Paper: Mechanisms of optical losses inthe 5D4 and 5D3 levels in Tb3+ doped low silica calcium aluminosilicate glasses. J. F. M. dos Santos, I. A. A. Terra, N. G. C. Astrath, F. B. Guimarães, M. L. Baesso, L. A. O. Nunes and T. Catunda. J. Appl. Phys. 117, 053102 (2015). DOI: 10.1063/1.4906781.
A team of scientists from Brazilian institutions has expanded the comprehension of the mechanisms that restrict the light emission efficiency in materials doped with trivalent terbium ion (Tb³+). This ion, found in the rare earth group, subgroup of lanthanides, displays luminescent emissions from ultraviolet to infrared. Its intense green emission, with approximately 545 nm of wave length, is particularly interesting for technological purposes.
Some years ago, for instance, Japanese researchers produced laser emissions with Tb3+ doped optical fibers. However, their device displayed low efficiency, due to the saturation of its optical gain, even at low excitation levels.
Luminescence process of a Tb³ doped LSCAS sample, excited by a blue laser, emitting green light. The pictures portray the sample in a state of (a) non-excitation and (b) excitation.
Taking up this technological issue, the team of Brazilian scientists has conducted a thorough study on the processes that cause the saturation of the green emission. For that, they used Tb3+ to dope a material which, thanks to its properties, ensures high efficiency to the emission, mainly in infrared: the low silica calcium aluminosilicate glass, also known as LSCAS.
The study involved two research groups that have been collaborating for approximately two decades, the group of spectroscopy of solids from the São Carlos Institute of Physics at the São Paulo University (USP), and the photothermics group from State University of Maringá (UEM). The results were reported in a paper that appeared recently on the Journal of Applied Physics.
Firstly, glass samples with different dopant concentrations were prepared by the UEM group.
Picture of the LSCAS samples. The base sample has a Tb3+ concentration of 0.05%.
At IFSC-USP, the samples were excited using a laser at two different wavelengths, 488 nm (visible) and 325 nm (ultraviolet), and their absorption, emission and excitation spectra were obtained. Analyzing them, the scientists from the group of spectroscopy of solids observed certain particularities in the behavior of some luminescent emissions, such as a strong saturation in a green emission, similar to the one found in the laser presented by the Japanese scientists. In other wavelengths, they noted, for example, a decrease in luminescence occurring at lower excitation levels than expected. Thus, the researchers managed to conclude that the mechanism associated in the literature to the emissions from Tb3+ doped materials, also known as cross relaxation, was not enough to completely explain the behavior of the emissions or even the saturation of the green emissions, and proposed the additional action of other processes.
“Additional loss mechanisms, such as emissions by defects in the matrix, energy upconversion processes, to name a few, have a significant influence in the system we have studied”, explains Tomaz Catunda, professor at USP and corresponding author of the article. “These decay paths, previously ignored by the literature, are very important in the manufacturing of optical devices with Tb3+ doped materials”, he adds.
The study of Tb³+ doped glasses by the Brazilian team started during the Doctoral dissertation of Idelma Terra, defended in 2013 at USP, which aimed to develop materials in order to increase the efficiency of solar cells. Her work was granted the 2014 “Vale-CapesScience and Sustainability Award”. The study of these materials continued in Giselly Bianchi’s Doctoral dissertation, performed at UEM, and in the Master’s thesis of Jéssica Fabiana Mariano dos Santos, defended in 2014 at EESC-USP.
The article published on the Journal of Applied Physics has joined dozens of papers born from the collaboration between the groups of spectroscopy of solids and photothermics, in some cases also involving other scientists from Brazil and abroad, focused on the optical spectroscopy of calcium aluminate glasses doped with rare earth ions and their applications in light-emitting devices.
Brazilian Materials Research Society (SBPMat) newsletter
News update from Brazil for the Materials community
English edition. Year 2, issue 3.
SBPMat news: XIV Meeting – Rio de Janeiro, Sept 27 to Oct 1, 2015
Simposia and abstract submission: Abstract submission for the 27 symposia and 2 workshops of the XIV SBPMat Meeting is open until May 30th. Find here the instructions for authors.
Hosting: A list of hotels is available, with special conditions for participants of the XIV SBPMat Meeting. Here.
Sponsors and exhibitors: 24 companies have already booked their place in the XIV SBPMat Meeting. Contact for exhibitors and other sponsors: rose@metallum.com.br.
Our SBPMat, represented by its president, Professor Roberto Mendonça Faria, composes the organizing committee of the 14th International Conference on Advanced Materials of the International Union of Materials Research Societies (IUMRS – ICAM 2015). The event is to be held in Korea, in October of this year. Learn more.
Featured paper
A team of researchers from the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, and from a Cuban university managed to increase by over 25 times the current density above which the material Bi-2223 ceases to be a superconductor. For such, they prepared the material by means of spark plasma sintering, followed by thermal treatment. The authors also proposed which mechanisms occur in the microstructure of Bi-2223 for such optimization to take place. The work was recently reported in the Journal of Applied Physics. Learn more.
SBPMat´s community people
Oswaldo Luiz Alves, professor of the Institute of Chemistry at the University of Campinas (Unicamp) for over 40 years, is the author of relevant contributions to materials science and engineering, from the development of vitreous materials for telecommunications, to the study of the interactions between new carbon-based nanomaterials and biosystems. In an interview given to SBPMat e-newsletter, professor Alves spoke about his work to introduce the solid state chemistry in Brazil and the contributions he has made in the materials area, working on research, formation of researchers, popularizarion of science, scientific policies, etc. He also told us about his teenage years in São Paulo, and left a message to younger readers. Take a look at our interview with the scientist.
Victor Carlos Pandolfelli, professor of the Department of Materials Engineering at the Federal University of São Carlos (DEMa-UFSCar), was appointed associate editor of the Journal of the American Ceramic Society – one of the journals with more citations in its area. Learn more.
History of Materials research in Brazil
Cylon Gonçalves da Silva, first director of the Synchrotron Light Brazilian National Laboratory (LNLS), shared with us some anecdotes about the participation of the Brazilian industry in the construction of the laboratory – more precisely, about the use of Brazilian materials in the manufacturing of the LNLS accelerators. Read professor Silva’s article here.
Reading tips
Special
A captivating report of the very interesting story of the discovery of natural quasicrystal – found in Siberia and produced… in outer space. The article won the Physics Journalism Prize, 2015 edition, of the Institute of Physics (IOP) and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). Here.
International science stories of highlighted papers
Polymer-nanoparticles hydrogel, easy to produce, has potential for controlled drug delivery (Nature Communications). Here.
Magnetic hyperthermia: flower-shaped nanoparticles generate more heat to destroy cancer cells (Journal of Applied Physics). Here.
News from Brazilian National Institutes of Science and Technology (INCTs) and Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers (CEPIDs)
New bioglass developed within the Center for Research, Technology and Education in Vitreous Materials (CeRTEV) improves the performance of dental and orthopedic titanium implants upon being deposited on the surface. Here.
Opportunities
Joint call for proposals by FAPESP (São Paulo) and M-ERA NET (Europe) in Materials Science and Engineering. Here.
Events
Simpósio Internacional em Materiais e Biossistemas (SIMBI) 2015. Lavras, MG (Brazil). April, 28 and 29, 2015. Site.
4th School of SAXS Data Analysis. Campinas, SP (Brazil). May, 11 to 15, 2015. Site.
VII Método Rietveld. Fortaleza, CE (Brazil). July, 6 to 10, 2015. Site.
São Paulo School of Advanced Sciences (ESPCA) on Recent Developments in Synchrotron Radiation. Campinas, SP (Brazil). July, 13 to 24, 2015. Site.
Advanced School on Glasses and Glass-Ceramics (G&GC São Carlos). São Carlos, SP (Brazil). August, 1 to 9, 2015. Site.
Primeira Conferência de Materiais Celulares (MATCEL 2015). Aveiro (Portugal). September, 7 to 8, 2015. Site.
XIV Encontro da SBPMat. Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). September 27 to October 1, 2015. Site.
13th International Conference on Plasma Based Ion Implantation & Deposition (PBII&D 2015). Buenos Aires (Argentina). October, 5 to 9, 2015. Site.
10th Ibero-American Workshop on Complex Fluids 2015. Florianópolis, SC (Brazil). October, 25 to 29, 2015. Site.
14th International Union of Materials Research Societies – International Conference on Advanced Materials (IUMRS-ICAM 2015). Jeju (Korea). October, 25 to 29, 2015. Site.
To suggest news, opportunities, events, papers, interviewees or reading recommendations items for inclusion in our newsletter, write to comunicacao@sbpmat.org.br.
Professor Oswaldo Luiz Alves. (Credits: Gustavo Morita)
It was in the science clubs from the public school and from the neighbourhood, in the city of São Paulo, that Oswaldo Luiz Alves took an interest in sciences during his teenage years, conducting chemistry and biology experiments. At the age of 20, he graduated from one of the first technical courses in Industrial Chemistry in South America, at the Oswaldo Cruz Technical School, relying on a scholarship from the São Paulo State Education Office. During the course, he did an internship at the Biological Institute, ran by the government of the State of São Paulo, where he first got in touch with the infrared spectroscopy technique.
After a one-year experience working in the industry, he was accepted to the undergraduate course in chemistry of the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), and completed it in 1973, obtaining the titles of “bacharel” and “licenciado”. During his undergraduate studies, he acted in teaching and research at the Unicamp´s Institute of Chemistry. As soon as he graduated, Alves, who was 25 years old at the time, was hired by that institute and, at the same time, started his doctorate, carrying out research on the application of vibrational spectroscopy (both Raman and infrared) in molecular complexes. In 1979, he left for France on a scholarship from the São Paulo State Research Foundation (Fapesp) for a post-doctoral internship, in which he again worked with vibrational spectroscopy. In that opportunity, he could use one of the first Fourier transform infrared spectrometers. Thus, Oswaldo Alves experienced firsthand the beginning of a time in chemistry of fruitful development of new analysis techniques, especially spectroscopic, and their applications. In addition, Alves was also motivated by another movement, which began in the 70s and which occurred mainly in the chemists’ community in Europe: the development and study of new materials within the so-called “solid state chemistry”.
Back in Brazil after almost two years in France, in which he worked as invited professor at the University of Lille, he found a scenario different from the European one. In Brazil, almost no chemist worked in the Solid State area yet. Thus, Alves dedicated himself to introducing the area and, in 1985, he founded the Solid State Chemistry Laboratory (LQES) at Unicamp’s Institute of Chemistry. Since then, the scientist has been making relevant contributions to materials science and technology, in sundry themes such as vitreous materials for telecommunications, two-dimensional materials synthesis techniques, development of integrated chemical systems, purification of carbon nanotubes and interaction between new carbon-based nanomaterials and biosystems.
Currently 67 years old, Oswaldo Alves is a full professor at Unicamp, where he works as a scientific coordinator of the LQES and the Laboratory of Nanostructure Synthesis and Interaction with Biosystems (NanoBioss/SisNano). In his 40 years of teaching, he was advisor to over 50 master’s and doctoral dissertations. He has authored over 200 articles published in scientific journals, which have more than 2,400 citations. He have also authored over 20 patents, 5 of them granted and one licensed, the latter refering to a technology aimed at the remediation of effluents from paper and textile industries. In the scientific dissemination field, he works as scientific editor of two news bulletins, “LQES News” and “Nano em Foco”.
Oswaldo Alves is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and of the Academy of Sciences of the State of São Paulo, as well as a commander of the Brazilian National Order of Scientific Merit. He is also a fellow of TWAS (The World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries) and of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He has received awards from different entities, such as Unicamp, the Brazilian Association of Chemical Industries (Abiquim) and the Brazilian Society of Chemistry, which he chaired from 1998 to 2000, in addition to being a founder and first director of its materials chemistry division.
See our interview with the scientist.
SBPMat’s Bulletin: – How did you become interested in science? What led you to become a scientist and work in solid state/materials chemistry?
Oswaldo Luiz Alves: – It has been many years. Before I got into University I took part in science clubs of my public school and my neighborhood in the city of São Paulo (Perdizes district). In the neighborhood’s science club we had a small laboratory with materials donated by one of the grandchildren of scientist Vital Brazil, where we conducted several chemistry and biology experiments. Soon after that, I got an internship at the Biological Institute, as a formal requirement of the Industrial Chemistry technical course, where I worked with infrared spectroscopy and polarography (dropping mercury electrode) applied to the determination of pesticides. When I got into Unicamp, in 1969, after a period of experience in the industry (Bayer), it was already clear for me that I would continue studying after graduating, which made me engage in research on rare earth compounds, through a research scholarship from FAPESP, already thinking of becoming a university professor and researcher. I went straight to doctorate, withouth having a master´s degree (that was not very common in the 70s in Brazil), working with Raman-laser and infrared spectroscopies and theoretical calculations of molecular force fields. In 1979, I went to France for my post-doctoral internship at the Laboratoire de Spectrochimie Infrarouge et Raman of the CNRS to work with Raman spectroscopy with spatial resolution, SERS and CARS effect and to commission one of the first infrared spectrometers that operated with Fourier transform. At that time, there was in Europe and especially in France (Bordeaux, Rennes and Orsay) an extremely prolific activity in solid state chemistry, within the materials perspective. I was taken away!
Upon returning to Brazil, I saw the opportunity to found the Solid State Chemistry Laboratory – LQES (1985), with a lot of difficulty, for almost all of the Brazilian chemists worked with solutions. Due to that, I migrated to the Physics community, where I remained for approximately 10 years, even getting to the point of coordinating materials-related activities at the famous meetings of the Brazilian Physics Society (SBF) in the city of Caxambu. Since then, I have always been involved in solid state and materials chemistry, taking part in the Optical Fiber Project (Telebras), where I worked with quantum dot-doped glass for telecommunications, glass for non-linear optics and, in the LQES, on activities connected to two-dimensional (lamellar) materials, nanocomposites involving conductor polymers, integrated chemical systems, glass-ceramics and porous glasses, silicon nanoparticles with complex functionalities, carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide and carbon dots. In the last three themes, my efforts are geared towards the study of the interaction between such new carbons with biosystems, from a viewpoint of assessment of the risks of nanotechnologies (regulation).
SBPMat’s Bulletin: – Which are, in your own assessment, your main contributions to the field of materials?
Oswaldo Luiz Alves: – It is always very hard to make such assessments, but I believe that some points could be listed.
In terms of scientific research, my main contributions have been the research works on quantum dot-doped glass and glass for non-linear optics, the development of synthesis techniques of several two-dimensional materials and their intercalation chemistry, the development of integrated chemical systems (conductor polymer glass, semiconductor glass), purification of carbon nanotubes (effect of oxidized debris) and interaction of new carbons with biosystems (protein “corona” effect and aggregation) and silicon nanoparticles with antagonistic functionality for drug delivery.
I created the Solid State Chemistry Laboratory (LQES), a pioneer in solid state chemistry research in Brazil, where I have worked to this day as scientific coordinator. Another contribution that I believe deserves to be highlighted was my work as coordinator of the “Chemistry Program for Electronic Materials” by FINEP (Funding Authority for Studies and Projects) (late 80s). Several of the more important materials research groups that worked, or still work, in Brazil at a high level, in several states, received funding from this successful program. My participation as founder and first Director of the Materials Chemistry Division of the Brazilian Chemistry Society is worthy of mention. I coordinated the FAPESP project that funded the construction of the first line of EXAFS (XAS) at LNLS (Synchrotron Light Brazilian National Laboratory), and I had direct participation in the user formation programs in a spectroscopic technique that had never been used in Brazil. I am currently working as scientific coordinator of the Laboratory of Nanostructure Synthesis and Interaction with Biosystems (NanoBioss/SisNano).
In 2014 I completed 40 years of teaching at Unicamp’s Institute of Chemistry, where I supervised over 50 students (both for master’s and doctorate degrees), many of whom are, today, leaders in research that stand out in the national and international scenario, and who exercise their activities in several Brazilian states.
I have worked as scientific editor of two news bulletins. The first one is the LQES News, a fortnightly publication that has been running for 14 years, with its editorial line connected to the developments in science and technology (general) and innovation and nanotechnologies. The second one is the “NANO em Foco” bulletin, edited in partnership with the Brazilian Agency of Industrial Development (ABDI), published on a monthly basis and running for 7 years, with an editorial line connected to commercial products, risks and regulation of nanotechnologies. In addition to that, I have published, also in partnership with the ABDI, the “Nanotechnology Guidebook” (two editions), aimed at introducing nanotechnologies for the general public.
The several systems and materials studied and developed at the LQES have allowed the filing of 27 patents of process and application, including international ones, and a licensing of an innovative technology for the industry. In addition to that, I have taken part, as a consultant, in two processes related to the Program of Economic Subvention for Companies (Nanotechnology) by FINEP, which led to the development of 8 commercial products.
Along these many years, I participated in several activities connected to the Brazilian scientific policies, out of which we can highlight: coordinator of councils (Chemistry) at CNPq and Fapesp. Member of the Deliberating Council at CNPq (2 terms of offices) and of the Nanotechnology Council (MCTI/SisNano) in all of its compositions. I have worked, until this time, as consultant for the nanotechnology segment of the Brazilian Agency of Industrial Development and the Management and Strategic Studies Center (CGEE). I have provided consultancy to the State Council for Science and Technology of the Economic Development, Science, Technology and Innovation Office of the State of São Paulo, for the nanotechnology segment. I am part of the scientific council of APAE São Paulo – a non-governmental organization for prevention and inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities.
SBPMat’s Bulletin: – Leave a message for our readers starting their careers in science.
Oswaldo Luiz Alves: – First of all, I would like to say that a scientific career is fascinating, especially in the times we live in, where paradigms are frequently broken. Another aspect, no less fascinating, is living with the inter, multi and transdisciplinarities that, at the same time as they expand our knowledge, point out our limitations. In such relations, it is clear that a sound and in-depth knowledge of concepts, techniques and tools is fundamental. It is a process based on an attitude of openness and the acquisition of a “common language” that allows the interaction of different experts and expertises in the solution of problems, very well identified, in science, technology and innovation. Thus, we must, whenever possible, seek a balance between paper-oriented and knowledge-oriented research stances and, particularly, not forget to make a second reading of our research results,therefore seeking to examine their possible connection with the needs of the Brazilian citizens and of the national development.
Paper: 10 to 25-fold increase in the transport superconducting critical current density of spark-plasma sintered Bi-2223 superconductors. E. Govea-Alcaide, I. F. Machado, and R. F. Jardim. Journal of Applied Physics 117, 043903 (2015). DOI: 10.1063/1.4906560.
A paper recently published in the Journal of Applied Physics, signed by two Brazilian researchers and one Cuban researcher, brings relevant contributions to the study of superconductor materials – those that allow the flow of electric current without resistance (literally, with zero electric resistance).
Superconductivity occurs in certain materials under certain conditions. There is, for example, a condition called “critical superconductor temperature”, above which superconductivity does not occur. And there is also a “critical current density” (the quantity of electric current that goes through a certain area), above which superconductivity is destroyed.
In the paper reported in the Journal of Applied Physics, the authors present a route that allows the increase of the critical current density of Bi-2223 by over 25 times at the temperature of liquid nitrogen (77 K, that is, some 195 °C negative).
SPS process.
The method works from the Bi-2223 powder (a mixed oxide of bismuth, strontium, calcium and copper), consolidated by means of the spark plasma sintering technique (SPS) at temperatures close to 800 °C and thermally treated at 750 °C for 5 minutes. The route opens possibilities for several applications of the material. “The optimization of superconductor properties of interest, such as the critical superconductor current, seems to be very relevant for the area of applications of superconductors in general”, assesses physicist Renato de Figueiredo Jardim, author of the paper and professor of the Physics Institute at the University of São Paulo (USP).
In addition, in the article the authors proposed which mechanisms occur in the material’s microstructure to explain the increase in said superconductor property.
Electron backscattered scanning electron microscope (EBSD/SEM) image shows the microstructure of Bi-2223 consolidated by SPS at 750 °C: blade-shaped grains.
Initially, the scientists were able to confirm that, after the plasma sintering process, Bi-2223 showed elongated blade-shaped grains, made up of shells and cores. The researchers found that the shell, which is the edge of the grain, was oxygen deficient, which constitutes a problem in a certain way, given that such element is fundamental to improve the superconductor properties of Bi-2223 by optimizing its intergranular properties.
However, the brief thermal treatment given after the consolidation of the material caused significant results. “The thermal treatment was fundamental for the reestablishment, even if partial, of sound superconductor properties in the material prepared by SPS”, Renato Jardim states. In fact, the treatment decreased the width of the oxygen-deficient shell, propitiating the increase of conduction of the electric current between the grains. “The reestablishment of oxygen in the material occurs through the grain contours and is certainly not total, that is, it occurs in certain portions of the grains boundaries, establishing “pathways” with low electrical resistance, through which electric current, for example, can connect the material superconductor grains”, the professor summarizes.
According to professor Jardim, his scientific collaboration with the first author of the article, physicist Ernesto Govea Alcaide, currently a professor of the University of Granma (Cuba), is over 15 years long, and dates back to Govea Alcaide’s doctorate research, carried out between 2001 and 2005 within a CAPES/MES (Brazil/Cuba) agreement, coordinated by professors Jardim (by USP) and Pedro Mune (by the University of Oriente, in Cuba). At such time, Govea Alcaide started a systematic study of the preparation of superconductor compounds, aiming at technological applications.
“It is important to stress that superconductor materials with potential for technological applications require certain very specific characteristics, that is, the materials must have: (i) a single crystallographic phase; (ii) high texture; (iii) high density; and (iv) low electric resistance grain boundaries”, professor Jardim explains.
With such characteristics in mind, in a work stage under the bilateral agreement, Govea Alcaide began the preparation of superconductor materials. In a visit to São Paulo, Jardim tells, Govea Alcaide got in touch with the group headed by professor Izabel Machado, also an author of the article, and using the facilities of her laboratory he produced Bi-2223 samples by means of the SPS technique based on powders of such high-quality material, the production of which was already dominated at professor Jardim’s laboratory.
According to professor Jardim, a greater set of scientific articles regarding the same topic of the article mentioned here and recently published by professors Govea Alcaide, Machado and Jardim, among other researchers, has just been given an award from the Academy of Sciences of Cuba as one of the works of greater scientific contribution in 2014.
The work whose results were reported in the article in the Journal of Applied Physics relied on funding from Brazil (Fapesp, CNPq, CAPES and Petrobras) and from Cuba (Higher Education Ministry – MES).
Picture of the storage ring of the synchrotron light source, in LNLS (Campinas, SP) in December, 1996, time of the start of its working, 7 months before the inauguration of the laboratory. (Credit M.B.JR)
When we started the construction of LNLS, in 1986, and much before that, in its “pre-history”, there already was the intention of involving the Brazilian national industry in the construction of the equipment. Looking back from 2015, it is difficult to imagine what the Brazilian industry was in 1985. It is even more difficult to conceive that, in some sectors, among them the metal-mechanical sector, it was more sophisticated than it is today. The opening of the Brazilian economy, required, but conducted in a confused and trapping manner by Collor Government, terminated with a good part of the most sophisticated industry that was in Brazil at that time. Out of all the materials required to construct the accelerators, two got highlight for their weight (literally): steel and copper. To the magnets and vacuum chambers, we needed steel, and to the coils of the electromagnets we needed OFHC copper with low content of oxygen.
I remember the visit made to our hangar, by an specialist in ultra-high vacuum of Balzers that states to us, in an arrogant manner, that “it is impossible to manufacture ultra-high vacuum chambers” with Brazilian steel. “You will have to import”. It is not required to say that it was a wonderful incentive so that we would look for a Brazilian supplier to our needs. Ricardo and I shared a healthy disregard to such type of specialist. I think we both thought, without speaking up, each time we´ve heard statements of such type, more or less the same thing: “Ah, yes! No way? You will see!” To the manufacturing of the magnets and vacuum chambers, there were two questions not answered. There would be in Brazil steel with the required characteristics? And the laser-cutting method that we intended to use would not affect in a negative manner the magnetic properties of the material on its edges? No one has used such technique to manufacture precision electromagnets until LNLS considered it as an option, given the very special conditions we were facing. When we started, no one had the answers to such questions. The experience showed that there was the required steel in Brazil, for the magnets (SAE1006, acquired in the national market and re-laminated by Mangels), as well as for the chambers (AISI 316L), and that the laser cutting was a feasible and very flexible technique to the production of batches relatively small of electromagnets*. This, naturally, did not occur from night to day. In another occasion, we could told the long history of the development of the processes for steel, for example, the vacuum chambers cleaning and welding, and, for the magnets, the improvement of the magnetic properties.
Another history, funnier, is the one of copper for the coils of the electromagnets. CERN has recommended the Finnish company Outokumpu to us, which was their supplier. It is clear that, with such recommendation, we were calm regarding the quality of the Finnish product. But, I was not satisfied with having to import copper. A research revealed the existence of Termomecânica in São Paulo, property of Salvador Arena. Referencing to my “specialists”, all of them were unanimous in two points: it was a best-quality company and a company owned by an exceptional businessman, one of the most dedicated to the technological development of his products, only a little moody. I thought he fitted in the profile of a potential supplier to LNLS, and there I went to explain the LNLS project and its needs to him. I was welcomed, I have heard for hours an explanation on the beautiful educational program that was the project of his heart, I could expose our project in a brief manner, but Arena was precise about it – “I do not enter in such business. I do not want anything with the government. I will not go right. Forget it, you will not reach it. Termomecânica will not supply to you.” (I put the text between quotes, safeguarding that they could not have been Arena’s exact words, but the sense is the same.)
I confess I got disappointed, but the talk was not in vain. It served to me to understand how he thought, and to outline a strategy to convince him. We imported, with the help of CERN, a ton of OFHC copper from Outokumpu (a fraction of what we needed) in the specifications required to the coils of the dipole of the ring. The copper supplied by Outokumpu was OFHC/OFE – 99.99% minimum Cu with up to 0.0010% max of oxygen. As soon as the material arrived, I called to Salvador Arena to tell him: “You did not want to supply, I imported from Outokumpu, your competitor”. What was heard on the other side of the line cannot be reproduced in the profusion of the insulting words where Arena was prodigal. Underneath, I was referred to as frivolous and unreliable, and he assured me in the most emphatic terms that he has never said that Termodinâmica would not provide us with the copper of low content of oxygen we needed. And he virtually ordered me to go back there immediately with the specifications that they would develop the material to us. And it was what they did. Thanks to Outokumpu’s import strategy, the copper supplied by Termomecânica is until today complying with its role with distinction, not only in the dipoles, but in all electromagnets of LNLS (OHFC/OF certificate – 99.95% minimum Cu + Ag with up to 0.0010% max of oxygen, but with OFE quality). Also here, there is a long story of development made by the LNLS team, from the materials up to the finished product. But, let’s leave it to another opportunity.
Prof. Cylon Gonçalves da Silva
* I thank Guilherme Franco, Osmar Bagnato, and Ricardo Rodrigues, of LNLS team, for having refreshed my memory on the types of steel deployed, as well as the technical details of OFHC copper.
The researcher Victor Carlos Pandolfelli, full professor of the Materials Engineering Department at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar) was appointed associate editor of the Journal of the American Ceramic Society. The scientific magazine has occupied the first ranks in the area of Material Science – Ceramics in the Journal Citation Reports by Thomson Reuters.
According to Pandolfelli, in the 98 years of existence of the journal, it is the second time a Brazilian scientist is chosen for such position. Professor José Arana Varela, current CEO at the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), was, until the appointment of Pandolfelli, the only Latin-American to belong to the group of associate editors.
Pandolfelli is full member of Brazilian Sciences Academy, of the World Academy of Ceramics and of the Brazilian National Engineering Academy, fellow of the American Ceramic Society, and guest professor of Wuhan University of Science and Technology (China). Pandolfelli is member of the editorial committee of 12 technical magazines in the area of ceramic materials. He is member of the advisory board of the World Academy of Ceramics (2014-2018) and Latin-American coordinator of the Federation for International Refractories Research and Education (FIRE), which comprehends 11 universities in different countries, and 16 global companies in the area of refractories. He published 459 articles in scientific journals with peer review and received 12 international awards. He has one published book and 8 registered patents.
The Brazil Materials Research Society (SBPMat), represented by its president Roberto Mendonça Faria is part of the organizing committee of IUMRS-ICAM 2015 (14th International Conference on Advanced Materials organized by the International Union of Materials Research Societies). Particularly, professor Faria composes the international advisory board of the conference with other scientists in the world, among them, directors of Materials Research Societies of Australia, Europe (E-MRS), Japan, Singapore, and Taiwan.
The abstract submission for the conference symposia is open until May 31.
Brazilian Materials Research Society (SBPMat) newsletter
News update from Brazil for the Materials community
English edition. Year 2, issue 2.
SBPMat news: XIV Meeting - Rio de Janeiro, 9/27 a 10/1 de 2015
Simposia and abstract submission: 27 simposia and 2 workshops (the biggest number in the records of our annual meetings) compose the XIV SBPMat Meeting.
Until May 30th, you may submit abstracts to present your work in the symposia or workshops of the event.
Sponsors and exhibitors: 20 companies have already booked their place in the XIV SBPMat Meeting. Contact for exhibitors and other sponsors: rose@metallum.com.br.
Two more points in the map of the university chapters of SBPMat: at UNESP campus Presidente Prudente and at UNESP campus Ilha Solteira. Eight units have already been created in South, Southeast, Northeast, and North regions of Brazil since the launching of the program in the beginning of 2014. Learn more on the new university chapters.
Featured paper
A team from federal universities of the Northeast region of Brazil developed a random laser emitting ultraviolet light using zinc oxide powder which particles worked as light scatterers. The scientists proved that the emission was induced by the mechanism of “3 photons absortion”. The work, which results were recently published on Nanoscale, opens possibilities for applications in several areas, especially medicine. Learn more.
SBPMat' s community people
Over 30 years of scientific work, Helio Chacham made relevant contributions to the area of Materials. Initially, he dedicated to the theoretical investigation of materials under ultra-high pressure. Since middle 1990, frequently cooperating with experimental groups, he has studied nanomaterials, especially 2D materials. In an interview to SBPMat newsletter, Professor Chacham talked about his main contributions in such themes. In addition, he told a little about his childhood and adolescence in Belo Horizonte, among other subjects. See our interview with this scientist.
History of Materials research in Brazil
We present the second part of the story on the history of the Synchrotron Light Brazilian National Laboratory (LNLS). Between 1986 and 1997, in Campinas city in São Paulo state, a team of scientists and other collaborators designed, constructed, and tested the source of synchrotron light and the instruments of the beamlines of the laboratory. For such, the team worked successively in a room at the university, in a house, and in an industrial hangar, before getting installed in the definitive campus of LNLS. We report a brief chronology of such epic and share statements of some of its leaders. See it.
Reading tips
International science stories on highlighted papers.
New strategy of materials engineering to obtain lighter, safer and more durable lithium-ion batteries (Advanced Functional Materials). Here.
Thin films of complex oxides integrated to ferroelectric crystals: potential for information storage (Advanced Functional Materials). Here.
Scientists are able to dispose organic molecules within nanotubes and, from such, demonstrate application for a faster Internet (Nature Nanotechnology). Here.
New method allows growing molybdenum disulfide flakes with accuracy in specific locations (Nature Communications). Here.
News from Brazilian National Institutes of Science and Technology (INCTs) and Research, Innovation and Dissemination Centers (CEPIDs).
In the context of a collaboration between CeRTEV (CEPID in vitreous materials) and the International Materials Institute for New Functionality in Glass, Professor Edgar Zanotto will administer a remote class on vitreous ceramic materials to an international group. Here.
Events
4th School of SAXS Data Analysis. Campinas, SP (Brazil). May, 11 to 15, 2015. Site.
São Paulo School of Advanced Sciences (ESPCA) on Recent Developments in Synchrotron Radiation. Campinas, SP (Brazil). July, 13 to 24, 2015. Site.
Advanced School on Glasses and Glass-Ceramics (G&GC São Carlos). São Carlos, SP (Brazil). August, 1 to 9, 2015. Site.
Primeira Conferência de Materiais Celulares (MATCEL 2015). Aveiro (Portugal). September, 7 to 8, 2015. Site.
XIV Encontro da SBPMat. Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). September 27 to October 1, 2015. Site.
13th International Conference on Plasma Based Ion Implantation & Deposition (PBII&D 2015). Buenos Aires (Argentina). October, 5 to 9, 2015. Site.
10th Ibero-American Workshop on Complex Fluids 2015. Florianópolis, SC (Brazil). October, 25 to 29, 2015. Site.
To suggest news, opportunities, events, papers, interviewees or reading recommendations items for inclusion in our newsletter, write to comunicacao@sbpmat.org.br.
