Metastable stabilization

As colloids, latex particles are thermodynamically unstable and special care should be paid to impart long-term metastable stability, which means to provide an efficient energy... 

Chemical stabilization involves removing the concentration of surface hydroxyls and surface defects, such as metastable three-membered rings, below a critical level so that the surface is not stressed by rehydroxylation in use. Thermal stabilization involves reducing the surface area sufficiently to enable the material to be used at a given temperature without reversible stmctural changes. The mechanisms of thermal and chemical stabilization are interrelated because of the extreme effects that surface hydroxyls and chemisorbed water have on stmctural changes. Full densification of gels, such as the... 

Wilhelm Ostwald was the first to recognise this state of affairs clearly. Indeed, he went further, and made an important distinction. In the second edition of his Lehrbuch der Allgenieinen Chemie, published in 1893, he introduced the concept of metastability, which he himself named. The simplest situation is just instability, which Ostwald likened to an inverted pyramid standing on its point. Once it begins to topple, it becomes ever more unstable until it has fallen on one of its sides, the new condition of stability. If, now, the tip is shaved off the pyramid, leaving a small flat... 

Meta-phosphorsiure, /. metaphosphoric acid -saure, /. meta acid, metasomatisch, a. metasomatic. meta-stabil, a. metastable, -st dig, a. in the meta position. 

Pressure-induced phase transitions in the titanium dioxide system provide an understanding of crystal structure and mineral stability in planets interior and thus are of major geophysical interest. Moderate pressures transform either of the three stable polymorphs into the a-Pb02 (columbite)-type structure, while further pressure increase creates the monoclinic baddeleyite-type structure. Recent high-pressure studies indicate that columbite can be formed only within a limited range of pressures/temperatures, although it is a metastable phase that can be preserved unchanged for years after pressure release Combined Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction studies 6-8,10 ave established that rutile transforms to columbite structure at 10 GPa, while anatase and brookite transform to columbite at approximately 4-5 GPa. 

If 5v //v /coex is not small, the simple description Eq. (14) in terms of bulk and surface terms no longer holds. But one can find AF from Eq. (5) by looking for a marginally stable non-uniform spherically symmetric solution v /(p) which leads to an extremum of Eq. (5) and satisfies the boundary condition v /(p oo) = v(/ . Near the spinodal curve i = v /sp = Vcoex /a/3 (at this stability limit of the metastable states both and S(0) diverge) one finds "... 

Sueh a behaviour of metastability has been reported in the systems Cu65Pt35 and CuAu3. It has been shown that for inereased annealing time or after meehanieal deformation LRO is obtained, whereas for too short annealing times in homogenised material only the variation of SRO with temperature is deteeted. This may lead to serious misinterpretation of alloy stability if not carefully enough investigated. 

The fact that oxides can exist as metastable phases is illustrated by the Ni-HjO diagram (Fig. 1.18) in which the curves for the various oxides of nickel have been extrapolated into the acid region of Ni stability, and this diagram emphasises the fact that nickel can be passivated outside the region of thermodynamic stability of the oxides". 

Fig. 1.18 Modified potential-pH diagram for the Ni-H20 system the curves showing the stability of the nickel oxides have been extrapolated into the acid region to indicate the formation of metastable oxides (after De Gromoboy and Shreir")...

Over the years, Pourbaix and his co-workers in the CEBELCOR Institute, founded under his direction, extended these diagrams by including lines for metastable compounds. Figure 7.66 illustrates such a presentation for the Fe-O system over the temperature range 830-2200 K. Pourbaix used these diagrams as a basis for a discussion of the stability of metallic iron (solid, liquid and vapour phases), the oxides of iron as a function of oxygen pressure and temperature from which he explained the protection of iron at high temperature by immunity and passivation. He also pointed out the... 

Alcohol sulfates are excellent foaming surfactants. According to the Kitchener and Cooper classification [148], alcohol sulfates form metastable foams. However, quantitative values cannot easily be compared because foam largely depends not only on the instrument used to produce and evaluate foam but also on the concentration of surfactant, impurities, temperature, and many other factors. In addition, a complete characterization of the foam capacity should take into account the initial amount of foam, its stability, and its texture. 

To avoid this phase change, zirconia is stabilized in the cubic phase by the addition of a small amount of a divalent or trivalent oxide of cubic symmetry, such as MgO, CaO, or Y2O3. The additive oxide cation enters the crystal lattice and increases the ionic character of the metal-oxygen bonds. The cubic phase is not thermodynamically stable below approximately 1400°C for MgO additions, 1140°C for CaO additions, and below 750°C for Y2O3 additions. However, the diffusion rates for the cations are so low at Xhtstsubsolidus temperatures that the cubic phase can easily be quenched and retained as a metastable phase. Zirconia is commercially applied by thermal spray. It is also readily produced by CVD, mostly on an experimental basis. Its characteristics and properties are summarized in Table 11.8. 

Despite the occurrence of binary AIB2 borides (see also Fig. 2), no ternary representatives are known (Mn, Mo)B2 found from isothermal sections is a stabilized high-T phase by conversion to lower T by a statistical ( ) metal-metal substitution. Both MnB2 and M0B2 are high-T compounds stable above 1075°C and 1517°C respectively WB2 is claimed but is either metastable or impurity stabilized. Similar examples are observed with (W, Pd>2B5 (M02B5 type) as well as (Mo, Rh),, (B3 and (W, Ni), B3 (Mo,., 83 type). The phase relations in the B-rich section of the Mo(W)-B binaries, however, are not known precisely. 

FIGURE 14.4 Stabilization of a nonisothermal CSTR near a metastable steady state. 

The motion of particles of the film and substrate were calculated by standard molecular dynamics techniques. In the simulations discussed here, our purpose is to calculate equilibrium or metastable configurations of the system at zero Kelvin. For this purpose, we have applied random and dissipative forces to the particles. Finite random forces provide the thermal motion which allows the system to explore different configurations, and the dissipation serves to stabilize the system at a fixed temperature. The potential energy minima are populated by reducing the random forces to zero, thus permitting the dissipation to absorb the kinetic energy. 

Derivatives of aliphatic alkynes (14 and 15) are more thermally unstable than 12, but they show SmA and N phases at low temperatures (below 130 °C). The type of phase and the mesophase stability depend on the length of both the terminal and the lateral chains. When both chains are elongated, the mesomorphism becomes metastable and compounds 14 display monotropic N and SmA transitions. Complexes IS, which contains an ester group with an opposite direction to that of complexes 14, display less stable nematic mesophases. 

Stability may be inherent or induced. In the latter case, the original system is in a condition of metastable or neutral eouilibrium. External influences which induce instability in a dispersion on standing are changes in temperature, volume, concentration, chemical composition, and sediment volume. Applied external influences consist of shear, introduction of a third component, and compaction of the sediment. Interfacial energy between solid and liquid must be minimized, if a dispersion is to be truly stable. Two complementary stabilizing techniques are ionic and steric protection of the dispersed phase. The most fruitful approach to the prediction of physical stability is by electrical methods. Sediment volumes bear a close relation to repulsion of particles for each other. 

---