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Due to their high irradiance and wide modulation bandwidth, high-power lasers open up a wide field of application. For example, the classical methods of pulse and lock-in thermography can be realized in high quality. In addition, structured heating is also possible by using arrays of such lasers. This makes it possible to implement new thermographic methods, such as interference-based detection of cracks or super resolution.
Accelerating chemical process development and manufacturing along with quick adaption to changing customer needs means consequent transformation of former batch to continuous (modular) manufacturing processes. These are justified by an improved process control through smaller volumes, better heat transfer, and faster dynamics of the examined reaction systems.
As an example, for such modular process units we present the design and validation of an integrated nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) micro mixer tailor‐made for a desired chemical reaction based on computational modelling. The micro mixer represents an integrated modular production unit as an example for the most important class of continuous reactors. The quantitative online NMR sensor represents a smart process analytical field device providing rapid and non‐invasive chemical composition information without need for calibration. We describe the custom design through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for the demands of the NMR sensor as well as for the given reaction conditions. The system was validated with an esterification reaction as an example for a chemical reaction process.
Systems utilizing such an online NMR analyser benefits through short development and set‐up times based on “modular” spectral models. Such models can simply be built upon pure component NMR spectra within minutes to a few hours (i.e., assignment of the NMR signals to the components) instead of tedious DoE calibrations runs. We present a range of approaches for the automated spectra analysis moving from statistical approach, (i.e., Partial Least Squares Regression) to physically motivated spectral models (i.e., Indirect Hard Modelling and Quantum Mechanical calculations). The approach was validated for typical industrial reactions, such as hydrogenations or lithiations.
This work wants to show the benefit of NMR spectroscopy as online analytical technique in industrial applications for improving process understanding and efficiency. Especially development and set‐up times based on “modular” data analysis models will enable new production concepts, which are currently discussed with respect to digitization of process industry.
PANIC is the ideal forum for such discussions in the application of NMR spectroscopy and its data analysis to the everyday problems in process industry.
Virtual CT acquisition and reconstruction of complex and noisy scanning trajectories in aRTist
(2019)
In modern CT imaging, simulation has become an important tool to minimize cost- and time-intensive measurements. It is increasingly used to optimize techniques for complex applications, to support the preparation of written procedures, and for educational purposes. We extended the CT simulation software ‘aRTist’ with a module to set-up arbitrary trajectories including disturbing influences during the scan. Moreover, such geometric deviations can be compensated by the internal reconstruction tool.
The departure from the current automation landscape to next generation automation concepts for the process industry has already begun. Smart functions of sensors simplify their use and enable plug-and-play integration, even though they may appear to be more complex at first sight. Monitoring specific information (i.e., “chemical” such as physico-chemical properties, chemical reactions, etc.) is the key to “chemical” process control.
The talk introduces a smart online NMR sensor module provided in an explosion proof housing as example. This sensor was developed for an intensified industrial process (pharmaceutical lithiation reaction step) funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (www.consens-spire.eu). Due to NMR spectroscopy as an “absolute analytical comparison method”, independent of the matrix, it runs with extremely short set-up times in combination with “modular” spectral models. Such models can simply be built upon pure component NMR spectra within a few hours (i.e., assignment of the NMR signals to the components) instead of tedious calibrations runs.
The talk also generally covers current aspects of high-field and low-field online NMR spectroscopy for reaction monitoring and process control.
Nanomaterials are a relatively new class of materials for which a regulatory framework still has to be established and regulators require comprehensive datasets of well characterized nanomaterials for the implementation. Especially information about the surface chemistry of nanoparticles is crucial, since it largely determines their biological and environmental fate. How the surface chemistry changes under relevant ageing conditions is of particular interest, because exposure will normally occur not to the pristine material but to a nanoform that underwent some kind of transformation.
In this talk, first a short overview about the contributions of division 6.1 to multiple European-funded projects will be presented, in which surface analytical techniques are used to improve the physical-chemical characterization of nanomaterials. Secondly, a study investigating the surface-chemical transformations of a representative set of titanium dioxide nanoparticles is discussed in more detail. The ageing has partly been performed at the BAM division 7.5, and the surface chemistry was analyzed using time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). By analyzing the complex mass spectra with principal component analysis (PCA), it was possible to identify even subtle changes that occur upon ageing.
What exactly does a postdoc do at a research institute? What scientific questions does he or she want to address? What is their daily work routine? During our regular Lab Tours, female postdocs provide insight into their jobs. They also tell us about their career path: How did they get there? And what do they envision for their professional future?
This time, Dr. Ana Guilherme Buzanich, a scientist from the Structure Analysis division at the Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM), will give an overview of her Research areas. She works at the electron storage ring BESSY-II where she conducts experiments at two hard X-ray beamlines (BAMline and µSpot). The tour includes a guided visit of the research facility.
Dislocations are the carriers of plastic deformation. As such, their characterization offers important information on the properties they affect. In this contribution, a new tool is presented, which is incorporated in Amira ZIB Edition and allows for three-dimensional (3D) imaging and quantification of dislocations substructures from thick regions an electron-transparent specimen. In the tool, the dislocation segments are traced on diffraction contrast images that are obtained in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). The uncertainties related to the experimental setup and to the proposed method are discussed on the base of a tilt series.
Absorption edge tomography is a method which exploits the sudden change of the attenuation coefficient, when the photon energy crosses the absorption edge of an element. The beamline BAM line at BESSY II, which is operated by the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing, can provide a monochromatized beam in a photon energy range from 5 keV up to 80 keV with a bandwidth of 2%. Together with the microtomography setup, this enables differential tomography sensitive to any element with N >= 24 (Cr) by using an appropriate K- or L-edge in this range. Here, a polymer filament embedding metal organic framework (MOF) was prepared and used for 3D printing. Absorption edge tomography at the copper K edge was employed to perform a non-destructive 3D characterization of the microstructure of the embedded MOF. Data fusion was then used to determine the size distribution of the embedded MOF.
Correlating the photoluminescence (PL) properties of nanomaterials like semiconductor nanocrystals (QDs) and upconversion nanocrystals (UCNPs) assessed in ensemble studies and at the single particle level is increasingly relevant for applications of these nanomaterials in the life sciences like bioimaging studies or their use as reporters in microfluidic assays. Here we present a comparison of the spectroscopic properties of ensembles and single emitters for QDs like II/VI QDs and cadmium-free AIS/ZnS QDs as well as different UCNPs. The overall goal of this study was to derive particle architectures well suited for spectroscopic and microscopic applications.
The transition from X-ray film to digital detectors in radiography is accompanied by an increase of unsharpness due to the larger inherent digital detector unsharpness in comparison to film. The basic spatial resolution of digital detectors (see EN ISO 17636-2) is used today to describe this unsharpness. The geometrical unsharpness of the radiographic projection of object structures onto the detector plane is determined by the focal spot size of the X-ray tube and the magnification. The focal spot size is measured today (see ASTM E 1165) from pin hole camera exposures or edge unsharpness (see ASTM E 2903). The final image unsharpness is a result of a convolution of the geometrical and inherent detector unsharpness function, divided by the magnification factor of the object onto the detector plane. Different approximations of this convolution result in ASTM E 1000 and ISO 17636-2 in different optimum values for the magnification factor for a given focal spot size of a X—ray tube and the basic spatial resolution of the detector. The higher contrast sensitivity, an advantage of digital radiography, compared to film radiography is furthermore improved when using higher X-ray voltages as used with film and smaller focal spots of the X-ray tubes. This allows a higher distance between object and detector resulting in reduced object scatter in the image. The interactions between all these parameters will be discussed and simple rules for practitioners will be derived in this contribution.
Seismic methods are increasingly used to improve ultrasonic imaging and monitoring of concrete. At BAM, we are research mainly the use of Reverse Time Migration to get better images from ultrasonic echo data of thick, complex concrete structures. Coda wave interferometry is used to detect subtle changes in concrete constructions, e. g. using embedded ultasonic transducers.
Chemical companies must find new paths to successfully survive in a changing environment. The potential of digital technologies belongs to these. Flexible and modular chemical plants can produce various high-quality products using multi-purpose equipment with short down-times between campaigns and reduce time to market for new products. Intensified continuous production plants allow for difficult to produce compounds.
Therefore, fully automated “chemical” process control along with real-time quality control are prerequisites to such concepts and thus should be based on “chemical” information. The advances of a fully automated NMR sensor were exploited, using a given pharmaceutical lithiation reaction as an example process within a modular pilot plant. A commercially available benchtop NMR spectrometer was integrated to the full requirements of an automated chemical production environment such as , e.g., explosion safety, field communication, and robust evaluation of sensor data. It was thereof used for direct loop advanced process control and real-time optimization of the process. NMR appeared as preeminent online analytical tool and allowed using a modular data analysis tool, which even served as reliable reference method for further PAT applications.
In future, such fully integrated and intelligently interconnecting “smart” systems and processes can speed up the high-quality production of specialty chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Polymers at interfaces play a major role in a broad variety of applications ranging from engineering purposes (for instance polymer based nanocomposites) to high tech implications (for instance light emitting diodes).
Here, thin films with thicknesses down to few nanometers are prepared on different substrates as model systems for polymer composites. The thin films are investigated by a combination of surface analytical and volume sensitive methods. As surface analytical methods atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and contact angle measurements (CAM) are employed. As volume sensitive broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS), specific heat spectroscopy (SHS), and ellipsometry are used. Especially attention is paid to understand the glass transition behavior of thin films because the glass transition is the key phenomenon determines the application of polymers also in thin films.
To understand the glass transition behavior of thin films, which is controversially discussed in literature, a three layer model is discussed. Firstly, a mobile surface layer is assumed at polymer air interface of the film due to missing of segment/segment interactions. Secondly, in the middle of the film a bulk-like layer should be expected. Thirdly, for polymers having non-repulsive interactions with the substrate an irreversibly adsorbed layer is expected to be formed. Due the adsorption the molecular mobility of the segments in this layer is slowed down. What is measured for the glass transition of thin films is a complicated average of all of these effects. The different layers are hardly to address separately. Therefore, in the presentation especially model systems are selected and investigated to verify the layer model.
Ferritic high temperature alloys are widely used as boiler tube and heat exchanger materials in coal, biomass and co-fired power plants. All technologies have in common that the applied materials are exposed to different temperatures, process pressures and reactive atmospheres that lead to a change of the material properties and a further degradation of the material. Material changes caused by aging in highly corrosive and toxic gases such as SO2 are mainly studied ex situ after the reaction is finished. The solid material is deposited in the atmosphere for a certain period of time, and material changes are then examined by various microscopic techniques such as optical microscopy (OM), electron microprobe analysis (EMPA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM and TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Nevertheless, extensive efforts were made to study material changes of high temperature alloys under oxidizing and reducing atmospheres by environmental scanning electron microscopy or in situ TEM techniques However, the possibilities of microscopic in situ techniques are very limited for the use of highly corrosive and toxic gases such as SO2. Since Sulfur induced corrosion at temperatures relevant for coal and biomass fired power plants, which is causing breakaway oxidation and sulfide precipitation at grain boundaries, is still of scientific interest, the current work focuses on the effect of SO2 in an initial stage of corrosion of ferritic alloys. For the analysis of early stages of combined oxidation and sulphidation processes of Fe-Cr model alloys the usage of a light furnace to conduct a rapid reactive annealing experiment is feasible. Previous studies presented distinct results of the influence of chromium on early high temperature corrosion by SO2 by this technique and subsequent classical metallographic analyses. However, it is still not possible to trace the corrosion mechanism in real time by conducting single aging experiments. The current work introduces two different approaches to study the initial stages of high temperature oxidation processes by applying above state of the art X-ray diffraction and spectroscopy methods. One part focuses on the real time observation of the formation of corrosion products such as oxides and sulfides by energy dispersive X-ray diffraction (EDXRD). The potential of this technique to study crystallization and growth processes of thin films in a reactive environment in real time was previously shown for different compound semiconductors. This approach was now applied to follow oxidation and sulphidation processes of ferritic model alloys in SO2 and SO2/H2O environments. The diffraction signals of the X-rays were detected during the corrosion process and the peak area and positions were analyzed as a function of time. This procedure enables monitoring external oxide growth and material loss in real time in an early stage of corrosion.
The other part of the current work presents the possibilities of X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy (XANES) to characterize oxide scales and their growth mechanisms. Precise phase identification and quantification of corrosion products in a multi-phase oxide/sulfide scale is a pre-requisite to understand diffusion paths of metal ions and gas components. It is a challenging task to distinguish structurally similar reaction products such as Fe3O4 and FeCr2O4 especially in thin films with texture effects by diffraction. To illustrate for example Cr-out diffusion of an alloy throughout an inner and external oxide scale the differentiation of Fe3O4 and FeCr2O4 is indispensable. XANES uses the photoionization effect at the metal absorption edge in an aging product and accesses by this structural and chemical information. The current work uses XANES at the Fe-K and Cr-K absorption edge to identify various aging products grown as thin layers on alloys after short time aging experiments. A reaction chamber for combining high temperature oxidation experiments with surface sensitive X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy will be introduced and first results of XANES on scales at high temperatures will be presented.
Ferritic-martensitic alloys with 12-16 % Cr in weight are subject to devices for various energy systems, such as coal power plants and waste incineration plants. These materials are exposed to a highly corrosive environment which lead to a degradation of the material. Especially the simultaneous oxidation and sulfidation is thereby of special interest. Proper spatially resolved measurements that determine not only chemical compositions but phases are rare. However, precise phase identification and quantification of corrosion products within the multi-phase corrosion scales is a key aspect to understand diffusion paths of metal ions and gas ions/molecules. This study investigated Fe-Cr model alloys with Cr contents from 0 to 13 % in weight in 0.5 % SO2 and 99.5 % Ar atmosphere to aim in a fundamental and systematic analysis. Samples were aged at 650 °C for time scales from 12 h to 250 h. The results presented here correspond to depth dependent phase identification of oxide and sulphide phases in the corrosion scales by using X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES). Per sample a series of ca. 20 spots (1-5 µm spot size) from scale-gas to scale-metal interface were measured. XANES spectroscopy was performed at the Fe-K edge (7.11 keV) on polished cross sections. The collected spectra were fitted to a combination of reference materials to quantify the present phases at different positions within the scale.The phase distribution differs with Cr content and the Cr diffusion through pure Fe-oxide and mixed Fe-Cr-oxide phases is discussed.
Chemical companies must find new paths to successfully survive in a changing environment. The potential of digital technologies belongs to these. Flexible and modular chemical plants can produce various high-quality products using multi-purpose equipment with short down-times between campaigns and reduce time to market for new products. Intensified continuous production plants allow for difficult to produce compounds.
Therefore, fully automated “chemical” process control along with real-time quality control are prerequisites to such concepts and thus should be based on “chemical” information. The advances of a fully automated NMR sensor were exploited, using a given pharmaceutical lithiation reaction as an example process within a modular pilot plant. A commercially available benchtop NMR spectrometer was integrated to the full requirements of an automated chemical production environment such as , e.g., explosion safety, field communication, and robust evaluation of sensor data. It was thereof used for direct loop advanced process control and real-time optimization of the process. NMR appeared as preeminent online analytical tool and allowed using a modular data analysis tool, which even served as reliable reference method for further PAT applications.
In future, such fully integrated and intelligently interconnecting “smart” systems and processes can speed up the high-quality production of specialty chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Relative and Absolute Methods for Measuring Photoluminescence Quantum Yields of UV/vis/NIR Emitters
(2019)
One of the key spectroscopic performance parameters of molecular and particulate emitters is the photoluminescence quantum yield (PL QY) that provides a direct measure for the number of emitted per absorbed photons. This triggered the interest in methods suitable for measuring this property for emitters in various environments in the UV/vis/NIR and above 1000 nm as well as on the ensemble and single emitter level. Moreover, for nonlinear emitters like lanthanide-based upconversion nanocrystals methods including instrumentation for power density-dependent PL QY studies are required.
An overview of the research activities in Division Biophotonics of BAM is given and suitable relative and absolute methods for the deter-mination of PL QY of organic dyes and different types of application-relevant nanomaterials in dispersion and in the solid state are presen-ted. This covers also the design and calibration of integrating sphere setups, achievable uncertainties, and candidates for PL QY reference materials.
Mechanochemistry is a fast and efficient method applicable for the synthesis of new organic, metal-organic, and inorganic compounds. The direct monitoring of milling reactions is still challenging. The underlying reaction mechanisms remain often unclear. In the last years, have established a tandem in situ approach for investigating mechanochemical reactions using time-resolved in situ XRD coupled with Raman spectroscopy. Here, we present an in situ coupling of synchrotron XRD, Raman spectroscopy, and thermography allowing the observation of mechanochemical reactions in real time. Information on the crystalline, molecular, and temperature state of the materials during grinding could be collected. The chemical composition of the reaction mixture was found to be directly correlated with changes in the temperature profile of the reaction. Furthermore, the presented setup allows the detection of crystalline, amorphous, eutectic as well as liquid intermediates. The resulting deeper kinetic and thermodynamic understanding of milling processes is the key for future optimization of mechanochemical syntheses.
In the last twenty years, components made of fibre-reinforced plastic became a prominently used material in safety-relevant structures. Periodic in-service inspection of these structures using reliable non-destructive testing methods became a relevant issue in the field. The goal of the EMRP-funded project VITCEA (Validated Inspection Techniques for Composites in Energy Applications) aims on the evaluation of the performance of various non-destructive testing methods on the inspection of fibre-reinforced plastics.
In this talk the results of the comparison of different ultrasonic testing methods will be discussed. There are two challenges for the ultrasonic inspection of fibre-reinforced plastics. Firstly, different material properties of the fibre and the resin cause anisotropic acoustical behaviour of the material. Secondly, the physical layout of fibre layers leads to complex structures of fibre-reinforced plastic parts, and thus to a complex acoustical response. Both result in a reduction of the signal to noise ratio and make interpretation of measurement results rather extensive.
During the VITCEA project, the acoustical behaviour of fibre-reinforced plate materials has been simulated. Specimens with artificial flaws for the evaluation of the detection thresholds have been designed and manufactured.
Various mechanized ultrasonic testing methods including phased-array sensors, air-coupled transducers, immersion tank testing and contact technique have been evaluated on the specially designed specimen. Laboratory scale tests and a round robin test have been carried out. The probability of detection and the detection thresholds for each method have been estimated.
Compared to standard ultrasonic testing methods the application of phased arrays offers advantages and flexibility by the electronic steering possibilities to control the transmitted and received sound fields as well as the image based evaluation of the recorded scans. For more than one decade phased array systems have been introduced and used in the railway sector for the inspection of wheelsets in the workshops. Up to the present field applications of phased array systems in rail inspection are rather rare. On the other hand a lot of scientific work on rail testing using phased arrays has been carried out in the recent past.
Mechanized ultrasonic rail inspection poses strong challenges e.g. due to the harsh environment, complex flaw types and high inspection speeds. Different tasks have to be carried out by non-destructive testing ranging from manufacturing inspection of thermite welds to in-service inspection for operational induced flaws in the rail head, rail web and rail foot as well as rolling contact fatigue. This work will give an overview and categorization of different present approaches for rail testing using phased array.
Phased array systems typically offer digital image based inspection results. This make these systems become the perfect candidates to feed inspection data into a modern big data based workflow, using e.g. cloud computing, signal processing and data fusion for recording, positioning and tracking of flaws and artefacts in rails and to gain additional benefit.
Evaluation of promising innovative approaches and solutions for phased array based ultrasonic rail inspection in the frame of “Industry 4.0” will be discussed.
Increased use of high performance steel (HPS) for demanding applications calls for non-destructive ultrasonic testing methods which is covered by standards like SEP 1927 (1) and ASTM E588 (2). Here, an adaption of standards like increasing sensitivity and resolution of ultrasonic testing may be needed in order to improve determination of steel cleanliness.
Modern requirements on standardization in that field have been evaluated during the INCAFAT project “A novel approach for rating fatigue-initiating inclusions in highly demanding steel” which was funded by the European Commission.
Main results of this research show that an adapted standard should be open to different type of specimen due to the diversity in application. This includes a wide range from bars, rings and plates as well as different inspection sensitivities. An adapted standard should be open to the definition of the volume to be investigated and open to be selected by the user. Furthermore, for enhanced resolution the frequency range should be extended to higher frequencies. The use of focal beam probes shall be mandatory and probes should be selected according to the geometry of the specimen. Therefore, calibration procedures have to be improved significantly to allow proper sizing of indications. Indication height shall be directly transferred into an equivalent disc shaped reflector taking distance amplitude curves as well as signal amplitude distribution and signal travel time into account.
A new standard draft proposal taking all these requirements into account has been filed in the frame of the INCAFAT project and is now on discussion.
Chemical companies must find new paths to successfully survive in a changing environment. The potential of digital technologies belongs to these. Flexible and modular chemical plants can produce various high-quality products using multi-purpose equipment with short down-times between campaigns and reduce time to market for new products. Intensified continuous production plants allow for difficult to produce compounds.
Therefore, fully automated “chemical” process control along with real-time quality control are prerequisites to such concepts and thus should be based on “chemical” information. The advances of a fully automated NMR sensor were exploited, using a given pharmaceutical lithiation reaction as an example process within a modular pilot plant. A commercially available benchtop NMR spectrometer was integrated to the full requirements of an automated chemical production environment such as , e.g., explosion safety, field communication, and robust evaluation of sensor data. It was thereof used for direct loop advanced process control and real-time optimization of the process. NMR appeared as preeminent online analytical tool and allowed using a modular data analysis tool, which even served as reliable reference method for further PAT applications.
In future, such fully integrated and intelligently interconnecting “smart” systems and processes can speed up the high-quality production of specialty chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Flexible and modular chemical plants can produce various high-quality products using multi-purpose equipment with short down-times between campaigns and reduce time to market for new products. Intensified continuous production plants allow for difficult to produce compounds.
Therefore, fully automated “chemical” process control along with real-time quality control are prerequisites to such concepts and thus should be based on “chemical” information. The advances of a fully automated NMR sensor were exploited, using a given pharmaceutical lithiation reaction as an example process within a modular pilot plant. A commercially available benchtop NMR spectrometer was integrated to the full requirements of an automated chemical production environment such as , e.g., explosion safety, field communication, and robust evaluation of sensor data. It was thereof used for direct loop advanced process control and real-time optimization of the process. NMR appeared as preeminent online analytical tool and allowed using a modular data analysis tool, which even served as reliable reference method for further PAT applications.
The talk also generally covers current aspects of high-field and low-field online NMR spectroscopy for reaction monitoring and process control and gives also an overview on direct dissolution studies of API cocrystals.
Flexible and modular chemical plants can produce various high-quality products using multi-purpose equipment with short down-times between campaigns and reduce time to market for new products. Intensified continuous production plants allow for difficult to produce compounds.
Therefore, fully automated “chemical” process control along with real-time quality control are prerequisites to such concepts and thus should be based on “chemical” information. The advances of a fully automated NMR sensor were exploited, using a given pharmaceutical lithiation reaction as an example process within a modular pilot plant. A commercially available benchtop NMR spectrometer was integrated to the full requirements of an automated chemical production environment such as , e.g., explosion safety, field communication, and robust evaluation of sensor data. It was thereof used for direct loop advanced process control and real-time optimization of the process. NMR appeared as preeminent online analytical tool and allowed using a modular data analysis tool, which even served as reliable reference method for further PAT applications.
Nowadays, different nanoparticles have been developed for commercial applications. However, since data on toxicity are barely available, their increasing application in cosmetic products, food and their release in the environment might cause severe problems. An accurate separation, identification and characterization of nanoparticles becomes increasingly important1,2.
In this presentation, a two-dimensional separation approach based on AF4 and CE was showed and used to separate NPs with similar sizes but different coatings. Standard reference polystyrene NPs having comparable core sizes but different coatings were investigated. Different migration time and profiles were compared. Separation in either method resulted in non-baseline resolved or non-separated peaks. In contrast, two-dimensional coupling of AF4 and CE resulted in clearly separated regions in their 2 D plots in case of 20 and 50 nm particle mixtures, whereas the 100 nm NP mixture could not be separated. Various factors affecting the separation like hydrodynamic diameter or SDS concentration were discussed.
Future investigations will be focussed on inorganic NPs with differently charged coatings. There, AF4-CE coupling can be coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to enhance the sensitivity of this method.
Nowadays, different nanoparticles have been developed for commercial applications. However, since data on toxicity are barely available, their increasing application in cosmetic products, food and their release in the environment might cause severe problems. An accurate separation, identification and characterization of nanoparticles becomes increasingly important.
A common method for nanoparticle separation, which was introduced in 1976 by Giddings, represents asymmetrical field-flow fractionation (AF4). It is a flow based separation method, which can be theoretically used to separate particles range from 1 nm to 50 µm. However, when the particles are smaller than 10 nm, separation with AF4 will become difficult to perform. Because in this case strong separation force, which induces aggregation of particles, should be applied. This will decrease recoveries of analytes and limit its application in accurate quantitative analysis. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is another well-developed separation technique, in which samples will be separated in relation to their electrophoretic mobility. In recent years, CE has been used to separate different kinds of nanoparticles like, gold colloids or CdSe Quantum dots. However, till now only separation of particles smaller than 50 nm was reported. Because large size distribution of bigger particles will result in strong peak broadening and long separation time.
A two-dimensional coupling of AF4 and CE might provide us a new separation method, which can extend the separation ranges of both methods and be a way to characterise particles with large size distributions.
Nowadays, different nanoparticles have been developed for commercial applications. However, since data on toxicity are barely available, their increasing application in cosmetic products, food and their release in the environment might cause severe problems. An accurate separation, identification and characterization of nanoparticles becomes increasingly important.
A common method for nanoparticle separation, which was introduced in 1976 by Giddings, represents asymmetrical field-flow fractionation (AF4). It is a flow based separation method, which can be theoretically used to separate particles range from 1 nm to 50 µm. However, when the particles are smaller than 10 nm, separation with AF4 will become difficult to perform. Because in this case strong separation force, which induces aggregation of particles, should be applied. This will decrease recoveries of analytes and limit its application in accurate quantitative analysis. Capillary electrophoresis (CE) is another well-developed separation technique, in which samples will be separated in relation to their electrophoretic mobility. In recent years, CE has been used to separate different kinds of nanoparticles like, gold colloids or CdSe Quantum dots. However, till now only separation of particles smaller than 50 nm was reported. Because large size distribution of bigger particles will result in strong peak broadening and long separation time.
A two-dimensional coupling of AF4 and CE might provide us a new separation method, which can extend the separation ranges of both methods and be a way to characterise particles with large size distributions.
The accumulation of plastics leaked into the environment achieve a high perception in the last years. It is uncontroversial that often an uncontrolled, high consumption of plastic products and a poor waste management resulted in plastic findings all over in the environment. However, less is known about the relevant pathways and fate of plastic in the environment. Especially plastic fragments smaller 5 mmm, so called microplastics, achieve a high attention, because their amount and risks arising from these fragments are still unknown. The basic mechanisms of plastic or more precise, of different polymer degradation processes are often not considered, resulting in unrealistic statements.
For generation of fundamental understanding of this problem we developed in the last years a fast thermoanalytical method for identification and mass quantification of microplastics in complex samples. The presentation will also give a short introduction about polymer degradation.
Chemical companies must find new paths to successfully survive in a changing environment. The potential of digital technologies belongs to these. Flexible and modular chemical plants can produce various high-quality products using multi-purpose equipment with short down-times between campaigns and reduce time to market for new products. Intensified continuous production plants allow for difficult to produce compounds.
Therefore, fully automated “chemical” process control along with real-time quality control are prerequisites to such concepts and thus should be based on “chemical” information. The advances of a fully automated NMR sensor were exploited, using a given pharmaceutical lithiation reaction as an example process within a modular pilot plant. A commercially available benchtop NMR spectrometer was integrated to the full requirements of an automated chemical production environment such as , e.g., explosion safety, field communication, and robust evaluation of sensor data. It was thereof used for direct loop advanced process control and real-time optimization of the process. NMR appeared as preeminent online analytical tool and allowed using a modular data analysis tool, which even served as reliable reference method for further PAT applications.
In future, such fully integrated and intelligently interconnecting “smart” systems and processes can speed up the high-quality production of specialty chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
This presentation gives a short overview of isotope ratio measurements being carried out in the past few years at BAM in different fields such as plant metabolism, food web structures and archaeology. The corresponding isotope reference materials which have been certified at BAM in parallel are presented as well. Additionally an outlook is being provided on future iRM projects.
The Cairo Geniza is an “archive” discovered in the 19th century in Ben Ezra Synagogue in Fustat, a district in Old Cairo (Egypt). The collection of mostly Jewish documents that vary in genres, languages and writing supports contains a large number of early medieval Hebrew manuscripts.
The Geniza provides sources for the literary, linguistic, historical studies of the various aspects Jewish life. As the documents attest, at least two Jewish communities co-existed in Fustat up to 11th century: a so-called Babylonian and Palestinian. These communities had different leaders, different traditions and lived independently. The differences seem to manifest themselves also in the paleographical, codicological and some material properties of the manuscripts produced by each community.
The aim of this project is to compare the inks used in the Jewish documents depending on different variables: support (paper, parchment), purpose of the manuscript (legal, private, religious), provenance of the scribe. For the determination of the inks type and composition we had to choose non-invasive, non-destructive and portable techniques to analyze the corpus directly on-situ.
The analyses were carried out with a micro-X-ray spectrometer ArtTAX® (Bruker GmbH) and a digital stereomicroscope features built-in LED illumination at 395 nm and 940nm, Dino Lite.
We would like to stress that though the methods of material analysis listed above have been successfully employed in the field of cultural heritage and conservation including ancient and medieval manuscripts they have not yet been used to study fragments from the Cairo Genizah. Therefore, we believe that this research project is a pioneering study that will provide new insights into the history of Hebrew writing materials, their production techniques and materials and, thus, contribute new data to the field of Hebrew paleography.
The technique of painting on the reverse side of a glass panel was rediscovered by German artists at the beginning of the 20th century. They appreciated the impressive gloss, luminosity, and depth of colours in this genre. Compared to stained glass, the distinctive properties of this technique are: (1) the paint is applied “cold”, hence, it doesn’t involve a firing step, (2) reverse paintings on glass are framed and always viewed in reflected light and (3) the reverse paint stratigraphy is different from canvas paintings, starting with the front most layer and ending with the backing layer. In 1908 several artists, including Gabriele Münter, Wassily Kandinsky, Heinrich Campendonk, August Macke and Franz Marc of the “Der Blaue Reiter” (the Blue Rider) collective took an interest in this technique and started to share their interest with other colleagues in Europe. Our pioneering project is tracing this transfer of knowledge by a multidisciplinary approach in terms of art history, paint technology and material science. More than 100 artists and >1000 reverse paintings on glass were identified during the project. This high number of objects clearly points out that this technique was by far more important for modern art than previously assumed. In-situ, non-invasive measurements (XRF, Raman, VIS, DRIFTS) on a well-considered selection of 67 paintings reveal the broad palette of colorants ranging from traditional to experimental. Special attention is paid to the impact of synthetic organic pigments (SOP) in artists palette. Demonstrative examples by W. Kandinsky, L. G. Buchheim and F. Jespers are used to discuss analytical challenges and highlights.
Synthetic peptide pools are used in antigen-specific T-cell assays, which are an important part in vaccine and immunotherapeutic clinical trials. As the analytical characterization is challenging due to the similarity of the single peptides or is expensive due to isotope labeled standards, usually only a pre-characterization of the single peptides is performed. However, a regular quality control of the peptide mix would be highly desirable. Therefore, a cost-efficient high performance liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (HPLC-HRMS) method for quality control of a model peptide pool is developed.
Peptides were synthesized using peptides&elephants proprietary libraries of individual peptides (LIPS) technology and purified by reversed-phase chromatography to > 90% each. The lyophilized single peptides were combined to a model peptide pool and analyzed by reversed-phase high-performance capillary liquid chromatography coupled to an orbitrap mass spectrometer. Separation was performed on a capillary reversed phase column (2 μm, ID x L 300 μm x 150 mm) with a linear gradient of acetonitrile + 0,05% trifluoroacetic acid.
For the separation of a model peptide pool the additive, additive concentration, the gradient elution and the temperature were optimized. Different quantification approaches were tested. Identification was performed by high resolution mass spectrometry in which extracted ion chromatograms (XIC) were used to confirm exact masses.
In line with the development of a new cost-efficient quality control method for the separation and identification of complex synthetic peptide pools, varied HPLC parameters highlighted their influence on chromatographic resolution and peptides were identified with high mass accuracy.
Z02 is one of the three technically supporting projects at the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC). In collaboration with the other two service projects, Z01 and Z03, it aims at bridging the gap between humanities and natural sciences and technology. To that purpose, we set up a laboratory with a range of high-end instruments, most of them mobile, allowing thorough non-destructive analysis of manuscripts. In addition to working on constantly improving the laboratory and the methods of analysis, a substantial part of our activities is dedicated to service, by supporting different research projects conducted at the centre. In this talk, we will present our equipment and the possibilities offered by the different techniques available regarding the different kinds of missions: typology and classification of inks, provenance studies, recovery of faded inscriptions and palimpsests, reconstruction of the history of manuscripts, authentication and dating. We will give a brief overview of our past and ongoing activities in the frame of the second phase of the CSMC. Finally, a selection of projects will be presented in greater detail to highlight the possibilities of our laboratory and the diversity of missions which can be carried out.
Environmental sustainability and –stability of Materials concerning the Migration of pollutants
(2018)
MaUS is an acronym for ”Material und Umweltsimulationen“. Plastics are in the focus of environmental politics due to their long-term behaviour and therefore to their persistence. Not only that they appear as visible contaminants in the sea and on the beach, but their unknown behaviour concerning their additives as well as the related transformation products are anxious. Therefore, we wish to establish a certified reference method to provide a method for testing plastics.
Aim of this project is the development of fast motion standard reference methods for testing plastics regarding to their environmental compatibility. To establish these testing methods, we use polystyrene (PS) and polypropylene (PP) with environmental relevant brominated flame retardants, known for their persistent bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) properties. In case of PS the material contains 1 wt% of 1,2,5,6,9,10-hexabromocyclododecan (HBCD) and in case of PP 0.1 wt% bromodiphenylether (BDE-209), which is known as a substance of very high concern (SVHC). Furthermore, we use polycarbonate (PC), which is still used as material in baby flasks and releases Bisphenol A (BPA), an estrogenic active substance.
As an additional material PTFE is used for its importance as a source for two ubiquitous environmental substances (PFOS and PFOA), whose toxicological effects are still incompletely known.
The focus in this current work is set on the transfer of potential pollutants out of applied materials mentioned above into environmental compartments like water or soil. Here an accelerated aging concept should be developed to shortened time consuming natural processes. For these resulting simulations we use a programmable weathering chamber with dry and wet periods and with high and low temperatures. These programmes run for several weeks and according to a defined sampling schedule we take water samples, run a clean-up procedure by SPE (Molecular imprinted polymers (MiPs) resp. polymer-based cartridges (Waters Oasis HLB)) and analyse them by HPLC-UV resp. LC-MS/MS. Of most interest in case of flame retardants are photocatalytic transformation products. Therefore, we conduct a non-target-screening resp. a suspected target-screening by LC-MS/MS and HRMS.
The state of fresh concrete is predominantly determined by the rheological properties of the cement paste. In order to control performance spectra and requirements of novel concretes and to better understand macroscopic phenomena, comprehensive knowledge of the material behavior of fresh cement suspensions as well as of the complex relationships of mechanisms at the nano and micro scale are necessary. This work focuses on micro and nano rheology of suspensions of cementitious model systems and the influence of polycarboxylate-based admixtures on the rheology. The phenomena are driven by multiple parameters such as adsorption and particle interactions. Hence, the first part examines the interaction between polycarboxylate ether (PCE) and synthesized clinker phases and hydration products as model systems with regard to early hydration products.
Mechanochemistry is a fast and efficient method applicable for the synthesis of new organic[1], metal-organic[2], and inorganic[3] compounds. The direct monitoring of milling reactions is still challenging. The underlying reaction mechanisms remain often unclear. In the last years, have established a tandem in situ approach for investigating mechanochemical reactions using time-resolved in situ XRD coupled with Raman spectroscopy.[4] Here, we present an in situ coupling of synchrotron XRD, Raman spectroscopy, and thermography allowing the observation of mechanochemical reactions in real time.[5] Information on the crystalline, molecular, and temperature state of the materials during grinding could be collected. The chemical composition of the reaction mixture was found to be directly correlated with changes in the temperature profile of the reaction. Furthermore, the presented setup allows the detection of crystalline, amorphous, eutectic as well as liquid intermediates. The resulting deeper kinetic and thermodynamic understanding of milling processes is the key for future optimization of mechanochemical syntheses.
Mechanochemistry is increasingly used for synthesizing various materials including metal organic compounds and cocrystals. Although this synthesis approach offers a fast and pure synthesis in high yields, there is a lack in understanding the mechanisms of milling reactions. The necessary data can only be obtained in in situ experiments, which were only recently established for milling reactions. Herein, we present a novel setup enabling a combined in situ investigation of mechanochemical reactions using synchrotron XRD and Raman spectroscopy.
Mechanochemistry is a fast and efficient method applicable for the synthesis of new organic[1], metal-organic[2], and inorganic[3] compounds. The direct monitoring of milling reactions is still challenging. The underlying reaction mechanisms remain often unclear. In the last years, have established a tandem in situ approach for investigating mechanochemical reactions using time-resolved in situ XRD coupled with Raman spectroscopy.[4] Here, we present an in situ coupling of synchrotron XRD, Raman spectroscopy, and thermography allowing the observation of mechanochemical reactions in real time.[5] Information on the crystalline, molecular, and temperature state of the materials during grinding could be collected. The chemical composition of the reaction mixture was found to be directly correlated with changes in the temperature profile of the reaction. Furthermore, the presented setup allows the detection of crystalline, amorphous, eutectic as well as liquid intermediates. The resulting deeper kinetic and thermodynamic understanding of milling processes is the key for future optimization of mechanochemical syntheses.
Validation of artificial defects for Non-destructive testing measurements on a reference structure
(2018)
Non-destructive testing was established over the last decades as an important tool for assessing damages, material characterization and quality assurance in civil engineering. For example, Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) can be used to scan large areas of concrete structures to determine the spatial position of the reinforcement. With the ultrasonic echo method, the thickness of concrete structures can be easily determined even if a high density of reinforcement is given. Various methods and processes have been developed for the validation of NDT procedures aiming at ensuring the quality of measurements in practical use. The Probability of Detection (POD) for example, is an available method to compare different technical devices with each other quantitatively regarding their performance. With this method, the best suited testing device for a specific inspection task under defined boundary conditions can be selected. By using the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (GUM), it is possible to quantify the measurement uncertainty of an inspection procedure for a specific task. Another important aspect to improve the acceptance of non-destructive testing methods is the development of reference specimens.
Reference specimens serve for the calibration and further development of NDT methods under realistic conditions in different laboratories under the same conditions. This is an essential prerequisite for round robin tests. A particular challenge here is the most realistic representation of a damage that can occur at building sites. Possible damages include for example horizontal and vertical cracks or honeycombs in concrete. Such a reference structure was built for the development of a new design of power plant constructions. Comparative studies on the manufacturing of realistic honeycombs and delaminations were carried out in advance on a test specimen. The results of this study are presented here.
The analysis of non-metals normally is carried out using elemental analysers which require reference material for calibration. In the lecture the CRM-program of BAM suitable for non-metal-analysis is presented. There are CRMs available with non-metal contents in the low ppm up to the high percent region.
Surface functionalization of nanomaterials is nowadays at the core of many applications of functional materials in the life and material sciences. Examples range from membranes and microarrays over bead-based assays, and next generation sequencing to nanometer-sized optical reporters, nanosensors, and magnetic and optical contrast agents. Typical function-nalization steps include silanization and grafting reactions with reactive monomers to introduce functional groups like amino or carboxylic acid groups or the attachment of ligands like polyethylene glycol (PEG) molecules and biomolecules. [1-3] This enables to tune e.g., dis-persibility, hydrophilicity and biocompatibility, minimize unspecific interactions, improve biofunctionalization efficiencies, and enhance blood circulation times and allows for the use of nanomaterials as reporters in assays or the design of targeted probes for bioimaging.
At the core of all functionalization strategies are reliable and validated methods for surface group and ligand quantification that can be preferably performed with routine laboratory instrumentation, require only small amounts of substances, and are suitable for many different types of nanomaterials. [3] There is meanwhile a considerable need to make these methods traceable. We present here versatile and simple concepts for the quantification of common functional groups, ligands, and biomolecules on different types of organic and inorganic nanomaterials, using conventional and newly developed cleavable and multimodal reporters, that can be detected with optical spectroscopy. [4-7] These reporters are chosen to enable method validation with the aid of method comparisons and mass balances. Also, strategies how to make these simple assays traceable to SI units using quantitative nuclear resonance spectroscopy (qNMR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) are derived.
Analytical Sciences has developed from Ostwald’s “unentbehrlichen Dienstmagd” to a chemical discipline at the core of many of today’s fundamental and applied scientific problems and innovations. An atomic or molecular understanding of basic processes in chemistry, soft matter physics, materials and life science is enabled only through new analytical methods and instrumentation. Similar observations can be found for pressing sociopolitical conflicts of the future: A rational discussion of global climate change or new energy sources is only possible with reliable analytical results. Progress in Analytical Sciences is only possible if the underlying interdisciplinary character is acknowledged and valued. The talk will illustrate the scope of modern Analytical Science through examples from process analysis relevant to modern process intensification and industry 4.0 to bioanalysis and the use of synchrotron radiation to elucidate fundamental reactions materials.
The aim of this presentation is to highlight how psychology can be used to prevent human error. It starts with examples of accidents, incidents and events that have happened due to too little attention being dedicated to human factors. It continues arguing that human factors are one of the main factors influencing the reliability of non-destructive testing and gives definitions of the main terms. Furthermore, it presents a method used to identify risks in mechanized NDT to be used for the purposes of the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel and presents a study, in which human-centred design and eye tracking have been used to optimism the inspection procedure. The conclusion is that human factors methods can be used to identify problems during the inspection process and generate mitigation strategies that can be used to decrease human error and enhance safety.
An improved algorithm for calibration-free laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (CF LIBS) will be presented which includes several novel features in comparison with previously proposed similar algorithms. In particular, it allows using spectral lines with arbitrary optical thickness for the construction of Saha-Boltzmann plots, retrieves the absorption path length (plasma diameter) directly from a spectrum, replaces the Lorentzian line profile function by the Voigt function, and allows for self-absorption correction using pre-calculated and tabulated data rather than approximating functions. The tabulated data embody the solutions of the radiative transfer equation for numerous combinations of optical thicknesses and line widths. The algorithm is thoroughly verified using synthetic spectra.
The basics of broadband dielectric spectroscopy were introduced in detail. The analysis of the data was discussed. As application of broadband dielectric spectroscopy the alpha-relaxation (dynamic glass transition) and the chain dynamics of polymers were ilustrated. Further the application of dielectric spectroscopy to polymerbased nanocomposites and high preformance polymers was discussed in detail.
Metal organic frameworks (MOFs) and coordination polymers (CPs) Play an important role in different fields of applications like e.g. catalysis, separations, gas storages, sensors or optoelectronics. Moreover, particularly fluorinated metal-organic frameworks (FMOFs) are in the focus of interest during the last years. Due to the strong electronegativity of fluorine the FMOFs show beside an enhanced thermal stability excellent optical and electrical properties compared to non-fluorinated frameworks. In most cases fluorine is implemented using perfluorinated organic linkers at the synthesis, usually performed by solvothermal synthesis.
However, only few examples are known so far where fluorine is coordinated directly to the metal cation. Recently we reported about successful mechanochemical syntheses and characterization of fluorine-containing coordination polymers of alkaline earth metals by milling M(OH)2 (M: Ca, Sr, Ba) with fluorinated benzene dicarboxylic acids.
In the present study, it was shown that it is possible to connect fluorine directly to Barium using a mechanochemical synthesis route. A new phase pure barium coordination polymer, BaF-benzene-dicarboxylate (BaF(p-BDC)0.5), was synthesized by milling starting either from barium hydroxide or from barium acetate as sources for barium cations. In both cases the second reactant was 1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid (H2(p-BDC)). Ammonium fluoride was used as fluorinating agent directly at milling. Although single crystals are not accessible so far and the structure was not solved yet, both the 19F MAS NMR spectrum and the FT IR spectrum give strong evidence that fluorine as well as 1,4-benzenedicarboxylate are connected to barium. This is the first mechanochemical synthesis of coordination polymers where fluorine is directly coordinated to the metal cation. The new compound BaF(p-BDC)0.5 was characterized by X-ray powder diffraction, FT IR- and 19F, 1H-13C CP MAS NMR spectroscopies, DTA-TG and elemental analysis.
Due to its low mass and high diffusivity in presence of compositional, thermal and mechanical gradients, hydrogen within a metallic microstructure can result in severe loss in ductility even at low concentrations and might lead eventually to a catastrophic and unpredictable failure of structural components during service. In this context, hydrogen mapping at the microscale is still considered among the most important challenges on the pathway towards a better understanding of the hydrogen transport and assisted cracking phenomena in metals, specifically in structural components, e.g. steels.
Among the very few available techniques to localize hydrogen at the microscale, Time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) was proven to be a reliable tool. Based on the assumption that deuterium influence the microstructure similarly to hydrogen, in the following contribution ToF-SIMS was applied as the main technique to detect and locally map the deuterium distribution in several alloys: lean 2101 and standard 2205 duplex stainless steel (DSS), AISI 304L austenitic stainless steel and titanium 6Al-4V alloy. These alloys were selected as case studies in this work due to the wide use of them in many applications and environments which frequently provide critical conditions for hydrogen absorption and assisted degradation.
The innovative design of in-situ and ex-situ experiments enabled us to elucidate the permeation, transport and trapping of deuterium in the microstructure in sub-micron resolution for the first time. In addition to the novel experimental setups, further progress was gained by applying computational multivariate data analysis (MVA) on the raw data and data fusion with high resolution structural characterization methods (scanning electron microscopy and electron back-scattered diffraction – SEM/EBSD). This combination allowed us to correlate the deuterium distribution and the influence on the microstructure.
In the presented research, the high potential and abilities of secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) to detect and locally map the hydrogen distribution in two types of duplex stainless steels are shown. The research validates certain proposed mechanisms by combining ToF-SIMS with high-resolution scanning electron microscopy and electron-backscattered diffraction. The combination of data from several techniques on the same region was conducted in this field for the first time by applying data treatment of the ToF-SIMS raw data and data fusion approach. This powerful combination of methods allows reviewing of the occurring processes related to hydrogen assisted cracking. The step beyond the state of the art in this field was gained here by developing permeation and mechanical loading experiments within the ToF-SIMS during chemometric imaging of the hydrogen distribution in the microstructure. The research presents the necessary correlation between the hydrogen distribution and the resulted structural changes, the diffusion behavior in a duplex microstructure and stress induced diffusion of hydrogen by applying external load at the microscale.
An unmanned micro aircraft (UAV) is equipped with an open-path gas detector to localise gas sources and to generate gas distribution maps. The gas detector is based on the tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy (TDLAS) and attached to a 3-axis aerial stabilisation gimbal. Sensor validation experiments and first gas tomography reconstructions are shown.
Seismic interferometry (SI) deals either with the sensible detection of changes in the subsurface or with the reconstruction of virtual signals between two receivers by crosscorrelation of signals from diffuse sources. These concepts can be applied in NDT in civil engineering for various purposes, e. g. to detect changes in bridges. Here it is demonstrated using data from a reference structure on our test site. Practical applications can be expected in the very near future.
Concrete is often used in combination with steel as reinforced concrete. Environmental influences, especially the ingress of harmful ions in combination with the ingress of water, trigger different damage processes which reduce the designed lifetime of a structure. The ingress of chlorides from de-icing salt or sea water leads to corrosion of the reinforcement. Also the carbonation of the concrete may trigger the corrosion of the reinforcement. The ingress of alkalis from de-icing salts may cause the expansion of the amorphous silica aggregates (alkali-silica reaction) through formation of a swelling gel of calcium silicate hydrate if water is present. The ingress of sulfates may cause spalling of the concrete surface due to ettringite formation.
BAM has developed the LIBS technique for automated laboratory use with high numbers of samples to investigate transport processes of harmful species (Cl-, CO2, SO42- and alkalis) in concrete. Information about ingress depth and the quantitative values are important to estimate the remaining lifetime of the infrastructure. To get information about the ingress depth, a core has to be taken and cut in the middle. The measurements are carried out at the cross section. The main advantages of LIBS are the direct measurement on the surface of the concrete, fast analysis (sample rate 100 Hz) with a spatial resolution of up to 100 µm, the consideration of the heterogeneity of the concrete. The possibility of automated measurements saves a lot of manpower and time. At the same time a 2D-evaluation provides information about hot spots of elemental concentration which may not be found by standard methods.
Typical results of 2D investigation of concrete in laboratory will be presented. The performance is also demonstrated by examples for onsite applications using a mobile LIBS system. The road map to standardization is presented as well.
The Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) is an useful analytical technique for the chlorine detection in building materials, specifically in the reinforcement concrete. If chlorine exceeds a specific concentration threshold, the result can be pitting corrosion of the reinforcement, which affects the stability and lifetime of building structures like marine constructions, bridges or parking decks. The critical chlorine content based to cement is 0.4 wt.-% based to the cement for reinforced concrete. The ingress of chlorides from sea water or de-icing salt leads to corrosion of the reinforcement.
The chlorine spectral line Cl I at 837.59 nm shows a good performance in helium atmosphere. For measurements without helium we used a electric discharge setup to reheat the Laser-induced plasma with a voltage below 100 V. In this case the reheating shows an increasing chlorine emission in air atmosphere.
This work shows chlorine calibration curves with LIBS in a helium flow and LIBS with electric discharge reheating in air atmosphere. The determination of the limit of detection (LOD) for both setups and the measurement results of a drill core sample with a quantitative chlorine ingress profile will be presented.
The majority of the built infrastructure is made of concrete, which is a multiphase system made of cement, aggregates, water and pores. Concrete is often used in combination with steel as reinforced concrete. Environmental influences, especially the ingress of harmful ions in combination with the ingress of water, trigger different damage processes which reduce the designed lifetime of a structure. The ingress of chlorides from de-icing salt or sea water leads to corrosion of the reinforcement. Also the carbonation of the concrete may trigger the corrosion of the reinforcement. The ingress of alkalis from de-icing salts may cause the expansion of the amorphous silica aggregates (alkali-silica reaction) through formation of a swelling gel of calcium silicate hydrate if water is present. The ingress of sulfates may cause spalling of the concrete surface due to ettringite formation.
For the standard procedure in civil engineering cores are taken, cut in slices, grinded and the obtained homogenized powder is solved in acid and investigated by standard procedures.
BAM has developed the LIBS technique for the 2D evaluation of the chemical composition of concrete [1-11]. The technique is established for automated laboratory use with high numbers of samples to investigate transport processes of harmful species (Cl-, CO2, SO42- and alkalis) in concrete. Information about ingress depth and the quantitative values are important to estimate the remaining lifetime of the infrastructure. LIBS is a surface technique. To get information about the ingress depth, a core has to be taken and cut in the middle. The measurements are carried out at the cross section. The main advantages of LIBS are the direct measurement on the surface of the concrete, fast analysis (sample rate 100 Hz) with a spatial resolution of up to 100 µm, the consideration of the heterogeneity of the concrete and the possibility of automated measurements which save a lot of manpower and time. As an example the investigation of ingress profiles for standard diffusion and migration tests in civil engineering takes hours in comparison to just a few minutes using LIBS. At the same time a 2D-evaluation provides information about hot spots of elemental concentration which may not be found by standard methods.
Ingress of chlorides due to a crack in a repair mortar. Left: Photo of the cross section of a concrete core and the surface investigated by LIBS (area 70 mm x 70 mm). Right: Color coded chlorine intensity on the cross section of a concrete core, dark red represents high chlorine content.
The state of the art of LIBS technique for applications in civil engineering will be presented, including typical results of 2D investigation of concrete in laboratory. The performance is also demonstrated by examples for onsite applications using a mobile LIBS system. The road map to standardization is presented as well.
Mechanochemistry is a fast and efficient method applicable for the synthesis of new organic, metal-organic, and inorganic compounds. The direct monitoring of milling reactions is still challenging. The underlying reaction mechanisms often remain unclear. In the last years, we have established a tandem in situ approach for investigating mechanochemical reactions using time-resolved in situ XRD coupled with Raman spectroscopy. A further development is the in situ coupling of synchrotron XRD, Raman spectroscopy, and thermography allowing the observation of mechanochemical reactions in real time. [5] Information on the crystalline, molecular, and temperature state of the materials during grinding could be collected. The chemical composition of the reaction mixture was found to be directly correlated with changes in the temperature profile of the reaction. Furthermore, the presented setup allows the detection of crystalline, amorphous, eutectic as well as liquid intermediates. Based on these data, metastable polymorphs of cocrystals and coordination polymorphs could be isolated and struc-turally characterized. A multi-step diffusion mechanism was identified for most systems. Crystalline phases were obtained intermediately, suggesting that the synthesis is following Ostwald’s rules of stages. The resulting deeper kinetic and thermodynamic understanding of milling processes is the key for future optimization of mechanochemical syntheses.
Diclofenac (DCF) is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) with analgetic, anti-inflammatory, and antipyretic properties. The mechanism of action of diclofenac, like that of other NSAIDs, involves inhibition of cyclooxygenase (COX-1 and COX-2). Another pharmacological effect is preventing of prostaglandin synthesis in vitro. Prostaglandins are mediators of inflammation, because diclofenac is an inhibitor of prostaglandin synthesis.
A method has been developed to analyse for diclofenac (DCF) in the milk.
The non-destructive testing methods available for civil engineering (NDT-CE) enable the measurements of quantitative parameters, which realistically describe the characteristics of existing buildings. In the past, methods for quality evaluation and concepts for validation expanded into NDT-CE to improve the objectivity of measured data. Thereby, a metrological foundation was developed to collect statistically sound and structurally relevant information about the inner construction of structures without destructive interventions. More recently, the demand for recalculations of structural safety was identified. This paper summarizes a basic research study on structural analyses of bridges in combination with NDT. The aim is to use measurement data of nondestructive testing methods as stochastic quantities in static calculations. Therefore, a methodical interface between the guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement and probabilistic approximation procedures (e.g. FORM) has been proven to be suitable. The motivation is to relate the scientific approach of the structural analysis with real information coming from existing structures and not with those found in the literature. A case study about the probabilistic bending proof of a reinforced concrete bridge with statistically verified data from ultrasonic measurements shows that the measuring results fulfil the requirements concerning precision, trueness, objectivity and reliability.
BAM and Division 6.1
(2018)
Polymers at interfaces play a major role in a broad variety of applications ranging from engineering purposes (for instance polymer based nanocomposites) to high tech implications (for instance light emitting diodes).
Here, thin films with thicknesses down to few nanometers are prepared on different substrates as model systems for polymer composites. The thin films are investigated by a combination of surface analytical and volume sensitive methods. As surface analytical methods atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and contact angle measurements (CAM) are employed. As volume sensitive broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS), specific heat spectroscopy (SHS), and ellipsometry are used. Especially attention is paid to understand the glass transition behavior of thin films because the glass transition is the key phenomenon determines the application of polymers also in thin films.
To understand the glass transition behavior of thin films, which is controversially discussed in literature, a three layer model is discussed. Firstly, a mobile surface layer is assumed at polymer air interface of the film due to missing of segment/segment interactions. Secondly, in the middle of the film a bulk-like layer should be expected. Thirdly, for polymers having non-repulsive interactions with the substrate an irreversibly adsorbed layer is expected to be formed. Due the adsorption the molecular mobility of the segments in this layer is slowed down. What is measured for the glass transition of thin films is a complicated average of all of these effects. The different layers are hardly to address separately. Therefore, in the presentation especially model systems are selected and investigated to verify the layer model.
Common air-coupled transducers for non-destructive testing consist of a piezocomposite material and several matching layers. Better acoustical matching to air is achieved by transducers based on charged cellular polypropylene (PP). This material has about hundred times lower acoustic impedance than any piezocomposite, having about the same piezoelectric coefficient. The piezoelectric properties of cellular PP are caused by the polarization of air cells. Alternatively, a ferroelectret receiver can be understood as a capacitive microphone with internal polarization creating permanent internal voltage. The sensitivity of the receiver can be increased by applying additional bias voltage. We present an ultrasonic receiver based on cellular PP including a high-voltage module providing bias voltage up to 2 kV. The application of bias voltage increased the signal by 12 to 15 dB with only 1 dB increase of the noise.
This receiver was combined with a cellular PP transmitter in through transmission to inspect several test specimens consisting of glass-fiber-reinforced polymer face sheets and a porous closed-cell PVC core. These test specimens were inspected before and after load. Fatigue cracks in the porous PVC core and some fatigue damage in the face sheets were detected. These test specimens were originally developed to emulate a rotor blade segment of a wind power plant. Similar composite materials are used in lightweight aircrafts for the general aviation. The other inspected test specimen was a composite consisted of glass-fiber-reinforced polymer face sheets and a wooden core. The structure of the wooden core could be detected only with cellular PP transducers, while commercial air-coupled transducers lacked the necessary sensitivity. Measured on a 4-mm thick carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer plate, cellular PP transducers with additional bias voltage achieved a 32 dB higher signal-to-noise ratio than commercial air-coupled transducers.
During their life cycle, composite structures used in aircraft structures can be subjected to high- and low-velocity impact loading. High velocity impact damage is usually easy to detect as it creates visible external damage. Low-velocity impacts are more complex to assess because, although significant damage can be generated internally, there can be little indication of external damage on the impacted surface, leading to the term BVID. Impact damage, especially barely visible impact damage, is therefore of primary concern for design and maintenance of modern aircraft composite structures. As a result there is a concerted research effort to improve the damage resistance and tolerance of these materials.
One of the great strengths of X-ray computed tomography over conventional inspection methods (ultrasound, thermography, radiography) is that it can image damage in 3D. or inter-ply interfaces. An X-ray computed tomography (CT) data processing methodology is developed to extract the through-thickness distribution of damage in curved or deformed composite panels. The method is applied to [(0°/90°)2]s carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) panels subjected to low velocity impact damage (5 J up to 20 J) providing 3D ply-by-ply damage visualisation and analysis. Our distance transform approach allows slices to be taken that approximately follow the composite curvature allowing the impact damage to be separated, visualised and quantified in 3D on a ply-by-ply basis. In this way the interply delaminations have been mapped, showing characteristic peanut shaped delaminations with the major axis oriented with the fibres in the ply below the interface. This registry to the profile of the panel constitutes a significant improvement in our ability to characterise impact damage in composite laminates and extract relevant measurements from X-ray CT datasets.
Neurodegenerative diseases are one of the major problems for our ageing society. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) as the most common neurodegenerative disorder affects over 46.8 million people worldwide and the number will increase as the population ages. The diagnosis of AD is challenging and only half of the patients are identified yet and often only in late stages. One reason is that existing assays for identification and quantification of AD biomarkers lack accuracy and are poorly comparable.
This study is part of the EU project “ReMiND” aiming to develop accurate, reliable and traceable methods for the detection and quantification of known and suspected AD biomarkers. Our target is the tau protein, as brain load and distribution of tau is highly correlated with the clinical progression of AD. We intend to develop a measurement method for the accurate quantification of tau by means of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS).
ICP-MS is a powerful method for the matrix independent quantitative analysis of target elements. Developed for the use in inorganic trace analysis, ICP-MS is nowadays emerging as a valuable tool for bioanalytical questions. Especially the use of ICP-MS for quantitative proteomics by measuring heteroatoms is highly promising, considering that established quantification methods like organic mass spectrometry depend on the existence of matched protein and peptide standards or labelling of the target protein. In this work, we applied isotope dilution analysis (IDA) using ICP-MS to quantify proteins of known stoichiometry via their sulphur content. Sulphur is present in two amino acids, cysteine and methionine, and hence is omnipresent in nearly all proteins. A NIST standard bovine serum albumin (BSA) was quantified using sulfur IDA to optimize sample preparation and method parameters. Our goal is to employ the developed method in a proof of concept study for the quantification of the AD biomarker tau extracted from brains of a mouse model for AD.
Biophotonics and analytics - Photoluminescence properties of nanocrystals and surface group analysis
(2018)
Correlating the photoluminescence (PL) properties of nanomaterials like semiconductor nanocrystals (QDs) and upconversion nanocrystals (UCNPs) assessed in ensemble studies and at the single particle level and studying their surface chemistry is increasingly relevant for applications of these nanomaterials in the life and material sciences. Here we present a comparison of the spectroscopic properties of ensembles and single nanocrystalline emitters and simple methods for the quantification of functional groups and ligands on particle surfaces. The overall goal of this study was to derive particle architectures and surface chemistries well suited for spectroscopic and microscopic applications.
Overview about modelling, simulations and measurement of acoustic interactions caused by surface dielectric barrier discharges, micro hollow cathode discharges and plasma jets.
This presentation explains the outline and scientific content of the ISO technical report 23173 "Measurement of the thickness and nature of nanoparticle coatings using electron spectroscopies". This technical report deals with those electron spectroscopy methods that are able to determine the coating thickness of nanoparticles. This specifically includes X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy-resolved X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ERXPS) using synchrotron radiation, near abient pressure photoelectron spectroscopy (NAPXPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES).
The proposed ISO Technical Report provides a description of a variety of physical methods of analytical chemistry by which bacteria and biofilms can be analysed. The state of the art, sample requirements and strengths associated with each method are identified. Presented at the DIN-meeting for NA 062-08-16 AA „Chemische Oberflächenanalyse und Rastersondenmikroskopie“
Graphene is a two-dimensional carbon network with unique properties. However, its low solubility, poor reactivity and the limited accessibility of a well-defined basal plane are major challenges for applications. An ideal method to overcome these problems is the covalent attachment of functional molecules to its surface which enable further reactive modifications for specific applications. There are several technologies for surface functionalization of graphene and related CNT materials. To get control on the functionalization process and to optimize the performance of the modified surfaces analytical tools for surface chemical characterization are required. X-ray absorption (NEXAFS) and photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) have been identified to be rather powerful here [1-3]. Specifically, NEXAFS spectroscopy underpinned by quantum chemical spectrum simulations [4] is unique in a way to address changes of aromaticity and defect formation at the graphene surface during functionalization.
For relevant surface modification technologies, we present examples on how NEXAFS and XPS can do a good job. All presented modifications aim on the production of platforms for defined functional 2D nanomaterials, as for example multifunctional hybrid architectures. In detail, we investigated:
• A wet chemical method for covalent functionalization of graphene sheets by a one-pot nitrene [2+1] cycloaddition reaction under mild conditions. Here a reaction between 2,4,6-trichloro-1,3,5-triazine and sodium azide with thermally reduced graphene oxide (TRGO) results in defined dichlorotriazine-functionalized graphene sheets.
• Graphene and carbon nanotube functionalized by Vacuum-Ultraviolet (VUV) induced photochemical or r.f. cw low pressure plasma processes to introduce amino, hydroxy or brominated functionalities.
To underpin finger-print information delivered by C K-edge NEXAFS we studied the effects of selected point and line defects as well as chemical modifications for a single graphene layer model by density functional theory based spectrum simulations.
References
[1] P.-L. Girard-Lauriault et al., Appl. Surf. Sci., 258 2012 8448-8454, DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2012.03.012
[2] A. Lippitz et al., Surf. Sci., 611 2013 L1-L7, DOI: 10.1016/j.susc.2013.01.020
[3] A. Faghani et al., Angew. Chemie (International ed.), 56 2017 2675-2679, DOI:10.1002/anie.201612422
[4] C. Ehlert, et al., Phys.Chem.Chem.Phys., 16 2014 14083-14095, DOI: 10.1039/c4cp01106f