Effects of Al particles and thin layer on thermal expansion and conductivity of Al–Y
                    2
                    Mo
                    3
                    O
                    12
                    cermets

Two lightning impacts are described from an area near the Inland Ice in West Greenland. The first lightning blasted an outcrop of metacherts. It subsequently split into two branches, which traversed rock outcrops and boulders, leaving behind two white almost straight lines, 30 m and 14 m long, respectively, where all lichens and plants were burned away. On the white lines the upper few millimetres of the traversed boulders were melted to a glass which subsequently peeled off by thermal expansion to leave a rough surface. Magnetic investigation of an amphibolite boulder found on the white line showed that a strong electric current indeed traversed the boulder. A few years later a second lightning impacted on a mountaintop close to the first impact. The second lightning left a trail on the rock surface covered by a thin layer of glass. The glass displays spectacular colours ranging from metallic blue to red, yellow and green.

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Applications of Photoelectron Microscopy

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100092499 ◽

1976 ◽

Vol 34 ◽

pp. 506-507

Author(s):

William J. Baxter

Keyword(s):

Electron Microscopy ◽

Thermal Decomposition ◽

Chemical Composition ◽

Ultraviolet Radiation ◽

Thin Layer ◽

Edge Effects ◽

Electron Optics ◽

Surface Layers ◽

Crystalline Orientation ◽

Fluorescent Screen

In this form of electron microscopy, photoelectrons emitted from a metal by ultraviolet radiation are accelerated and imaged onto a fluorescent screen by conventional electron optics. image contrast is determined by spatial variations in the intensity of the photoemission. The dominant source of contrast is due to changes in the photoelectric work function, between surfaces of different crystalline orientation, or different chemical composition. Topographical variations produce a relatively weak contrast due to shadowing and edge effects.Since the photoelectrons originate from the surface layers (e.g. ∼5-10 nm for metals), photoelectron microscopy is surface sensitive. Thus to see the microstructure of a metal the thin layer (∼3 nm) of surface oxide must be removed, either by ion bombardment or by thermal decomposition in the vacuum of the microscope.

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Microstructural and Microchemical Characterization of Nickel Sulfide Inclusions in Plate Glass

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100089123 ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 49 ◽

pp. 962-963

Author(s):

J. Cooper ◽

O. Popoola ◽

W. M. Kriven

Keyword(s):

Thermal Expansion ◽

Phase Transformation ◽

Glass Matrix ◽

Nickel Sulfide ◽

Plate Glass ◽

Thermal Expansion Mismatch ◽

Volume Increase ◽

Β Phase ◽

Microchemical Characterization

Nickel sulfide inclusions have been implicated in the spontaneous fracture of large windows of tempered plate glass. Two alternative explanations for the fracture-initiating behaviour of these inclusions have been proposed: (1) the volume increase which accompanies the α to β phase transformation in stoichiometric NiS, and (2) the thermal expansion mismatch between the nickel sulfide phases and the glass matrix. The microstructure and microchemistry of the small inclusions (80 to 250 μm spheres), needed to determine the cause of fracture, have not been well characterized hitherto. The aim of this communication is to report a detailed TEM and EDS study of the inclusions.

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