Crack-free zirconia ceramics were consolidated via sintering by intense thermal radiation (SITR) approach at 1600-1700 degrees C for 3-5 min. The resulted ceramic bulks can achieve a relative density up to 99.6% with a grain size of 300-1200 nm. Their bending strength, Vickers hardness and indentation toughness values are up to 1244 +/- 139 MPa, 13.3 +/- 0.3 GPa and 5.5 +/- 0.1 MPa m(1/2), respectively. Quantitative Raman and XRD analysis show the presence of minor m phase on the natural surface (<7%), fracture surface (<10%) and indentation areas (<15%). It reveals that the SITR method is efficient for rapidly manufacturing zirconia ceramics with desired density, fine grained microstructure and good mechanical properties that are strongly demanded in dental applications.

Mesoporous mesocrystals are highly desired in catalysis, energy storage, medical and many other applications, but most of synthesis strategies involve the usage of costly chemicals and complicated synthesis routes, which impede the commercialization of such materials. During the sintering of dense ceramics, coarsening is an undesirable phenomenon which causes the growth of the grains as well as the pores hence hinders the densification, however, coarsening is desired in the sintering of porous ceramics to expand the pore sizes while retaining the total pore volume. Here we report a chemi-thermal process, during which nanocrystallite aggregates were synthesized by hydrothermal process and then converted to the product by sintering. Through this strategy, we synthesized mesoporous self-supported mesocrystals of yttria-stabilized zirconia with tunable pore size and the process was then scaled-up to industrial production. The thermal conductivity measurement shows that the mesoporous powder is a good thermal isolator. The monolith pellets can be obtained by SPS sintering under high pressure and the mesoporosity is retained in the monolith pellets. This work features facile and scalable process as well as low cost raw chemicals making it highly desirable in industrial applications.

Reducing the grain size in zirconia ceramics has shown to decrease its toughness by size-dependent stabilisation of the tetragonal phase that, in turn, hinders the stress-induced phase transformation from tetragonal to monoclinic. The stability of the tetragonal phase increases with the decrease of grain size but decreases with the reduction of the amount of yttria added, implying the need for adjustment of the yttria content when a nano-grained structure is of concern. In this study, low-yttria compositions were investigated. The ceramics were prepared with two sintering methods namely spark plasma sintering (SPS) and pressureless sintering. A clear tendency was noted for the indentation toughness increase with the reduction of yttria content, and a higher toughness achieved in as-SPSed samples in comparison with the annealed samples. The origins of the increased toughness were discussed in terms of yttria content, carbon contamination and increased oxygen vacancies after sintering at reducing atmosphere in SPS.

A versatile and highly stereoselective synthetic route to functionalized bi- and tricyclic lactams (up to > 20:1 dr and 99% ee) in one pot from simple starting materials (allylic alcohols, enals, diamines and amino alcohols) using cascade transformations promoted by chiral amine/BrOnsted or metal/chiral amine/BrOnsted relay catalysis is disclosed. Here molecular oxygen is employed as the terminal oxidant for the latter relay catalysis approach.

A feasibility study was performed to fabricate ITER In-Vessel components by one of the metal additivemanufacturing methods, Electron Beam Melting®(EBM®). Solid specimens of SS316L with 99.8% relativedensity were prepared from gas atomized precursor powder granules. After the EBM®process the phaseremains as austenite and the composition has practically not been changed. The RCC-MR code used fornuclear pressure vessels provides guidelines for this study and tensile tests and Charpy-V tests werecarried out at 22C (RT) and 250C (ET). This work provides thefirst set of mechanical and micro-structure data of EBM®SS316L for nuclear fusion applications. The mechanical testing shows that theyield strength, ductility and toughness are well above the acceptance criteria and only the ultimatetensile strength of EBM®SS316L is below the RCC-MR code. Microstructure characterizations reveal thepresence of hierarchical structures consisting of solidified melt pools, columnar grains and irregularshaped sub-grains. Lots of precipitates enriched in Cr and Mo are observed at columnar grain boundarieswhile no sign of element segregation is shown at the sub-grain boundaries. Such a unique microstructureforms during a non-equilibrium process, comprising rapid solidification and a gradient‘annealing’process due to anisotropic thermalflow of accumulated heat inside the powder granule matrix. Relationsbetween process parameters, specimen geometry (total building time) and sub-grain structure are dis-cussed. Defects are formed mainly due to the large layer thickness (100mmÞwhich generates insufficientbonding between a few of the adjacently formed melt pools during the process. Further studies shouldfocus on adjusting layer thickness to improve the strength of EBM®SS316L and optimizing total buildingtime.

Fabrication of ITER First Wall (FW) Panel parts by two additive manufacturing (AM) technologies, selective laser melting (SEM) and electron beam melting (EBM), was supported by Fusion for Energy (F4E). For the first time, AM is applied to manufacture ITER In-Vessel parts with complex design. Fully dense SS316L was prepared by both SLM and EBM after developing optimized laser/electron beam parameters. Characterizations on the density, magnetic permeability, microstructure, defects and inclusions were carried out. Tensile properties, Charpy-impact properties and fatigue properties of SLM and EBM SS316L were also compared. ITER FW Panel parts were successfully fabricated by both SLM and EBM in a onestep building process. The SLM part has smoother surface, better size accuracy while the EBM part takes much less time to build. Issues with removing support structures might be solved by slightly changing the design of the internal cooling system. Further investigation of the influence of neutron irradiation on materials properties between the two AM technologies is needed.

In the present study, porous silicon carbide ceramics were prepared via spark plasma sintering at relatively low temperatures using Al2O3 and CeO2 as sintering additives. Sacrificial template was selected as the pore forming mechanism, and gelcasting was used to fix the slurry in a short time. The evolution process of the microstructures during different steps was observed by SEM. The influence of the sintering temperature and sintering additives on the shrinkage and porosity of the samples was studied. The microstructures of different samples were characterized, and the mechanical properties were also evaluated.

A feasibility study was performed to fabricate ITER In-Vessel components by Selective Laser Melting (SLM) supported by Fusion for Energy (F4E). Almost fully dense 316L stainless steel (SS316L) components were prepared from gas-atomized powder and with optimized SLM processing parameters. Tensile tests and Charpy-V tests were carried out at 22 degrees C and 250 degrees C and the results showed that SLM SS316L fulfill the RCC-MR code. Microstructure characterization reveals the presence of hierarchical macro-, micro- and nano-structures in as-built samples that were very different from SS316L microstructures prepared by other established methods. The formation of a characteristic intragranular cellular segregation network microstructure appears to contribute to the increase of yield strength without losing ductility. Silicon oxide nano-inclusions were formed during the SLM process that generated a micro-hardness fluctuation in the building direction. The combined influence of a cellular microstructure and the nano-inclusions constraints the size of ductile dimples to nano-scale. The crack propagation is hindered by a pinning effect that improves the defect-tolerance of the SLM SS316L. This work proves that it was possible to manufacture SS316L with properties suitable for ITER First Wall panels. Further studies on irradiation properties of SLM SS316L and manufacturing of larger real-size components are needed.

Many medical and chemical applications require target molecules to be delivered in a controlled manner at precise locations. Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have high porosity, large surface area, and tunable functionality and are promising carriers for such purposes. Current approaches for incorporating target molecules are based on multistep postfunctionalization. Here, we report a novel approach that combines MOF synthesis and molecule encapsulation in a one-pot process. We demonstrate that large drug and dye molecules can be encapsulated in zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZIF) crystals. The molecules are homogeneously distributed within the crystals, and their loadings can be tuned. We show that ZIF-8 crystals loaded with the anticancer drug doxorubicin (DOX) are efficient drug delivery vehicles in cancer therapy using pH-responsive release. Their efficacy on breast cancer cell lines is higher than that of free DOX. Our one-pot process opens new possibilities to construct multifunctional delivery systems for a wide range of applications.

Porous silicon carbide ceramics with high open porosity and large pore size are usually applied as filters for the cleaning of hot dust gases. However, the large porosity and large pore size will decrease the mechanical properties. In the present study, porous SiC ceramics were prepared using bentonite as bonding phase. The effects of sintering temperature on the microstructure and the compressive strength were studied. Bentonite could melt and spread on the surface of silicon carbide particles at all the sintering temperatures. However, the bonding effects were very different at different temperatures.