Iranian Journal of Materials Science and Engineering

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Abstract: Reduction of the Titanium dioxide, TiO2, by methane was investigated in this work. The thermodynamic of reaction was examined and found favorable. The reaction of titanium dioxide with methane was carried out in the temperature range 1150°C to 1450°C at atmospheric pressure with industrial high porosity pellets prepared from titanium dioxide powder. The evolved gas analyzing method was used for determination of the extent of reduction rate. The gas products of the reaction are mostly CO and trace amount of CO2 and H2O. The synthesized product powder was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) for elucidating solid phase compositions. The effect of varying temperature was studied during the reduction. The conversion-time data have been interpreted by using the grain model. For first order reaction with respect to methane concentration, the activation energy of titanium dioxide reduction by methane is found to be 51.4 kcal/gmole. No detailed investigation of kinetic and mechanism of the reaction was reported in literatures.

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In this study, the crystallization behavior of a 65GeO₂-15PbO-10MgF₂-10MgO glass (prepared by the conventional melt quenching technique) has been investigated. The microstructure and crystallization behaviors of this glass were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), non-isothermal differential thermal analysis (DTA) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results demonstrated that a fully glassy phase can successfully be prepared by the conventional melt quenching technique exhibiting one-stage crystallization on heating, i.e., the glassy phase transforms into crystalline MgGeO₃ and Pb₅GeO₇ phases. The activation energy for the crystallization, evaluated from the Kissinger equation, was approximately 202±5 kJ/mole using the peak temperature of the exothermic reaction. The Avrami exponent or reaction order, n, indicates the nucleation rate in this glass to increase with time and the crystallization to be governed by a three-dimensional interface-controlled growth.

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Shrinkage is one of the most important defects of injection molded plastic parts. Injection molding processing parameters have a significant effect on shrinkage of the produced parts. In the present study, the effect of different injection parameters on volumetric shrinkage of two polymers (high-density polyethylene (HDPE) semi-crystalline thermoplastics and polycarbonate (PC) as a representative of amorphous thermoplastics) was studied. Samples under different processing conditions according to a L₂₇ orthogonal array of Taguchi experimental design approach were injected. Effect of material crystallinity on the shrinkage of injected samples was investigated. Obtained results revealed that semi-crystalline thermoplastics have larger shrinkage values in comparison with amorphous thermoplastics. Shrinkages of injected samples were also studied along and across the flow directions. Results showed that the flow path can dramatically affect the shrinkage of semi-crystalline thermoplastics. However for amorphous thermoplastics, results showed an independency of obtained shrinkage to flow direction. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) results illustrated that cooling time was the most effective parameter on shrinkage for both PE and PC injected samples; followed by injection temperature as the second important parameter. The optimum conditions to minimize shrinkage of injection molded samples are also achieved using signal to noise ratio (S/N) analysis.

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The densification behavior, structural and microstructural evolution and microwave dielectric properties of Li₂TiO₃ + xZnO (x = 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, and 5 mol%) ceramics have been investigated using X-ray diffraction, Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and microwave resonant measurement. The Maximum density of 3.33 g/cm³ was obtained in Li₂TiO₃ + 2ZnO ceramic at low sintering temperature of 1100˚C. SEM investigations revealed good close packing of grains when x = 2 and preferential grain growth when x ≥ 3. The maximum values of Q × f = 31800 GHz and ε_r = 22.5 were obtained in Li₂TiO₃ + 3ZnO and Li₂TiO₃ + 2ZnO compositions, respectively. The observed properties are attributed to the microstructural evolution and grain growth (first case) or high density of the obtained ceramic (second case).
 

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Pressureless sintering was employed at 1400 °C to synthesize Ti matrix composites (TMCs) reinforced with in-situ TiB and TiC reinforcements using TiB₂ and B₄C initial reinforcements. The microstructure and wear behavior of the synthesized composites were evaluated and compared and the results showed that B₄C caused the formation of TiB-TiC in-situ hybrid reinforcements in the Ti matrix. Also, TiB was in the form of blades/needles and whiskers, and TiC was almost equiaxed. Moreover, the volume fraction of the in-situ formed reinforcement using B₄C was much higher than that formed using TiB₂. In addition, although the hardness of the B₄C-synthesized composites was higher, the composite synthesized using 3 wt.% TiB₂ exhibited the highest hardness (425 HV). The wear test results showed that the sample synthesized using 3 wt.% TiB₂ showed the lowest wear rate at 50 N, mainly because of its higher hardness. The dominant wear mechanism in the samples synthesized using 3 wt.% B₄C was abrasive and delamination at 50 N and 100 N, respectively while in the samples synthesized 3 wt.% TiB₂, a combination of delamination and adhesive wear and adhesive wear was ruling, respectively.