• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.56 no.6
• /
• pp.745-764
• /
• 2023

In the Republic of Congo, Banded iron formations (BIFs) occur in two areas: the Chaillu Massif and the Ivindo Basement Complex, which are segments of the Archean Congo craton outcropping in the northwestern and southwestern parts of the country. They show interesting potential with significant mineral resources reaching 2 Bt and grades up to 60% Fe. BIFs consist mostly of oxide-rich facies (hematite/magnetite), but carbonate-rich facies are also highlighted. They are found across the country within the similar geological sequences composed of amphibolites, gneisses and greenschists. The Post-Archean Australian Shale (PAAS)-normalized patterns of BIFs show enrichment in elements such as SiO₂, Fe₂O₃, CaO, P₂O₅, Cr, Cu, Zn, Nb, Hf, U and depletion in TiO₂, Al₂O₃, MgO, Na₂O, K₂O, Sc, Th, Ba, Zr, Rb, Ni, V. REE diagrams show slight light REEs (rare earth elements; LREEs) compared to heavy REEs (HREEs), and positive La and Eu anomalies. The lithological associations, as well as the very high (Eu/Eu^*)_SN ratios> 1.8 shown by the BIFs, suggest that they are related to Algoma-type BIFs. The positive correlations between Zr and TiO₂, Al₂O₃, Hf suggest that the contamination comes mainly from felsic rocks, while the absence of correlations between MgO and Cr, Ni argues for negligeable contributions from mafic sources. Pr/Pr^* vs. Ce/Ce^* diagram indicates that the Congolese BIFs were formed in basins with redox heterogeneity, which varies from suboxic to anoxic and from oxic to anoxic conditions. They were formed through hydrothermal vents in the seawater, with relatively low proportions of detrital inputs derived from igneous sources through continental weathering. Some Congolese BIFs show high contents in Cr, Ni and Cu, which suggest that iron (Fe) and silicon (Si) have been leached through hydrothermal processes associated with submarine volcanism. We discussed their tectonic setting and depositional environment and proposed that they were deposited in extensional back-arc basins, which also recorded hydrothermal vent fluids.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
• /
• v.32 no.4
• /
• pp.343-355
• /
• 2007

The objectives of this study was to evaluate the durability of 4 resin cements by means of microtensile bond strength test combined with thermocycling method and fractographic FE-SEM analysis. Experimental groups were prepared according to thermocycling (0, 1,000, 5,000) and the kind of resin cements, those were Variolink II, Multilink, Panavia F 2.0, Rely X Unicem. Flat dentin surfaces were created on mid-coronal dentin of extracted third molars. Then fresh dentin surface was grounded with 320-grit silicon carbide abrasive papers to create uniform smear layers. Indirect composite block (Tescera, Bisco Inc., Schaumburg, IL, USA) was fabricated ($12\;{\times}\;12\;{\times}\;6\;mm^3$). It's surface for bonding to tooth was grounded with silicon carbide abrasive papers from 180- to 600-grit serially, then sandblasted witk $20\;-\;50\;{\mu}m$ alumina oxide. According to each manufacturer's instruction, dentin surface was treated and indirect composite block was luted on it using each resin cement. For Rely X Unicem, dentin surface was not treated. The bonded tooth-resin block were stored in distilled water at $37^{\circ}C$ for 24 hours. After thermocycling, the bonded tooth-resin block was sectioned occluso-gingivally to 1.0 mm thick serial slabs using all Isomet slow-speed saw (Isomet, Buehler Ltd, Lake Bluff, IL, USA). These sectioned slabs were further sectioned to $1.0\;{\times}\;1.0\;mm^2$ composite-dentin beams. The specimens were tested with universal testing machine (EZ-Test, Shimadzu, Japan) at a crosshead speed of 1.0 mm/min with maximum load of 500 N. The data was analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Duncan's multiple comparison test at $p\;{\leq}\;0.05$ level. Within the limited results, we conclude as follows; 1. The bond strength of Variolink II was evaluated the highest among experimental groups and was significantly decreased after 1,000 thermocycling (p < 0.05). 2. The bond strength of Multilink was more affected by thermocycling than the other experimental groups and significantly decreased after 1,000 thermocycling (p < 0.05). 3. Panavia F 2.0 and Rely X Unicem showed the gradually decreased tendency of microtensile bond strength according to thermocycling but there was no significant difference (p > 0.05). 4. Adhesive based-resin cements showed lower bond strength with or without thermocycling than composite based-resin cements. 5. Variolink II & Multilink showed high bond strength and mixed failure, which was occurred with a thin layer of luting resin cement before thermocycling and gradually increased adhesive failure along the dentin surface after thermocycling. The bonding performance of resin cement can be affected by application procedure and chemical composition. Composite based-resin cement showed higher bond strength and durability than adhesive based-resin cement.

• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
• /
• v.23 no.3
• /
• pp.249-257
• /
• 2007

State of problem : The use of zirconium oxide all-ceramic material provides several advantages, including a high flexural strength(>1000MPa) and desirable optical properties, such as shading adaptation to the basic shades and a reduction in the layer thickness. Along with the strength of the materials, the cementation technique is also important to the clinical success of a restoration. Nevertheless, little information is available on the effect of different surface treatments on the bonding of zirconium high-crystalline ceramics and resin luting agents. Purpose : The aim of this study was to test the effects of surface treatments of zirconium on shear bond strengths between bovine teeth and a zirconia ceramic and evaluate differences among cements Material and methods : 54 sound bovine teeth extracted within a 1 months, were used. They were frozen in distilled water. These were rinsed by tap water to confirm that no granulation tissues have left. These were kept refrigerated at $4^{\circ}C$ until tested. Each tooth was placed horizontally at a plastic cylinder (diameter 20mm), and embedded in epoxy resin. Teeth were sectioned with diamond burs to expose dentin and grinded with #600 silicon carbide paper. To make sure there was no enamel left, each was observed under an optical microscope. 54 prefabricated zirconium oxide ceramic copings(Lava, 3M ESPE, USA) were assigned into 3 groups ; control, airborne-abraded with $110{\mu}m$ $Al_2O_3$ and scratched with diamond burs at 4 directions. They were cemented with a seating force of 10 ㎏ per tooth, using resin luting cement(Panavia $F^{(R)}$), resin cement(Superbond $C&B^{(R)}$), and resin modified GI cement(Rely X $Luting^{(R)}$). Those were thermocycled at $5^{\circ}C$ and $55^{\circ}C$ for 5000 cycles with a 30 second dwell time, and then shear bond strength was determined in a universal test machine(Model 4200, Instron Co., Canton, USA). The crosshead speed was 1 mm/min. The result was analyzed with one-way analysis of variance(ANOVA) and the Tukey test at a significance level of P<0.05. Results : Superbond $C&B^{(R)}$ at scratching with diamond burs showed the highest shear bond strength than others (p<.05). For Panavia $F^{(R)}$, groups of scratching and sandblasting showed significantly higher shear bond strength than control group(p<.05). For Rely X $Luting^{(R)}$, only between scratching & control group, significantly different shear bond strength was observed(p<.05). Conclusion : Within the limitation of this study, Superbond $C&B^{(R)}$ showed clinically acceptable shear bond between bovine teeth & zirconia ceramics regardless of surface treatments. For the surface treatment, scratching increased shear bond strength. Increase of shear bond strength by sandblasting with $110{\mu}m$ $Al_2O_3$ was not statistically different.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.273-278
• /
• 2012

Over the last decade, the hafnium-based gate dielectric materials have been studied for many application fields. Because these materials had excellent behaviors for suppressing the quantum-mechanical tunneling through the thinner dielectric layer with higher dielectric constant (high-K) than $SiO_2$ gate oxides. Although high-K materials compensated the deterioration of electrical properties for decreasing the thickness of dielectric layer in MOSFET structure, their nano-mechanical properties of $HfO_2$ thin film features were hardly known. Thus, we examined nano-mechanical properties of the Hafnium oxide ($HfO_2$) thin film in order to optimize the gate dielectric layer. The $HfO_2$ thin films were deposited by rf magnetron sputter using hafnium (99.99%) target according to various oxygen gas flows. After deposition, the $HfO_2$ thin films were annealed after annealing at $400^{\circ}C$, $600^{\circ}C$ and $800^{\circ}C$ for 20 min in nitrogen ambient. From the results, the current density of $HfO_2$ thin film for 8 sccm oxygen gas flow became better performance with increasing annealing temperature. The nano-indenter and Weibull distribution were measured by a quantitative calculation of the thin film stress. The $HfO_2$ thin film after annealing at $400^{\circ}C$ had tensile stress. However, the $HfO_2$ thin film with increasing the annealing temperature up to $800^{\circ}C$ had changed compressive stress. This could be due to the nanocrystal of the $HfO_2$ thin film. In particular, the $HfO_2$ thin film after annealing at $400^{\circ}C$ had lower tensile stress, such as 5.35 GPa for the oxygen gas flow of 4 sccm and 5.54 GPa for the oxygen gas flow of 8 sccm. While the $HfO_2$ thin film after annealing at $800^{\circ}C$ had increased the stress value, such as 9.09 GPa for the oxygen gas flow of 4 sccm and 8.17 GPa for the oxygen gas flow of 8 sccm. From these results, the temperature dependence of stress state of $HfO_2$ thin films were understood.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.39 no.5
• /
• pp.603-616
• /
• 2007

Roy Huddle, having invented the coated particle in Harwell 1957, stated in the early 1970s that we know now everything about particles and coatings and should be going over to deal with other problems. This was on the occasion of the Dragon fuel performance information meeting London 1973: How wrong a genius be! It took until 1978 that really good particles were made in Germany, then during the Japanese HTTR production in the 1990s and finally the Chinese 2000-2001 campaign for HTR-10. Here, we present a review of history and present status. Today, good fuel is measured by different standards from the seventies: where $9*10^{-4}$ initial free heavy metal fraction was typical for early AVR carbide fuel and $3*10^{-4}$ initial free heavy metal fraction was acceptable for oxide fuel in THTR, we insist on values more than an order of magnitude below this value today. Half a percent of particle failure at the end-of-irradiation, another ancient standard, is not even acceptable today, even for the most severe accidents. While legislation and licensing has not changed, one of the reasons we insist on these improvements is the preference for passive systems rather than active controls of earlier times. After renewed HTGR interest, we are reporting about the start of new or reactivated coated particle work in several parts of the world, considering the aspects of designs/ traditional and new materials, manufacturing technologies/ quality control quality assurance, irradiation and accident performance, modeling and performance predictions, and fuel cycle aspects and spent fuel treatment. In very general terms, the coated particle should be strong, reliable, retentive, and affordable. These properties have to be quantified and will be eventually optimized for a specific application system. Results obtained so far indicate that the same particle can be used for steam cycle applications with $700-750^{\circ}C$ helium coolant gas exit, for gas turbine applications at $850-900^{\circ}C$ and for process heat/hydrogen generation applications with $950^{\circ}C$ outlet temperatures. There is a clear set of standards for modem high quality fuel in terms of low levels of heavy metal contamination, manufacture-induced particle defects during fuel body and fuel element making, irradiation/accident induced particle failures and limits on fission product release from intact particles. While gas-cooled reactor design is still open-ended with blocks for the prismatic and spherical fuel elements for the pebble-bed design, there is near worldwide agreement on high quality fuel: a $500{\mu}m$ diameter $UO_2$ kernel of 10% enrichment is surrounded by a $100{\mu}m$ thick sacrificial buffer layer to be followed by a dense inner pyrocarbon layer, a high quality silicon carbide layer of $35{\mu}m$ thickness and theoretical density and another outer pyrocarbon layer. Good performance has been demonstrated both under operational and under accident conditions, i.e. to 10% FIMA and maximum $1600^{\circ}C$ afterwards. And it is the wide-ranging demonstration experience that makes this particle superior. Recommendations are made for further work: 1. Generation of data for presently manufactured materials, e.g. SiC strength and strength distribution, PyC creep and shrinkage and many more material data sets. 2. Renewed start of irradiation and accident testing of modem coated particle fuel. 3. Analysis of existing and newly created data with a view to demonstrate satisfactory performance at burnups beyond 10% FIMA and complete fission product retention even in accidents that go beyond $1600^{\circ}C$ for a short period of time. This work should proceed at both national and international level.

• The Journal of Korean Academy of Prosthodontics
• /
• v.61 no.3
• /
• pp.179-188
• /
• 2023

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of surface treatments on the shear bond strength of two types of zirconia (3-TZP and 5Y-PSZ) with resin cement. Materials and methods. Two different types of zirconia specimens with a fully sintered size of 14.0×14.0×2.0 mm³ were prepared, polished with 400, 600, and 800 grit silicon carbide paper, and buried in epoxy resin. They were classified into four groups each control, sandblasting, primer, and sandblasting & primer. Cylindrical resin adhered to the surface-treated zirconia with resin cement. It was stored in distilled water (37℃) for 24 hours, and a shear bond strength test was performed. The normality of the experimental group was confirmed with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov & Shapiro-Wilk test. The interaction and statistical difference were analyzed using a two-way ANOVA. A post-hoc analysis was performed using Dunnett T3. Results. As a result of two-way ANOVA, there was no significant difference in shear bonding strength between zirconia types (P > .05), but there was a significant correlation in the sandblasting, primer, and alumina sandblasting & primer group (P < .05). Dunnett T3 post-test showed that, regardless of the type of zirconia, shear bonding strength was sandblasting & primer > Primer > sandblasting > control group (P < .05). Conclusion. There was no difference in shear bond strength between the types of zirconia. The highest shear bond strength was shown when the mechanical and chemical treatments of the zirconia surface was performed simultaneously.