Superplastic Deformation of Alumina Composites Reinforced with Carbon Nanofibers and with Graphene Oxide Sintered by SPS-Experimental Testing and Theoretical Interpretation.

The superplastic behavior of alumina-based nanostructured ceramics (AlO) is an important issue in the world of materials. The main body of this paper is an analysis of the creep behavior of polycrystals, with grain boundary sliding as the main deformation mechanism at high temperatures. Concomitant accommodation of grain shapes to preserve spatial continuity has a comparatively small effect on the strain rate.

Elusive super-hard BC accessible through the laser-floating zone method.

Boron carbide is among the most promising ceramic materials nowadays: their mechanical properties are outstanding, and they open potential critical applications in near future. Since sinterability is the most critical drawback to this goal, innovative and competitive sintering procedures are attractive research topics in the science and technology of this carbide. This work reports the pioneer use of the laser-floating zone technique with this carbide.

Structure determination of di-mu-hydroxo-bis[(2-(2-pyridyl)phenyl-kappa2N,C1)palladium(II)] by X-ray powder diffractometry.

The title compound was synthesized in the form of a powder, and was studied by elemental analysis, IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetry and mass spectroscopy. Its crystal structure was then determined by X-ray powder diffractometry, using X-ray diffraction data collected in the reflection Bragg-Brentano geometry. The methodology followed in the present study to resolve the crystal structure consisted of peak indexing, then the use of the Monte-Carlo/parallel tempering search algorithm, and finally Rietveld refinement coupled with difference-Fourier synthesis.

Chemical isomerism as a key to explore free-energy landscapes in disordered matter.

The effects of a minor chemical modification on the microscopic structure of a material in its glass and crystal phases are investigated by the concurrent use of neutron diffraction and computer simulation. Significant changes in short-, intermediate-, and long-range order are found, resulting from the change in molecular structure. These differences are explainable by a shift in the balance between directional and excluded-volume interactions.