OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to assess personal exposure to fibres, crystalline silica, silicon carbide (SiC) and sulphur dioxide in the Norwegian SiC industry. METHODS Approximately 720 fibre samples, 720 respirable dust samples and 1400 total dust samples were collected from randomly chosen workers from the furnace, processing and maintenance departments in all three Norwegian SiC p...

The effects of p-Sic whisker addition on the microstructural evolution and fracture toughness (K,c) of hot-pressed SIC were investigated. Most of the whiskers added disappeared during the densification process by transformation into the a-phase. The remaining whiskers acted as nuclei for grain growth, resulting in the formation of large tabular grains around the whiskers. The tabular grains aro...

Suspensions of single-walled, double-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were generated in the same solvent at similar concentrations. Films were fabricated from these suspensions and used in carbon nanotube/silicon heterojunction solar cells and their properties were compared with reference to the number of walls in the nanotube samples. It was found that single-walled nanotubes ge...

We present an analytical bond-order potential for silicon, carbon, and silicon carbide that has been optimized by a systematic fitting scheme. The functional form is adopted from a preceding work #Phys. Rev. B 65, 195124 !2002"$ and is built on three independently fitted potentials for SiuSi, CuC, and SiuC interaction. For elemental silicon and carbon, the potential perfectly reproduces elastic...

Quantum systems can provide outstanding performance in various sensing applications, ranging from bioscience to nanotechnology. Atomic-scale defects in silicon carbide are very attractive in this respect because of the technological advantages of this material and favorable optical and radio frequency spectral ranges to control these defects. We identified several, separately addressable spin-3...

The corrosion resistance of nanopowders of borides and carbides of metals of IV-VIB groups, as well as of silicon carbide, was studied in the standard nickeling electrolytes. As objects of study, nanopowders with the content of the main phase 91.8-97.6% and with the average particle size 32-78 nm were used. Their corrosion resistance was evaluated depending on the acidity of the electrolyte, te...

The microstructure of three different nanocrystalline materials with hexagonal crystal structure are studied by X-ray diffraction peak profile analysis. The crystallite size distribution and the dislocation structure are determined in plasmathermal silicon nitride powder, sintered tungsten carbide and severely deformed titanium and are compared with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) result...

The refractive index of a conventional dielectric layer can be enhanced using an Artificial Dielectric Layer (ADL). Here we present the fabrication of low temperature PECVD Silicon Carbide (SiC) membranes with very high refractive index (up to 5 at 1 THz) in the terahertz frequency range. The SiC deposition parameters have been tuned to reach a very low residual stress level (-25 to 100 MPa). T...

The superiority of coronary stent implantation over percutaneous transluminal balloon angioplasty in virtually all lesion subsets has led to the wide use of stents for the percutaneous treatment of coronary lesions 1,2. However, in-stent restenosis remains as a major limitation 3,4. Recent data suggest that neointimal proliferation, the cornerstone of in-stent restenosis 5,6, is related to the ...