Iranian Journal of Materials Science and Engineering

---

The new in situ method for AI-TiC composite fabrication has been carried out. In this method, fabrication of AI-TiC composite by simultaneous introduction of titanium oxide and carbon into aluminum melt was investigated.. Under the process conditions, titanium and carbon reaction results in titanium carbide whiskers. The salt containing keriolite (Na3AIF6), titanium oxide (TiO2) and graphite used for this purpose. Using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and X-Ray Diffraction analysis (XRD) the resulted composite was characterized. It was shown that it contains Al as matrix and TiC as the reinforcement. Then, mechanical properties of fabricated composite were examined.

---

In the present research influences of different combinations of five types of inoculants and four types of nodularizers on eutectic nucleation in ductile cast iron were studied. The alloys were kept at 1320°C for 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 min under nitrogen atmosphere. Cooling curves and image analysis were used to characterize the influence of holding time and different combinations of inoculants and nodularizers on the graphite morphologies and eutectic nucleation. When dominant morphology of graphite is spheroidal or flake, by decreasing the different combinations of nodularizers and inoculants fading resistance, temperature of eutectic undercooling decreases. Nevertheless, when there is combination of spheroidal, vermicular and flake graphites temperature of eutectic undercooling increases by reduction of material fading resistance.

---

Iron and steel is an energy intensive industry and its contribution to the pollution of environment is considerable. Direct reduction iron (DRI) is a major element of an iron and steel production plant. Its share in natural gas and electricity consumption of total plant is estimated to be 70% and 15% respectively. Reduction gases are produced in natural gas reforming unit and its elements are CO and H2. A major consequence of using this technology is high level of CO2 emission, which pollutes the environment. An alternative to the existing technology is utilization of H2 as reducing agent. A comparison of various hydrogen production processes indicate that thermal decomposition of methane provides an attractive option from economical and technical point of view. Therefore, a system for producing hydrogen, based on thermal decomposition technique, has been designed in the framework of the present paper.

---

Abstract: In the present study the effect of thermomechanical treatment (cold work and annealing) on the transformation behavior of NiTi shape memory alloys was studied. Differential scanning calorimetry was used to determine transformation temperature and its relation to precipitates and defects. Three alloys including Ti-50.3at.% Ni, Ti-50.5at.% Ni (reclamated orthodontic wires) and 50.6at.% Ni alloy were annealed at 673 K and 773 K for 30 and 60 min after 15% cold rolling. It was found that the transformation characteristics of these alloys are sensitive to annealing treatment and composition. The temperature range of transformation is broadened during cold working and after subsequent annealing, the intermediate phase was appeared. The peaks become sharper and close together on each cooling and heating cycle with increasing annealing temperature and time

---

Silver nanoparticles are being given considerable attention because of their interesting properties and potential applications. One such exploitable use is as the major constituent of conductive inks and pastes used for printing various electronic components. This paper presents a novel direct-writing process for fabrication of the first deposited silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) (50-200nm) electrode via a thermal inkjet printer. In this method, AgNPs were chemically deposited by ejection of ascorbic acid and silver nitrate solutions onto different substrates such as paper and textile fabrics. Silver deposited patterns were used as electrodes in different electrochemical experiments and their morphology was also investigated in SEM observations. The highest conductivity of deposited electrodes obtained on paper as the substrate was found to be around 5.54x105 S/m. Inkjet fabricated electrodes exhibited acceptable electrochemical behavior in experiments designed for measuring the concentration of hydrogen peroxide as a fundamental procedure for early determination of glucose. This novel inkjet silver deposition technique is introduced to be considered as a promising method for ultimate single step fabrication of different electrochemical bio-sensors.

---

In this research, two different carbonaceous materials (Graphite:G and Petrocoke:P) were separately compared in terms of the carbothermic reduction of hematite and anatase in order to synthesize Fe-TiC nanocrystalline composite by mechanically activated sintering method. Powders were activated in a planetary high-energy ball mill under argon atmosphere for 0, 2, 5, 10,and 20 h. Then, the activated powders were analyzed by XRD and SEM to investigate phase constituents and microstructure of the mixtures. Results proved that Fe 2 O 3 and TiO 2 were not reduced by carbonaceous materials even after 20h of milling. SEM investigations showed that G-mixture was more homogenous than P-mixture after 20h of milling, meaning that graphite-anatase-hematite was mixed satisfactorily. Thermogravimetry analysis was done on 0 and 20h milled powders. TG and DTG curves showed that mechanical activation led to almost 300°C decrease in the reduction temperature of hematite and anatase in both mixtures. In the next step, the powders were sintered in a tube furnace under argon atmosphere. In the G-mixture, anatase was reduced to titanium carbide at 1100°C but, in the P-mixture, temperature of 1200°C was essential for completely reducing anatase to titanium carbide.Results of phase identification of the sintered powders showed that anano-crystalline ironbased composite with titanium carbide, as the reinforcement was successfully synthesized after 20 h high-energy milling of the initial powders and subsequent sintering occurred at 1200˚C for 1h

---

Porous hollow glass microspheres have many uses, including encapsulation of active materials. In this paper a fast and facile method for fabricating porous hollow glass-microspheres was demonstrated by etching them using dilute hydrofluoric acid. Then, a highly reactive amine was infiltrated into the etched glass microspheres. Scanning electron microscopy was conducted for the hollow glass microspheres prior and post etching process. With regards to the porous hollow glass spherical sample, the spherical nature, morphology, pore diameter and the porosity were studied using scanning electron microscopy. Formation of the intact hollow glass microspheres with an open through wall porosities following phase separation and etching of the boron oxide rich phase was demonstrated using reciprocating shaker as the most suitable agitation method. The BET results indicated that the surface of the porous microspheres contained nano-pores. It is believed that the simplicity of the reported fabrication technique of micro/nano porous structure has the potential to scaling up for large scale production

---

---

In this paper the chemical interaction between catalyst and support has been studied to understand the observed different growth rate of CNTs in our previous paper. Both pure MgO and Mg(NO₃)₂ . 6H₂O as sources of the MgO catalyst support and Fe₂(SO₄)₃ · xH₂O as the source of the Fe catalyst, were employed. A Fe catalyst supported on MgO has been synthesized using the wet impregnation method followed by calcination. To compare the catalyst grain size and its distribution, the sample were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) and BET specific surface area (SSA) measurement and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). XPS technique have utilized complementary to demonstrate the existence of chemical interaction between MgO support and Fe catalyst. Results revealed that the type of precursor used to prepare the support has a significant influence on the morphology of the support and the associated distribution of the Fe catalysts. The highest yield of MgFe₂O₄ phase was obtained using a pure MgO precursor which after calcination results in a homogenous distribution of nano-sized Fe particles over the support surface

---

---

Cu-based alloys have a wide range of applications in the electronics industry, communications industry, welding industries, etc. Regarding the type and percentage of the second phase, changing in the alloying elements has a significant effect on the mechanical and electrical properties of copper composites. The aim of the present work is to synthesize, investigate, and compare the micro-structure, micro-hardness, and electrical properties of different Cu-based nanocomposites. For this purpose, Cu-Al, Cu-Al₂O₃, Cu-Cr, and Cu-Ti were fabricated via ball milling of copper with 1, 3, and 6 weight percentages. The vial speed was 350 rpm and the ball-to-powder weight ratio was kept at 15:1. The milling process was performed at different times in Argon. Next, the prepared composites were studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and dynamic light scattering (DLS). Based on XRD patterns, crystallite size, lattice strain, and lattice constant were calculated by Rietveld refinement using Maud software. The results show a decrease of crystallite size, and an increase of the internal strain and lattice constant by rising the alloying elements in all composites. Then, the produced powders compressed via the cold press and annealed at 650˚C. Finally; the micro-hardness and the electrical resistance of the manufactured tablets were measured. The results of these analyses show that micro-hardness is increased by enhancement of the reinforcement material, due to the rising of the work hardening. Cu-6wt%Ti with 312 Vickers and Cu-1wt%Al₂O₃ with 78 Vickers had the highest and lowest micro-hardness, respectively. Moreover, the results of the electrical resistance indicate a dramatic rise in the electrical resistance by increasing the amount of alloying material, which Cu-1wt%Al with 0.26 Ω had the highest electrical conductivity.

---

---

The goal of the present study is to prepare a room temperature cured hydrophobic and self-cleaning nano-coating for power line insulators. As a result, the installed insulators operating in power lines can be coated without being removed from the circuit and without the need to cut off power. For this purpose, hydrophobic silica nanoparticles were synthesized by sol-gel method using TEOS and HMDS. The synthesized hydrophobic silica nanoparticles were characterized by XRD, FTIR, SEM, and TEM analyses to investigate phase formation, particle size, and morphology. Then the surface of the insulator was cleaned and sprayed by Ultimeg binder solution, an air-dried insulating coating, as the base coating. Then the hydrophobic nano-silica powder was sprayed on the binder coated surface and left to be air-cured at room temperature. After drying the coating, the contact angle was measured to be 149^o. Pull-off test was used to check the adhesion strength of the hydrophobic coating to the base insulator. To evaluate the effect of environmental factors, UV resistance and fog-salt corrosion tests were conducted. The results showed that 150 hours of UV radiation, equivalent to 9 months of placing the samples in normal conditions, did not have any significant effect on reducing the hydrophobicity of the applied coatings.

---