Publications by authors named "Ignacio Figueroa"

We present a systematic study of electrical resistivity, superconductive transitions and the Hall effect for three systems of compositionally complex amorphous alloys of early (TE) and late (TL) transition metals: (TiZrNbNi)1-xCux and (TiZrNbCu)1-xCox in a broad composition range of 0 View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Photoemission spectroscopy (PES) is an underrepresented part of current and past studies of compositionally complex alloys (CCA) such as high-entropy alloys (HEA) and their derivatives. PES studies are very important for understanding the electronic structure of materials, and are therefore essential in some cases for a correct description of the intrinsic properties of CCAs. Here, we present several examples showing the importance of PES.

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The study of the transition from high-entropy alloys (HEAs) to conventional alloys (CAs) composed of the same alloying components is apparently important, both for understanding the formation of HEAs and for proper evaluation of their potential with respect to that of the corresponding CAs. However, this transition has thus far been studied in only two types of alloy systems: crystalline alloys of iron group metals (such as the Cantor alloy and its derivatives) and both amorphous (a-) and crystalline alloys, TE-TL, of early (TE = Ti, Zr, Nb, Hf) and late (TL = Co, Ni, Cu) transition metals. Here, we briefly overview the main results for the transition from HEAs to CAs in these alloy systems and then present new results for the electronic structure (ES), studied with photoemission spectroscopy and specific heat, atomic structure, thermal, magnetic and mechanical properties of a-TE-TL and Cantor-type alloys.

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Sheets of 5754-aluminum alloy processed by a modified repetitive corrugation and straightening (RCS) process were tested in order to measure their formability. For this purpose, forming limit curves were derived. They showed that the material forming capacity decreased after being processed by RCS.

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The synthesis of AlN and TiB₂ by spark plasma sintering (SPS) and the effect of Nb₂O₅, Y₂O₃ and ZrO₂ additions on the mechanical properties and densification of the produced composites is reported and discussed. After the SPS process, dense AlN and TiB₂ composites with Nb₂O₅, Y₂O₃ and ZrO₂ were successfully prepared. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that in the AlN composites, the addition of Nb₂O₅ gives rise to Nb₄N₃ during sintering.

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A modified sol-gel process for synthesizing nanocrystalline hydroxyapatite powders (nHA) for biomedical applications, using tetrahydrated calcium nitrate [Ca(NO(3))(2)∙4H(2)O] and phosphorous pentoxide [P(2)O(5)] as precursor, is presented and discussed. The powders were washed and heat-treated at different temperatures and then characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The total process time reached with this modified process was less than 16 h.

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Polysaccharide-protein conjugates as vaccines have proven to be very effective in preventing Haemophilus influenzae type b infections in industrialized countries. However, cost-effective technologies need to be developed for increasing the availability of anti-H. influenzae type b vaccines in countries from the developing world.

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