Junqiang Zhang,Zhishuai Wang,Tong Li,Zhi Wang,Shu Zhang,Mei Zhong,Yue'e Liu,Xuzhong Gong
CaO-containing carbon pellets (CCCP) was prepared by mixing carbide slag (Ca(OH) 2 ) and powdered char to produce CaC 2 , achieving the recycling of carbide slag during CaC 2 production process. The thermal strength of CCCP was the focus of most attention when employing arc furnaces as reactors for CaC 2 production in industry. To improve the thermal strength of CCCP, H 3 PO 4 was used as a binder in this study. The results indicated that Ca 3 (PO 4 ) 2 reacted by H 3 PO 4 and Ca(OH) 2 could help refine the average particle sizes of CaO, resulted in a relatively uniform pore diameter distribution of CCCP with low porosity, therefore improving the thermal strength of CCCP. When H 3 PO 4 content was more than 8 wt%, some over-sintering and melting structure for CaO particles appear, and thus resulting in the decrease in thermal strength of CCCP. The experimental results show that CCCP with 3% H 3 PO 4 has the best thermal strength at 1100 °C. The non-isothermal shrinkage kinetics of CCCP indicated that the addition of 3% H 3 PO 4 reduced the apparent activation energy of sintering reactions and accelerated the sintering of CaO particles in CCCP. Furthermore, the addition of H 3 PO 4 has a positive effect on the formation of CaO sintered necks, enhancing the strength of CCCP.
The electrocaloric effect (ECE) in lead-free (Ba 1−x Sr x )(Sn 0.05 Ti 0.95 )O 3 (BSSnT) (x = 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20) ceramics were investigated around room temperature using direct and indirect approaches. Results indicate that the maximum ECE occurs near the Curie temperature and slightly shifts towards high temperatures with the increasing applied electric field. The directly measured ECE is larger than that calculated using the Maxwell relation. The maximum electrocaloric strength ΔT/ΔE = 0.52 × 10 −6 K m/V was obtained at T = 36 °C, with an adiabatic ΔT of 1.05 °C at 2 MV m −1 . An analytic formula of electrocaloric strength (dT/dE) was deduced, via which the maximum dT/dE was estimated. The factors affecting the electrocaloric strength were discussed, and the experimental results were compared with those derived from the formula.