To solve chipping of veneer porcelain in zirconia dental prosthesis it has been studied different cooling rates in firing schedules to control residual stresses generated by differences in thermal properties between the ceramics. However, cooling rates may affect the porcelain, irrespectively of interaction with zirconia. This study analyzed the effect of cooling rate on the three-point flexural strength (FS), residual stress, Vickers hardness (VH) and V-notch fracture toughness (SEVNB) on a feldspathic porcelain (Vita VM9) indicated for covering zirconia. Bar-shaped specimens were sintered according manufacturer's schedule firing and cooled at different rates (slow, normal or fast). Specimens were tested for FS (n=30), VH (n=15) and SEVNB tests (n=15). Weibull analysis were performed from FS values to measure reliability and probability of failure (PF). One-way ANOVA was significant for VH (p<0.001), and Tukey's test showed that slow cooling led to higher values. There was no significant difference for FS (p=0.654) and SEVNB (p=0.734). Fast cooling led to the lowest PF, but cooling rate factor was not significant for Weibull modulus. All cooling group showed residual tensile stress (MPa): Slow = 34.81; Normal = 27.04; Fast = 18,98. It was concluded that cooling rate produce minor changes in the porcelain properties.

Alloys containing Me-Si-B (Me - Refractory Metal) are of great interest for high temperature structural applications and accurate knowledge of its low order systems (binaries and ternaries) is important to predict the phase relations in the multicomponent alloys. Recent reevaluations of binaries containing Me-Si found out that the accuracy of the description of this type of systems could be improved. Knowing this, a reevaluation of the invariant reactions in the V-Si system via microstructural characterization of as-cast alloys is presented. Alloys of key compositions were prepared by arc melting pure V (min. 99.75%) and Si (min. 99.998%) and characterized via scanning electron microscopy (SEM) using back-scattered electron (BSE) mode, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The results of this study confirmed the solid phases, the nature of the invariant reactions and determined new compositions for the liquid participating in certain invariant reactions.

A partial isothermal section (Ti-TiSi2-TiB2 region) of the ternary Ti-Si-B system at 1250 ° C was determined from heat-treated alloys prepared via arc melting. Microstructural characterization has been carried out through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), x-ray diffraction (xRD) and wavelength dispersive spectrometry (WDS). The results have shown the stability of the near stoichiometric Ti6Si2B phase and a negligible solubility of boron in the Ti-silicides as well as of Si in the Ti-borides. The following three-phase equilibria have been observed in the Ti- TiSi2-TiB2 region: Ti ss+TiB+Ti6Si2B, Ti ss+Ti6Si2B+Ti5Si3, Ti5Si3+Ti6Si2B+TiB, Ti5Si3+TiB+Ti3B4, Ti5Si3+Ti3B4+TiB2, Ti5Si3+TiB2+Ti5Si4, Ti5Si4+TiB2+TiSi and TiSi+TiB2+TiSi2.

Recently, a new ternary phase was discovered in the Ti-Si-B system, located near the Ti6Si2B composition. The present study concerns the preparation of titanium alloys that contain such phase mixed with α-titanium and other intermetallic phases. High-purity powders were initially processed in a planetary ball-mill under argon atmosphere with Ti-18Si-6B and Ti-7.5Si-22.5B at. (%) initial compositions. Variation of parameters such as rotary speed, time, and ball diameters were adopted. The as-milled powders were pressureless sintered and hot pressed. Both the as-milled and sintered materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive spectrometry. Sintered samples have presented equilibrium structures formed mainly by the α-Ti+Ti6Si2B+Ti5Si3+TiB phases. Silicon and boron peaks disappear throughout the milling processes, as observed in the powder diffraction data. Furthermore, an iron contamination of up to 10 at. (%) is measured by X-ray spectroscopy analysis on some regions of the sintered samples. Density, hardness and tribological results for these two compositions are also presented here.

An accurate knowledge of several metal-boron phase diagrams is important to evaluation of higher order systems such as metal-silicon-boron ternaries. The refinement and reassessment of phase diagram data is a continuous work, thus the reevaluation of metal-boron systems provides the possibility to confirm previous data from an investigation using higher purity materials and better analytical techniques. This work presents results of rigorous microstructural characterization of as-cast hafnium-boron alloys which are significant to assess the liquid composition associated to most of the invariant reactions of this system. Alloys were prepared by arc melting high purity hafnium (minimum 99.8%) and boron (minimum 99.5%) slices under argon atmosphere in water-cooled copper crucible with non consumable tungsten electrode and titanium getter. The phases were identified by scanning electron microscopy, using back-scattered electron image mode and X-ray diffraction. In general, a good agreement was found between our data and those from the currently accepted Hafnium-Boron phase diagram. The phases identified are αHfSS and B-RhomSS, the intermediate compounds HfB and HfB2 and the liquide L. The reactions are the eutectic L ⇔ αHfSS + HfB and L ⇔ HfB2 + B-Rhom, the peritectic L + HfB2 ⇔ HfB and the congruent formation of HfB2.

The thermal decomposition of titanium hydride powder (delta-phase) to titanium (alpha-phase) was investigated by means of thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and high-temperature X-ray diffraction (HTXRD) in high vacuum. The delta-to-alpha phase transformation was followed in situ by HTXRD at temperatures varying from room temperature up to 1000 °C. The transformation was also analyzed as a function of time at isothermal conditions from 450 to 650 °C. The results of TGA show that the decomposition of the titanium hydride becomes significant at about 450 °C. Above 500 °C the decomposition is completed in times shorter than 50 minutes. The apparent activation energy for hydrogen desorption was found to be 63 ± 6 kJ.mol-1.