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A need for complete reporting in technical papers
Int. Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials 36 (2013) 76
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Int. Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/IJRMHM
Editorial
A need for complete reporting in technical papers
As a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials (IJRMHM) from its very inception, I have been for some time inclining to pen down few salient points regarding the presentation of experimental results. Both refractory metals and hard materials, generally processed through powder metallurgical route, are sensitive during processing and performance. The refractory metals, in general, are prone to pick up interstitials at every stage of preparation, oftentimes the kinetics differs with the working regime of temperature and pressure. Many publications do not highlight the real-time response and prefer to rely only on end properties. In case of refractory metal alloys, even a binary one, the situation is complex. As far as starting raw material is concerned, powders are the main stay. Even in case of cast and wrought route, the powder making stage is intrinsically involved. The question is how rigorously we take recourse of complete chemical analysis. The changes in particle size, in its own turn, influence the purity of the powder. In addition, the particle size distribution of concerned powders needs to be reported. Prior to powder green compaction, various milling operations are often necessitated. How far do we quantify the changes, which occur in the material? Modern equipment for examining structural details is necessary, but the analytical part is often absent. In case the facilities are not available in a particular laboratory, a need for inter- laboratory cooperation even at an international level should be encouraged. While milling the powder, the scientific selection of parameters like milling time, charge to media ratio, and milling medium needs to be thoughtfully optimized and correctly reported. Many times the milling balls need to be of similar chemistry as that of the powder charge. Powder consolidation, i.e. conventional green compaction followed by sintering is a well-established practice for RM and HM. However, the quality of sintering atmosphere (for example dew point of the gas) very often is not reported. Another reporting should be of the complete thermal history to which the material was subjected during sintering. The reason for this inadequacy may be
0263-4368/$ – see front matter © 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrmhm.2012.11.003
because of the undue haste towards reporting the results sooner. With the advent of nanosized powders (full characterization of which is rather seldom reported), smart consolidation methods like spark plasma sintering has come into vogue. The variability of sintering atmosphere in such methods needs to be tried. Another drawback, which has been of late observed, is the misuse of the word ‘nanomaterial’. These are the materials where the sizes of the individual blocks are less than 100 nm, at least in one dimension. Many scientific papers having the insertion of ‘nano’ in the title lack in doing proper justice. Even if they use the word like ‘fine’ or ‘ultrafine’, the impact of the manuscript in no way diminishes. The nanograins of the material must be viewed in the frame of the end product and not just as the starting particle size. Invariably considerable grain coarsening during sintering occurs, thus defeating the very purpose of painstaking milling to obtain nanosized powders. The significance of quantitative microstructural evaluation is well known, but unfortunately not many publications without any explained reasons report this vital piece of information. A quantification of properties of the end product without the quantification of structure and composition does not present a very comprehensive picture. In nutshell, a complete reporting of results is not only desirable, but essential. Apart from giving a sense of scientific fulfillment, it facilitates to recheck the results by others, too. ‘You are not really doing science unless you widely disseminate your work’. John Ziman
G.S. Upadhyaya Plot 37, Lane 17; Ravindrapuri Colony, Varanasi 221 005, India E-mail address: [email protected]. 7 June 2012
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Int. Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/IJRMHM
Editorial
A need for complete reporting in technical papers
As a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Refractory Metals and Hard Materials (IJRMHM) from its very inception, I have been for some time inclining to pen down few salient points regarding the presentation of experimental results. Both refractory metals and hard materials, generally processed through powder metallurgical route, are sensitive during processing and performance. The refractory metals, in general, are prone to pick up interstitials at every stage of preparation, oftentimes the kinetics differs with the working regime of temperature and pressure. Many publications do not highlight the real-time response and prefer to rely only on end properties. In case of refractory metal alloys, even a binary one, the situation is complex. As far as starting raw material is concerned, powders are the main stay. Even in case of cast and wrought route, the powder making stage is intrinsically involved. The question is how rigorously we take recourse of complete chemical analysis. The changes in particle size, in its own turn, influence the purity of the powder. In addition, the particle size distribution of concerned powders needs to be reported. Prior to powder green compaction, various milling operations are often necessitated. How far do we quantify the changes, which occur in the material? Modern equipment for examining structural details is necessary, but the analytical part is often absent. In case the facilities are not available in a particular laboratory, a need for inter- laboratory cooperation even at an international level should be encouraged. While milling the powder, the scientific selection of parameters like milling time, charge to media ratio, and milling medium needs to be thoughtfully optimized and correctly reported. Many times the milling balls need to be of similar chemistry as that of the powder charge. Powder consolidation, i.e. conventional green compaction followed by sintering is a well-established practice for RM and HM. However, the quality of sintering atmosphere (for example dew point of the gas) very often is not reported. Another reporting should be of the complete thermal history to which the material was subjected during sintering. The reason for this inadequacy may be
0263-4368/$ – see front matter © 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrmhm.2012.11.003
because of the undue haste towards reporting the results sooner. With the advent of nanosized powders (full characterization of which is rather seldom reported), smart consolidation methods like spark plasma sintering has come into vogue. The variability of sintering atmosphere in such methods needs to be tried. Another drawback, which has been of late observed, is the misuse of the word ‘nanomaterial’. These are the materials where the sizes of the individual blocks are less than 100 nm, at least in one dimension. Many scientific papers having the insertion of ‘nano’ in the title lack in doing proper justice. Even if they use the word like ‘fine’ or ‘ultrafine’, the impact of the manuscript in no way diminishes. The nanograins of the material must be viewed in the frame of the end product and not just as the starting particle size. Invariably considerable grain coarsening during sintering occurs, thus defeating the very purpose of painstaking milling to obtain nanosized powders. The significance of quantitative microstructural evaluation is well known, but unfortunately not many publications without any explained reasons report this vital piece of information. A quantification of properties of the end product without the quantification of structure and composition does not present a very comprehensive picture. In nutshell, a complete reporting of results is not only desirable, but essential. Apart from giving a sense of scientific fulfillment, it facilitates to recheck the results by others, too. ‘You are not really doing science unless you widely disseminate your work’. John Ziman
G.S. Upadhyaya Plot 37, Lane 17; Ravindrapuri Colony, Varanasi 221 005, India E-mail address: [email protected]. 7 June 2012