The Commodification of Living Beings in the Fur Trade: The Intersection of Cheap Raw Materials and Cheap Labor

In the past three decades, Chinese economy has been arresting the worldwide attention for its double-digit growth rate. Playing a leading part in general economic development, Chinese manufacturing has been contributing a substantial portion in the total GDP growth. However, a national key project, the Research of China National Manufacturing Strategy, has found in the last several years that Chinese manufacturing has already lost its competitiveness due to the void of cheap labor force (New Labor Law in China), the rising costs of raw materials and energies, and the more rigid requirements for environmental protection. Chinese manufacturing has met its Waterloo and calls for an urgent business transformation if it wants to survive and sustain its development. Based on fundamental research, authors of this paper propose a new business conceptual model, SERVICE-MANUFACTURING, which focuses on the seamless marriage of service and manufacturing and how this new model can be implemented in real business practices.

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Microstructural characterization of laser-melted/roller-quenched dicalcium silicate

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100104972 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 46 ◽

pp. 582-583

Author(s):

C. J. Chan ◽

K. R. Venkatachari ◽

W. M. Kriven ◽

J. F. Young

Keyword(s):

Particle Size ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Shape Change ◽

Microstructural Characterization ◽

Particle Size Effect ◽

Dicalcium Silicate ◽

Laser Melting ◽

Uniform Size ◽

Cell Shape Change ◽

Wide Range

Dicalcium silicate (Ca2SiO4) is a major component of Portland cement. It has also been investigated as a potential transformation toughener alternative to zirconia. It has five polymorphs: α, α'H, α'L, β and γ. Of interest is the β-to-γ transformation on cooling at about 490°C. This transformation, accompanied by a 12% volume increase and a 4.6° unit cell shape change, is analogous to the tetragonal-to-monoclinic transformation in zirconia. Due to the processing methods used, previous studies into the particle size effect were limited by a wide range of particle size distribution. In an attempt to obtain a more uniform size, a fast quench rate involving a laser-melting/roller-quenching technique was investigated.The laser-melting/roller-quenching experiment used precompacted bars of stoichiometric γ-Ca2SiO4 powder, which were synthesized from AR grade CaCO3 and SiO2xH2O. The raw materials were mixed by conventional ceramic processing techniques, and sintered at 1450°C. The dusted γ-Ca2SiO4 powder was uniaxially pressed into 0.4 cm x 0.4 cm x 4 cm bars under 34 MPa and cold isostatically pressed under 172 MPa. The γ-Ca2SiO4 bars were melted by a 10 KW-CO2 laser.

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Crystallization of barium hexaferrite

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100122216 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 50 (1) ◽

pp. 362-363

Author(s):

Chung-kook Lee ◽

Yolande Berta ◽

Robert F. Speyer

Keyword(s):

Size Distribution ◽

Raw Materials ◽

Barium Hexaferrite ◽

Recording Media ◽

Magnetic Recording Media ◽

Promising Candidate ◽

Crystallization Method ◽

Temperature Heat ◽

High Density Magnetic Recording ◽

Temperature Heat Treatment

Barium hexaferrite (BaFe12O19) is a promising candidate for high density magnetic recording media due to its superior magnetic properties. For particulate recording media, nano-sized single crystalline powders with a narrow size distribution are a primary application requirement. The glass-crystallization method is preferred because of the controllability of crystallization kinetics, hence, particle size and size distribution. A disadvantage of this method is the need to melt raw materials at high temperatures with non-reactive crucibles, e.g. platinum. However, in this work, we have shown that crystal growth of barium hexaferrite occurred during low temperature heat treatment of raw batches.

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