Ferro, M. C., C. Leroy, R. C. C. Monteiro, and M. H. V. Fernandes. "
Fine-grained glass-ceramics obtained by crystallisation of vitrified coal ashes."
Key Engineering Materials. 230-232 (2002): 408-411.
AbstractCoal fly ashes have been vitrified by melting with Na2O and CaO as fluxing additives. Adequate heat treatments on the fly ash derived glass produced attractive dark green glass-ceramics. These glass-ceramics exhibited fine-grained microstructures consisting of esseneite and nepheline crystals, with average size below 200 nm, homogeneously dispersed in a residual glassy matrix. Several properties, such as density, thermal expansion coefficient, bending strength, hardness and brittleness index were determined and the correlation microstructure-properties is discussed. The results suggest that these coal ash-based glass-ceramics have potential applications as structural materials or as cladding materials.
Lapa, N. a, R. a Barbosa, S. a Camacho, R. C. C. b Monteiro, M. H. V. c Fernandes, and J. S. a Oliveira. "
Leaching behaviour of a glass produced from a MSWI bottom ash."
Materials Science Forum. 514-516 (2006): 1736-1741.
AbstractThis paper is mainly focused on the characterisation of a glass material (GM) obtained from the thermal treatment of a bottom ash (BA) produced at the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) incineration plant of Valorsul. By melting the BA at 1400°C during 2 hours, and without using any chemical additives, a homogeneous black-coloured glass was obtained. The thermal and mechanical properties of this glass were characterised. The thermal expansion coefficient, measured by dilatometry, was 9-10 × 10-6 per °C and the modulus of rupture, determined by four-point bending test, was 75±6 MPa, which are similar values to those exhibited by commercial soda-lime-silica glasses used in structural applications. The chemical and the ecotoxicological leaching behaviour of the GM were also analysed. The GM was submitted to a leaching procedure composed of 15 sequential extraction cycles. A liquid/solid (L/S) ratio of 2 1/kg was applied in each cycle. The leachates were filtered through a membrane of PTFE (porosity: 0.45 μm). The filtered leachates were characterised for different chemical parameters and for an ecotoxicological indicator (bacterium Vibrio fischeri). The GM was also submitted to a microwave acidic digestion for the assessment of the total metal content. The crude BA was also submitted to the same experimental procedures. The GM showed levels of chemical emission and ecotoxicity for V. fischeri much lower than those determined for the crude BA. Similar characterisation studies will be pursued with the glass-ceramics produced by adequate thermal treatment of the glass, in order to investigate the effect of the crystallization on the final properties.
Alendouro, M. S. J. G. a, R. C. C. a Monteiro, C. F. M. L. a Figueiredo, R. M. S. a Martins, R. J. C. a Silva, M. C. b Ferro, and M. H. V. b Fernandas. "
Microstructural characterization and properties of a glass and a glassceramic made from municipal incinerator bottom ash."
Materials Science Forum. 455-456 (2004): 827-830.
AbstractA glass was made using bottom ash produced by a Portuguese municipal solid waste (MSW) incinerator. The bottom ash was the single batch material used in the formation of the glass, which was obtained through a conventional melt-quenching method. The glass was then converted to glass-ceramic for further recycling to construction materials. After submitting the glass samples to several heat treatments, between 820 and 1050°C and during different times, it was verified that the optimum heat treatment schedule for the ceramization of the glass was at 1000°C for 10h, as confirmed by microstructural observation and by X-ray diffraction. The major crystalline phases precipitated in the glass-ceramic were wollastonite (CaSiO3) and diopside (Ca(Mg,Al)(Si,Al)2O6). Microstructural analysis of the glass-ceramic revealed that the crystalline phases were present as dendrites and fiber-like structures that were homogeneously distributed in the material. The glassceramic showed good mechanical properties with a hardness of 5.6 MPa and a bending strength of 101 MPa. This material had a density of 2.8 gcm-3 and a thermal expansion coefficient of 9.10-6°C-1. The glass and the glass-ceramic showed an excellent chemical stability against leaching in acidic solution and in alkaline solution. In summary, both the glass and the glass-ceramic have good chemical and mechanical properties and can, therefore, be applied as construction materials.
Lima, M. M. R. A., and R. C. C. Monteiro. "
Shrinkage behaviour of borosilicate glass-Al2O3 composites during isothermal sintering."
Materials Science Forum. 514-516 (2006): 648-652.
AbstractThe effect of rigid inclusions on the densification during isothermal sintering of glass matrix composites was investigated. Mixtures containing borosilicate glass powder and 0, 5, 10 and 25 vol. % alumina (Al 2O3) particles were prepared and powder compacts isostatically pressed at 200 MPa have been used. The sintering behaviour of the samples heated at 800°C during various times was investigated through density measurement, axial and radial shrinkage measurements. The microstructure was analysed by SEM and the crystalline phases present in the sintered composites were identified by XRD. The relative density of the isothermally treated borosilicate glass-Al2O3 composites decreased significantly with the increase in Al2O3 content because the presence of rigid inclusions retarded the densification of the compacts. The borosilicate glass exhibited anisotropic shrinkage behaviour, showing a radial shrinkage higher than the axial shrinkage and isotropic shrinkage was favoured by Al2O3 additions. Sintered glass showed a dense microstructure with some spherical closed pores. The microstructure of composites with 5 vol. % Al2O3 revealed that most of the pores were filled by capillary flow of the glass. The microstructure of composites with higher Al2O3 additions showed dense areas together with interconnected pores, which appeared at the sites of large glass particles in the green compacts.
Lima, M. M. R. A., F. M. Braz Fernandes, and R. C. C. Monteiro. "
Study of the crystallization of a borosilicate glass."
Key Engineering Materials. 230-232 (2002): 157-160.
AbstractThe crystallization of a commercial borosilicate glass powder has been studied in the temperature range 750-900°C. Crystal growth was investigated by high temperature XRD and cristobalite precipitation was identified. Glass devitrification exhibited a characteristic incubation period that decreased with increasing temperature: 25-30 min at 750°C, 9-12 min at 775°C, 5-10 min at 810°C, and 0-5 min at 840°C. Cristobalite is an unfavorable transformation product in terms of thermal expansion behavior. The precipitation of cristobalite in sintered glass compacts was confirmed by dilatometric analysis, where the increase in thermal expansion coefficient due to the presence of cristobalite and its transition from the tetragonal to the cubic phase were verified. Correlation between the XRD results and the dilatometric data from sintered glass compacts showed the partial dissolution of cristobalite when the glass was heated at the highest temperatures.
Lopes, A., P. Nunes, P. Vilarinho, R. Monteiro, E. Fortunato, and R. Martins. "
Study of the sensing mechanism of SnO2 thin-film gas sensors using hall effect measurements."
Key Engineering Materials. 230-232 (2002): 357-360.
AbstractHall effect measurements are one of the most powerful techniques for obtaining information about the conduction mechanism in polycrystalline semiconductor materials, which is the basis for understanding semiconductor gas sensors. In order to investigate the correlation between the microscopic characteristics and the macroscopic performances exhibited by undoped tin oxide gas sensors deposited by spray pyrolysis, Hall effect measurements were performed at different temperatures, from room temperature up to 500 K, and in the presence of two different atmospheres, air and methane. From these measurements, it was possible to infer the potential barrier and its dependence with the used atmosphere. The obtained results were analysed in terms of the oxygen mechanism at grain boundaries on the basis of the grain boundary-trapping model. In the presence of methane gas, the electrical resistivity decreases due to the lowering of the inter-grain boundary barrier height.