the public regulations (development of more efficient environmental approaches), the impact of environmental constraints and the technical solutions, and the future of the refining industry. (J.S.)

  9. i3Drefine software for protein 3D structure refinement and its assessment in CASP10.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhattacharya, Debswapna; Cheng, Jianlin

    2013-01-01

    Protein structure refinement refers to the process of improving the qualities of protein structures during structure modeling processes to bring them closer to their native states. Structure refinement has been drawing increasing attention in the community-wide Critical Assessment of techniques for Protein Structure prediction (CASP) experiments since its addition in 8(th) CASP experiment. During the 9(th) and recently concluded 10(th) CASP experiments, a consistent growth in number of refinement targets and participating groups has been witnessed. Yet, protein structure refinement still remains a largely unsolved problem with majority of participating groups in CASP refinement category failed to consistently improve the quality of structures issued for refinement. In order to alleviate this need, we developed a completely automated and computationally efficient protein 3D structure refinement method, i3Drefine, based on an iterative and highly convergent energy minimization algorithm with a powerful all-atom composite physics and knowledge-based force fields and hydrogen bonding (HB) network optimization technique. In the recent community-wide blind experiment, CASP10, i3Drefine (as 'MULTICOM-CONSTRUCT') was ranked as the best method in the server section as per the official assessment of CASP10 experiment. Here we provide the community with free access to i3Drefine software and systematically analyse the performance of i3Drefine in strict blind mode on the refinement targets issued in CASP10 refinement category and compare with other state-of-the-art refinement methods participating in CASP10. Our analysis demonstrates that i3Drefine is only fully-automated server participating in CASP10 exhibiting consistent improvement over the initial structures in both global and local structural quality metrics. Executable version of i3Drefine is freely available at http://protein.rnet.missouri.edu/i3drefine/.

  10. i3Drefine Software for Protein 3D Structure Refinement and Its Assessment in CASP10

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhattacharya, Debswapna; Cheng, Jianlin

    2013-01-01

    Protein structure refinement refers to the process of improving the qualities of protein structures during structure modeling processes to bring them closer to their native states. Structure refinement has been drawing increasing attention in the community-wide Critical Assessment of techniques for Protein Structure prediction (CASP) experiments since its addition in 8th CASP experiment. During the 9th and recently concluded 10th CASP experiments, a consistent growth in number of refinement targets and participating groups has been witnessed. Yet, protein structure refinement still remains a largely unsolved problem with majority of participating groups in CASP refinement category failed to consistently improve the quality of structures issued for refinement. In order to alleviate this need, we developed a completely automated and computationally efficient protein 3D structure refinement method, i3Drefine, based on an iterative and highly convergent energy minimization algorithm with a powerful all-atom composite physics and knowledge-based force fields and hydrogen bonding (HB) network optimization technique. In the recent community-wide blind experiment, CASP10, i3Drefine (as ‘MULTICOM-CONSTRUCT’) was ranked as the best method in the server section as per the official assessment of CASP10 experiment. Here we provide the community with free access to i3Drefine software and systematically analyse the performance of i3Drefine in strict blind mode on the refinement targets issued in CASP10 refinement category and compare with other state-of-the-art refinement methods participating in CASP10. Our analysis demonstrates that i3Drefine is only fully-automated server participating in CASP10 exhibiting consistent improvement over the initial structures in both global and local structural quality metrics. Executable version of i3Drefine is freely available at http://protein.rnet.missouri.edu/i3drefine/. PMID:23894517

  11. Zone refining high-purity germanium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hubbard, G.S.; Haller, E.E.; Hansen, W.L.

    1977-10-01

    The effects of various parameters on germanium purification by zone refining have been examined. These parameters include the germanium container and container coatings, ambient gas and other operating conditions. Four methods of refining are presented which reproducibly yield 3.5 kg germanium ingots from which high purity (vertical barN/sub A/ - N/sub D/vertical bar less than or equal to2 x 10 10 cm -3 ) single crystals can be grown. A qualitative model involving binary and ternary complexes of Si, O, B, and Al is shown to account for the behavior of impurities at these low concentrations

  12. Adaptive mesh refinement for shocks and material interfaces

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dai, William Wenlong [Los Alamos National Laboratory

    2010-01-01

    There are three kinds of adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) in structured meshes. Block-based AMR sometimes over refines meshes. Cell-based AMR treats cells cell by cell and thus loses the advantage of the nature of structured meshes. Patch-based AMR is intended to combine advantages of block- and cell-based AMR, i.e., the nature of structured meshes and sharp regions of refinement. But, patch-based AMR has its own difficulties. For example, patch-based AMR typically cannot preserve symmetries of physics problems. In this paper, we will present an approach for a patch-based AMR for hydrodynamics simulations. The approach consists of clustering, symmetry preserving, mesh continuity, flux correction, communications, management of patches, and load balance. The special features of this patch-based AMR include symmetry preserving, efficiency of refinement across shock fronts and material interfaces, special implementation of flux correction, and patch management in parallel computing environments. To demonstrate the capability of the AMR framework, we will show both two- and three-dimensional hydrodynamics simulations with many levels of refinement.

  13. Structural analysis, optical and dielectric function of [Ba{sub 0.9}Ca{sub 0.1}](Ti{sub 0.9}Zr{sub 0.1})O{sub 3} nanocrystals

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Herrera-Pérez, G., E-mail: guillermo.herrera@cimav.edu.mx, E-mail: damasio.morales@cimav.edu.mx [Centro de Investigación en Materiales Avanzados (CIMAV), S. C. Miguel de Cervantes 120, Chihuahua 31136, Chihuahua (Mexico); Physics of Materials Department, Centro de Investigación en Materiales Avanzados (CIMAV), S. C. Miguel de Cervantes 120, Chihuahua 31136, Chihuahua (Mexico); Morales, D., E-mail: guillermo.herrera@cimav.edu.mx, E-mail: damasio.morales@cimav.edu.mx; Paraguay-Delgado, F.; Reyes-Rojas, A.; Fuentes-Cobas, L. E. [Physics of Materials Department, Centro de Investigación en Materiales Avanzados (CIMAV), S. C. Miguel de Cervantes 120, Chihuahua 31136, Chihuahua (Mexico); Borja-Urby, R. [Centro de Nanociencias Micro y Nanotecnologías, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, 07300 México City (Mexico)

    2016-09-07

    This work presents the identification of inter-band transitions in the imaginary part of the dielectric function (ε{sub 2}) derived from the Kramers–Kronig analysis for [Ba{sub 0.9}Ca{sub 0.1}](Ti{sub 0.9}Zr{sub 0.1})O{sub 3} (BCZT) nanocrystals synthesized by the modified Pechini method. The analysis started with the chemical identification of the atoms that conform BCZT in the valence loss energy region of a high energy-resolution of electron energy loss spectroscopy. The indirect band energy (E{sub g}) was determined in the dielectric response function. This result is in agreement with the UV-Vis technique, and it obtained an optical band gap of 3.16 eV. The surface and volume plasmon peaks were observed at 13.1 eV and 26.2 eV, respectively. The X-ray diffraction pattern and the Rietveld refinement data of powders heat treated at 700 °C for 1 h suggest a tetragonal structure with a space group (P4 mm) with the average crystal size of 35 nm. The average particle size was determined by transmission electron microscopy.

  14. Effect of laser welding parameters on the austenite and martensite phase fractions of NiTi

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oliveira, J.P., E-mail: jp.oliveira@campus.fct.unl.pt [CENIMAT/i3N, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal); Braz Fernandes, F.M. [CENIMAT/i3N, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal); Miranda, R.M. [UNIDEMI, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal); Schell, N. [Institute of Materials Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht, Max-Planck-Str. 1, D-21502 Geesthacht (Germany); Ocaña, J.L. [Centro Láser UPM, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Edificio “La Arboleda”, Ctra. Valencia, km 7,300, Campus Sur UPM, 28031 Madrid (Spain)

    2016-09-15

    Although laser welding is probably the most used joining technique for NiTi shape memory alloys there is still a lack of understanding about the effects of laser welding parameters on the microstructural induced changes: in both the heat affected and fusion zones martensite may be present, while the base material is fully austenitic. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction was used for fine probing laser welded NiTi joints. Through Rietveld refinement the martensite and austenite phase fractions were determined and it was observed that the martensite content increases towards the weld centreline. This is related to a change of the local transformation temperatures on these regions, which occurs due to compositional variation in those regions. The martensite phase fraction in the thermally affected regions may have significant implications on functional properties on these joints. - Highlights: •Synchrotron X-ray diffraction was used for fine probing of the microstructure in laser welded NiTi joints. •Rietveld refinement allowed to determine the content of martensite along the heat affected and fusion zones. •The martensite content increases from the base material towards the weld centreline.

  15. Crystallographic parameters of magnetic Pr{sub 2}Fe{sub 14−x}Co{sub x}B-type alloys determined using anomalous x-ray diffraction with synchrotron radiation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Galego, E., E-mail: egalego@ipen.br; Serna, M.M.; Ramanathan, L.V.; Faria, R.N.

    2017-02-15

    Anomalous x-ray synchrotron diffraction was used to determine the crystallographic parameters of PrFeCoB-based magnetic alloys. The effect of cobalt concentration on the crystallographic parameters of the magnetically hard Pr{sub 2}Fe{sub 14−x}Co{sub x}B phase was studied. The results indicate that addition of cobalt has a marked effect on crystal structure. Variation of the c parameter decreased twice as much as the a parameter with increase in Co content. The positions of inequivalent atoms of the magnetically hard matrix phase ϕ in the Pr-based alloys were determined using Rietveld refinement. This permitted determination of the relative distance of each inequivalent atom from its nearest neighbors. Cobalt occupied the 16k{sub 2} site and Fe had a tendency to occupy the 8j{sub 2} sites located between the Kagomé layers. - Highlights: • Good magnetics properties can be achieved with addition of 4% and 8% Co. • Rietveld refinement is proposed for crystallographic parameters studies. • Co has preference to substitute Fe in 16k{sub 2} site and avoid the 8j{sub 2} site.

  16. Mn"4"+-activated BaSiF_6 red phosphor: Hydrothermal synthesis and dependence of its luminescent properties on reaction conditions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou, Qiang; Zhou, Yayun; Lu, Fengqi; Liu, Yong; Wang, Qin; Luo, Lijun; Wang, Zhengliang

    2016-01-01

    In this work, a series of BaSiF_6:Mn"4"+ red phosphors were synthesized through a hydrothermal route. The crystal structure and morphology were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) with Rietveld refinement, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) in detail. The influence of reaction conditions, including the concentration of KMnO_4 and HF, reaction temperature and time, on the photoluminescence properties were investigated systematically. It can emit intense red light (∼636 nm) under blue light (∼458 nm) illumination. The white LED device based on YAG:Ce–BaSiF_6:Mn"4"+ mixture shows warm white light with low color temperature and high correlated color index, which reveals its potential application in WLED. - Highlights: • The crystal structure of BaSiF_6:Mn"4"+ has been verified using Rietveld refinement. • The optimum hydrothermal reaction condition for BaSiF_6:Mn"4"+ has been confirmed. • The white LED based on YAG:Ce–BaSiF_6:Mn"4"+ mixture presents warmer white light than that only with YAG:Ce.

  17. Mn{sup 4+}-activated BaSiF{sub 6} red phosphor: Hydrothermal synthesis and dependence of its luminescent properties on reaction conditions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhou, Qiang; Zhou, Yayun [Key Laboratory of Comprehensive Utilization of Mineral Resources in Ethnic Regions, Joint Research Centre for International Cross-border Ethnic Regions Biomass Clean Utilization in Yunnan, School of Chemistry & Environment, Yunnan Minzu University, Kunming, 650500 (China); Lu, Fengqi [MOE Key Laboratory of New Processing Technology for Nonferrous Metals and Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin, 541004 (China); Liu, Yong [Key Laboratory of Comprehensive Utilization of Mineral Resources in Ethnic Regions, Joint Research Centre for International Cross-border Ethnic Regions Biomass Clean Utilization in Yunnan, School of Chemistry & Environment, Yunnan Minzu University, Kunming, 650500 (China); Wang, Qin [College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yunnan Normal University, Kunming, Yunnan, 650500 (China); Luo, Lijun [Key Laboratory of Comprehensive Utilization of Mineral Resources in Ethnic Regions, Joint Research Centre for International Cross-border Ethnic Regions Biomass Clean Utilization in Yunnan, School of Chemistry & Environment, Yunnan Minzu University, Kunming, 650500 (China); Wang, Zhengliang, E-mail: wangzhengliang@foxmail.com [Key Laboratory of Comprehensive Utilization of Mineral Resources in Ethnic Regions, Joint Research Centre for International Cross-border Ethnic Regions Biomass Clean Utilization in Yunnan, School of Chemistry & Environment, Yunnan Minzu University, Kunming, 650500 (China)

    2016-02-15

    In this work, a series of BaSiF{sub 6}:Mn{sup 4+} red phosphors were synthesized through a hydrothermal route. The crystal structure and morphology were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) with Rietveld refinement, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) in detail. The influence of reaction conditions, including the concentration of KMnO{sub 4} and HF, reaction temperature and time, on the photoluminescence properties were investigated systematically. It can emit intense red light (∼636 nm) under blue light (∼458 nm) illumination. The white LED device based on YAG:Ce–BaSiF{sub 6}:Mn{sup 4+} mixture shows warm white light with low color temperature and high correlated color index, which reveals its potential application in WLED. - Highlights: • The crystal structure of BaSiF{sub 6}:Mn{sup 4+} has been verified using Rietveld refinement. • The optimum hydrothermal reaction condition for BaSiF{sub 6}:Mn{sup 4+} has been confirmed. • The white LED based on YAG:Ce–BaSiF{sub 6}:Mn{sup 4+} mixture presents warmer white light than that only with YAG:Ce.

  18. Refined discrete and empirical horizontal gradients in VLBI analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Landskron, Daniel; Böhm, Johannes

    2018-02-01

    empirical a priori gradients slightly reduce (improve) the BLRs with respect to the estimation of gradients. In general, this paper addresses that a priori horizontal gradients are actually more important for VLBI analysis than previously assumed, as particularly the discrete model GRAD as well as the empirical model GPT3 are indeed able to refine and improve the results.

  19. Synthesis and characterization of Sn doped TiO{sub 2} photocatalysts: Effect of Sn concentration on the textural properties and on the photocatalytic degradation of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rangel-Vázquez, I.; Del Angel, G.; Bertin, V. [Departamento de Química, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Av. San Rafael, Atlixco No 1865, México 09340 D.F. (Mexico); González, F. [Departamento de Ingeniería de Procesos e Hidráulica, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Av. San Rafael, Atlixco No 1865, México 09340 D.F. (Mexico); Vázquez-Zavala, A.; Arrieta, A. [Departamento de Química, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Iztapalapa, Av. San Rafael, Atlixco No 1865, México 09340 D.F. (Mexico); Padilla, J.M. [Universidad Tecnológica del Centro de Veracruz, Área de Tecnología, Av. Universidad Carretera Federal Cuitláhuac-La Tinaja No. 350, Cuitláhuac, Veracruz 94910 (Mexico); Barrera, A. [Universidad de Guadalajara, Centro Universitario de la Ciénega, Av. Universidad, Número 1115, Col. Linda Vista, Apdo. Postal 106, Ocotlán Jal. (Mexico); Ramos-Ramirez, E. [Departamento de Química, División de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Campus Guanajuato de la Universidad de Guanajuato Noria Alta S/N, Col. Noria Alta, Guanajuato, Gto. C.P. 36050 (Mexico)

    2015-09-15

    Abstract: TiO{sub 2} and Sn-doped TiO{sub 2} materials were prepared by sol–gel method using titanium and tin alkoxides at different Sn concentration (0.1 mol%, 0.5 mol%, 1 mol%, 3 mol% and 5 mol%). Samples were characterized by thermo gravimetric analyzer with differential scanning calorimeter (TGA–DSC), X-ray Rietveld refinement, N{sub 2} adsorption (BET), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), UV–vis spectroscopies technology and Raman spectroscopy. Only anatase phase was observed in pure TiO{sub 2}, whereas anatase and brookite were obtained in Sn-doped TiO{sub 2} samples. Sn dopant acts as a promoter in phase transformation of TiO{sub 2}. The Rietveld refinements method was used to determine the relative weight of anatase and brookite, and crystallite size as a function of Sn concentration after calcination of samples at 673 K. It was also demonstrated the incorporation of Sn{sup 4+} into the anatase TiO{sub 2} structure. Sn{sup 4+} inhibits the growth of TiO{sub 2} crystallite size, which leads to an increase of the specific surface area of TiO{sub 2}. From XRD analysis, the solid solution limit of Sn{sup 4+} into TiO{sub 2} is 5 mol% Sn. The photocatalytic activity on Sn{sup 4+} doped TiO{sub 2} was determined for the 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid reaction. The maximum in activity was attributed to the coexistence of anatase and brookite phases in the appropriate ratio and crystallite size.

  20. The cation inversion and magnetization in nanopowder zinc ferrite obtained by soft mechanochemical processing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Milutinović, A.; Lazarević, Z.; Jovalekić, Č.; Kuryliszyn-Kudelska, I.; Romčević, M.; Kostić, S.; Romčević, N.

    2013-01-01

    Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Nano powder of ZnFe 2 O 4 prepared by a soft mechanochemical route after 18 h milling. • Phase formation controlled by XRD, Raman spectroscopy and magnetic measurements. • Size, strain and cation inversion degree determined by Rietveld refinement. • We were able to estimate the degree of inversion at most 0.348 and 0.4. • Obtained extremely high values of saturation magnetizations at T = 4.5 K. - Abstract: Two zinc ferrite nanoparticle materials were prepared by the same method – soft mechanochemical synthesis, but starting from different powder mixtures: (1) Zn(OH) 2 /α-Fe 2 O 3 and (2) Zn(OH) 2 /Fe(OH) 3 . In both cases a single phase system was obtained after 18 h of milling. The progress of the synthesis was controlled by X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, TEM and magnetic measurements. Analysis of the XRD patterns by Rietveld refinement allowed determination of the cation inversion degree for both obtained single phase ZnFe 2 O 4 samples. The sample obtained from mixture (1) has the cation inversion degree 0.3482 and the sample obtained from mixture (2) 0.400. Magnetization measurements were confirmed that the degrees of the inversion were well estimated. Comparison with published data shows that used method of synthesis gives nano powder samples with extremely high values of saturation magnetizations: sample (1) 78.3 emu g −1 and sample (2) 91.5 emu g −1 at T = 4.5 K

  1. Synthesis and characterization of Ge–Cr-based intermetallic compounds: GeCr3, GeCCr3, and GeNCr3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin, S.; Tong, P.; Wang, B.S.; Huang, Y.N.; Song, W.H.; Sun, Y.P.

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Polycrystalline samples of GeCr 3 , GeCCr 3 , and GeNCr 3 are synthesized by using solid state reaction method. • A good quality of our samples is verified by the Rietveld refinement and electrical transport measurement. • We present a comprehensive understanding of physical properties of GeCr 3 , GeCCr 3 , and GeNCr 3 . -- Abstract: We report the synthesis of GeCr 3 , GeCCr 3 , and GeNCr 3 polycrystalline compounds, and present a systematic study of this series by the measurements of X-ray diffraction (XRD), magnetism, electrical/thermal transport, specific heat, and Hall coefficient. Good quality of our samples is verified by quite small value of residual resistivity and considerably large residual resistivity ratio. Based on the Rietveld refinement of XRD data, the crystallographic parameters are obtained, and, correspondingly, the sketches of crystal structure are plotted for all the samples. The ground states of GeCr 3 , GeCCr 3 , and GeNCr 3 are paramagnetic/antiferromagnetic metal, and even a Fermi-liquid behavior is observed in electrical transport at low temperatures. Furthermore, the analysis of the thermal conductivity data suggests the electron thermal conductivity plays a major role in total thermal conductivity for GeCr 3 at low temperatures, while the phonon thermal conductivity is dominant for GeCCr 3 and GeNCr 3 at high temperatures. The negative value of Seebeck coefficient and Hall coefficient indicate that the charge carriers are electron-type for GeCr 3 , GeCCr 3 , and GeNCr 3

  2. Chinese refining capacity for Canadian heavy oil

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bruce, G.W.

    2006-01-01

    This paper discussed China's refining capacity in relation to exports of Canadian heavy oil. Demand for oil is increasing throughout the world, and China is expected to consume 25 per cent of the projected yearly oil supplies. Alberta currently has an estimated 174 billion barrels of recoverable bitumen, and produces 1.06 million barrels per day. Production is expected to increase to 4.5 million barrels per day by the year 2020. Currently bitumen blends are refined and diluted with naphtha and sweet synthetic crude oil. Bitumen is a challenging feedstock for refineries, and requires thermal production methods or gasification processes. Primary conversion into sour synthetic crude is typically followed by hydrocracking and further refining into finished petroleum products. There are currently 50 refineries in China with a 7.4 million barrel per day capacity. Coastal refineries using imported crude oil have a 4 million barrel per day capacity. New facilities are being constructed and existing plants are being upgraded in order to process heavier and more sour crude oils. However, current refining capabilities in Chinese refineries have a limited ability for resid conversion. It was concluded that while China has a refining infrastructure, only refineries on the coast will use oil sands-derived feedstocks. However, there are currently opportunities to design refineries to match future feedstocks. tabs., figs

  3. On macromolecular refinement at subatomic resolution with interatomic scatterers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Afonine, Pavel V., E-mail: pafonine@lbl.gov; Grosse-Kunstleve, Ralf W.; Adams, Paul D. [Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, One Cyclotron Road, BLDG 64R0121, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States); Lunin, Vladimir Y. [Institute of Mathematical Problems of Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pushchino 142290 (Russian Federation); Urzhumtsev, Alexandre [IGMBC, 1 Rue L. Fries, 67404 Illkirch and IBMC, 15 Rue R. Descartes, 67084 Strasbourg (France); Faculty of Sciences, Nancy University, 54506 Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy (France); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, One Cyclotron Road, BLDG 64R0121, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)

    2007-11-01

    Modelling deformation electron density using interatomic scatters is simpler than multipolar methods, produces comparable results at subatomic resolution and can easily be applied to macromolecules. A study of the accurate electron-density distribution in molecular crystals at subatomic resolution (better than ∼1.0 Å) requires more detailed models than those based on independent spherical atoms. A tool that is conventionally used in small-molecule crystallography is the multipolar model. Even at upper resolution limits of 0.8–1.0 Å, the number of experimental data is insufficient for full multipolar model refinement. As an alternative, a simpler model composed of conventional independent spherical atoms augmented by additional scatterers to model bonding effects has been proposed. Refinement of these mixed models for several benchmark data sets gave results that were comparable in quality with the results of multipolar refinement and superior to those for conventional models. Applications to several data sets of both small molecules and macromolecules are shown. These refinements were performed using the general-purpose macromolecular refinement module phenix.refine of the PHENIX package.

  4. Review of Grain Refinement of Cast Metals Through Inoculation: Theories and Developments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Zhilin

    2017-10-01

    The inoculation method of grain refinement is widely used in research and industry. Because of its commercial and engineering importance, extensive research on the mechanisms/theories of grain refinement and development of effective grain refiners for diverse cast metals/alloys has been conducted. In 1999, Easton and St. John reviewed the mechanisms of grain refinement of cast Al alloys. Since then, grain refinement in alloys of Al, Mg, Fe, Ti, Cu, and Zn has evolved a lot. However, there is still no full consensus on the mechanisms/theories of grain refinement. Moreover, some new grain refiners developed based on the theories do not ensure efficient grain refinement. Thus, the factors that contribute to grain refinement are still not fully understood. Clarification of the prerequisite issues that occur in grain refinement is required using recent theories. This review covers multiple metals/alloys and developments in grain refinement from the last twenty years. The characteristics of effective grain refiners are considered from four perspectives: effective particle/matrix wetting configuration, sufficiently powerful segregating elements, preferential crystallographic matching, and geometrical features of effective nucleants. Then, recent mechanisms/theories on the grain refinement of cast metals/alloys are reviewed, including the peritectic-related, hypernucleation, inert nucleant, and constitutional supercooling-driven theories. Further, developments of deterministic and probabilistic modeling and nucleation crystallography in the grain refinement of cast metals are reviewed. Finally, the latest progress in the grain refinement of cast Zn and its alloys is described, and future work on grain refinement is summarized.

  5. Investigation on grain refinement and precipitation strengthening applied in high speed wire rod containing vanadium

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wu, Da-yong; Xiao, Fu-ren, E-mail: frxiao@ysu.edu.cn; Wang, Bin; Liu, Jia-ling; Liao, Bo, E-mail: cyddjyjs@263.net

    2014-01-13

    To obtain necessary information for the simulation of high speed wire production process, the effect of grain refinement and precipitation strengthening on two high speed wire rod steels with different vanadium and nitrogen contents was investigated by continuous cooling transformation (CCT) characteristics. CCT curves were constructed by the dilatometer test and microscopic observation. Results showed that the formation of intra-granular ferrite (IGF) could refine grain remarkably and accelerate the ferrite transformation. Schedules for high speed wire production process focused on the effect of cooling rate. Ferrite grain was refined by increasing cooling rate and the formation of IGF. The microhardness calculation revealed that the steels were strengthened mostly by a combined effect of grain refinement and precipitation hardening. Degenerated pearlite was observed at lower transformation temperature and the fracture morphology changed from cementite lamellar to nanoscale cementite particle with increasing cooling rate. Based on the analysis above, an optimal schedule was applied and the microstructure and microhardness were improved.

  6. Free Vibration Analysis of Composite Plates via Refined Theories Accounting for Uncertainties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. Giunta

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The free vibration analysis of composite thin and relatively thick plates accounting for uncertainty is addressed in this work. Classical and refined two-dimensional models derived via Carrera's Unified Formulation (CUF are considered. Material properties and geometrical parameters are supposed to be random. The fundamental frequency related to the first bending eigenmode is stochastically described in terms of the mean value, the standard deviation, the related confidence intervals and the cumulative distribution function. The Monte Carlo Method is employed to account for uncertainty. Cross-ply, simply supported, orthotropic plates are accounted for. Symmetric and anti-symmetric lay-ups are investigated. Displacements based and mixed two-dimensional theories are adopted. Equivalent single layer and layer wise approaches are considered. A Navier type solution is assumed. The conducted analyses have shown that for the considered cases, the fundamental natural frequency is not very sensitive to the uncertainty in the material parameters, while uncertainty in the geometrical parameters should be accounted for. In the case of thin plates, all the considered models yield statistically matching results. For relatively thick plates, the difference in the mean value of the natural frequency is due to the different number of degrees of freedom in the model.

  7. ESTUDIO DE LAS FASES MINERALÓGICAS DEL CLÍNKER EN UNA CEMENTERA ESPAÑOLA, UTILIZANDO EL MÉTODO DE RIETVELD

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ANA M. CASTAÑÓN

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Con el objetivo de implantar un método de control de calidad de forma continua en una fábrica de cementos española, para mejorar las características del producto final, se están desarrollando nuevas metodologías de caracterización. El método de Rietveld [1] se ha utilizado con éxito para analizar la composición de las fases principales del clínker. Utilizando esta metodología, se ha llevado a cabo un estudio para cuantificar adecuadamente la fase minoritaria de Cal Libre, de gran importancia en la calidad del clínker. El método ha permitido obtener unos resultados satisfactorios en muestras cuyos contenidos superan el 3% de CaO. Estos resultados son posibles combinando adecuadamente las técnicas de difracción y fluorescencia de rayos-X, así como los resultados del análisis por vía química.

  8. Total antioxidant content of alternatives to refined sugar.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Phillips, Katherine M; Carlsen, Monica H; Blomhoff, Rune

    2009-01-01

    Oxidative damage is implicated in the etiology of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other degenerative disorders. Recent nutritional research has focused on the antioxidant potential of foods, while current dietary recommendations are to increase the intake of antioxidant-rich foods rather than supplement specific nutrients. Many alternatives to refined sugar are available, including raw cane sugar, plant saps/syrups (eg, maple syrup, agave nectar), molasses, honey, and fruit sugars (eg, date sugar). Unrefined sweeteners were hypothesized to contain higher levels of antioxidants, similar to the contrast between whole and refined grain products. To compare the total antioxidant content of natural sweeteners as alternatives to refined sugar. The ferric-reducing ability of plasma (FRAP) assay was used to estimate total antioxidant capacity. Major brands of 12 types of sweeteners as well as refined white sugar and corn syrup were sampled from retail outlets in the United States. Substantial differences in total antioxidant content of different sweeteners were found. Refined sugar, corn syrup, and agave nectar contained minimal antioxidant activity (sugar had a higher FRAP (0.1 mmol/100 g). Dark and blackstrap molasses had the highest FRAP (4.6 to 4.9 mmol/100 g), while maple syrup, brown sugar, and honey showed intermediate antioxidant capacity (0.2 to 0.7 mmol FRAP/100 g). Based on an average intake of 130 g/day refined sugars and the antioxidant activity measured in typical diets, substituting alternative sweeteners could increase antioxidant intake an average of 2.6 mmol/day, similar to the amount found in a serving of berries or nuts. Many readily available alternatives to refined sugar offer the potential benefit of antioxidant activity.

  9. Investment in exploration-production and refining 2015

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maisonnier, G.; Hureau, G.; Serbutoviez, S.; Silva, C.

    2016-01-01

    IFPEN analyses in this study the 2015 evolution of global investment in the field of exploration-production and refining: - Changes in oil and gas prices; - Investment in Exploration/Production: the end of an upward cycle; - Drilling and the global drilling market, upstream activities and markets; - 2015, a breath of fresh air for refining

  10. Quantitative analysis of crystalline and remaining glass phases in CaO-B2O3-SiO2 ternary system glass ceramics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He Ming; Wu Mengqiang; Zhang Shuren; Zhou Xiaohua; Zhang Ting; Chen Song

    2010-01-01

    Research highlights: → As for CBS ternary system glass ceramics, due to the complex phase compositions, many methods could be difficult to determine quantitatively the absolute amounts of crystalline and remaining oxides. In this study, an available method based on the Rietveld method was used to quantitatively analyze the relative weight fraction and densities of crystalline phases. These above data are used to obtain a table of both relative weight fraction of crystalline phases and densities of all phases including CBS LTCC. Using volume additivity rule, it is possible to analysis quantitatively the absolute weight fraction of crystalline phases and also the oxides molar content in the remaining glass. - Abstract: Based on Rietveld method of X-ray techniques and volume additivity rule, a new method was developed to quantitatively analyze the phase composition of CaO-B 2 O 3 -SiO 2 ternary system glass ceramics. Lattice parameters, densities and relative weight fractions of crystalline phases in CaO-B 2 O 3 -SiO 2 ternary system were obtained by X-ray diffraction (XRD) refinement. According to the relative weight fraction of crystalline phases and densities of various components, the volume additivity rule was revealed by calculating the absolute weight fraction of crystalline phases of CaO-B 2 O 3 -SiO 2 glass ceramics. In addition, molar contents of the oxides in the remaining glass can also be determined by this method. Comparing this method with internal standard method, it is found that the maximum deviations of the crystallinity and the absolute weight fraction of crystalline phases are less than 2.6% and 2.9%, respectively. As a result, quantitative evaluation of CaO-B 2 O 3 -SiO 2 ternary system glass ceramics can be achieved using this method.

  11. Hirshfeld atom refinement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capelli, Silvia C; Bürgi, Hans-Beat; Dittrich, Birger; Grabowsky, Simon; Jayatilaka, Dylan

    2014-09-01

    Hirshfeld atom refinement (HAR) is a method which determines structural parameters from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data by using an aspherical atom partitioning of tailor-made ab initio quantum mechanical molecular electron densities without any further approximation. Here the original HAR method is extended by implementing an iterative procedure of successive cycles of electron density calculations, Hirshfeld atom scattering factor calculations and structural least-squares refinements, repeated until convergence. The importance of this iterative procedure is illustrated via the example of crystalline ammonia. The new HAR method is then applied to X-ray diffraction data of the dipeptide Gly-l-Ala measured at 12, 50, 100, 150, 220 and 295 K, using Hartree-Fock and BLYP density functional theory electron densities and three different basis sets. All positions and anisotropic displacement parameters (ADPs) are freely refined without constraints or restraints - even those for hydrogen atoms. The results are systematically compared with those from neutron diffraction experiments at the temperatures 12, 50, 150 and 295 K. Although non-hydrogen-atom ADPs differ by up to three combined standard uncertainties (csu's), all other structural parameters agree within less than 2 csu's. Using our best calculations (BLYP/cc-pVTZ, recommended for organic molecules), the accuracy of determining bond lengths involving hydrogen atoms from HAR is better than 0.009 Å for temperatures of 150 K or below; for hydrogen-atom ADPs it is better than 0.006 Å(2) as judged from the mean absolute X-ray minus neutron differences. These results are among the best ever obtained. Remarkably, the precision of determining bond lengths and ADPs for the hydrogen atoms from the HAR procedure is comparable with that from the neutron measurements - an outcome which is obtained with a routinely achievable resolution of the X-ray data of 0.65 Å.

  12. Pakistan stepping up expansion of refining, transportation sectors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reports that Pakistan is taking steps to speed expansion of its refining and oil transportation infrastructure. While the country has made significant progress toward energy self-efficiency by boosting oil and gas production it still must modernize and expand an aging, inadequate refining sector to meet rapidly growing demand for refined products. Pakistan's government has disclosed plans to build two refineries in the country, one at Rawalpindi near a string of recent oil discoveries, the other somewhere in the southern part of the country, likely Karachi. At the same time, efforts are proceeding to upgrade Pakistan's refineries. In addition, Pakistani state companies continue to press joint ventures in refining and marketing with foreign companies and expand downstream ties with neighbors that are key oil and gas exporters

  13. New Process for Grain Refinement of Aluminum. Final Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dr. Joseph A. Megy

    2000-09-22

    A new method of grain refining aluminum involving in-situ formation of boride nuclei in molten aluminum just prior to casting has been developed in the subject DOE program over the last thirty months by a team consisting of JDC, Inc., Alcoa Technical Center, GRAS, Inc., Touchstone Labs, and GKS Engineering Services. The Manufacturing process to make boron trichloride for grain refining is much simpler than preparing conventional grain refiners, with attendant environmental, capital, and energy savings. The manufacture of boride grain refining nuclei using the fy-Gem process avoids clusters, salt and oxide inclusions that cause quality problems in aluminum today.

  14. Refinement of the NHS locus on chromosome Xp22.13 and analysis of five candidate genes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toutain, Annick; Dessay, Benoît; Ronce, Nathalie; Ferrante, Maria-Immacolata; Tranchemontagne, Julie; Newbury-Ecob, Ruth; Wallgren-Pettersson, Carina; Burn, John; Kaplan, Josseline; Rossi, Annick; Russo, Silvia; Walpole, Ian; Hartsfield, James K; Oyen, Nina; Nemeth, Andrea; Bitoun, Pierre; Trump, Dorothy; Moraine, Claude; Franco, Brunella

    2002-09-01

    Nance-Horan syndrome (NHS) is an X-linked condition characterised by congenital cataracts, dental abnormalities, dysmorphic features, and mental retardation in some cases. Previous studies have mapped the disease gene to a 2 cM interval on Xp22.2 between DXS43 and DXS999. We report additional linkage data resulting from the analysis of eleven independent NHS families. A maximum lod score of 9.94 (theta=0.00) was obtained at the RS1 locus and a recombination with locus DXS1195 on the telomeric side was observed in two families, thus refining the location of the gene to an interval of around 1 Mb on Xp22.13. Direct sequencing or SSCP analysis of the coding exons of five genes (SCML1, SCML2, STK9, RS1 and PPEF1), considered as candidate genes on the basis of their location in the critical interval, failed to detect any mutation in 12 unrelated NHS patients, thus making it highly unlikely that these genes are implicated in NHS.

  15. Thermal expansion analysis and structural characteristics of the (Pb, Ca)TiO{sub 3} solid solutions from 150 to 570 K; Analise da expansao termica volumetrica e das caracteristicas estruturais de solucoes solidas de (Pb, Ca)TiO{sub 3} entre 150 e 570 K

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Estrada, F.R.; Eiras, J.A.; Garcia, D., E-mail: frestrada@df.ufscar.br, E-mail: eiras@df.ufscar.br, E-mail: ducinei@df.ufscar.br [Universidade Federal de Sao Carlos (UFSCar), SP (Brazil). Departamento de Fisica. Grupo de Materiais Ferroicos

    2017-01-15

    Ceramic samples of lead modified calcium titanate (Pb{sub 1-x}Ca{sub x} TiO{sub 3}) with calcium concentration between 0.24≤x≤0.55 were prepared and analyzed in order to determine the structural origin of the negative thermal expansion observed in this ferroelectric system. The Rietveld structural refinement method was used to assess the thermal evolution of the structural parameters using powder X-ray diffraction data collected between 150 and 570 K. Since the Pb{sub 1-x}Ca{sub x} TiO{sub 3} phase diagram and space groups are still unknown for the temperature range investigated, the structural analyses were based on adjustments of the refinement protocol. The results revealed the existence of a correlation between symmetry transitions and anomalies in the thermal expansion of the unit cell, being such transitions not necessarily of the ferroelectric-paraelectric nature. (author)

  16. Structural and microstructural characterization of U{sub 3}Si{sub 2} nuclear fuel using X-ray diffraction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ichikawa, Rodrigo U.; Garcia, Rafael H.L.; Silva, Andre S.B. da; Saliba-Silva, Adonis M.; Lima, Nelson B.; Martinez, Luis G. [Instituto de Pesquisas Energeticas e Nucleares (IPEN/CNEN-SP), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil); Turrillas, Xavier, E-mail: ichikawa@usp.br, E-mail: rlgarcia@ipen.br, E-mail: andre.santos.silva@usp.br, E-mail: saliba@ipen.br, E-mail: nblima@ipen.br, E-mail: lgallego@ipen.br, E-mail: xturrillas@icmab.es [Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona (ICMAB/CSIC), Cerdanyola de Vallès (Spain)

    2017-07-01

    In this work, two uranium silicide powdered samples, containing 67% and 42 mol% of Si, were analyzed using X-ray diffraction (named as {sup 67}Si and {sup 42}Si). For structural characterization, Rietveld refinement was used to estimate cell parameters, volume fraction (weight percent) of crystalline phases and atomic positions. For the main phases, X-ray line profile analysis (XLPA) was used to estimate mean crystallite sizes and micro strains. The {sup 67}Si sample presents higher content of USi{sub 2(}tetragonal) and the {sup 42}Si sample presents higher content of U{sub 3}Si{sub 2} (tetragonal) as identified and calculated from the XRD profiles. Overall there are no appreciable structural changes and the parameters refined are in good accordance with the ones reported in the literature. Mean crystallite sizes determined by XLPA revealed small crystallites of the order of 10{sup 1} nm and low micro strain for all samples. (author)

  17. Refining economics of U.S. gasoline: octane ratings and ethanol content.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirshfeld, David S; Kolb, Jeffrey A; Anderson, James E; Studzinski, William; Frusti, James

    2014-10-07

    Increasing the octane rating of the U.S. gasoline pool (currently ∼ 93 Research Octane Number (RON)) would enable higher engine efficiency for light-duty vehicles (e.g., through higher compression ratio), facilitating compliance with federal fuel economy and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards. The federal Renewable Fuels Standard calls for increased renewable fuel use in U.S. gasoline, primarily ethanol, a high-octane gasoline component. Linear programming modeling of the U.S. refining sector was used to assess the effects on refining economics, CO2 emissions, and crude oil use of increasing average octane rating by increasing (i) the octane rating of refinery-produced hydrocarbon blendstocks for oxygenate blending (BOBs) and (ii) the volume fraction (Exx) of ethanol in finished gasoline. The analysis indicated the refining sector could produce BOBs yielding finished E20 and E30 gasolines with higher octane ratings at modest additional refining cost, for example, ∼ 1¢/gal for 95-RON E20 or 97-RON E30, and 3-5¢/gal for 95-RON E10, 98-RON E20, or 100-RON E30. Reduced BOB volume (from displacement by ethanol) and lower BOB octane could (i) lower refinery CO2 emissions (e.g., ∼ 3% for 98-RON E20, ∼ 10% for 100-RON E30) and (ii) reduce crude oil use (e.g., ∼ 3% for 98-RON E20, ∼ 8% for 100-RON E30).

  18. Solvothermal growth of a ruthenium metal-organic framework featuring HKUST-1 structure type as thin films on oxide surfaces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kozachuk, Olesia; Yusenko, Kirill; Noei, Heshmat; Wang, Yuemin; Walleck, Stephan; Glaser, Thorsten; Fischer, Roland A

    2011-08-14

    Phase-pure crystalline thin films of a mixed-valence Ru(2)(II,III) metal-organic framework with 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate (btc) as a linker were solvothermally grown on amorphous alumina and silica surfaces. Based on the Rietveld refinement, the structure of Ru-MOF was assigned to be analogous to [Cu(3)(btc)(2)] (HKUST-1). This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2011

  19. Expanding the structural landscape of niclosamide: a high Z ' polymorph, two new solvates and monohydrate HA

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sovago, Ioana; Bond, Andrew D.

    2015-01-01

    to be twinned by twofold rotation around that axis. The acetonitrile molecules occupy channels in the structure. A complete structure is provided for niclosamide monohydrate, C13H8Cl2N2O4·H2O, polymorph HA, obtained by Rietveld refinement against laboratory powder X-ray diffraction data. It has been suggested...... that this compound is related to the methanol solvate of niclosamide [Harriss, Wilson & Radosevljevic Evans (2014). Acta Cryst. C70, 758-763], but it is found that the two are not fully isostructural: they contain isostructural two-dimensional layers, but the layers are arranged differently in the two structures....... This suggests that HA may have the potential for polytypism, and features in the Rietveld difference curve indicate that a polytype fully isostructural with the methanol solvate might be present....

  20. Energy conservation potential in China’s petroleum refining industry: Evidence and policy implications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin, Boqiang; Xie, Xuan

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • A long-term equilibrium relationship of energy demand in China’s petroleum refining industry is established. • The sectoral energy conservation potential is evaluated by using scenarios analysis. • Energy prices, enterprise scale, R and D investment and ownership structure affect electricity intensity. • Future policy for energy conservation in China’s petroleum refining industry is suggested. - Abstract: China is currently the second largest petroleum refining country in the world due to rapid growth in recent years. Because the petroleum refining industry is energy-intensive, the rapid growth in petroleum refining and development caused massive energy consumption. China’s urbanization process will guarantee sustained growth of the industry for a long time. Therefore, it is necessary to study the energy conservation potential of the petroleum industry. This paper estimates the energy conservation potential of the industry by applying a cointegration model to investigate the long-run equilibrium relationship between energy consumption and some factors such as energy price, enterprise scale, R and D investment and ownership structure. The results show that R and D investment has the greatest reduction impact on energy intensity, and the growth of market participants (i.e. the decline of the share of state-owned companies) can improve energy efficiency of this industry. Under the advanced energy-saving scenario, the accumulated energy conservation potential will reach 230.18 million tons of coal equivalent (tce). Finally, we provide some targeted policy recommendations for industrial energy conservation

  1. Refinement of finite element model of a power plant by Ambient Vibration Test using system identification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Murnal, Pranesh; Kotalwar, Sandip; Ramarao, A.; Sinha, S.K.; Singh, U.P.

    2008-01-01

    Finite Element Modeling is one of the efficient analytical tools for analysis of complicated structures subjected to variety of loads. However the reliability of the analyses is always questionable due to idealizations and assumptions made in the design. The model can be more realistic if it is refined based on experimental support. This paper presents refinement of finite-element model of Koyna Dam-foot Power House (KDPH) building, which is structurally complicated and asymmetrical. The dynamic properties of the building have been identified experimentally through Ambient Vibration Tests (AVT). The building has also been elaborately modeled analytically. The finite-element model is further refined so as to minimize the differences between analytical and the measured natural frequency of the building. The final refined finite-element model of KDPH building is able to produce natural frequency in good agreement with the measured natural frequency of the building. (author)

  2. Easily exchangeable x-ray mirrors and hybrid monochromator modules a study of their performance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, Fan. [Philips Analytical, Asia Pacific, Toa Payoh, (Singapore); Kogan, V. [Philips Analytical, EA Almelo, (Netherlands); Saito, K. [Philips Analytical, Tokyo, (Japan)

    1999-12-01

    Full text: PreFix prealigned optical mounts allowing rapid and easily changeover will be presented. The benefits of laterally graded multilayer X-Ray mirrors coupled with these Prefix mounts - conversion of divergent beam to parallel beam, increase of intensity by a factor of 3-7, monochromation to {alpha}1 and {alpha}2 and a dynamic range of 10 {sup 4-5} CpS will be demonstrated in areas such as Thin Film and Powder analysis. Data will be shown on a diffraction profile of thin film (Cr/SiO{sub 2}) with and without a mirror and Si powder with and without a mirror. Further enhancement will be demonstrated by combining a channel cut monochromator-collimator with an X-Ray mirror to produce a high intensity, parallel, pure Cu K{alpha}1 beam with a high intensity of up to 4.5 x 10{sup 8} cps and a divergence down to 0.01 deg. The applicability to various ranging from High Resolution to thin film/reflectivity to Rietveld structural refinement and to phase analysis will be shown. The Rocking curve of HEMT 10nm InGaAs on InP will be presented using various `standard` optics and hybrid optics, also Si powder and a Rietveld refinement of CuS0{sub 4}.5H{sub 2}0 and Aspirin. A comparison of the benefits and application of X-Ray Mirrors and Hybrid Mirror/Monochromators will be given. The data presented will show that by using X-Ray Mirrors and Hybrid modules the performance of standard `Laboratory` Diffractometers can be greatly enhanced to a level previously unachievable with great practical benefits. Copyright (1999) Australian X-ray Analytical Association Inc.

  3. Structural, vibrational and electrical properties of ordered double perovskite oxide BaLaMnSbO6

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bharti, Chandrahas; Sen, A.; Chanda, Sadhan; Sinha, T.P.

    2014-01-01

    Graphical abstract: Raman spectrum with group theoretical analysis -- Highlights: • BaLaMnSbO 6 (BLMS) is synthesized in tetragonal phase (TP). • Rietveld refinement and Raman spectroscopy confirms the TP. • The presence of cation ordering is observed. • The electrical activation energy is ∼0.5 eV. • BLMS shows polaron hopping. -- Abstract: BaLaMnSbO 6 (BLMS) has been successfully synthesized by solid-state reaction technique. In contrast to earlier reports, Rietveld refinement of powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) data of BLMS shows tetragonal structure having space group I4/m. The octahedral tilt about the direction of the c-axis is found to be 8.99° and the superlattice line (0 1 1) indicates the presence of cation ordering. FT-IR and Raman analysis as well as group theoretical investigation confirm the ordered tetragonal structure of BLMS with I4/m space group. The anti-phase distortions appear to be sufficiently large as detected by infrared and Raman spectroscopies, which give rise to the degeneracy and breaking of the symmetries of the normal modes. Impedance spectroscopy is used to investigate the dielectric relaxation and ac electrical conductivity in the temperature range of 303–403 K and in the frequency range of 0.1 kHz–1 MHz. Experimental electric modulus data are fitted to the Cole–Cole model in order to analyse the dielectric relaxation in BLMS. The frequency dependence ac electrical conductivity data are fitted to Jonscher’s universal power law at various temperatures. The dc conductivity follows Arrhenius law with activation energy (E a ) 0.51 eV suggesting the polaron hopping. The complex impedance plane plots of BLMS indicate the presence of both grain and grain boundary effects and are analyzed by the electrical equivalent circuit consisting of a resistance and capacitance

  4. Structural, vibrational and electrical properties of ordered double perovskite oxide BaLaMnSbO{sub 6}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bharti, Chandrahas, E-mail: bhartic@cgcri.res.in [Sensor and Actuator Division, CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, 196, Raja SC Mullick Road, Kolkata 700032 (India); Sen, A. [Sensor and Actuator Division, CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute, 196, Raja SC Mullick Road, Kolkata 700032 (India); Chanda, Sadhan; Sinha, T.P. [Department of Physics, Bose Institute, 93/1, Acharya Prafulla Chandra Road, Kolkata 700009 (India)

    2014-03-25

    Graphical abstract: Raman spectrum with group theoretical analysis -- Highlights: • BaLaMnSbO{sub 6} (BLMS) is synthesized in tetragonal phase (TP). • Rietveld refinement and Raman spectroscopy confirms the TP. • The presence of cation ordering is observed. • The electrical activation energy is ∼0.5 eV. • BLMS shows polaron hopping. -- Abstract: BaLaMnSbO{sub 6} (BLMS) has been successfully synthesized by solid-state reaction technique. In contrast to earlier reports, Rietveld refinement of powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) data of BLMS shows tetragonal structure having space group I4/m. The octahedral tilt about the direction of the c-axis is found to be 8.99° and the superlattice line (0 1 1) indicates the presence of cation ordering. FT-IR and Raman analysis as well as group theoretical investigation confirm the ordered tetragonal structure of BLMS with I4/m space group. The anti-phase distortions appear to be sufficiently large as detected by infrared and Raman spectroscopies, which give rise to the degeneracy and breaking of the symmetries of the normal modes. Impedance spectroscopy is used to investigate the dielectric relaxation and ac electrical conductivity in the temperature range of 303–403 K and in the frequency range of 0.1 kHz–1 MHz. Experimental electric modulus data are fitted to the Cole–Cole model in order to analyse the dielectric relaxation in BLMS. The frequency dependence ac electrical conductivity data are fitted to Jonscher’s universal power law at various temperatures. The dc conductivity follows Arrhenius law with activation energy (E{sub a}) 0.51 eV suggesting the polaron hopping. The complex impedance plane plots of BLMS indicate the presence of both grain and grain boundary effects and are analyzed by the electrical equivalent circuit consisting of a resistance and capacitance.

  5. Synthesis and characterization of L-tyrosine hydrochloride crystals submitted to high and low temperatures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Santos, C.A.A.S.; Facanha Filho, P.F.; Ribeiro, L.H.L.; Victor, F.M.S.; Abreu, D.C.; Santos, A.O. dos; Carvalho, J.O.; Soares, R.A.; Sousa, J.C.F.; Lima, R.C.; Cavaignac, A.O. [Universidade Federal do Maranhao (UFMA), MA (Brazil)

    2016-07-01

    Full text: New materials are emerging and generate advances in nonlinear optics that studies the phenomena related to changes in optical properties when occurs interaction of light with the matter. Semi organic crystals present such properties. The goal is this work is to produce semi organic single crystal of L-tyrosine hydrochloride (LTHCl) and verify their thermal stability when subjected to high and low temperatures. The single crystals of LTHCl were produced for solubilization of amino acid L-tyrosine in hydrochloric acid using slow solvent evaporation technique at a constant temperature of 25 deg C. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and refining by the Rietveld method were used to confirm the structure of the material. The thermal stability was investigated using DSC, TGA-DTA. The LTHCl crystal belongs to the monoclinic system, with two molecules per unit cell. The refinement by the Rietveld method showed good results with Rwp= 8.49% and Rp= 6.29% with S=1.13. Thermal analysis shown an endothermic event at about 160°C, which can be associated with phase transition occurred in LTHCl crystal. It was also observed that the crystal melting point occurs at a temperature of 230°C. No water of crystallization was found in the crystal structure, which was confirmed by Raman spectroscopy and thermal analysis. From the Raman spectroscopy experiments in function of temperature, no significant changes was observe in the behavior of vibrational normal modes between temperatures of -253 and 170 deg C. Finally, a monoclinic crystal system LTHCl is stable up to 160°C at high temperatures and -253°C at low temperatures. Therefore, our investigation has proved that LTHCl crystals can be used in this range of temperature without the lost of their nonlinear optical properties. (author)

  6. Method of optimization of the natural gas refining process

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sadykh-Zade, E.S.; Bagirov, A.A.; Mardakhayev, I.M.; Razamat, M.S.; Tagiyev, V.G.

    1980-01-01

    The SATUM (automatic control system of technical operations) system introduced at the Shatlyk field should assure good quality of gas refining. In order to optimize the natural gas refining processes and experimental-analytical method is used in compiling the mathematical descriptions. The program, compiled in Fortran language, in addition to parameters of optimal conditions gives information on the yield of concentrate and water, concentration and consumption of DEG, composition and characteristics of the gas and condensate. The algorithm for calculating optimum engineering conditions of gas refining is proposed to be used in ''advice'' mode, and also for monitoring progress of the gas refining process.

  7. Optimal algebraic multilevel preconditioning for local refinement along a line

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Margenov, S.D.; Maubach, J.M.L.

    1995-01-01

    The application of some recently proposed algebraic multilevel methods for the solution of two-dimensional finite element problems on nonuniform meshes is studied. The locally refined meshes are created by the newest vertex mesh refinement method. After the introduction of this refinement technique

  8. Synthesis, Crystal Structure, and Chemical-Bonding Analysis of BaZn(NCN2

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alex J. Corkett

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available The ternary carbodiimide BaZn(NCN2 was prepared by a solid-state metathesis reaction between BaF2, ZnF2, and Li2NCN in a 1:1:2 molar ratio, and its crystal structure was determined from Rietveld refinement of X-ray data. BaZn(NCN2 represents the aristotype of the LiBa2Al(NCN4 structure which is unique to carbodiimide/cyanamide chemistry and is well regarded as being constructed from ZnN4 tetrahedra, sharing edges and vertices through NCN2− units to form corrugated layers with Ba2+ in the interlayer voids. Structural anomalies in the shape of the cyanamide units are addressed via IR spectrometry and DFT calculations, which suggest the presence of slightly bent N=C=N2− carbodiimide units with C2v symmetry. Moreover, chemical-bonding analysis within the framework of crystal orbital Hamilton population (COHP reveals striking similarities between the bonding interactions in BaZn(NCN2 and SrZn(NCN2 despite their contrasting crystal structures. BaZn(NCN2 is only the second example of a ternary post-transition metal carbodiimide, and its realization paves the way for the preparation of analogues featuring divalent transition metals at the tetrahedral Zn2+ site.

  9. RBT—A Tool for Building Refined Buneman Trees

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Besenbacher, Søren; Mailund; Westh-Nielsen, Lasse

    2005-01-01

    We have developed a tool implementing an efficient algorithm for refined Buneman tree reconstruction. The algorithm—which has the same complexity as the neighbour-joining method and the (plain) Buneman tree construction—enables refined Buneman tree reconstruction on large taxa sets....

  10. Dynamics of the European refining and petrochemical industry. Strategies, structure and change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Steenbakkers, K.

    1997-01-01

    The changes in the market position of producers engaged in the oil refining and basic petrochemical industry on the Western European market are the central theme of this book. Analysis of this reshuffling process among these actors is conducted on three levels. First, research is carried out at the level of world regions. In order to understand the reorganization of oil refining and basic petrochemical production in Western Europe, it is necessary to explore the recent aggregate dynamics of these activities on a global scale. Second, the differences in strategic behaviour are exanuned at the level of groups of market participants, namely the major oil companies, the chemical companies, the state-owned companies from both consumer and producer countries, and the independents. Finally, the investment/disinvestment decisions in the Western European oil refining and basic petrochemical industry are investigated at the level of the individual firm. Particular emphasis is placed upon explaining why companies active in the sectors under study have followed different strategies, although they have been confronted with similar adverse market conditions in Western Europe during the last decades. 341 refs

  11. Implementation of refined core thermal-hydraulic calculation feature in the MARS/MASTER code

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Joo, H. K.; Jung, J. J.; Cho, B. O.; Ji, S. K.; Lee, W. J.; Jang, M. H.

    2000-01-01

    As an effort to enhance the fidelity of the core thermal/hydraulic calculation in the MARS/MASTER code, a best-estimate system/core coupled code, the COBRA-III module of MASTER is activated that enables refined core T/H calculations. Since the COBRA-III module is capable of using fuel-assembly sized nodes, the resolution of the T/H solution is high so that accurate incorporation of local T/H feedback effects becomes possible. The COBRA-III module is utilized such that the refined core T/H calculation is performed using the coarse-mesh flow boundary conditions specified by MARS at both ends of the core. The results of application to the OECD MSLB benchmark analysis indicate that the local peaking factor can be reduced by upto 15% with the refined calculation through the accurate representation of the local Doppler effect evaluation, although the prediction of the global transient behaviors such as the total core power change remain essentially unaffected

  12. Neural networks applied to characterize blends containing refined and extra virgin olive oils.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aroca-Santos, Regina; Cancilla, John C; Pariente, Enrique S; Torrecilla, José S

    2016-12-01

    The identification and quantification of binary blends of refined olive oil with four different extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) varietals (Picual, Cornicabra, Hojiblanca and Arbequina) was carried out with a simple method based on combining visible spectroscopy and non-linear artificial neural networks (ANNs). The data obtained from the spectroscopic analysis was treated and prepared to be used as independent variables for a multilayer perceptron (MLP) model. The model was able to perfectly classify the EVOO varietal (100% identification rate), whereas the error for the quantification of EVOO in the mixtures containing between 0% and 20% of refined olive oil, in terms of the mean prediction error (MPE), was 2.14%. These results turn visible spectroscopy and MLP models into a trustworthy, user-friendly, low-cost technique which can be implemented on-line to characterize olive oil mixtures containing refined olive oil and EVOOs. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. India's refining prospects linked to economic growth

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lewis, E.

    1996-01-01

    International investors assess refining ventures in India the same way they do comparable projects elsewhere in the world: according to their expectations about investment returns. By that standard, India's appeal is mixed, although its need for some measure of additional refining capacity seems certain. The success of future refinery investments will depend heavily on the government's commitment to policies allowing the economy to grow faster than the population. Unless accompanied by economic growth, expected increases in the population will not automatically raise demand for petroleum products. Decisions about investments in India's refining sector, therefore, must carefully weigh market fundamentals, the business environment, and likely investment performance. This paper reviews the market for the various products and predicts new economic trends

  14. Development of refined MCNPX-PARET multi-channel model for transient analysis in research reactors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kalcheva, S.; Koonen, E. [SCK-CEN, BR2 Reactor Dept., Boeretang 200, 2400 Mol (Belgium); Olson, A. P. [RERTR Program, Nuclear Engineering Div., Argonne National Laboratory, Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439 (United States)

    2012-07-01

    Reactivity insertion transients are often analyzed (RELAP, PARET) using a two-channel model, representing the hot assembly with specified power distribution and an average assembly representing the remainder of the core. For the analysis of protected by the reactor safety system transients and zero reactivity feedback coefficients this approximation proves to give adequate results. However, a more refined multi-channel model representing the various assemblies, coupled through the reactivity feedback effects to the whole reactor core is needed for the analysis of unprotected transients with excluded over power and period trips. In the present paper a detailed multi-channel PARET model has been developed which describes the reactor core in different clusters representing typical BR2 fuel assemblies. The distribution of power and reactivity feedback in each cluster of the reactor core is obtained from a best-estimate MCNPX calculation using the whole core geometry model of the BR2 reactor. The sensitivity of the reactor response to power, temperature and energy distributions is studied for protected and unprotected reactivity insertion transients, with zero and non-zero reactivity feedback coefficients. The detailed multi-channel model is compared vs. simplified fewer-channel models. The sensitivities of transient characteristics derived from the different models are tested on a few reactivity insertion transients with reactivity feedback from coolant temperature and density change. (authors)

  15. High temperature neutron diffraction study of LaPO4

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mishra, S.K.; Mittal, R.; Ningthoujam, R.S.; Vatsa, R.K.; Hansen, T.

    2016-01-01

    We report high temperature powder neutron diffractions study in LaPO 4 using high-flux D20 neutron diffractometer in the Institut Laue-Langevin, France. The measurements were carried out in high resolution mode (incident neutron wavelength 1.36 A) at various temperature upto 900°C. CarefuI inspection of temperature dependence of diffraction data showed appearance and disappearance of certain Bragg's reflections above 1273 K. It is a signature of structural phase transition. Rietveld refinement of the powder diffraction data revealed that diffraction patterns at and above 800°C could be indexed using the monoclinic structure with P21/n space group. Detail analysis for identify the water molecules is under investigation. (author)

  16. Structure study of BaCe{sub 0.85}Y{sub 0.15}O{sub 3-Δ} as solid state fuel cell material

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Krezhov, K., E-mail: krezhov@inrne.bas.bg; Malakova, T.; Dimitrov, D. [Institute forNuclear Research and Nuclear Energy, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia (Bulgaria); Vladikova, D.; Raikova, G.; Genov, I. [Institute of Electrochemistry and Energy Systems, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia (Bulgaria); Svab, E. [Wigner Research Center for Physics, RISSPO, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest (Hungary); Fabian, M. [Wigner Research Center for Physics, RISSPO, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest (Hungary); Center for Energy Research, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest (Hungary)

    2016-03-25

    The structural details of powder, dense and porous samples of BaCe{sub 0.85}Y{sub 0.15}O{sub 3−δ} (BCY15) used recently in an innovative monolithic design of SOFC were studied from multiple Rietveld analysis of neutron and x-ray diffraction patterns. The 3-layered monolithic assembly built from BCY15 material works as oxide ion conductor in the oxygen space, as proton conductor in the hydrogen area and as mixed conductor in the central membrane. We find that in all the samples of studied BCY15 based materials there are no indications of difference in crystallographic symmetry and the structure refinements did produce best agreement factors in orthorhombic Pnma space group.

  17. Synchrotron diffraction characterization of nanostructured KY3F10:Tb

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ichikawa, Rodrigo U.; Teixeira, Maria I.; Ranieri, Izilda M.; Martinez, Luis G.; Linhares, Horacio M.S.M.D.; Turrillas, Xavier

    2015-01-01

    Nanostructured rare-earth fluorides materials are being intensively studied recently due to their potential applications in high-dose dosimetry. Particularly, nanostructured Tb-doped KY 3 F 10 has shown satisfactory results to be used in this area. In the present work, the structure and microstructure of KY 3 F 10 :Tb was investigated by means of X-ray synchrotron diffraction. One of the samples was analyzed as synthesized and another after a heat treatment. Rietveld refinement of synchrotron diffraction data was applied to obtain cell parameters, atomic positions and atomic displacement factors and the results were compared to values found in literature. X-ray line profile analysis methods were applied to determine mean crystallite sizes and their distribution. (author)

  18. Synthesis of LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 cathode material by chloride co-precipitation method

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    李灵均; 李新海; 王志兴; 伍凌; 郑俊超; 李金辉

    2010-01-01

    LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 was prepared by a chloride co-precipitation method and characterized by thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray diffractometry with Rietveld refinement,electron scanning microscopy and electrochemical measurements.Effects of lithium ion content and sintering temperature on physical and electrochemical performance of LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 were also investigated. The results show that the sample synthesized at 750℃with 105%lithium content has fine particle sizes around 200 nm and homogenous sizes distribution.The initial discharge capacity for the powder is 184 mA·h/g between 2.7 and 4.3 V at 0.1C and room temperature.

  19. Ferri-magnetic order in Mn induced spinel Co3-xMnxO4 (0.1≤x≤1.0) ceramic compositions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meena, P. L.; Sreenivas, K.; Singh, M. R.; Kumar, Ashok; Singh, S. P.; Kumar, Ravi

    2016-04-01

    We report structural and magnetic properties of spinel Co3-xMnxO4 (x=0.1-1.0) synthesized by solid state reaction technique. Rietveld refinement analysis of X-ray diffraction (XRD) data, revealed the formation of polycrystalline single phase Co3-xMnxO4 without any significant structural change in cubic crystal symmetry with Mn substitution, except change in lattice parameter. Temperature dependent magnetization data show changes in magnetic ordering temperature, indicating formation of antiferromagnetic (AFM) and ferrimagnetic (FM) phase at low Mn concentration (x≤0.3) and well-defined FM phase at high Mn concentration (x≥0.5). The isothermal magnetization records established an AFM/FM mixed phase for composition ranging 0.10.5.

  20. In situ hydrogen loading on zirconium powder

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Maimaitiyili, Tuerdi, E-mail: tuerdi.maimaitiyili@mah.se; Blomqvist, Jakob [Malmö University, Östra Varvsgatan 11 A, Malmö, Skane 20506 (Sweden); Steuwer, Axel [Lund University, Ole Römers väg, Lund, Skane 22100 (Sweden); Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Gardham Avenue, Port Elizabeth 6031 (South Africa); Bjerkén, Christina [Malmö University, Östra Varvsgatan 11 A, Malmö, Skane 20506 (Sweden); Zanellato, Olivier [Ensam - Cnam - CNRS, 151 Boulevard de l’Hôpital, Paris 75013 (France); Blackmur, Matthew S. [Materials Performance Centre, School of Materials, The University of Manchester, Manchester M1 7HS (United Kingdom); Andrieux, Jérôme [European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, 6 rue J Horowitz, Grenoble 38043 (France); Université de Lyon, 43 Bd du 11 novembre 1918, Lyon 69100 (France); Ribeiro, Fabienne [Institut de Radioprotection et Sûreté Nucléaire, IRSN, BP 3, 13115 Saint-Paul Lez Durance (France)

    2015-06-26

    Commercial-grade Zr powder loaded with hydrogen in situ and phase transformations between various Zr and ZrH{sub x} phases have been monitored in real time. For the first time, various hydride phases in a zirconium–hydrogen system have been prepared in a high-energy synchrotron X-ray radiation beamline and their transformation behaviour has been studied in situ. First, the formation and dissolution of hydrides in commercially pure zirconium powder were monitored in real time during hydrogenation and dehydrogenation, then whole pattern crystal structure analysis such as Rietveld and Pawley refinements were performed. All commonly reported low-pressure phases presented in the Zr–H phase diagram are obtained from a single experimental arrangement.

  1. In situ hydrogen loading on zirconium powder

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maimaitiyili, Tuerdi; Blomqvist, Jakob; Steuwer, Axel; Bjerkén, Christina; Zanellato, Olivier; Blackmur, Matthew S.; Andrieux, Jérôme; Ribeiro, Fabienne

    2015-01-01

    Commercial-grade Zr powder loaded with hydrogen in situ and phase transformations between various Zr and ZrH x phases have been monitored in real time. For the first time, various hydride phases in a zirconium–hydrogen system have been prepared in a high-energy synchrotron X-ray radiation beamline and their transformation behaviour has been studied in situ. First, the formation and dissolution of hydrides in commercially pure zirconium powder were monitored in real time during hydrogenation and dehydrogenation, then whole pattern crystal structure analysis such as Rietveld and Pawley refinements were performed. All commonly reported low-pressure phases presented in the Zr–H phase diagram are obtained from a single experimental arrangement

  2. A neutron powder diffraction study of deuterated α-resorcinol: a test of profile refinement using TLS constraints

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bacon, G.E.; Lisher, E.J.

    1979-01-01

    Constrained TL, TLX and TLS refinements have been used, with the powder-profile method, in the analysis of accurate neutron powder data for deuterated α-resorcinol at room temperature. There is good agreement between the translational and librational parameters derived from the TL refinement and those obtained from an equivalent analysis of accurate single-crystal neutron measurements. The fine details of the benzene ring are lost in the powder analysis, but the molecular orientation and the OH bond angles are in good agreement with the single-crystal values. No significant improvement could be found in the powder fit by applying the full TLS theory and, therefore, the approximate TLX model appears to be adequate for powder data. (Auth.)

  3. Study of mechanism on microstructure refinement during compact strip production process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu Hao; Kang Yonglin; Wang Kelu; Fu Jie; Wang Zhongbing; Liu Delu

    2003-01-01

    In this study, microstructures of 1.9 mm hot strip steel produced by compact strip production (CSP) are investigated by using optical metallograph observation and electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) data to deduce the status of hot rolled austenite before phase transformation, because the evolution of hot rolled austenite is important to provide information for the microstructure refinement. The experimental results show that the finishing hot rolled microstructure is a mixture of recrystallized and deformed austenite, and the percentage of recrystallized austenite is greater than that of the deformed austenite. At last, microstructure evolution of austenite is modeled based on chemical compositions and techniques of producing 1.9 mm hot strip. The simulation results agree well with experimental data. Analysis shows that microstructure refinement, recrystallization and supercooling rate are the primary causes to fine microstructure

  4. Refinement-Animation for Event-B - Towards a Method of Validation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hallerstede, Stefan; Leuschel, Michael; Plagge, Daniel

    2010-01-01

    We provide a detailed description of refinement in Event-B, both as a contribution in itself and as a foundation for the approach to simultaneous animation of multiple levels of refinement that we propose. We present an algorithm for simultaneous multi-level animation of refinement, and show how ...

  5. Cleaning Data with OpenRefine

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seth van Hooland

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Duplicate records, empty values and inconsistent formats are phenomena we should be prepared to deal with when using historical data sets. This lesson will teach you how to discover inconsistencies in data contained within a spreadsheet or a database. As we increasingly share, aggregate and reuse data on the web, historians will need to respond to data quality issues which inevitably pop up. Using a program called OpenRefine, you will be able to easily identify systematic errors such as blank cells, duplicates, spelling inconsistencies, etc. OpenRefine not only allows you to quickly diagnose the accuracy of your data, but also to act upon certain errors in an automated manner.

  6. Outlook for Canadian refining

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boje, G.

    1998-01-01

    The petroleum supply and demand balance was discussed and a comparison between Canadian and U.S. refineries was provided. The impact of changing product specifications on the petroleum industry was also discussed. The major changes include sulphur reductions in gasoline, benzene and MMT additives. These changes have been made in an effort to satisfy environmental needs. Geographic margin variations in refineries between east and west were reviewed. An overview of findings from the Solomon Refining Study of Canadian and American refineries, which has been very complimentary of the Canadian refining industry, was provided. From this writer's point of view refinery utilization has improved but there is a threat from increasing efficiency of US competitors. Environmental issues will continue to impact upon the industry and while the chances for making economic returns on investment are good for the years ahead, it will be a challenge to maintain profitability

  7. Oil refining in U.S. foreign-trade zones

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Powell, S.J.; Potter, T.J.

    1991-01-01

    With the crude-oil import supply being as inexpensive as it is today, relative to domestic supply, many independents have been sourcing their crude-oil needs from abroad and have found it an opportune time to step up their level of refining activity. To further enhance their competitive position with respect to foreign refineries, certain domestic refiners have discovered the operational benefits and savings that result from having a refinery designated as a foreign-trade zone (FTZ) under the Foreign-Trade Zones Act of 1934, as amended. This paper examines the history and use of foreign-trade subzones for refining activities

  8. Electron microscopy investigation of the TiBAl and TiCAl grain refiner master alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cizek, P

    2006-01-01

    The present work brings a detailed statistical analysis of the microstructural characteristics and chemistry of the second phase particles present in the Al-5Ti-1B and Al- 3Ti-0.15C (wt.%) commercial grain refiner rods used in the Al casting industry. The investigation was performed using the TEM, EDS, STEM and HREM techniques. Both refiner rods contained large, blocky Al 3 Ti DO 22 particles. Borides present in the TiBAl rod, known to be main α-Al nucleation substrates, exhibited a facetted, hexagonal platelet morphology and largely represented a mixed (Ti,Al)B 2 phase, with Ti and Al contents changing continuously across the particle dimensions. There were two distinct families of small particles observed in the TiCAl rod. The coarser, facetted particles corresponded to cubic TiC crystal structure and these are believed to be major α-Al nucleation sites. The family of finer, round particles appeared to correspond to orthorhombic Al 6 Fe phase and their role in the nucleation process remains to be clarified. The results obtained may be used in optimising the grain refiner rod microstructures that would ensure improved refining performance during casting

  9. Electron microscopy investigation of the TiBAl and TiCAl grain refiner master alloys

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cizek, P [IMMPETUS, Department of Engineering Materials, University of Sheffield, Mappin Street, Sheffield S1 3JD (United Kingdom)

    2006-02-22

    The present work brings a detailed statistical analysis of the microstructural characteristics and chemistry of the second phase particles present in the Al-5Ti-1B and Al- 3Ti-0.15C (wt.%) commercial grain refiner rods used in the Al casting industry. The investigation was performed using the TEM, EDS, STEM and HREM techniques. Both refiner rods contained large, blocky Al{sub 3}Ti DO{sub 22} particles. Borides present in the TiBAl rod, known to be main {alpha}-Al nucleation substrates, exhibited a facetted, hexagonal platelet morphology and largely represented a mixed (Ti,Al)B{sub 2} phase, with Ti and Al contents changing continuously across the particle dimensions. There were two distinct families of small particles observed in the TiCAl rod. The coarser, facetted particles corresponded to cubic TiC crystal structure and these are believed to be major {alpha}-Al nucleation sites. The family of finer, round particles appeared to correspond to orthorhombic Al{sub 6}Fe phase and their role in the nucleation process remains to be clarified. The results obtained may be used in optimising the grain refiner rod microstructures that would ensure improved refining performance during casting.

  10. Characterization of an ecological binder for mortars obtained from recycling of ladle furnace slag

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marinho, A.B.; Santos, C.M.; Fontes, W.C.; Matias, A.C.P.; Brigolini, G.J.; Peixoto, R.A.F.; Carvalho, J.F.

    2016-01-01

    A sustainable binder obtained from recycling of a ladle furnace slag from Piracicaba, Sao Paulo, was produced in Laboratory of Construction Materials of Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP). A characterization work was performed and the results are presented. The physical, chemical and mineralogical properties was obtained using, among others, the following techniques: X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD) with Rietveld refining method, optical microscopy and Scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The chemical analysis showed predominance of CaO and SiO_3; the mineralogical analysis pointed the predominant presence of calcium-olivine, merwinite and pyroxene and; the images showed predominance of angulous and elongated grains. According to results, the material was classified as a hydraulic binder, with characteristics comparable to hydraulic limes. (author)

  11. Characterization of an ecological binder for mortars obtained from recycling of ladle furnace slag; Caracterizacao de aglomerante ecologico para argamassas obtido a partir da reciclagem de escoria de forno panela

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marinho, A.B.; Santos, C.M.; Fontes, W.C.; Matias, A.C.P.; Brigolini, G.J.; Peixoto, R.A.F. [Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto (UFOP), MG (Brazil). Departamento de Engenhaira Civil; Carvalho, J.F., E-mail: josemaria.carvalho@ufv.br [Universidade Federal de Vicosa (UFV), MG (Brazil). Departamento de Engenharia Civil

    2016-07-01

    A sustainable binder obtained from recycling of a ladle furnace slag from Piracicaba, Sao Paulo, was produced in Laboratory of Construction Materials of Federal University of Ouro Preto (UFOP). A characterization work was performed and the results are presented. The physical, chemical and mineralogical properties was obtained using, among others, the following techniques: X-ray fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD) with Rietveld refining method, optical microscopy and Scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The chemical analysis showed predominance of CaO and SiO{sub 3}; the mineralogical analysis pointed the predominant presence of calcium-olivine, merwinite and pyroxene and; the images showed predominance of angulous and elongated grains. According to results, the material was classified as a hydraulic binder, with characteristics comparable to hydraulic limes. (author)

  12. Calculating corrections in F-theory from refined BPS invariants and backreacted geometries

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Poretschkin, Maximilian

    2015-07-01

    This thesis presents various corrections to F-theory compactifications which rely on the computation of refined Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) invariants and the analysis of backreacted geometries. Detailed information about rigid supersymmetric theories in five dimensions is contained in an index counting refined BPS invariants. These BPS states fall into representations of SU(2){sub L} x SU(2){sub R}, the little group in five dimensions, which has an induced action on the cohomology of the moduli space of stable pairs. In the first part of this thesis, we present the computation of refined BPS state multiplicities associated to M-theory compactifications on local Calabi-Yau manifolds whose base is given by a del Pezzo or half K3 surface. For geometries with a toric realization we use an algorithm which is based on the Weierstrass normal form of the mirror geometry. In addition we use the refined holomorphic anomaly equation and the gap condition at the conifold locus in the moduli space in order to perform the direct integration and to fix the holomorphic ambiguity. In a second approach, we use the refined Goettsche formula and the refined modular anomaly equation that govern the (refined) genus expansion of the free energy of the half K3 surface. By this procedure, we compute the refined BPS invariants of the half K3 from which the results of the remaining del Pezzo surfaces are obtained by flop transitions and blow-downs. These calculations also make use of the high symmetry of the del Pezzo surfaces whose homology lattice contains the root lattice of exceptional Lie algebras. In cases where both approaches are applicable, we successfully check the compatibility of these two methods. In the second part of this thesis, we apply the results obtained from the calculation of the refined invariants of the del Pezzo respectively the half K3 surfaces to count non-perturbative objects in F-theory. The first application is given by BPS states of the E

  13. Contextual Distance Refining for Image Retrieval

    KAUST Repository

    Islam, Almasri

    2014-01-01

    Recently, a number of methods have been proposed to improve image retrieval accuracy by capturing context information. These methods try to compensate for the fact that a visually less similar image might be more relevant because it depicts the same object. We propose a new quick method for refining any pairwise distance metric, it works by iteratively discovering the object in the image from the most similar images, and then refine the distance metric accordingly. Test show that our technique improves over the state of art in terms of accuracy over the MPEG7 dataset.

  14. Contextual Distance Refining for Image Retrieval

    KAUST Repository

    Islam, Almasri

    2014-09-16

    Recently, a number of methods have been proposed to improve image retrieval accuracy by capturing context information. These methods try to compensate for the fact that a visually less similar image might be more relevant because it depicts the same object. We propose a new quick method for refining any pairwise distance metric, it works by iteratively discovering the object in the image from the most similar images, and then refine the distance metric accordingly. Test show that our technique improves over the state of art in terms of accuracy over the MPEG7 dataset.

  15. Refinement in Z and Object-Z foundations and advanced applications

    CERN Document Server

    Derrick, John

    2013-01-01

    Refinement is one of the cornerstones of the formal approach to software engineering, and its use in various domains has led to research on new applications and generalisation. This book brings together this important research in one volume, with the addition of examples drawn from different application areas. It covers four main themes:Data refinement and its application to ZGeneralisations of refinement that change the interface and atomicity of operationsRefinement in Object-ZModelling state and behaviour by combining Object-Z with CSPRefinement in Z and Object-Z: Foundations and Advanced A

  16. Texture, residual stress and structural analysis of thin films using a combined X-ray analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lutterotti, L.; Chateigner, D.; Ferrari, S.; Ricote, J.

    2004-01-01

    Advanced thin films for today's industrial and research needs require highly specialized methodologies for a successful quantitative characterization. In particular, in the case of multilayer and/or unknown phases a global approach is necessary to obtain some or all the required information. A full approach has been developed integrating novel texture and residual stress methodologies with the Rietveld method (Acta Cryst. 22 (1967) 151) (for crystal structure analysis) and it has been coupled with the reflectivity analysis. The complete analysis can be done at once and offers several benefits: the thicknesses obtained from reflectivity can be used to correct the diffraction spectra, the phase analysis help to identify the layers and to determine the electron density profile for reflectivity; quantitative texture is needed for quantitative phase and residual stress analyses; crystal structure determination benefits of the previous. To achieve this result, it was necessary to develop some new methods, especially for texture and residual stresses. So it was possible to integrate them in the Rietveld, full profile fitting of the patterns. The measurement of these spectra required a special reflectometer/diffractometer that combines a thin parallel beam (for reflectivity) and a texture/stress goniometer with a curved large position sensitive detector. This new diffraction/reflectivity X-ray machine has been used to test the combined approach. Several spectra and the reflectivity patterns have been collected at different tilting angles and processed at once by the special software incorporating the aforementioned methodologies. Some analysis examples will be given to show the possibilities offered by the method

  17. Singapore refiners in midst of huge construction campaign

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Land, R.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reports that Singapore's downstream capacity continues to mushroom. Singapore refiners, upbeat about long term prospects for petroleum products demand in the Asia-Pacific region, and are pressing plans to boost processing capacity. Their plans go beyond capacity expansions. They are proceeding with projects to upgrade refineries to emphasize production of higher value products and to further integrate refining capabilities wit the region's petrochemical industry. Planned expansion and upgrading projects at Singapore refineries call for outlays of more than $1 billion to boost total capacity to about 1.1 million b/d in 1993 and 1.27 million b/d by 1995. That would be the highest level since the mid-1980s, when refiners such as Shell Singapore cut capacity amid an oil glut. Singapore refineries currently are running at effective full capacity of 1.04 million b/d. Meanwhile, Singapore refiners are aggressively courting customers in the Indochina subcontinent, where long isolated centrally planned economies are turning gradually to free markets

  18. Directions in refining and upgrading of heavy oil and bitumen

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dawson, B.; Parker, R. J.; Flint, L.

    1997-01-01

    The expansion of heavy oil transportation, marketing and refining facilities over the past two decades have been reviewed to show the strides that several Canadian refiners have taken to build up the facilities required to process synthetic crude oil (SCO). Key points made at a conference, convened by the National Centre for Upgrading Technology (NCUT), held in Edmonton during September 1997 to discuss current and future directions in the refining and marketing of heavy oil, bitumen and SCO, were summarized. Among the key points mentioned were: (1) the high entry barriers faced by centralized upgraders, (2) the advantages of integrating SCO or heavy oil production with downstream refining, (3) the stiff competition from Venezuela and Mexico that both SCO and heavy oil will face in the U.S. PADD II market, (4) the differences between Canadian refiners who have profited from hydrocracking and are better able to handle coker-based SCO, and American refiners who rely chiefly on catalytic cracking and are less able to process the highly aromatic SCO, and (5) the disproportionate cost in the upgrading process represented by the conversion of asphaltenes. Challenges and opportunities for key stakeholders, i.e. producers, refiners, marketers and technology licensors also received much attention at the Edmonton conference

  19. 30 CFR 208.4 - Royalty oil sales to eligible refiners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 30 Mineral Resources 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Royalty oil sales to eligible refiners. 208.4... MANAGEMENT SALE OF FEDERAL ROYALTY OIL General Provisions § 208.4 Royalty oil sales to eligible refiners. (a... and defense. The Secretary will review these items and will determine whether eligible refiners have...

  20. Solution of free-boundary problems using finite-element/Newton methods and locally refined grids - Application to analysis of solidification microstructure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsiveriotis, K.; Brown, R. A.

    1993-01-01

    A new method is presented for the solution of free-boundary problems using Lagrangian finite element approximations defined on locally refined grids. The formulation allows for direct transition from coarse to fine grids without introducing non-conforming basis functions. The calculation of elemental stiffness matrices and residual vectors are unaffected by changes in the refinement level, which are accounted for in the loading of elemental data to the global stiffness matrix and residual vector. This technique for local mesh refinement is combined with recently developed mapping methods and Newton's method to form an efficient algorithm for the solution of free-boundary problems, as demonstrated here by sample calculations of cellular interfacial microstructure during directional solidification of a binary alloy.

  1. Development of an efficient grain refiner for Al-7Si alloy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kori, S.A.; Murty, B.S.; Chakraborty, M. [Indian Inst. of Technol., Kharagpur (India). Dept. of Metall. and Mater. Eng.

    2000-03-15

    The response of Al-7Si alloy towards grain refinement by Al-Ti-B master alloys (with different Ti-B ratios) at different addition levels has been studied in detail. The results indicate that high B-containing master alloys are powerful grain refiners when compared to conventional grain refiners like Al-5Ti-lB master alloys. In the present study, indigenously developed master alloys have been used for the grain refinement of alloys Al-7Si and LM-25. Significant improvements in mechanical properties have been obtained with a combination of grain refiner and Sr as modifier. (orig.)

  2. Local grid refinement for free-surface flow simulations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Plas, Peter

    2017-01-01

    The principal goal of the current study is to explore and investigate the potential of local grid refinement for increasing the numerical efficiency of free-surface flow simulations in a practical context. In this thesis we propose a method for local grid refinement in the free-surface flow model

  3. Oil refining in South Asia and Australasia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamaguchi, N.D.

    2000-01-01

    An overview of the oil markets of Southeast Asia and Australasia is presented focussing on oil refining. Key statistics of both areas are tabulated, and figures providing information on GDP/capita, crude production, comparison of demand barrels, and product demand are provided. Crude oil production and supply, oil product demand, and the refining industries are examined with details given of evolution of capacity and cracking to distillation ratios

  4. Investment in Exploration-Production and Refining - 2016

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maisonnier, Guy; Hureau, Geoffroy; Serbutoviez, Sylvain; Silva, Constancio

    2017-03-01

    IFPEN analyses in this study the 2016 evolution of global investment in the field of exploration-production and refining: - Trends in oil and gas prices; - Investment in exploration/production: in sharp decline for the second consecutive year - the first time this has happened since 1986; - The global drilling market; - Geophysical: global activity and markets; - Offshore construction: market and business; - A significant reduction in refining projects (atmospheric distillation and conversion)

  5. Fundamentals and applications of neutron diffraction. Applications 7. Crystal structure analysis of fuel cell materials by means of neutron diffractometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Itoh, Takanori

    2010-01-01

    Perovskite oxides, which have 'A' atoms of an alkaline earth metal and/or a rare earth metal and 'B' atoms of a transition metal, have considerable potential for use in electrochemical devices such as cathodes of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), oxygen pumps, oxygen sensors, catalysts, and other devices such as oxygen separation membranes. The oxygen ion behavior is studied with relation performance of electrochemical devices. I have analyzed the crystal structure of SOFC materials by neutron diffraction. Using the Rietveld refinement technique, I showed that the O1(4c) and O2(8d) sites in a perovskite oxide of SOFC cathode material has different oxygen site occupancies. Furthermore, oxygen diffusion behavior is associated with temperature dependence of oxygen anisotropic atomic displacement parameters. The maximum entropy method (MEM) analysis of neutron diffraction measurements revealed nuclear scattering length distribution at high temperature by three-dimensional images in detail, therefore 1 found oxygen diffusion pass and new proton site in SOFC materials. From these results, neutron diffraction is confirmed to be very useful tool for the study of light element behavior in fuel cell materials. (author)

  6. Problems persist for French refining sector

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beck, R.J.

    1992-01-01

    This paper reports that France's refiners face a continuing shortfall of middle distillate capacity and a persistent surplus of heavy fuel oil. That's the main conclusion of the official Hydrocarbon Directorate's report on how France's refining sector performed in 1991. Imports up---The directorate noted that although net production of refined products in French refineries rose to 1.534 million b/d in 1991 from 1.48 million b/d in 1990, products imports jumped 9.7% to 602,000 b/d in the period. The glut of heavy fuel oil eased to some extent last year because French nuclear power capacity, heavily dependent on ample water supplies, was crimped by drought. That spawned fuel switching. The most note worthy increase in imports was for motor diesel, climbing to 176,000 b/d from 148,000 b/d in 1990. Tax credits are spurring French consumption of that fuel. For the first time, consumption of motor diesel in 1991 outstripped that of gasoline at 374,000 b/d and 356,000 b/d respectively

  7. Refining glass structure in two dimensions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sadjadi, Mahdi; Bhattarai, Bishal; Drabold, D. A.; Thorpe, M. F.; Wilson, Mark

    2017-11-01

    Recently determined atomistic scale structures of near-two dimensional bilayers of vitreous silica (using scanning probe and electron microscopy) allow us to refine the experimentally determined coordinates to incorporate the known local chemistry more precisely. Further refinement is achieved by using classical potentials of varying complexity: one using harmonic potentials and the second employing an electrostatic description incorporating polarization effects. These are benchmarked against density functional calculations. Our main findings are that (a) there is a symmetry plane between the two disordered layers, a nice example of an emergent phenomena, (b) the layers are slightly tilted so that the Si-O-Si angle between the two layers is not 180∘ as originally thought but rather 175 ±2∘ , and (c) while interior areas that are not completely imagined can be reliably reconstructed, surface areas are more problematic. It is shown that small crystallites that appear are just as expected statistically in a continuous random network. This provides a good example of the value that can be added to disordered structures imaged at the atomic level by implementing computer refinement.

  8. Refined Models for an Analysis of Internal and External Buckling Modes of a Monolayer in a Layered Composite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paimushin, V. N.

    2017-11-01

    For an analysis of internal and external buckling modes of a monolayer inside or at the periphery of a layered composite, refined geometrically nonlinear equations are constructed. They are based on modeling the monolayer as a thin plate interacting with binder layers at the points of boundary surfaces. The binder layer is modeled as a transversely soft foundation. It is assumed the foundations, previously compressed in the transverse direction (the first loading stage), have zero displacements of its external boundary surfaces at the second loading stage, but the contact interaction of the plate with foundations occurs without slippage or delamination. The deformation of the plate at a medium flexure is described by geometrically nonlinear relations of the classical plate theory based on the Kirchhoff-Love hypothesis (the first variant) or the refined Timoshenko model with account of the transverse shear and compression (the second variant). The foundation is described by linearized 3D equations of elasticity theory, which are simplified within the framework of the model of a transversely soft layer. Integrating the linearized equations along the transverse coordinate and satisfying the kinematic joining conditions of the plate with foundations, with account of their initial compression in the thickness direction, a system of 2D geometrically nonlinear equations and appropriate boundary conditions are derived. These equations describe the contact interaction between elements of the deformable system. The relations obtained are simplified for the case of a symmetric stacking sequence.

  9. Solving the Sophistication-Population Paradox of Game Refinement Theory

    OpenAIRE

    Xiong , Shuo; Tiwary , Parth ,; Iida , Hiroyuki

    2016-01-01

    Part 4: Short Papers; International audience; A mathematical model of game refinement was proposed based on uncertainty of game outcome. This model has been shown to be useful in measuring the entertainment element in the domains such as boardgames and sport games. However, game refinement theory has not been able to explain the correlation between the popularity of a game and the game refinement value. This paper introduces another aspect in the study of game entertainment, the concept of “a...

  10. A refined approach: Saudi Arabia moves beyond crude

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krane, Jim

    2015-01-01

    Saudi Arabia's role in global energy markets is changing. The kingdom is reshaping itself as a supplier of refined petroleum products while moving beyond its long-held role as a simple exporter of crude oil. This change is commensurate with the typical development trajectory of a state progressing to a more advanced stage of global economic integration. Gains from increased refining include reducing fuel imports and capturing margins now bequeathed to competitors. Refining also allows the kingdom to export its heavy crude oil to a wider array of customers, beyond select importers configured to handle heavy crudes. However, the move also presents strategic complications. The world's 'swing supplier' of oil may grow less willing or able to adjust supply to suit market demands. In the process, Saudi Arabia may have to update the old “oil for security” relationship that links it with Washington, augmenting it with a more diverse set of economic and investment ties with individual companies and countries, including China. -- Highlights: •Saudi Arabia is diverting crude oil into an expanding refining sector. •In doing so, the kingdom is moving beyond its role as global “swing supplier” of crude oil. •The kingdom will benefit from increased refining, including enhanced demand for heavy crude. •Strategic complications may force it to seek security partners beyond Washington

  11. The future of refining industry is in Asia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dupin, L.

    2010-01-01

    The decision of Total Group to close down the refining activity of its Flandres' site at Dunkerque (France) is a testimony of the deep restructuring that is affecting this sector. The migration of the refining activity towards Middle-East and Asia has started several years ago. The World capacities are increasing: in 2009 4.36 billion tons of petroleum products were refined in the world, representing a 1.9% rise with respect to 2008. 661 refineries exist in the world, among which 6 were inaugurated in 2009, 115 are located in Europe and 12 in France. The bad health of the European refining activity is beneficial to Middle and Asia where investments in new production capacities follow on from one another. From now to 2030, these areas will benefit from 70% of the worldwide investments compared to 11% only for Europe and North America. The decline of the European refining industry is directly linked to decay of the automotive fuel consumption and to the increase of the diesel fuel share with respect to gasoline. On the other hand, Asia, and in particular China and India, follow the exactly opposite trend thanks to their population and economic growths. Therefore, European oil companies try to invest in Asia and are looking for new production capacities in China and India. (J.S.)

  12. Synthesis and characterization of Ni0.7Zn0.3Fe2O4 ferrospinel: performance evaluation for methyl and ethyl esterification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mapossa, A.B.; Dantas, J.; Diniz, V.C.S.; Costa, A.C.F.M.; Silva, M.R.; Kiminami, R.H.G.A.

    2017-01-01

    Ni 0.7 Zn 0.3 Fe 2 O 4 ferrospinel was synthesized by combustion and its catalytic performance in methyl and ethyl esterification of the soybean oil was investigated. The samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Rietveld refinement analysis, energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, textural analysis, scanning electron microscopy, density by picnometry, particle size analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, magnetic measurements, and catalytic tests. The synthesis was efficient resulting in a ferrospinel with single phase Ni 0.7 Zn 0.3 Fe 2 O 4 with crystallite size of 20 nm, high surface area (86 m 2 /g) and saturation magnetization of 18 emu/g. The ferrospinel had promising catalytic activity in both reaction conditions studied, being more active in the conversion of soybean oil to biodiesel in methyl esterification with an average conversion of 93.9±2.8%. (author)

  13. Refining - Panorama 2008; Raffinage - Panorama 2008

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2008-07-01

    Investment rallied in 2007, and many distillation and conversion projects likely to reach the industrial stage were announced. With economic growth sustained in 2006 and still pronounced in 2007, oil demand remained strong - especially in emerging countries - and refining margins stayed high. Despite these favorable business conditions, tensions persisted in the refining sector, which has fallen far behind in terms of investing in refinery capacity. It will take renewed efforts over a long period to catch up. Looking at recent events that have affected the economy in many countries (e.g. the sub-prime crisis), prudence remains advisable.

  14. The Charfuel coal refining process

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Meyer, L.G.

    1991-01-01

    The patented Charfuel coal refining process employs fluidized hydrocracking to produce char and liquid products from virtually all types of volatile-containing coals, including low rank coal and lignite. It is not gasification or liquefaction which require the addition of expensive oxygen or hydrogen or the use of extreme heat or pressure. It is not the German pyrolysis process that merely 'cooks' the coal, producing coke and tar-like liquids. Rather, the Charfuel coal refining process involves thermal hydrocracking which results in the rearrangement of hydrogen within the coal molecule to produce a slate of co-products. In the Charfuel process, pulverized coal is rapidly heated in a reducing atmosphere in the presence of internally generated process hydrogen. This hydrogen rearrangement allows refinement of various ranks of coals to produce a pipeline transportable, slurry-type, environmentally clean boiler fuel and a slate of value-added traditional fuel and chemical feedstock co-products. Using coal and oxygen as the only feedstocks, the Charfuel hydrocracking technology economically removes much of the fuel nitrogen, sulfur, and potential air toxics (such as chlorine, mercury, beryllium, etc.) from the coal, resulting in a high heating value, clean burning fuel which can increase power plant efficiency while reducing operating costs. The paper describes the process, its thermal efficiency, its use in power plants, its pipeline transport, co-products, environmental and energy benefits, and economics

  15. Refined algebraic quantisation in a system with nonconstant gauge invariant structure functions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martínez-Pascual, Eric

    2013-01-01

    In a previous work [J. Louko and E. Martínez-Pascual, “Constraint rescaling in refined algebraic quantisation: Momentum constraint,” J. Math. Phys. 52, 123504 (2011)], refined algebraic quantisation (RAQ) within a family of classically equivalent constrained Hamiltonian systems that are related to each other by rescaling one momentum-type constraint was investigated. In the present work, the first steps to generalise this analysis to cases where more constraints occur are developed. The system under consideration contains two momentum-type constraints, originally abelian, where rescalings of these constraints by a non-vanishing function of the coordinates are allowed. These rescalings induce structure functions at the level of the gauge algebra. Providing a specific parametrised family of real-valued scaling functions, the implementation of the corresponding rescaled quantum momentum-type constraints is performed using RAQ when the gauge algebra: (i) remains abelian and (ii) undergoes into an algebra of a nonunimodular group with nonconstant gauge invariant structure functions. Case (ii) becomes the first example known to the author where an open algebra is handled in refined algebraic quantisation. Challenging issues that arise in the presence of non-gauge invariant structure functions are also addressed

  16. Spatial-temporal patterns of retinal waves underlying activity-dependent refinement of retinofugal projections.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stafford, Ben K; Sher, Alexander; Litke, Alan M; Feldheim, David A

    2009-10-29

    During development, retinal axons project coarsely within their visual targets before refining to form organized synaptic connections. Spontaneous retinal activity, in the form of acetylcholine-driven retinal waves, is proposed to be necessary for establishing these projection patterns. In particular, both axonal terminations of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and the size of receptive fields of target neurons are larger in mice that lack the beta2 subunit of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (beta2KO). Here, using a large-scale, high-density multielectrode array to record activity from hundreds of RGCs simultaneously, we present analysis of early postnatal retinal activity from both wild-type (WT) and beta2KO retinas. We find that beta2KO retinas have correlated patterns of activity, but many aspects of these patterns differ from those of WT retina. Quantitative analysis suggests that wave directionality, coupled with short-range correlated bursting patterns of RGCs, work together to refine retinofugal projections.

  17. The present state of refining in France

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-01-01

    The european refining industry suffers from a production over-capacity and closures are inevitable; the situation is even worse in France due to the imbalance between gas oil and gasoline prices and the weak margin for distributors. The French refining industry is however an important and essential link for its strategic fuel and petroleum product supply, and represent 17000 jobs. Several measures are introduced by the French Industry department towards restructuring, capacity reduction and fuel price harmonization

  18. A new process of electron beam refining of niobium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pinatti, D.G.

    1981-01-01

    A review of thermodynamic equilibrium, the kinetic theory and experimental results of the metal-gas interaction in refractory metals is presented. N 2 , H 2 and CO absorption and desorption take place by a reversible process while O 2 takes place by a irreversible process with atom absorption and metal oxide desorption. A new technology of electron beam refining of Niobium is proposed based on four points: 1) preparation of the aluminothermic reduced electrode, 2) zone refining in the first melt, 3) kinetic theory of refining in the following melts and 4) design of a compact furnace. Experimental results in a pilot plant of 300 KW have shown complete agreement with the proposed technology yielding a productivity 2.4 times larger than the value predicted by the conventional technology of electron beam refining of Niobium. (Author) [pt

  19. Phase relations and crystal structures in the systems (Bi,Ln)2WO6 and (Bi,Ln)2MoO6 (Ln=lanthanide)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berdonosov, Peter S.; Charkin, Dmitri O.; Knight, Kevin S.; Johnston, Karen E.; Goff, Richard J.; Dolgikh, Valeriy A.; Lightfoot, Philip

    2006-01-01

    Several outstanding aspects of phase behaviour in the systems (Bi,Ln) 2 WO 6 and (Bi,Ln) 2 MoO 6 (Ln=lanthanide) have been clarified. Detailed crystal structures, from Rietveld refinement of powder neutron diffraction data, are provided for Bi 1.8 La 0.2 WO 6 (L-Bi 2 WO 6 type) and BiLaWO 6 , BiNdWO 6 , Bi 0.7 Yb 1.3 WO 6 and Bi 0.7 Yb 1.3 WO 6 (all H-Bi 2 WO 6 type). Phase evolution within the solid solution Bi 2- x La x MoO 6 has been re-examined, and a crossover from γ(H)-Bi 2 MoO 6 type to γ-R 2 MoO 6 type is observed at x∼1.2. A preliminary X-ray Rietveld refinement of the line phase BiNdMoO 6 has confirmed the α-R 2 MoO 6 type structure, with a possible partial ordering of Bi/Nd over the three crystallographically distinct R sites. - Graphical abstract: A summary of phase relations in the lanthanide-doped bismuth tungstate and bismuth molybdate systems is presented, together with some additional structural data on several of these phases

  20. Refined life-cycle assessment of polymer solar cells

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lenzmann, F.; Kroon, J.; Andriessen, R.

    2011-01-01

    A refined life-cycle assessment of polymer solar cells is presented with a focus on critical components, i.e. the transparent conductive ITO layer and the encapsulation components. This present analysis gives a comprehensive sketch of the full environmental potential of polymer-OPV in comparison...... with other PV technologies. It is shown that on a m2 basis the environmental characteristics of polymer-OPV are highly beneficial, while on a watt-peak and on a kWh basis, these benefits are - at the current level of the development - still (over-)compensated by low module efficiency and limited lifetime...

  1. Multilevel local refinement and multigrid methods for 3-D turbulent flow

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liao, C.; Liu, C. [UCD, Denver, CO (United States); Sung, C.H.; Huang, T.T. [David Taylor Model Basin, Bethesda, MD (United States)

    1996-12-31

    A numerical approach based on multigrid, multilevel local refinement, and preconditioning methods for solving incompressible Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes equations is presented. 3-D turbulent flow around an underwater vehicle is computed. 3 multigrid levels and 2 local refinement grid levels are used. The global grid is 24 x 8 x 12. The first patch is 40 x 16 x 20 and the second patch is 72 x 32 x 36. 4th order artificial dissipation are used for numerical stability. The conservative artificial compressibility method are used for further improvement of convergence. To improve the accuracy of coarse/fine grid interface of local refinement, flux interpolation method for refined grid boundary is used. The numerical results are in good agreement with experimental data. The local refinement can improve the prediction accuracy significantly. The flux interpolation method for local refinement can keep conservation for a composite grid, therefore further modify the prediction accuracy.

  2. Uranium refining process using ion exchange membrane

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamaguchi, Akira

    1977-01-01

    As for the method of refining uranium ore being carried out in Europe and America at present, uranium ore is roughly refined at the mine sites to yellow cake, then this is transported to refineries and refined by dry method. This method has the following faults, namely the number of processes is large, it requires expensive corrosion-resistant materials because of high temperature treatment, and the impurities in uranium tend to increase. On the other hand, in case of EXCER method, treatment is carried out at low temperature, and high purity uranium can be obtained, but the efficiency of electrolytic reduction process is extremely low, and economically infeasible. In the wet refining method called PNC process, uranium tetrafluoride is produced from uranium ore without making yellow cake, therefore the process is rationalized largely, and highly economical. The electrolytic reduction process in this method was developed by Asahi Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. by constructing the pilot plant in Ningyotoge Mine. The ion exchange membrane, the electrodes, and the problems concerning the process and the engineering for commercial plants were investigated. The electrolytic reduction process, the pilot plant, the development of the elements of electrolytic cells, the establishment of analytical process, the measurement of the electrolytic characteristics, the demonstration operation, and the life time of the electrolytic diaphragm are reported. (Kako, I.)

  3. Application of low current intensity electrolytic treatment for the chlorides extraction in underwater archaeological objects of iron. Observation of the mineralogical phases evolution through XRD-Rietveld

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bethencourt, M.; Gil, M. L. A.; Fernandez-Lorenzo, C.; Santos, A.

    2004-01-01

    With the purpose of optimising a suitable methodology for the conservation of an archaeological object of iron, a low current intensities electrolytic treatment has been applied, to a piece of cast iron, proving to be effective in the extraction of chloride ions from the structure of akaganeite, principal corrosion product of iron in the marine medium. The monitoring of the electrolytic treatment has been proven by applying the Rietveld method to the patterns XRD of samples extracted from the corroded surface before and after the treatment. This method has permitted the unequivocal determination of the akaganeite and its chemical composition. This identification has been corroborated by means of SEM and EDS. After the electrolytic treatment, akaganeite was not present in the sample. (Author) 9 refs

  4. Adaptive mesh refinement for storm surge

    KAUST Repository

    Mandli, Kyle T.; Dawson, Clint N.

    2014-01-01

    An approach to utilizing adaptive mesh refinement algorithms for storm surge modeling is proposed. Currently numerical models exist that can resolve the details of coastal regions but are often too costly to be run in an ensemble forecasting framework without significant computing resources. The application of adaptive mesh refinement algorithms substantially lowers the computational cost of a storm surge model run while retaining much of the desired coastal resolution. The approach presented is implemented in the GeoClaw framework and compared to ADCIRC for Hurricane Ike along with observed tide gauge data and the computational cost of each model run. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

  5. Adaptive mesh refinement for storm surge

    KAUST Repository

    Mandli, Kyle T.

    2014-03-01

    An approach to utilizing adaptive mesh refinement algorithms for storm surge modeling is proposed. Currently numerical models exist that can resolve the details of coastal regions but are often too costly to be run in an ensemble forecasting framework without significant computing resources. The application of adaptive mesh refinement algorithms substantially lowers the computational cost of a storm surge model run while retaining much of the desired coastal resolution. The approach presented is implemented in the GeoClaw framework and compared to ADCIRC for Hurricane Ike along with observed tide gauge data and the computational cost of each model run. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

  6. Russian refining - an industry in transition

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Barrett, E [CentreInvest, Moscow (Russian Federation)

    1999-02-01

    In the old Soviet Union (now called the CIS), the refining industry is undergoing much modernisation, although the process is far from complete. Eventually, the CIS is expected to have a market-responsive competitive refining business. The expected transformation is discussed according to a five-stage plan. The stages are (i) the change from horizontally integrated entity to vertically integrated global concerns, (ii) the change from over-manned dinosaurs to modern efficient businesses, (iii) the move towards smaller, more advanced market-orientated processes, (iv) improving the transport and storage infrastructures and (v) improving accountability and profitability. The predictions for 2005 onwards are for sustained profitability. (UK)

  7. Variability-Specific Abstraction Refinement for Family-Based Model Checking

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dimovski, Aleksandar; Wasowski, Andrzej

    2017-01-01

    and property, while the number of possible scenarios is very large. In this work, we present an automatic iterative abstraction refinement procedure for family-based model checking. We use Craig interpolation to refine abstract variational models based on the obtained spurious counterexamples (traces...

  8. Zone refining of sintered, microwave-derived YBCO superconductors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Warrier, K.G.K.; Varma, H.K.; Mani, T.V.; Damodaran, A.D.; Balachandran, U.

    1993-07-01

    Post-sintering treatments such as zone melting under thermal gradient has been conducted on sintered YBCO tape cast films. YBCO precursor powder was derived through decomposition of a mixture of nitrates of cations in a microwave oven for ∼4 min. The resulting powder was characterized and made into thin sheets by tape casting and then sintered at 945 C for 5 h. The sintered tapes were subjected to repeated zone refining operations at relatively high speeds of ∼30 mm/h. A microstructure having uniformly oriented grains in the a-b plane throughout the bulk of the sample was obtained by three repeated zone refining operations. Details of precursor preparation, microwave processing and its advantages, zone refining conditions, and microstructural features are presented in this paper

  9. Frequency-restrained structure-factor refinement. Pt. 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lunin, V.Yu.; Skovoroda, T.P.

    1991-01-01

    An analysis of the frequencies of different values encountered in protein electron-density syntheses reveals characteristic shapes for their distributions (histograms). This property can be used to refine ill-defined phases (and, perhaps, some of the moduli) of structure factors, and thus to obtain more-interpretable electron-density maps. A simple empirical model is designed which can predict the histogram for a protein with an undetermined structure provided its unit-cell volume and charge are known. The parameters of the histogram model are derived from a set of proteins with known spatial structures. The application of the simulated histogram is illustrated by an improved electron-density map for the 'dry' form of the protein γ-crystallin IIIb. (orig.)

  10. Oil refining and product marketing developments in southeast Asia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szabo, A.M.

    1992-01-01

    Views on the future are based on supplies from a relatively stable Middle East and continued economic growth in the southeast Asian and Pacific countries. Under these circumstances the oil market for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will expand considerably during the decade of the 90's. Pacific country demand, 5.92 MMB/D, in 1990 is likely to grow to 7.06 MMB/D in 2000. Regional production could supply about 40% of this. The Asia-Pacific shortage of refining capacity could lead to high regional refined product prices and health refining profit margins. (author)

  11. Electromyogram refinement using muscle synergy based regulation of uncertain information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Min, Kyuengbo; Shin, Duk; Lee, Jongho; Kakei, Shinji

    2018-04-27

    Electromyogram signal (EMG) measurement frequently experiences uncertainty attributed to issues caused by technical constraints such as cross talk and maximum voluntary contraction. Due to these problems, individual EMGs exhibit uncertainty in representing their corresponding muscle activations. To regulate this uncertainty, we proposed an EMG refinement, which refines EMGs with regulating the contribution redundancy of the signals from EMGs to approximating torques through EMG-driven torque estimation (EDTE) using the muscular skeletal forward dynamic model. To regulate this redundancy, we must consider the synergistic contribution redundancy of muscles, including "unmeasured" muscles, to approximating torques, which primarily causes redundancy of EDTE. To suppress this redundancy, we used the concept of muscle synergy, which is a key concept of analyzing the neurophysiological regulation of contribution redundancy of muscles to exerting torques. Based on this concept, we designed a muscle-synergy-based EDTE as a framework for EMG refinement, which regulates the abovementioned uncertainty of individual EMGs in consideration of unmeasured muscles. In achieving the proposed EMG refinement, the most considerable point is to suppress a large change such as overestimation attributed to enhancement of the contribution of particular muscles to estimating torques. Therefore it is reasonable to refine EMGs by minimizing the change in EMGs. To evaluate this model, we used a Bland-Altman plot, which quantitatively evaluates the proportional bias of refined signals to EMGs. Through this evaluation, we showed that the proposed EDTE minimizes the bias while approximating torques. Therefore this minimization optimally regulates the uncertainty of EMGs and thereby leads to optimal EMG refinement. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Decontamination of transuranic contaminated metals by melt refining

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heshmatpour, B.; Copeland, G.L.; Heestand, R.L.

    1983-01-01

    Melt refining of transuranic contaminated metals is a possible decontamination process with the potential advantages of producing metal for reuse and of simplifying chemical analyses. By routinely achieving the 10 nCi/g( about0.1ppm) level by melt refining, scrap metal can be removed from the transuranic waste category. (To demonstrate the effectiveness of this melt refining process, mild steel, stainless steel, nickel, and copper were contaminated with 500 ppm (μg/g) PuO 2 and melted with various fluxes. The solidified slags and metals were analyzed for their plutonium contents, and corresponding partition ratios for plutonium were calculated. Some metals were double refined in order to study the effect of secondary slag treatment. The initial weight of the slags was also varied to investigate the effect of slag weight on the degree of plutonium removal. In general, all four metals could be decontaminated below 1 ppm (μg/g) Pu ( about100 nCi/g) by a single slag treatment. Doubling the slag weight did not improve decontamination significantly; however, double slag treatment using 5 wt.% slag did decontaminate the metals to below 0.1 ppm (μg/g) Pu (10 nCi/g).)

  13. Refining of yellow cake by solvent extraction. Pakistan status report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yunus, M.; Muzaffar, A.; Qureshi, M.T.; Qazi, N.K.; Khan, J.R.; Chughtai, N.A.; Zaidi, S.M.H.

    1980-01-01

    The paper describes the pilot-plant studies made at the Pakistan Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Rawalpindi, on refining yellow cake. The process units mainly consist of digestion and filtration, solvent extraction, precipitation and filtration, and calcining and reduction. Extraction parameters, such as free acidity in terms of nitrate ion concentration, throughputs and AF index, have been studied in some detail. Product of satisfactory chemical purity, as confirmed by spectrochemical analysis, was produced by this method. (author)

  14. Structure and decomposition of the silver formate Ag(HCO{sub 2})

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Puzan, Anna N., E-mail: anna_puzan@mail.ru; Baumer, Vyacheslav N.; Mateychenko, Pavel V.

    2017-02-15

    Crystal structure of the silver formate Ag(HCO{sub 2}) has been determined (orthorhombic, sp.gr. Pccn, a=7.1199(5), b=10.3737(4), c=6.4701(3)Å, V=477.88(4) Å{sup 3}, Z=8). The structure contains isolated formate ions and the pairs Ag{sub 2}{sup 2+} which form the layers in (001) planes (the shortest Ag–Ag distances is 2.919 in the pair and 3.421 and 3.716 Å between the nearest Ag atoms of adjacent pairs). Silver formate is unstable compound which decompose spontaneously vs time. Decomposition was studied using Rietveld analysis of the powder diffraction patterns. It was concluded that the diffusion of Ag atoms leads to the formation of plate-like metal particles as nuclei in the (100) planes which settle parallel to (001) planes of the silver formate matrix. - Highlights: • Silver formate Ag(HCO{sub 2}) was synthesized and characterized. • Layered packing of Ag-Ag pairs in the structure was found. • Decomposition of Ag(HCO{sub 2}) and formation of metal phase were studied. • Rietveld-refined micro-structural characteristics during decomposition reveal the space relationship between the matrix structure and forming Ag phase REPLACE with: Space relationship between the matrix structure and forming Ag phase.

  15. Structure and decomposition of the silver formate Ag(HCO2)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Puzan, Anna N.; Baumer, Vyacheslav N.; Mateychenko, Pavel V.

    2017-01-01

    Crystal structure of the silver formate Ag(HCO 2 ) has been determined (orthorhombic, sp.gr. Pccn, a=7.1199(5), b=10.3737(4), c=6.4701(3)Å, V=477.88(4) Å 3 , Z=8). The structure contains isolated formate ions and the pairs Ag 2 2+ which form the layers in (001) planes (the shortest Ag–Ag distances is 2.919 in the pair and 3.421 and 3.716 Å between the nearest Ag atoms of adjacent pairs). Silver formate is unstable compound which decompose spontaneously vs time. Decomposition was studied using Rietveld analysis of the powder diffraction patterns. It was concluded that the diffusion of Ag atoms leads to the formation of plate-like metal particles as nuclei in the (100) planes which settle parallel to (001) planes of the silver formate matrix. - Highlights: • Silver formate Ag(HCO 2 ) was synthesized and characterized. • Layered packing of Ag-Ag pairs in the structure was found. • Decomposition of Ag(HCO 2 ) and formation of metal phase were studied. • Rietveld-refined micro-structural characteristics during decomposition reveal the space relationship between the matrix structure and forming Ag phase REPLACE with: Space relationship between the matrix structure and forming Ag phase.

  16. Role of manganese on the grain refining efficiency of AZ91D magnesium alloy refined by Al4C3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu Shengfa; Zhang Yuan; Han Hui

    2010-01-01

    A novel Mg-50% Al 4 C 3 (hereafter in wt.%) master alloy has been developed by powder in situ synthesis process, the role of manganese on the grain refining efficiency of AZ91D magnesium alloy refined by this master alloy has been investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) results show the existence of Al 4 C 3 particles in this master alloy. After addition of 0.6% Al 4 C 3 or combined addition of 0.6% Al 4 C 3 and 0.27% Mn, the average grain size of AZ91D decreased dramatically from 360 μm to 210 μm, and from 360 μm to130 μm, respectively. However, no further refinement of grain size was achieved with additional amount of Mn exceeding 0.27% for AZ91D alloy refined by 0.6% Al 4 C 3 in the present investigation. Al-C-O-Mn-Fe-rich intermetallic particles with an Al-C-O-rich coating film, often observed in the central region of magnesium grains of the AZ91D alloy treated by the combination of Al 4 C 3 and Mn, are proposed to be the potent nucleating substrates for primary α-Mg.

  17. 40 CFR 80.555 - What provisions are available to a large refiner that acquires a small refiner or one or more of...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... FUELS AND FUEL ADDITIVES Motor Vehicle Diesel Fuel; Nonroad, Locomotive, and Marine Diesel Fuel; and ECA... May 31, 2010 for a refinery acquired from a motor vehicle diesel fuel small refiner or beyond the... motor vehicle diesel fuel small refiner or beyond the dates specified in § 80.554(a) or (b), as...

  18. Structure of a carbon monoxide adduct of cobalt-exchanged zeolite A (Co/sub 5.25/Na/sub 1.5/-A x 1.5CO) by neutron profile refinement

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Adams, J.M.; Haselden, D.A.

    1984-01-01

    The structure of a carbon monoxide adduct of cobalt-exchanged zeolite A, Co/sub 5.25/Na/sub 1.5/-A x 1.5CO, has been determined by Rietveld neutron profile refinement. All exchangeable cations are located in sites adjacent to the 6-ring; 3.75 of the cobalt cations sit 0.4 A inside the β-cage (Co(2)) and are arranged tetrahedrally about the eight 6-rings sites in the β-cage. The sodium cations (Na(1)) reside just inside the α-cage in sites similar to those found previously for zeolites 3A, 4A, and 5A. The remaining 1.5 cobalt cations (Co(1)) are located in sites similar to those for sodium, but they are also coordinated to the carbon monoxide molecules, which lie on, or close-to, the threefold axis which passes through the 6-ring. Inside the β-cage there is a tetrahedral aluminum complex of AlO 4 type, the oxygen atoms (O*) of which point toward six rings not occupied by cobalt cations, Co(2). Each of the oxygen atoms of this complex is involved in a hydrogen bond (2.83 A) to the 6-ring oxygen O(3). Approximately 2/3 of these bonds are of type O*-H ... O(3) and 1/3 of type O* ...H-O(3)

  19. A novel non-uniform control vector parameterization approach with time grid refinement for flight level tracking optimal control problems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Ping; Li, Guodong; Liu, Xinggao; Xiao, Long; Wang, Yalin; Yang, Chunhua; Gui, Weihua

    2018-02-01

    High quality control method is essential for the implementation of aircraft autopilot system. An optimal control problem model considering the safe aerodynamic envelop is therefore established to improve the control quality of aircraft flight level tracking. A novel non-uniform control vector parameterization (CVP) method with time grid refinement is then proposed for solving the optimal control problem. By introducing the Hilbert-Huang transform (HHT) analysis, an efficient time grid refinement approach is presented and an adaptive time grid is automatically obtained. With this refinement, the proposed method needs fewer optimization parameters to achieve better control quality when compared with uniform refinement CVP method, whereas the computational cost is lower. Two well-known flight level altitude tracking problems and one minimum time cost problem are tested as illustrations and the uniform refinement control vector parameterization method is adopted as the comparative base. Numerical results show that the proposed method achieves better performances in terms of optimization accuracy and computation cost; meanwhile, the control quality is efficiently improved. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Procurement planning in oil refining industries considering blending operations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Oddsdottir, Thordis Anna; Grunow, Martin; Akkerman, Renzo

    2013-01-01

    This paper addresses procurement planning in oil refining, which has until now only had limited attention in the literature. We introduce a mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model and develop a novel two-stage solution approach, which aims at computational efficiency while addressing...... parameters than in previous literature. The developed approach is tested using historical data from Statoil A/S as well as through a comprehensive numerical analysis. The approach generates a feasible procurement plan within acceptable computation time, is able to quickly adjust an existing plan to take...