Scientific research, high pressure

Bass, J.D., Svendsen, B., and Ahrens, T.J., (1987), The Temperatures of Shock-Compressed Iron, in High Pressure Research in Mineral Physics (edited by Mang-hnani M. and Y. Syono), Terra Scientific, Tokyo, pp. 393-402. 

High pressure scientific research is an area of science that has benefited from high hardness. Here, individual diamonds are used as pressure vessels to contain specimens at ultra-high pressures (millions of times atmospheric pressure). 

Kingma, K. J. Pacalo, R. E. G. McMillan, P. F. In High Pressure-Temperature Research Properties of Earth and Planetary Materials Manghnani, M. H. Yagi, T., Eds. Terra Scientific Tokyo, AGU Washington, DC, 1997. 

H. K. Mao, P. M. Bell, and C. Hadidiacos, Experimental phase relations of iron to 360 kbar, 1400°, determined in an internally heated diamond anvil apparatus, in High-Pressure Research in Mineral Physics, M. H. Manghnani and Y. Syono, eds., Terra Scientific Publishing Co., Tokyo, and American Geophysical Union, Washington DC, 1987, pp. 135-138. 

Ipatieff was, first of all, a brilliant and able teacher who preferred the title of Professor to any other. His research activity of a purely scientific nature brought with it unusual industrial success, and many plants, operating all over the world, are based on catalytic reactions discovered by him. Among the most important of his contributions are the introduction of high-pressure techniques in chemistry and chemical industry, destructive hydrogenation, the production of acetone from propyl alcohol, and the production of high-octane aviation fuel by the reactions of polymerization, alkylation, and isomerization. He was the first to demonstrate the specificity of catalysts and the use of mixed catalysts and promotors. 

T. Yamanaka, T. Shihata, S. Kawasaki, and S. Kume, in High Pressure Research Application to Earth and Planetary Sciences , eds. Y. Shono and M. H. Manghnani, Terra Scientific, Tokyo/American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, 1992, p. 493. 

Manghnani M. and Syono Y. (1987) High-pressure Research in Mineral Physics. Terra Scientific Publishing Company, Tokyo. 

Equipment using high pressures with reactive gases has been developed mainly for fundamental scientific research. The stabilization of unusual oxidation states of transition elements is one area of research involving such equipment. Specific reaction vessels with external heating have been developed to synthesize oxides which require high temperatures (Fig. 7.11). Due to the large decrease of the mechanical properties of alloys with temperature, only a limited pressure-temperature domain is available (Fig. 7.12). 

Pressure is an important physical variable in materials science. The development of high-pressure techniques has led, in particular, during the last fifty years, to advances in fundamental scientific research and to industrial applications. 

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