Effect of cerium concentration on corrosion resistance and polymerization of hybrid sol–gel coating on martensitic stainless steel

Stainless steels are increasingly used in the aeronautics field for the manufacture of structural parts. One of them, the X13VD martensitic stainless steel (X12CrNiMoV12-3), known for its good mechanical properties, has a poor corrosion resistance in confined or severe environments. In the past years, Cr(VI) based pre-treatments have been currently used for corrosion protection of different metals, however, they are toxic and due to environmental regulations, they will be definitely banned in a near future. Alternatives to replace Cr(VI) show advantages and drawbacks considering key properties such as: corrosion resistance, adhesion of coatings, fatigue resistance, durability and reliability. However, some of their possible alternatives show high potential. In this paper, a process was developed to improve the corrosion resistance of the martensitic stainless steel. Organic–inorganic hybrid coatings with different cerium concentrations were deposited onto stainless steel by sol–gel process. Corrosion resistance of the coatings was evaluated by electrochemical impedance measurements and it has been proved that cerium concentration of 0.01 M into hybrid coating was an optimal content. Adhesion tests were also carried out by "nanoscratchtest" to characterize the coatings mechanical properties as a function of cerium concentration but results do not clearly show the influence of cerium for the coating adhesion toward the substrate. To try to correlate with the electrochemical properties, liquid 29Si NMR spectroscopy was then performed to investigate hydrolysis and condensation reactions of sol–gel process, and by this method, it was demonstrated that for higher cerium concentration (>0.01 M) there is a modification of the chemical structure of the sol–gel network

Microscale friction reduction by normal force modulation in MEMS.

Friction in MEMS-scale devices is troublesome because it can result in lateral stiction of two sliding surfaces. We have investigated the effect of modulation of the normal force on the friction between two sliding MEMS surfaces, using a fully MEMS-based tribometer. We have found that the friction is reduced significantly when the modulation is large enough. A simple model is presented that describes the friction reduction as a function of modulation frequency as well. Using this technique, lateral stiction-related seizure of microscopic sliding components can be mitigated

The preparation of double-walled carbon nanotube/Cu composites by spark plasma sintering, and their hardness and friction properties

Double-walled carbon nanotube (DWCNT)/copper composite powders were prepared by a rapid route involving freeze-drying without oxidative acidic treatment or ball-milling. The DWCNTs are not damaged and are homogeneously dispersed in the matrix. Dense specimens were prepared by spark plasma sintering. The Vickers microhardness is doubled, the wear against a steel or an alumina ball seems very low and the average friction coefficient is decreased by a factor of about 4 compared to pure copper. The best results are obtained for a carbon loading (5 vol%) significantly lower than those reported when using multi-walled carbon nanotubes (10–20 vol%). Maximum Hertzian contact pressure data could indicate that the surface DWCNTs and bundles of them are deformed and broken, possibly resulting in the formation of a graphitized lubricating tribofilm in the contac

A transferable ab-initio based force field for aqueous ions

We present a new polarizable force field for aqueous ions (Li+, Na+, K+, Rb+, Cs+, Mg2+, Ca2+, Sr2+ and Cl-) derived from condensed phase ab-initio calculations. We use Maximally Localized Wannier Functions together with a generalized force and dipole-matching procedure to determine the whole set of parameters. Experimental data is then used only for validation purposes and a good agreement is obtained for structural, dynamic and thermodynamic properties. The same procedure applied to crystalline phases allows to parametrize the interaction between cations and the chloride anion. Finally, we illustrate the good transferability of the force field to other thermodynamic conditions by investigating concentrated solutions.Comment: 31 pages, 8 figure

Diffusion coefficient and shear viscosity of rigid water models

We report the diffusion coefficient and viscosity of popular rigid water models: Two non polarizable ones (SPC/E with 3 sites, and TIP4P/2005 with 4 sites) and a polarizable one (Dang-Chang, 4 sites). We exploit the dependence of the diffusion coefficient on the system size [Yeh and Hummer, J. Phys. Chem. B 108, 15873 (2004)] to obtain the size-independent value. This also provides an estimate of the viscosity of all water models, which we compare to the Green-Kubo result. In all cases, a good agreement is found. The TIP4P/2005 model is in better agreement with the experimental data for both diffusion and viscosity. The SPC/E and Dang-Chang water overestimate the diffusion coefficient and underestimate the viscosity.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures. To be published in J. Phys.: Condens. Matte

New sol-gel formulations to increase the barrier effect of a protective coating against the corrosion of steels

Films were deposited onto AISI 430 stainless steel substrates by dip-coating technique. The aim is to reach the AISI 304L stainless steel anti-corrosion properties by a coated AISI 430 stainless steel system. Sol formulation is done from the starting precursors tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) and 3(trimethoxysilyl) propyl methacrylate (MAP). After the hydrolysis of these precursors, sol-gel reactions occur before the addition (or not) of a controlled quantity of cerium nitrate. The addition of the PEG (polyethylene glycol), used as plasticizer has been studied in this paper and both physical and chemical properties of the synthesized hybrid films were studied by varying PEG ratios. Based on SEM observations and mass gain measurements, the thickness of the films has been adjustable. Another parameter plays a key role: the drying step of the whole system. It has been investigated and optimized in this paper to lead to coatings with a high barrier effect. The efficiency of the anti-corrosion protection of hybrid-coated stainless steel was investigated by potentiodynamic polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) after immersion of the material in a 3.5% NaCl solution. Double-layered systems were successfully developed and a good compromise between PEG content and drying conditions has been found. Potentiodynamic polarization curves showed that the hybrid coating prepared using a TEOS/MAP/PEG yielded the best anti-corrosion performances. It acts as an efficient barrier similar to AISI 304 stainless steel used as reference, increasing the total impedance and significantly reducing the current densities

The construction of a reliable potential for GeO2 from first-principles

International audienceThe construction of a reliable potential for GeO2, from first-principles, is described. The obtained potential, which includes dipole polarization effects, is able to reproduce all the studied properties (structural, dynamical and vibrational) to a high degree of precision with a single set of parameters. In particular, the infrared spectrum was obtained with the expression proposed for the dielectric function of polarizable ionic solutions by Weis et al. [J.M. Caillol, D. Levesque and J.J. Weis, J. Chem. Phys., 91, 5544 (1989)]. The agreement with the experimental spectrum is very good, with three main bands that are associated to tetrahedral modes of the GeO2 network. Finally, we give a comparison with a simpler pair-additive potential

Models of electrolyte solutions from molecular descriptions: The example of NaCl solutions

We present a method to derive implicit solvent models of electrolyte solutions from all-atom descriptions; providing analytical expressions of the thermodynamic and structural properties of the ions consistent with the underlying explicit solvent representation. Effective potentials between ions in solution are calculated to perform perturbation theory calculations, in order to derive the best possible description in terms of charged hard spheres. Applying this method to NaCl solutions yields excellent agreement with the all-atom model, provided ion association is taken into account.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Contribución al conocimiento del primer poblamiento humano de Europa

En los últimos años numerosas investigaciones han contribuido a un mejor conocimiento de los primeros habitantes de Europa. Si en los años ochenta, Francia parecía situarse en el centro del debate con yacimientos como Chilhac, Soleilhac oVallonet; los hallazgos en la región del Caúcaso yOrienteMedio (Dmanisi yUbeidiya), la Península Itálica (Ceprano) y la Península Ibérica (Orce) en los años noventa, han desplazado el debate a las puertas deEuropa.La cuestión sobre las rutas alternativas de Gibraltar o Sicilia permanece abierta. Las industrias líticas descubiertas en los yacimientos del Pleistoceno Inferior de Barranco León y Fuente Nueva 3 de Orce (Granada) se sitúan actualmente en el corazón de este debate.An important number of researches about the first inhabitants ofEurope have been developed. If France was the centre of the debate during eighties through the sites of Chilhac, Soleilhac or Vallonet, during nineties the debate was displaced at the gates of Europe: The founds of the Caucasian region and theMiddleEast (Dmanisi andUbeidiya), the ItalianPeninsula (Ceprano) and the Iberian Peninsula (Orce). The questions about alternative routes, Gibraltar or Sicily, remains open. The lithic artefacts found at the Lower Pleistocene sites of Barranco León and Fuente Nueva 3 (Orce, Granada) are now in the core of this debate