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Characterization of Catalytic Materials
Books and publications
Characterization of Catalytic Materials Israel E. Wachs ( Ed. ) Butterworth-Heinemann, 1992, ISBN 0-7506-9241-3, 202 pp, £47.50 This volume is one of around ten texts which form a Materials Characterization Series with overall editors C.R. Brundle and C.A. Evans. The series consists of an Encyclopaedia of Materials Characterization, containing potted descriptions of a wide range of techniques used in materials characterization, together with a number of subsequent volumes concentrating on the characterization of different classes of materials. These range from silicon processing and organic thin films to the catalytic materials considered in the present volume. The emphasis throughout the series is on surface, interface and thin film microcharacterization, and the aim is to present this in a way to appeal to the materials users, process engineers, managers and students, rather than the techniques specialist. The chapters of the current volume are organized by type of material, so that the book is made up of a number of chapters by different authors each of which concentrates on the characterization of a specific type of catalytic material. These are organized starting with bulk metals and alloys, working through supported metals, bulk oxides and supported oxides onto suphides, and concluding with chapters on zeolites and pillared clays. Each chapter is written in a readable way, and provides an accessible introduction to the techniques most commonly used to characterize each class of material. Interesting examples and useful tables are included throughout, and there is appropriate emphasis on bulk characterization where necessary, in addition to techniques giving information about the catalyst surface. However, because many of the major techniques are the same or similar, regardless of the type of catalyst being studied, this introduces an enormous amount of repetition. Some techniques such as XRD, electron microscopy, XANES, EXAFS, XPS and surface area measurement are described in several (and in some cases most) chapters, leaving me wondering whether the categorization of the chapters according to material type was really sensible. Nevertheless, on persevering, I did find that I came across quite a number of useful nuggets of information scattered throughout the
book, and I learned quite a lot as a result. The book contains thirty pages of appendices, each a one-page summary of a technique important to catalyst characterization. These are extracted from the main volume in the series, the
Encyclopaedia of Materials Characterization. They would be especially useful to graduate students in explaining all the acronyms, particularly those associated with surface science techniques. Each includes a list of parameters quantifying the capabilities of the technique - especially useful to anyone searching for the solution to a particular characterization problem. The book itself is well presented and appears to be solidly bound. Overall, while I would question the organization of the book, the approach taken does mean that each chapter is selfcontained. This has the result that the book does broadly meet its objectives, in that it would be most effectively used by someone who wanted to find out what characterization techniques could be usefully applied to a particular type of catalyst, without having to read the whole book.
Wendy Flavell Department of Chemistry UMIST
Creep: Characterization, Damage, and Life Assessment D.A. Woodford, C.H.A. Townley and M. Ohnami (Eds) A S M International, 1992, ISBN 0-87170-444-7, 626 pp, £95, A S M Members, £70 This book is a collection of 60 papers and 15 posters which were presented at the Fifth International Conference on Creep of Materials, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA, 18-21 May 1992. There was a very good balance of international contributions from industry, university, and research laboratories. The aim of the conference as stated in the message from the organizers is to address the important creep design considerations covered in the previous conference of this series. The papers presented have an emphasis on applications and cover a full range of materials, including a few
0261-3069/94/050317-02 © 1994 Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd
papers on ceramics and composites. The conference consisted of an opening session to establish a framework for the conference and the following eight sessions: 1. Materials Testing and Characterization 2. Creep Data Analysis and Constitutive Equations 3. Creep and Creep Fracture Design 4. Materials Damage During Creep 5. Non-steady State Stress and Temperature I 6. Non-steady State Stress and Temperature II 7. Creep in Structures 8. Life Prediction In the Opening Session, the papers presented by the three editors addressed various creep design considerations which, in combination, attempted to bring together the conference papers which covered many aspects of creep. The well-written paper by Townley reviewed European progress in improved design procedures for hightemperature structures associated with fossil-fired and nuclear generating plants since the previous conference, which was held in 1986. Another quality paper by Ohnami addressed design criteria for multiaxial creep-fatigue which focused on the life prediction of proportional and non-proportional fatigue lives. Finally, an excellent paper by Woodford developed a new approach for initial design life analysis and remaining life assessment in terms of design limiting performance criteria related to creep strength and fracture. The 16 papers presented in the
Materials Testing and Characterization session dealt with the effects of microstructural parameters on the creep properties for various material systems and experimental conditions. The material systems which were examined included: austenitic and ferritic steels, nickel base superalloys, zirconium and aluminium alloys, silicon nitride, graphite and intermetallic composites, and thermoset/thermoplastics. Various types of testing procedures were used as well as different types of empirical equations to analyse the creep data. This research (and previous generations of this type of research) has revealed much understanding about the kinetic processes which are operating in various systems. However, the constitutive equations do not work well at the engi-
Materials & Design Volume 15 Number 5 1994
317
Characterization of Catalytic Materials Israel E. Wachs ( Ed. ) Butterworth-Heinemann, 1992, ISBN 0-7506-9241-3, 202 pp, £47.50 This volume is one of around ten texts which form a Materials Characterization Series with overall editors C.R. Brundle and C.A. Evans. The series consists of an Encyclopaedia of Materials Characterization, containing potted descriptions of a wide range of techniques used in materials characterization, together with a number of subsequent volumes concentrating on the characterization of different classes of materials. These range from silicon processing and organic thin films to the catalytic materials considered in the present volume. The emphasis throughout the series is on surface, interface and thin film microcharacterization, and the aim is to present this in a way to appeal to the materials users, process engineers, managers and students, rather than the techniques specialist. The chapters of the current volume are organized by type of material, so that the book is made up of a number of chapters by different authors each of which concentrates on the characterization of a specific type of catalytic material. These are organized starting with bulk metals and alloys, working through supported metals, bulk oxides and supported oxides onto suphides, and concluding with chapters on zeolites and pillared clays. Each chapter is written in a readable way, and provides an accessible introduction to the techniques most commonly used to characterize each class of material. Interesting examples and useful tables are included throughout, and there is appropriate emphasis on bulk characterization where necessary, in addition to techniques giving information about the catalyst surface. However, because many of the major techniques are the same or similar, regardless of the type of catalyst being studied, this introduces an enormous amount of repetition. Some techniques such as XRD, electron microscopy, XANES, EXAFS, XPS and surface area measurement are described in several (and in some cases most) chapters, leaving me wondering whether the categorization of the chapters according to material type was really sensible. Nevertheless, on persevering, I did find that I came across quite a number of useful nuggets of information scattered throughout the
book, and I learned quite a lot as a result. The book contains thirty pages of appendices, each a one-page summary of a technique important to catalyst characterization. These are extracted from the main volume in the series, the
Encyclopaedia of Materials Characterization. They would be especially useful to graduate students in explaining all the acronyms, particularly those associated with surface science techniques. Each includes a list of parameters quantifying the capabilities of the technique - especially useful to anyone searching for the solution to a particular characterization problem. The book itself is well presented and appears to be solidly bound. Overall, while I would question the organization of the book, the approach taken does mean that each chapter is selfcontained. This has the result that the book does broadly meet its objectives, in that it would be most effectively used by someone who wanted to find out what characterization techniques could be usefully applied to a particular type of catalyst, without having to read the whole book.
Wendy Flavell Department of Chemistry UMIST
Creep: Characterization, Damage, and Life Assessment D.A. Woodford, C.H.A. Townley and M. Ohnami (Eds) A S M International, 1992, ISBN 0-87170-444-7, 626 pp, £95, A S M Members, £70 This book is a collection of 60 papers and 15 posters which were presented at the Fifth International Conference on Creep of Materials, Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA, 18-21 May 1992. There was a very good balance of international contributions from industry, university, and research laboratories. The aim of the conference as stated in the message from the organizers is to address the important creep design considerations covered in the previous conference of this series. The papers presented have an emphasis on applications and cover a full range of materials, including a few
0261-3069/94/050317-02 © 1994 Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd
papers on ceramics and composites. The conference consisted of an opening session to establish a framework for the conference and the following eight sessions: 1. Materials Testing and Characterization 2. Creep Data Analysis and Constitutive Equations 3. Creep and Creep Fracture Design 4. Materials Damage During Creep 5. Non-steady State Stress and Temperature I 6. Non-steady State Stress and Temperature II 7. Creep in Structures 8. Life Prediction In the Opening Session, the papers presented by the three editors addressed various creep design considerations which, in combination, attempted to bring together the conference papers which covered many aspects of creep. The well-written paper by Townley reviewed European progress in improved design procedures for hightemperature structures associated with fossil-fired and nuclear generating plants since the previous conference, which was held in 1986. Another quality paper by Ohnami addressed design criteria for multiaxial creep-fatigue which focused on the life prediction of proportional and non-proportional fatigue lives. Finally, an excellent paper by Woodford developed a new approach for initial design life analysis and remaining life assessment in terms of design limiting performance criteria related to creep strength and fracture. The 16 papers presented in the
Materials Testing and Characterization session dealt with the effects of microstructural parameters on the creep properties for various material systems and experimental conditions. The material systems which were examined included: austenitic and ferritic steels, nickel base superalloys, zirconium and aluminium alloys, silicon nitride, graphite and intermetallic composites, and thermoset/thermoplastics. Various types of testing procedures were used as well as different types of empirical equations to analyse the creep data. This research (and previous generations of this type of research) has revealed much understanding about the kinetic processes which are operating in various systems. However, the constitutive equations do not work well at the engi-
Materials & Design Volume 15 Number 5 1994
317