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Individual Grains (individual + grain)
Selected AbstractsGeochronological evidence for pervasive Miocene weathering, Minas Gerais, BrazilEARTH SURFACE PROCESSES AND LANDFORMS, Issue 11 2004Isabela de O. Carmo Abstract 40Ar/39Ar laser incremental-heating analyses of 22 individual grains of supergene cryptomelane from three weathering pro,les, up to 400 km apart, in the Rio Doce valley and Barbacena regions at Minas Gerais, Brazil, show that the formation of weathering pro,les in these regions is contemporaneous, suggesting a strong weathering event in the Middle to Late Miocene (10,8 Ma). The preservation of these Miocene samples at or near the present surface suggests that either erosion rates have been very low in the region since the Miocene or that a much thicker weathering mantle was present in the region originally. Assuming a constant thickness of weathering pro,les in the region throughout the Tertiary, we may calculate weathering front propagation rates of 4,8 m Myr,1 during the past 10 Ma. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Principles of Highly Resolved Determination of Texture and Microstructure using High-Energy Synchrotron Radiation,ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS, Issue 6 2009Helmut Klein Abstract Diffraction imaging with hard X-rays (high-energy synchrotron radiation) using the detector sweeping techniques allows measurement of the texture and microstructure of polycrystalline materials with high orientation- and location-resolution. These techniques provide continuous two-dimensional images of different sections and projections of the six-dimensional "orientation-location" space. For the high orientation resolution case, it is possible to measure the orientation and location coordinates of up to 105 individual grains simultaneously. From these parameters, the grain size and shape can also be obtained, yielding the complete orientation stereology of the polycrystalline aggregate, which is required for its complete characterization. For the high location resolution case, the intensity at any point of the diagrams corresponds to a pole density as a function of the orientation-location space. [source] Advances in optically stimulated luminescence dating of individual grains of quartz from archeological depositsEVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 6 2007Zenobia Jacobs Abstract Paleoanthropologists and archeologists interested in occupation histories, faunal remains, and objects of material culture have become increasingly reliant on optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating to construct Quaternary chronologies. In part, the increased use of OSL dating reflects its capacity to date events beyond the range of radiocarbon dating and in contexts where suitable organic materials are absent. An earlier review in Evolutionary Anthropology by Feathers1 provides a general account of the principles of luminescence dating. Since then, however, important advances have been made in OSL dating of quartz, so that it is now possible to date individual sand-sized grains and thereby resolve issues of postdepositional mixing of archeological sediments. In this review, we discuss the most important of these advances and their implications with regard to improved age control of archeological sites. We cover aspects of instrumental and methodological development that have facilitated the widespread measurement of single grains related to archeological questions and illustrate our review with some examples of where archeological problems have been resolved using single-grain OSL dating. We do not propose single-grain dating as a panacea, because there are instances where it is not straightforward to use or the results may be difficult to interpret; dating in such contexts remains the subject of continuing research. [source] Microscopical Investigations of PEDOT:PSS Thin FilmsADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 8 2009Udo Lang Abstract Electron microscopy studies are used to explore the morphology of thin poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) and polystyrene sulfonate acid (PEDOT:PSS) films. The figures show that the films are composed of grains with diameters in the range of about 50,nm. Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis reveals that individual grains have a PEDOT-rich core and a PSS-rich shell with a thickness of about 5,10,nm. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is then used to analyze the topography of fracture surfaces of ruptured PEDOT:PSS tensile specimens. These AFM scans also show that the films are composed of grains dispersed in a matrix. The investigations presented herein yield a picture of PEDOT:PSS morphology with unprecedented clarity. [source] An enhanced constitutive model for crushable granular materialsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, Issue 6 2010Ali Daouadji Abstract Studies in the past have tried to reproduce the mechanical behaviour of granular materials by proposing constitutive relations based on a common assumption that model parameters and parameters describing the properties, including gradation of individual grains are inevitably linked. However successful these models have proved to be, they cannot account for the changes in granular assembly behaviour if the grains start to break during mechanical loading. This paper proposes to analyse the relation between grading change and the mechanical behaviour of granular assembly. A way to model the influence of grain breakage is to use a critical state-based model. The influence of the amount of grain breakage during loading, depending on the individual grain strength and size distribution, can be introduced into constitutive relations by means of a new parameter that controls the evolution of critical state with changes in grain size distribution. Experimental data from a calcareous sand, a quartz sand, and a rockfill material were compared with numerical results and good-quality simulations were obtained. The main consequences of grain breakage are increased compressibility and a gradual dilatancy disappearance in the granular material. The critical state concept is also enriched by considering its overall relation to the evolution of the granular material. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Reaction-induced nucleation and growth v. grain coarsening in contact metamorphic, impure carbonatesJOURNAL OF METAMORPHIC GEOLOGY, Issue 8 2010A. BERGER Abstract The understanding of the evolution of microstructures in a metamorphic rock requires insights into the nucleation and growth history of individual grains, as well as the coarsening processes of the entire aggregate. These two processes are compared in impure carbonates from the contact metamorphic aureole of the Adamello pluton (N-Italy). As a function of increasing distance from the pluton contact, the investigated samples have peak metamorphic temperatures ranging from the stability field of diopside/tremolite down to diagenetic conditions. All samples consist of calcite as the dominant matrix phase, but additionally contain variable amounts of other minerals, the so-called second phases. These second phases are mostly silicate minerals and can be described in a KCMASHC system (K2O, CaO, MgO, Al2O3, SiO2, H2O, CO2), but with variable K/Mg ratios. The modelled and observed metamorphic evolution of these samples are combined with the quantification of the microstructures, i.e. mean grain sizes and crystal size distributions. Growth of the matrix phase and second phases strongly depends on each other owing to coupled grain coarsening. The matrix phase is controlled by the interparticle distances between the second phases, while the second phases need the matrix grain boundary network for mass transfer processes during both grain coarsening and mineral reactions. Interestingly, similar final mean grain sizes of primary second phase and second phases newly formed by nucleation are observed, although the latter formed later but at higher temperatures. Moreover, different kinetic processes, attributed to different driving forces for growth of the newly nucleated grains in comparison with coarsening processes of the pre-existing phases, must have been involved. Chemically induced driving forces of grain growth during reactions are orders of magnitudes larger compared to surface energy, allowing new reaction products subjected to fast growth rates to attain similar grain sizes as phases which underwent long-term grain coarsening. In contrast, observed variations in grain size of the same mineral in samples with a similar T,t history indicate that transport properties depend not only on the growth and coarsening kinetics of the second phases but also on the microstructure of the dominant matrix phase during coupled grain coarsening. Resulting microstructural phenomena such as overgrowth and therefore preservation of former stable minerals by the matrix phase may provide new constraints on the temporal variation of microstructures and provide a unique source for the interpretation of the evolution of metamorphic microstructures. [source] Characterization of granular flow of wet solids in a bladed mixerAICHE JOURNAL, Issue 8 2006Azzeddine Lekhal Abstract In this study, we measure instantaneous, average, and fluctuating velocity fields at exposed surfaces for dry and wet grains in a vertical cylindrical mixer, agitated by four pitched blades. When the material is dry, the free surface of the granular bed deforms, rising where the blades are present, and falling between blade passes. Although average velocities are predominantly azimuthal, instantaneous velocities tracked in time reveal three-dimensional particle circulations, including significant periods of particle motion in the opposite direction to that of the blades, indicative of bed penetration. When moisture is added to the solid particles, the flow dynamics change from a regime dominated by the motion of individual grains to a regime controlled by the motion of small clumps that form as a result of the cohesive forces. This transition is characterized by a reduced particle,particle collision frequency and exhibits a sharp decrease in the granular temperature at the free surface. This transition is also characterized by an increase in bed porosity, which is attributed to increased cohesiveness arising from liquid bridges. A Fourier transform analysis conducted on the tangential component of the velocities (dominant flow) shows that a group of high frequencies exceeding the blade rotation frequency become significant with added moisture. These are characteristics of the large number of wet agglomerates flowing between successive blade passes. © 2006 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 2006 [source] Microstructure and thermal history of metal particles in CH chondritesMETEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE, Issue 6 2007J. I. GOLDSTEIN Four types of metal particles are common in all of these chondrites. Zoned and unzoned particles probably formed as condensates from a gas of chondritic composition in a monotonic cooling regime, as has been shown previously. We have demonstrated that these particles were cooled rapidly to temperatures below 500 K after they formed, and that condensation effectively closed around 700 K. Zoned and unzoned particles with exsolution precipitates, predominantly high-Ni taenite, have considerably more complex thermal histories. Precipitates grew in reheating episodes, but the details of the heating events vary among individual grains. Reheating temperatures are typically in the range 800,1000 K. Reheating could have been the result of impact events on the CH parent body. Some particles with precipitates may have been incorporated into chondrules, with further brief heating episodes taking place during chondrule formation. In addition to the four dominant types of metal particles, rare Ni-rich metal particles and Si-rich metal particles indicate that the metal assemblage in CH chondrites was a mixture of material that formed at different redox conditions. Metal in CH chondrites consists of a mechanical mixture of particles that underwent a variety of thermal histories prior to being assembled into the existing brecciated meteorites. [source] The pyroxene pallasites, Vermillion and Yamato 8451: Not quite a coupleMETEORITICS & PLANETARY SCIENCE, Issue 4 2000Joseph S. BOESENBERG Both meteorites contain low-Ca and high-Ca pyroxenes (<2% by volume) and have been dubbed "pyroxene pallasites." Pyroxene occurs as large individual grains, as inclusions in olivine and in other pyroxene, and as grains along the edges of olivine. Symplectic overgrowths, sometimes found in Main Group and Eagle Station pallasites, are not seen in the pyroxene pallasites. Olivine compositions are Fa10,12, similar to those of Main Group pallasites. Siderophile trace element data show that metal in the two meteorites have significantly differing compositions that are, for many elements, outside the range of the Main Group and Eagle Station pallasites. These compositions also differ from those of IAB and IIIAB iron meteorites. Rare earth element (REE) patterns in merrillite are similar to those seen in other pallasites, indicating formation by subsolidus reaction between metal and silicate, with the merrillite inheriting its pattern from the surrounding silicates. The O-isotopic compositions of Vermillion and Y-8451 are similar but differ from Main Group or Eagle Station pallasites, as well as other achondrite and primitive achondrite groups. Although Vermillion and Y-8451 have similar mineralogy, pyroxene compositions, REE patterns, and O-isotopic compositions, there is sufficient evidence to resist formally grouping these two meteorites. This evidence includes the texture of Vermillion, siderophile trace element data, and the presence of cohenite in Vermillion. [source] Raman tensor analysis of baddeleyite single-crystal and its application to define crystallographic domains in polycrystalline zirconiaPHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI (B) BASIC SOLID STATE PHYSICS, Issue 2 2010Kyoju Fukatsu Abstract The angular dependence of polarized Raman intensity for the Ag and Bg modes was investigated and the full set of Raman tensor elements defined for a baddeleyite single-crystal, namely the monoclinic polymorph of zirconia (ZrO2). Based on the quantitative knowledge of the tensor elements, a method has been proposed for the determination of unknown crystallographic textures in monoclinic zirconia. An application of this method is also shown, which consists of a Raman analysis of crystal orientation on the microscopic scale in polycrystalline ZrO2 after its tetragonal-to-monoclinic (t,m) polymorphic transformation (i.e., occurred under an externally applied stress field). This working example not only confirms the well-known phenomenon of stress-induced phase transformation in polycrystalline zirconia, but also proves the existence of textured domain patterns in the monoclinic phase on a scale larger than that of individual grains. This finding might suggest that the structural and functional properties of polycrystalline zirconia after partial phase transformation should be reinterpreted with taking into account a crystallographic reorientation effect. [source] | ||||||||||||||||