Enhanced Performance of Fly Ash-Based Supports for Low-Cost Ceramic Membranes with the Addition of Bauxite

Support is a necessary foundation for ceramic membranes to achieve high performance. Finding the optimum balance between high performance and low cost is still a significant challenge in the fabrication of ceramic supports. In this study, low-cost fly ash-based ceramic supports with enhanced performance were prepared by the addition of bauxite. The pore structure, mechanical strength, and shrinkage of fly ash/bauxite supports could be tuned by optimizing the bauxite content and sintering temperature. When the sintering temperature and bauxite content were controlled at 1300 °C and 40 wt%, respectively, the obtained membrane supports exhibited a high pure water permeance of approximately 5.36 m3·m−2·h−1·bar−1 and a high bending strength of approximately 69.6 MPa. At the same time, the optimized ceramic supports presented a typical mullite phase and excellent resistance to acid and alkali. This work provides a potential route for the preparation of ceramic membrane supports with characteristics of low cost and high performance.

Tribological Behavior of Al2O3-MoO2-SiO2 Composite Ceramic Coating on Al-Zn-Mg-Cu Alloy

In order to enhance wear properties of Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy parts, Al2O3-MoO2-SiO2 composite ceramic coatings are formed on Al-Zn-Mg-Cu alloy by the DC micro-arc oxidation (MAO) method in the silicate electrolyte with sodium molybdate. Effects of sodium molybdate concentration on the structure characteristics and wear resistance of the composite ceramic coatings are analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and the wear test, respectively. Analyses indicate that the composite coating consists of different states of Al2O3, MoO2 and mullite phase. With the addition of molybdate in the electrolyte, the morphology and structure are changed. The tribological behavior is greatly affected by the surface characteristics and hardness of the coatings. The composite coatings formed by adding 3 g/L of sodium molybdate electrolyte have the best wear resistance.

X-Ray Peak Profile Analysis of Materials M1 and M2 by Williamson-Hall and Size-Strain Plot Methods

In this work, we have studied the Kaolin M1 and M2 by the X-ray diffraction method, and we have focused on mullite phase which is the main phase present in common in both products. An update of the program of the method of Stokes was carried out, it was necessary to the microstructural analysis. The completed version is less sensitive to the choice by excess of the number of coefficients of Fourier with regard to the effect of truncation and the office plurality of the errors. The determination of the symmetry of the cell of the principal phase (mullite) in the studied fritted Kaolins was carried out. In Kaolin M1, the size of crystallites of the dominant phase varies between 80 to 170 Å. In Kaolin M2, the size of the crystalline grains of mullite varies between 100 to 400 Å. The size of crystallites was confirmed by the joint method of Williamson-Hall. A distribution of sizes of crystallites was carried out. It shows a dominance of the size of approximately 140 Å for the principal phase of Kaolin M1 and a dominance of the size of approximately 230 Å for the same principal phase of Kaolin M2. By the study of the profiles of line by DRX, it appears very clearly that the principal phase of the various sintered Kaolins, mullite, is free from internal microstrains. It is the case of the mixtures fritted not only at low temperature (1100℃) during 1 hour but also the case of the mixtures of the type ‘chamotte’ cooks with 1350℃ during very long times.

A Mechanism of Anti-Oxidation Coating Design Based on Inhibition Effect of Interface Layer on Ions Diffusion within Oxide Scale

In this paper, a mechanism of anti-oxidation coating design based on the inhibition effect of the interface layer on the diffusion of ions within oxide scale was introduced. The Fe2+ ions diffusion behavior in Fe3O4, Cr2FeO4, and FeAl2O4 were studied by molecular dynamics method of Nudged elastic bond. As the result shown, Fe2+ ions tended to diffuse through the vacancy at tetrahedral site in Cr2FeO4 and FeAl2O4, but diffuse through the octahedral vacancy in Fe3O4. When temperature ranged from 1073 to 1325 K, the energy barrier of Fe2+ ions diffusion in Cr2FeO4 was higher than that of FeAl2O4, and both of that were still obvious higher than that in Fe3O4. A new anti-oxidation coating was prepared based on the inhibition of interface layer consisted of FeAl2O4 to protect the carbon steel S235JR at 1200 °C for 2 h. The FeAl2O4 region was formed and observed at the interface between coating and Fe element diffusion area, and the mullite phase was distributed outside of the FeAl2O4 region. Comparing to the bare sample, the prepared coating exhibited an excellent anti-oxidation effect.

X-ray diffraction analysis of kaolin M1 and M2 via the Williamson–Hall and Warren–Averbach methods

Kaolin M1 and M2 studied by X-ray diffraction focus on the mullite phase, which is the main phase present in both products. The Williamson–Hall and Warren–Averbach methods for determining the crystallite size and microstrains of integral breadth β are calculated by the FullProf program. The integral breadth ( β) is a mixture resulting from the microstrains and size effect, so this should be taken into account during the calculation. The Williamson–Hall chart determines whether the sample is affected by grain size or microstrain. It appears very clearly that the principal phase of the various sintered kaolins, mullite, is free from internal microstrains. It is the case of the mixtures fritted at low temperature (1200 °C) during 1 h and also the case of the mixtures of the type chamotte cooks with 1350 °C during very long times (several weeks). This result is very significant as it gives an element of explanation to a very significant quality of mullite: its mechanical resistance during uses at high temperature remains.

F/OH ratio in a rare fluorine-poor blue topaz from Padre Paraíso (Minas Gerais, Brazil) to unravel topaz’s ambient of formation

Topaz [Al2SiO4(F,OH)2] is one of the main fluorine-bearing silicates occurring in environments where variably acidic (F)/aqueous (OH) fluids saturate the silicate system. In this work we fully characterized blue topaz from Padre Paraíso (Minas Gerais, Brazil) by means of in situ synchrotron X-Ray and neutron powder diffraction measurements (temperature range 298–1273 K) combined with EDS microanalyses. Understanding the role of OH/F substitution in topaz is important in order to determine the hydrophilicity and the exchange reactions of fluorine by hydroxyl groups, and ultimately to characterize the environmental redox conditions (H2O/F) required for mineral formation. The fluorine content estimated from neutron diffraction data is ~ 1.03 a.f.u (10.34 wt%), in agreement with the chemical data (on average 10.0 wt%). The XOH [OH/(OH + F)] (0.484) is close to the maximum XOH value (0.5), and represents the OH- richest topaz composition so far analysed in the Minas Gerais district. Topaz crystallinity and fluorine content sharply decrease at 1170 K, while mullite phase starts growing. On the basis of this behaviour, we suggest that this temperature may represent the potential initial topaz’s crystallization temperature from supercritical fluids in a pegmatite system. The log(fH2O/fHF)fluid (1.27 (0.06)) is coherent with the fluorine activity calculated for hydrothermal fluids (pegmatitic stage) in equilibrium with the forming mineral (log(fH2O/fHF)fluid = 1.2–6.5) and clearly different from pure magmatic (granitic) residual melts [log(fH2O/fHF)fluid < 1]. The modelled H2O saturated fluids with the F content not exceeding 1 wt% may represent an anomalous water-dominant / fluorine-poor pegmatite lens of the Padre Paraíso Pegmatite Field.