Lithological controls on the expansion of unbound aggregates in Dublin, eastern Ireland: two contrasting cases

Author(s):  
Peter Strogen

Pyrite-bearing unbound fills, widely used in eastern Ireland have heaved, causing serious structural damage to thousands of buildings. This study compares calcareous mudstones that degenerated rapidly, causing severe structural damage, with argillaceous limestones that did not. Framboidal pyrite in the mudstones is widely dispersed – every aggregate particle contains abundant framboidal pyrite. Oxidation of this produced sulfuric acid that reacted with calcite producing supersaturated solutions of CaSO4 and CO2 gas. It is suggested that the latter exerted pressures approaching 5 MPa within rock particles, creating micro-fractures into which gypsum crystallised. Antitaxial growth of gypsum continued expansion, a process analogous to the formation of mineral veins in rocks. Heave of the fill took place since all the loadbearing particles expanded. The limestones have a lower pyrite content, which occurs mainly in the shaly seams and is concentrated in the fines; limestones suffered similar oxidation, but the coarser aggregate remains unaltered, and gypsum is mainly pore-filling; little expansive force was generated. It is concluded that the actual amount of pyrite present is a less important factor controlling expansion of unbound fills than its crystal size, and its distribution throughout the aggregate.

2004 ◽  
Vol 19 (12) ◽  
pp. 1953-1974 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.A. Weber ◽  
W.A. Stewart ◽  
W.M. Skinner ◽  
C.G. Weisener ◽  
J.E. Thomas ◽  
...  

2006 ◽  
Vol 367 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 847-854 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.A Rigby ◽  
S.K. Dobos ◽  
F.J. Cook ◽  
A. Goonetilleke

Author(s):  
W. Kunath ◽  
E. Zeitler ◽  
M. Kessel

The features of digital recording of a continuous series (movie) of singleelectron TV frames are reported. The technique is used to investigate structural changes in negatively stained glutamine synthetase molecules (GS) during electron irradiation and, as an ultimate goal, to look for the molecules' “undamaged” structure, say, after a 1 e/Å2 dose.The TV frame of fig. la shows an image of 5 glutamine synthetase molecules exposed to 1/150 e/Å2. Every single electron is recorded as a unit signal in a 256 ×256 field. The extremely low exposure of a single TV frame as dictated by the single-electron recording device including the electron microscope requires accumulation of 150 TV frames into one frame (fig. lb) thus achieving a reasonable compromise between the conflicting aspects of exposure time per frame of 3 sec. vs. object drift of less than 1 Å, and exposure per frame of 1 e/Å2 vs. rate of structural damage.


Author(s):  
Kenneth H. Downing ◽  
Robert M. Glaeser

The structural damage of molecules irradiated by electrons is generally considered to occur in two steps. The direct result of inelastic scattering events is the disruption of covalent bonds. Following changes in bond structure, movement of the constituent atoms produces permanent distortions of the molecules. Since at least the second step should show a strong temperature dependence, it was to be expected that cooling a specimen should extend its lifetime in the electron beam. This result has been found in a large number of experiments, but the degree to which cooling the specimen enhances its resistance to radiation damage has been found to vary widely with specimen types.


Author(s):  
R. C. Moretz ◽  
D. F. Parsons

Short lifetime or total absence of electron diffraction of ordered biological specimens is an indication that the specimen undergoes extensive molecular structural damage in the electron microscope. The specimen damage is due to the interaction of the electron beam (40-100 kV) with the specimen and the total removal of water from the structure by vacuum drying. The lower percentage of inelastic scattering at 1 MeV makes it possible to minimize the beam damage to the specimen. The elimination of vacuum drying by modification of the electron microscope is expected to allow more meaningful investigations of biological specimens at 100 kV until 1 MeV electron microscopes become more readily available. One modification, two-film microchambers, has been explored for both biological and non-biological studies.


Author(s):  
Harry A. Atwater ◽  
C.M. Yang ◽  
K.V. Shcheglov

Studies of the initial stages of nucleation of silicon and germanium have yielded insights that point the way to achievement of engineering control over crystal size evolution at the nanometer scale. In addition to their importance in understanding fundamental issues in nucleation, these studies are relevant to efforts to (i) control the size distributions of silicon and germanium “quantum dots𠇍, which will in turn enable control of the optical properties of these materials, (ii) and control the kinetics of crystallization of amorphous silicon and germanium films on amorphous insulating substrates so as to, e.g., produce crystalline grains of essentially arbitrary size.Ge quantum dot nanocrystals with average sizes between 2 nm and 9 nm were formed by room temperature ion implantation into SiO2, followed by precipitation during thermal anneals at temperatures between 30°C and 1200°C[1]. Surprisingly, it was found that Ge nanocrystal nucleation occurs at room temperature as shown in Fig. 1, and that subsequent microstructural evolution occurred via coarsening of the initial distribution.


Author(s):  
M. Pan

It has been known for many years that materials such as zeolites, polymers, and biological specimens have crystalline structures that are vulnerable to electron beam irradiation. This radiation damage severely restrains the use of high resolution electron microscopy (HREM). As a result, structural characterization of these materials using HREM techniques becomes difficult and challenging. The emergence of slow-scan CCD cameras in recent years has made it possible to record high resolution (∽2Å) structural images with low beam intensity before any apparent structural damage occurs. Among the many ideal properties of slow-scan CCD cameras, the low readout noise and digital recording allow for low-dose HREM to be carried out in an efficient and quantitative way. For example, the image quality (or resolution) can be readily evaluated on-line at the microscope and this information can then be used to optimize the operating conditions, thus ensuring that high quality images are recorded. Since slow-scan CCD cameras output (undistorted) digital data within the large dynamic range (103-104), they are ideal for quantitative electron diffraction and microscopy.


Author(s):  
Sudeep M. Rao ◽  
Joshua Samuel ◽  
Sai S. Prakash ◽  
C. Jeffrey Brinker

Ambient pressure silica aerogel thin films have recently been prepared by exploiting reversible drying shrinkage caused by derivatization of the internal gel surface. Aerogels have porosities of upto 99.9% and due to the small size of the pores (few nanometers), large capillary stresses are produced in gels that are partially saturated with a wetting liquid. As a result of these capillary stresses, the flexible silica network undergoes strain which has been observed using environmental microscopy. This technique allows variation of the equilibrium vapor pressure and temperature, and a simultaneous monitoring of the deformation of the unconstrained film thickness. We have observed >600% deformation during the pore-filling and pore-emptying cycles. In this presentation, we discuss the unique stress-strain behavior of these films.Ref.: Sai S. Prakash, C. Jeffrey Brinker, Alan J. Hurd & Sudeep M. Rao, "Silica aerogel films prepared at ambient pressure by using surface derivatization to induce reversible drying shrinkage", Nature. Vol. 374, 30 March, 1995, 439-443.


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