Applying for a Fellow

I’ve yet to be invited to be a fellow/junior research fellow at any of the colleges here… apparently they expect people to apply to them. To encourage them i’ve produced an application form for any colleges that would like me to join. Simply complete the form and return it to me and I will consider you in due course. The deadline for submission is June of each year.

If you are successful in this round, a series of interviews will be conducted, and each college should be prepared to supply a list of references.

Making Steel from Plastic

Another break through by researchers in Australia.

Final Preparation techniques for TEM

Material	Technique	Details	Reference
Fe-Si, S.S.	EW	60% H3PO4, 40% H2SO4, 9V	Tomlinson 1958
Many Steels	E	96% CH3COOH, 4% H2O + 200 g/l CrO3. Stir at 65°C for 1 hr. Cool use at » 10 V. Rinse in alcohol, dip in acetic acid before replacing in electrolyte.	Glenn and Raley 1963
Fe, mild steel	EH	88% CH3COOH, 12% H2O + 170 g/l CrO3, 20 V	Briers et al. 1964
S.S.	EH	5% HClO4, 95% CH3COOH + 20 g/l CrO3 + 10 g/l NiCl2, 50-80V. Stir.	Briers et al. 1964
Many Steels	EIJ	100 g Na2CrO4 per 500 ml CH3COOH, 30-35 V	Shoone and Fischione 1966, Glenn and Schoone 1964
Many Steels	E	H3PO4 + excess CrO3, stand 1 day before using, Low Voltage.	Keown 1970
Fe and S.S.	Disapol	Disapol A2	Phillips and Hugo 1960
Fe-33 Ni	EB	5% HClO4, 95% CH3COOH, 40V	Krauss 1963
Fe, mild steel	Figure of 8	10% HClO4, 90% CH3COOH	Brandon and Nutting 1959a and b
Mild Steel	EP	95% CH3COOH, 5% H2O + 400 g/l CrO3, 1-3V	Ginn and Brown 1965
Bainitic or martensitic Steels	EP	95% (CH3CO)2O, 5% HClO4	Irani and Jones 1966
S.S.	EJ	Dimple: 48% H3PO4, 32% H2SO4, 20% H2O. Final: 54% H3PO4, 36% H2SO4, 10% C2H5OH or H2O	Rowcliffe 1966
Fe-Ti	EIJ	Dimple: 95% CH3COOH, 5% HClO4, 12 V, 20°C. Final: 60% CH3OH, 34% n-butanol, 6% HClO4, 15 V, -50°C	Rack and Cohen 1970
Fe-17 Cr-10 Ni	EP	70% C2H5OH, 20% Glycerol 10% HClO4, -10°C, 5-20 V	Raty et al. 1966
Fe-Si	E	Single crystals. 80% H3PO4, 13% CrO3, 7% H2O, 8V	Gemperle 1963
Fe-Si		High purity material, Disapol AC-1 (AC-2 and D-” also suitable)	Walter and Koch 1962
Fe-Ni	EB	6% H2SO4, 94% H3PO4 + 100 g/l CrO3, 60°C, 0.33 A/cm2	Hammond and Ansell 1964
Fe-Mn	E	70% H3PO4, 30% H2O + 300 g/l CrO3, 65°C. 6V	Roberts 1964
Fe	U	Diamond knife	Phillips 1967
Magnetic iron oxides	Ion	6kV, argon ions	Schmidt et al. 1970
Fe3O4	CJ	80% H2PO4, 20% H2O, 120°C	Wicks 1968

B Bollmann technique

C Chemical Polish

E Electropolish

H PTFE holder

I Immersed (of jets)

Ion Ion Beam thinning

J Jet technique

U Ultramicrotomy

W Window technique

Acetic acid CH₃COOH

Acetic anhydride (CH₃CO)₂O

Cadmium hydroxide Cd(OH)₂

Chromium trioxide CrO₃

Ethanol C₂H₅OH

Hydrochloric acid HCl

Hydrofluoric acid HF

Hydrogen peroxide H₂O₂

Methanol CH₃OH

Nitric acid HNO₃

Ortho-phosphoric acid H₃PO₄

Perchloric acid HClO₄

Potassium cyanide KCN

Potassium ferrocyanide K₄Fe(CN)₆

Sodium hypochlorite NaOCl

Sodium hydroxide NaOH

Sulphuric acid H₂SO₄

Water H₂O

Data from ‘Practical Methods in Electron microscopy, Vol 1, P. J. Goodhew, Ed: Audrey M. Glauert, 1972, North-Holland/ American Elsevier.

Table and Chemical names generated from Latex using ‘tth’ command.

Self Healing Rubber

A self healing material has been developed, rather than having large molecules cross-linked with covalent bonds as in vulcanized rubber, this polymer is based upon smaller molecules which are ‘cross-linked’ by weaker ‘hydrogen bonding’. After the band is cut the two halves can be placed back together, after around 1 hour the original strength is recovered - presumably the molecules are fairly mobile and some diffusion occurs to remove the evidence of the breakage.

This work new material has been reported in ‘Nature’.

Writing micrometer in LaTeX

Simply using math mode in latex to generate the SI micro- prefix isn’t correct since this will produce an italic symbol.

One way to properly write micrometer is by using the SIunits package, this may well be included as a package with the latex on your computer. An example latex document to achieve this is demonstrated here:


\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[mediumspace,mediumqspace,Grey,squaren]{SIunits}

\begin{document}
\unit{100}{\micro\meter}
\end{document}


There are many options specified for the package SIunits in the example above, the first two can be used to control the use of white space, Grey and squaren can be specified to avoid conflicts with other packages you may be using.

Writing Widmanstaetten

Professor Bhadeshia has some details about how to write Widmanstaetten on a webpage here.

In html the a umlaut character can be produced as below, you can find tables to look up various characters, such as this one, the ultimate authority on this being the w3c or whatever happens to work in your browser depending on your perspective.

ä — in html & # 2 2 8 ;

I’m naively hoping that is valid html, it seems to work in my browser and be allowed by wordpress. I did notice that the embedded videos from youtube are not standard html, at least not xml 1.0 compliant.

Anyway, it’s also fairly easy to produce this character in latex, it doesn’t even need the inclusion of any special packages, this simple example seems to work fine.

Example latex document using the a umlaut.

\documentclass[]{article}
\begin{document}
Widmanst\"atten
\end{document}

Something americans need to know… about RON PAUL

If you are American and you believe your country should be for the American people, you should really check out RON PAUL.

Being that rarest of thing, an Honest Politician, seemingly an oxymoron, an enigma wrapped in contradiction… I think it only works because the Truth is so needed, and in such short supply.

Ron Paul may be the only candidate who is interested in saving your country, and has spent the time thinking about what really needs to be done.

He’s a true conservative, and truly compassionate. He knows you can’t afford to continue the needless war in Iraq, and you won’t be able to pay for the domestic spending promises either without changing course now.

A truly passionate and educated man, it’s time to hear his message.

You know I feel embarrassed to believe a politician can be a good person. Look at his voting record, he really votes as he believes the constitution dictates, because he knows the rule of law is paramount to maintain any nation. Change the laws if they are anachronistic, but you can’t ignore them!